Meet Emma Loggins | FanBolt Founder & Editor-in-Chief

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emma Loggins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emma, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I started FanBolt in 2002. I was a senior in high school at the time, and I had always struggled with feeling like an outsider. In school, I was your quintessential nerd, and I was made fun of for things I loved – whether that was the movies and television shows I watched or how much of my time I spent programming or gaming. So when I created FanBolt, my initial goal was to create an online community for fans like me who wanted to geek out over the media they loved – and do so without fear of judgment or bullying.

I never thought of it as a business until about a year later, when the site had so much traffic that my server was regularly crashing. At that point, I realized that I could monetize the traffic, upgrade the servers, and start having ads on the sites and doing sponsorships.

But in the beginning – it was just something I loved to do. Making money off of it didn’t even cross my mind until much later. Since that time, FanBolt has evolved into a full entertainment news and geek culture site – covering film, television, travel, fan conventions, and more.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I got both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from art schools, which meant my education focused more on design than coding. I had to teach myself how to program on the side in order to build the types of sites I wanted to build. As a result, I’m a designer who also knows how to program, which has given me the ability to start multiple businesses over the years with minimal startup costs.

What am I most proud of? I would have to say it’s just being an entrepreneur who has never given up. I have 3 successful businesses today, FanBolt, Women’s Business Daily (a site of resources and inspiration for female entrepreneurs), and Excite Creative Studios (a design and development agency that builds and maintains web presences for companies nationwide).

How did I get where I am today? I never gave up, I took risks, I networked every chance I got, and I put in the hours (I’ve not only done the design and development work on FanBolt – but I’ve also written over 7,000 articles, film reviews, and travel guides on the site). I wouldn’t say it was easy by any stretch. It’s been an insane amount of hard work – and the entertainment industry is incredibly competitive and harsh. But it’s been so rewarding. I look at the wonderful experiences I’ve had, and none of them would have been possible without FanBolt. I would never have met my husband, the majority of my friends, half of the wonderful clients I work with today in my other 2 businesses, nor would I have some of the incredible professional memories I have – like meeting Harrison Ford and Betty White or visiting the set of Stranger Things before Season 1 had even released. I’ve had the opportunity to do so much and meet so many incredible people – and that has made all the long hours over the more than two decades beyond worth it.

What do I want the world to know about my brand and myself? I’m a geek girl who loves film, television, travel, and all things nerdy. That’s what FanBolt was born out of. It’s a site by the fans for the fans. And it’s still that way today (filled with just as much geeky passion), nearly 22 years later.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This is hard – because my favorite spot in Atlanta just closed at the end of December. I absolutely loved Biltong Bar at Ponce City Market.

But aside from that, I would say you have to eat at The Optimist, get an Old Fashioned cocktail at Eleanor’s in Smyrna, grab a burger at Garden and Gun Club, catch a movie at the Plaza Theatre, see the shark exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium, take a food tour of Buford Highway, visit the High Museum of Art, hang out at The Battery, and go shopping at Ponce City Market.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My dad, Ben Loggins. Growing up, seeing him run his own business definitely fueled my desire to become an entrepreneur. He was always supportive of my business endeavors, and as a CPA, he was the best business advisor you could ask for.

Website: https://www.fanbolt.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmaloggins

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmaloggins/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/emmaloggins

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fanbolt

Other: Other business links: https://www.womensbusinessdaily.com/ https://www.excitecs.com/

Image Credits
FanBolt, Jason Hales