Where There is Darkness, There is Light.

Have you ever wanted to stop time and literally spend an entire day in just one moment? Soaking it in, reveling and trying to imprint the details in your life memory bank forever? I have and its been happening a lot lately.

I equate it to getting older, being more aware of mortality, aging, being in love, experiencing loss and learning hard truths and realizing how quickly things can change.I have never been good with change but always seem to be in a constant state of it. Life just simply goes by too fast. There is no formula, surgery, potion or elixir that can change that.

As Chris Pureka says, Time is the Anchor, Change is a Constant.I had an entirely different post planned about fashion and my beloved Green Bay Packers but that will need to wait a day. I awoke this morning to the news that a close friend’s mother and a singer songwriter we love and follow are both facing one of life’s hardest realities; cancer.

I was struck with their honesty and perspective so much so that I felt compelled to share it with you. Here they are, two different people, two different versions their paths anonymously connected by unfortunate news and the courage to carry on.

As we all know, Cancer doesn’t care. It sees no color, gender, age, race or sexual orientation. It is undiscriminating, taxing and incredibly selfish. It is a real life monster under the bed HOWEVER, in the grandest sense possible, there is always hope. Hope breeds positivity and lightness and I think reaches far deeper than any treatment or remedy.The power of positive thinking, love and tenacity goes a long way. As my friend Heather eloquently said 4 years ago when she received her diagnosis, “I am going to kick cancer’s ass, it has messed with the wrong girl.” As we speak, she is pregnant and healthy.I consider this news a reminder of what is important. A re-balancing of my life’s priorities and focus. A necessary nudge to reach out, educate myself and be a lending ear and shoulder for those in my life who might need some extra support.

Read the brave words and perspectives of the affected who have now become warriors in their fight back to healthy.

Luella says…C Stands for Change and Courage.

Our close friend Sandra said,

“My family is about to embark on a challenging journey. It will be up to each person to transform the situation into an opportunity for faith, hope, and happiness. My mom’s cancer is back. It’s in her liver and lungs. Wanted to share this early before it became too overwhelming to share.”

Doris Muramatsu of GIRLY MAN writes,

“One image that keeps circling my mind is of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland. It’s an 823 ft hill in the middle of the city, climbable from almost any direction. The views up top are breathtaking, you feel otherworldly and closer to God. It was climbing this hill back in October 2010 when I knew something in me had shifted. I was no longer a healthy person. Perhaps it was the moment when my chromosomes decided to mutate; I’d like to think they’d pick a transcendent experience such as this hike to do so rather than during one of my more earthly chores such as brushing my teeth.  Of course, I don’t even think I was conscious of this shift. All I knew was that my legs felt like cement blocks and my breath huffed double time with every step I took. I had to stop every 2 minutes or so to regain my breath and couldn’t understand why or how so many people could just amble up the hill with such ease. But the sun, making a rare appearance, shone down on JJ and me, and the highland grass shimmered. Something was beckoning me to keep moving forward because to stop would admit defeat. Sure, my legs and ankles swelled daily for seemingly no reason, and sure I was dangerously short of breath. But I couldn’t admit defeat yet.

I finally made it to the top and rejoiced. I felt proud of myself and thoughts of being sick were set aside for one more day. I wouldn’t have been able to do this if I were really sick. In retrospect, I can hardly believe that I returned from the UK and immediately played shows in Atlanta and Birmingham, then the next weekend in North Carolina and South Carolina. Then I somehow managed to do a grueling 2 and half week tour in the Northeast, playing a show almost every night and teaching a harmony workshop. And every day I was zonked out in the van, barely able to lift my head, barely able to eat. I’d garner my strength for the show and give my all during those 90 minutes, (though I coughed through a good portion of it) but I felt scarily disconnected from my body. My midriff looked foreign to me, like I was in one of those books where you can flip the top, middle, and bottom portions and create the policeman wearing a pink tutu with ostrich feet. I was the Asian girl with E.T.’s belly wearing tights and cool Fluevogs. I stopped looking at myself in the mirror.

