@ToryBurch @IvankaTrump

Flying solo at the Tory Burch featuring Ivanka Trump gala was intimidating at first. It takes some femmetrepreneur "balls point pens" to attend a gala alone. I bought the Trump Card business bible and sat down on the low white couch to read. I was immediately enchanted.



2 pages in, the what I assumed to be the book manager of the event approached me and asked if i would like Ivanka to sign the book. I walked over to the book table display and the stunning Ivanka Trump greeted me. She looks the same as she does in her ads and television appearances- just classy gorgeous.



She asked me if I read the book. I have not. I told her I can relate to being born into a wealthy family but in the end it's on me to work hard. She asked me what business I am in and to be honest I didn't know what to say. I wanted to talk about The Lights show but all that came out was that my father is a pioneering physician. I didn't want tonight to be about me- it was all about her. I can't wait to read the book to brush up on modern business etiquette. I handed her her gift that I had designed and gave Tory's gift to her sales rep because I just missed her.


After a couple glasses of the finest champagne and caviar, I started mingling with the Patrick Mcmullen camera man and actor/model side job servers and found out that the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad is speaking tomorrow night in the city.



Then the night became magical. I was speaking to model Emile from Australia by the entrance and as two fabulously dressed young women walked by to leave, I seized the moment and said, "do you mind if I ask you ladies a question." "Sure", they broke stride. I proceeded to ask them if they were entrepreneurs. No, however one worked for Tory Burch.



After exhanging cards I suddenly realized I was closing out the place with the staff. I rushed to take iPhone stills as one of the sales reps complimented by bebe diamond fishnet stockings.

Feeling confident (yes the champagne was that fabulous) I found myself cliquing with Caroline who manages all the Tory Burch social media and online marketing. I am interested in doing a post on Tory and she is interested in @NewYorkCityPR. We can't wait to have coffee at Machiatto next week.





"If you do work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come". -Oprah Winfrey. First page of The Trump Card.

The time has come to Rock Tradition

Tory Burch
6-8— celebrating new eyewear launch and the Trump Card.
257 Elizabeth Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 334-3000
Serendipity and energy is a funny thing. For the past week I have been dreaming about Ivanka Trump either guest starring on The Lights (I already wrote out the scene where I am in a dream speaking to her in the boardroom) or narrating the voice overs. What does a femmetrepreneur do when Ivanka Trump tweets that she will be at the Tory Burch Nolita boutique in just a few hours! We drop whatever we are doing and rearrange our schedules to follow this Celestine Prophecy.


Now, I have to re-write the script and nix filming me going to Borders/Barnes & Noble to purchase the Trump Card— Ivanka Trump's latest book about business. I spoke with someone at the boutique and cameras of course are not allowed—I am actually happy about this since it's been a long time that I have been out with just a cocktail in hand enjoying just meeting people naturally without the intimidation of the camera.

With a purchase of her book ( $24.99) you receive a Trump gift bag! I am SO excited! Also, Tory Burch is not only celebrating the Trump Card– she is launching her eyewear collection! Did you all know that my father pioneered LASIK eye surgery?— and yet I am still in glasses & contacts! Ha! I am waiting for his inside the eye contact lens. Can they make me look like Edward Cullen?
(Oh just went to the website and see sunglasses— I wonder if she is coming out with lenses?

Anyway! Tory Burch will also have some items from her spring collection.

Wow. Ivanka Trump & Tory Burch— major femmetrepreneurs.

My plan is to go— even if I am solo, buy The Trump Card and have a reading date with my hors d'ouvres and cocktail. I actually am not going to be on the prowl to network as I am on a great path with my circle of solid femme colleagues, however I will just live in the moment and see how the energy is and where it takes me.

Now, I have about one hour and 15 minutes to shower, choose an outfit in my limited selection of a suitcase, print a card to give to Ivanka Trump and take the 30 min train there from Brooklyn.

It's now 5:10 and I am showered and the design gift for Ivanka and Tory are done. Not bad. Now, the question! what to wear!


I just had to whip up some business cards too! (I arrived at 7:15).

Friends and Favors— When To Say No

My cast member, Marigo (#msmpr) texted me to bring her written proposal to design life. She already did all the work of writing one of her brilliant pitches for one of her clients. I knew this day was coming after she was impressed when she saw the proposal I designed for @NewYorkCityPR's Video Publicity department for Sara Claire & Esther. Without much hesitation I told her it was a go.




