Contemporary Authors

• Weird in a World That's Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups, and Failures Harper Business (New York, NY), 2017

• Jennifer Romolini - https://www.jenniferromolini.com/about/

  Jennifer Romolini is the chief content officer of Shondaland.com, a site founded by producer Shonda Rhimes. She was previously the editor-in-chief of HelloGiggles, the editor-in-chief of Yahoo Shine, and oversaw all editorial operations for Yahoo's Lifestyles sites, including Yahoo Health and Yahoo Food.

  Before all that, she was the deputy editor of Kim France's Lucky Magazine and held editorial positions at Time Out New York, Talk Magazine and Inside.com. Her work has appeared in Lenny Letter, The New York Times and many magazines that no longer exist.

  She's been weird since 1977.

• Harper Collins - https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062472724/weird-in-a-world-thats-not

  Biography

  Jennifer Romolini is the chief content officer at Shondaland.com, a website founded by Shonda Rhimes. She was previously the editor in chief of HelloGiggles and Yahoo Shine, and the deputy editor of Lucky magazine. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times and Lenny Letter. She lives in Los Angeles.

• Affirm Press - http://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/weird-in-a-world-thats-not/

  Jennifer Romolini Jennifer Romolini is the editor-in-chief and vice-president of content for HelloGiggles.com, one of the fastest growing websites for millennium women. Founded by actress Zooey Deschanel, under Romolini’s stewardship Hello Giggles has grown nearly 500 per cent – from 3 million readers to 17 million. Romolini was formerly the editor-in-chief of Yahoo Shine, then the world’s largest site for women (with 42 million readers and 500 million page views a month). A veteran of the publishing business for 15 years, she’s held editorial positions at Lucky Magazine, Glamour, TimeOut New York, Talk Magazine and others. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Post, The Huffington Post and Boston Magazine.
  Jennifer’s Twitter
  Jennifer’s Website
  Titles by Jennifer Romolini
  Jennifer Romolini Weird in a World That's Not

QUOTED: "Though purported to be for 'weirdos,' there's little here that's substantively different from other career guides."

Weird in a World That's Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups, and Failures
Publishers Weekly.
264.16 (Apr. 17, 2017): p61. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Weird in a World That's Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups, and Failures Jennifer Romolini. Harper Business, $27.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-06-247272-4
This memoir-cum-guide to the modern workforce from Romolini, former editor-in-chief for the website HelloGiggles, lacks original insights despite the author's charming account of her own experiences. Romolini starts off describing her fears--they include heights, home invasions, and dying before 97--and recounting an awkward orientation session at a new job that made her realize that she wasn't like her gregarious coworkers. Romolini goes on to describe her experiences in high school and how she underachieved in college before taking a job waitressing and staying there for seven years. The author's career trajectory was uneven and she suggests that this unevenness was due to her quirky personality. Most career guides, she asserts, cater to people who take or want to take a straightforward path to success. Romolini offers some sound guidance about how to quit an unsatisfying job, but that is the only advice that might strike readers as fresh. Her voice spices things up a bit but the resume advice and interview tips are familiar and weird is never well-defined. Though purported to be for "weirdos," there's little here that's substantively different from other career guides. Agent: Byrd Leavell, Waxman Leavell. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Weird in a World That's Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups, and Failures." Publishers
Weekly, 17 Apr. 2017, p. 61. PowerSearch, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A490820831 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=396c24f6. Accessed 25 Dec. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A490820831
1 of 1 12/25/17, 3:12 AM

• Elle
  http://www.elle.com/culture/books/news/a45864/jennifer-romolini-weird-in-a-world-thats-not/
  Word count: 993

  Jennifer Romolini: From Late Bloomer to Shondaland.com Head

  The media maven shares her misfit career guide in a new book for "misfits, fuckups, and failures."
  Author photo: Shaun Guckian
  By Corinne Cummings
  Jun 9, 2017

  When I call Jennifer Romolini at her office in Los Angeles to discuss her new book, Weird in a World That's Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups, and Failures, we both quickly admit we're over-caffeinated which, somehow, seems appropriate."I'm all coffeed up and manic," she says. "It'll be a fun interview." With her first book just released ("I mean, the panic is real"), and news out that Shonda Rhimes had asked her to head up content for Shondaland.com ("the most magical thing that had ever happened"), there's enough going on to warrant more than one cup of java.

  Weird in A World That's Not is a career memoir that incorporates practical tips for women. It's an honest, often hilarious, take on traditional career guides. Romolini draws not only from past failures, but also from her many years of success—as former deputy editor for Lucky magazine, and as Editor-in-Chief and VP of content for HelloGiggles—to drop truth bombs aimed at women battling everything from sexism to self-consciousness in their professional lives.

  Weird In a World That's Not by Jennifer Romolini

  Hoping to assuage some of the anxiety some women feel around work, the 44-year-old's focus was helping women, particularly young women who, she explains, are "really smart, but also projecting a lot of things into the world, overthinking things and kind of getting in their own way." She knows about this firsthand, not only from working with women throughout her career, but also from her own experiences. When I ask about the book's impending release, she tells me, "I've been trying to have these moments like, 'I've always wanted to write a book, yay!' instead of my normal, 'Oh, this is terrifying and awful.' But, no, I'm excited, too."

  It is her frankness ("I don't really have a choice, it's just who I am") and sense of humor that lead to the book's best moments. For example, the fourth chapter, "Let Your Dreams Slap You in the Face," reveals personal details about feeling and battling a sense of otherness while she was growing up, and how difficult it can be to make the decision to want more from your life than what is expected of you, even from your own family. In another encouraging chapter, she admits that "so much of our careers feels like banging on doors to see which one will let us in." Elsewhere, she details the feelings of aimlessness and failure she experienced while supporting herself as a waitress, sensing that a better life was out there waiting for her. "I was writing the book that I thought I could have used," Romolini says. Especially for women who, like herself at that time, don't "walk around strutting with confidence, unfortunately."

  In one life-changing moment, she humorously describes being a 24-year-old college dropout with barely any money; after she's finally conjured up the courage to leave her first husband, her car breaks down before she even reaches the end of the driveway. "I felt like if I gave specific examples of failure, and specific examples of my own anxiety and shortcomings, then I could help people who felt the same," she explains.

  "I'm a fuck-up and I'm still here."

  When our talk turns to the subject of mentors, outlined in one of the book's later chapters, she tells me people have become too fixated on them—help from others can be as uncomplicated as simply asking for advice. "It's not like you just get a fairy godmother. I think there is a little bit of a fetish about mentors and mentorship right now," she says. "I think we're searching for it the way we're searching for the perfect bra," she laughs, "things that don't necessarily exist." Her advice? "Support other people, be generous, and collaborate as much as you can."

