WE: Kimberly, how has your relationship with Michelle impacted the way you now work with other women in your own network, especially those who are younger or maybe just starting out. ![]() Do not let someone define your happiness - you are only here for a minute! Happiness is not predicated on the idea of having A and B and C. That's a game I will not and cannot play. Our society has a tendency to devalue your choices if they don't look like the ones they would make. I'm in my mid-50s now, but in the beginning of my career, people would ask me if I had kids and when I said no, they looked at me like I was sick. MR: Your networks will change with each decade of your life. WE: Have you found it difficult to find that level of camaraderie and understanding as women in business? Those are some very personal challenges and decisions, and not everyone would handle them the same way. RELATED: ' He Is a Champion of Women' Says This Female CEO of a Digital Retailer About Her Mentor and Co-Founder. So all of a sudden, I'm getting divorced, I move to New York, I'm working at Conde Nast -it was like, Who am I? It took a lot of time sitting on the couch with Michelle, figuring out the right decisions for myself. My family and parents were supportive of my decision, but it was a big decision. I'm from a very Christian community in the Midwest. Part of the W Magazine story I told but left out is, I was going through a divorce. I'm at a point now where I'm really enjoying my life, and I'm confident and comfortable with so many choices that I've made. MR: I've sacrificed a lot to be a woman in business. To have that kind of camaraderie as women is important. KS: As women there are choices we have to make, things that come up that are so specific. and me in New York, and it's so nice to be like, " Girl, do you want to hear what happened today!?" We're now on an equal playing field, she in L.A. We talk about everything: how hard it is to find the right people to work with what it's like to network. But now, over the last few years and with the success of Manchester, she's taken flight, and I'm not her only emergency button. MR: There was a point where I had more work experience. RELATED: How This Handbag Founder's Husband (and Mentor) Helps Her Communicate Her Creative Vision. I'm revving up to follow in her footsteps - or at least try. But watching her grow her company, publish her first book, launch multiple new businesses, it's done nothing but encourage me. KS: Michelle is one of my emergency buttons. ![]() There's a lot of context that goes into that kind of creativity. ![]() Whether you're a movie producer or an event producer, you really get to know someone during that process. I got to know her family, who are like family to me now. I'd been tracking her, so when I got engaged, she was my first call. And I looked up to her - I started my first business at 19, a small events company. Kimberly Steward: She had been in Martha Stewart Weddings, the dream magazine for any event planner. RELATED: How the Founder of This Multimedia Company Hired Her Own Mentor. The honest to god truth is, the first time we spoke, just before we hung up, Kim said to me, "We're gonna be friends for the rest of our lives." I hung up and was like, What a funny thing to say! And here we are 12 years later. Kimberly was looking for a design and production firm for her wedding and called me based on a picture she'd seen in a magazine. Michelle Rago: I have a wedding planning and production firm in New York.
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