It made me think about what I would want to hear if I were about to make my transition: (for my own sanity, I like to think of death as a gateway into more life, just in a different form) the good memories, fun times, the love and laughter. Because doesn’t it all boil down to the love we share, what we give to each other and what we take in, and being able to see each other through the eyes of Source? (or God if you want to call it that?) That’s the one big thing that I realized the day I was going to receive my diagnosis in that hospital in Jersey. I was freaking out, shaking violently underneath that swath of hospital gown. And underlying that fear was the profound certainty that I wasn’t done with my life–I still wanted more. I realized that music was my absolute calling and how lucky I was to have found Ty, Nate, and JJ. How lucky we were to be able to create together. As I focused on each of them, and then on my parents and my other dearest friends, tears of joy streamed down my face. In that moment, I basically experienced the opposite of fear: love. It instantly lifted me to the grandest, most comforting space I have ever been simply because I was allowing myself to bask in its eternal truth. I was one with the Universe. (I hope I don’t sound crazy!) My mood completely transformed, and I think I even glowed because I was vibrating on such a high level.

Five people in white coats came in just then to give me my diagnosis. (It was the oncologist, the resident, and 3 medical students–I was quite the teaching example.) I shone in a state of grace and acceptance. I was ready.”

Just click here to follow her story on her blog.

Nothing else to say really. Be aware of life’s highs and lows, either way keep learning from your experiences.

Be a work in progress.

Related Articles

• Cancer breakthrough — or nightmare? (cnn.com)
• Love yourself (osocio.org)
• United in Hope (everydayhealth.com)

What’s Up Doc?

I am getting back to reality after a two-week holiday stint spent relaxing with my husband, watching movies, eating and drinking with friends and sleeping longer than usual.

I am sure you all indulged in your own version of that as well. To that, I say cheers and well done!Well good morning 2011, now it is time to get back into the swing of things and start anew. Whatever that means, right?

I realize I have been straying away from fashion posts but I go with what I feel and lately I have been digging a bit deeper and looking outside of the “what to wear” scope. (Hope you don’t mind) I promise there is more fashion on the horizon.Anyway, as with most things in my life, I lean toward the uncontrived and what is more organic and real than documentaries? They evoke real emotions and shed light on people, places and events that otherwise would remain unknown.

I consider myself a connoisseur of the arts in general, (if you haven’t already picked up on that) and think these should land in your “What to Watch” queue for the cold and sometimes listless month of January.

Luella says…Document Everything.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

“This is the inside story of Street Art – a brutal and revealing account of what happens when fame, money and vandalism collide. Exit Through the Gift Shop follows an eccentric shop-keeper turned amateur film-maker as he attempts to capture many of the world’s most infamous vandals on camera, only to have a British stencil artist named Banksy turn the camcorder back on its owner with wildly unexpected results.”

Surfwise

According to the NEW YORK TIMES, “There are many different ways to drop off the grid, but few dropped off with such style and urgency as Dorian Paskowitz, the paterfamilias of what is lovingly and at times enviably described as the first family of surfing. It was an intensity in part born of his passionately felt engagement with history as a Jew, which took him from Stanford Medical School in the 1940s to button-down respectability in the 1950s and, thereafter, on the road and into the blue yonder with a devoted wife, nine children, a succession of battered campers and the surfboards that were by turns the family’s cradles, playpens, lifelines and shields.”

 

Funky Monks

One reviewer writes, “this independent production in living black & white was shot of the Red Hot Chili Peppers as they became “Funky Monks” with producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin and retreated to a virtual monastery of an empty house in the hills above L.A. to record their greatest musical achievement ever, 1991′s “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”.

The personality of L.A. is every bit as much the star of this film as is the personalities of the Chili Peppers themselves. The feel of the town is everywhere, from the record offices where the executives explain the concept behind the recording taking place in the fashion it did to the locations where Anthony is interviewed regarding the lyrics of “Under The Bridge” to the wrap party that is held at the house once the recording has been completed…the soul of Los Angeles (such as it is) and the symbiotic association it has with the band are factors that set this filmed “making of” documentary a step above all the others; there is much more than four guys in a studio and a producer in a booth…it is an encapsulation of a city and its most identifiable band, frozen in time forever.”

Helvetica

Gary Huswit says, “Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.”

So watch the above documentaries and let me know what you think. We found them profound in their own subjects.

There is also something very appealing to have the opportunity to see things for myself, a peek behind the curtain if you will. What would your life’s documentary be about?

Related Articles

• Waiting For Superman, Inside Job, Exit Through The Gift Shop Make Oscar Doc Shortlist (cinemablend.com)
• Unsung Heroes: The Editing of Exit Through the Gift Shop (filmexperience.blogspot.com)
• “Can We Talk?” The Documentary SnubFest… I Mean Shortlist. (filmexperience.blogspot.com)

Clean Your Slate.