  Weird in a World That's Not aims to give professional advice, sure, but also to show women a different image of success than we normally see. "You fail, you fuck up, you succeed, you fall back down and you get back up," she says. "There's really been this myth around what success is. There is sort of success porn, almost. Like confidence porn. I'm a fuck-up and I'm still here. It didn't preclude me. I barely have clean clothes, it's okay," she says.

  Though she may have had a relatively late start, enduring twenty-three interviews before landing an editorial position at 27, Romolini went on to run some of the most successful women's websites. And, for her next career chapter? She recently found herself meeting with Shonda Rhimes to discuss plans for the legendary showrunner's new lifestyle site, Shondaland.com, coming this fall.

  "I got an email one day from Shonda," she says. "Except that I didn't realize it was from her." (She thought it was from the DNC.) Knowing she couldn't pass up a meeting with Rhimes ("I have admired her for such a long time") but also feeling burnt out from her years in digital media, she was delighted to find that they were completely aligned in their vision for the site: a highly curated website that aims to be thoughtful, intimate, honest, and funny. "Our content strategy is basically quality over quantity," she explains, "We want to tell great stories." The site, expected to launch September or October, will feature essays and interviews, and will cover books, health, activism, and politics. "This is an extension of the Shondaland brand," she tells me, "There will definitely be a lot for fans." Of Shonda or of Romolini? Both, we suspect.

• MTV
  http://www.mtv.com/news/3016819/weird-in-a-way-thats-wonderful-writer-jennifer-romolini-on-her-new-book-career-advice-and-weird-girls/
  Word count: 3075

  QUOTED: "I wrote the book for two different reasons. One, because I was still experiencing a lot of anxiety and awkwardness and I felt like I didn’t fit into the shell of what 'success' looked like. I didn’t feel polished and poised and blown-out perfectly in the way that all pictures of success looked like to me. The book was for me."
  "But the second thing was that I was seeing [in] the people who worked for me—who were mainly millennials at that point — that there were some fundamental things about working that they hadn’t been taught. There’s a real lack of mentorship specifically in offices right now because everything moves so fast. You jump from one thing to another and there’s no apprenticeship. There [are] no assistants anymore—or not as many."
  "Things go too fast, so you miss out on the very basics of working: how to send an email, how to deal with networking, how to ask for a promotion."

  Weird In A Way That’s Wonderful: Writer Jennifer Romolini On Her New Book, Career Advice, And Weird Girls

  The ‘Weird in a World That’s Not’ author talks fuckups and flailing until you make it
  Taylor Trudon
  05/31/2017

  Growing up, Jennifer Romolini knew she was “weird.” But as a broke college dropout who was waiting tables in her late twenties while peers climbed the career ladder, that feeling of being an awkward, uncool outsider was magnified. So how did Romolini go from being the girl who didn’t have her shit together to being the girl who was actually running shit? In her new book, Weird in a World That’s Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups, and Failures, she explains exactly how.

  Like Romolini herself (who, full disclosure, I have known personally for several years and whose husband also works at MTV News), Weird in a World That’s Not is unconventional. Yes, it offers smart, practical advice, from dealing with horrible bosses to how to ask for a raise, but the shondaland.com chief content officer (and former editor-in-chief of HelloGiggles) also offers handfuls of squirm-worthy, reassuring, and honest anecdotes about how it really feels to be a sweaty, insecure mess while attempting to figure it all out. The good news? Even if the sweatiness and insecurities never completely go away, they don’t have to get in your way as you head to the top of whatever career ladder you’re climbing.

  Over coffee in Los Angeles, I sat down with Romolini to discuss the biggest misconceptions of achieving success, the suckiest (and best) parts of being a boss, and what it’s like working for Shonda Rhimes, queen of TV.

  From Sophia Amoruso’s #GIRLBOSS to Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, there’s been an undeniable rise in career books for millennial women over the last few years. That being said, what inspired you to write Weird in a World That’s Not and what makes your book different from the other self-help books on shelves?

  Jennifer Romolini: I wrote the book for two different reasons. One, because I was still experiencing a lot of anxiety and awkwardness and I felt like I didn’t fit into the shell of what “success” looked like. I didn’t feel polished and poised and blown-out perfectly in the way that all pictures of success looked like to me. The book was for me. Why do I feel so awkward? Why do I still feel like I don’t belong in this situation? I wanted to show a different kind of picture of success. And it wasn’t all, “Oh, you’ll overcome all this awkwardness and weirdness and emotional messiness and your slacker tendencies,” but that you could just be successful as who you are.

  But the second thing was that I was seeing [in] the people who worked for me — who were mainly millennials at that point — that there were some fundamental things about working that they hadn’t been taught. There’s a real lack of mentorship specifically in offices right now because everything moves so fast. You jump from one thing to another and there’s no apprenticeship. There [are] no assistants anymore — or not as many. Things go too fast, so you miss out on the very basics of working: how to send an email, how to deal with networking, how to ask for a promotion. And sure, those things are common sense, but if you’re overthinking, very emotional, and sensitive, the common sense sometimes goes out the window and you just need someone to tell you how to get from A to B in a very specific way.

  You went from being a college dropout to overseeing some of the biggest websites on the internet. As someone who didn’t have the fancy connections or the classic “overachiever” characteristics, how did you navigate your way to the top?

  Romolini: Clumsily. Slowly. Awkwardly. I had a lot of humility. I didn’t have confidence so much as I forced myself to be brave. I didn’t turn down opportunities. Even if something seemed like, “Oh, I don’t know that business magazine — ew” or “I don’t know about that tech company. That’s not glamorous. That doesn’t seem sexy to me” — I still didn’t turn it down. I explored everything that was presented to me. I think that we get in our mind this idea of what our career should look like and they wind up looking very different from that. It’s having that flexibility and saying, “Well, maybe I don’t know exactly what I need here” and just sort of following what’s presented to you.

  I also worked really hard. I gain a lot of pleasure by working hard and being good at what I do. I think that’s really why I’m successful. It’s as simple as that.

  One of the things I really admired about your book was that you didn’t shy away from opening up about your fuckups and failures. Was it scary to write so vulnerably?

  Romolini: Yes. I mean, I cried most of the time when I was writing this book. That’s the truth about writing a book: You cry a lot.

