When Maddy Sasso launched Pinkly Perfect, a summer-loving lifestyle blog, it wasn’t just because she adored the beach. The strategic blog was a way to build an audience for her upcoming fashion line targeted at helping teenage girls feel comfortable in their own skin.
Pinkly Perfect’s contributors are all young women in high school—the same high school that Sasso attended in Pennsylvania—and their unique voices have helped shape Sasso’s fashion line.
“When you find something you really love to wear, everything changes,” Sasso says. “The way you walk is different, and it makes your whole day. Right now, girls don’t have many options for cool things to wear that aren’t inappropriate. I want them to embrace the age that they are—this youthful age that is both magical and fun.”
For Sasso, a love of summer and beach town pride are part of her identity. She grew up outside of Philadelphia, but every summer for as long as she can remember was spent at Avalon Beach on the Jersey Shore. As a natural creative, she designed her eighth grade graduation dress, and by her senior year in high school, she knew she wanted a career in fashion. By her early twenties, she was working as a fashion designer in New York City.
While the design experience was incredible, Sasso still felt unfulfilled. Instead of idling in limbo, she enrolled in evening and weekend business classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology. It was in one of these classes that the idea for Pinkly Perfect came to her. The epiphany? If she combined her love for summer with her experience in fashion, she could cater to these young women that she felt the market was overlooking: girls still trying to find themselves. These are the young women looking for cool style on a budget.
Sasso began to devote more and more time to her passion project. She went from working full-time in fashion, where her evenings and weekends were devoted to Pinkly Perfect, to working full-time on the blog and fashion line. This week, the WeWork Studio Square member’s new website launched and will carry her entire line: everything young women need for the picture-perfect beach getaway.
Sasso is a role model, not just for young women, but for anyone considering taking the plunge into the world of entrepreneurship.
“Obviously you should get industry experience and continue learning, but don’t wait for something to happen,” she advises. “Challenge yourself.”
Photos: Lauren Kallen