My Day as a Matrix Volunteer

As a NYWICI Foundation scholarship winner in 2008, I was invited to volunteer with other scholarship alums at the Matrix Awards this year.  When we arrived at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City that morning, we stuffed goody bags and then walked into the ballroom to find that it had successfully been transformed for a Matrix luncheon.  The tables, covered with pink and purple tablecloths, had beautiful flower centerpieces on top of them.  The awards programs, placed on the nearly 1,000 soon-to-be filled chairs, looked like a special NYWICI edition magazine.  And we could all feel the wonderful presence of Seventeen, Matrix’s corporate sponsor, in the room.

Shortly after, we were asked to direct honorees/presenters entering through the Park Avenue entrance of the Waldorf to the Towers Entrance.  As we were waiting, we spotted Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman filming The Baster across the street.  Then, Linda Wells, Matrix 2009 honoree and editor-in-chief of Allure magazine came walking through the Park Avenue entrance in a cream Chanel suit.  We directed her towards the Towers entrance—job done.

Katerina (left) at the Matrix Awards, with Tammy Tibbetts (2005 & 2006 scholarship recipient), Kaitlin Tambuscio (2009 recipient), Kelli Plasket (2008 & 2009 recipient)

Then, we sat at the registration table as all the stellar Matrix Awards attendees started to arrive, decked in colorful suits, spring-time jewelry and dynamite shoes.  As an aspiring magazine editor, when Kate White, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, Rosemary Ellis, editor-in-chief of Good Housekeeping and Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief of Marie Claire asked for their respective tables, I was thrilled that NYWICI connects with so many influential women.

I was also hoping to see Cindi Leive, editor-in-chief of Glamour.  After she heard that “I want to be the next Cindi Leive” at the awards last year, she invited me to meet with her in her office!

To our luck, there was a vacant table in the main ballroom and all the volunteers were able to sit there, right behind Mediabistro founder Laurel Touby.  We watched Elmo make his surprise appearance, laughed heartily when Brian Williams said he would like to be “the next Wolf Blitzer” and enjoyed hearing Tom Hanks speak so warmly about Matrix honoree Leslee Dart.

I was able to find Cindi Leive after the awards.  I told her that I had sent her my Weight Watchers Magazine issues and she said, “Right! You write the column for them.”  I was so excited that she had remembered even though she is so busy running one of the top women’s magazines.

As I rode in a taxi to Penn Station, I thought about how far I have come since last year.  The scholarship opened so many doors for me and I cannot wait for even more memorable moments to come from New York Women in Communications.

~Katerina Gkionis, The College of New Jersey ‘09

A GLAMOURous Matrix Monday

Since receiving that epic phone call from Susan Schulz naming me (really, me? I’m still in shock!) the 2009 Ruth G. Whitney Glamour Magazine scholarship winner, my life – and pending career – has been forever changed. I have been checking off my dreams one by one.  And the culmination of all this change for this small town Pennsylvania girl came at the glittery, star-studded 2009 Matrix Awards!

Waking up to the beeping horns of taxis and the smell of boiling hot dog water was, actually, something like paradise for me (check!). I dressed myself in my all white power suit with the legacy of Ruth Whitney ringing in my ears.  I fluffed my hair – only to have it fluffed later at the Waldorf (!) – repeating “style and substance” over and over, wondering if my words would someday serve as a mantra for young women.

I arrived at the Today show set with my beaming parents, completely overwhelmed by how all the girls – a.k.a. my new best friends – had transformed from magazine-clipping, college bound queens to stylish young professionals promoting themselves with their best patent leather foot forward. As we sat nervously, tapping our peep toes in the green room, there were smiles and support for my fellow scholarship winners Maggie and Rachel, who were chosen to tell the whole country about how they’ve already changed the world.

Nina at the Matrix Awards, announcing to the ballroom that she is the next Cindi Leive

From there, we rushed past a Jennifer Aniston and Jason Batemen filming location to the Waldorf-Astoria, a place I never dreamed I would enter with any sort of purpose (check!). The rest of the morning was a complete whirlwind: hair and makeup, rehearsals, and then our big moment. I stood on that stage unable to breathe as the people I admire and aspire to become applauded for me! Cindi Leive heard me confess my ultimate dream to become her (check!), and although I didn’t get to meet her afterward, just knowing that she was there made my dreams that much closer to coming true. I even got to speak to Midge Richardson, the former editor-in-chief of Seventeen, who once worked under Ms. Whitney! As she spoke of Whitney as an editor and a woman, I felt Ruth Whitney’s mantra and spirit running through me.

As each Matrix Award recipient spoke that afternoon, I crammed all their advice and their personal vignettes into my head. It is from their stories, the inspiring speeches, the magical energy that swept through the pink and purple award ceremony, that I am changed. I’m more than changed – I’m charged to do something bigger than myself.  Post-Matrix, I’m picking something that is close to my heart and am determined to change the world with it! I know I can do it while interning at Glamour and Family Circle this summer in New York City! (check!)

