This weekend I’m was back in my (adopted) stomping grounds, and could’t have been more excited!! Over the last few days, I had the I N C R E D I B L E opportunity to attend Cosmopolitan magazine’s inaugural Fun Fearless Life weekend event! Which let me tell you-was one of the best things I’ve done for myself in, uh, forever. So since it’s a lot to take in, I’ll go slow and start with Friday.
So first off, I’ll explain to you what Cosmo’s Fun Fearless Life is all about, and why you should totally go next year (should I be advertising for them, or what?). As you probably know, Cosmo magazine is, in a nutshell, all about women empowering women, and having fun doing it. In a bigger and better way of explaining it, this event is Cosmo’s way of sharing their knowledge of other women’s acheivments and the great things they’ve come to know, and they are SO wonderful to share this knowledge with others. The event also isn’t centered around one subject-it’s got fashion figures, business women, models, TV personalities, and basically every other kind of woman you can think about it that is successful. Chrissy Teigen, Kelly Osbourne, Sarah Blakely (founder of Spanx), Shay Mitchell, Sophia Amoruso (founder/CEO of Nasty Gal), Jordan Carlos (from GirlCode), Dick Costolo (CEO of Twitter), Aya Kanai (Fashion Director at Cosmo), and Jillian Michaels to name just a few. So get what I’m saying, it’s the coolest thing ever right? The answer is abso-f*ing-lutely (said with true Cosmo sass).
Back to Friday. I woke up in high hopes of what the day was set to bring, but I honestly couldn’t have prepared myself for what was to come. I was to have lunch with Donna Lagani, SVP/Publishing Director, and Jenifer Geller, Executive Beauty Director, which as you can imagine was literally a dream. I was able to gain advice on how to further my career in fashion, how to connect and network with other gals that are like me and aspiring to do similar things in the industry, I was able to share my opinions on certain aspects of the magazine that I love (and they took me seriously so that of course was invigorating), and I had a fabulous lunch with two absolutely inspiring, inimitable, and empowering women that I was SO lucky to meet.
After lunch we walked to the Hearst tower and started up the giant possibly-could-be-intimating-but-they-weren’t, stairs. And then took the elevator to the 30th floor of course. Very Devil Wears Prada moment, no doubt. At the arrival of the 30th, I was greeted by glass doors with the COSMOPOLITAN across it, and I knew I had arrived to my future home. Donna and Jen were so warm and friendly in showing my Mom and I around the Cosmo offices. I was able to see a sneak peak of next months issue!! But I pinky swore I would’t give any secrets out, so my lips are sealed. I also saw the beauty room, where I wanted to try ALL THE PRODUCTS! I saw the cubicles the gals worked in which were equally as decorated and fashionable as the girls themselves, I got to see Donna’s office-overlooking Central Park might I add, I saw Joanna Coles, Editor in Chief of Cosmo if you didn’t know, which included a desk with an attached treadmill. Clever, right? I saw the sex columnist’s desk which was complete with Cosmo condoms and, eh-hem, adult toys, I walked by Aya in a meeting and tried my hardest not to barge in and say “Hi can I have your job?”. But the best of all was, drumroll please…the fashion closet. How did you know? If you’ve ever dreamed of a closet stocked with the latest and greatest, then chances are you were having deju-vu of the Cosmo closet. The men of Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik were in attendance, along with the lovely ladies of Chanel. All looked fabulous sitting on the shelves and hanging on the racks, and most all were marked with where they were to be born at, who was to where them, and more importantly what shoot they would be in. After the fashion closet, we had to part ways, but not after thanking Donna and Jen for the absolutely incredible out-of-body-experiance of an afternoon. After that, the afternoon was a blur because it was the best day, basically ever.
After an afternoon at Cosmo, we geared up to attend an event with Express, hosted by Cosmo of course. The event was at the new store in Times Square, so of course it was a mad house. When I walked in I was greeted with fab clothes and even fabber (just made that word up, no shame) food and company. While mingling with Cosmo editors, we were able to taste tiny horderves, get flash tattoos, have a fashion drawing done of yourself, and of course meet all the amazing women around you! I was able to meet Joanna Coles (Editor in Chief of Cosmo), Aya Kanai (Cosmo’s Fashion Editor, who has previously been at Teen Vogue, Nylon magazine, and Shopbop.com), and so many more that were all so kind! After a few hours in my heels, my feet had bit the dust so it was time to call it a night. Almost.
After leaving Express, mom and I went back to the hotel for a change of clothes and headed to grab dinner at an Irish pub. Mind you, we didn’t know what we were walking into – Friday night Karoke. An older man in a suit, a lawyer, was celebrating his 10th year singing every Friday at the bar so naturally we sat back and listened to him. He was something, no doubt. And I did get up and bust a tune if you were wondering, Rappers Delight-only the greatest karaoke song ever.
After Friday night karaoke, we really did decide to call it a night.
And that’s just Part One.
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