Tara McPherson; Rise to Success!

    As a girl, I was independent, proud of my femininity and of being a woman, you know, and not being scared to do things that girls would normally do.

   When I was younger, I always went to art magnet schools; in junior high I went to a performing arts magnet that did music, acting and graphic design. In high school, I went to a specifically visual arts magnet program, got really into photography, and I still did all the art classes.

    During college, I took one term off to intern with Matt Groening on Futurama. I enjoyed it very much, and it was a paid internship too, which was the most money I had ever made in my life!

   I assisted the character and prop designers, the directors, and the producers; I did scanning, faxing, organizing and looked for scenes, stuff like that. I absorbed tons, I learned a lot about colour pallet and colour theory.

   I loved school. I could have been in school forever, working really well with deadlines within a structured environment, which translates really well to being a freelance artist. You have to work within the parameters art directors and galleries give you. There are many artists who don't like that environment who do wonderfully well on their own. Gary Basemen never went to college, I know that, but he has this crazy obsessive drive in his personality, so it works. There are lots of people that have talent, tons and tons, but it takes that extra something to have the drive and the ambition to really go far. It’s hard to work so much, you have to say no to a lot of things. Basically, you have to give up your life, you know, these things aren’t going to paint themselves.

  I graduated in 2001.  While I was in school, I was already doing art shows and freelance work. My schedule for the past 15 years has been working 15 hour days and not having a life-you have to say no to those fun parties, dinners, and movie nights that all your friends are going to.

   It was definitely hard sacrificing my social life for my career but you get a payoff in a different way.  I get invited to go to Europe or I can do a book tour for six weeks, travel around, and that's work, too!  I am really social so that was hard for me, but moving to New York. This city works for me because I can work 15 hours until three in the morning and I can still go out and meet my friends for another hour or so and have a few drinks and unwind before I went to bed. I’d talk to my friends, so I felt like I had a fuller life. Usually after a solo show I will take a month or two off, because those solo shows are really intense to work on and I will travel or I will set aside time between deadlines to go travel if I am doing an event or a small art show somewhere.

  In the beginning-to sell my work and myself I started calling around to galleries. I didn't mail them anything. I didn't do postcard mailings to art directors or anything like that, because I never really did editorial illustration.  It doesn't pay that well and the turn around time is so fast, I never really ended up enjoying it. I started taking out adds in Juxtapose magazine, for selling my prints and little merchandise I was making.  That really helped because even though I wasn't in the magazine, you know, featured, people didn't even pay attention to that, they would just say oh I saw your Juxtapose, meanwhile I was paying to be in there, but it worked. It helped with recognisability. I also started working in comics, I would go to comic conventions and have a little table and meet people and have my prints. I did that for years and years and years. Then I got an email from an editor at Vertigo DC Comics about doing comic book covers and that was a big factor in helping me gain some popularity and helped my fine art career blossom.  Then I started doing rock posters, and that was a really great and unexpected surprise!


A Day in the Life:

Emails were already checked; I'm going to head over to The Cotton Candy Machine, an art boutique my boyfriend and I just opened. We show all my stuff and other artists’ merchandise that’s affordable. We don't consider ourselves a gallery; we’re not into selling thousand dollar paintings, the market is affordability-we want everyone to be able to buy prints, small pieces of artwork, t-shirts, and art books. We have monthly art shows with really fun, really cool artists that we want to work with.
 I am actually co-curating an art show in Rome at the Dorothy Circus Gallery. It is a charity sale, so half the profits are going to get donated to Green Peace and Oceana. I have some of the paintings that got shipped to the store, so what I have to do is, run over to the store and grab those, and then I have to bring them over to my art studio, scan them, scan my piece, and then bring them back to the store to get them shipped out.  Then I am going to come back home.  Maybe I'm going to meet my friend for tea, we'll see if there is time for that, and then I am going to come back home and work on the drawing for paintings I have to finish in a couple weeks, so I will be drawing and working out those ideas and figuring out what I can do, how I can make it look as badass as possible within the time frame. I have to answer a small interview for a magazine, and I have to make a little postcard for our next show at the Cotton Candy Machine.  We need to make the flyer for that and get that to the printer by five p.m. and I think that might be it for today, we'll see.


Tara’s Advice:

   Email’s are an extremely important thing that you have to stay on top of, and it's hard because they keep coming in and they take forever to answer, you know. I mean, I begin my day checking my emails, and sometimes it takes me four to six hours to get through all my emails, from answering interviews or organizing things, getting back to people figuring out organizing which I am really good at and I enjoy doing, so that benefits my career and I like to do that. It’s a good way to procrastinate when I don't feel like drawing just yet, I think I’ll go through these emails and find good ways to positively procrastinate.
It’s really important to pay attention to the business side of things because that is a huge part. You can live in a fantasy world and just paint in your studio forever and just disregard the rest of it.  No one is going to see your work and no one is going to find you because no one is going to be communicating with you.

Be yourself, be on time, be nice, be courteous, put 110 % into your work and you will have a good relationship with your clients. It never hurts to be able to hang out with them in person, you know, that’s the thing about living in New York or L.A.  I have gotten so many jobs and art shows, and fun things from going to a party and meeting someone, it really happens.  That’s that luck factor I was talking about, it’s being at the right place at the right time. If you want to be in art shows, go to art shows constantly, if you want to work in music, go see bands, meet managers, and immerse yourself in the environment that you want to be in. What really helps, is meeting in person. In line for the toilet making small talk, oh, where do you work? It happens.

xoxo Entrepreneur Girl

Forbes Women Journalist, Jenna Goudreau! (Fictional story based on Jenna's life)

 Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty drifted from the speakers behind a slightly staggered row of frail ladies with white, neatly quaffed heads. They watched as a group of young girls adorned with bright pink boas performed a ballet, flailing multicolored streamers around the green grass of the backyard. The music ended and one of the ballerinas, Jenna, approached her great-grandmother sitting amongst her best friends. The ladies clapped and handed Jenna and the neighbourhood girls dollar bills while cheering for more.

