Meet Isabella Malatesta | Blogger

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

Hi Isabella, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
My blogs name is iam.becoming. When I was 17 I got a tattoo I had wanted for a few years of my initials (IAM). The “becoming” part was actually my mom’s idea. I am always becoming something new and changing into a better version of myself. It is a reminder that I can always improve. When I started my blog I was a senior year in high school. I was frustrated with being waitlisted from my dream school and was fed up with irrelevant drama so when I began my blog I really intended for it to be a place to simply get things off my chest. To rant. Yet, after a few posts, I realized that people were reading what I wrote. Not only that, but they were relating to what I was saying. Dozens of people flocked into my direct messages to tell me about how much they appreciate my openness on social media. Many even shared their own personal stories. It was crazy to me to see so many people sharing such personal information with a complete stranger. From then on, I became hooked.
I sent my blog to my dream school and was eventually accepted. I was also able to get some sponsorships and several writing and marketing job offers.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think that the fact that I never really intended to write as a profession somewhat makes my writing differ from the beginning. I write for me, to get things off my chest. And that doesn’t mean that I love when people can relate and share their stories with me, but I don’t write for engagements. I think that my authentic love for writing and sharing personal stories, including my failures is something that is attractive to those who read my posts. I also start all of my posts with “i am.” followed by a word that summarizes the post.

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?
This is tricky for me because I have lived in Michigan in Rochester Hills and Ann Arbor as well as in Waikiki, Hawaii. I guess I will just answer this question for Ann Arbor.

If my friends were to come and visit me in Ann Arbor, we would squeeze into my studio apartment in order to budget. I would make sure that we went to a University of Michigan tailgate and go to some of the bars to watch the game. I would also take them to a different coffee shop every day, some of my favorites being Vertex, RoosRoast, Literati (which is also an ADORABLE book store on the bottom floor), and Cahoots cafe. We would get dressed up for a night of Spanish tapas and drinks at Aventura or Dixboro House. We would also have to get sandwiches from Zingermans and breakfast from Avalon.
During the day we would picnic in the Law Quad, wander through the Arb and take tubes down the Huron river. I would also take them to a class at my favorite yoga studio, Red.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I could not be successful in life or with regards to my blog without my mom. She has taught me morals, she has encouraged me to follow my passions, she has pushed me to take risks, she spent hours taking photos and editing blogs, and she is, and always will be, my best friend.

Website: iamisabellaann.com

Instagram: iam.becoming

Other: tiktok: iam.becoming