Admit it. We all got a favorite blog we read everyday. And along with that favorite blog, we got that favorite blogger who we kinda wanna be BFFs with. Admit it. They got that blog you can’t stop reading because for some reason every entry they post never fails to amuse you every damn time. Whether they be schoolin’ you on fashion DIYs one day or posting up music samples for you the next, there’s always a blogger folks include in their every day internet routine. It just depends who you choose to read about. So while most of my girls tune to Perez Hilton for blogging entertainment, I turn to someone who I think provides fresh material more of my steez.

To clue the fam in, one of my favorites right now is: Jessica Gueco a.k.a. “Yoshi” of Fatlace. Homegirl definitely has a place in my Google Reader subscriptions. She’s got almost 6 blogs on lock all ranging from different interests with a 9 to 5 job while working as Fatlace’s buyer. (She’s got the life I’m striving for, ya’ll, haha). And with her love for biking, Twilight (!), passion for fashion and shoes, her blogs are known to keep fresh material circulating.

So here I go… in a span of two days among numerous phone calls, AIM convos and rescheduling, I finally had an interview with Yoshi. And let me tell you, this is probably one of the few interviews where I couldn’t help but let loose a bit. You’ll notice at some points, the interview slowly evolves into “girl talk.” I kid you not, I tried to stop it. But we just kept talking…… off tangents.

Aileen: Okay first of all… I know some of the boys reading 12ft won’t really care for this but I do…. sooo how was TwiCon?!

Yoshi: HAHAHAAHAHA OMG, IT WAS AMAZINGGGG! I got to meet a ton of fans and totally geek out. Although when I met some of the cast I had to maintain myself and hold it down like I wasn’t such a TwiNerd.

Aileen: hahaha, I’d be the same way. Did you meet the entire cast?

Yoshi: The cast members that attended TwiCon were Peter Fach, Billy Burke, Christian Serratos, Kellan Lutz, Alex Mraz, and Jackson Rathbone. I got to meet all of them except for Kellan. And I was able to talk to Billy during a meet and greet session and interview Christian and Jackson. Jackson I interviewed twice, 1 with 100 monkeys and 1 just himself =)

Aileen: Lucky! How’d the interview go? Did you just wing it?

Yoshi: OH YES. Omg, it was nerve-wracking in the beginning. Well, for both. But for Christian we ended up talking about fashion so that was cool. For Jackson the first one was fun because it was all the guys from the band. The second one was crazy because we had already seen each other from the first interview then we saw each other again at the meet and greet and chatted and then ended up seeing each other after his concert. LOL – so by the time the 2^nd interview came around I was all crazy embarrassed I guess and it was hard to pull it together acting as if we hadn’t just seen each other the night before. HAHAHA

Aileen: hahaha, hella BFFs!

Yoshi: I WISH! Omg those damn eyes of his… g’damn! ANYWAY oh!! And then during the meet and greet Alex Mraz came by our table to chat and as he walked passed, he fkn grazed the side of my head with his hand (the side that’s shaved) and said “I like your hair!” and then sat down. I was like – WHAT JUST HAPPENED HERE?! Hahahahaha

Aileen: Hahaha how was it winging these interviews though? Did you find it hard to do so?

Yoshi: Uhm… kinda because I wasn’t sure how they’d respond to my questions. Naibe the other Reelz correspondent… she was GOOD. But because our styles were very different the more I was myself the better the outcome. So I’d ask and say stupid shit that I would normally say, hahaha. But at the same time I didn’t know what I was expected to do so looking back at it now I think I should have been MORE myself. Coulda shoulda woulda, dammit. Next time, hehe.

Aileen: I’m sure you’ll have a next time. But yeah dude, I’m the same. Interviews I feel should be more like a conversation if anything. It leaves a better feel out there. That’s dope though you had that opportunity! I know you had hella support all over the net for TwiCon. Wanna explain how you got all your votes? You got a pretty big support system circling around the net, haha.

Yoshi: ahhaahah, yeah omg when I first saw the results of the first round (after becoming top 6) and I saw that I didn’t even make top 3 I was SHOCKED so I started campaigning HARD. I twittered to everyone like 5-10min, I had people posting it on their blogs, retweeting, created a group on facebook for it [and] got my friends to reach out to their celebrity friends to make videos. Hahaha but I think I got a lot of sympathy votes especially after my accident.

Aileen: Oh shoot! I was gonna ask you about that… before we talked about Twilight. How are you recovering?