  I wanted [the book to be]: I can relate to you. There is no fuckup you can have that I have not had. I was lazy at certain points in my life and lost and insecure and angry and putting my bullshit on other people. I wanted to own all of that. I wanted to own how I sabotaged and how I had self-doubt and places where I was inappropriate — all of my stumbles. We need to talk about that more. It’s like you’re supposed to start and end up in this perfect, shiny place. And I don’t think a lot of people are being honest about the road in between and just how disgusting you feel.

  How do you define success?

  Romolini: I feel content and I feel competent. For me, that’s the definition of success. I don’t always feel happy, but I feel mostly content with the choices I’ve made in my life and I feel competent at what I do. I can add a third “C” here: I feel challenged. And I think those three things make up success more than, “I’m happy! I have a lot of money! I have a big title!” Those things are just sort of bullshit. I’m very much interested right now in being a person — not a persona. Contentment, competence, and challenge really fulfill me more than anything else.

  What do you think are the biggest misconceptions about achieving success?

  Romolini: Well, it sucks being a boss. Nobody talks about that. It’s way more stressful, way lonelier, and it’s not as much fun. The truth is, the chase and the way up [to the top] is really fun. There’s a lot more camaraderie and, “Oh, I’ve never done this before!” or “This is the first time — it’s so exciting!” That freshness — you can’t get that back.

  What you can get on the other side — if you’re smart and you make it a priority to be generous — is that you can give that to other people. You can give kindness back and mentorship, which can bring satisfaction when you’re more successful. I get a lot of satisfaction out of that. But nobody talks about how, like, it’s not fucking fun to be the boss and having to be a dick all the time.

  What makes a good boss?

  Romolini: I mean, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say the word “dick” —

  You are.

  Romolini: But going back to what I was saying to that “dick reality,” which is you can’t be people’s friends. You have to be their boss. You have to give them clear assignments and clear boundaries. When they fuck up, you have to tell them that they’re fucking up — not with aggression, but because that’s the way work gets done. You need to zero in on each individual employee’s strengths and weaknesses and have them know at all times that you’re there for them and interested in their career path. Because that’s when employees perform the best — when they know that you’re in it together and, also, that they’re going to grow by working with you.

  On the flip side of that, what should you do if your boss sucks?

  Romolini: If your boss sucks, you’re in a different position because you’re not gonna learn from the boss. You need to learn what in the job you can learn before you move on. So what kind of job do you want next and what skills or title or projects do you need to work on before you can get out of the situation? When your boss sucks, you need to overmanage your boss. It’s just like if you have a parent that sucks and you end up being the parent to your parent. You wind up filling in the gaps, but you have to overmanage. You have to feed them “I’m doing all of this and this” and get them off your back. And create boundaries. That’s like the magic word, but you really can do it and say, “You know what? I’m sorry, I can’t work until 8 p.m. tonight.” And if you’re a competent person and you get fired, it’s worth it to get fired anyway because you don’t want to be in a situation where you’re being abused.

  One of the chapters in your book is titled, “Don’t Fake It Until You Make It,” which is interesting, because we’re often told the opposite — that we should be faking it until we make it. What do you mean by this?

  Romolini: We’re in a situation now in the world of social media and online networking where we can basically create whatever we want — whatever profile we want. We can turn a couple of listicles about Bernie Sanders into “I’m a political correspondent.” We can be a brand. But what happens is, if you’re faking, somebody is going to figure it out at some point. And you don’t want to be figured out. It’s embarrassing, it’s going to do you no good, and it’s going to piss people off.

  I also say “don’t fake it until you make it” because I’m a terrible faker. It wasn’t totally an option for me, but every time I stretch the truth, every time I tried to pretend I was competent in a way that I wasn’t, it backfired for me. I think that there are ways to fake it. If you’re really anxious, you should fake that you’re not anxious. But in terms of faking your skills or even just pretending to be something you’re not, I think you’re going to have the most rewarding professional experiences when you’re your authentic self.

  In what ways have you changed the most since your early twenties? In what ways have you stayed the same?

  Romolini: I’m not as angry as I used to be. I was really just pissed off. I was jealous and angry and I think that fueled a lot of my need to succeed because I really had a lot to prove. I had a chip on my shoulder. I definitely shook a lot of that.

  I think the way in which I’m the same — I know the way in which I’m still the same — is that I’m compulsively honest, which got me into trouble when I was younger, but doesn’t get me into trouble as much now. Now it’s actually kind of an asset to be a boss who’s compulsively honest. It’s less of an asset to be a junior employee who is compulsively honest. So different qualities will work to your advantage at different points in your life.

  Let’s say that there’s a twentysomething who’s grinding away at her job and she wakes up one day and decides that she hates it. She wants out, but feels like it’s too late to start over with a career that’s completely different. What would you say to her?

  Romolini: Well, first off, I really believe that it’s never too late. To the person in their twenties, I would say that I was waiting tables until my late twenties. If you don’t like what you’re doing, start to explore what you do like to do and then everything becomes very systematic. It becomes very much like, “OK, let’s look at this in a very organized way and take my emotions away from it. I don’t want to do this anymore, but I may want to do one of these three things.” What do those things look like? How do you get training to do those things? What do you need to get from here to there? And just start doing it. People don’t go back to school and say, “Oh, I’ll be 30 by the time I graduate.” You’re gonna be 30 anyway. Why not?

  Also, accept that in order to make a transition like that, you’re gonna have to give up something. You’re gonna have to give up money and time. You’re gonna have to give up comfort. But the end result of being in something that you actually love and can engage with — a career that satisfies you — is worth that couple of years of discomfort.

  I want to go back to the idea of misconceptions. When we think about the qualities of powerful women, we’re not thinking of words like “awkward” or “anxious.” There’s a myth that these types of women don’t have these characteristics, or if they do have these characteristics, they can’t possibly become a boss one day. Why isn’t that true?

  Romolini: I don’t know why everybody is afraid to admit it. I don’t know why everybody is afraid to admit that they get stains on their pants, or they sniff their shirts in the morning to see if they’re clean. I don’t know why there’s this “you’re going to be dragged off by security” fallibility.

  I think that one of the ways that you become an amazing leader is by having empathy — that being honest about your feelings will help you get through all of this. So pretending to be a contained person — if you’re not a contained person — is not gonna work for you. I don’t know if those successful women are different than me or if they hide it better than I do, but I can’t hide it. That’s not who I am. Whatever you are, just be that. Don’t try to fit into the mold of what “success” looks like. Be who you are throughout the entirety of your career.

  You recently took on a new role as chief content officer of shondaland.com. What’s it like working for the queen of TV?

