Member Spotlight: Cynthia Ruff of Darling Down South
Hey ladies! Welcome to another Member Spotlight, featuring our members — influencers, entrepreneurs, bloggers, and girl bosses alike!
Next up: Cynthia Ruff, Founder of Darling Down South. Darling Down South began in 2015 as a Southern life well explored. Whether you are searching for seasonal and fresh recipes, a new travel destination, or reinventing your personal style through home and fashion, Darling Down South will fulfill that for you.
Read on to learn more about Cynthia and her journey.
Q: Tell us a little bit about you, girl!
A: Hi, my name is Cynthia and I am the Founder and Creator of Darling Down South, a southern lifestyle brand that I created in 2015 to share creative and easy recipes, travel, and home decor with a stylish twist.
Q: How do you stay motivated through challenging times in your career?
A: Honestly, taking short breaks helps immensely, sometimes I’ll take the weekend off, sometimes I’ll automate my processes and take a week off. Having boundaries with my content creation process helps recharge my inspiration. I find that I have to also challenge myself with quantitative activities to balance the creative writing process - like being at school right now. Whenever I have a test I’m studying for, I inevitably get this pent up creative energy that I champion into a series of posts and content!
Q: What inspired you to turn your passion into a business?
A: I just never thought it was possible but when more opportunities started coming our way, partially in thanks to the growing industry, I saw the door starting to open and jumped through! I will say it wasn’t a “leap of faith and fall into bliss” situation. It was a calculated, long road that had a soft money safety net I had saved up from working both full-time career and burgeoning side hustle. Since being on my own and not balancing a full-time career and a full-time business I’ve been able to grow and learn in ways I never imagined. I think I was addicted to the challenge of making the hobby a business happen and it’s been a fun road to navigate.
Q: What advice do you have for women wanting to start their own business/achieving their career goals?
A: For starting your own business: be VERY mindful about your operating costs and cash flow. You’d be surprised at the amount of cash burn starting a new business takes and the increased sweat equity you have to put in at the beginning to see paid results. If you’re going to be quitting your job and relying on your business for income, I highly recommend having 6 months of cash saved up with 3 months of work always on the books to minimize financial stress. The number 1 reason businesses fail is not accounting for their cash flow and running out of money. Prepare early and don’t let that happen to you. I’ve been in many situations in the last year where I didn’t pay attention to payment terms and ended up with $7 in my bank account. You have to get comfortable in the valleys and when you are swimming in mountains of cash, plan for the decline in business.
Achieving your career goals:
Remember that everyone’s journey is not a linear path. You may have an idea of where you want to go that might take a couple of small steps to the left and right of the path to arrive at your desired location. Also, learn as MUCH as you can at each job and understand that every role you hold is an opportunity to bring that experience to your ideal job.
Q: What’s the most rewarding—and most challenging—part of your work?
A: The most rewarding is seeing the digital pay-off on the back end. I’m a data nerd and love seeing how different approaches to distributing content and focusing on key trends helps our content reach new audiences. The power of analyzing data for future growth is amazing and intoxicating. You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you came from after all! The most challenging is vocalizing our worth to advertisers. I can have all the data at my disposal for why our blog is the best fit for product promotion with a brand but the brand may get caught up on the large number influencer instead. It’s a little discouraging sometimes but I also realize that you can turn every “No” into an opportunity for the future.
Q: What do you think is Atlanta’s best-hidden secret?
A: Your Dekalb Farmers Market. I don’t really know if this is a hidden secret per-se but IF you love cooking as much as my husband and I do, this place is a grocery gold mine! It’s a totally unique shopping experience with the best of the best meat, seafood, and veg. Plus they have an awesome spice area and they typically bring in foreign packaged goods which means you can be oh-so-fancy when serving European style packaged goods at your next party.
Q: Tell us more about going back to school to earn your MBA!
A: I went to undergrad before Instagram was a thing so this whole digital marketing avenue is completely new and my experience with digital marketing has all be self-taught. I was a Finance undergrad so my career experience has always been numbers focused. My ultimate career goal is to launch a B2C business and I’m toying with the idea of it being in the commodity/CPG space. So to do this I’m going to need a lot of capital investment, which means I’ll need investors, an MBA will help me prepare for approaching investors and give me a solid business understanding to launch something that is hopefully successful.
Q: What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from blogging?
A: Be nice and be gracious. I can’t tell you how far you’ll go in this industry if you’re appreciative and nice to the people you potentially work with and your peers. I’ve landed multiple clients just from being nice and gracious from when they’ve given us a product in the past. Thank you notes go a long way as well!
Q: What is your favorite part about living in Atlanta?
A: How much it’s growing! When I was in undergrad, Atlanta was nowhere near as exciting as it is now and we never ventured past Buckhead. I LOVE living in the city and seeing the changes that happen every day. Midtown is exploding, the food scene is unbelievable, and I love seeing it change to a much more progressive place for young working professionals to live.