 "Jenna."

  Her mother stood over her as Jenna startled awake, a book falling from her chest and bouncing on the floor with a clunk. She must have fallen asleep reading again.  She devoured books from a really young age.

 "Yes?" Jenna answered her mom, as she groggily rubbed the sleep from her eyes and reached down to retrieve her book.

 "There is mail for you," she said, waving a white envelope in front of her.

 "You're kidding!" Jenna said excitedly and snapped awake.

  Jenna had been waiting for weeks to hear if she had gotten into the performing arts high school for which she had auditioned. Jenna gingerly ripped open the envelope, careful not to tear the letter neatly concealed inside. She carefully pulled it out and unfolded it, feeling the smooth paper under her fingertips, really official. A look of dismay swept across Jenna's face.

  "Well, what does it say?" Her mother urged, looking concerned.
Jenna read aloud: Dear Miss Jenna Goudreau, it is our great pleasure to congratulate you and welcome you into the program of Performance Theatre, at the High school for the Arts in Jacksonville, Florida.

  "Weeeee!" Her mother squealed and hugged her daughter tightly. "We have to tell Gigi!" With that, she flitted out the door and down the stairs to the phone.
Gigi was Jenna's great grandmother, whom she had just been dreaming about. Her mother was single and worked long hours trying to make ends meet ever since Jenna was born. She had no other siblings, so she either went to daycare or spent her time with her great grandmother.

"Jenna, Gigi's on the phone! Come down and tell her your news," her mother exclaimed up the stairs.

"Coming!" Jenna bounded out of her room, tightly clutching the letter.

***
  Jenna was convinced she wanted to be an actor all through grade school and now that she had gotten into a performing arts high school, she was even more convinced.
   As she progressed through her classes having to write and perform her own scripts, Jenna found she had a talent for writing. She almost took it for granted as just something that was really easy for her, but her writing was what she received the most compliments on.
 
  In her senior year, she realized just how much college was going to cost her, and she started thinking twice about whether it was smart to get an acting degree. Jenna did her research and picked a school that was close to New York, her favorite place in the world. She didn't declare a major right away because she intended to continue her acting on the side.  Jenna then started taking journalism classes thinking, I can write, I'm good at talking to people. Maybe this is a skill I should develop.  She went full force studying Journalism and Sociology at NYU. After a while, she didn't even care about acting anymore. She just left it behind because she started to really love journalism.

 Jenna decided that there were steps that she would have to take if she was going to be in the incredibly competitive world of Journalism. She also felt that having her Journalism degree from NYU was particularly helpful because their program was very well known and the media industry was in NYC. Jenna figured out the steps she needed to take in order to get where she wanted to go and she tackled those goals to the best of her ability.
    Firstly, it was very important for her to acquire internships to get real world experience. She applied to twenty different magazines for the summer between her junior and senior year. One of the publications that accepted her was Business Week.  She took it, not having any interest, really, in business journalism, but because it was a quality publication, she would be paid and it was a full-time gig for three months.
    It was a quick education for Jenna and she got a few written pieces in the magazine.  She also learned a lot about business, the journalism industry and what it's like working day to day in a magazine.
   Next was Ladies Home Journal. This was a completely different experience from Business Week because she was working mostly with women, it was women's content and it was fun!  A lot of fun!
  Jenna's Ladies Home Journal internship ended right as her senior year ended, and she was going on many interviews all over town to see if she could secure a full time job. One of those interviews was for Forbes Women: the magazine.
***
  The day of the interview finally arrived, Jenna stepped out of her cab in front of a colossal grey building. The words Forbes Magazine was engraved above four pillars that framed the entrance. Her heart skipped a beat as she entered the large front doors and crossed her fingers for luck.
***
 "And I got it," Jenna declared, holding her cellphone to her ear as she spoke to her mom about the Forbes position.
 "I got an editorial assistant position there, how crazy is that?!"
 "It's the day after you graduated, too," her mother reminded her. Pride oozed from her lips.
 "Yes, and I start next week. So now I have a full time job!" Jenna's voice was full of anticipation and excitement.
 
One month later:
 
 Jenna sat on the couch of her apartment in NYC, papers surrounding her.  There was no air-conditioning so she cracked open a window.
 "Jenna!" a  brunette girl yelled. Jenna looked at her phone,
 "You are an hour early."
  "Sorry, the subway was a lot faster than I expected.  Are you going to let me up?"
  "Yeah, just a sec, I’ll buzz you up."
  Jenna pressed a button and waited. Beth had been one of Jenna's neighbours growing up. Jenna was having a reunion party for all the girls with whom she used to perform ballets for her great-grandma.
 A few seconds later her friend Beth showed up at her front door.
 "It is so nice to see you!" They both embraced excitedly.
 Beth paused and peered around the apartment.
  "What's with all the papers?" She was always a little outspoken.
 "I'm working on a story."
 "Oh, right, how is your job at Forbes going?" Beth asked, seating herself at Jenna's kitchen table.
 "I love it!"
 "Elaborate, we do have an hour.  It's four o'clock- just putting it out there."
  Jenna laughed.
  "Ok, so on a day to day basis, I write online pieces, some are feature-driven from idea meetings that my team and I have."
  Jenna started to pick up her notes and put them away in her writing folder.
  "I also work on larger magazine projects, and the annual World's 100 most powerful women list."
 "So exciting." Beth gushed.
 "Which is a lot of fun!  So we work on that, start to finish, the Forbes' Women Team, and we figure out who we're going to consider."
 She pulled out some chips and veggie appetizers, and placed them on the table beside Beth.
  "It's usually a couple of hundred women, then we nail down numbers behind their power, we rank them, we interview them, and we do a whole magazine and online package every year.”
 "So I will assume this is what you are working on now," said Beth, as she picked up a piece of celery, swizzled it in dip and then ate it with a crunch.
 "Yes, and it is my first time so I am really excited!"
  Jenna straightened out her couch and refolded the grey wool throw.
  "I also work on some lists for the magazine like the World's Billionaires, the Richest People in America, and the Celebrity 100," Jenna said energetically.
 "So what is the article you are working on now?" Beth asked curiously.
 "I am in charge of helping with the J-Lo piece this issue."
 "Wow!"
 Jenna finally sat down beside Beth. "Every day is a little bit different.  Sometimes I will be interviewing someone on camera, sometimes I'll be writing something quickly for the web. Sometimes it's a longer magazine package."
  Jenna put a chip in her mouth.
  "Sometimes I'll be going on TV and talking about some of this stuff.  So it's fun, there's a variety of things to do.  It can be stressful because it's a lot of work, but it's cool."
They were interrupted by Jenna's phone ringing. She answered.
  "Lindsay, hey, yeah, just come on up."
 Jenna hung up the phone, and looked up at Beth with an ear-to-ear grin.
 "Let the party begin."

