Do you believe I’m still thinking about the finale of The Biggest Loser?  Well, I am.  I’m thinking about it because I’m a little upset with the show’s ending.

I have watched every episode of the reality show, The Biggest Loser, this season. I cried when contestants shared their feelings with Jillian or to Bob and I smiled when they weighed themselves each week and saw how much they lost.

The contestants in Season 9 were the heaviest people on the show.  The biggest man weighed more than 500 pounds.  As I watched I couldn’t believe how people could let themselves go to that extreme, but I guess it’s easier than you think.

At the finale, there were four contestants left – Michael (the biggest contestant ever on The Biggest Loser), Ashley, Koli and Daris.  Alison, the show’s host, brought out Koli and Daris and told them that since they fell below the yellow line (they had the lowest percentage of weight loss) on the second to last episode, the American people decided who would be in the final 3.

And the winner was… Daris!  The crowd cheered as Koli left the stage, obviously upset.  This was a live finale.  There were no major edits, what happened, happened.

After Daris left the stage, Alison, the show’s host, started to introduce the disqualified contestants.  They all still had the chance to win $100,000.  As each weighed in, the percentage of weight loss was on the screen. At first, we all thought it would be Cheryl (Daris’ mother) who would win the $100K, but soon thereafter, she was beat out by Darrell (who was on one father/daughter team).  Darrell held on until Koli weighed in.  Koli won the $100,000 by a landslide.  He dropped more than 53% of his body weight.

When Alison brought out the final three, they each weighed in.  Daris was first. He dropped nearly ½ of his body weight and then Ashley got on the scale and dropped about ½ her body weight.  Michael, who was the biggest man on campus, weighed in last. He lost more than ½ his body weight but less than Koli’s 53%.  He lost around 51%.

Michael walked away with the $250,000.  Although the crowd cheered and everyone was especially proud of Michael (I was one of them), I felt bad for Koli.

If America voted for Koli, he would have walked away with the $250,000 not Michael.  Koli was so upset; you could see it on his face. He knew he should have won. And you know what, so did the rest of America!

From the outside looking in, I felt that Britney Spears had everything – fame, fortune, boyfriends and people who cared about her.  But after reading, “Britney Spears Little Lost Girl,” by Christopher Heard, I learned that life for Britney was harder than it looked.

I was interested in reading this book because my daughter had all of her albums and was engrossed with everything that she did.  Britney Spears had a scavenger hunt in New York City and my daughter got to the first location first thing in the morning.  (It took her an hour to get into New York City from our Long Island home.)

My staff also love Britney. Every concert, I hear them talking about buying tickets, which also piqued my interest in the book.  Who is Britney Spears and how did she get to where she is today?

Christopher Heard delves into her life at the time when Britney was just a child growing up in Kentwood, Louisiana.  She was born to childhood sweethearts, Jamie and Lynn Spears.  She had an older brother and years later a younger sister.

Britney always loved to perform.  She took singing and dancing lessons and eventually landed a part on the new Mickey Mouse Club, along with Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera.

The new Mickey Mouse Club only lasted two years and young Britney was out of work.  She returned to Kentwood to have a “normal” life.  Following a short stint, Britney was asked to be in an all-girls band called, “Innosense.”  The band was supposed to be the “girl version” of ‘N Sync.  However, Britney turned it down.  Soon after, she was asked to perform alone and that’s when her career took off as a singer/dancer/performer.  Soon thereafter, her first hit single, “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” was released and was #1 on the billboard charts.

After a brief relationship with Justin Timberlake, Britney moved on to be with boys who she grew up with from Kentwood.

After a series of albums, Britney Spears was put in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the youngest performing artist to have so many albums get up to number one in the charts.

Britney had everything she wanted but felt alone.  She met Kevin Federline and they became an instant item.  She was in love with Kevin, they got married and the couple had their first child.  Britney was in her early 20’s.   Soon thereafter, the couple had their second child but only months later, Britney filed for a divorce.

As much as Britney partied, hung out with friends, Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton, she was very much alone.  She was unhappy with her life and herself and the only thing that mattered to her were her children.

After battling alcohol and drug addictions, Britney was put into a rehabilitation facility. Thereafter it took several different times with the rehabilitation facility and with various hospitals before she was diagnosed with mental illness.

Meanwhile, Kevin Federline had custody of her two sons and she had visitation rights.  After one episode where she locked herself in the bathroom in her home with her youngest son, the children were temporarily taken from her and put into sole custody of her ex-husband.

During this time, Britney’s father, Jamie Spears, took control of her finances and put her on an allowance.  He helped straighten her out and eventually she had visitation rights with her children.

Throughout the book, the reader feels pity for Britney Spears.  The paparazzi never leave her alone and fans constantly bombard her.  And yet, she felt alone.

As the book comes to a close, she meets a friend of her older brother Bryan’s who is an agent of many top performers including Hillary Duff and Taylor Swift.  His name was Jason Trawick.  Jason and Britney fell in love. Jason, 10 years her senior, was able to help her straighten out.

Britney Spears Little Lost Girl just gives you a taste of the highs and lows of stardom.  Author, Christopher Heard, takes you on an incredible journey of glamour, parties and a fantasy life but also shows you the harsh realities of making it big.