So I write this blog feeling all over the place. For me, 2010 literally personified the beginning of Charles Dicken’s epic novel, A Tale of Two Cities.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way–”On one hand, I finally got to marry my dream man after 4 years of living with and loving him. Our wedding was a perfect party and I had the best time. I am a Willison now and I feel ready to start the new chapter in my life of family, babies and selflessness.On the other hand, I left my dream job of 8 years with a disappointed heart and fractured loyalty and spent the last couple of months searching for professional meaning. At 31, I felt average and as much as I told myself better things were to come, I couldn’t quite absorb and believe it.One doesn’t want to think their job defines them but when you find yourself idle you realize in some respects it did. Having had time to reflect on where I was, who I had become and what I had to offer was humbling and difficult.

Again like Dickens wrote though, it was necessary and inspiring. When a forest burns down to the ground, new life springs forth. Ideas, creativity, dedication, passion and growth are now ignited and re-aligned. Change is good even though change is hard.As the clock hits midnight, I will not only be starting a new year but also a new job and feel blessed to have the opportunity.

For those of you who may find yourself in a similar situation remember your “double rainbow” (sorry had to) is coming but you have to fight for it. Persistence is your final answer.

Luella says…New Year, New You.

Below are some inspiring words and songs for new beginnings that inspired me during my difficult moments.

There is no place to go but up. Keep on trying and always, always, always believe in yourself.

F***IN PERFECT by Pink

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language

And next year’s words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning.”- T.S. Eliot

RADIOACTIVE by Kings of Leon

Entrance

By Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by Dana Gioia)

Whoever you are, step out of doors tonight,

out of the room that lets you feel secure.

Infinity is open to your sight. Whoever you are.

With eyes that have forgotten how to see from viewing things already too well-known,

lift up into the dark a huge, black tree and put it in the heavens: tall, alone.

And you have made the world and all you see. It ripens like the words still in your mouth.

And when at last you comprehend its truth, then close your eyes and gently set it free.

JAR OF HEARTS by Christina Perri

A New Start

by Bernard Shaw

I have wiped the slate clean,
No more reminders from the past.
Memories of what I have been,
Have vanished at long last.

I look forward to my future new,
Where all is territory strange.
Soon I will be among the few,
That plans their life at long range.

I see my life laid out at my feet,
New friends shall rally at my call.
They will be the first I will greet,
At this my welcoming ball.

Soon all memories will depart,
Of a past left well behind.
I will get off to a new start,
With the best of mankind.

Eminem I’M GOING THROUGH CHANGES

New Beginning

By Tracy Chapman

The whole world’s broke and it ain’t worth fixing
It’s time to start all over, make a new beginning
There’s too much pain, too much suffering
Let’s resolve to start all over make a new beginning

Now don’t get me wrong I love life and living
But when you wake up and look around at everything that’s going down
All wrong
You see we need to change it now, this world with too few happy endings
We can resolve to start all over make a new beginning

The world is broken into fragments and pieces
That once were joined together in a unified whole
But now too many stand alone There’s too much separation
We can resolve to come together in the new beginning

We can break the cycle – We can break the chain
We can start all over – In the new beginning
We can learn, we can teach
We can share the myths the dream the prayer
The notion that we can do better
Change our lives and paths
Create a new world

The whole world’s broke and it ain’t worth fixing
It’s time to start all over, make a new beginning
There’s too much fighting, too little understanding
It’s time to stop and start all over
Make a new beginning

We need to make new symbols
Make new signs
Make a new language
With these we’ll define the world

Teeth by Lady Gaga

I think this cover of The Climb is stunning. I realize my street cred meter just broke but the words are pertinent and when I was running and feeling ugh it made me want to keep going and prove the world wrong.

THE CLIMB by Kelly Clarkson with Jill and Kate (her backup singers).

This blog has been a huge salvation for me during my recent transition period. I loved every minute of creating blog posts and intend to keep on posting in the same manner as always.

After all and  in appropriate fashion, this is just the beginning of Luella says.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Related Articles

• Blank slate. (levite.wordpress.com)
• “Out with the old. In with the new” (scottpaterson.org)

Through the Lens – Paolo Roversi

One of the things I  love the most about my blog is the research I get to do each day in preparation for my content. I love being able to learn as I go and immerse myself in areas I never knew much about before. One of those areas is definitely photography.

