Behind the scenes of Glamour: Part 2 by Melis A. '08

What do the United Nations, the Four Seasons Hotel, Broadway, and Bryant Park have in common? Besides all being located in New York City, they were all venues of festivities to celebrate the Glamour Top 10 College Women competition. In three action-packed days, we met over 160 extremely accomplished and talented women who were former winners (including Martha Stewart), in addition to visiting all of the above locales. We not only had a ridiculous amount of fun, but also left the City feeling inspired and ready to accomplish our goals (the “girl power” spirit was contagious.)

While this Glamour event was just that – glamorous – and we were wined and dined and stayed in a fancy hotel, the beauty of the whole event was really the feeling we walked away with – that with hard work and support your big ideas can become reality.

On a side note, thanks to everyone who responded so enthusiastically to my first Glamour post. Most people are surprised to find out that Glamour has chosen a group of girls with such a wide breadth of interests because they view it exclusively as a beauty or fashion magazine. If you take a look at any issue (whether it be the June issue or otherwise), you’ll see that the magazine features important women’s issues, from a series of articles written by Mariane Pearl to health tips, in addition to the expected celebrity news and clothing tips. Admittedly, I wasn’t a Glamour reader before the competition, but I plan on subscribing now. Along the same lines, if you visit L’Oreal’s website, you’ll see the emphasis on science in the cosmetics industry, and their $40,000 fellowships to support women in science.

With that in mind, I’d highly encourage college girls out there to consider applying for the Glamour competition during your junior year. You can find the application at: http://www.glamour.com/images/news/2007/05/ttcw_app2008.pdf . If you still need some more convincing, I’ll give you a chance to browse through some pictures.

We took two trips to the Glamour office in Times Square (it’s within the Conde Nast building, whose entrance might look familiar if you’ve seen The Devil Wears Prada.) We saw the different departments hard at work and really got a feel for how much effort goes into making the magazine. Cindi Leive, the Editor-in-Chief and a Swarthmore graduate, showed us her office and the 20+ options for the August issue’s cover. It was really interesting to get a glimpse into a world that is so different from what I have been exposed to. Leive’s picture with Hilary Martens is below.

The big Awards Luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel, where around 160 former winners reunited, had posters with pictures from earlier competitions:

Former winner, Cheryl Lee Ralph (actress, director, writer, singer), with Hilary (’07 winner):

Three of us (including Alia, also from MIT) with former winner Martha Stewart:

Talking to Martha Stewart (I just couldn’t resist putting this one in =) ):

We attended a panel discussion at the U.N. and also took a tour:

In front of the U.N. (with all but one of this year’s winners):

Our group, including Glamour staff member Lynda Laux-Bachand (our wonderful guide for the weekend), saw Legally Blonde: The Musical on Broadway. The producer, Dori Berinstein, was a 1981 winner, so after the show we got to ask questions to the cast and meet the writer of the book, Heather Hach (who also wrote the screenplay for “Freaky Friday”). The musical was so full of energy and hilarious, especially the song called, “Omigod You Guys.” It was also just nominated for 7 Tony Awards:

With the writer:

With the producer of the musical: