ladies first

Ladies First: Kourtney Kardashian

, , , ,

The average parent would object to their adolescent offspring taking part in the enjoyment of empty reality TV programming. Growing up in a relatively open house, it wasn’t much of a surprise that my parents condoned and sometimes even encouraged me to watch their favorite TV shows with them, many of which were in the realm of reality TV. From “American Idol” to “Jersey Shore,” we got a taste of it all, but a family favorite for several running years was “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”

Much like fans can admire fictional TV characters (what girl doesn’t want a Chuck Bass? Really?), they can develop attachments to anyone through the small screen, and it’s a lot easier to do so when it’s through a reality show where the stars are the same (I’m saying this loosely in spite of the “reality TV is scripted!” argument, but let’s save that for another time) on camera and in person. And since KUWTK’s storyline is centered around the daily lives and debacles of the family, viewers can sympathize with them and find relations to the family-slash-cast members.

Even though one of the family’s biggest claims to fame was the success of the late man of the family, Robert, the Kardashians are a female-dominant family. Under the direction of “momager” Kris, all of the Kardashian kids have pooled into good fortune one way or another and continue to multitask different projects without breaking a sweat.

Whether you care about pop culture or not, you know about this family. You know about KimYe, Khloe’s separation from ex-husband Lamar Odom, Kris and Bruce Jenner splitting up, and Kendall’s rise on fashion runways. But we can’t forget where the next generation of the Kardashian empire first got its start, which was with the first-born daughter, Kourtney.

From the beginning of the series up until now, Kourtney has been in full command of expanding the family’s boutique business, Dash. While Dash is a collaborative effort among her, Kim and Khloe, Kourtney has taken most of the responsibility for the business, from seeking out the retail space to hiring staff to merchandising the store. This is the one project that has continued to succeed and brand the family while other members are taking care of their own personal brands, endorsements, appearances, the list goes on. But Kourtney never lost sight of making sure that Dash continued to occupy the retail and fashion world – and it’s still keeping up (pun intended).

And yes, everyone in the Kardashian family is a multitasker, but the other side of Kourtney’s life is another career all on its own. She’s the mother of two adorable tots and raises them with her comedian of a boyfriend, Scott. While the two have had their share of drama, her relationship with him now is where I see the most strength and inspiration in Kourtney. Scott bends over backwards to treat Kourtney like a queen, but as a mother, the first-born, and the undeclared head of a national boutique, she naturally toughens up around his actions. She doesn’t fall for his slick words and has to keep him on his toes to be the best man he can be. And when a woman can put her enjoyment aside to assert herself – and it proves to work – that’s where I find the power in a personal empire.

Might you be laughing when I say that the Kardashians are influential? Maybe. But for girls who envision themselves as double-duty women – career moms – Kourtney has proven to be successful at this.

Ladies First: Samantha Jones

, , , , ,

Every girl has a defining, distinct moment that she remembers where she believes that she emotionally (not physically, there’s actually a difference) (at least in my book) transforms into a woman. Some may replay the memory of their first kiss playing spin-the-bottle and consider that their coming-of-age tale. It may be the purchase your first Coach purse with those backwards and side-to-side, outlined in glitter C’s. On a more graphic note, I was blessed with this moment sitting in front of the TV at age seven or whatever, exposed to a censored ad for HBO’s “Sex and the City.”

I knew my parents were avid fans of “The Sopranos,” but they assumed they could hide it from me. From then on, I was aware that any content on HBO would be risqué, but ads for “Sex and the City” did pop up on other cable outlets and I couldn’t avoid them. But from what I saw, it was just a group of girls hanging out and gossiping, which, even at age seven, my friends and I were guilty of.

So it was relatable. But it wasn’t until I entered my last year of middle school that the movie was released, and a year after that, it was running on HBO. By then, I was 15 and I finally got to meet Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and the infamous Samantha Jones.

At that age, my career interests were seeping into public relations and, to quote myself, “wanting to make people famous.” I related to Samantha because she was a PR executive with her own firm. I quickly caught on that her boyfriend/eventual ex-boyfriend was not just an actor, but also her client, who she helped to quickly rise to fame.

While I can’t say that I’m on the same page as all of Samantha’s lifestyle pursuits, I do value her as a career inspiration. After watching the first SATC movie and then catching up on the series via E! re-runs, I admired her non-stop life in PR and her constantly evolving circle of colleagues and friends. Just as a high school student, I envisioned myself like her, working in a floor-to-ceiling glass window office by day, speaking boldly and confidently branding herself, and running around from event to event, including those that she most likely threw together without breaking a sweat, with her clique by night. As fictitious as her character is, her career is achievable for hungry girls like myself. What she does when the work is done, however, isn’t something she has to share.

Ladies First: Cameran Eubanks

, , , , ,

Poised, passionate, and pretty in pink are three adjectives that all not-girls-not-yet-women want to be described as by their friends and family. While everyone may have different perceptions of what the “perfect woman” may be, I consider those to be the 3 P’s, and I try to fit them accordingly. I walk standing tall and confident, I believe in what I do, and I believe that being well-dressed is a form of respect for myself and the people that I’m surrounding.