~Nina Elias, Syracuse University ‘11

The Third Time’s a Charm!

Marie, announcing she is the next Meredith Viera (with her idol standing a few feet away), at Matrix 2009.

As I sit on the 6:50 p.m. Metro-North train from Grand Central Terminal to Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, I can’t help but think that 12 hours ago I was on the Staten Island Ferry from home, about to embark on the greatest day of my life in Midtown.

The people on that ferry didn’t know that I was headed to Rockefeller Plaza.  They didn’t know that April 27, 2009 was actually Matrix Monday.  The people on this train don’t know that when I got to Rockefeller Plaza, I lived my dream of hosting the Today show.  They don’t know that I just spent the day with the communications industry’s top movers and shakers – those that already made it and those looking to do so. They don’t know that the “17” tote bag I’m carrying not only stands for Seventeen magazine, but also for the number of NYWICI Foundation Scholarship winners this year – and what that means – nor that I am one of them.

If I were to go ahead and explain this, the general, natural reaction would be a big, fat “WOW.”  But then I would have something else to add: this is my third time living my dream, being supported by an organization of women who not only inspire me but support me.  So I’m sitting here and thinking to myself, “What the heck did I just do?!”

The girls who know this best of all are definitely my fellow scholarship winners, past and present.  But they too have a question to ask me: “What’s it like to be the first-ever three-time winner?”  Some assume that I’m jaded.  The truth is, it just keeps getting better!  While the first-timers had the obvious excitement of the highly anticipated unknown, I had the excitement of knowing exactly what we were in for and just how big the room for unexpected “Matrix Magic” truly is.  Sure, I knew Meredith Vieira’s script ended in “But first, this is Today on NBC” when she handed it to me, but I certainly didn’t know that by the end of the Matrix luncheon she would accuse me of spiking her drink so I could immediately become the next her!

Each Matrix Monday brings past memories and knowledge with it, but it also brings many unknown possibilities created by the fortuitous present moment.  If I’ve learned anything these past three years, it has to be this: bring experience with you, but always seize the present in order to create the most fantastic, unbelievable future…and if done right, the cycle of “WOW” will continue.

Click here to watch me and my fellow scholarship winners on the Today show!

~Marie Dugo, Vassar College ‘11
Editor, nywiciNEXT

Editor’s Note:  nextBLOGs 2009 Matrix Awards coverage isn’t done yet!  Check back next week for Matrix memories from a first time scholarship winner and a scholarship alum who returned to Matrix to volunteer.

A Weekend of Matrix Memories

Carol, Kelli and Kaitlin showing off our Seventeen covers

As a two-time NYWICI Foundation scholarship recipient, I remember last year’s Matrix Monday as clearly as I remember this year’s.  Last year, it all started with a scholarship recipient gathering at Rockefeller Plaza an hour before our Matrix Monday Today show appearance.  This was the first time the 22 scholarship winners met each other.  We matched faces to Facebook pictures and said quick hellos before being thrust into the organized chaos that is the Today Show.

This year, the 17 scholarship winners gathered at the Plaza early Matrix Monday with the hugs and greetings of old friends – and, well, that’s because we were.  We had not only had the opportunity to meet each other in March at a Hearst dinner with Matrix sponsor Seventeen’s Ann Shoket and Jayne Jamison, but we had also bonded at a sleepover just two days before at Scholarship Alum Tammy Tibbetts’ New York City apartment.

Eco-friendly memories: making picture frames using recycled magazines

Three-time scholarship winner Marie Dugo recalls, “The Seventeen dinner at Hearst was full of sleepover echoes – magazines, girl talk, mini junk food.  “After seeing how much fun we all had and realizing how many stories we had to share, the thought of having a sleepover came naturally!  I really hoped it would allow us all to bond a bit more right before Matrix Monday, and it definitely did. It made Matrix Monday even more magical, and the foundation has already been set for lifelong friendships.”

So what sort of bonding activities did we enjoy at our Saturday night sleepover?  We pigged out on pizza (courtesy of NYWICI) and junk food, enjoyed a surprise visit by NYWICI Foundation Board members Beth Ellen Keyes and Linda Krebs (who walked us through Matrix Monday to ease our nerves), made picture frames using magazine clippings to store our Matrix memories and even played sleepover staple Apples to Apples.

Sydney, Nina, Taylor, Carol, Miki, Marie and Chelsea jump at Central Park.

Sunday morning, several of us took advantage of the beautiful weather by enjoying a bagel breakfast and smoothies in Central Park, where there were many Earth Day festivities to check out.

It was a fabulous weekend, the perfect precursor to Matrix Monday.  Hopefully, a new NYWICI tradition has been born!

~Kelli Plasket, The College of New Jersey ‘10
Editor, nextBLOG