#Girlboss

Before I get into this amazing inspirational book that I have spent my entire day reading, I want to start off by saying I will never again in my life eat at Benihana. For the past twenty four hours my chest and stomach has been killing me from the excessive amounts of salt and garlic butter that the cooks put in that stuff. The entire time I was at the spa yesterday after eating there all I could think about is how horrible my stomach felt. I mean I literally cannot fathom how some people are able to eat there multiple times a week and still be alive and well.

Okay, moving forward...a couple of weeks ago my boyfriend and I stopped by the bookstore as I had been saying that I really wanted a new good read that would expand my mind and educate me. After about two hours of walking up and down the aisles and skimming through countless books we had finally made our choices and were on our way. Before checking out I was stuck between two books, "#Girlboss" a feminist book on how to well, be a girl boss, and "Act like a lady, think like a man". Of course my boyfriend was totally against the second book and gave me a long speech as to why Steve Harvey (the author) is a sell out and how I should just go with the other book because it would be more worth my while and beneficial to my life. While he was correct, I was laughing on the inside because I knew he simply did not want me to read on how to think like a man (side eye). While I was happy with the choice I made for myself, being the researcher that I am I was able to find Steve Harvey's book online for free in a pdf version and finished it in a couple of hours (I win).

Sophia Amoruso is the founder and CEO of Nasty Gal which is "an online destination for fashion-forward, free-thinking girls." In other words it is for the daddy's girl who carelessly swipes her parents AMEX and spends her day lounging by the pool while being fed fruit and cheeses OR the girl who works a crappy job in customer service (serving daddy's little girl) and is saving up for those badass Jeffrey Campbell's she cannot wait to wear to Music Fest next weekend...basically, Nasty Gal is for every gal (or guy who likes that kind of stuff)!

"Don't ever grow up. Don't become a bore. Don't ever let the man get to you."

Amoruso is a Cali native who never quite fit in and did not really care to. By the age of 17 she had moved out on her own, started hitchhiking, committed theft, and dumpster dived for bagels (don't knock it til' you try it). By the age of twenty-two an unexpected hernia and need for a little stability drove her to start an eBay store "NastyGal Vintage". Before Amoruso knew it she went from living in a kitchen-less pool house and selling stolen books, to working with some of the best designers and making 100,000,000 dollars on her lunch break. In "#GirlBoss" Amoruso talks about her life journey, how she went about her business, mistakes she made, and how we too can become sucessful CEO's and founders of a multi-million dollar company all before the age of 30. If that's not inspiration in itself than I don't know what is.

I don't want to give the book away so I won't go into further detail. But, it is definitely something that every young girl in college hoping to own a business should read. 35 pages into the book I was so inspired. Lately I have been going back and forth between my major and what exactly my purpose is in this lifetime, especially with me being a junior in college. My entire life has been so organized and planned out that I am now seeing it is okay sometimes to just let life take its journey. Everything is not going to go as planned a.k.a sh-t happens. While I think it is important to have goals and aspirations, and a plan as to how you want to get there I just want to inform my readers that it is okay to not be okay. Your twenties are your years to mess a couple of things up, make some mistakes, and work shitty jobs, because it is a time for growth and experience. My biggest mistake in college has been trying to grow up too fast, being "perfect", and making everyone else happy, which has only led to me missing out on memories, opportunities, and experiences. Now don't get me wrong I am happy with my life and have made some great accomplishments that I am so proud of but there's nothing wrong with a little self assessing. I don't want to get too personal or ramble on too much but I hope everyone reading this is a little more inspired than before reading my blog and goes out to purchase this book because it is worth every penny! I know I can speak for a lot of people when I say being a fashion or art major is extremely difficult and trying sometimes especially when you have people questioning, "well what's gonna happen when that doesn't work?" "majoring in fashion is pointless" and so on, but guess what? Do what you want to do and do it well. Nobody wants to be stuck in a job twenty years from now that they hate because they were too afraid to go for the career they truly wanted. And to the people questioning your journey, tell them that's for you to figure out and for them to wait and see.
Happy Saturday!

-xox. Armoni