  Romolini: I mean ...

  [Laughs]

  Romolini: Shonda [Rhimes] is such a compelling, smart, mighty woman. She’s such a woman of integrity. I really didn’t think I was going to go back into another content job and when I got the call from Shonda, I thought, OK, everything’s changed now.

  What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

  Romolini: I think the best advice I got — and she didn’t say this precisely like this — but Kim France [former editor-in-chief of Lucky magazine] at some point told me to slow my roll. And my roll needed slowing [laughs].

  I also had somebody tell me that a little sugar goes a long way, but I hate that because it means you have be sweet. But I actually did need to be a little sweeter.

  If you could go back in time and tell your 21-year-old self one thing, what would it be?

  Romolini: Chill the fuck out.

  You can find Weird in a World That’s Not in stores on June 6.

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  12/23/2017

• Vogue
  https://www.vogue.com/article/career-advice-jennifer-romilini-weird-in-a-world-thats-not
  Word count: 1229

  QUOTED: "Her book lays bare a few truths important to keep in mind as we fumble through our own careers in all their glorious imperfection."

  “Success Is a Mess” and More Totally Honest Career Advice
  June 6, 2017 1:10 PM
  by Elena Sheppard
  Weird in a World That’s Not by Jennifer Romolini
  Weird in a World That’s Not by Jennifer RomoliniPhoto: Courtesy of Harper Business

  My nightstand is forever piled high with career guides. I read career guides by women—for the same reason I’d never see a male gynecologist—but more often than not, I finish the books feeling like my dreams don’t stand a chance. I’m not ever going to be a woman who wakes up at 5:00 a.m. to work out, while perpetually keeping her inbox empty and sticking to a blood-type diet even when on deadline. I’m not that regimented and I’m not that organized. I’m human: I sleep in and devour almond croissants and am constantly trying to keep my inbox below the triple digits. Still, I read these aspirational books because I’m always looking for ways to achieve these women’s out-of-reach success. But I’m usually left feeling like there’s no way in—like I’m sitting on the other side of the desk from a high-powered woman who has it all figured out. Her confidence and perfect nails and fluent jargon giving no hint that there were ever side hustles or doubt spirals or fits of crying after failed interviews.

  I was mainlining career guides when I met Jennifer Romolini. I was 27 and miserable at work and desperately searching for a female role model in my chosen world of media; someone to prove to me that the IRL modern career landscape wasn’t all boys my age in hooded sweatshirts, with breakneck work ethics fueled by dreams and the terror of inexperience.

  We met at a job interview and I instantly wanted to work for her. She was smart and quirky and challenging and unguarded. She wore a peasant skirt and thick-framed glasses; she had attainably perfect bangs. She inspired me and she made me think; she brushed cat fur off her skirt and talked about her little girl. She was human—and was the first example of a woman in my field who made me feel like I didn’t have to shellac away my me-ness to make it.
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  Reading Romolini’s new career guide—Weird in a World That’s Not—was a reminder of how I felt that first day we met; that dreams and success can and should look like real life. That the women we admire, no matter how polished and preened they may seem, are human, too. Showing that vulnerability is one of the many things I admire most about Romolini as a boss and a woman. Her book lays bare a few truths important to keep in mind as we fumble through our own careers in all their glorious imperfection:

  We all have periods of deep, profound professional flailing.I had a terrible job. The kind of job that shocks you awake in the middle of the night with your stomach in your throat; the kind that causes you to come down with anxiety-induced vertigo; the kind that makes you want to hop the next flight to anywhere else and never work again. I sobbed before work, and after work, and often in the bathroom during work—and I wish more than anything that at that moment in my life I knew that other people had similar experiences. We hear constantly about prodigies with luck and guts who land big contracts and dream positions at 22, but they’re an anomaly. What’s more normal is fighting your way through a jungle of confusion. In her book, Romolini talks about failing out of college, falling into debt, and going on 23 interviews before landing her first job in New York media. She doesn’t glamorize the journey, likely because it wasn’t that glamorous. “I failed and I failed and I failed,” she writes. And you will, too. And that’s okay.

  Every single person agonizes and feels vulnerable and weird. Every. Single. Person.If you’re anything like the rest of the world, you feel awkward a whole lot of the time—particularly in work settings. Looking to professional women we admire it’s easy to think: They always feel strong and confident in meetings; they excel at small talk; they never lie awake at night and rehash that awkward thing they said. That’s not true, and hearing Romolini talk about feeling hive-y in meetings or equating herself to a “skinless chicken running around this world” feels almost radical. Thanks to sexism, professional women don’t have the wiggle room to feel feelings—or at least not to talk about them. Feelings makes us vulnerable, feelings remove our power. If you, like every other human being, do feel feelings, it’s easy to think there’s something wrong with you. By opening her book with the words, “Here are my worst fears,” Romolini pushes back on that vulnerability embargo. We are all skinless chickens doing our best to look normal in work clothes. You’re not the only one who feels that way; your boss probably sometimes does, too.

  Perfection isn’t real; success is a mess.Romolini paints a picture that gives me solace: She’s at the apex of her career; she helped sell a company; she has a book deal; and she was offered a big contract. But life is simultaneously a mess, because life is always a mess. “My husband was out at a work event and my daughter was yelling at me for not participating in Mad Libs and the cat had barfed on the floor and the TV volume was deafeningly loud and dinner was burning,” she writes. No matter how high you climb, something in your life will always be burning. As we envy other women’s perfect careers, it’s important to remember that, and as we become the women other women admire, it’s important to remind them of that, too.

  We grow up seeing images of career success—men with cigars, women with big shoulder pads and perfect nails, the #GirlBoss who is all cool clothes and snark. We stack our nightstands with career guides about women with ultra-advanced circadian rhythms and minds that never wander. But there is still something revolutionary about the real, human woman boss. One whose clothes are not always lint-free and whose files are not perfectly organized; one with a life outside of work that isn’t always ordered and a brain filled with incredible ideas that she is fighting tooth and nail to get into the world. The kindest thing she can do is hold open the door for other women and show them that career success looks like a million different things. And that we—as messy, feeling, imperfect human women—can have it, too.

  Weird in a World That’s Not is out now.

• Linked In
  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/weird-world-thats-qa-author-jennifer-romolini-lindsey-pollak
  Word count: 973

  Weird in a World That’s Not: A Q&A With Author Jennifer Romolini

  Published on June 20, 2017

  Lindsey Pollak
  Lindsey Pollak

  Millennial Workplace Consultant & Keynote Speaker | NY Times Bestselling Author

  June 20, 2017 By Lindsey Pollak

  She had me at “weird.” I couldn’t wait to dig into Jennifer Romolini’s brand new book, Weird In a World That’s Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups, and Failures. After all, who among us hasn’t at some point felt totally out of place, especially in a work setting?