The book is well written and definitely kept my interest from the first chapter onward.  I couldn’t put the book down.  Through the past few years, I heard about Britney shaving her head, going “crazy,” and her controversial MTV appearance.  However, the book made me realize that it was the situation that was Britney’s reality and because of her stardom and her charisma, she would always be in the public eye.  One realizes that that is a huge challenge – having fame and fortune in exchange for no privacy.

In the epilogue, the author suggests that Britney has no more rights or privileges now at 28 than she did when she was a little girl.  However, he feels that she made a strong comeback with her new album, getting help for her illness and her abuse and meeting someone who can help point her in a new direction.  He wrote that he is hopeful for her future and as she becomes more focused, her music and dancing will get stronger.

That’s something that we all want to see.

Article first published as http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-britney-spears-little-lost/ on Blogcritics.org

As much as we read reports that the economy is slowing bouncing back and unemployment rates are on the decline, in reality we have a long ways to go. This past year I consider myself one of the lucky ones. Why? Because I didn’t lose my job. I know far too many friends and business contacts who have had the unfortunate reality of being left jobless at the end of the day. And much to their dismay, still remain jobless today. If anything, it just makes me feel even more blessed to be a part of the HJMT team.

I look back when I started at the firm 4 years ago. I began my career as an Assistant Account Executive and with a lot of hard work and great mentors (Thanks Hil, Kristie and Lori) I was able to climb the corporate ladder relatively quickly. My first promotion was to Account Executive. I was so excited! Then onto Senior Account Executive and before I knew it, Supervisor of Public Relations at the firm. And now, I write this guest blog entry as a newly appointed Vice President at HJMT. I am humbled that Hilary has the faith in me to represent the firm as a VP and hope I don’t disappoint. I’m even more thrilled to grow into this position and make it my own.

So, I’m thankful for the past four years and excited for the years to come. I guess I’m just saying, I consider myself one of the lucky ones…

The other day, I ran around with my kids.  I wasn’t running errands.  And I wasn’t driving them from activity to activity.  I was actually on the middle school track running with them.

We collectively decided that we would run 3 miles. My daughter sprinted during the first mile.  She was convinced that she wouldn’t be able to make it.  My son, on the other hand, thought it would be a breeze but it wasn’t.  We all did it.  We all ran 12 times around the track for a total of 3 miles.

The best part of the run was that I was with my kids.  And spending time with my kids makes me so happy!

Tell me about a time that you shared with your children that made you happy…



If you don’t have a newsroom on the Internet, you may be missing the big picture.  With social media more mainstream, newsrooms are becoming essential for both public relations firms and corporate public relations departments.

Newsrooms are an online version of a traditional newsroom.  This is where news is generated and developed. It’s a great vehicle to get added exposure for your brand or your client’s brand.  Once the media starts to use your newsroom and find it worthy, they will keep coming back for more stories.  But until then, you need to build up your online community first before getting any play. If not used right, the traditional and online news media and bloggers may never see your release or information about the company or brand.

Many large, small businesses and not for profit organizations have free standing newsrooms while others incorporate into their existing web site.  Ford Corporation, for example, has a newsroom incorporated into their web site.  But, Ables Moving Service, has their own pressroom where journalists can easily find information and news on the company.  The site is a standalone site that has a journalist sign in page for RSS feeds on more news about the company.

The South Dakota tourist bureau has an interesting newsroom, which is part of their existing web site.  The newsroom includes photos, featured stories, polls and surveys, and even virtual downloadable brochures.  What I like about this site is they incorporate their Twitter page with the newsroom giving them the ability to connect and microblog to their community.

Public Relations firms are also using newsrooms to share information with reporters and consumers.  Accolades PR in Austin, Texas does a great job with their newsroom.  Using WordPress as their “free” provider, the firm created an interactive web site/newsroom.

The newsroom is linked to all of their social media sites.  In addition, there is a comment area for news media, bloggers and consumers to post comments and responses to their news releases.  Although the site is cluttered, I do like the functionality and commend them on their effort.

Here are some steps to getting more exposure for your newsroom:

• When you have a news story, tweet it out via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc.  These social networking sites are a great way to target media both online and offline.

• Remember to keep your tweet, post, update, etc. to only 140 characters.  This way the news media gets a quick view of what the story is about and can determine if it is something they are interested in.

• Send out your tweet more than once.  Make sure that the news media and bloggers see the story.

• Direct the news media to your newsroom on the tweet.  Make sure to add a link with a tiny URL.

• Keep track of who is entering your newsroom by looking at the Google analytics or any other analytic program that can tell you how many viewers clicked on your links. You may want to add a subscription to the newsroom.

• Make sure to have various tabs for industries or topics and a great search feature so that the news media can quickly find what they are looking for.

• When you feel you have a lot of content in your newsroom, send out an email reminder to your contacts to check out the site.  In addition, tweet out that there is new information as well.

• Make sure to have the site interactive and have an ability to leave comments.

Interestingly today it’s not only important to attract news media to your newsroom, but it’s also important to attract bloggers and interested consumers.  Both bloggers and interested consumers can help virally spread your message.

In addition to the tips above, I would also suggest having an interactive newsroom where you can have consumers and bloggers post comments about the story to get your audience more engaged.

The public relations industry is changing and with it comes the distribution of press materials.  The newsroom is a perfect venue to put all of your press releases, feature stories, and backgrounders from your clients.  And tweeting is perfect for the news media and bloggers because it’s quick, it’s easy and they know what the story is about in 140 characters or less!