Jessica Rebstock just turned 25 and is blogging her way through school, life and family.
The Nicholls State University graduate student finds time between work and studying to follow her passion of home and lifestyle blogging.
The Golden Meadow native moved to Thibodaux six years ago to study early childhood education at Nicholls and has fallen in love with the place.
Lately, Rebstock has been meeting with local businesses to collaborate and promote their goods. Some of her most recent projects include a loaded potato soup recipe with HEALTe Cafe and a macrame project with Southern Knots.
Rebstock launched Hello Gorjess in February 2017. Before then, she was posting regularly on Instagram about her design projects and inspirations and her followers pushed her to launch a full blog site.
Since then, she has generated a small group of clients for home decorating, even redecorating her childhood home in her personal style of practical traditions with a modern twist.
Rebstock said she developed a love for writing in her English 101 class at Nicholls. For the first time, her professor encouraged her to write and praised her style.
“I realized that people wanted to read what I had to say,” she said.
That push led her to enjoy writing even more, a necessary skill in an intensive master’s degree program.
But blogging is an entirely different style from heavily-cited research papers. “It’s my therapy,” Rebstock said.
The blog’s audience is mostly women ages 18-36, she said.
Her most popular post to-date is “yes, I am adopted.” More than 2,000 people read her story of adoption in just a few days.
“People aren’t open about their lives very often,” she said.
By sharing her story, Rebstock said she hopes to inspire others to share theirs.
But her favorite project so far was redecorating her parents’ home with her mom. When they first moved into the house, Rebstock said her mother and grandmother did the redecorating, so it was fun to carry on the tradition.
Some of her design inspirations comes from other blogs, like The Everygirl, or HGTV’s show “Fixer Upper.”
In year two of Hello Gorjess, Rebstock said she aims to take everything she’s learned and put it into full effect with more posts catered to her audience.
In May, she’ll graduate from Nicholls with her master’s in early childhood education and hopes to continue the blog while entering the working world.
Thibodaux has become a home away from home for her, she said, especially on the Nicholls campus. The city is growing but maintaining its family-friendly environment.
“Even though it’s kind of a college town, it’s a place where I can grow old,” Rebstock said.
Find Hello Gorjess blog at www.facebook.com/hellogorjessblog or https://hellogorjessblog.wordpress.com.
-- Staff Writer Julia Arenstam can be reached at 448-7636 or julia.arenstam@houmatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @gingerale214.