April 2014

SELF Magazine’s Workout on the Quad draws 900 students

Rain didn’t stop 900 students from heading to SELF Magazine’s Workout on the Quad on Saturday for exercise and giveaways. Although it was dreary outside, spirits were high in the tents.

The Workout in the Park event is celebrating its 21st anniversary this year, and the University of Massachusetts, after having the highest participation in the SELF Workout in the Park Social Game on Facebook, was able to host the second ever Workout on the Quad event.

“This event is the same as the Workout in the Park, just shrunk down and for free for UMass students,” said Brittany Forgione, senior publicist for SELF. “HerCampus UMass really got everyone involved and rose to the top. They rallied up the students and racked up the points.”

Forgione added, “This event is getting bigger and bigger. It’s the first of its kind and it is our staple event. It’s about the healthy lifestyle experience, and this is the magazine brought to life. This is our baby.”

“I’m really proud of our organization for winning this amazing event. We won it out of over 500 schools in the country,” said Brittany Lynch, the business development manager for HerCampus UMass and president of the publication next year. “It is just unfortunate it was scheduled on a rainy day.”

Due to the weather and muddy conditions, the yoga, pilates and Reebok Crossfit portions of the event could not happen, but the Crunch instructors kept the workout going at the main stage with classes like Rear Attitude, House Grooves and Beach Body.

“The instructors were really enthusiastic even though it wasn’t the greatest weather,” said Danielle Arcese, a junior at UMass.

“I’m really into the workouts,” said Phil Rosario, a junior at UMass who was working security at the event. “Many people have told me I look like I’m having a good time, and I am, because they are a good time.”

HerCampus hoped to have 1,000 attendees at the event, and 900 people ended up coming.

For full article, click here.

April 2014

Why the Women in the World Summit Matters

Where else can you eat lunch with Pussy Riot, sit next to Senator Gillibrand as she discusses her upcoming book with her publisher as Huma Abedin rushes by to grab more coffee? Tina Brown’s Women in the World Summit is an annual event bringing together exceptional women from around the world to honor the countless women battling oppression every day.

Every hyped-up celebrity formed from the marble of a crisis represents innocent people whose voices have been silenced. Take summit speakers Pussy Riot, for instance. We in the West seem to worship them. They’re considered punk rock starlets who represent all the glory, all the guts of rebellion. They’re almost too good to be true, a Hollywood concoction. Given that they’ve dined with Madonna, were honored at Brooklyn’s Barclay Center with their own concert (to raise money for Amnesty International, and have made Stephen Colbert blush as witty guests on his show, one could even say they won the protest jackpot by getting arrested.

Behind all the glamour, all the media appearances of Pussy Riot, there are regular Russians whose names the world will never know who are rotting in prisons for practicing democracy. Why doesn’t Madonna dine with them?

For full article, click here.

December 2013

Glamour Magazine’s 22nd Annual Women Of The Year Awards

Glamour Magazine’s 22nd Annual Women Of The Year Awards at Carnegie Hall on November 12, 2012 in New York. 

To view the video, click here.

November 2013

Cindi Leive: Nonstop Days, a Red Carpet Night

On Monday, Cindi Leive, the editor in chief of Glamour magazine, was sitting in a mostly empty Carnegie Hall, discreetly sipping a smuggled-in container of coffee. She had just run through a rehearsal of her speech onstage for the magazine’s annual Women of the Year Awards due to start in a few hours, and was debating with a handful of her staff members the merits of using the word “Gaga-licious” in reference to the honoree Lady Gaga.

The speech needed tightening up. “I have to put Spanx on my speech,” the editor said.

The caffeine was a necessity. Ms. Leive had appeared earlier that morning on the “Today” show with two of the honorees, the philanthropist Melinda Gates, and the model Christy Turlington Burns, whose foundation works on issues of maternal health. Next was a taping with Katie Couric, again with Ms. Turlington Burns, and two other honorees, the model Liya Kebede, who also has a foundation devoted to making childbirth safer, and Kaitlin Roig-Debellis, a teacher from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Ms. Leive had started the day in a blue print Proenza Schouler dress, changed to a red Prabal Gurung for the second taping, and then reverted to the original outfit.

