Resilience, freedom, safety, confidence, perfection. The women hosting at Madison Avenue’s Veronica Beard Tuesday night have all spent their careers championing these ideals through their different lines of work. Fashion intersects so many boundaries and storylines, and we all participate in it, consciously or not. It is one of the reasons I am endlessly fascinated by it as a medium. It can be used as armor, a conversation starter, a creative outlet, a means of bringing people together. Tonight what brought us together was the launch of Gilt Free, Keren Eldad’s latest book and an interview with the author herself.
BECKY FAWCETT AND KEREN ELDAD
The Event
I was greeted by a lively crowd to hear more about Keren Eldad’s latest book, Gilt Free: Ditching Your Gilded Cage for Good. The night was co-hosted by Becky Fawcett, founder and president of HelpUsAdopt.org, and Jamie Lewin, accomplished fashion designer and founder of Vetted Magazine to help launch her anticipated and equally frank and inspiring successor to Gilded. These women hosted one of those wonderful evenings where you go for an industry event and end up leaving with a tally of new friends. This type of connection and mutual understanding so quickly is rare, fostered uniquely through vulnerability and true reflection on lived experiences.
As a friend of Jamie’s, I happily tagged along although not entirely read up on what I was in for. Karen was an absolute delight, touching on the cornerstones of what made her last book so successful, how she thought she had done the work, climbed the ladder, launched the book – only to find out that it was only the beginning. As so often happens on journeys of self work, it can take more than one go around to break the patterns we are trying to outgrow.
Keren Eldad
As her website states, she coaches “Olympic athletes, Special Forces operators, Hollywood leaders, Fortune 500 executives, serial founders, and the relentlessly driven.“ And you can tell, from her clarity and obvious lived experiences through her vivacious and witty responses, she is an industry leader in the field of reframing and self-work. Where this kind of content can easily lean repetitive and ostracizing to anyone other than the top 1%, Keren’s reflections and advice felt digestible – honest, critical and most importantly, with a large dose of self deprecating humor on the side.
One piece of framework in her new book, Gilt Free, that she elaborated on was cultivating the default mindset that “everyone likes me.” Instead of automatically letting self doubt creep into every situation and questioning whether they like YOU, go in and say everyone likes ME. When one audience member earnestly asked “Well, what do we do if they don’t like us?” Keren deadpanned, “Well, we can’t kill everyone.” Ha!
KEREN ELDAD AT THE VERONICA BEARD BOOK LAUNCH
Becky Fawcett
And then there’s Becky Fawcett, another wonderful example of vulnerability and rebuilding. As a privileged, educated, successful woman, she had built her personal and professional life to the zenith and felt it come crashing down as she faced infertility and repeated unsuccessful IVF attempts. Motherhood was not coming as easily as success with business partners, and her entire identity of perfectionism fell apart.
The idea of adopting twenty years ago was as financially brutal as socially stigmatizing. Becky knew she could do something about the former, and launched HelpUsAdopt.org, and has raised more than 12 million dollars to date while placing and serving over twelve hundred families. Her world fell apart so she could help many families piece theirs back together.
She did not let the fear of how others were going to perceive her hold her back from her dream of becoming a mother. She took a path less traveled, cultivated a sense of self you can see radiate off of her when she talks about her own daughters and her non-profit. She sacrificed ego and perfection for resilience and vulnerability. Because of that, she has raised over 12 million dollars and helped over twelve hundred families become whole.
KEREN ELDAD AND JAMIE LEWIN
Jamie Lewin
The evening was co-hosted by Vetted Magazine, founded by the lovely Jamie Lewin. She and I are kindred fashion spirits. We met working for an LA based brand that’s formed on a belief in sustainability, leading the industry in terms of sustainable buying practices and using materials that are regenerative and more planet friendly. She is an incredible designer and visionary, creating entire lines and pivotal campaigns during her time at brands such as J. Crew, Gap, and Ralph Lauren – just to name a few.
My favorite thing about Jamie is that her vision never stops expanding. As if leading global campaigns and design vision for the Gap as Senior Global Design Director wasn’t boundary breaking or visionary enough, she always pushes further, seeking new ways to elevate voices and shine a light on trends, designers and pieces she loves.
I have had the privilege of writing for this very publication because Jamie is as kind as she is talented, and she has believed in me in various stages and titles of my career. She is the first to make an introduction, step in to support someone’s project or offer her incredibly valuable advice. She has pivoted roles, careers and cities while raising two incredible children and always finding time to nurture her passion projects. Passion projects, which because she is so damn talented, always have a way of flourishing into something impactful. It’s one of the reasons we all came to gather for this wonderful night, after all.
GILT FREE BY KEREN ELDAD
Community and Connection
I feel lucky that spaces involving fashion and art often lead to open and honest conversations. It attracts a certain type of strong-willed woman to be successful in this industry, and when one rises and shares her struggles and learned lessons, we are all better for it. Wisdom is learned knowledge shared, and I’m grateful to these wonderful women for sharing theirs!