After college, the beer pong is put away and the desire to attend the hottest & classiest galas becomes the new networking social hour— especially in NY. It's just a matter of time when your new friends start wanting favors— favors that take time away from your TDL (to do list) and turns their next incoming mail into gold. Here are 3 tips to know when to do the favor and when to JUST say no.

1. ASSESS YOUR FRIENDSHIP
A. You Just Exchanged Business Cards.
If you just met someone and they ask for a favor you need to ask yourself if you need anything from them. Maybe they have a contact you need or they are in an industry that you know you will need to tap into in the next 3-6 months. If this is the case then you can do them the favor with the underlying notion of asking them for one in return in the future.

B. A Friend You've Known For Over 2 Years
For someone that you have known for awhile that asks for a favor— they need to pass the "Facebook Test". If they haven't written on your wall in the past year or texted you in the past 3 months then that should make it easy for you to decline. If it's your bestie then by now of course you say yes to favors because they don't take advantage.

2. Listen to your gut
If someone asks you for a favor and you feel as if you are being used or have the high school feeling that you are being taken advantage of and know that this person would never do anything for you (you would never need a favor from them anyway) then email them and say, "I am sorry I just have too much on my plate to meet your deadline. Good Luck though! It sounds cool. Best, ______".

3. Beyond the 1st Favor
A. You're Becoming Colleagues
Oftentimes, you will dealing with someone who is your friend within your circle of colleagues and they have come to really like what you've got. When they ask for more favors you need to determine if you are getting anything in return. This can be a real advantage for you because a nice barter relationship has evolved. For example, if someone has a lot of twitter followers, contacts or a hot blog—you may be inclined to keep up your end of the favors if you see that you have been mentioned on postings or tweets. If nothing happens, then the next time they ask for the favor you can text them and ask them to do something for you— they will agree if they want something from you. If you want one of their contacts then after you do the first favor and they say "Thank You! I owe you one"— then go ahead and ask for their contact's email.

B. When To Charge
If you really don't need anything from them then you need to write your friend an email stating that you are slammed and the only way to be squeezed in is if they can pay for your time. Let them know that you gave them the friend discount. If you normally charge $50/hour charge $25. This is a really nice way to draw the friendly line. If you find out later that this person starts gossiping about your arrogance then you know they aren't a good friend and you can detox them out of your life.

Organizing

We hear it time and time again that an organized workspace opens a special portal in life that is supposed to be effortlessly flowing with positive energy and progress. It really helps with the 4 quadrants (Dr. Dyer anyone?).

After putting a load of laundry in and picking things off the chair and floor, my desk is still a mess but the most pressing tool for me is to label all the clips in my editing suite. I have to prepare all the footage for the pro editors in the other Lights dept.
See all the Untitled's to the left? I have to sort though 8 months of filming. It will be so much fun though. Sarah Austin and I have determined that December is the final production month before the real fun begins.

I also noticed on my Twitter settings reads web series... hmm, can my subconscious be telling me something that is fortuitous? I already decided that if the tv networks don't pick the show up in a certain amount of time frame then I am going to make a proposal to Twitter and @NewYorkCityPR. MTV, Lifetime, CW, Bravo, Oxygen, VH1, & We are hot ones to receive an invitation for a viewing meeting.

The Lights will be editing like a movie (short film) with a splash of The City and Sex and the City. With LA music connections this show is going to be amazing. It was quite the journey carrying tripods and lights around but I can say that I am proud that I was able to create the first mobile production company. I hired the best camera man in the city and now it's time to get organized so The Lights can launch early next year.

I am also setting up celebrity guest stars who have been successful with their minds.

Side Work

I freelance design for @newyorkcitypr and they have already published their vision as being the first virtual department store. The brand name is No Label— a store for those who are working hard to pull themselves out of the recession. The motto goes, "there is nothing insecure about paying less"—
which was inspired off of Christian Siriano's publicist's decision to do the deal with Payless. Bianco Bianconi just started her own PR firm and we are all so happy for her. She is a real sweetheart.


The next step is to build a section of No Label that houses actual designers. The vision is for each carefully selected designer to have their own unique room.

Here is an example of what I thought of for Zara Terez if she would have a room in the virtual store.
You all must know that I majored in Visual Communications at a very exclusive school. I really enjoy designing and building solid relationships. I definitely miss my close friends. It's really hard to find truly supportive friends who become your sisters. Finding them in business is a dream.

The exciting part about working with the designers who sign on will be writing their screenplay for how their brand will be portrayed in edited video. The idea is to make them their own stars in their own virtual reality show in their exclusively branded rooms on NoLabelSecret.com

I met Zara while filming Lights star Marigo Mihalos at the Zara Terez trunk show at The Shoe Box on Lex.

Secret Aps for the blogger on the go

So.... I've been thinking how to ween myself off the computer. Thoughts of blissful facials and being drivin around in a Lincoln Town car for filmed coffee meetings at Macchiato and to ballet training. A driver = lifestyle.
--
Here I am on the BlogPress app managing this post. I am going to search for a Google image AND color correct it- all from my phone.











Wow it took about a minute to do all this mobilelly:

Recap of what I designed:
1. Search an image on Google images.
2. Crop out the credit
3. Color correct and only make certain portions of the image black and white and other portions in color.

The secret aps and how to:
1. Download "Image Pro" where you can search for any google image and easily save it to your camera library.

2. Download "Photo Daily" where you can easily open an image from your camera media library. There you can effortlessly crop to different sizes and add fun filters and color correct- adjusting the contrast. You press save and it saves the new arty image to your photo library.

3. Last Download "Color Splash" where the image becomes black and white automatically and you just finger point where you want color on your image. Wow this is better than Photoshop to do this technique!

Happy Blogging.

Where is Oprah's Email?!

After watching the CNBC Oprah Effect special I suddenly had a case of deja vu. Why do I have the strange feeling that one of Oprah's producers wrote me or my old intern back something very brief about being interested in FudgeHim! And WHYYYYY did I not follow up with her? The only sense I can hold on to was that I was in disbelief and it was the time where a boutique owner told me to change the packaging by adding a lid design to the jar. I must of thought I wasn't ready not to mention the fact that I am not setttled in my own place yet from living out of suitcase.

Easy thought right—to go through my old emails—except when I tried logging into my old email I could not access it because I had canceled my hosting account with Volusion because $20 a month was added up without any online sales. OMFG! Why is this happening to me? The only sign I have is that I randomly wanted to see who Oprah was following on twitter since she only follows 17 people and @sherisalata happened to be one of them. She is an executive producer for Oprah and honestly, her name is ringing a bell. As you can see, I tweeted her and hope she at least read my tweet. Next I have to send her something everyday. I just filmed a segment for The Lights where my partner in LA, Lauren and I were texting as I was watching the Oprah Effect and I told her that I think we should send Oprah's producers a creative gift a day for a month to see what happens. Fingers crossed!

Femmetrepreneurs: this blog's for you.

So. You left everything you know or took this road less traveled from the beginning. Either way, it's against your dna to work for anyone other than yourself. Sure, it's liberating when we see people in cubicles in the movies yet it's exhausting and kinda scary. I will share with you my ideas, where I am with them and vow to blog at least once a day.

Today was Thanksgiving. CNBC had a special on The Oprah Effect. Her midas touch literally is magical on businesses. It takes one mention for sales to soar. 44 million viewers a week. That's 1/6th of Americans tuning in. 1/6th! I couldn't help but get emotional. The story of the "We make the cake" and Carol's Daughter are incredible examples of how we all should do our very best to try and get on the Oprah Show before it's too late. I have an idea and will tell you later.

Before going to bed I watched Julie and Julia for the second time and became inspired to start this blog. Again, I cried at the end. I realized my tears are of joy of witnessing the rags to riches stories. There is nothing more enchanting than to watch an entrepreneur's success story. It helps us stay on our path no matter how dreary it can be. I know the voice inside your head. Trust Me. You think: When is that going to be me? When will all this hard work pay off? Who will notice my brilliant product ideas? How will I get the attention of producers that have the midas touch? Will it ever happen? Am I wasting my time? Should I just get a job?!
(Sign) Well, I invest everything I have to being a femmetrepreneur, as you probably do too. I know one thing and one thing only— I will never stop until I become a success story. I live out of a suitcase. That is the only way I am able to executive produce and star in the show The Lights. Sarah Jessica Parker is my role model. She executive produced Sex and the City and became sought after for endorsement products.

One day we will look back and think, "wow, I did it.". I can't wait to get to know my readers and share your stories as being a femmetrepreneur. Here it goes...