A Day in the Life:
 
  I watch The Today Show every morning, so that's a good start.  I read the New York Times every day. I enjoy the New Yorker, I read that.  I've a host of websites that I read. We have the news meeting from 9:30 to 9:45 usually.  That's when all the reporters and editors who are available come in and gather in the centre of the newsroom floor and talk about the headlines and angles on certain stories.
  I might work on an online story, then, tomorrow, in fact, I'm going to have lunch with a celebrity business manager to talk about a possible feature.  In the afternoon, I'll come back, and either finish the web story that I started and post it online, in which case - I do everything.  I put in all the links, I write the headline, I find the photo, then publish it and I promote it on all my social networks.  Then maybe I'll work on a magazine feature for the end of the day, which is the longer term process. I have a group of girlfriends who I solicit for information constantly, you know, "What did your boss do recently that annoyed you?" "How is he dealing with this new colleague?" A lot of that will turn into stories.  "What is it that you're concerned about?"  So their lives become my ideas.
 So that's kind of how it's broken up.
 
Jenna's Advice:
 
  Definitely getting a degree in journalism is going to help, because you'll need context, and you'll get a feel for what the work really requires.  It's one of the only degrees that's very hands-on.  Most of my schooling, was spent writing stories all the time. You know, not sitting around and thinking philosophically.  You're going out and interviewing people.
  But it's one of those industries where you don't necessarily need the degree, so if you've already started a career and you're having second thoughts and want to try something else, start a blog.  Bug editors and say, this is my story, do you take freelance assignments, because people like me who accept submissions or editors who are always looking for good content might not take your idea the first few tries; but if you have a really good idea and if you establish relationships, what they're looking for is great writing, great ideas, people who are good at interviewing people, people with access, and so really, you just have to attack things. I mean, this is a ‘doing’ profession, so if you're able to ‘do’, stick with it, and get good stories, and get people on your side.  Then you'll do fine.

xoxo Entrepreneur Girl

Gaby Dalkin, Private chef, Recipe developer, Food stylist/Photographer and Food writer!

Gaby stormed through the hall, frustrated and angry.  She was in her third year of college pre-med and on her way to becoming a doctor, just like everyone else in her family, so that made sense until now. This was the last straw!  She had just finished her organic chemistry class for the day and decided that she hated chemistry so much that that would be her last class.
***
  “What is it that you want to do?” Her mother sat on the couch across from her. Gaby loved her mother and she would talk to her about everything.

  “Well, I really like the idea of being a part of the fashion world, you know, styling and that end of things.”

  “Whatever makes you happy, Gaby, makes me happy.” Her mother could see that she was stressed and gave her a hug.

   Gaby decided to switch to a business and marketing major and loved it. When she finally graduated college, she moved to LA and quickly got a job in the fashion world.
The job was short-lived because she really was not happy with the company, she loved fashion but the company itself was not a healthy environment.

***
  “So what are you going to do now, Gaby?” a brunette girl asked while shoveling another mountain of home made avocado dip on her chip.

   “I don’t know-”

  “This dip is delicious, by the way,” a girl wearing a pair of jean shorts and a loose t-shirt said, her mouth half full. “Sorry to cut you off- continue,” she said, wiping her face with a green napkin.

   Gaby stopped for a second, her eyes sparkling as a flash of an idea came to her.

   “I am going to go to culinary school.”

  “Oh my goodness, Gaby, yes, that is perfect!” another girl with short black hair gushed.

  “I’ve always loved cooking for you girls and this would be my opportunity to do something fun,” Gaby said while mixing a beet, corn and quinoa salad. “I’ll do it for the next year and then I can figure out what kind of job I want to have after culinary school.”

  A girl with a blonde ponytail held up her glass. “This deserves a toast. To Gaby!”

“To Gaby,” everyone agreed.


  Gaby fell in love with cooking and got a job as a chef her second year of culinary and pastry school and never looked back.
***

  As Gaby made herself a quick breakfast, she looked up at her vision board, a place where she put all her goals that she wanted to achieve that year and in five years. It was filled with photos, magazine cutouts and hand-scribbled ideas. She took it all in and heaved a deep breath. Today was the day that she would secure one of her most important potential clients.
As she drove, Gaby went over why she should get the job, a bit of a pep talk to get her into the right headspace.

 “I am an extremely hard worker and I don’t take no for an answer. When I put my mind to something, I am gonna do it and I might not get there immediately.  I might hit a few road blocks but I am going to figure out a way to make it work and to get to where I want to be.”
***
Gaby’s Biz:
  What’s Gaby Cooking  has three faces: there’s the website,  which is the blog recipe development;  photography food styling, you know, that section of the business, and then there’s the personal chef side of the business.  And then, there are all my clients, you know, I work with clients, for recipe development.  I do photography for them, as well as for the What’s Gaby Cooking website, and I really enjoy that.  I do a lot of travel writing for other people. I like being able to wake up every morning and do something different.

