Tag Archives: Fabulous Females

Dining, Fabulous Females, Fabulous Moms

Fabulous Female – Chelsea Kavanagh

This month’s Fabulous Female, is Chelsea Kavanagh or as shes’ known on social media, Foodmamaeats!  You could say she’s a Fabulous Female Foodie. Chelsea didn’t start out being obsessed with food. She had a knack for fashion as well.  For this reason, Chelsea attended Albright College where she received a degree in Fashion Merchandising.  She worked in the retail industry, for several years, until she had her daughter. Chelsea realized that retail wasn’t the right fit for her, as she wanted to spend more time with her daughter. In an effort to prioritize her family life, she started working for allergist Weiss Medical.  The flexible hours allowed her to work FT and also spend substantial time with her daughter.

While Chelsea was working, and bringing home the bacon, as a driven female that wasn’t enough for her.  Chelsea always had a love of food, because in her opinion it brings people together. Her Instagram account was always personal, but about 3 years ago she started taking pictures of pizza. I mean who doesn’t love pizza!?! While this was purely for fun, he Instagram quickly took off and from there , her second baby was born, Foodmamanj. After gaining an incredible amount of followers, Chelsea decided to change her Instagram name to Foodmamaeats. She wanted to share her love of food with others outside of New Jersey. 

With the popularity of her Instagram account Chelsea was able to parlez her love of food by becoming an Influencer.  Not only is she able to reach thousands of people and share her love of food, but she has also found a community of Influencers that support each other, has made great friends along the way and been fortunate enough to try some of the most awesome food places! She’s very grateful to be part of this community where she can meet, and interact, with people of different backgrounds and also learn about cuisines from other cultures.

Juggling a toddler, a full time job and being an Influencer isn’t as glamorous as one may seem. For one it does involve traveling to different locations, to eat yummy food (ok, maybe it’s not THAT bad). I asked Chelsea how she’s able to have a work/ life balance. Chelsea believe that you need to prioritize your time, do what YOU love so it’s fun and not a chore, and more importantly make time for yourself because you deserve that. Chelsea also likes to take her cute little daughter with her, on her foodie travels and that makes for some really great mama and daughter quality time.

You can check out Chelsea, on Instagram, at Foodmamaeats so you can drool over all of the delicious food that YES she does eat.  Just to get you all on the road to stuff your faces, I asked Chelsea to tell me some of her top spots. Her favorite burger joint is Legends in Midland Park, favorite pizza is Kinchley’s, in Ramsey, for thin crust and Puzo’s in Ridgewood or Hawthorne for regular crust. Lastly, since there is a ramen craze all over the states, her fave ramen place is Ani Ramen, in Jersey City (their pork buns are a little gift from the Gods), or Tori Ramen Chicken in Ridgewood. Now go put on some yoga pants and eat, eat, eat!

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!