Troy, N.C. — Prominent design blogger, home furnishings designer and Capel Rugs licensing partner Cococozy has been named to Forbes magazine’s Top Influencers list.

“We’re so excited that Coco has been honored this way,” said Cameron Capel, vice president of national accounts for Capel Rugs. “She is an amazing blogger and communicator with inspiring, relatable messages and tips for today’s busy women. And she’s also a highly talented designer with a knack for creating fashion-forward rugs and textiles that are both livable and affordable.”

Cococozy’s partnership with Capel Rugs started in 2013, when she launched a new program of five collections and 24 rugs. Since that time, her COCOCOZY for Capel program has steadily grown to include a variety of styles, constructions and price points. At the October High Point Market, the COCOCOZY for Capel Rugs line added four new collections, including the highly popular Finesse Tower Court design, which may retail at $149 for a 5’3” x 7’6” rug, and the Color Block design, which may retail at $699 for a 5’ x 8’ rug.

Cococozy — one of 10 influencers singled out in the Home category, and one of only 30 influencers named in this first edition of the list — also has a licensing deal with Mirth Studio for painted wood floor tiles, and makes her own line of pillows, throws, home textiles and accessories.

“A television executive by day who prefers to remain ‘pseudonymous,’ the blogger behind Cococozy started out in 2008 at the behest of a friend,” said Forbes in the profile it posted about Cococozy on its website. “Since (then), she’s grown an online presence into a fully-fledged textiles and furnishings brand.”

Published for the first time in April, Forbes’ Top Influencers list will be published quarterly, ranking 10 superstars from each of three unique categories per launch, starting with Beauty, Fitness and Home. Other standouts on the first list include British fashion and beauty blogger Zoe Sugg, fitness mogul Kayla Itsines and Design*Sponge’s Grace Bonney.

To create its list, Forbes partnered with influencer analytics firm Traackr, using proprietary data to measure reach, or audience size; resonance, or propensity for virality; and relevance, or engagement related to an area of expertise. With the help of social insight platform Captiv8, the magazine then weighted each candidate’s potential for earnings per post according to the size of their following. The editors also reviewed endorsements and other business generated offline, such as product lines and book deals.

When Coco began blogging nearly 10 years ago, she said, her goal was simple: to provide design and style inspiration with a personal and sometimes humorous approach. Little did she know that Cococozy the blog would become so popular.

On Bloglovin’ — an online “aggregator” that steers visitors to popular blogs of interest — the Cococozy blog has an audience of 140,000+ followers. On social media, the designer boasts an equally impressive base of followers and fans. Her network includes 94,000 “likes” on Facebook, 65,000 followers on Instagram, 33,000 followers on Twitter and 25,000 followers on Pinterest. Her Pinterest “pins” are viewed by as many as 3.3 million people monthly when “repins” and “shares” are considered.

In addition to the thousands who come to her blog each day, pop star Katy Perry and interior design guru Jonathan Adler both named Cococozy one of their favorite interior design blogs in InStyle magazine.

“Blogging is not easy, so you have to love what you do,” said Coco in explaining her success. “You have to love what you are talking about, you have to love to story-tell and you have to have dedication and consistency.”

The Cococozy blog, located at www.cococozy.com, is known for being authentic and reliable. A champion multitasker who also works full-time as a top broadcasting executive in Los Angeles, Coco posts a new blog every day, often writing at 6 a.m. before her official work day begins.

“I enjoy every minute of sharing my point of view on décor, design, fashion, entertaining and more,” said Coco. “Through my blog, I also try to encourage other women to pursue their passions and dreams. Your passion doesn’t have to be something that could turn into a business. It might be a passion of spending time with friends, taking care of those in need, doing good in the community or loving the people around you. Regardless of what you do and love to do, I would give the same advice: Stick with your passion!”

About Capel Rugs
Based in Troy, N.C., Capel, Inc. offers more rugs in more categories than any other area rug company, including original braided rugs and woven rugs made in North Carolina for 100 years, the finest hand knotted rugs, best selling hand tufted rugs, innovative outdoor rugs and kids rugs. To see more from Capel Rugs' program, visit CapelRugs.com.

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