Yes, you read that right – Booty Parlor. Who doesn’t love a cute play on words? Booty Parlor is a line of products that were created with women’s sexuality in mind, whether she’s single or in a relationship. It is a brand that encourages women to indulge in their sexiness, free of shame or self-consciousness. I had the opportunity to speak with the creator, Dana B. Myers, who is inspirational as both a female entrepreneur and a sex-positive role model.

What inspired you start Booty Parlor?

I was inspired by my mom – she was a makeup artist. I watched her transform women. While she was doing makeup, she would chat with her clients about everything women talk about. They felt so much better about themselves after – it was a big influence on me, where women were helping women and inspiring each other. Also, I was very interested in all things related to sex. I was lucky enough that it was never a taboo subject in the house. I felt confident, open and excited to explore and experience sex. It made me the go-to sexpert for my girlfriends. Fast forward after being in the music industry, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to combine beauty and sexiness and create a beauty parlor for your love life. I wanted to do products from the beauty world that you could use in your bedroom. I wanted fun and sassy, not sleazy and trashy. I told my boyfriend, and he said “sounds great, let’s do this together!” A month later we lost our jobs and we started working on our business plan. Read More »

All season I’ve been live-tweeting Project Runway (@cc_intern), and from reading all of my tweets, it’s obvious that I was rooting for Anya Ayoung-Chee to win the whole thing. When she came in for casting, the judges were baffled by the fact that she had just learned to sew four months ago. Her designs were impeccable, and the judges didn’t buy that she sewed them herself. Heidi convinced the other judges to put her through to the show, believing she could do well, and now she’s the winner.

I talked with Anya today about her experience on the show, and learned some interesting things (like who she thought she would hate, but turned out to be best friends with, and how long the judgings actually take).

Me: You were basically the under dog the whole season, how did that motivate you to do better?

Anya: I think that when I look back on the season, I definitely see how I was cast as the underdog. I didn’t really think about it. I was more concerned about getting from one challenge to the next. I think it was good that I didn’t think too much about it. Read More »

I remember watching Center Stage the summer before sixth grade with all of my dance friends and seeing Zoe Saldana as the feisty Eva Rodriguez. Girl was fierce. I wanted to be her and will forever give her credit for my sassy-pants attitude. While she appeared in a ton of movies after Center Stage like Crossroads, Drumline, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, her career didn’t blow up until 2009. Two massive blockbusters, Star Trek and Avatar, launched Zoe into super-stardom. She’s now every Comic Con go-ers dream, whether they’re fantasizing about the sexy space goddess Uhura or the phenomenally hot (and blue) Neytiri. Zoe has it going on. Her newest film, Colombiana, is in theaters now. You can see her kick ass as the gorgeous Cataleya, who becomes an assassin after her parents are murdered. She’s definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Recently we had the opportunity to discuss some hot topics with Zoe, and here’s what she said:

1. Who inspires you most?

My family, my mother and sisters have all inspired me. They have all been supportive and by my side through everything. I learn from them and they are my best friends.

2. If you could give yourself 5 years ago some advice, what would it be?

I would probably say even if things don’t always go your way, still believe in yourself and keep trying to move forward.

3. What did you think you would be doing now when you were 18?

I was a trained dancer for years but knew that I had this desire to continue performing and loved the creative outlet of acting. I always wanted to do something that I could express myself, challenge myself, and do something creative. Read More »

When I graduated from college, I closed my eyes and imagined my life as a professional businesswoman. You know, wearing a suit and carrying one of those leather binders. What did I see, you ask?

HAHA. Blackness. HAHA.

But after working through the rubble that was my post-grad life and directing all of my self-generated passion towards what I really wanted – I tried closing my eyes again. What did I see, you ask?

Success.

All throughout college, professors gave me advice on getting that dream job. “Don’t use that spacing in your resume. Take the unpaid internship. Pass your classes. Go on informational interviews. Network your little booty off. Make business cards. Wipe the scuffs off your patent leather pumps before the interview. Follow up. Send thank you letters.” Blah, blah, blah – white noise is hard to hear. Read More »

Brace yourself ladies, because today is not just any other Friday.

Today is Friday the 13th.

The day of bad luck and cursed lives and black cats and broken mirrors. Today is a day to fear. Today is a day to lock our doors and stay inside. Why is Friday the 13th supposed to be such an unlucky day, you ask? I think it has something to do with the superstitions surrounding the 13th and Fridays in general (guess Rebecca Black never heard about that) joining together to be the ultimate source of bad luck on Friday the 13th.  And as a result there are lots of horrors that await us.  Is it true? I doubt it. But even so, you might want to prepare yourself.

For anything.

Here are 13 unlucky situations (AKA, every college girl’s worst nightmare) you better wish you don’t find yourself in on this unlucky Friday the 13th.

1. Your hair straighter/dryer/curling breaks minutes before your big date… with only half your head done.

2. You sleep through your final exam.

3. Your hard drive crashes…before you printed out your final paper.

4. The guy you’ve been crushing on goes Facebook official with your frenemy.

5. Your train reroutes on the way to your interview. Read More »

Ever have one of those weeks, where it just feels like nothing is going right? No money, no job, no plans for the weekend. I can tell you first hand, it sucks. We all get down once in a while and let’s be honest here – this economy isn’t helping anyone’s mood. Sometimes we just want something, anything to make us feel better. Unfortunately, chocolate’s not cutting it, and either is sitting home watching that America’s Next Top Model marathon on the couch. So what’s a broke college kid to do?

