Talent Crush Archives - Page 4 of 6

Iris Apfel

August 1, 2018/0 Comments/in Talent Crush /by Aileen

Iris Apfel designed jewelry for Macy’s a few years ago and I bought some chunky bracelets that I wear all the time. Secret to wearing chunky bracelets to a meal? Take them off and put them in your purse when you sit down to eat then slide them back on when you get up. That might very well be my one and only bit of fashion advice. I really have nothing else.

Iris Apfel has TONS of fashion advice. And it is way better than mine. The documentary Iris (on Netflix) is excellent and there are a few books about Apfel that I checked out from the library. The main takeaway seems to be that Apfel loves living. Everything else she did or accomplished grew out of her enthusiasm for life. Read more

Female Founders Fund

“An early-stage fund investing in the exponential power of exceptional female talent.”

That line is taken directly from the Female Founders Fund’s webpage. Sounds like a bunch of feel good bullshit business jargon, doesn’t it? And if the fund failed to deliver, it would be. Read more

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha

July 18, 2018/0 Comments/in Talent Crush /by Felicia

The story of Flint, Michigan is tragic, but with it, brings a true American hero. That sounds like a cliché, but there is truly no other word to adequately describe Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha.

In 2011, Flint switched their water source from the purified, treated waters of Lake Huron to the Flint River. The Emergency Manager, appointed by the Governor of Michigan, ignored federal safety laws in an attempt to save money and ended up poisoning the impoverished residents of Flint. At the time, Dr. Hanna-Attisha was the director of the pediatric residency program at Hurley Medical Center, a public teaching hospital affiliated with Michigan State University. After a pivotal conversation with a childhood friend about the lead levels in Flint’s drinking water, who just happened to be a water quality expert, Dr. Hanna-Attisha worked tirelessly to bring the evidence to the public eye. Read more

Michelle Obama

July 11, 2018/0 Comments/in Talent Crush /by Aileen

What to say about Michelle Obama that hasn’t already been said? She performed her role as First Lady with grace and intelligence but with an underlying steel that let people know that they tangled with her at their peril.

Obama’s public life since leaving the White House seems to be mostly telling reporters that she has no intention of running for President. Read more

Dame Stephanie Shirley

July 4, 2018/0 Comments/in Talent Crush /by Aileen

After watching her engaging and humorous TED talk, I was later surprised to learn that Dame Stephanie Shirley had to work hard at improving her public speaking skills. In the process of learning about this extraordinary woman, I realize that she has worked hard at nearly every aspect of her life to craft, as she put it, “a life that was worth saving.” Read more

Michelle Wolf

June 27, 2018/0 Comments/in Talent Crush /by Aileen

Michelle Wolf didn’t make fun of Huckabee-Sanders’ appearance, Wolf called her a liar to her face in front of hundreds of people. That is what made so many of us uncomfortable.

Here it is, in its entirety, Michelle Wolf at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

We think she killed it. You decide.

Ellen DeGeneres

June 13, 2018/0 Comments/in Talent Crush /by Felicia

Everyone loves Ellen DeGeneres. I honestly can’t think of a single negative thing that has ever been said about her, and in our current social climate, that’s saying a lot.

Ellen makes the world a better place. Her talk show is a daily ray of sunshine in a sea of garbage television, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. She’s a total business powerhouse with a record company, production company and lifestyle business. Her website, ellentube, is an absolute treasure trove of hilarity, perfectly curated with her signature sense of mischievous humor. I spent two hours this morning doing “research” when I should have been writing this blog post. Not sorry. Read more

Girls Trip and Bad Moms

June 6, 2018/0 Comments/in Talent Crush /by Aileen

Anyone who has seen either Girls Trip or Bad Moms know that when recommending these movies to friends over a certain age it is important to recommend a quick trip to pee before watching. Why? Because these movies are very funny (in the case of Girls Trip there is another reason but I won’t ruin it). And the main casts of each movie is made up of all women. Christopher Hitchens said that women aren’t funny. Here’s a quote from the 2007 Vanity Fair article that laid out why women aren’t funny. Ready? Read more

Chrissy Teigen

May 30, 2018/1 Comment/in Talent Crush /by Aileen

Long live Chrissy Teigen!

I can’t begin to articulate how much I love this woman. My all time favorite moment was when she thought her husband went to the gym and turns out he was in China.

But what I admire most about Teigen is her ongoing insistence on being her own version of her human self even though it would be so much easier to play the pretty but plastic woman people tend to expect from someone in her profession. Read more

Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher

May 23, 2018/0 Comments/in Talent Crush /by Aileen

A few months after the deaths of Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds, I made a tasteless comment to older son. He was planning to engage in an activity that I felt risked life and limb. So I said to him, “If you end up dead, just know I will pull a Debbie Reynolds.” This meant that if he died I would be dead within 24 hours and just as he was getting settled into the afterlife I would show up and ruin all his fun. Read more