I’ve found that the women I admire haven’t changed much from my youth. When I was in high school, I adored Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Gwyneth Paltrow, and I still do to this day.

Besides being blonde & thin (and who doesn’t admire that!) both of these women seemed both professionally accomplished and personally very happy – the kind of women who excel at absolutely everything they try, and are obnoxiously perfect while they do it… exactly the kind of person I’ve always been accused of being… up until I moved to Virginia and tried my hand at cooking!

I will credit Kennedy for inspiring me to go into public relations – I knew she worked in PR for Calvin Klein, and before that I’m not sure if I ever would have known the field existed. I liked the idea of her glamorous lifestyle, and the fact that she met & married a Kennedy while working mayyyyybe helped my career choices along, I’ll admit.

My sister once saw a photo of the Kennedys over my shoulder while I was working on a school project about the family and said “that’s a great photo of you!” Best. Compliment. Ever.
And as I have grown throughout my life and career, I still adore Gwyneth Paltrow. I love everything about the way she lives her life – from the jetsetting around the globe, to raising the most perfectly polite children, to writing a brand new cookbook – and it doesn’t hurt that I was a huge Coldplay fan before she ever married Chris Martin.

I admire how Gwyneth keeps pushing herself to try new things and stay challenged. She never rests on her laurels, and is always accomplishing something new.

It’s something that motivates me as I think about the next phase of my career. Now that I’ve already achieved something most people only dream about – working at a high-powered firm as a celebrity publicist, in one of the top U.S. cities, with the world’s most famous people – what do I want to do now? What will be my next challenge?