September 13, 2007
The Mad Fashionista; career/life transitions; and another place for boomer
women
We love writing The Three Tomatoes each week and believe us, we
do it for the fun of it. Although we would gladly do it for money too, it’s just that no one’s offered us any. Hmm…kind of like a
few other things in our lives too. But we digress. Besides the fun, the other great thing that has come about from our little
endeavor is that it has connected us to many wonderful people who are also very passionate about their endeavors -- people we would have never
encountered if we were still living in our small little circle in our pre-Three Tomatoes days. And because we’ve always believed that everyone we
know and like, should know everyone else we know and like, we want you to meet three special people this week.
You will just love the Mad Fashionista
She’s a sassy, irreverent, plus size New Yorker who
hates size zeros, and drank enough martinis to send her into rehab. She has all the money in the world,
and absolutely no conscience. She and the Wonderdog Bucky, travel from one runway show to the next, and post their acerbic comments about those
size zeros and others, in a fabulously funny blog called Diary of a Mad Fashionista. In fact this week, she’s blogging about
what’s happening under the tents at Fashion Week.
When we were contacted a few weeks back by the grand dame herself (and we refer not to her size), we knew we just had to get her
story.
Meet Elisa DeCarlo, the real dame behind her alter ego, The Mad Fashionista. Elisa, in addition to writing her very funny blog, also happens to be a comedian, writer, and
actress. And like her alter ego, she’s a sassy, irreverent, plus size New Yorker who mocks size
zeros, and really did drink enough martinis to send her into rehab. And while Bucky the Wonderdog is
real, she alas does not have all the money in the world, and actually has a real conscience. Elisa says over the course
of her adult life, she has gained and lost 100 pounds -- right now she’s on the loss side and is down 75 pounds. But
her plus size has never deterred her from loving clothes and fashion. As she says, when you grow up in New York surrounded
by stylish women you develop an innate sophistication. The problem is, where do you get great, stylish plus size
clothes? In the old days, as Elisa said it was catalogs and if you were plus sized you dreaded going into any store to try
something on. Well Elisa has always been a fan of vintage clothing and now has a very successful E-bay store where she sells vintage and
contemporary plus size clothes that she says will make any plus size woman a sexy standout without looking ridiculous. Now
that’s a tomato if ever there was one! Keep on stylin’.
Downsized after fifty - now what?
“Now What?” is exactly what Jim Armstrong
found himself asking after he was downsized or “right sized” as he says, three times over the course of eight years from large media
conglomerates. He was fifty something years old, smart, vital and hardly ready to hang up his spurs, but not anxious to repeat his
past few years. As the old saw goes, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different
outcome. So, he knew he’d have to reinvent himself, and he did just that by starting his own independent media rep
firm, encouraged along the way by others who had also reinvented themselves after 50. He thought their stories were so inspiring
that he wrote a book about them, called Now What? Discovering Your New
Life and Career After 50. It tells the stories of 11 men and 8 women over the age of 50,
who have had extraordinary changes in their careers, and more importantly, their lives. Through practical counsel and these encouraging stories Jim
shows that there is still hope for a bright future, no matter your age, race, sex or academic background.
The book led to a brilliant idea for a web site, called NowWhatJobs, which is a great resource for people looking for job transitions after 40 and
beyond. Jim talks about the upcoming labor shortage that will gradually be facing our country, which he passionately
believes will create a shift in attitudes as more and more companies affirm their commitment to add men and women over age 40 to their staff, on a
full-time or part-time basis or as independent contractors. You can read his article
here. Oh, and not to toot our own little
horn too much, you will find a three part interview with the head tomato posted at Now What Jobs on her career transitions over the years.
A place for women to share from the heart
We first connected with Dotsie Bregel shortly after we launched The Three Tomatoes
in 2005. We can’t remember who contacted who (hey we can barely remember what we had for lunch), but we were
immediately impressed with Dotsie, a lovely soft-spoken, and very smart lady, who has created two web sites for boomer women which grew from her
passionate belief in giving women a voice, and helping them to connect with one another.
The first web site, Boomer Women Speak was launched in 2002, the outcome of Dotsie’s mid-life crisis that had her asking
herself, what do I want to do when I grow up? Her mother had died, her kids were leaving for college, and she started to
think about how important her friendships with women were in helping her to feel connected and encouraged. So she thought, why not widen the circle,
and create a web site where women can share their stories, connect, encourage, and support one another in life. Today, Boomer Women Speak is ranked as the #1 site on all search engines for
boomer women.
That success led to the creation of the National Association of Baby Boomer Women in 2005, a web site and member organization
that’s a sister site to Boomer Women Speak and provides an
amazing array of resources to its members. Like free advice from financial and legal experts, teleconferences on a wide range of
issues, professional networking, forums, monthly newsletters, and a host of member discounts. The Three
Tomatoes recently joined and it’s well worth the annual dues, which by the way, are
$60 (vs. $75) if you join this month. And make sure to mention The Three Tomatoes sent you.
So here’s to widening your circle and living your passion.
‘til next week,
The Three Tomatoes
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reserved.
