About
Hi! I’m Rigel Celeste
I believe that writing is an art form, and blog writing in particular is unlike any other kind of writing.
It’s creative, it’s technical. It’s personal to you, but also all about the reader. It involves so much strategy but also authenticity and “heart.” It presents a unique challenge to be sure!
I aim to help writers find their voices, build their confidence, feed their creativity and write words that make a real impact on the world. My focus and experience is primarily related to blogging and online content writing, but the principles I teach can be applied across various writing disciplines.
My writing experience
I’ve been a professional writer since 2007. My very first writing gig was in 2006 writing blog posts for a small celebrity gossip website. I moved quickly from there to AOL, where they had a large network of websites all connected but each specializing in very specific niches. I started writing on health and fitness topics for a site called That’s Fit, then added heart health topics on The Cardio Blog, eco topics on Green Daily, and finally all things luxury on a large site called Luxist. I’m not a particularly glitzy girl but somehow I fit in well there — it was fun blogging about diamond-encrusted luggage tags and overly extravagant bottled waters gathered from faraway mountain tops. And it was there that I took over their daily “Handbag of the Day” feature, which was one of my favorites to write and marked the beginning of my expertise in fashion and luxury topics.
Luxist was a giant in its niche for awhile, but alas it would not last — AOL merged with The Huffington Post in 2011 and Luxist was a quick casualty (along with all of the other AOL websites). After that I went on to write for a wild mix of websites, covering everything from fashion and gossip to home decor and general lifestyle topics. Some of my most regular work was contributing to the American Express luxury online magazine Centurion, eventually expanding to their Departures and AmexEssentials properties as well. I also did a good deal of ghostwriting for a small online PR firm called BitesizePR. I was writing full time until February 2017 when, just a few months before my daughter was born, I decided I was tired of writing for others and wanted to start my own blog. I wanted to write for myself and build something that was mine. So I quit! I stopped accepting new assignments and have been (slowly but surely) building my own blogging empire ever since. In addition to blogging about writing I also cover a variety of mom and family topics at GaleandPlum.com.
The personal stuff
As for hobbies I’m currently in the thick of preschooler and early elementary life, so I don’t have a lot of time for myself, but when I do get the occasional leisure minute and I’m not writing for my blog(s) I like to garden, play video games, be generally artsy (I like drawing, painting, photography, graphic design, animation, crafts, etc), order monthly subscription boxes (love the surprise factor! Fab Fit Fun and Glossybox are two of my faves) and binge on obscure Netflix Originals and Amazon Prime movies.