    I just got back from a press trip to Louisiana on Wednesday night and on Thursday morning I was back cooking for a client. On Friday, I was in the studio shooting my cookbook, so I really like being able to do a multitude of things on a daily basis.  It makes me have to stay very organized, which is integral in creating a business.

A day in the life: (All images courtesy of Gaby Dalkin, What's Gaby Cooking)

Typically, I wake up around five in the morning and go to the gym. I’m home by 7:30 or 8 and I spend, usually, the next two hours going through all my emails, responding to any readers’ questions on my website.  I am an obsessive list-maker.  My calendar is my favorite material possession, I just love it.  I have a list of things I need to get done every day. I cross things off, I move things around and I add things and I delete things.  It’s all over the board! I try to stay focused on this list because that’s how I get the most work done. 

I’ll spend some time in that two hours developing new recipes, testing my kitchen.  Then, I will typically go to the market and do grocery shopping for my client.  I’ll go over to their homes and I’ll cook lunch and prepare dinner and put it in the fridge. 

Right now, I am cooking for Jessica Simpson, I absolutely love her! I have actually been extremely lucky in that it is mostly word of mouth and people hear about me and call me.  I’ll go in for a test day, where I just go in and cook for people and if they like me and they like my food, then, you know, we usually work together.
   
And then I am usually home by four and I’ll spend some more time recipe-developing, using photos for my website, and then when it gets dark out I do more business side stuff because I can only shoot my photography in natural light.  As the light goes down I am back in front of the computer, answering emails, working on business deals.  It’s really interesting.

  Since I work for myself, I don’t have a normal day- I’m never not working, you know,  a random email from someone comes in a nine o’clock at night and I am, you know, just finishing up dinner, I’ll respond to it. I am a rapid responder. I like to get back to people immediately, because I feel like people’s time is valuable and I appreciate when people get back to me in a timely manner. So, you know there is no end of the work day for me. I’ll work until I need to be done.

 

Success Advice:
  I would find a mentor, I am really fortunate that I’ve had some amazing mentors, and I still do and I think I always will.  It’s really about building your relationship with people and when you’re comfortable enough with this relationship, asking someone, can you help me, I have these great ideas.  Will you take a few hours every month and kind of guide me? I just want to learn from you. I had a lot of mentors and it was a two-way relationship.  I would do stuff for them also, so it wasn’t just them giving me knowledge and that was really helpful. I’ve made some amazing friends, doing that and people that have helped me, you know, far beyond my wildest expectations just because we have this mutual relationship and they knew that I really valued their opinion.

   I found all my mentors are basically in the food world and I would meet them at different conferences and really develop a relationship with them.  We’d have dinner every once in a while or we’d go get cocktails or I would help them on a photo shoot or I would work with them on a catering job- whatever it was that they were doing.  If they needed my help, I would offer my help.  When I was comfortable enough with them, I would say, hey, and I would just ask people point blank, I would love if you would be my mentor and people have intern started asking me these things and it is so flattering I don’t think people want to say no to that it’s really kind of a great pat on the back. You just feel great when someone asks you to be their mentor. It’s just so nice.

You are going to have to start at the bottom and work your way up, but, you just kind of have to get your feet wet, and grow from there and work hard.  You have to put in your time.  You work super hard and just be pleasant at all times, everyone has to love you and you’ll grow and move up from there.

   Right now, I am working on cookbook all about avocados, I am an avocado fanatic, I just wrapped all the recipe development and the photography for it and it will be out April 2013. My best friend his name is Matt he's an amazing food photographer, he was a huge mentor of mine and we have just become best friends over the years, he and his partner, Adam, who is a food stylist, and the person who gave me my break into food styling, they did the cookbook and I assisted on it. It was a wonderful experience.

In the future:
 I really want to do T.V.  I would love to have my own show. I don’t think it would be a regular cooking show, I want there to be more to it. I would love to write another cook book to expand my platform and get into some online webisodes featured on my website. I would like to start working with more clients on recipe development and really supporting products that I love and produce farmers here in California, who I think need the help and the exposure.
Nobody believes that I’m 25, but I think I have a really good work ethic. I also really like proving people wrong, so if someone says, oh, you can’t do that, I’m like, ok, watch me!



xoxo Entrepreneur Girl

Bobbi Brown: A Cosmetics and Business Guru

   "Sorry, what was that?"

     The music blared loudly through the speakers situated right beside Bobbi's head. She placed a finger to her ear and moved in closer, trying to hear over the music.

    "Do you want to go out to the balcony?" the man asked and motioned with his hand to the back of the venue.

    "Sure," she yelled, competing with the loud base. She followed the stranger weaving through the crowd of familiar and unfamiliar faces.

   "That's better," Bobbi said. "Now I can hear you."

   "What?" he smiled. "Just kidding."

   "You said you are a makeup artist," he said.

   "Yes, what about yourself?"

   "It just so happens that I am a chemist."

   "You’re kidding," Bobbi gasped.

   "What?" He cocked his head to the side.

   "I have been looking for a way to start my own line of makeup. Would you be able to help me develop ten shades of lipstick?"

   "Why don't you just use what is already there?"

  "Lately, I have been so discouraged.  Everywhere I look there are bold, garish colours."

   "And so what do you want to do differently?" he inquired.

  "I want to create natural shades that were meant to enhance a woman’s complexion, not hide it."

   He studied her face, inquisitively.

  "Ms. Brown, I think you are on to something and yes, I will help you.

***

    Bobbi and her husband pooled together all of the money they had in their savings -a few thousand dollars.
    Bobbi worked for two years with the chemist, mixing and testing many different types of textures and colours until she came up with the perfect lipstick. Each one was to look like the color of a woman’s lips.

    At first Bobbi sold her products out of her home. She contacted every editor she knew and used the phone book to call everyone she could think of in the industry to raise awareness about her lip colours. She never worried about failure, what was important to her was that she never give up.