The rail-thin Ms. Leive, 46, who has a chic pixie haircut and broad smile, started her career at Glamour in 1988. She rose to deputy editor, and went on to become editor in chief at Self, another Condé Nast magazine. She returned to Glamour in 2001 for the top editor’s job.

In 1990, she was a lowly editorial assistant at the first Women of the Year event, which was held in the Rainbow Room. “I was nowhere near senior enough to score a seat,” she said, but added that she was thrilled to be assigned to escort Chai Ling, a protester in Tiananmen Square, which she noted at the time, “had happened five minutes ago.”

Glamour has booked its award dates for the event through 2017. This year, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards were scheduled for the same night, causing a calendar conflict among two of Condé Nast’s biggest publications and generating much gossip in the offices of the two magazines.

If Ms. Leive was irritated by the encroachment on her big night, she wasn’t saying. “We’ve worked with the CFDA to ensure that will never happen again,” she said in her characteristically upbeat manner. “It’s nice for everybody to get to go to both.” (One person who managed to do so on Monday was the Australian director Baz Luhrmann, who stayed at the Carnegie Hall event long enough to see his wife, Catherine Martin, get an award, then raced in a car across town to give a surprise tribute to Anna Wintour on her 25th anniversary as the editor of Vogue. There, he also complimented Diane von Furstenberg on the speech she had just given at Carnegie Hall, to which the designer first looked nonplused before realizing she had taped it in advance.)

For full article, click here.

November 2013

Inspiring Moments from Glamour’s Women of the Year Awards

Inspiring Moments from Glamour’s Women of the Year Awards

Featuring: Lady Gaga, Cindi Leive, Seth Meyers, Gabby Giffords, Hillary Clinton, Arianna Huffington, Melinda Gates, Carissa Moore, America Ferrera, Malala Yousafzai, Lily Collins, Barbra Streisand, Liya Kebede, Christy Turlington Burns, Iman, and Katie Couric.

To view video, click here.

Entertainment Tonight: Glamour Women of the Year Awards

Glamour’s annual Women of the Year Awards were held in New York City Monday night, and one of the honorees turned heads with her daring style. Unsurprisingly, it was Lady Gaga, who not only was celebrated as one of the honorees, but also graced the cover of the magazine’s Women of the Year issue.

To view video, click here.

Behind the Scenes at Glamour’s Women of the Year Event

Only “Katie” takes you backstage at Glamour’s annual Women of the Year celebration to hear from honorees Lady Gaga, Lena Dunham, Malala Yousafzai and more! 

To view video, click here.

At star-packed Glamour awards, Malala steals show

NEW YORK (AP) — There was a flamboyant pop star. A legendary singer. A TV star, some supermodels, and one of the world’s most powerful philanthropists. Even a former secretary of state who may soon be running for president.

But of all the prominent women who appeared onstage Monday night at the Glamour Women of the Year awards, no one received more acclaim and adoration than a teenager whom no one had heard of little more than a year ago — 16-year-old Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai.

“We love you, Malala!” shouted a group of young girls from a high balcony in Carnegie Hall, where the annual event was held. The teenager blew back a kiss, and proceeded to give an impassioned speech.

“I believe the gun has no power at all,” said Malala, who caught the world’s attention when the Taliban shot her in the head in October 2012 for criticizing the group’s interpretation of Islam, which limits girls’ access to education. She has since gained global prominence, has started The Malala Fund to support education for girls, and recently released a memoir, “I Am Malala.”

“I believe the gun has no power because a gun can only kill,” she said. “But a pen can give life.”

It wasn’t just the crowd that was taken with Malala; her fellow honorees referred to her often as they took the stage, and the night’s most flamboyant honoree, Lady Gaga, said she wished this month’s Glamour magazine cover, which features her, had been devoted to Malala instead.

“If I could forfeit my Glamour cover I would give it to Malala,” she said.

For full article, click here.