Influencer Chloe Panta of North of Bleu Shares Her Top Selfcare, Wellness, and Beauty Tips

An Interview With Ming Zhao

I tell myself that I love myself and that I am worthy. Every single day. I choose happiness over sadness and I choose to embrace myself just as I am, not what I will be or what I should be. I love myself for where I am right now, this makes me feel so alive and so beautiful, because I appreciate myself for where I’ve come from and where I am in this moment.

At times it feels like wellness or elevating one’s wellbeing, is diametrically opposed to high achievement and high performance in one’s career. The stress, mental energy, long hours, lack of restful sleep and preoccupation that result from a high-achievement life seem to directly inhibit wellness. And yet, in order to sustain the creativity, flexibility, mental acuity and resilience that are necessary for high performance, wellness and wellbeing of the mind, body and soul are also mandatory. So how do we achieve both? This is the question I’m hoping to answer through conversations with high-achieving leaders and influencers who are practicing their own philosophies about how to maintain their wellbeing.

As a part of our series about “Social Media Influencers Share Their Top Self Care, Wellness, and Beauty Tips, I had the pleasure of interviewing Chloe Panta of North of Bleu.

Chloe Panta is an African American blogger and digital creator and face behind North of Bleu, an online, curated destination for travel and lifestyle inspiration for the modern millennial woman. She has a background in Creative Writing and HR and loves how she has translated her love for writing and creating content into something bigger. After years in a corporate setting, she created North of Bleu as an outlet for millennial women who were looking for content related to travel and lifestyle inspiration.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory of how you came upon this career path and to where you are today?

I’ve always had a love for writing and would consistently write my thoughts into my journal. Whether to talk about my day, my goals, or even to just rant, writing has been a major part of my life. Whenever I would think about changing career paths, I would always focus on one that involved writing. I started a blog for fun, and it has morphed into what it is today, a breathing, living thing that I call my own. A successful business that I didn’t even know was possible for me.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I am grateful for my Mom. My biggest cheerleader and supporter. Whenever I’d hit a roadblock, she’d listen to my problems and oftentimes provide a solution or strike an idea into my head to solve it. I’m grateful for her encouragement, even when there were times I felt like giving up, she’s been the rock to keep me going.

Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?

I can talk about mistakes I’ve made but none of them humorous by any means! I recall early in my blogging career when I was trying to do everything and be all things. I hired individuals to join my team and help work on the blog by creating templates for freelance writers and having them work on posts I didn’t have time to work on. It was a huge mistake because I realized that these freelancers didn’t have the voice or writing style that I did for my own posts, and I decided from that day forward I would create my own content and hire employees for other tasks.

As an influencer, you have been blessed with great success in a career path that many have attempted, but eventually gave up on. In fact, perhaps most people who tried to follow a career path like yours did not succeed. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path but know that their dreams might be dashed?

My advice is to take it one day at a time. Don’t try to be all things and do all things. Focus on 1 platform, master that platform and move on to the next one. When I see other aspiring influencers juggling multiple platforms and they don’t see much success, they give up. Also, there is the case of other people not understanding what an influencer is and crushing the dreams of others. I would recommend focusing on your career, one day at a time, with a clear and concise plan for that day, as well as building your community, one platform at a time.

Can you share with our readers some of the strategies you’ve used to build an engaged, loyal, and large online community?

When I first started blogging, my goal was just to use my blog as a safe space to document my travels and my lifestyle. I had not intended to monetize my blog. Some strategies that I have used includes growing my email list by having a sign-up form in the middle and at the end of each post.

On social media, I engage with my follower's accounts. I like, comment, and try to get to know them. I research what kind of content they enjoy. I can engage them more with my content. I also post consistently. If I cannot manually post on my social channels, I schedule my posts so that I am posting consistently, 3–5 times per week.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of our interview. In my work, I focus on how one can thrive and care for oneself in three areas: body, mind, and heart. You are a busy person with a demanding schedule, can you share with our readers two self-care routines, practices or treatments that help your body thrive? (Kindly share a story or an example for each.)

