Just last week, I was telling my friend how I wanted to revamp the whole site and have a leaner, fresher look for That Girl At The Party. Well careful, what you wish for in this Age of Aquarius Instant Karma era. Because in late April, the site started to fail! I watched, in horror, as features started to act up. It was like organ failure. Colors changed on their own, then the pictures all disappeared then the whole site went white! Four years of daily joyful toil all seemingly down the drain as my host Go Daddy tried to pawn it off on Word Press, despite the fact that it kept saying server error. The first day, I clocked a good 22 hours on the phone with them with each call yielding another excuse and/or solution for the problem till finally I was a headachy, tearful mess. The site was like Humpty Dumpty, with all the kings horses and all the kings men still not able to put it back together again!
Fortunately, I have an awesome new filtered shower massager from T3, so I just spent a half hour utilizing the different modes before deciding to have a self date night. I got to check out the awesome Iron Man 3 and then have a burger at my favorite NY burger joint, Steak and Shake which is the best deal in town, by the way, at just $3.99 for a burger AND fries!
Days passed and I spent hours talking to multiple techs still finally being blessed with one named Joe, who figured out the multiple issues and had me on the path to recovery in about a half hour.
Anyway, recanting all this to say, that this summer, I will be experimenting with new looks for TGATP.
In addition there will be some content changes. First, I intend to have more of a personal voice. My beloved Mom lamented right before she died that TGATP was getting too impersonal. Dealing with her sudden passing these last two years, left me almost totally voiceless as I navigate the foggy headed haze, that is grieving. But I am finding it again and hope to be able to be more expressive and individual in future posts. This decision is also precipitated by the fact that, all the NYC blogs are getting a bit boring now as we all go to the same events and everyone is just straight reporting on what they saw and what they got without any differentiating voices.
Secondly, look out for new contributors and experts, who will be offering series on all our featured topics. The first series is “Smile Styles With Dr. Paul” by dentist Dr. Paul Banks on how to achieve and maintain a beautiful smile. We are also doing “Fashion Flash” a fashion trends series with the body slimming leggings and shapewear line, Skineez.
In addition, I recently attended the Rock The World 2013 Conference one of most life changing events I have ever been to. The two-day event sponsored by Savor The Success spawned the idea to launch “TGATP Business School” a series of stories for female entrepreneurs featuring interviews with some of the amazing women, like Traci Bild and Jennifer Longmore, who offered me great business and personal inspiration during the conference. The TGATP Business School will also feature interviews with other leaders in industry, as well as, some general tips I have learned in my four years of owning TGATP.
A few weeks back, I had a conversation with some of my sista bloggers about the recent infestation of “isms” in the NY PR industry. Now this may be a Jerry McGuire moment, but that tete-a-tete sparked another change. Since the PR people that a brand employs are the first face of that brand, I will no longer be covering any brand that employs PR people, who are not doing a bang-up job. If a PR company and/or internal PR department suffers any “ism”- racism, nepotism, elitism, separatism, unprofessionalism, etc… – then their products simply will not be covered or I will deal with the brand directly. It’s just not fair to the PR people, who are doing a great job by the clients, to give equal coverage to the brands who have shoddy PR. Fortunately, the ratio of good to evil is about 5 to 1. So we will not be at a loss for content. Although it may mean we no longer cover some of our favorite brands.
That Girl At The Party’s new motto is “All The Lifestyle Its Fit To Cover.” Thus if I don’t cover it, it’s probably not worth covering. When I started TGATP, it was for the fun of blogging and the exhilaration that this brave new world represented. But now it is my wonderful career and I am growing and expanding in ways I never imagined.
I refuse to allow anything or anyone to mar my dream job, especially not disaffected 20-something, right out of college, bubble-headed, seat warming, first jobbers and/or interns! Nor will we deal with jaded, seat warming, stuck in the print magazine era veterans, hanging on to their isms for dear Life, as the industry rapidly changes around them.The products TGATP covers are reviewed and promoted strictly ’cause I think that they are great. These products are also heavily promoted in TGATP social media. However, there are zillions of products in the world and Life is truly too short. Thus, I am not going to deal with anymore unnecessary PR nonsense.
And finally, please comment more folks! That Girl At The Party is a dialogue not a monologue.