After picking up her first magazine, Elise Loehnen knew exactly what she wanted to do for a living. She often passed the days in her small Montana town by cutting out the pages of her favorite magazines and creating collages — especially with the well-known Neiman Marcus ads. But after graduating from Yale and realizing it…
Leading Ladies
Jennifer Musselman
Working with a host of high-profile clients as an entertainment executive, Jennifer Musselman learned a whole lot about big business and strategic communications. While she expected to learn and learn fast, Jennifer was perhaps less prepared to act as confidante. Feeling both ill-equipped to thoroughly address more personal issues and drawn to "a higher purpose,"…
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Leading Ladies
Vittoria Woodill
Vittoria Woodill lives and breathes fashion on a budget for her lifestyle confidence blog, Polished for Pennies (P4P). Since September 2011, Vittoria has been documenting her fabulous finds, inspiration and resourcefulness through video and blog posts with themed months and photo shoots — what she describes as “tips and tricks to looking, feeling and living like a…
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Leading Ladies
Cynthia Morris
Cynthia Morris helps people write their stories. Maybe they're new to writing, transitioning from another career or struggling to get their first words on paper. They might be a seasoned writer whose creative energy has dipped. Or they could be a writer who needs a champion; someone to believe in their work when they forget why they're…
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Leading Ladies
Kathy Hepinstall
Oprah's show and book club may be over, but writer Kathy Hepinstall isn't giving up on getting her "call" from the talk show host. She's set up scavenger hunts near Oprah's home and taken out ads in the local paper. Her goal: that fateful moment when Oprah calls to voice her approval; something Kathy describes…
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Leading Ladies
Jessica Matteson
At age 24, Jessica Matteson was a college grad still working as an intern; underemployed and underpaid. She could have settled for a job at the local newspaper or moved up the ladder at her job at the mall, but she promised herself she'd stick it out and wait until the right job came along….
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Leading Ladies
Grace Bonney
When Brooklyn-based writer Grace Bonney clicked “publish” on her blog seven years ago, it was meant solely as a passion project; a way to express her love of design and decorating. Or, as Grace explains, an outlet to help “feel less like the crazy girl in the room who’s always going on about cool wallpaper.”…
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Leading Ladies
Rene Lynch
Journalist Rene Lynch's career advice is simple, succinct and damn good: "Figure out what you really want. Then figure out your dream way of doing it. And then work backwards." Her bottom line: You're unlikely to be given a plum assignment, so go out and take it. Rene took a bit of her own advice…
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Leading Ladies
Kiki T
Kiki T. was a self-professed "horny teenybopping teenager." And it was in these days that a prepubescent crush on Simon LeBon of Duran Duran actually led Kiki to her dream job. (Tell that to the mom who says reading "Bop" and "Tiger Beat" will get you nowhere fast.) Both Simon and Kiki were Scorpios, and this sparked…
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Leading Ladies
Adelaide Lancaster
As an entrepreneur, it's easy to get caught up in numbers or the "bigger is better" view of success. But today's leading lady, Adelaide Lancaster, suggests another measure: Success is about satisfaction, she says, not size. Instead of compromising things that are important to you just to make your business a little bigger, Adelaide encourages…