Category Archives: Fabulous Females

Fabulous Females, Health, Wellness

Fabulous Female Friday – Tina Tang

Meet Tina Tang

This month’s Fabulous Female, is Tina Tang of Jersey City. Tina is a certified Personal Trainer, jewelry designer and one strong AF woman!

The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Tina was raised to get a great education and earn a degree that would allow her to “be stable and pay the bills”.  

Tina studied at the University of Chicago and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy.  At the time, the most popular careers were in Consulting and Investment Banking. This is how she ended up working at Goldman Sachs.

Investing in Herself

During her time at Goldman Sachs, Tina had great bosses. However, after five years there, she felt her boss focused solely on mentoring her male colleagues. 

Tina was in a place where she was not comfortable with her life.  She told me that usually, when you’re in a place where you’re not comfortable, it makes you think more about what you really want to do in life.

This wasn’t as simple as switching departments; she knew it wouldn’t alleviate that uncomfortable feeling she was having deep inside.In her mind, she had done everything that her parents wanted her to do, so now she decided she was going to do what she loved.

Create Your Own Future

Not having a safety net, all she knew was that she loved being creative. Since she had already been making jewelry on the side and had pieces in some stores, it was a natural transition for her to become a full time jewelry designer.  The bigger catalyst was being featured in InStyle magazine.

About two years later she opened her first store in the West Village. A second and third store soon followed. However, the financial crisis of 2008 affected the way people shopped, as they no longer spent money on such luxuries as custom made jewelry.

Additionally, on line shopping and social media started playing a bigger role in people’s lives. By 2010 Tina had closed all of her stores and in the process of getting a divorce.

A Strong Resolve

As things slowed down and Tina moved her jewelry sales online, she was also trying to figure out what to do next. After taking a personal training course, Tina again found herself in love with a new path. She worked at Equinox gym for three years, before her entrepreneurial spirit led her to branch out on her own. 

Fitness and Jewelry: A One-Two Punch

As she ventured more into fitness, she wanted to incorporate her love of fitness and showcase the power of achievement into jewelry designs. She wanted it to not only represent physical strength, but also a state of mind. 

That’s how Iron Strong Jewelry was born.

Tina’s philosophy is that being strong on the outside, also helps you become stronger emotionally. I couldn’t agree more. Her zest for life, fitness and supporting other women is contagious!

For more of Tina, follow her on social media or visit Ironbound Performance Athletics in downtown Jersey City.

 

#HipNJ Cares, Charity, Fabulous Females, Fundraiser, Philanthropy

Fabulous Female – Kirsten Corley

This month’s Fabulous Female, is Kirsten Corley! Kirsten attended Stockton State, and after graduating ,worked in NY as a writer and Editorial Director. Kirsten also wrote a book about relationship lifestyles and mental health. In her spare time Kirsten would also  volunteer for fun.  In the summer of 2018, she turned that into a career by becoming the Development Associate at Covenant House. She works out of the Covenant House crisis center, in Newark NJ, coordinating young professional volunteers.

Covenant House is a non-profit organization that helps homeless and trafficked youth transition from off the streets to leading stable lives. Covenant House focuses on jobs, education and teaching youth fundamental basics with a goal of eventually living on their own.  The non-profit is currently in 32 different cities, in 6 different countries and serves up to 80,000 youth every year. 

Kirsten was prompted to become involved with Covenant House when she participated in a Sleep Out event in 2014.  ‘Sleep Out’ is a movement that asks individuals to sleep outside the Covenant Shelter for the night with a box and sleeping bag.  This event raises money, and brings awareness to the problem that is youth homelessness in today’s society.  

Kirsten’s main focus is to get homeless kids off the streets. She feels that when kids have the courage to walk through the Covenant House doors and admit they need help, it is her job and obligation to make sure they get where they deserve to be and have the opportunity at a great life.

