It’s Saturday evening and I’m currently curled up on the couch, sipping on some herbal tea and editing photos from today’s photoshoot. I live for weekends like this because it’s time that I can spend coming up with new and hopefully inspiring content for all of you! As most of you know, I work full time as a Digital Strategist at a PR firm in Manhattan. I’ve held a career in social media marketing for the past 5 years now and as exciting and fulfilling as the journey has been, I’ll admit that it can be a challenge to balance my time at the office with the many other facets of my life. I mean if we’re being honest here it can be downright exhausting to keep up with it all!
I guess that’s why I find it pretty surprising when people think I’m a full time blogger. Sometimes I’m hard on myself because I think I’m not “doing enough,” so it’s incredibly encouraging to have a supportive group of people who tell me otherwise. It was actually during one of these interactions that it kind of dawned on me that there are SO many other women out there doing exactly what I’m doing. Especially in NYC.
I started combing through my friends list and thinking of all the talented, inspiring women I know who are making the “hustle” look easy. I’m sure if you think about it you can name a few women off the top of your head who fit the bill. They’re balancing a career or school, a passion project, a side job, and somehow managing to stay healthy on top of it all.
These are the #GirlBosses that I look up to… that give me hope on days when I feel like my to-do list is just way too long. And they’re the reason why I’m starting this new GirlBoss series on my blog.
These are women that have proven that with hard work, determination and a positive attitude anything is possible. My hope is that they will inspire you as much as they’ve inspired me.
And now to kick off the series, I’d love for you to meet Brittany Ramsey of “B in NYC.“
She’s a fitness enthusiast with a background in competitive dance; she has her Master’s Degree from DePaul University in Mental Health Counseling and now she works in Career Development in the beauty industry here in New York City.
Brittany and I became friends on Instagram about six months ago but didn’t have a chance to meet in person until my meet up at Studio Anya back in February. I was so delighted that she was going to attend because previous interactions had mainly been keeping up with each other’s blogs and making comments about how our dogs, Henry and Nina, would be besties. No seriously just look at HIM… isn’t he cute!?
Luckily Britt and I clicked immediately and after finding out more about her I realized how much in common we had. After today’s photoshoot we’ve come to the conclusion that we’re pretty much two peas in a pod. 🙂 But don’t take my word for it, here’s the low-down on all things @Bin_NYcity straight from the source.
1) Tell us about yourself in 1 sentence.I am a very energetic, overly organized, extroverted Italian female, with a passion for fitness, genuine relationships and laughing. 2) What do you do for a living?I work on the Talent Acquisition team for L’Oreal! 3) Describe your typical dayMy day always starts with walking my dog Henry. No matter the weather, we always go on a morning strut.This helps me wake up! Then, depending the day I usually head into the office around 8:30, but some days I change it up and go to a 7am work out class, then into work. I walk to work, which is about 15 minutes and again, helps me decompress and not get irritated by traffic or stinky subways. At work, I am involved in recruiting new talent for L’Oreal, which is super fun and exciting. I drink a lot of coffee, laugh a lot with my team, and drink more coffee. My night consists of a sweaty work out and cooking dinner with my husband- aka he cooks and I help! (And probably BravoTV if there is time of course). Mixed in throughout my day, I try my best to stay up to date on Instgram and social media, talk to my mom, and do some form of Mindfulness- which is SUPER important to my day. Anything from yoga poses in the morning, journal writing, reading Gabby Berstein, or just simple breathing & meditation for 5 minutes can literally get my day back on track. 4) When did you start your blog?I started in October of 2016! Shortly after moving to NYC 🙂 5) How do you manage to balance your career and passion projects?It is hard not going to lie. Some days I am completely overwhelmed, but other days I realize how passionate I am about fitness and wellness that I will do whatever I can to keep my passion projects going. The main thing is to know what is a priority and what can wait. Not everything has to be done this minute. So I am a huge fan of weekly calendars or planners to prioritize my week. Balancing long hours of my career with outside life can be challenging, but you just have to stay committed to yourself. I work very hard but SMART! You won’t find me in the office past 6pm usually because it is important that I leave to balance our my passion of fitness. 6) Where is your favorite place in the world?Capri, Italy is my heaven. AND…back home in Cleveland, OH because home is where the heart is, right? 🙂 7) What is a quote that you live by?This is tough because I love quotes…but this is ONE of my favorites. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” – Maya Angelou 8) What’s your spirit animal?My mom always called me a Mermaid…I know this isn’t an animal, more like a mammal… but that is me 🙂 Just keep swimming! 9) What do you think it means to be a #girlboss?#Girlboss, to me, ultimately means for a woman to break down walls and obstacles around them and create a world of opportunity and empowerment. We are constantly compared to each other, told to do something a “certain” way, believed to think we must look a certain way, but when you journey to a distant place, and lead others with us, we are truly a #boss. 10) Any tips for other women who are hustling and trying to balance a full time job + their passions?I can be a very analytical person, but let me tell you, the best decisions I have ever made when it came to my career, life and passions, came from a gut, instinct of a decision. Whatever drives you to wake up each day, whatever drives you to sweat, work hard, smile and feeling love…do just that. All the rest will fall into place when you trust and believe in yourself. Self love is HUGE to success! |
A huge thank you to Brittany for being the first to volunteer for my GirlBoss Squad and for being such an incredible yogi partner in our Spring inspired photoshoot! We’re waiting for the weather to warm up a bit more before we do a partner shoot with our dogs… so stay tuned for that! It’s either going to go really really well or be a disaster. I mean ya never know when you bring pups together how it’ll work out. lol So stay tuned!
In the meantime, go show Britt some love and follow her fitness journey on her blog and Instagram. There are plenty of other girlbosses that I’ll be featuring each month and I hope you’re excited to meet them all!
As always, thanks so much for reading. I’ll leave you all with this BTS shot of our killer dance moves…
With love and light,
PS – If you haven’t done so already please subscribe to my mailing list (sign up at the bottom of this page)! I send an e-newsletter out once a month so you can always stay up to date with the latest happenings on Headstands & Heels.
Deb Dumek says
Brit,
So proud of your accomplishment and your motivation / even for me!!! 🦋🌙…..dd