Portrait of The Artist as A Young SPG

She called herself a Sarong Party Girl, not me. That was even the name of her blog before, so cut me some slack. Now Isabella is known as MissIzzy, a name that along with her fetish photographs, evokes the names of great sexual trailblazers (not that I really know any of their names). "Please, can I have another Miss Izzy?" Smack!

Anyhow, Miss Izzy is very popular blogger in Singapore. I had a chance to sit down with her and her boyfriend, Mark, last week. Blogging for about two years, Isabella's noteriety came when she posted nude photos of herself. Now she just posts smut-as-art images of herself in rubberized maids outfits. But it's her writing that matters. She talks about sex, philosophy, art, relationships and sex. She is exploring. She may find my 'smut-as-art' comment offensive. I am actually not judging her having found her quite genuine in-person. But the photography is meant to be provocative in that sticking-pins-in-the-eye-of-the-repressed-society kinda way.

She is in school for another two years (God, I hope it's college, at least). She is modeling, illustrating, writing poetry and generally exploring herself. Today, she has a long post about what it's like for her to have a sex crush on someone while in a committed relationship with someone else. That comes after a double wammy of posts on public affairs in Singapore. And before that, her post on Singapore's economic position in the region titled 'Milton Friedman'. Miss Izzy has a lot going on.

She told me that after Singapore, most of her traffic comes from the US. I wouldn't begin to speculate on who her readers are beyond other young women who identify with her strength.

She is an artist exploring herself - both her physicality or sexuality as well as her intellect and heart. She is on that road to becoming. And it's cool that she is sharing that journey which clearly a lot of people identify with or, at least, tune into voyeuristically. That's the way I see it. And, Miss Izzy, feel free to jump all over my sh*t if you disagree.

How does she monetize her blog efforts? Okay, I did not give her grief about her site as she reports. She talks about sex, uses the 'f-bomb' all the time and has suggestive pictures. That's going to cut down on the list of potential sponsors. Still, who sponsors "Sex in the City" in this country? There are plenty of brands who would benefit from partnering with her to reach her audience. In this country, it would be a trendy retailer, some fashion house, perhaps. Art supplies? Apartment furnishings? Music?

She's got an audience. A long term sponsorship would be terrific as the average Google ads or Blogads stuff is truly forgettable and doesn't make the site owner enough money. I would love to see a sponsor bold enough to attach themselves to a series of good-fit bloggers and form some good-looking ads integrated into the site.

Miss Izzy is an artist and a media property in the making.

Comments

Yo! Okay, you didn't give me any grief. Your comment simply magnified my already not insignificant guilt for not doing more with the website. Thanks for the post. And I know why I like the Secretary. Because it's the most accurate, sexiest, description of two people that want each other but for some reason or other do not dare to admit it. And Gyllenhaal and Spader and just sexy, yeah.

Posted by: Izzy | February 25, 2007 at 10:40 PM