Something I do every day that I consider my stress reliever and my meditation is journaling. Before I start my workday, I journal. I take 5 minutes (or longer depending on my schedule) and I write down what I’m grateful for and how wonderful my life is. I think about the great things in my life and how I want to amplify that feeling. That is a game-changer.

Another self-care routine is that I eat a salad or a large vegetable-only dish for lunch. In the winter months, I add a warm grain to my salad, like quinoa or a legume like black beans to make it filling and warm. If I don’t want a salad, I have a large bowl of mixed veggies. Eating clean, whole plant foods help me to thrive and keep a clear head and mind. These are self-care tips I live by to keep my body in optimal health at all times.

Can you share with us two routines that you use to help your mind or heart to thrive? (Kindly share a story or example for each.)

To keep my mind thriving, I am continuously improving upon myself by learning. Whether that’s taking a writing class to improve my craft or learning a new skill, such as photography, I am constantly a student. When I am focusing on a task, my mind doesn’t wander or go idle. I get to use my brainpower to help me achieve goals and concur tasks for the day. It’s such a wonderful feeling when I check a task off my to-do list every day.

Another routine I do is to walk in nature. I love walking or hiking trails nearby and spending time in nature. Whether that’s exploring a nearby national park or a trail, I also find a way to move my body daily. When I move daily, I feel good, it keeps me looking good and I fall more in love with myself for taking care of myself.

Can you share five ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)

Everyone deserves to feel beautiful, and as someone who suffered from self-esteem issues in the past, feeling beautiful and owning my beauty is something that I’ve mastered over time. Here are some of the things I do to feel beautiful:

I always find something to admire about myself. I love my drive for getting things done and how I never give up. That makes me feel beautiful. I admire myself and what I’ve achieved in life so far.

I smile, even when sometimes I am not feeling happy. When we smile, we emit positive energy into ourselves and out into the world, so even when I may not be in the smiling mood, I smile anyway. This generally turns my mood around.

I get dressed and ready, every single day. Though I work from home and have nowhere to go some days, I get dressed up and ready for the day. Not only does it make me feel good, it boots my self-esteem and I feel that I accomplish more in my day because I am dressed for the day.

I tell myself that I love myself and that I am worthy. Every single day. I choose happiness over sadness and I choose to embrace myself just as I am, not what I will be or what I should be. I love myself for where I am right now, this makes me feel so alive and so beautiful, because I appreciate myself for where I’ve come from and where I am in this moment.

I take care of myself physically. Whether that’s a Pilates class or going for a run or walk in nature, doing physical activity makes me feel absolutely beautiful because I’m nourishing my body with movement. I encourage everyone to nourish themselves with self-love every single day.

Is there a particular resource, a practitioner, expert, book, or podcast that made a significant impact on you and helped you to thrive? Can you share a story about that with us?

An expert that I enjoy listening to is Marisa Peer, she is a therapist and has a YouTube channel on self-love, self-care, personal development and more. Listening to her talks have helped to affirm that living a life that may be viewed as different by others is ok. Being your best self is ok and no one should stop you from living your best life.

Do you have a story about the strangest, most bizarre or funniest wellness treatment that you’ve ever experienced?

I’ve yet to try them, but there are earrings called seed earrings that are tiny metallic studs that come in a sticker form that are supposed to apply pressure to certain points in the same vein as acupuncture. It follows traditional Chinese medicine, and they are known to promote calmness, relieve stress and stomach aches.

As an influencer, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I would encourage all people to eat more whole, plant foods. This includes vegetables, fruits, ancient grains, nuts, seeds and legumes. When we eat a whole food, plant-based diet, our body thrives optimally. Eating more plants will lower our consumption of water, solve our world hunger problem, and reduce the amount of man-made gas emissions we as human beings emit into the world. We can make a change together, no matter how small, to make our world a better place.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you’d like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this. :-)

I’d love to have brunch with Oprah. Not only is she a leader in the world, she is inspiring to me and her work reminds me that anything is possible for me and that everything will always work out for me.

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

Readers can learn more about me at @northofbleu on Instagram or on my blog, North of Bleu

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!