  I recently had the opportunity to chat with Jennifer about how the book came to be and some of her top takeaways.
  Let’s start with what’s on everyone’s mind: Define “weird” as you are using it, and how do people recognize this quality in themselves and their coworkers?

  I think the simplest way to define “weird” in relation to my book is to replace it with “awkward” — though “Awkward In a World That’s Not” doesn’t really have the same ring. Weird in this case means people who often feel out of sync and out of step with the world around them — maybe they are socially or physically clumsy, blush a lot, overthink everything or feel anxious in situations where everyone seems to feel fine.

  I’ve carried around “weirdness” my whole life — I crash into walls, tear up when I shouldn’t, carry around a purse that is a really a bag of trash — but when I became a manager, I realized there were more people like me than I thought.

  I started to identify this weirdness in my employees, such as how they couldn’t speak up for themselves, or it took them forever to get to their point because they were overthinking everything. Or sometimes they thought-policed me and their coworkers and created problems that didn’t really exist. As a boss, I spent a lot of time helping my employees get over the fact that they were getting in their own way, and that’s how this book was born.
  Do you think that “weird” is a bit of a generational thing, perhaps that younger generations are more tolerant of people who are quirky or unique?

  I think that work in general has become more emotional and intimate, and workplaces are certainly far less formal than they were, say, in my parents’ generation. So as we relax that formality, there’s more room to be yourself, to say how you feel and ask for what you want.

  To their credit, millennials believe they are entitled to mentorship and fair treatment at work, and they demand to be heard (anecdotally, my millennial employees request meetings with bosses at least three times more than I ever did) — and that allows them to reveal more of who they genuinely are, and who they are is often weird.
  A hot buzzword in today’s workplace is “authentic.” How does the desire for authenticity play into how people present and see themselves?

  There’s a disconnect right now between the self we present on social media channels — these carefully curated online personas, this idea of turning yourself into a perfect “brand” — and who we are face-to-face in real life.

  I think that’s part of the reason everyone is getting so weird. We invest so much time creating these online personas that when we’re out in the world, we have this fear and anxiety of not living up to that persona or being exposed as awkward or uncool, or lacking that Instagrammable life or high-brow shelfie.

  I think we’re comparing ourselves to other people and making ourselves miserable over it more than ever before. I generally hate buzzwords because they’re overused and become meaningless, but I do think it’s more important than ever to know and accept who you truly are and approach your life honestly with loads of self-reflection. That’s all authenticity is: Knowing yourself and having the courage to be that self, day in and out.
  What’s your favorite story of someone embracing their “weirdness” at work and having it come off really successfully?

  Whenever I run an editorial brainstorm session, I’m always most delighted to see people really go for it and present an original or offbeat idea they love but are afraid other people won’t. In that moment, they usually reveal something about themselves, because they get animated or emotional and, yes, sometimes awkward and odd in the process. More often than not, these are the stories I take. Pitching is terrifying, but it’s so much more satisfying when you give it everything you have, and that usually requires exposing yourself a bit and being vulnerable.
  What is the one thing you’d want a “weird” person to know about work, and on the flip side, one thing you think that person’s manager should know?

  Fellow weirds: No one knows how weird it feels inside your head. No matter how heart-thumpingly anxious and awkward you feel, it’s private, and it’s yours to own. Absolutely no one is scrutinizing you the way you’re scrutinizing yourself.

  For managers, be patient with the misfits! Encourage them to work hard and help them feel seen and known. I guarantee they’ll pay you back with smart work and loyalty in spades.

  Interested in more career tips and insights on the changing workplace? Please subscribe to my blog at www.lindseypollak.com/blog. Thank you for reading!

  This post originally appeared on lindseypollak.com.

• The Muse Jezebel
  https://themuse.jezebel.com/a-chat-with-jennifer-romolini-an-author-whose-career-a-1795931175
  Word count: 1993

  QUOTED: "I felt like as I was writing this book, a lot of this advice has been told before. There are not that many ways to be great in an interview, there aren’t that many ways to build a great resume, but the delivery system could be different and the person giving the advice could be different. I felt like if I told the advice in a different way and was also personal and honest about myself, the advice would get through. Basically I wrote the advice book I wish I’d had."
  "Matching up to jobs is very much like matching up romantically and there are all these fallacies about it. It really comes down to timing, luck, chemistry, and people wanting you, not just you wanting them."

  A Chat with Jennifer Romolini, an Author Whose Career Advice Is That You Don't Need Career Advice
  Jane Marie
  6/14/17 3:15pm
  95
  11
  Images courtesy the author, Harper Business

  Not to assume too much about you, but Jennifer Romolini definitely has your dream job. She’s the Chief Content Officer of Shondaland.com, Shonda Rhimes’ new website that is just about to launch. Shonda Rhimes. Jenn is a boss alongside Shonda flippin Rhimes.

  But she wasn’t always at the very tip-top of the career game, making us seethe with jealousy. She wasn’t born rich, she dropped out of college, she pin-balled her way around the world to scrape rent together for many, many years before figuring out what she really wanted to do. And then she took even more time learning how to do it, all the while feeling like she was too awkward or spazzy or simply too much to achieve true success.

  Now that she has, she’s letting us all know how you can be both a ding dong and a success in her new book, Weird In a World That’s Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups, and Failures. It’s part memoir—and a riveting one, at that—part self-help, in the “you can do it!” sort of way, and partly a practical and straightforward guide to getting where you want to be in your professional life. If you’ve never cared for this sort of book, don’t worry: it’s unlike anything out there. You will not find advice about how to “have it all,” nor will you feel ashamed at not having done it all already. There’s no presupposition that you’ve been to the “right” school or taken the “correct” path thus far. What’s most lovely about this book is that it is for anyone at any stage in life who feels like they just don’t and won’t fit in and “make it.” Jenn proves you can.

  Jezebel spoke her about how she got where she is and what steps we need to take to steal her job. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

  JEZEBEL: To start this interview, will you just run through your career history as fast as you can?

