Author Archives: Nyree Costello

Are you Hip or are you Cool?

Posted in Lifestyles by

I recently posted this on my fashionjunkee.wordpress.com blog and am interested in this audience’s take on Hip vs Cool!

Have you ever stopped and really thought about the words we use to describe what we see or how something or someone makes us feel? Take for example the use of the words hip and cool.  These two small words are used often to describe attitude, style, feelings and actions.

When asked if we’re okay with something it’s, “Are you cool with that?”, and the reply is something to the effect of “Yeah that’s cool” or “I’m cool.” If questioned about someone who we know and like, we respond “So and So? He’s cool.” People are described as being “cool as a cucumber”, being “totally cool”, “keeping their cool” or thinking their “too cool for school”. So what does it mean to “be cool”?  Cool is best described as an attitude – a personality trait that has varying degrees. And what those key traits are, change as our perceptions change. What was once cool can be looked back on as lame. Ever revisit your high school yearbook and cringed at your pictures, lamenting “but it was so cool back then!” Determining if we think someone is cool depends on whether or not we relate to their mannerisms,  interests and social interactions – because cool is in the eye of the beholder.

Okay so we know you’re cool… but are you hip? We generally use the word hip to describe someone’s sense of style, their fashion and expression of themselves. You can be “hip to the style”, “hip with the kids” or even Tragically Hip! (Gotta plug those Canadian bands!)  Hip is about being on top of the latest trend – fashion or otherwise. But it’s also about putting your individual stamp on things and keeping up with the times without looking ridiculous. Wanna always look hip? Here’s some advice: Be selective on the trends you choose to follow. If you wore a trend the first time around, ya’ might wanna skip it this round. Can we say legwarmers anyone!? If you rocked these in the 80s, skip this round. You won’t be hip, just ridiculous.

So friends… Is it better to be cool or to be hip? Can you be both? You tell me. Hip is a sense of style, and as we all know styles come and go. But cool is a state of mind.

 

Do you Live-to-Work or Work-to-Live?

Posted in Communications, Lifestyles by

One of the things that I’ve noticed among my fellow communicators is that most of us tend to fall into the live-to-work category. That is, communications is not only a job, but rather a lifestyle. We’re passionate about what we do. It’s shown in the events attend, the organizations we participate in and the people we socialize with.

What does it mean to live-to-work? To me it means how you invest your time and energy is important to you. The eight hours or so a day spent working needs to fulfill whatever it is you are uniquely looking for. I live-to-work. This doesn’t mean that all I do is work and have no life. But communications is part of my lifestyle and it is important to me that I’m making a difference, providing value and at the end of the day, proud of what I do. I’m often described as a passionate person. Whether this is meant as a compliment or as a fault I don’t know, and frankly don’t care. Passion is what drives communicators to do what they do best. Not only do I want the world to hear my message, but I want it to be changed by it.

Work-to-live? No thanks. Spending eight hours a day converting O2 into CO2 waiting for the clock to hit 5:00pm  so you can get to your “real life” sounds pretty soul crushing. That isn’t to say the work-to-live crowd are not good at what they do or are not satisfied. But rather they are doing something that is just okay to get the money to fund their passions.  And that’s okay – for them. But I’ll stick to my guns and follow my bliss.

How about you? Do you live-to-work or work-to-live? What lights your fire?

Is this thing on?

Posted in Communications by

Allow myself to introduce… myself.  I’m in my, ahem, late 30s and have been in the PR, Marketing and Communications industry for eight years.  I’ve had a lot of fun and at times have been so stressed out that I’ve wanted to pull my hair out. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

A bit about me. Like I said late 30s, how late is none of your beeswax.  In my “previous life”, I was a photographer and still take the odd job here and there. I love Pink, Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga, but when pressed would have to admit that about 600 of the 800 or so songs on my iPod are from the 80s and 90s. I’m obsessed with Billy Idol, play a mean air guitar and try to put a little ‘rock and roll’ style in everything that I do. I spent almost six years doing PR in the television industry and LOVED it.  Now I’m looking for a new adventure…

My Motto: If you’re not a little scared, then you’re not challenging yourself.