As you know from earlier posts, I have loved editorials and fashion photo shoots ever since I was small. From the grandeur of the poses, to the artistry of the clothing, to the beauty of the landscape locations; they simply speak to me.After a bit of thought, I decided I needed to create an outlet and launched Luella’s Visual Industry on Tumblr. It is an archive of fashion photos, paintings and pictures I wish I had shot, created, styled or photographed myself.

In doing my research for Luella’s Visual Industry, I stumbled upon a group of photographers I think are a large step above the masses. I already detailed Steven Meisel and have a bunch on the horizon but today I present Paolo Roversi. Paolo Roversi is an Italian-born fashion photographer who currently lives and works in Paris. Born in Ravenna in 1947, Paolo Roversi’s interest in photography was kindled as a teenager during a family vacation to Spain in 1964. Paolo Roversi’s trademark 8 x 10” Polaroid format and very long exposures have a romantic and ethereal quality. His favourite lighting is window light or a Mag Flashlight to light his models.

According to A BLOG CURATED BY, “As a quiet force in photography for over 25 years, Paolo Roversi has firmly grounded his softly organic and profoundly intimate work within the more avantgarde circles of fashion. Over the years, Roversi has helped define the aesthetics of many key players who manage to sit just under the global commercial and celebrity radar, those intelligent labels from Romeo Gigli to Undercover and Yohji Yamamoto. Accompanying this inclination for the darker side of the industry, Roversi has held his fascination in the faces of muses such Stella Tennant and Kirsten Owen – protean beauties whose faces have stood the test of time.”

Luella says…Representing the Dark Side.

(All images sourced from PAOLOROVERSI.COM)

His photographs represent haunted hopefullness.

Where this is darkness, there is light.

Related Articles

• Lens: Finding Inspiration with The Sartorialist (lens.blogs.nytimes.com)
• ‘My anger’: Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto opens up about losing his father and his rage at fashion’s frivolities (independent.co.uk)

Go There.

I am not an artist. I just don’t have the talent. I wish I could look at a blank canvas and know exactly what to draw or where to go with my vision but such is not to be.

I was born a consultant of sorts. Meaning I can tell you what works and what doesn’t but I can’t create it myself. My skill set is much more in the performing arts spectrum rather than the artistry of paint, pencil and ink to canvas.I have always admired the art world though with its chic gallery shows and pedestrians lining up to be blown away by the abstracts, paintings and works of their favorite artists.

I used to think one had to possess a certain “eye” for understanding but as of late I realize it is what you make it. If you allow yourself to go there, things tend to take on a whole new meaning.Such was the case when I was doing research for a project and stumbled across the art works of Pierre Soulages.

He was born in 1919 and according to Claire Rosemberg of The Telegraph, is famously known for switching direction halfway through his career to emphasise how light is reflected from the colour black – a concept he calls “ultra black”, or outrenoir. Using thick layers of black paint, he scrapes and digs and etches using bits of rubber, spoons or tiny rakes to create smooth and rough textures that absorb or reject light, subtly changing monotonous black.He recently hosted his own gallery show, at Le Centre de Georges Pompidou in Paris in 2009 and at age 91, is still living and working in a flat in the South of France that overlooks the Mediterranean.(Pierre Soulage’s shadow painted by Klaus Guingand 2005)

When interviewed for his gallery show last year, Pierre said, “It is touching to see 63 years of my work brought together, but I don’t much like the word ‘retrospective’,” he added. “I am still painting, I have works drying in the studio.”

At 91, is that a testament to spending one’s life living out their dreams instead of waiting to pursue them? Perhaps.

Luella says…Dig a Little Deeper.

(all photos sourced from Pierre-Soulages.com)

I love his work. I would never have found him had I not been a bit idle.

Moral of this story, is to take a little more time out for yourself. Stop and absorb your surroundings, breathe, be present and notice the details.

Give that to yourself this Christmas.

Related Articles

• A year of astounding art discoveries (telegraph.co.uk)
• Arman Show in Paris Puts Spotlight on Everyday Objects (intransit.blogs.nytimes.com)
• La Roche House in France by Archiplein (design-milk.com)

Variations on Beautiful.

What is beautiful? Is it happiness, contentment, vanity, companionship, friendship, love or the sum of all the parts? Everyone defines it differently. Throughout our lives our concept of what is beautiful will change. I look forward to that.