How ’bout some new boobs?

Yeah, you heard me right – a new rack could be your solution to the no-money blues. The Sun is reporting that breast augmentation is the latest trend among the jobless. Because spending $10,000 is a great idea when you don’t have an income. The idea is that any advantage on a job interview is a good one, especially when it involves first appearances.

That’s where I get a little lost though; why would a bigger chest signify a more qualified employee?  I understand ironing your shirt or shining your shoes, but implants? Really? Major invasive cosmetic surgery is really the route you want to go to give yourself that little something extra on an interview? Color me confused, because unless you are being interviewed to become the next Playboy centerfold, I really don’t think double Ds are going to help. Read More »

Last night was the season finale of The Hills. We were sad for a minute, until Lauren promised there would be more episodes (yay!). The party was huge, and we had a CollegeCandy girl on the inside. Well, sorta; she was outside on the red carpet on a freezing cold NY night. Here is how she spent her evening:

The scene: Central Park West, Tavern on the Green

The temperature: f#$%#$ freezing. The E! News lady (who took several takes to figure out what day it was) claimed it was -10 DEGREES! The accuweather forecast in my cab, however, claimed 20 degrees, wind chills of 5 degrees. Either way, it was cold as balls.

They had about 3 heat lamps set up for the press bleachers. And the MTV people were handing out hand warmers, but overall, people were seriously disgruntled. (Commonly heard: “Why the hell did they think it was a good idea to have this outside?”)

When I got there, it was pretty evenly divided into two camps:

1) Shrieky girls in mini dresses and stillettos freezing their asses off waiting in line to get in

2) Grizzly press guys in Timberlands and puffy fur lined parkas laughing at them. (I like to think I fell somewhere in between. Upon arrival, they eyed me warily in my black boots and white wool coat. But once I started making jokes about Heidi’s implants freezing and Spencer’s lame ass attempt at a beard, I think they gave me the benefit of the doubt and offered up their spare handwarmers). Read More »

At your job interview, you might think it’s your potential employer’s responsibility to ask you questions, not the other way around. Well—yes and no. They won’t be able to get a good idea of how you’ll perform if they don’t ask you questions, but finding a job is all about finding a good fit, and that means you should be posing some questions as well.That’s all fine and good, you might think to yourself, but what do I actually ask?

Good question (see—you’re on your way already!). First of all, stay away from asking about salary. I know the first thing on my mind when I go to a job interview is how much I’m going to get paid, but you can always negotiate that with the employer if you’re offered the job. One time when it is okay to ask about salary is if you’re really not sure whether the job or internship you’re interviewing for even pays (yes, sometimes it’s unclear). In that case, ask away.

It’s always a good idea to ask a question that isn’t really a question for the purpose of selling yourself. For example, you could say something like, “I love learning from a wide variety of people and cooperating with lots of different working styles. Is there an opportunity for me to do that here?” Since the answer is yes (duh), the employer will remember that an integral part of the job is really important to you. Read More »

After a lot of hard work, you’ve finally landed an interview for your dream job (or internship, as the case may be). Sure, what you say is important—but what are you going to wear? There’s that knockout Hermès scarf your rich aunt bought you for your birthday—oh, and that sweet pendant from the vintage store that you snagged last week—and the professional and stylish pleated pencil skirt you bought on clearance that fits you like it was tailored for you. Throw in a button-down shirt and some stilettos, and you’re hot to trot.

So you’re all set, right?

Wrong.

Unless you’re planning to follow in the footsteps of Andy in The Devil Wears Prada, you can’t always wear whatever is hip and trendy to your job interview. The good news is, though, that there are some easy guidelines you can follow that will lead you to a great interview outfit.

1. Dress conservatively. This is really difficult to do if you have a personality that you like to express through your clothes, but do your best to rein in that desire. It’s fine to wear a shirt with a splash of color or a pair of shoes with a little detailing, but it’s really important not to let yourself go overboard. You want the people interviewing you to focus on you, not on what you’re wearing. Think simple, classy, and professional. Read More »

There’s no question about it: finding somebody to pay you is hard. In some cases, it’s even hard to find somebody to not pay you but instead give you something that’s supposed to be equivalent: college credit, for instance, or a big-ticket line on your resume.

Yeah, I’m talking about the Real World.

I’m far from a career counselor, but I have picked up a lot of helpful tips along the way. Since it’s sometimes hard to know where to start when looking for a job or internship, let me offer a few things that I know to be helpful:

• Work those connections. Connections, connections, connections. Have I made my point clear yet? CONNECTIONS! If you know somebody whose friend knows somebody whose brother knows somebody… well, what are you waiting for?! There’s only two degrees of separation between you and that person, and nobody else is going to do the legwork for you. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that a ton of industries are based on connections, and at some places it can be impossible to get your foot in the door unless you physically plant it there. Talk to people, ask questions, and be proactive. Networking is far more important than you think. Read More »