Many underclassmen don't have any distinct plans for their future career. Sophomore Niyah Jackson is an exception. Jackson describes herself as an "aspiring fashion stylist" on her fashion blog Inexpensive Chic.

Jackson has a unique fashion sense. She describes her personal style as being "sophisticated, and chic, and put-together."

Niyah models a lace dress paired with a leather jacket. Photo courtesy of Niyah Jackson (click to enlarge.)

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"I definitely always have to have a pop of color somewhere in my outfit; that's kind of my signature, I guess," Jackson said. "I just like incorporating color, and it feels kind of bland to me when I have on just black and white."

Her inspiration comes from several celebrities as well people on the street. She specifies Alexa Chung as one of her main celebrity fashion icons.

Jackson is also inspired by things she sees on "the runway, and on other people's fashion blogs, and on these websites where they accumulate different images, like Pinterest, [...] or if you just look at anyone on the street."

"Fashion in general is probably, like, 90 percent of my life," Jackson said. "It's just fun for me. It's not like I'm trying to impress anyone. It just comes naturally to me, and I enjoy doing it. I enjoy putting effort into the way I look just because I like fashion, and so this is the way I express myself."

Though fashion has always been an interest of Jackson's, she only recently realized that it could be a career. Jackson began her fashion blog the summer of 2011 as a way for her to enter the fashion world. She modeled her blog after other fashion blogs.

A popular section of her blog is her collection of Street Style articles, in which she features the unique fashion choices and outfits of people from around the world. She uses forums, such as Independent Fashion Bloggers, to find people to feature in these articles.

She also features other fashion blogs and has interviewed a few designers, store owners, and photographers. Jackson also blogs about current trends or certain items that she likes.

Niyah poses in Uni's library. Photo courtesy of Niyah Jackson (click to enlarge.)

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"I blog about what I'm inspired by," she said, "and [about] what I come across in magazines and on other blogs that inspire me and that I want to write about."

Jackson's blog already has over 60,000 views, a number that she did not expect to reach until she had been writing for a year. Once her blog started growing, she wanted a contributing writer to help her write about beauty so that she could appeal to more readers.

Her first contributing writer was a close friend who went by the pseudonym Melanie and writes an article every Monday. When Melanie got too busy to continue writing, Jackson sent out a search and now has four contributing writers and is looking for more.

Jackson herself is a contributing writer for the online magazine High School Pieces, writing articles twice a month. Jackson writes many feature articles, some showing her own personal style, in addition to featuring other peoples' style.

Jackson sums up her inspiration with a quote from Coco Chanel: "Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street. Fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, and what is happening."