CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL:
CURVY & CONFIDENT: 101 stories of loving yourself and your body
Review by NJ.com
This edition, with Emme, on the cover, intrigued me. Emme, of Northern New Jersey, writes a lovely essay. The first plus-size model - she paved the way for Ashley Graham - is, as her writing proves, completely together. She is that wise friend, the one who knows precisely how to present herself, deal with jerks and look stunning while doing so.
In her essay, she recalls a pivotal day in 1989, the day of her first major photo shoot.
"On the way to the location, I picked up a big box of chocolate and cinnamon rugelach from my favorite bakery for everyone to nosh on while we worked, then wondered if they would all say, 'Of course the plus-size model would bring in something fattening to eat!"
It's a wonderful attitude and she needed that reserve of good will. It was an important day for fashion; this was the setting to make one of the first ads featuring a heavier model. It was for a national jeans ad. And as big of a deal as that was for fashion, it was a tremendous day for Emme. Continue the article →
LIFE’S LITTLE EMERGENCIES: Everyday Rescue for Beauty, Fashion, Relationships and Life
I could not have written this book with anyone else other than my friend and best selling writer, Natasha Stoynoff. I had just given birth to my daughter Toby in 2001, the world trade centers had just fallen, we wrote and wrote at the Jersey shore, and consumed bottles of wine in the process. We were feeling the need to remind ourselves and shed light on what was really an emergency vs. everything else in our lives. Definitely a girls get together book – today I see it as the distraction I needed for everything being so unstable around us in the New York area…Life literally had new meaning.
Here’s a snippet from description:
Take off your shoes, curl up on the sofa, grab your favorite drink, let down your hair, and get ready for some straight-from-the-heart girl talk from Emme!
In this frank, practical, and hilarious guide to getting through life’s everyday emergencies, Emme is your navigator. Her insider’s eye and priceless connections will help you solve the dilemmas that come your way—no matter what! Whether it’s what to wear on that all-important first date (or totally crucial first interview), or how to throw an unforgettable party, or what to take with you on that impromptu getaway with the perfect guy, Emme comes to the rescue! And she calls on some of the smartest women around for “been there, done that” advice—women like Naomi Wolf, Aida Turturro, Trisha Yearwood, and Camryn Manheim. Each section is jam-packed with useful tips and strategies to help you get through things that might otherwise throw you for a loop.
WHAT ARE YOU HUNGRY FOR?
After working with the National Eating Disorders Association for 30 years and other editing disorder practitioners as an expert on network TV speaking about body image, self esteem and societal extremes relating to women and girls, I kept feeling we were only scratching the surface in exposing the root of this very serious issue of being taught how to fool with our food, not learning how to heal and fuel ourselves with it. Knowing in time we were to tap into something more meaningful that had nothing to do with food. As a way to introduce how food can fuel and heal, I set out to connect with parents and children at the same time. I created a children’s book where parents and children together would read and learn simply about how emotional hunger can often cloud and affect a young person’s life. Thanks to talented illustrator, Eric Brooks, we were able to engage our young readers who returned to the book over and over again. Our hope was to acknowledge hunger, the joy of sharing food with others, sharing feelings, the many ways we can feel full and tap into our innate drive to belong!
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TRUE BEAUTY
My first book, True Beauty. It’s true: putting yourself out there is a lot like giving birth.
I worked on True Beauty in the warm lobby of the Royalton in NYC, over many cups of hot tea, with writer Dan Paisner. Dan also wrote Morning Has Broken, the book my ex-husband Phil and I wrote about Phil’s journey through depression. He knew what questions to ask, had the patience of a saint, and pushed me to open up about the pain, the joy, and the career unfolding in front of me.
Telling my story before it had fully played out was nerve-wracking. I was putting my dreams and hopes in front of millions of people. But I was lucky to have a publisher who put the book into the public’s hands in 1996, at the height of heroin chic, when a curvy supermodel accepting her body as it was had no precedent. The doors were nowhere near as open as they are today. Photographers refused to shoot a full-figured model. We were paid three-quarters of what straight-size models earned on the same shoot. Advertising and campaign work for plus-size models didn’t exist before 1989 when I started.
I still draw on my journey in True Beauty today in my lectures, as a battle cry: you are not alone!