This spring, reality-TV junkies and multitasking college students were introduced to Bravo’s newest series, “Southern Charm.” From a noticeably recent pattern, Bravo tends to develop shows based on the upscale lifestyles of select geographic locations that can still manage to pull in the station’s entire target demo, which ranges from young adults to mothers. “Southern Charm” takes place in the colorfully niched city that is Charleston, SC. It’s a city swarming with old money, men walking down the streets in madras and pastel-colored suits, and girls glowing in matching Lilly Pulitzer patterns (“Southern Charm” is also the name of one of my favorite new Lilly Pulitzer prints introduced this spring, so the timing is actually sort of convenient – or is it?). So, basically, if my heart and soul weren’t sold to New York, I would probably float down the Atlantic Ocean to the Charleston coastline and just lie on the beach forever.

While those are all perfectly acceptable reasons to drop everything and begin anew in Charleston, one of my driving forces is to become total BFF with one person in particular from the show. Enter blonde belle Cameran Eubanks on the small screen. She has perfectly curled and highlighted hair, a smile whiter than snow, and whether she’s grabbing lunch with a friend or attending an extravagant polo match, she is dressed to the nines. From the outside, she is the face of a classic Charlestonian.

Every character on a show, reality or scripted, faces a challenge that has to be overcome. Viewers are attracted to controversy, and even though there are several scandals on “Southern Charm,” Cameran faces a total of 0. Cameran’s storyline in the show revolves around her career change from the cosmetics industry to real estate, and the cameras follow her as she tours all the charming Charleston homes with her mentor.

When Cameran isn’t working, though, she’s portrayed as an extremely honored and respected friend not just by the other females in town, but by her male counterparts: Shep, Craig, Thomas, and Whitney. The four guys all fight over the girls in town, but none of them seem to ever quarrel over Cameran or dare ever take advantage of her. She listens to them all bicker and gives them all advice on how to treat women. Shep, who bounces back and forth between every single girl in the city, surprisingly seems to be closest with Cameran. Personally, I think it’s a challenge for guys and girls to be “just friends” without some sort of chemic tension-slash-I secretly think they belong together, but Cameran makes it a crucial point that she wants to be treated like a modern woman without directly turning any conversation on her, and Shep, along with the fellow men, don’t cross any lines.

I don’t think my hair will ever be as blonde as Cameran’s (sadface), but there are other aspects of her personality that I want to achieve. She’s career-oriented in an area that’s male-dominated and she isn’t an easy target. She resembles class, elegance, and proper etiquette. If I could have her as a mentor, I would, but hopefully that wouldn’t stop us from hanging out on the beach and reading magazines, either.

 

 

Ladies First: Elle Woods

, , , , , , ,

Imagine that you’re in bed one night, in the same bed you’ve been sleeping in for what feels like an eternity – your dorm bed, your bed at home – and it’s your pad of comfort. This is the spot your body and your mind know so well and you can drift into dream mode securely. But then, you wake up the next morning, and you’re not in the place you expected to be. Nothing around you is familiar. The people are different. The aura is different. How do you respond? How do you get out of this situation?

This is the spot that Elle Woods, the famed and seemingly blasé about life main character of Legally Blonde, found herself in after her boyfriend, Warner, broke up with her at the moment she expected him to get down on one knee. At that split second, her vision of her future was wiped out, almost as if she had become blind. Her high-pitched and heated reaction could make an objective viewer of this scene roll their eyes and switch the movie off, but you have to give it a chance – that’s only 10 minutes in. 10 minutes later, Elle Woods makes a full 180.

If someone were to ask me who my favorite fictional character was, I wouldn’t say Elle Woods (if I’m being honest, I don’t know who I would say). Elle Woods is not a fictional character. She’s present in all of us. The Elle Woods in each of us wants to be a loyal woman, but we also each want to be a well-respected woman. In Legally Blonde, it may have taken the motivation to win back her ex-boyfriend to do so, but in the end, she achieved this.

I have three favorite scenes from this movie. In the beginning of Elle’s studies at Harvard Law School, when her initial intention was to recapture Warner’s affection, Elle fell to the prank of dressing up for a costume party that never actually was a costume party. She honorably entered the affair and made the most of it, especially when she ran into Warner. But this moment was a turning point for her as a woman. He said to her, “You should do something more valuable with her time.” She stepped out of her hypnotic state, responding, “Am I on glue, or did we not get into the same law school?” Elle immediately stormed out, realizing that she was at Harvard not for Warner, but for her own personal and professional advancement.

The morning after her exit presented one of my favorite film quotes of all time when she visited her manicurist, Paulette, at the nail salon to break the news. From behind, one of Elle’s toughest educational critics, Professor Stromwell, happened to be at the salon and overheard the conversation. What she said to Elle not only stuck with her, but still resonates with me: “If you’re going to let one stupid prick ruin your life, you’re not the girl I thought you were.” Inspired immediately, Elle turned around and ran back to the courthouse to single-handedly win the trial for Brooke.

I get chills (and sometimes cry) every time the Harvard Law graduation scene appears on my TV screen. Elected as the student speaker, Elle quoted Aristotle’s “The law is reason free from passion” and then argued it:

 “I have come to find that passion is a key ingredient to the study and practice of law – and of life. It is with passion, courage of conviction, and strong sense of self that we take our next steps into the world. Remembering that first impressions are not always correct, you must always have faith in people, and most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself.”

After expressing these key lessons, Elle did become one of my role models. Before I had even watched that last scene of the movie, passion, conviction, and sense of self were three qualities that I made sure I presented. If I say something, I say it like I mean it, I know my worth, and I believe if you’re going to do something or some project, you must do it with passion or not at all. It’s all or nothing.