MEET BEC & MARISSA // TWICEBLESSED
As we celebrate International Women's Day, we celebrate the fact that we have the social freedom to be independent, to own businesses and to thrive in every area of life, no longer limited by law. We celebrate those that have gone before us and fought for us to have a voice, something so easy to take for granted.
This interview is an excerpt from our interview with Bec & Marissa from TwiceBlessed from our Melbourne Volume. We love who they are, what they do and the way they stand up for not only themselves but women around the world.
Identical twins Marissa Sohtra and Bec Loucas have always had a love for fashion and people. They found themselves working for the likes of Sass & Bide as well as a multitude of Social Media and Marketing companies in Melbourne and London. This sparked their creativity and passion for this arena and they soon launched TB digital, their own marketing agency, along with their blog and YouTube Channel. We are big lovers of what they are doing and feel honoured to hear more about their journey.
Bec, Marissa, thank you so much for taking the time in your busy schedule to chat with us. We are honoured and love what you guys are doing! Tell us a bit about yourselves. Where were you born, what your family life was like and what life was like growing up as identical twins?
It’s such a pleasure and thank you so much. it’s so exciting hearing that people love what we’re doing! A bit about ourselves, we were born in Melbourne, Australia. However, come from a Greek heritage (our whole family is Greek, and our mum was born there, having come to Australia when she was 4 years old).
Life growing up as identical twins seems pretty normal (we don’t have any other siblings, so we didn’t know otherwise). We always got the classic ‘what’s it like being twins’ questions, and ‘If I hit her, will you feel it?’. It made us realise that being twins, and so uniquely connected, wasn’t as typical as we thought!
What was your dream job growing up and then how did that differ from what you are doing now?
Our dream job while growing up for me (Bec) was probably something to do with business and marketing. Having always admired our mother, and everything she did, it was probably natural to aspire to follow her footsteps. After finishing high school, we both went to study Business Marketing at university.
Looking back now, we realise how lucky we are to have turned our career dreams into a reality as adults. Even while studying at university, we had no idea that starting a blog would be able to kick-start our career as Marketing professionals and sustain us financially in a full-time capacity.
Did you both take to fashion in the same way or was the progression different for both of you?
We’ve both always really loved fashion from a young age. I guess being twins, we were always dressed the same (or in varying colours) so we always understood the idea of coordinating and styling ourselves. I (Marissa) was actually quite tomboy-ish when I was younger and Bec was more feminine, it’s funny now because we’ve actually swapped! No matter how androgenous I style myself, I will always look more feminine than Bec will! Strange - but funny.
Tell us about how you started Twice Blessed, the progression of the brand and how you got to where you are now.
We started Twice Blessed back in 2013/2014 when we were in our last semester of university. Back then, we had no idea that blogging could become our full-time gig, nor did we even know we wanted it to be that! We came with a background in Marketing, and saw Twice Blessed as a guinea pig for what we could create and replicate for future marketing clients. We saw Twice Blessed as a ‘brand’, and our followers and future followers as our ‘customers’, and strategized different ways to target new customers, and draw more people to our page.
We were so lucky that we started when blogging wasn’t too popular here in Australia, particularly here in Melbourne. Because of that, we were able to grow very quickly! We were one of the only duo bloggers on the market at the time, and for some reason, people wanted to see what we were wearing, and how we’d style clothes. Looking back now, there has definitely been a lot of ‘winging it’ in the mix, alongside a lot of collaboration... with bloggers, photographers, brands and PR agencies. This industry is all about collaborating, and that has been one of the keys to our success over the last few years.
What does life look like day to day?
Every day looks different. We might be styling a photoshoot, going to a fun event, creating content for our digital clients, filming a video for our Youtube channel, or doing the mundane tasks like emails, posting products and scheduling content for Twice Blessed and our digital clients. However, most days involve us planning, strategizing and organising the behind the scenes aspects of Twice Blessed.
What is your perception of success?
Nothing to do with finances, or the amount of money you have in bank. For us, success is being able to fulfill the purpose we were called to achieve. It’s about knowing that what we are doing at Twice Blessed is more than pretty pictures, and nice outfits, but about influencing, inspiring, and encouraging people around the world to be the best they can be.
Your belief system is a pretty integral part of what you do. Did you always grow up with this firm faith or did you get there differently to each other?
We’ve been blessed to grow up with parents who exemplified who Christ is and gave us a great foundation to our faith. However, it wasn’t until we sought to understand our faith for ourselves when we were teenagers that we were able to come to a personal conviction of who Jesus is.
What has been the biggest challenge in starting and working in this industry?
I think the hardest part was having an understanding of our branding. We were mixing two ideas and tastes together, so it was challenging for us to have a unified vision of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to look like. For us, what helped was having a little branding session and writing down our goals and visions.
We learned that ‘if you fail to plan, you plan to fail’, so it’s always a good idea to know where you’re going.
If you could go back in time and tell yourselves anything, what advice would you let yourself know?
To work harder so that we could have reached our milestones quicker. It’s always hard with hindsight, but we wish that we took our ‘blogging’ more seriously when we started and worked at it like it was a job, not just a hobby. However, our success and growth now have all come at perfect timing.
Where are your favourite places in the world to travel? What is it about them that makes you want to go back?
LONDON! We don’t know what it is about that city, it just feels like a busier, and crazier version of our home city in Melbourne. Just with an added element of possibility and wonder.
If I had 24 hours in Melbourne, where would the must-visit places be? Whether it be food, coffee, museums, etc. And what is it about them that makes them in your top list?
Degraves Lane - CBD - it’s just such a cool vibe with the little, graffitied alleys and restaurants all lined up. Reminds us of a little Parisian street in the heart of the Central Business district. *Tip, keep walking all the way through Degraves and through the connecting buildings till you make it out
to Bourke Street Mall
Little Avenue Des Italians - 428 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne. One of the cutest little espresso bars in the CBD with the most instagrammable floor tiles. Because we have a thing for cool floor tiles (and great coffee)
Toyko Tina - 66A Chapel Street, Windsor. Some of the best Japanese Street food (with a twist) that you’ll get. Such a great place to be on a Friday night!
High Street, Armadale (between Kooyong Road and Glenferri Road). If you love Australian fashion boutiques, you’ll be able to find them all here. Beautiful Victorian terrace shop-fronts with equally beautiful clothes in the stores. It’s one of our favourite places to shop on a sunny day.
QT Melbourne - 133 Russell Street, Melbourne. For the best rooftop cocktails and view of the City. Best to go there at happy hour to catch a beautiful sunset.
What are 5 things you would never travel without?
1. Portable charger - Because you never want to get caught traveling with a dead phone battery.
2. Camera (we use a Canon 5D Mark IV)
3. Travel cubes. They help up divide up our suitcases so that every category of clothing has its own area. Really helps when you’re hopping from hotel-to-hotel to find what you need quickly!
4. Powerboard. This is something our dad always brought on family trips and we didn't get why until we went abroad. It’s essentially an adaptor that has 6 plugs for your electronics. Really helpful when you’ve only got 1 or 2 international power adaptors and a lot of items to charge!
5. Magazines! Not only good to read, but great for those Instagram photos!
To read the rest of their interview and other amazing Melbourne creatives, grab your copy of the Melbourne Volume here either digitally or in print.