8 minute read

Well, here we are! Another year coming to an end -- a new one just about to begin. I always find this time of year -- the span between Christmas and New Year's -- to be an interesting "in between" period. It's as if we're all collectively waiting for some proverbial shoe to drop, a sigh of relief we're looking to release at any minute. Your days kind of get a bit blurred together, between family get togethers and late night cocktail parties with friends. And you reflect. A lot. Or at least I do.

It's part of the reason why I love writing these end of year posts so much. During our drive yesterday between Perth and Margaret River (where we're spending New Year's), I dug through my archives over the course of this year and pulled my personal highlights and favorites -- a reel of my highs (and even some lows) that meant a lot to me these past 12 months. The opportunities. The trips. The career moves. And of course, I have all of you to thank for it. So thank you. For following along this year, for reading, for supporting, and most importantly, for being my friends.

Wherever you are this New Year's Eve, I hope you ring in the new year with love and hope, as I know I will. And as for 2018, let's f-ing do this. I'm ready for ya.

What kind of content do you want to see in 2018?

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1. Speaking on panels: One of my biggest personal goals this year was to take on more speaking engagements. Public speaking has always been a point of contention for me — I tend to shy away from being the center of attention, especially if a microphone is involved. This year alone, I told myself every speaking engagement that popped into my inbox, I would take on — 5 in total.

The biggest pinch me moment was when I was invited to speak on a panel about women disrupting the digital media landscape at the Samsung space in Meatpacking. Walking in that evening and seeing my photo span a 2 story high screen was a pretty incredible feeling -- both humbling and frightening at the same time. But, of course, with any fear, practice always helps and I've found that usually once I get started, I love the adrenaline rush of it all. And the questions from all of you!

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2. NYC Marathon: After pulling out of the NYC marathon the year before, tackling the race this year was a big fitness goal for me. I documented my training process along the way — and I cannot begin to thank you all enough for the words of encouragement along the way. While my time wasn’t necessarily anything to brag about (I had to walk quite a bit), I was ecstatic to just have finished the race and been a part of something that literally the city comes together to support. Huge props to my boyfriend who also tried to run me down for the last 6 miles to give me a new set of headphones (my Apple AirPods died around mile 18).

3. Japan: My trip to Japan was a dream trip come true — one that had been in the works for several years with my good friend, Heather. We both were dying to see the Cherry Blossoms in full bloom and managed to schedule the trip perfectly, hitting Tokyo, Kyoto and Naoshima at just the right time to witness it all.

4. Scotland: Even though this was probably one of my shortest international trips (less than 5 full days), I walked away with some of my all-time favorite images of the year, including the one you see here, of me in the red dress up at the Isle of Skye.

5. Australia X 2!: This year, I chocked up two separate trips down under — both very different from each other. The first was spent trekking through New South Wales with their state tourism board, experiencing Sydney, Bondi, Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay. The second — where I am currently — has been spent exploring Melbourne and Western Australia with my guy. I just have to say -- I've been spoiled with SUCH good coffee and avo smash here that it's gonna be really hard to leave.

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6. South of France: For ages now, I’ve wanted to visit the south of France. We hopped over back in August and I was basically in heaven as we drove through some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever seen — lavender and sunflower fields and all. I still need to post my recap posts from this trip so look out for those in early January!

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7. Instagram engagement tips: Ah, the algorithm heard around the world. Thanks to Facebook, we’ve all felt the effects of the algorithm change introduced back in March — and for better or for worse, we’re stuck with it. I’m not going to lie, it’s really changed the way I look at the platform and the credence and weight I give it, when it comes to my business. That said, I loved starting this conversation with you all — tips and tricks — on how to best handle the changes, if for nothing else than to give a bit of transparency to something that tends to be kept as an industry secret.

8. How to handle a breakup: The start of 2017 hit a pretty low note for me — the guy I had been dating at the time decided to call it quits at midnight on New Year’s Eve. I took the first month or so of the year to really reflect on how I handled that heartbreak. What came of it was this post, where I shared 6 ways to handle a breakup — it was extremely therapeutic to share this with you guys and hopefully it helped someone else along the way.

9. Glamour Magazine: While this photoshoot actually happened at the end of 2016, it wasn’t until March of 2017 that I saw this finished ad for Clinique in Glamour Magazine. These photos are some of my favorite snaps in print — I still have to pinch myself when I see them.

10. International Women’s Day with BHLDN: Celebrating International Women’s Day with these badass babes for a collaboration with BHLD. Also, this dress made many appearances over the year — it’s probably one of my favorites.

11. Launching YouTube and my weekly newsletter: I’ve been pushing myself to launch both my YouTube channel and my weekly newsletter and toward the second half of this year, I was able to do both! It’s been a really rewarding experience challenging myself to learn and develop two different platforms and I’m looking forward to growing the two even more in 2018.

12. Nora, my editorial assistant: One of my big professional goals for 2017 was to hire an editorial assistant to help with some of my day over day workload. While I’ve managed direct reports before while at Google, this time felt infinitely different as the business is that much more personal. The minute I met Nora though, I knew my brand was in good hands. Not only is she meticulous, organized and good at making sure I eat lunch during the day (I sometimes just forget and power through until dinner), she’s an amazing writer and photographer. Our holiday dress edit lookbook is some of her finest work yet, I think. Thank you, Nora for everything. You're a badass.

13. Funny Face: Sometimes I do weird things for photoshoots. Including walking around Washington Square Park at 6:30am with multicolored balloons to recreate a scene from Funny Face. Was it worth it though? I think so!

14. Underneath it All: This year I partnered with a few of my favorite lingerie brands, Adore Me and Third Love, both I think are great at hitting the sweet spot for women of all sizes and shapes — a surprising anomaly in a market dominated by angel wing models. Like many of you I’m sure, I have body hang ups and insecurities, which is why I loved shooting this campaign to tackle those head on. I’ve never thought of lingerie as something for men — it’s much more a gift to myself. The gift of feeling comfortable in my own skin and embracing my sexuality, however I choose to express it, which I'm sure many women from the likes of www.hdpornvideo.xxx and other sites would agree with as well!

15. Mulberry: As we draw 2017 to a close, I’m extremely grateful for the roster of wonderful brand partners I’ve worked with the past few months. My career highlight though was working with Mulberry back in November for their Amberley Bag launch.

16. Sarah Seven: I’ve never been the girl who’s dreamt about what her wedding dress would look like. If, or when I get married, I like to think I’d probably wear a really simple, elegant white midi dress. But when I worked with bridal designer Sarah Seven on her contemporary dress line, Leone, I was rather tempted to borrow of of her gowns, just to see what all the fuss is about. The result? I get it now.

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17. Paris in the Rain: Out of all my outfits this year, there’s something about this black and white number with a red umbrella in front of the New York Public Library that just felt so cinematic. It’s my current Instagram profile photo and I just can’t bring myself to change it.