[*sidenote - FYI: Yoshi got in a pretty bad bike accident a couple of weeks ago. Read about what happened here]

Yoshi: Slooowly. Um, I’ve had my ups and downs. It was REALLY hard in the beginning esp after I was discharged from the hospital. I was so used to being around my BF or my parents who flew in from the Bay to help take care of me so after the BF went back to work and my parents went back home I had a rough time going out alone because I knew I looked pretty craze. And by craze I’m talking like two-face from the Dark Night craze – NO LIE. But I tried not to let me down so instead of cabbing it to work, I did my normal routine – subway, walk, etc… I think having a cast on my arm drew a lot more attention too, lol.

Omg, do you wanna see a pic?! Or did you see already?

Aileen: Was it on your blog? Not gonna lie I read your blogs on a daily.

Yoshi: oh YAY!! Another girl! Hahaha, Fatlace or “Adventures…?”

Aileen: Umm.. both. And WTForks?! Oh gawd, I sound like a stalker.

Yoshi: Hahaha, nooooo! But yeah, omg I was in the hospital for almost a week. I was going crazy. But it’s been okay though. People still stare and ask but I’d prefer them to ask rather than to just stare. But I’m used to it, I’m okay with it.

Aileen: That’s good. Well I’m glad you’re keeping your head up.

[Okay... so right here was where Yoshi and I basically went off on a huge tangent and started on a “girl talk” moment. But I edited it for ya’ll, no worries.]

Yoshi: Anyway, moving on!

Aileen: Okay, lemme see if I can get back on track. I feel like we’re just girl talking and I wanna ask you more questions about Twilight, but we shouldn’t do it. It’ll make this interview hella longer. So umm… I know you’re a USF Graduate, yeah? What’d you study?

Yoshi: I was a Politics (Political Science) major.

Aileen: Forreal? So how’d you get into blogging and working with companies like Fatlace?

Yoshi: Okay so Politics was something I was always interested in. I like to argue and prove my point. I’m a brat, hahaha. Plus Politics was all about logic. There were no right or wrong answers as long as you could argue your point, you couldn’t be wrong. However, I was always into fashion ever since I was a kid. And I loooooove me some sneakers, [I’m] such a tomboy. I don’t know if you’re from the Bay and if you remembered the days when First Step was the shit [but] all my homies used to work there. So anyway, [I] graduated and I felt liberated. I felt it was my time to shine and to pursue my creative side. One day I met Alex from Homeroom and started doing shit with him (in the early years of Homeroom it was just him, myself, and Gian). From there, I met Mark from Fatlace. I moved to New York not too long after I started stuff with homeroom and continued working with them designing women’s tees and custom jackets for both men and women, as well as marketing and sales on the East Coast.

Mark and I started talking again online and he liked my ideas, etc. And asked me to start blogging for Fatlace and I did, I think in 2006 or 07.

Aileen: So what are you doing out in NY now?

Yoshi: Full-time I work as a project manager for an interactive web agency: Rokkan. I still do the buying for Fatlace and sometimes you’ll catch me at a focus groups or consulting gigs.

Aileen: Oooh, what kind of focus groups?

Yoshi: Hmm… most of them for Nike and skateboarding brands.

Aileen: That’s dope! Do you skate? I went through phases in middle school and a little in high school.

Yoshi: Yes, me too. I used to push around a little bit in high school and I brought my skateboard here to NY and realized there were too many potholes and I didn’t wanna eat shit in front of New Yorkers so I put that away. Especially since the BF is a paid skater, uhm, not gonna look like a fool.

Aileen: haha, so you bike now right?

Yoshi: Yeah, I’ve been biking since… well pretty much since I moved here in ’06 so that’s why I’m having a hard time too because I can’t bike at the moment. FACK.

Aileen: Eeek, what kind of bike do you have? (I don’t know shit about bikes but I’m sure the riders reading would wanna know.)

Yoshi: Hahaha, I have 3 bikes. One is a BMX 26in. elf… classic – so pretty. The other is a 46cm IRO track bike and the one that I’ve been riding is a 46cm custom Nemesis-Project track bike.

Aileen: Ohh…. Okayyy. Sounds hardcore? I’m gonna Google it before I’m done with this interview. But um, to get back to what I was saying earlier… Right outta college I know you networked right away. How’d you get to meet all the folks you know now? How’d you get yourself working with a couple of fashion/style blogs, etc.?

