“I figure out who I am by figuring out who I’m not.”
Though publicist Kelly Cutrone had a bunch of memorable quotes during her talk on Monday, April 11th, the first one really resonated with me. There usually isn’t a clear-cut path to life, Cutrone said.
When she first began speaking, Cutrone, born in Syracuse, started from the beginning of her career. Cutrone first began her public relations career in New York City, was successful in creating a name for herself over the years and is now the founder of the PR and marketing firm People’s Revolution.
Cutrone wasn’t the person I assumed she was. When I first saw the flyers and email announcing her visit, I expected her to be a supermodel-like, serious businesswoman. I was mistaken. Cutrone was funny, laid-back and less formal than I expected, but I’m sure she’s not like that at work.
Her early career was extremely busy, and Cutrone said she never really found who she was. She expressed her love of meditation and had a noticeably spiritual side to her. In the cut-throat world of the modeling, entertainment and publicity industries, everything moves really quickly. Cutrone admitted she got caught up in her career early on, but it all eventually caught up to her. Years later, with her young daughter and People’s Revolution, Cutrone seems to have found a new view on life. Though she didn’t “find” herself in the most conventional of ways, Cutrone’s past has left her with a wisdom she puts to use in her career.
Cutrone’s latest book is called Normal Gets You Nowhere: Trust Me They’re Lying to You, and she referenced it a few times during the Q and A session. It was dominated by a bunch of career questions as expected, but Cutrone really stuck to her belief that we need to know ourselves in order to be truly successful and comfortable in our own lives.
I was pleasantly surprised by Cutrone’s talk. Though I’m not interested in becoming a publicist, her outlook on life and careers were interesting and gave the audience a lot to consider.