  JENNIFER ROMOLINI: Flower stand outside my dad’s store, video store clerk, telemarketer, worked at Express, worked at The Gap, worked at a pizza place, worked at a Mexican restaurant, worked at a diner, worked at another diner, worked at a Spanish tapas restaurant, worked at a hotel restaurant, worked at a hotel restaurant that revolved, worked at an all you can eat buffet, worked in a French restaurant, worked in a wine bar, worked at a tapas restaurant where I wore a sequined vest and sang “Happy Birthday” in Spanish—got fired, worked at the Beacon Hill paper, worked at the Boston Phoenix, Boston Magazine, Inside.com, Talk Magazine, Glamour, Cosmo, Poz, Allure, Lucky, Time Out New York, Yahoo, Hello Giggles, worked for Shonda Rhimes.

  You mentioned getting fired in there. Whenever I hear people our age talking about getting fired, I’m like, “Uh huh.” And then they’re complaining it’s the first time, I’m thinking what the FUCK have you been doing? You have to get fired or you’re not doing life! I think I’ve been fired three times just for being a human being.

  Oh, I’ve been fired for being an asshole. I had a chip on my shoulder for so long and I also didn’t understand that injustice was not your responsibility to point out? And I wasn’t self protective enough. I didn’t realize that if I didn’t tell them the truth in that situation I would be able to pay rent. I was in Express like, “I can’t tell her she looks good in that. I’m not going to lie for six dollars an hour!”

  Alright, another list: your weirdnesses that made you think you couldn’t do what you’re doing now.

  I drool. I rouge up. Major hives person.

  You drool?

  I do! In meetings I spittle. If I’m nervous I spittle. I throw limbs. I’m an over-sharer. I have a temper. I’m just a really emotive person with not a lot of ability to hold it back. So I thought, you don’t see people like this in business!

  This is echoing a lot of the advice in your book, which is just to be yourself.

  Yes! There’s always a side door, as long as you’re ambitious and good at what you do. I think there’s not enough investment in competence and that’s actually so much more important than confidence.

  For me growing up, I didn’t know what all was possible in terms of making money. You know those quizzes in 7th grade that they give you where you can only be one of maybe 20 professions and they range from trades to a licensed career like a veterinarian? It felt like I can either be a nurse or teacher. Those are jobs.

  I think Sassy Magazine really changed that a lot for me. I remember being like what in the fuck is this? Sassy was the first moment where I was like, wait a second, those are my people! But I never imagined that I actually could do that. Those people have a pedigree, they have connections. But then I finally got to work with those people!

  Here’s a question: how do you write a book?

  Really? You make a chart. I couldn’t fathom writing a book but then I was like fuck this, I’m gonna write a book. I also have this good-girl thing and didn’t realize deadlines were bullshit. I turned my book in three days early. I approached it like this real good-girl thing, like I have to do this! So I made a chart, a war wall with every chapter of the book and then I had it color coded and every day I wrote 2,000 words. It was a total mindfuck. But I just did it every day because it’s my job. I knew it would be very easy to not do it. It’s cliché writing advice but it actually works.

  It’s the advice in The Artist’s Way.

  Is it? I own that book but I’ve never read it! It’s like one of those books I just rub on my body.

  Why did you decide to make it a choose your own adventure?

  You’re the only one who picked up on that fact—that I squeezed a choose your own adventure chapter into the book. It was a huge fight with the publisher because it was a production nightmare, but I felt like as I was writing this book, a lot of this advice has been told before. There are not that many ways to be great in an interview, there aren’t that many ways to build a great resume, but the delivery system could be different and the person giving the advice could be different. I felt like if I told the advice in a different way and was also personal and honest about myself, the advice would get through. Basically I wrote the advice book I wish I’d had.

  You and I basically have parallel lives: we had teen parents, we did not get very good grades, and our paths in college were all twisted. I love talking to authors who come from that in order to find out what gave you the nerve to think you could write a book? And that anyone would read it? Does that go through your head?

  Yes! That was the whole thing. I was getting to a point where I was “successful.” There was no denying, no amount of self-loathing. But there was no one around me who was like me. There was no one at that level who was giving advice. Everyone giving career advice was like, “Put on a blazer and wear stilettos and get your hair blown out and don’t have emotion.”

  And pretend you went to Harvard...

  Exactly, or just never talk about your schooling. And then I was seeing women coming up who were bumbling around in the same ways I’d bumbled around and who were not finding answers. Even though there’s this weird fetish around advice and success porn and leaning in, I didn’t feel like the messages were getting through. So I thought, well, why not try to write it?

  How important do you feel like it is to be liked?

  Oh god... if you have an extreme personality, which I do, people are going to have extreme reactions to you. So, in every job I’ve been in it’s pretty much half and half. And it’s real love, the people who love me. It’s sincere and I wind up knowing them for years. The people who dislike me, it’s equally strong. And it’s all about learning to navigate that. Because if you’re going to walk this walk of being authentic, then you have no fucking choice about people liking you. I spent a long time trying to make people like me. You know, doing the fake conversations and compliments and pats on the back and it’s just wasted energy. You shouldn’t go out of your way to be an asshole, but if people just don’t like the cut of your jib, what are you gonna do? Also, you can work with people you don’t like. I do it all the time, I mean everybody does. And also the last part of that is that things change. So somebody that you’re like, oh god, I hate that fucking person, after six months or a year or five years, you’re suddenly like oh, I missed that part about them, or I projected that onto them. So fixating on that is actually one of the worst things you can do.

  Right, some places you fit in and some places you don’t and there’s not a lot you can do about that. It’s like love.

  It’s all like relationships. Matching up to jobs is very much like matching up romantically and there are all these fallacies about it. It really comes down to timing, luck, chemistry, and people wanting you, not just you wanting them.

  Jennifer Romolini is the Chief Content Officer at Shondaland.com. Jane Marie is the host of DTR, Tinder’s official podcast, and owns a podcast production company, Little Everywhere.

• Literary Quicksand
  http://www.literaryquicksand.com/2017/06/review-weird-world-thats-not-jennifer-romolini/
  Word count: 791

  QUOTED: "Romolini writes this book for women—see her section on wearing a bra in the office—but it’s message is valuable to all those who overthink, over-analyze, and over-hype. Whether you’re in the prime of your career or just starting out, there’s a chapter in here for you. If you don’t mind some foul language and casual sexual references, that is."

  Review: Weird in a World That’s Not by Jennifer Romolini
  By Becky on June 12, 2017

  Why: There are two mottos that I live by; “Simple things amuse simple people” and “What fun would the world be if everyone were normal?” Sure The Golden Rule comes into play occasionally and other bits of wisdom are thrown in, but those two sum me up pretty well. When I saw the title Weird in a World That’s Not, I was in. Then I read the jacket description and was even more excited about it being a career guide, given my current state of confusion as to what my own career goals actually are!

