Last Updated on December 30, 2020
Alessia De Bonis is an Italian influencer and blogger who focuses on beauty, fashion, recipes and travel. With over 22,000 Instagram followers, Alessia focuses on beautiful imagery to captivate her growing audience. You can follow Alessia on Instagram or visit her blog at lechatgourmandbyalixia.com to learn more.
You created your first website back in 2001. Tell us about what led you to create a blog…
I started creating the website when I was really really young but when I started the blog, I don’t know, it was in a very infantile stage, I don’t know, it was weird at the beginning. I started with the website and posted about the things I like but I started with the blog late first to share quotes and images but not my photo. That was in at a later time because when I started to have a blog it appeared that blogging was mostly for writing not for sharing images and your life so I started really to, you know, appear and the blog you saw at the beginning doesn’t exist. And I started the blog because I want to share things in my life.
In 2012 I started to share my creations, I made jewelry and I wanted to share a photo of my jewelry with outfits. So I started to take photos of my friends with my made things like necklaces and other things and then I started to share also my outfit because my blog started as a fashion blog. I remember when I started the blog I drew inspiration from the most famous fashion blog in the world. I had seen her blog and another blog by a girl who comes here in my region in Basilicata in South Italy and was probably the first blogger in Italy. And when I saw her blog I thought it was amazing and she shared the travel and the photos about my region and I say “okay I want to do the same”. And I started to share first my outfit because the blog started as a fashion blog and then I realizes that I want to share the other things also of my life so food, the sights, travel or family like beauty and these things.
What led you to get into influencer marketing?
When I started I was seeing on the other blog that they savored the things from the brands even if it was a very hideous product. So at the beginning only few bloggers accepted things from the brands but I started with the idea of doing this thing. So I started with my idea of sharing my outfit but I was thinking about collaborating with the brands so when I started I had this idea in mind. Since I thought that would be a bit difficult to obtain it wasn’t the first reason that led me to start a blog.
Even if I know that there is this thing that is brands starting to collaborate with bloggers. And I remember my first collaboration because I received an email by a site that sells rings and I said “oh wow my first collaboration” and then in the following years different brands contacted me via email. Also at the beginning there wasn’t any site that asked you to collaborate with brands and then different brands in Italy started to collaborate with this site (Intellifluence) to find bloggers and influencers on Instagram or other social media. And I also join this site (Intellifluence)
Tell us about your photography. Are you self-taught or have you taken any classes?
No, I took a class in photography but this is before I became a blogger. I have had my camera since 2010 so it has been a very long time that I’ve been taking photography. But I joined a course in 2013 and I started with a basic course and then advanced course but probably as I realized my photos were important for my blog.
But at the beginning photography was not really as important as it is now so it was at first an edge on the other bloggers probably but now everybody knows how to take photos especially with a phone. So I started with my camera and I’m still taking photos with my camera more so than my phone but now the phone has the same quality as the camera so if you want you can take photos also with your phone.
What are some of your goals as an influencer for the next year or so?
I live in a small region so for me I really want two things or move to another place where there is even event for blogger but this is now a little bit complicated because I’m working here now. I’m working as a social media manager for a local brand, oil brand and my social account was really important because the place where I work chose me because they saw my social media and said okay you’re good so now I’m working for this brand. So for this reason I’m living here but probably there are places that are better for influencers at least in Italy like Milan for example. I’ve been there for 12 days and I see that it’s another world every day, at events every day, I can meet other bloggers there, and there’s very few events for bloggers. So I’m working especially online as I want to work more as a blogger in real life and the other thing I want is to travel.
I would like to travel a lot as an influencer but now I’m working. So I’m every day – not every day but every month I see some invites but I can’t do everything and I’m very sad for this but it’s life. Also I want to meet more bloggers and share this life as a blogger in real life because when I did some event with other bloggers, local bloggers it was very funny. I’m still taking photography with them so we are exchanging photos ad it’s very nice.
Note: Influencer Spotlight interviews are edited for time and clarity.
Andrew is the Head of Client Services for Intellifluence and has a background in communications. He is committed to helping brands get the most out of their campaigns and is the co-host of the Influencer Spotlight series.