Today is my parent’s wedding anniversary. In 26 years there have been highs and lows but today I would say, they love each other more than ever.

In their honor, I moved up a post I was working on for a later date. What is beautiful?

Real Simple did an article a year or so back on authors describing what makes them feel beautiful. I was so moved by the above submission from acclaimed author Anne Roiphe,  that I tore it out and put it on our vision board next to Marilyn et al.

It is simply profound. Please read for yourself.

“It was mid-December of 2005. I don’t know why he said it. I don’t know if a shadow had fallen across him, something appalling he saw out of the corner of his eye. I don’t know if it was just coincidence or intuition that prompted him, but about a week before my seemingly healthy 82-year-old husband suddenly died, he emerged from the kitchen ready to go to his office, his face clean-shaven, his eyes shining, smiling shyly, holding the copy of the Anthony Trollope book he was rereading, and said to me, “You have made me very happy. You know that you have made me a happy man.” There I stood in my work outfit, blue jeans and a T-shirt. There I stood with my white hair and my wrinkles and the face I was born with, although now much creased by time, and I felt beautiful.
 
“What?” I said. I wanted him to repeat the words. “You heard me,” he said and put on his coat and drew his earmuffs out of his pocket. “Say it again,” I said. He said it again. “You’ve made me happy.” We had been married 39 years. We had held hands waiting in hospital corridors while a desperately ill child struggled to breathe and thankfully recovered. We had made financial mistakes together. We had spent hours out in fishing boats. We had raised the children and then second-guessed our choices. We had stood shoulder to shoulder at graduations and weddings and we were well-worn, but still I had made him happy, and I was proud and flushed with the warmth of his words.
 
I know I looked beautiful that morning. Perhaps not to the young man holding his toddler in his arms who rode the elevator with me; perhaps not to the friend I met for lunch, a true believer in Botox; perhaps not to passersby on the street; but I knew it for a certainty. I was beautiful.
 
I don’t believe that inner beauty is sufficient in this cruel world. That’s the pap one tells a child. I don’t believe that positive thinking improves your skin tone or that loving or being loved changes the shape of your nose or restores the thickness and color of hair, but I do know that there is a way of being beautiful, even as age takes its toll, that has something to do with the spirit filling with joy, something to do with the union with another human being, with the sense of having done well at something enormously important, like making happy a man who has made you happy often enough.
 
Ten days after that morning conversation, my husband and I returned from a concert and dinner with friends and walked down our windy block toward our apartment house when suddenly he stumbled and fell and died within minutes. As I waited for the ambulance, I remembered his words, a beauty potion I would take with me into the rest of my life.”

Those words are hard to follow but I figured why not reflect on and share what makes me feel beautiful, in the hopes it will inspire you to do the same.

Below is my list, the next time I am feeling melancholy I will revisit it and take notes.  

 

Luella says…Mirror, Mirror on the Wall.

MY HUSBAND & HIS LAUGH/SMILE

THE PERFECT DRESS & PAIR OF SHOES

  NESTLED IN READING A GREAT BOOK

TRAVELING EUROPE

ACCOMPLISHING MY GOALS/TO DO LIST

  FEELING SUNKISSED ON VACATION

 LISTENING /ABSORBING WHEN OTHERS REMIND ME

(All Images above via MEMORY BOOK  &  Krystal Muellenberg)

 

EARLY MORNINGS SPENT OUTSIDE

  DANCING – (always)

 BEING WHERE I HAVE BEEN BEFORE – WHERE PEOPLE KNOW MY NAME

 BEING INSPIRED BY HIGH FASHION & FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY

 VIEWING VINTAGE ARCHITECTURE / HOME DECOR

 EXERCISING TO GOOD MUSIC (loud)

 PARTICIPATING IN AN INTELLECTUAL CONVERSATION / DEBATE

A CLEAN & ORGANIZED HOUSE

(All images above via AN ABUNDANCE OF)

 

TIME SPENT WITH MY FAMILY

 LONG EYELASHES

MY CHILDHOOD HOME/BACKYARD

(All images above via Krystal Muellenberg)

 

COOKING A GREAT MEAL

(Image above via The City Sage) 

LIVE MUSIC

(Image above via Doublecrossed)

DECADENT WINE & DINNER PARTIES WITH MY GREAT FRIENDS

(Images above via Remodelista  &  Country Living)

 

I realized in making this list, beautiful to me means contentment and happiness. I look and feel best when I am at peace with my actions, state and surroundings.