  If you want it, you can have a totally rewarding career that makes you real money and stays true to the misfit you really are.

  Story: The subtitle of this work is: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups, and Failures. While a bit crude and a smidge harsh, it sets the tone for this book immediately as an irreverent take on what it takes to be successful if you don’t fit the mold of the quote unquote standard professional. Part personal memoir, part comedy and part advice column, Jennifer Romolini walks readers through the career process from high school through upper management. Horrifying yet amusing anecdotes that can be all too relatable are paired with practical tips for navigating an impractical office universe. Ultimately, Romolini reminds us all that there is no sense in being someone we’re not – no matter how different we may seem to be.

  Most of the things you worry about happening at work will never actually happen…but there are ways your otherness can get in the way of your success. The most basic, garden-variety stuff involves letting your mind go wild and giving too much attention to ghost problems, issues that are not real or that you’ve created yourself, unnecessarily.

  Opinion: I have read [too] many self-help books about being happy, gaining self confidence, etc. Also included on that list are books like How Successful People Think and any number of articles on understanding personalities and improving executive skills. What Weird in a World That’s Not does differently is that it doesn’t tell you how to change your life or become the button-down-shirt-and-khaki-pants-wearing-golf-club-membership-owning professional. It acknowledges that not everyone is that person and that’s ok! Romolini advises on how to navigate the often arcane customs of the workplace without compromising your unique personality.

  As someone who is very different than the people she works with, I fully appreciated this book for its honesty and accurate depiction of office life in 2017. (I do find it ironic though that I could relate to so many of the insecurities Romolini identifies, therefore making me much less “weird” and much more “common.”) It is a refreshing read that reminds us not to take work so seriously that we lose our own identities. Most important to this misfit, however, was that it didn’t leave me feeling wholly inadequate with a laundry list of personal traits I need to work on! Easily one of the best career books I’ve read to date.

  What “making it” really means is this: it means loving what you do and being true to who you are; it means working hard but setting boundaries for that work so you can live your life too.

  Recommendation: This book is for those of us who haven’t found satisfaction in those “other” career guides; they just didn’t seem written for us. Now, Romolini writes this book for women – see her section on wearing a bra in the office – but it’s message is valuable to all those who overthink, over-analyze, and over-hype. Whether you’re in the prime of your career or just starting out, there’s a chapter in here for you. If you don’t mind some foul language and casual sexual references, that is.

  It is TOTALLY COOL to be who you are, because this is so much better than trying constantly to be a shiny perfect droid person.

  Special thanks to TLC Book Tours for the book in exchange for my honest review!

• Time
  http://time.com/4810468/weird-in-a-world-thats-not-review/
  Word count: 249

  The Perks of Being Weird In the Workplace
  HarperCollins
  By Sarah Begley June 8, 2017
  IDEAS
  Sarah Begley is a staff writer for TIME.

  “For a long time,” Jennifer Romolini writes, “I was pretty sure I would never make it in the world, that I would never become ‘successful.'” The reason: she was just too weird, too sensitive, too far outside the realm of mainstream office culture.

  But the former editor of HelloGiggles and Yahoo Shine did eventually succeed, and in her new book, Weird in a World That’s Not, she offers several tips to help fellow misfits climb the corporate ladder.

  If you’re socially awkward, she writes, try over-preparing for even the most mundane workplace situations — rehearsing compliments for small talk with co-workers, for example, or writing scripts for major meetings.

  Romolini also advises turning weirdness into an asset, as she did: when yoga became a fad in New York City, she drew upon her unusual new-age upbringing to corner the beat as a freelancer, which soon landed her a full-time job. “If you are a card-carrying weirdo,” she writes, “[it’s] not a detriment, it’s an asset.”
  IDEAS
  TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors.

  This appears in the June 19, 2017 issue of TIME.

• The Strive
  https://thestrive.co/book-review-weird-world-thats-not/
  Word count: 938

  QUOTED: "Jennifer is a talented writer, and her book is worth checking out, especially if you are looking for permission to 'be yourself'. ... She’s being authentic and has valuable insights that can help people gain the courage to improve their lives."

  Book Review: Weird In a World That’s Not

  Recently I was provided with an opportunity to read and review Jennifer Romolini’s new book ‘Weird in a World That’s Not’.
  BOOK REVIEW

  Even though the book caters more-or-less to a female audience, I decided to say yes to the review for two reasons.

  The first reason; I want to say yes to opportunity, not repel it. I believe saying yes to opportunity (according to my personal beliefs) is a way to ensure more positive occurrences flow my way.

  The second reason, is because the core message that Jennifer extols in her book is one in which I can relate. Namely, that we can achieve our dreams and success, regardless of our past, or who we are.
  ‘WEIRD IN A WORLD THAT’S NOT’ BOOK SUMMARY

  To give you a better idea of what her book is about, here is a snippet straight from the Harpers Collins website:
  “Jennifer Romolini started her career as an awkward twenty-seven-year-old misfit, navigated her way through New York media and became a boss—an editor-in-chief, an editorial director, and a vice president—all within little more than a decade.

  Her book, Weird In A World That’s Not, asserts that being outside-the-norm and achieving real, high-level success are not mutually exclusive, even if the perception of the business world often seems otherwise, even if it seems like only office-politicking extroverts are set up for reward. Part career memoir, part real-world guide, Weird in a World That’s Not offers relatable advice on how to achieve your dreams, even when the odds seem stacked against you.”
  THE BOOK REVIEW

  So without further ado, here is the review.

  Jennifer’s new book is witty, quick-paced, relatable (more so for women), and entertaining. Oddly, I found myself not being able to put the book down.

  Yes, the book is more-or-less geared towards the female audience, but that is what made me even more curious to read it. Not very different from how us guys will pick up a Cosmo magazine left lying around the house by our spouse or girlfriend, and attempt to take a quick peek (while no one is around of course) to see what these girls are up to and to gleam some of their success secrets.

  What I gathered from the book, that I think any reader can benefit from is the sincere encouragement. This book contains tons of encouragement related to finding one’s way in a world that sometimes seems to not care about what we are truly interested in, or what we want from it.

  Jennifer has obviously had a very unique upbringing, and has experienced a fair share of career and relationship failures. Experiences that have given her unique insights that she provides as clear how-to knowledge that we can all benefit from.

  Throughout the book, Jennifer also does a great job communicating her experiences in a way that is humorous, yet still educational.

