Lucille Wenegieme, a fashion and media icon based in Denver, strongly believes in the positive potential arising from the internet’s powers of connection. She transfigured this belief into Living IRL as its founder and CEO. Living IRL is an online community where everyone can explore their lives through written pieces, video, photography and a podcast on the way.
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“We produce and curate stories where technology and the internet can be friend or foe, the dramatic leads or pieces of furniture in the background — but they’re always there. We look for the wild, weird, whimsical middle between ‘Wtf?’ and ‘I think this is my way’. We don’t have the answers — only experiences that may help our readers make decisions as they navigate life in the Digital Age.”
Inspiration struck Wenegieme in early 2017 as she explored what she calls “the two internets”
“I was constantly moving between the super idealized lives of artists, designers, models and influencers that came up on my Instagram feed, and the charged broken political landscape of my Facebook timeline. I was shuttling back and forth between two worlds that almost never overlapped, but that equally informed what restaurants I ate at, what part of town I lived in, where I traveled and so much more. They were informing my decisions about how I chose to live my life.”
As such, she wanted a place where she commanded the freedom to explore all facets of her interests in a stripped down way that just “felt like a conversation with [her] closest friends” — wielding the internet’s endless connections to bring life to her vision.
Living IRL brings forth a fresh perspective where vulnerability and imperfections are celebrated. In today’s fast-paced and sometimes oversaturated media environment, the internet can be a cutthroat place where only startling content stands out. Wenegieme sees this extremism as “antithetical” to what the internet stands for — instead clarifying that it should be a place of exploration and building bridges.
“By telling and showcasing stories about what it’s like to actually live your life — stories about trying, hoping, succeeding and failing, Living IRL creates space in the internet museum for people who don’t feel finished or perfect.”
Her hope for the future of this media community is that Living IRL will inhabit a space at the forefront of a movement encouraging the introduction of more vulnerability and intention within people’s online presence and interactions. Wenegieme also aspires to blend the virtual space with physical experiences and work with other brands to create more content and products.
While the scrappy team at Living IRL works hard to provide their readers with quality content, they have a network of contributors that help make it all happen. You can pitch them your pieces or ideas at this submission form on their website. As befitting their theme, all content should craft a story surrounding an element of the internet, digital technologies (in whatever form that may take) or social media. By showcasing diverse stories and experiences of all facets of life, Living IRL inspires, educates and connects.
You can explore all that Living IRL has to offer on their website and their Instagram.