***
Two years later:

   Ring, Ring,
   Bobbi looked at the display on her phone, it read Bergdorf Goodman. Her heart leapt into her throat. What could they be calling about? She felt that something may be very wrong. They had just purchased her line of lip colours not more than two days ago.

   "Hello?"

   "Can I speak with Bobbi Brown, please." The voice on the other end was bright and cheerful, not at all what she was expecting.

   "Speaking,"

   "We are going to need more product, we sold out of all one hundred lipsticks this afternoon."

    Bobbi stood there in silence, phone in hand, she figured it would take at least a month to sell all of her lip colours, let alone one day.

   "Bobbi?"

   "Uh, yes.” She put her hand over the phone and jumped up and down with excitement, then regained her composure.

 “I will get you the next shipment of product right away."

***
Four years later:

   Bobbi sat idley flipping through a magazine, as she nervously waited for her meeting at Estee Lauder.

    “Ms. Brown, they will see you now.” A brunette lady with a short bob motioned towards the door behind her desk.

   “Thank you.” Bobbi quickly placed the magazine back down on the glass coffee table, straightened her skirt and walked through to the meeting room.

   This was a day that Bobbi would never forget, because behind those large oak doors, she was signing the papers for the sale of her cosmetic line to Estee Lauder. This was an extraordinary opportunity for Bobbi because it gave her company access to a large number of resources she wouldn’t have had otherwise.  This has helped her stay true to her brand’s identity, which has made Bobbi Brown Cosmetics very successful.

****
  A day in the Life of Bobbi Brown:

   I start my day with a Nespresso while checking my face book and twitter pages and reading the newspaper. Then I get all of my kids ready for their day. I have three sons but I also have my two nephews and two foreign exchange students. I affectionately call the “ the Euro boys” living with me. After that, I make my way to the gym, I always feel better after working out and believe that in order to look and feel your best you have to eat healthy and exercise. Once I’m showered and ready to go, I get in a car and head into the city to start my day. I usually have several meetings lined up in the morning and then a lunch meeting somewhere in the city. You have to surround yourself with people who are great at what they do and are dependable…people you would be happy to hang out with outside of work and call your friends. Whether it’s working with my artists from around the world, the best designers at fashion week, my coworkers who are the smartest people I know, various leaders from all different facets of business and life.
After this, I usually head to a shoot of some kind followed by a dinner/event that evening.

It’s a busy day but I’m thankful for each and every day. If you told me 20 years ago if I would be where I am today, I never would have believed it.
I am constantly inspired and finding ways in which I can grow my business. My greatest business lesson has been to always follow my gut. You have to do what you know is right. As tempting as it is to follow trends and do what everyone else is doing, if you truly believe that something is not right for your company, don’t do it.

Advice from Bobbi:

What is your motto or favourite quote?

“ Be who you are”. Every woman is pretty and with the right makeup and tools, she can be pretty powerful.



   Are there any words of wisdom that you can give to girls who would like to eventually go into the cosmetics field?

   Don’t give up on your dreams. You can do anything you set your mind to as long as you never give up. I hit many road blocks when I was trying to start my business but I didn’t let anything deter me. And be nice. You never know who you are going to cross paths with again down the road.

 xoxo Entrepreneur Girl

Alexandra Aleskovsky, Executive Vice President, Scholastic Inc. and President of eScholastic.

The warm breeze from the open car window tousled Alexandra's shoulder length

dark hair. Her bright blue eyes sparkled with anticipation. She was on her way to a

Harvard Commencement Ceremony, where she was to give the keynote speech.

   "Remember this?"

   Her husband took his large hand off the steering wheel to turn the radio up.

Alexandra smiled.

“Yes.” 

She recognized it as a piece from one of the first operas they had ever seen together.

Some of her greatest passions were in the appreciation of art.

It didn't matter whether it be opera, classical music, contemporary art or theatre- it really

spanned the gamut. She was so happy that she had found someone like her husband

 to appreciate art as she did. They both loved discovering new pieces by going to

museums and galleries. Together they would collect contemporary art of up and

coming artists.

     From the back seat of the car, Alexandra could hear the soft melodic voice of her

eight year old daughter, singing. She looked over to see that she had just woken up,

her face lined with red imprints from the fabric of the pillow and sleep in her eyes.  All

the same, she was singing as she often did in the mornings. A warm feeling filled

Alexandra's whole body, she was so lucky to have such a happy child! On the opposite

 side of the car her ten year old son was fast asleep, his head nestled softly to the side

 on his Spiderman pillow.

  "Here we are," her husband interrupted her thoughts as he pulled up to the front

 entrance.

   Alexandra turned to see that they had finally arrived on campus.  She gathered her

 things on the car floor in front of her.

   "So I'll see you in a bit," Alexandra said as she pushed opened the car door and

stepped out. She straightened her navy dress suit, softening the wrinkles in her skirt

from the car ride.

  "Yes, I'll get the kids settled in," he said, flashing a smile that still made her knees

weak.

   "You'll be great," he added.

   "Thanks," Alexandra said as she closed the car door behind her and watched as her

 beautiful family drove to the edge of the building, turned the bend and disappeared.

  ***
  
    Alexandra was led to the stage.   As she walked, she saw row upon row of students

 dressed in their graduation gowns.  Her heart jumped in her chest as memories

 unfolded from when she first graduated from UT Austin. She thought back to what a

 wonderful education it was, with her degree in Finance.  She certainly had a very well

rounded education which she would advise for anyone of these graduates. She also

 remembered when she herself had sat in these very chairs, to receive her Master’s

Degree in Business from Harvard. She smiled to herself.

    When Alexandra reached the stage, she slowly and carefully climbed the stairs in her

 navy heels, making sure not to stumble.

The President of the school walked up to the podium and introduced Alexandra to the

 students and families. She walked over and thanked the president for his introduction.     

Then she turned to face the crowd, looking much larger than it did when she was on the

ground.  In the audience, her family smiled up at her in admiration, wide-eyed, and at

 that moment, Alexandra felt very lucky and very proud of all that she had accomplished

in life, happy to be able to share her experiences.

