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Jen A. Miller Consulting

Author: Contributors

  • Single Girl Reads: Catching Fire

    “The bird, the pin, the song, the berries, the watch, the cracker, the dress that burst into flames. I am the mockingjay. The one that survived despite the Capitol’s plans. The symbol of the rebellion.”

     

    Published in 2009, Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games has become a phenomenon for kids of all ages. A year and a half of anticipation after the first film in the trilogy was released, Catching Fire finally hits theaters today. Jen Smith rereads the novel and shares her take on the book’s surprising lessons in becoming Superbly Single. *This review contains spoilers.

     

    A friend once told me that we don’t have to love an entire book, as long as we find that one nugget, that one lifelong takeaway that we can forever use to benefit ourselves. To my surprise, in rereading Catching Fire, I realized that the book offered more than just one nugget—it was a complete guide to becoming an independent girl.

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  • What I Love About My City | Chicago

    Jacqueline Howard tells us how she made the Windy City her home
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    PHOTO: BOBBY SAMAT PHOTOGRAPHY.

    Welcome back to What I Love About My City—a series in which our favorite single girls dish on everything from the best places for a single girls weekend to the secret spots only the locals know about. If you’re thinking about moving or just planning your next trip, we’ll fill you in with all the essential details on the cities our crew knows best.

    Jacqueline Howard is an editor at Huffington Post and a host of Talk Nerdy to Me who holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Southern California. Originally from Cincinnati, Jacqueline attended the University of Michigan, studied abroad in Melbourne, Australia, and lived in Los Angeles for a few years before heading back to the Midwest. It was as fellow interns at C Magazine that I got to know Jacqueline as one of the smartest and most insightful peers I’ve ever met. We became fast friends when I realized I could talk to her about anything (career choices, reality TV, boys, women’s issues in the media) and get sound advice or an interesting conversation. I still miss her in L.A., but I can’t wait to visit her in her new home.
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  • Apartment Decorating on a Real-Life Budget

    Apartment Decorating on a Real-Life Budget

    Sara Bodle Takes our Homes From Drab to Fab on a Single Girl Budget

    Apartment Decorating on a Budget

    Last week I moved into yet another new apartment—a painful process, yes, but also a great way to get a fresh start. Moving is the the opportune time to clean out the old and redefine your space with new home decor.

    For help turning my new apartment into a place I can truly call home, I reached out to Sara Bodle—one of my best college girlfriends—for a few tips. Here she clues TSD in on her apartment decorating advice for making our homes fabulous on budgets we can actually afford.

    Read on to get her advice for transforming your own place from drab to fab!

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  • Don’t Expect Me to Smile. Or Meow.

    Colleen Viana reflects on her experiences with catcalling and opens an important discussion about street harassment
    PHOTO: Ralph Crane.
    PHOTO: Ralph Crane.

     

    On any given day, there are three things I fear while walking the streets of New York City:

    1. Pigeons (better known as rats with wings)
    2. A sea of tourists (though less of a fear and more of an annoyance—if you work in SoHo on the weekends you’ll understand)
    3. Catcallers

     

    The inevitable “damn girl!” or “what’s up, beautiful?” while at first complimentary, is enough to ruin your walk to work, the bodega, the bars, or hell, even the laundromat. A shout-out to your derriere can even cause more frustration than those relentless pigeons, sadly. It wasn’t until recently that I started contemplating the pragmatics of these very uncomfortable situations. The other day, for instance, I had to stop myself from looking back to shout, “YOUR MOM’S CHEST HAIR” when asked “where did those luscious locks come from, sexy?” It’s a constant reminder to pick your battles; but when is enough, enough?

    There is no way to easily confront being sexually harassed; that is essentially what catcalling is, believe it or not. It’s a conversation that is easily avoidable, often uncomfortable in the same manner as experiencing it. They are not moments we wish to recount, yet it happens so often that this unhappened conversation needs to start happening.

    So here is my story about the first time I can recall being catcalled, and not liking it (but when do you, really?).
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  • The Single Diaries Brunches With PR Diva Jamie Madrid

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    Jamie Madrid-Mehta moved to L.A. after college (a Journalism and Marketing Communications major) and dove head first into Public Relations. Years later, she took the plunge and started her eponymous firm Jamie Madrid Consulting. Representing the fashion, beauty, accessory, restaurant and lifestyle industries through her array of clients, Jamie has been called a “PR Diva with impeccable taste and truly great connections.” This mid-twenties Midwesterner is the antithesis of generation Y: a self-made go-getter who isn’t afraid of risk or commitment. With the brains to back it up, she’s a recipe for success.

    I met Jamie a few years ago through a friend; we had a breakthrough conversation at that friend’s tea during which Jamie first told me about her plans to launch her company, and we have stayed in touch since. One Sunday we met at Sunny Spot, my favorite neighborhood haunt for bottomless brunch libations. In between rounds of mimosas, Jamie reflected on her experience thus far.
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