Meet Michelle Halpern | Founder Live Like it’s the Weekend

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michelle Halpern and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michelle, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Honestly, it felt like less of a thought process and more like the only choice. After graduating college and spending 5 years in fashion start-ups and corporate environments, I knew working for someone else wasn’t the path I wanted forever. The choice to take the leap of faith and become my own boss had to work because I had no other option. When I did start Live Like it’s the Weekend, I wanted it to be a place to give informational travel advice, but ultimately to inspire others to live an unconventional life full of passion and excitement.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Creativity and especially creativity tied to entrepreneurship is a tricky thing. My preferred art forms have always been photography and writing, which really lended themselves well to sharing travel content. And I’ve always loved to share a bit of the aspirational and aesthetic and dreamy side of travel—the moments that make you stop and feel a bit of that wonder as if you’re really in that moment. However, I think the most challenging aspect of being a creative online is the algorithms and feedback loops they create. It’s one thing to create purely just to create whatever fuels your soul, but when your creativity is tied to a paycheck there’s an element of learning what works, and what doesn’t. You start to do more of what works because it gets a more positive response, even if it’s not 100% authentic to your soul. I think that’s the danger of social media and the way content creation has become a huge commodity in our culture. It’s been a constant push and pull over the last 8 years for me. Sometimes I find myself moving off course and then I have to take a step back and recorrect and really think about what lights me up to create.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a West Side girl, so we likely would spend all our time in Santa Monica and Venice and maybe do a day trip up to Malibu.

Eat:
Great White
Elephante
Kazu Nori
American Beauty
Cafe Gratitude
Felix
Gjelina
UOVO
Sushi Beluga

Hang out: Abbott Kinney, Montana Ave, Rose Ave, Shopping on Lincoln Blvd at General Store, and sauna and cold plunging at Teddy’s Hot House, walk the Venice Canals and Venice Boardwalk, and spa day at Den Mother.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Yes! I want to shoutout my parents, who have both now passed away. But even in the midst of our family struggles with cancer and them being sick, they encouraged me to still choose a life of travel and follow my dreams.

Website: https://www.livelikeitstheweekend.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livelikeitsthewknd/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiveLikeItstheWeekend/

Image Credits
They are my photos.