Find your own variation of beautiful and hold onto it always.

Related Articles

• Natural Beauty Comes from Within: Lancome Declares October 22nd Genes Day (totalbeauty.com)
• What is Beauty? (momgenerations.com)

An Introduction.

 

Welcome to Luella says. I have been meaning to get this up and running forever now but just couldn’t find the time. Ok, in truth I just got married and was my own wedding planner. Needless to say I was a bit busy. Anyway, it is a personal perspective on life and fashion. In order for that to make sense to those of you who don’t know me, read the introduction below and become acquainted. Everyone is an expert on their own life, I have been fortunate, through my professional career, to become an expert on fashion as well.

My mother always told me, “life is a series of choices” and so I followed that mantra and still do. When I graduated from college in 2001, I was a bit lost. Up until that point there was an unspoken formula to follow. Go to school, go to college, graduate and get a job. What no one tells you though, is just how difficult it is to find a job you are happy with and qualified for at the same time.  I had done well in college but the marketplace for new graduates in 2001 was terrible. I moved back home to Wisconsin from Arizona and needed guidance. What next? I was lucky to have a Mom who I considered a good barometer on life. She told me to make a wish list of my dream jobs and to think big. Life is about taking risks and I decided I was going to follow my heart. I went to task on my list, laughing a bit along the way figuring none of these organizations were even going to glance at my limited resume. Well I was wrong. Marie Claire magazine offered me a post-graduate internship to work underneath the Fashion Merchandising Editor in the sample closet. In actuality, I had to pay $600 for graduate credits to be able to work there for free. Somehow that didn’t seem right, but it was the push that got me to move to New York City and officially begin my foray into fashion.

I had never been to New York but it was on my “life list” and so like a scene out of Felicity, I flew there, took a taxi and when dropped off at the curb looked up and realized this is my life now, put your head down and make something of yourself. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE has to put their time in. I worked at Marie Claire for five months, even though originally I was supposed to work for three. I kept thinking I would weasel myself into the ranks here eventually. The issue was this job was for college credit which I didn’t need and didn’t pay a salary or offer benefits of any kind. (Sidebar…I did get to go the Christmas party at Tavern on the Green though which was an amazing experience.) Anyway, I was working 60 hours a week, LOVING my job and exposure to everything fashion but struggling to stay afloat monetarily in Manhattan. I was 22, young, passionate and desperate for a salaried job. Finally through a reference from the Accessories Editor at Marie Claire,  I got a job at Rafe New York as the Assistant to the Vice President and Sales and Marketing Director. I loved both of these jobs so much. I was exposed to everything imaginable because in essence that is New York living. After a year I decided I was not a New Yorker. I moved to Los Angeles, another destination on my “life list”. I was Coast surfing and landed in Beverly Hills on Almont Drive with my childhood best friend, Kelly.

LA was much more my scene. I didn’t realize how much I longed for space, grass, sunshine and the ability to drive my own car. I LOVE New York, I think it is one of the best cities in the world but not to live in, at least not for me. I got a job working in a multi-line showroom downtown in the fashion district and was on my way to building my career again. After working for almost 3 years for 8 different designers, I got the opportunity to open a US Showroom for a Danish women’s designer collection, Casch Copenhagen. It really was my dream job. I flew to Denmark and gave my business plan to the “suits” so to speak and they said yes! What an experience. I have since spent the last 5.5 years moving from Account Executive, to National Sales & Brand Manager to Director of Sales. I have weathered many highs and lows with this company. I loved loved loved my job. I put everything into it. I took an almost scientific approach to the business.  The fashion industry has too many showrooms, too many brands, too many designers etc. I knew the importance of being at the helm of a European indie brand and relished all the opportunities that came along with it.

Things have recently changed in my life. My scope has shifted. Maybe it is getting married, maybe it is the internal company struggle we went through these last 1.5 years or maybe it is the realization I need to move on to a new challenge. I am not sure but I will always believe working for Casch Copenhagen, Groa, Gro a Live and By Gro Abrahamsson changed my life. I will always be grateful. Thank you to those who remained constant, you gave me an experience unlike anything I thought I would have growing up in a small town in Wisconsin. So looking forward I move on to the next chapter.