In what little spare time she has, Kirsten attends public speaking events to talk about the work she does.  She also finds time to write on the side and likes to train for half and full marathons. She is constantly juggling all of her responsibilities, but feels that to be her best self means taking care of herself and striving to do things that make her happy.

As a young woman in today’s society Kirsten finds that at times there are challenges with some people taking her seriously.  She doesn’t allow this to be an obstacle, because she has a strong group of women supporting and encouraging her.  Her opinion is that right now it’s the time for women to both “drive and thrive in their careers” and that there is nothing that, with the right support and frame of mind, we can’t do.

Kirsten stays so organized with everything she’s juggling, day to day by utilizing lists. She also utilizes the calendar on her phone religiously. On Sundays she outlines her week, and writes down how her time should be spent. Her philosophy is about focusing on the here and now… which will eventually get her to where she wants to be.

I asked Kirsten how anyone can become involved and give back to their community, when donating monetarily may not be an option. Kirsten stated there are many opportunities at Covenant House, to volunteer, and getting in touch with her can be the first step. While it may be intimidating for someone to volunteer, not knowing what they are getting into, it is also the most rewarding experience.  You can check the Covenant House website for the next Sleep Out event or even to just donate!

#HipNJ Social, Fabulous Females, Fabulous Moms, The Hip List

February Fabulous Female: Lynn Hazan

This month’s Fabulous Female is Lynn Hazan!

Lynn is the founder of ChicpeaJC, a blog focusing on everything related to Jersey City. She’s also the owner of Content Creators JC, a full service social media marketing company that manages over 20 accounts in and around Jersey City. On top of this, Lynn is a single mom to an adorable 5-year-old, who keeps her just as busy as her businesses.

Lynn started her career, like most of us, in corporate America. Around 2014 she had been promoted to Director of Training at Cisco Partner, in NYC. From the outside, her life seemed ideal; the perfect life with the perfect man and perfect job. Despite this, Lynn felt unhappy and unfulfilled. She felt robotic, waking up every day and doing the same thing over and over.  Even after accolades from her boss, and shares in the company, she still felt hopeless. She asked herself “Is this it?”. While everyone saw her as a success, Lynn knew she had much more to accomplish.

Months before, Lynn had started posting OOTD’s (Outfit of the Day) on social media. For her it was a creative outlet that showcased her love of fashion.  While shopping one day, she started chatting with a men’s influencer.  He planted the idea in her head about starting her own blog and writing about her outfits. Shortly thereafter, ChicpeaJC was born.  Writing the blog brought so much joy to Lynn’s life that a few months later, she made the boldest move. She walked into her boss’ office and gave notice.
Loving her life in Jersey City makes it  for Lynn to write about all that there is to do, see, and eat in the eclectic pulse of the northeast. Part of the appeal of writing her blog, is that Lynn loves giving back to her community and promoting local people and business. She believes there’s enough love and wealth to spread around, and she loves networking with and connecting people. I found her to be a kind and very giving person.

What impressed me most about Lynn (as I stalk her on social media) is her ability to successfully juggle so many things. She works full-time, exercises at a ridiculous hour, is a hands-on mom and manages an enviable social life.

As a single mom myself, I asked for the secret to her balancing act, because personally, I was starting to think she was a cyborg. Lynn said her secrets are outsourcing, time management, sacrifice and COFFEE! For example, her nanny often helps with the housework, her village of friends pitch in when needed, and she sacrifices sleep so she can work out. This way when she takes her daughter with her, that can be her main focus.

Lynn also keeps organized by keeping a master list and schedule for all that she must accomplish during the week. Each weekend she does a data dump and starts fresh.

Lynn is an inspiration for those looking to live life on their own terms. She has an ‘eff you’ attitude and lives Oprah’s philosophy “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

If you need a bit of motivation, follow this bad-ass boss babe on social media @chicpeajc. It’ll be the boost you need to get your ass up and work out, work harder and live your life in the manner that suits you best.