Yoshi: Ohhh, I met a bunch of influential people. I was never shy, I was always asking questions. I interned with MAMA Clothing for a minute and Gabriella introduced me to that side of production. I went to a ton of events, introduced myself, shared my thought and ideas. But at the same time still maintained a sense of composure because if you look too eager you get eaten up. But yeah, the people I befriended when I first moved here were really the shit. And I’m so glad they’re still in my life because they really helped me.

Aileen: When you were in college, did you ever imagine yourself doing what you do now?

Yoshi: Hahaha, helllll no. I thought I’d be working for the UN or the FBI.

Aileen: Oh… so that’s what you’d be doing if you didn’t meet the right people or explore your creative side huh?

Yoshi: Yes, definitely. But I still think I’d rummage my way over to the “dark side” at some point. And by dark side I mean fashion world.

Aileen: Sooo… speaking of fashion, right now what’s your favorite piece of clothing you have in your closet?

Yoshi: Hmmmm, shoes count?

Aileen: Yep, I was gonna ask you what your all-time favorite shoe was, but okay, just throw shit at me.

Yoshi: Hahaha, damn… I’m really loving my new Cherry Doc Martens right now. I also have the oversize Insight tee that I wear all the time. So comfy and stylish. I love my high waisted Levi’s and my Air Max 1 Safari’s.

Aileen: Niice, you def got a diverse closet. So a little more about your blogs. Which ones do you write for? I know you got quite a bit.

Yoshi: I write for Fatlace, my Yoshi blog, Ladylike blog, which all the girls should check out it’s very awesome! It’s just two of my other friends including my interns, they just have great ideas. I mean…in short it’s for the fashion forward. I do stuff for Hardy magazine, I’m a blogger on there as well as contributor to their news. And ItsDesign Related.com that’s more focused on everything that happens to be design. Everything from furniture designs to art and music to clothing. Everything. Oh! And Wtforks?! And I do a lot of stuff with Hellz-Bellz cause Lawnie is one of my best friends so that’s what I might be doing too.

Aileen: Those are hellaaaa blogs. Do you write for each of them everyday?

Yoshi: A lot of people actually ask me that question. They say I should just say it up so it updates automatically. But that’s not really my style. Each of my blogs have its own genre and its own fan base. So I like to keep a lot of my content fresh and individual from each other. I do update it quite often on all of the blogs. Unless you know, it’s an event I do it for all the masses I post. But I usually try not to do that. I like keeping fresh content. I’m totally against getting lazy. At work I work online a lot of the time so I’m always in front of the computer. So when I have a lot to say or when I get bored, I gotta blog and if I don’t do it then and there I’ll forget.

Aileen: DUDE. I want your job.

Yoshi: Hahaha, You just gotta know the right people! And I met some awesome people that kind of pushed me the right way. I think it just happened by chance but it was also things where I wasn’t afraid to step out of my comfort zone. You gotta watch yourself, you don’t wanna seem too green though.

Aileen: Gotcha. So how’s Fatlace doing? Any new products, new lines, etc.?

Yoshi: Yes, we’re focusing on the brand right now so we’re trying to limit other brands and trying to focus on Fatlace. We’re really expanding the apparel line. We came out with the denim not too long ago and our tees do really well. So we’re just gonna just try to concentrate on that. Hopefully have just a full on brand available for men and women – not just tees and outer wear.

Aileen: How many set of designers do you guys have?

Yoshi: There’s just so many. My intern she been with me forever since Homeroom, Denise, she helps me design a lot of the women stuff. She’ll help me put it together. Mark does a lot of the men stuff and… Ronnie. And Albert is in Japan. He’s focusing a lot on the cut and sew we’re trying to do. That should be on it’s way hopefully soon.

Aileen: How does it feel to have such a large community following your blogs?

Yoshi: To tell you the truth I didn’t know how many people followed my blogs until jut recently because I’ve been going through events during summertime. It’s just interesting to me, it’s definitely humbling and I really get embarrassed cause my life is out there for people to see. It’s great really, but I try not to focus on it. If you focus on people, how many hits you get, how many readers follow you, you feel like you’re obligated to post. I don’t ever wanna feel obligated to blog. It’s something that I love to do.

Aileen: For the writers at 12ft and all those bloggers out there, do you have any advice for us when we write?

Yoshi: Just keep your content fresh and keep it interesting but still maintain your own personality. People love reading what they can share [and] just don’t worry about about sounding like the smartest ass out there – just be you. Be honest.

Aileen: Yesssssssss ma’am.

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Yoshi’s blogs:

Fatlace
Adventures of Yoshi
Ladylike
ItsDesignRelated
Wtforks?!

Follow Yoshi on Twitter.