…Yes, yes I did. I’m not kidding. If Carrie hadn’t married Big and wasn’t living in a multi-million dollar New York City apartment, she would be living in San Francisco, have a boyfriend, and would be running her own successful business helping companies craft their stories through creative writing. And she would be THE BOMB.
Real-life Carrie worked as a journalist for 15 years, both in newspapers and in magazines; at one time, she was the editor of Elle. Like most women that have lived in NYC, she can rattle off crazy dating stories like it’s her job, and she’s quick to smile and laugh, just like fictional Carrie. They share a subtle similarity in voice tone, and they are both tiny, fit and, simply put, badass.
Real-life Carrie has been in San Francisco for 7 years after pausing her career to get an MBA with a focus on sustainability. As a journalist, she discovered she didn’t like the objective gap needed when interviewing others; instead, she wanted to side with the people she met, feel their stories with them, help them craft it and tell it in a way that helped inspire others. Now, as a small-business owner, she has that opportunity.
How did I meet her? I was at a Starbucks getting some work done when she walked in and asked, with a huge, warm smile, if she could sit next to me and share my table.
Why am I writing about her? Because, aside from my you-are-seriously-Carrie-from-Sex-and-the-City-and-this-is-ridiculous fascination with her, she reminded me of the woman I strive to become each day.
Here was a beautiful stranger who started a conversation with me without missing a beat, whose glow and inner light shone through her effortlessly, whose fragility in body did not undermine the strength of her spirit. Here is a woman who has done most of the things I’d like to do career-wise, who isn’t married and seems totally unconcerned about it with regards to her age (she’s in her late 30s); a woman whom I don’t really know at all, yet who was able to inspire me in a short two hours of solid chit-chat, with topics ranging from how silly San Franciscans get over their juice-cleanse-craze to why in New York you can be surrounded by so many human beings and still feel lonelier than you have your entire life.
Real-life Carrie was a breath of fresh air; she is a thousand times better than fictional Carrie. You have no idea how refreshing it was to talk to a woman who doesn’t give two flying F-bombs about what anyone thinks of her, yet doesn’t let that attitude poison her with arrogance. She is simply herself, authentic, easy-going, free-willed, spirited, and so mind-blowingly comfortable in her own skin that she inevitably, and maybe even without realizing it, makes you feel like you, too, can conquer the world, your life, and anything in between.
She added me on LinkedIn, which means she might happen upon this blog if she is ever interested enough to look for it. I’m not going to tell her I wrote this post; I’d rather she find it on her own if she’s meant to do so, because the point isn’t to impress her; the point is to simply and humbly say: THANK YOU. Thank you for being such an awesome real-life role model, and I sincerely hope we get to cross paths again soon.
Cover photo by: Belén Alemán / New York City, NY, USA
belén/alemán 