In the media
ALL-rightey. Since we hit the road, making our way up to NYC, we made a little pit-stop and met some of DC’s finest. Enjoy the newest edition of MVIS on the road!
Jenn Larsen ♥s DC. One of the founding authors at WeLoveDC.com, Jenn is one hot writer. With a background in theater, stitching up costumes for DC’s finest troupes and players, Jenn now serves up arts and cocktails — not necessarily in that order — in her newest columns, We Love Art and We Love Drinks.
What do we love about Jenn? She is not afraid to speak her mind. Even if it means giving a bad review and getting tons of flack for it. As a journalist “people expect you to have an opinion, and they respect you for it,” Jenn says. You just have to be willing to use your voice without wavering.
But Jenn she hasn’t always been this STRONG. “In my 20′s, I was a diva with a chip on my shoulder…I had to learn that not everyone was out to get me.”
Jenn’s journey of finding her voice came from realizing she had put herself in a box. And she wasn’t sure she liked that box. After two years of soul searching, she kicked it into high-gear and jump started WeLoveDC.com with a group of writers to reclaim her voice and give a voice to the Washingtonians who love DC just as much as her.
(The initial launch of My Voice is Strong was a project to give back and highlight inspiring and humble women who give back to the community of young career gals like me. Jenn’s commitment to mentoring her writers, to passing on her tricks of trade and absolute willingness to be vulnerable and real is why I created My Voice is Strong. Thank you Jenn for being a complete inspiration!)
April.18.2010
Louise Sams is an inspiration. With a killer resume and a job she loves, she is the perfect mentor to look up to. Louise has been named the most influential woman in business in Atlanta by Business to Business Magazine and among 50 of the most influential women lawyers in America by National Law Journal.
The secret to her success, “I always ask myself, am I being genuine to myself? Do I like this work? Do I feel challenged? Do I want to get keep doing this?” Louise says that she’s never made career moves with political agenda or for anyone but herself.
Recently named event chair for one of Atlanta’s hottest fashion charity events, Jeffrey Fashion Cares, Louise is excited about participating in the cause. Ninety cents to every dollar goes to Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund. Louise recently sat down with AAPF to discuss goals for the year. With the instances of AIDS rising in Atlanta, especially in women and children, AAPF wants no new cases.
Louise’s involvement in the event is the best of both worlds. She gets to work in fashion and give back. Immediately after receiving her undergraduate degree, Louise worked at Burberry. And loved it. She went on to law school at University of Virginia, worked at an international law firm in NYC and is now the lead counsel at Turner Broadcasting System.
Louise says, look we all have failure. But you just try to experience all types of things, and when someone asks if you can do something, you raise your hand and figure it out. That’s how I’ve been fearless.
photography: deelitephotography
April.4.2010
Dina Zeckhausen loves beauty. Author, playwright, activist, therapist and founder of EDIN, Eating Disorder Information Network, has been teaching people to love their bodies for the past twenty years.
Dina always knew she wanted to work in psychology, but didn’t get her first taste for her passion until she was an undergrad. An unfortunate, almost epidemic, fact about college campuses is that they’re often the breeding ground for eating disorders.
Dina received her PhD in psychology from the University of South Carolina and went on to her doctoral internship at the Georgia State University Counseling Center (unofficially, we hear it’s one of the best in the country). She set up her own practice, published a children’s book, Full Mouse, Empty Mouse (all about listening to your body and expressing your feelings), produced a play, What’s Eating Katie? (exploring the struggles of being a teen) and founded EDIN.
EDIN, one of Atlanta’s most beloved nonprofs, provides everything from Breakfast Clubs (meeting twice a month) to the M.O.D. (Mothers of Daughters) Squad and an annual Love Your Body Month. EDIN helps you start the day out right, teaches you how to talk to kids about body image and most importantly, how to love yourself. Even when times are tough and it’s easier to chalk things up to being a failure or stupid, ugly and fat.
It’s the quiet, introverted, over-achieving, motivators who are at highest risk of suffering from an eating disorder, says Dina.
So the most important thing Dina teaches is to have confidence when you face your fears. And to remember the last time when things were kinda sucky, and how everything turned out all right in the end. In fact, things turned out pretty darn good.
(Click to read Dina’s regular column about loving your body on ShareWIK)
March.21.2010
Nedra Rhone has style. The voice behind fashion at the AJC, Nedra is a writer with heart and her 6th grade English teacher could tell. Ms. Williams was a frank, honest woman with integrity who said Nedra, you’re a great writer. Spending a little time off the beaten path, Nedra found herself years later, a college grad and working with a marketing company, training all over and traveling quite a bit. At lunch one day in the plaza, she had a moment, and thought I’m going to do something great with my life. So she packed her bags (again) and headed to Columbia to learn everything there was to know about journalism. Having spent time writing with newspapers in LA and NY, Nedra finally settled in as the resident Fashion and Shopping writer at the AJC where she gives her expert opinion on Phillip Lim, Vera Wang and local boutiques and fashion designers. Where does she get her inspiration from? She says writers like Gay Talese and Alice Walker who make her feel, who make her care, who are eloquent and observant and are able to write about anything. Share
March.7.2010
Blane Bachelor isn’t afraid of telling it like it is. The brains and beauty behind one of Atlanta’s hottest syndicated columns, Ask A Bachelor, and internationally acclaimed author, knows it takes some guts to spill the beans on dating, mating and relating. Word is she was on the MD fast track when she jumped ship for J school. Where did her drive come from? “Ms. McGill, McGill we called her, my crazy, enthusiastic high school journalism teacher, sat me down and said it plain, ‘you’ve got a real talent here.’” Blane hasn’t looked back since. This sweet Florida native, from Niceville, yep, you read it right, has been hitting the books as a corporate writer and columnist in Atlanta for the last decade. On living in Atlanta, Blane says, “From the restaurant scene to the nightlife, I love Atlanta’s big cosmo-city feel with its small southern town charm.” What bit of advice would she loved to have known as a young writer? “Document everything and stand up for yourself. And honestly, no crying.” But on being a bachelor is a whole different story, “I was young, stupid and smitten once. You know, we can talk ourselves into anything if we try. ” Blane celebrates the release of her book, On Being a Bachelor: Thoughts on Dating, Mating and Relating, this summer. Get yours before they run out: AskaBachelor.com Share
February.18.2010
Cynthia Good, Founder of PINK and Editor of America’s No. 1 online resource for women in business, the Little PINK Book, is changing the face of magazines as we know it. With a heart for encouraging women to have a beautiful life, her commitment to mentoring young women is off the charts. Cynthia’s dedicated PINK’s new Minute Mentor series to teaching women how to work smart, lead a balanced life, and create a beautiful career. Where does Cynthia get the drive to do it all? “My strength comes from within. It comes from all of the times someone said I couldn’t do achieve my dreams or attain my goals.” Cynthia tells My Voice Is Strong to do what you love Share
February.18.2010
Stephanie Davis Smith, hotshot writer who made her way up the ranks to her dream job at GQ magazine, launched the first skirt! Magazine in Atlanta, the first Get Married Magazine in the nation and is now the National Web Editor for skirt! Her resume’s practically perfect. But Stephanie’s actions speak louder than her quill skills.“I never would have landed my dream job if I hadn’t listend to this voice inside my heart that said ‘turn around and change your pants’ (Stephanie ripped her pants before her 1st interview).” Following her dreams never came easy, it took vigor making that first step, but Stephanie listened when that voice said, “you DESERVE to achieve your dreams.”