Alexandra took a single deep breath and gave her speech.

***
"I grew up in what was Leningrad, which is now Saint Petersburg, Russia, a very

different country. I started out as an only child, am an only child, and I was extremely

studious, extremely academic, but also loved to play. I don’t think that has changed.  I was

then as I am now, a very ambitious child,  very focused on work now, very focused on

school then." She smiled brightly. "Work hard and play hard, just as you all must feel now."

   Alexandra motioned a hand out into the audience.

  "My MBA was certainly extremely significant, and it wasn’t just that it was from here,

at Harvard.  It gave me the opportunity at that point of my life to meet people who had

worked for many different companies and exposed me not only to education, but also

 to people who came from different industries.  Just having the opportunity to come

together with a group of such wonderful and brilliant people from all

 walks of life was invaluable.  There were people represented from not-for-profit

industries, from investment banking, to manufacturing, to consulting, to consumer

packaged goods companies.  The kaleidoscope, the tapestry, the makeup of all of these

individuals was incredible!  That is how you learn, that was the best part of the

education.  It was the collection of these experiences, and hearing how they handled

 various business problems, various organizational development problems, and their

approaches.  How did the not for profit in Africa deal with a particular problem, versus

 an investment banker in New York? Different perspectives and a different way of

 managing situations really gave each and every one of us a wonderful kind of

education.

    Alexandra looked up and could see that almost all of the heads in the audience were

 nodding, as if to say, "I agree."

   "My journey has been to travel, half of my career has been in the offline world and half

of my career has been in the online world. My other distinction has been that I have

worked in those big, corporate settings as well as start-up companies.  Some of the

learning that I had was learning to adapt. It is the flexibility factor to different types of

environments and different kinds of companies, because they are very different, not

only from a cultural standpoint. A corporate environment is very different from a start-up

 entrepreneurial environment, so there is a different level of resources, to the ability to

get something done at one type of company.

 I remember being at Club Mom, which is now Café Mom.  We were building a brand,

 building a business and had to, at one point in time, operate with just a few million

dollars when the dot com bubble burst and we were literally in survival mode. Think of

that versus working in companies where I would have hundreds of millions of dollars to

manage.
 
     One major lesson I have learned is not to be set in your ways, and being comfortable

 with the fact that if you've managed hundreds of millions of dollars, that’s not what you're  

going to do for the rest of your career. It’s really about adapting and having fun, that’s the 

other big lesson, having fun in different kinds of environments, and different

kinds of companies. It is about unleashing your creativity.  Sometimes smaller budgets

and challenges in business force you and your team to be more creative and more

resourceful.
 
   I think that if I look at the City Groups, the Merrill Lynches, all the way to the present,

 the other big lesson that I learned was making sure that I hired the best team possible.

 What I do is, hire people that are better than I am.  That means knowing where my

 gaps are and that I might not know as much in a particular area.  Bringing in people

 who are superstars at what they do, is the best thing and not being afraid to let people

 shine, and shine over you.   You are only as good as your team."

    Alexandra took a sip of the bottled water on the podium, the sun beating down on

her. It was getting very warm.

  "What I love and have found most gratifying is to work for mission based businesses. If

I look back on my career I have worked for a number of mission based businesses

 including Club mom, which recognizes moms for what they do everyday.  That was a

mom focused mission.  I then worked for Weight Watchers, which was also very much a

mission based company about helping people lose weight.   When you help people lose

 weight it can transform their lives. It wasn’t just about the external weight loss, but also

 about their internal transformation. And lastly, where I am now at Scholastic, we are

 promoting literacy around the world.  So we are inspiring children to read around the

world. That is an incredibly empowering mission and goal.

When I think of what gets me up in the morning and what gets me excited to come to

work, that mission is really at the heart of it. I’ve worked for different companies both

large and small, both offline and online, and Scholastic really is that combination.  It is at

the junction of all of my experiences,  which is really interesting.  It is a global two billion

dollar company, and I run the eScholastic division, which is very much an

 entrepreneurial division, dealing with the digital initiatives for the company.  I am

working at a big company but in a way I am a company start up.  So it’s a really nice

combination of utilizing my skill set from the different experiences that I've had. I have a

very good team, a combination of people whom I’ve hired since I've joined the company

 and some people who were already here.  We are focused on teachers, parents and

 kids as our audience.  There are some overlapping objectives and overlapping

 initiatives but there are also some very distinct needs  each one of those audience

segments requires. It makes the initiatives that we focus on and the job very

 challenging, very interesting, very exciting, so it’s been a great opportunity for me.” 

    Alexandra looked down at her daughter sitting in the front row, gazing up lovingly at

 her. She pointed down to her.

  "I have a daughter and I always say to her, you have to work hard- there is no

 substitute for it.  I am a big believer in setting goals; there are multiple ways to get to

 your goals.  I do not believe in a straight line nor do I think that the best way to attain a

 goal is through a straight line.  I believe in a jagged path, if you will, and I think that

you learn a lot more and your experience set becomes more varied and more rich if you

have many of those experiences.  That’s why I changed companies and that’s why I

changed industries. Try new things, try on different hats to see what fits, set the goal

 and get there in a jagged path type of way. Take many different roads to get there.

 When I speak to young women who I mentor, one of the things I always tell them is that

it is absolutely ok to make mistakes along the way, and it’s ok to lose a job. It’s ok to

quit a job, it’s ok to not like a job, as long as you do a time out.  Too many women run

 from one thing to the next and they don’t take a breather. I think it’s really important to

pause, and evaluate, why you do what you do.  That includes really thinking through

what you liked about the experience and what you did not like about it.  It is pretty basic

 but it is absolutely critical.  What did you learn about it? With which people did you

enjoy working? Which people didn’t you like being with at work? Did you like your boss?

