Kelly Cutrone is fascinating. Watching her reality show Kell on Earth (about her PR firm People’s Revolution) is like watching a car wreck – you want to turn away but you just can’t.
Why so intriguing? It’s not flashy and glamorous. For a show based on the fashion industry we don’t even see much fashion. KOE shows us the B-side of Fashion Week including fainting models, dramatic designers and malfunctioning printers. I get a stomach ulcer just watching her employees scrambling around the office in a half-dead state for 16 hours a day. But Kelly and her tell-it-like-it-is management style keeps me watching.
We get a first-hand look at how Kelly handles a variety of situations including getting fired by a client, dealing with incompetent employees (that’d be you Stephanie V.), teaching interns how to properly stuff editor swag bags and even taking her daughter to her first day of school. When an employee says they are going to cry she tells them “don’t be a baby”. If a client refuses payment based on media turnout she says “I’ll see you in court”. Her take no crap approach is efficient, effective, and enviable.
But we also see her softer, “mother hen” side. She feels she has a duty to create as many opportunities for her employees and possible. She admits to cosigning leases for some of her staff. She speaks on the phone with one stressed-out intern’s mother, who blesses her for the things she has done for her son. She even struggles with firing an assistant whose late-night partying lead to an event being burglarized – leaving the hard job up to her business partners Emily and Robyn. It’s clear that, despite her tough demeanor, Kelly is truly compassionate and believes her employees can succeed.
You learn that, after working for Kelly, if you work hard and use common sense you have it in the bag. Just make sure the bag is wrapped up nicely with tissue and a hand written note.
Kell on Earth airs Monday nights on Bravo. Read her “no sh*t how-to book for empowered young women" (her words) If you have to cry go outside....
LOVE Kell on Earth. I like that she's a hardworking single mom in the field of fashion who works really hard and give over 100 percent. she's fantastic and professionally, I look up to her.
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