[Below is an excerpt from my interview w/ the team at StyleLend]

FEATURED LENDER OF THE MONTH:

VANESSA PILAR MINNIS

"When Vanessa agreed to be our featured lender of the month, we were over the moon! She’s got this whole cool city girl thing going on but still manages to be down to earth. We recently invited her to our office, told her to bring some of her favorite pieces and got to meet the girl behind one of our local fashion influencers on instagram, 'Shop Save Sequin' (instagram name has since changed to 'PagingVaness)."

"She’s known for having a lust-worthy closet that’s filled with items from just about every price point. A lover of Target collaborations, Vanessa mixes luxe finds with chic items that won’t break a fashionista’s budget. I think that’s part of the reason why her followers are obsessed with her achievable looks. Vanessa recently told us about one of her most recent shopping experiences / purchases. The coveted Lilly Pulitzer collection from Target:

'Oh the few pieces I managed to scoop from the debacle known as #LillyGate …lol…Lilly Pulitzer for Target. What madness that turned out to be. I got lucky. I stayed up and waited out the website glitches and manged to get the few things I wanted. And truth be told, I love them all. Despite what critics say, I think the price point matched the quality just fine. I love Target. I love how I gave 0 effs about Lilly Pulitzer until Target announced a collaboration. Then it’s like suddenly I wanted whatever it was and I had to have it.' "

'Well, my favorite, my most cherished piece might have to be a miu miu bag I bought with part of a $5,000 gift card I got from Bloomingdale’s. I happened to win a style contest with Bloomie’s and they flew me out to New York, set me up in a hotel and gave me $5k to shop with in their flagship store. And so my lovely little miu miu bag entered my life. The bag is timeless, but I love that there’s a fun story attached to how I got it.' "

"While Vanessa splurges on certain pieces, she’s smart about what she chooses to buy. She recommends that her followers...

'Invest in those statement pieces because it’s worth it. Yes, Zara is greatt a DVF wool, camel-colored trench coat is going to behat’s why Vanessa loves the idea of Syle Lend so m

"As successful as Vanessa’s blog, Instagram, and Facebook are, she attributes her success to her fans and followers,

'My readers are awesome by the way. It’s all thanks to their enthusiasm for what I do that the blog continues to grow.' "

"We asked what she wanted to rent next…

'I’d rent something from For Love & Lemons. As a blogger I’d love to shoot something of theirs. Who doesn’t love their whimsical lacey productions?!' "

Style Lend is an app (a San Francisco start up and currently only available to SF residents) that intends to make renting designer duds easy.

"Style Lend is an infinite, high-end closet where you can borrow designer items and lend your own pieces for cash."

EDITOR’S NOTE: STYLELEND IS NO LONGER IN OPERATION.

PHOTO SHOOT LOCATION: SAN FRANCISCO

PHOTOGRAPHER: CHIEKO KATO

TIME OF DAY: 4PM GOLDEN HOUR

SPONSORED BY: STYLELEND.COM

What I Wore: Elegantees peplum shirt over coral James Jeans skinny's

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Last month, I had the opportunity to have lunch downtown with fashion maven Jill Siefert, as she interviewed moi for her brand new podcast, On Style with Jill Siefert.

I was admittedly unfamiliar with "the podcast". Jill's a friend of mine and so I was like heck yeah I'll do your podcast...but ummm, what's a podcast? I don't know if I'll be good at a podcast...well, listen to it for yourself and see what you think. Listen, leave a review and subscribe if you like what you hear! It's a lot of fun. NeedIess to say, I was born with the gift of gab...