 Did you like working on a team? And so on and so on. But I really believe, reflecting on

negative experiences is critical, and really sets someone up for success. 

I have one last piece of advice to you, the graduates, and that is to be authentic in

 everything you do. Authenticity sometimes can be an overused word but it is extremely

 important, especially for people starting out, like you. People tend to want to please and

want to be someone whom they are not.  They walk into a business environment and

they are not as authentic as they should be, and I think in the world that we live in today,

 the more real someone is, outside of work and in the office, the more successful they

will  be.  I don’t mean they should come in with a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.”

Giggles sounded from the audience.

" But in terms of your personality, let your personality shine!  Let the people in the office

 see who you really are.  And I have to tell you that goes a long way.  It’s not just

about business.  It is also about letting the human side come through.  Thank you.”

   Everyone started to applaud, and to Alexandra's surprise, she received a standing

ovation from the crowd and from her very proud family. She had never felt so good!

xoxo Entrepreneur Girl

Q & A with International Artist, Sarah Joncas!

EG: What were you like as a girl?

SJ: I’ve always been a very quiet and shy sort of person, more apprehensive.  I was very obedient as a kid, never wanted to disappoint anyone or cause someone distress.  I was also very absorbed in my own world, spent a lot of time drawing alone in my room rather than going out with friends.  Kind of similar to who I am still, to be honest.

 
EG: How did you go about becoming a successful artist? What were the steps you took?

SJ: I put a lot of work into my painting and skills.  Outside of school, I probably still put in 4 hours every day working at it, and I never treated it as just a hobby either.  I knew it was what I wanted to do with my life.  Aside from that passion to create, I think I stumbled upon some good luck in meeting the right people at the right times, too.  Mind you, I took up opportunities as they arose which only led to meeting more of the right people.  I started selling in some local community type shows, which led to doing newspaper and TV interviews, which led to more shows...  Eventually I got a website running and was able to expand my endeavors on an international scale.

EG: What gave you the strength and ambition to make you think that you could succeed with all of the many competitors?
 
SJ: I didn’t think I could succeed, in all honesty.  I’ve always been very unconfident about myself, but the key is to not let those things stop you from trying anyway.  I went to art school thinking I’d end up working as a waitress the rest of my life, but things don’t always work out how you predict them.  I still wanted to paint as a career, more than anything, and I’d never forgive myself for not giving it my best shot.  Despite the insecurities though, I had a family who was supportive and it’s always a positive help to have people who believe in you when you don’t necessarily believe in yourself.

EG: Can you describe the business side of art?

SJ: It’s been a learning experience and still is day by day.  I’m not a business minded person, as most creatives aren’t, and have felt quite nervous about my dealings that way.  However, the part of the art world I’m connected to has been very kind to me.  I’ve managed to find a good home in the industry and met a lot of good people who’ve been helpful to me.  However, it’s important to develop your time management skills well and your self-discipline in order to keep up with the kind of work schedule you need to sustain as an artist.  It’s also good to have lawyers look over any contracts you might sign in regards to doing business with galleries or other prospective organizations.  It’s also helpful to talk to other people in your field about problems you encounter or problems that they have experienced along the way.  As a community, there’s a lot to learn from others who have either already gone through what you’re going through, or that are in the same boat as you currently.

 EG: What is the best business advice you have ever received?

SJ: I haven’t had a lot of key business advice so far, most has been advice for specific situations, but I’d say it’s a good idea to keep business and friendship separate. You tend to have a hard time being totally frank in those scenarios and if anything goes wrong with the business it can affect your friendship.

 EG: Describe a typical day in your life.

SJ: I sleep in till about 10am, feed the cat, get myself cleaned up, answer emails and take care of computer related business, then start painting at around noon. I’ll be painting for about 6hrs till my boyfriend gets home from work. After that, it’s all relaxing, going out or getting other chores done. It’s pretty awesome! No other jobs needed right now.

EG: What was the hardest obstacle that you had to overcome on your journey to success? How did you overcome that obstacle?

SJ: Probably my shyness, though I wouldn’t say I’ve fully overcome that, I’ve just learned to put my nerves on the back burned in order to accomplish my goals.  I think my art career has been a big part of my success in that though, having to meet people at shows on a regular basis and do business with people I’ve only come to know over the internet.  I still feel I’m not as socially adapted as I should be to reach my full potential in this field, but little by little I work at my confidence. Soon you start to realize that most people aren’t really out to get you, or that you shouldn’t put so much time into worrying about things as you could into doing them.  You end up feeling much happier and prouder of yourself for going after things.

 EG: Do you have any tips for building a successful relationship with your clients?
 
SJ: Be kind, polite and understanding – in whatever circumstance, good or bad. You should also be careful on your own end though and despite the saying ‘the customer is always right’ don’t let someone push you around. For the most part, through galleries you won’t be working with the clients anyway, but when it comes to commission work it’s important to be fair and honest – set rules for your business arrangements and make sure the client is aware of them before getting into work.
 

EG: Are there any words of wisdom that you can give to girls who would like to eventually go into art as a career?

SJ: Work hard, practice often and get involved.  Read up on other artists you like or art magazines you enjoy, go out to art galleries and keep inspired.  Also, be true to yourself – it’s good and helpful to take advice and criticism from teachers/other artists/etc, but don’t let them tell you shouldn’t paint/sculpt what you want. Keep to what you’re passionate about as that’s where you’ll find happiness… It’s not easy getting by as an artist, but there’s a lot of positive reward in it.

xoxo Entrepreneur Girl

Elle Canada's Editor-in-Chief Noreen Flanagan, Part Four of Four

Part Four: Laura

  Laura was melting.  The sun shone so hot and for so long that she wasn't sure that the night would ever come. Was Columbia always this hot, she wondered as she walked over and hit the side of an old metal fan that had ceased to work. It was propped up on a chair beside one of the only windows in the tiny building.  Sputtering and churning, it started up again with a low buzz.  Beyond, she could see the line-up of people who had been waiting all day, winding around the side and seeming to grow longer and longer as the day went on. Everyone was waiting to be fitted with glasses and some would be seeing clearly for the very first time. That truly amazed her.

