New York, NY – Fifteen years ago, Julia Berolzheimer began posting outfit photos from her college dorm room, never imagining she was laying the groundwork for a digital empire. What started as a passion project called Gal Meets Glam has since evolved into a thriving business, a family affair, and a masterclass in adaptation. Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE, the veteran creator shares the secrets behind her longevity—including the surprising decision to abandon TikTok for Substack.
When Berolzheimer launched her blog in 2011, the concept of “influencing” didn’t exist. There was no blueprint for fame or fortune, which she credits as a major advantage. “I started it before there was an option to get ‘fame,'” she told PEOPLE. “Now you see so much of what people have achieved… versus when I started, there was nothing to look at and say, ‘I want to achieve that.’” This purity of purpose allowed her to build a community based on genuine connection rather than a chase for metrics.
While many creators chase viral moments, Berolzheimer and her husband-turned-business-partner, Thomas, chose to play the long game. Their most controversial move? Walking away from TikTok entirely. Despite having 1.4 million followers on Instagram, the couple stopped posting on the short-form video platform in 2023. “We decided to invest our time in Substack instead because our followers are a lot older,” Thomas explained. Their audience, primarily women aged 30 to 50, boasts a high average order value—making deeper, newsletter-style engagement more lucrative than fleeting video views.
Financially, the couple has sworn by a strategy that defies the industry norm: prioritizing affiliate marketing over flat-fee brand deals. “Because upfront, a flat fee from a brand seems a lot more lucrative, but over time, affiliate monetization can be incredibly powerful,” Julia noted. This sustainable revenue model, combined with a strict boundary between work and life, has been the bedrock of their success. “It felt safer to sort of have a boundary,” she admits. “I think everybody needs to have a boundary with social media.”
The Berolzheimers are not resting on their laurels. Recently, Thomas and his business partner launched Coreli, an AI-driven platform designed to help creators build aesthetically pleasing landing pages that convert better than standard link-in-bio tools. The couple has also refined their internal workflow to avoid burnout—restructuring their team so that Julia reports to just one person, preventing her from being a bottleneck on approvals.
As she looks toward the future, Julia is balancing the polished aesthetic she built her career on with a new willingness to be raw and vulnerable. Ultimately, her advice to aspiring creators is simple: “If you want to play the long game in this business, you have to be delivering something to your audience and not just taking. It’s about providing something for them, and that creates a long-lasting relationship that then builds a brand over time.”
