“What drives me crazy is, a lot of young women say to me, ‘I want your job!’” says Beker. “I say, get your own job! I don’t want them to follow in my footsteps. People should blaze their own trail.”
As most of you know, when I moved to Toronto, I had zero job or direction and I was suffering from staggering career-envy of my peers who were already set with amazing careers, making a stable income and had a set path.
I was a 26 year old English major with a ton of waitressing experience. Awesome.
Finding a job in Toronto is tough, especially with little to no experience. The few jobs I did try didn’t last long because I hated them, and my attitude towards menial tasks and shitty bosses was too strong to hide for 8 hours a day.
During that time, my awesome friend Emma, a senior publicist at Harper Collins, invited me to come check out Jeanne Beker interviewing Kelly Cutrone about her new book, If You Have to Cry, Go Outside. It was amazing to see my friend, younger than myself, responsible for handling such impressive talent. But I was also envious and pretty depressed about it, to be honest. Like I said, I had career-envy and that’s one pretty awesome career.
Jeanne right, Kelly left
Like so many other desperate girls who were eager for a tid-bit of advice from these two incredible female powerhouses, I showed up to the event hungry for just a little inspiration and motivation.
I remember Jeanne Beker saying how so many girls come up to her saying, “I want your job!” (this was when she was still the host of FashionTelevision). She said that she would always respond by saying “Get your own job! This one is mine!”.
Back then, I was a little put off by that. It’s easy if you’re Jeanne Beker to go get a job. But I was just a silly little nobody with a catchy Twitter handle. How the hell am I supposed to get my own job, Jeanne? HOW?
Thinking about it though, Jeanne Beker wasn’t born famous. She wasn’t born to be the host of FashionTelevision. She paid her dues and created her own way.
Someone posted this picture on Instagram last week and it got my wheels turning. I’ve been reflecting on my life and my career and how far I’ve come since that eventful day when I met Kelly Cutrone and heard Jeanne Beker say those words.I couldn’t have even imagined at that time where I would now be today career-wise and relationship-wise.
I’ve also been watching as my peers in Toronto are doing INCREDIBLE things with their lives. Everyday I go on Facebook and I see that another one of my friends has been on television or the radio or being interviewed by an impressive publication. Or they’ve received start-up capital to launch things that I don’t really understand but I’m sure are great.
I see them open stores, start businesses, make money and be happy doing the things they love. It’s crazy inspirational and it just goes to show that you really can “get your own job” by taking advantage of certain opportunities as they come your way.
Meeting Miss Cutrone – just so thrilled
I have a dream job. It is mine because I created it. I am my own boss and even if I stopped doing what I am doing, no one else could do it the way that I do because I made up the role that I play in the work spaces of my clients lives.
Obviously, I went through several years of horrible experiences, business mistakes, wrong partnerships and no money. But now, holy crap, I have a career, a dream job. And it didn’t exist before me. I made it myself. I blazed my own trail and I love that.
Thanks, Jeanne Beker. I finally get what you meant 