  It was summer break and Laura would be going into grade twelve the following September. There was a group of four girls on this trip that the school had organized, all of them in grade twelve. Laura was fluent in Spanish and in English and she wanted to get her volunteer hours under her belt.

  An older woman entered the room.  Seeming to have trouble getting through the door way, Laura walked over and guided her to the back of the building.  There Noreen Flanagan and her husband opened up envelopes and fit the glasses on all of the people.

  Laura helped sit the woman down on the chair and stepped back to watch.  She would never forget her face as the old woman's prescription was quite significant. She watched as Noreen placed the glasses on her face and the woman’s pupils went wide. For the first time in her life she could see! Suddenly, she threw the glasses down and Laura thought they must be the wrong prescription, perhaps too strong, but then the older woman started to cry. She put the glasses back on and started laughing and crying and just taking in her world.

  This makes everything worthwhile, she thought to herself.  The first day as a volunteer was rewarding beyond her expectations!

  After the next woman was fitted, she noticed that Noreen was speaking to her in broken Spanish.  Laura listened and watched as the woman spoke to Noreen who nodded and smiled. She felt at this point that Noreen seemed to have lost the thread of the conversation with what the woman in the chair was really trying to relate.  Noreen was just smiling saying, yeah, yeah, yeah.  Just then Noreen turned around and called Laura over.

   "I think she is telling me something sad.  Can you just ask her what she was talking about," she asked, thinking that she might have offended her.

   Laura spoke to the woman in Spanish and then related what she said back to Noreen.

  "Well, uh, she was telling you that she had just had a miscarriage."

 "Oh, that is terrible, she must think I'm insensitive.  Please tell her that my Spanish sucks, and I just didn't know what she was saying and I am very, very sorry." Noreen felt perfectly awful.

***

   Later on that day, while everyone was taking a quick break for lunch, Noreen walked over to where Laura was sitting.

  "I don't think we have been formally introduced, I'm Noreen Flanagan."

  "Hi, I'm Laura." She took Noreen's hand and shook it.

  "Can I sit with you?"

  "Of course."

  "You really saved me today," Noreen said as she sat down beside Laura.

  "Anytime," Laura laughed.

  "Learning a second language is a humbling experience.  I can have a very animated, conversation about bifocals, but I don't find a lot of people outside of that very niche conversation who wants to chat with me about those things." Noreen took a bite of her salad.

"Every once in a while you think, oh yeah, I am really getting this language, and then you would have a moment like that and you think no, no I'm not."

 "That's okay," Laura laughed, then she leaned over towards Noreen.

   "I don't mean to be forward, but are you the Noreen Flanagan, Editor-in-Chief of Elle Canada?" Laura asked, her heart pounding.

"Yes, I am. You like the magazine?"

 "Oh, my gosh, I love it! I actually want to work for a magazine like Elle someday!" Laura wore an ear to ear grin.

  "I'm so glad."

  "Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"

 "Not at all," Noreen answered, a little nervous.

  "You must see so much as an editor, would you have any stories about press trips on which you have gone?"

  "Oh yes, you go on lots of press trips and some of them are just ok and some are in the spectacular category. I did a sailing regatta with Louis Vuitton."

  Lauren's eyes were wide. "Wow!"

 "I would say that trip would be one of the experiences that you would say, as you’re pinching yourself, I can’t believe this moment! What was neat about it is that my husband and I were taking sailing lessons just prior to that, so it was quite a thrill to suddenly be around these racing machines and the whole scene, all the glamour of it."

"Who else went on the trip?"

 "Mostly the journalists from around the world," Noreen smiled, remembering all the exciting details.

   Laura and Noreen talked for what seemed like hours.  By the end of it, when it was finally time to go back to work, Laura thought to herself, yeah, I think that's it.  I want to be a journalist.

***

Advice from Noreen

  I think that education, your connections and luck is a lot of it. Curiosity and being open is the way to success in this industry. People now must be much more proactive, organized and strategic about their careers. I’m of the tumbleweed generation, there was the luxury to do this and a little of that, and then you kind of found your way. I don't know that that exists for kids today, and I feel for kids because it's very stressful. When I speak to journalism students, I would say to them, my career path isn't one that your parents would want you to emulate.  It was not strategic, it was not proactive, it was not planned out.  What I hope they take away from my story is, to be curious and to ask lots of questions and to be open for chance encounters that can change your life.  If you listen and you’re looking and you’re open to them, that can happen regardless of your education or your connections. That can just happen in life.

Tips on how to become a Journalist:

  Write, get a blog, start tweeting, read carefully the magazines and the writers in particular that inspire you.  Don't just read it to be entertained but actually read it, with a much more analytical eye. Well, how did they tell that story, how did they open and how did they move that story through? What was the structure behind it? How did they end the story? What was the overall focus, the theme?  Do an analysis of it and that in turn will help you approach your own writing with the same structure and place in mind, so read, read, read as much as you can write.  And the wonderful thing about this line of work is yes, it helps if you have training, I would encourage if someone wants to be in journalism you do learn some fundamental, philosophical and structural sorts of things, very immensely helpful, but it is also one of those industries if you are a good story teller and there is a curiosity and energy about you, you don't need permission, you don't need a degree, to say I would like to pitch Noreen Flanagan a story about X.  You just have to find my email and send me a pitch, and if it's a great story and it catches my imagination, you'll be off to the races!   You don't have to ask for permission and it is one of the few industries where you don't.  We are always looking for great ideas and creativity.  Have a little courage and see where it takes you. And don't be discouraged, it's a lot harder now.  Five years ago I wouldn't get half the emails I get now, so it’s much harder to get noticed, but don't give up, keep finding creative ways of getting hold of people. And write something personal.  Good ideas are always noticed.

xoxo Entrepreneur Girl