Close to eight years ago, while running her own high-end event-planning company in L.A., Rachel Hollis had a thought: She should start a blog. “Everyone was doing it at the time,” she remembers. “It’s free marketing for your company, so why not?” Still, writing about her day job, which included celebrity weddings and entertainment industry events, and explaining how to get the look for less wasn’t clicking.

“It made me realize that the secret to success with blogging is being authentic.” Rachel Hollis.
“One day, close to the Fourth of July, I was at a loss for what to write about,” she says. “I remembered this dip that my mom used to make when I was a little girl that was pretty trashy but also delicious, so I wrote it up. I got 50 responses! It made me realize that the secret to success with blogging is being authentic.”

And that’s what Rachel, a working mom of four, has done: Her blog—The Chic Site—chronicles everything from recipes to styling advice on a budget to parenting tips she’s learned on the job and more, all told through Rachel’s honest (and endearing) voice. “The goal of the site is to offer you the tools to live your life, whether that’s how to style your denim jacket or how to clean your front-load washer, in a way that’s achievable so you can understand it, no matter where you live,” she says.