  Her experiences, in my opinion are not extremely out of the norm. In fact, I think more people will be able to relate to the ‘craziness’ of her life than she thinks. But that’s not a bad thing, it just means that maybe this book is meant for more than just those few ‘oddballs’ who think themselves to be on fringes of society.
  KEY TAKEAWAYS

  The primary points I think will resonate with you the most, are the following:

  Your past does not equal your future.
  Failing from time to time, being different, choosing to march to your own beat, is okay.
  Quitting your job is okay; especially if it doesn’t make you happy.
  Success is achievable, even if you think it is not.
  Achievement is not something that only a select few are privy to. Regardless of who you are, you can achieve success in your life.

  Being outside-the-norm and achieving real, high-level success are not mutually exclusive, even if the perception of the business world often seems otherwise.
  Jennifer Romolini

  All in all, Jennifer is a talented writer, and her book is worth checking out, especially if you are looking for permission to ‘be yourself’. I do believe she drops way too many F-bombs for my liking, but hey, to each their own. At least she’s being authentic and has valuable insights that can help people gain the courage to improve their lives.
  WHO THIS BOOK IS RECOMMENDED FOR?

  Who do I recommend this book for? Mostly, I’d recommend this book to all my female friends who want to unleash their inner go-getter (entrepreneur, artist, or ambitious careerist) seeking knowledge and encouragement for forging their own path. For you guys out there, while you may night be able to relate 100% with the book, I think you’ll find it to be entertaining, informative, and yes, even encouraging.

  If this review resonated with you, Jennifer’s book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Harper Collins. Here is the link directly to the Harper Collins site if you want to learn more.

• The Hamilton Spectator
  https://www.thespec.com/news-story/7999856-jay-robb-career-advice-column-for-the-introverted-and-socially-awkward/
  Word count: 899

  JAY ROBB: Career advice column for the introverted and socially awkward
  News Dec 17, 2017 by Jay Robb Hamilton Spectator
  Weird in a World Thats Not

  Weird in a World That’s Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups and Failures" by Jennifer Romolini. Harper Business,$34.99. - amazon.com

  Zip-lining at Mont Tremblant brought back bad memories of team-building with a telephone pole.

  I kept reassuring my skeptical wife that the zip line and treetop obstacle course would be fun for the whole family. But halfway through the course and past the point of no return, it stopped being fun and became an endurance test.

  I was sore, cranky and no longer thinking straight when I got to the highest and longest zip line. I put my ungloved hand in front of the pulley and slid off the platform. The pulley jammed into the web of flesh between my thumb and index finger and left me dangling in a cold sweat.

  I eventually unstuck myself and then failed to grab the loop at the end of the zip line that pulls you onto the next platform.

  I snagged the loop with my left foot while sliding back toward the middle of the zip line. I was now stretched out and stuck as the families waiting behind me and watching from below shouted encouragement. I'm not proud of what I shouted back.

  And that's when I had a flashback to a team-building retreat at another resort. I had to strap on a harness tied to a rope, climb a telephone pole, stand on a Frisbee nailed to the top of the pole and then jump off while coworkers slowly let out the rope.

  Everyone on the ground shouted at me to keep going while I perched, frozen, at the top of the swaying pole with one foot on the wobbly Frisbee.

  Jennifer Romolini also had to climb a telephone pole at an employee retreat, with the same results and reaction.

  "It was an absurd situation, one made even more so because the people around me seemed to be having a good time — they were into it and having fun. I felt out of place, awkward and exposed, a Woman Who Fell to Earth If Earth Was A Contrived Corporate Retreat."

  Romolini survived the retreat, stayed with the company for six years and was promoted four times. She's now the chief content officer at Shondaland.com and author of "Weird in a World That's Not."
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  At 27, Romolini was a divorced and broke college dropout living with her parents. She went on 23 interviews before landing her first job with a New York media company.

  "For a long time, I was pretty sure I would never make it in the world, that I would never become successful in the way that successful people are," says Romolini. "The reason I would never do this was because I was too intense, too socially clumsy, too sensitive."

  Romolini eventually figured out that her weirdness was an asset. She didn't need to fake it to make it. She's now sharing her hard-earned and clear-headed advice for other misfits who've yet to find their way.

  "Follow your bad feelings. Ultimately, the process for finding the vocation I wanted and would excel at wasn't soft or calm. It wasn't worksheets or matching my personality type against a series of careers to see what lined up. How I found the colour of my parachute was by force, taking a hard and honest look at my sadness and insecurity, what made me the most pissed off and envious, the things I wanted to be so badly that I seethed."

  "Weird in a World That's Not" is part memoir and part career advice column for the introverted and socially awkward. She tells how to write resumés and cover letters, what to say in job interviews and during meetings, what not to do at office parties and on social media, how to make small talk at networking events, how to get promoted and be a good leader and when to know that it's time to move on.

  There's also a timely chapter on her one regret of not standing up to a demeaning and inappropriate male boss.

  "I urge you not to play along, not to act like it's cool, like it's cute ever, not when you're 23 or not when you're 53. I urge you because enough already; women deserve to be treated equally and respectfully at workplaces and other places, now and forever, the end."

  @jayrobb serves as director of communications for Mohawk College, lives in Hamilton and has reviewed business books for The Hamilton Spectator since 1999.
  Jay Robb
  by Jay Robb

  Jay Robb, director of communications at Mohawk College, reviews business-focused books for The Hamilton Spectator. Follow on Twitter: @jayrobb

  Email: jay.robb@mohawkcollege.ca

  Tags: News - Business, News

• South China Morning Post
  http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/2102223/jennifer-romolini-has-solid-career-advice-more-just
  Word count: 195

  QUOTED: "Jennifer Romolini has solid career advice for more than just her millennial audience."

  Jennifer Romolini has solid career advice for more than just her millennial audience

  Romolini went from being broke to successful, so her straightforward career advice is worth hearing, despite the annoying title

  15 Jul 2017

  Weird in a World That’s Not
  by Jennifer Romolini (read by Em Eldridge)
  Harper Audio

  I wanted to dislike this book for a few reasons: profanity such as is used here can be “try hard”; self-help confessionals are often just humblebrags; and the “weird” in the title – isn’t that just Romolini saying she doesn’t consider herself boring? But this is a book with straightforward career advice for everyone, not just her target audience of millennials. Having gone from “negative money” to helming huge websites, Romolini now has the nous to tell jobseekers the secrets of networking (described as “small talk with a mission”); why LinkedIn is important; how to ask for a pay rise/promotion; and even how to leave a job (“too much notice is a gift to no one”).