what it's like to work at vogue, a talk with vogue's sergio [video]

We've seen movies like Devil Wears Prada, we've read articles about it. We all have our assumptions, but I want someone to come in and tell us what's really up. And so that's why I'm excited to be speaking to Sergio today. We're going to be discussing what it's like to work behind the scenes in fashion, as well as details around the Met Gala. Because obviously it's the biggest fashion event of the year and there's a lot to uncover.

So I present to you Sergio from Vogue, I do want to know about you as a child. Were you a fashionable kid? I was obsessed.

I have such passion for musicians because ever since. I remember first time watching a music video on my grandmother's couch when I was five years old in Russia. And it was Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. I did not speak a word of English, could not understand what Michael was singing about. But I had such a strong reaction and I wanted to work behind the scenes in music, and somehow it all just came together. How did you?

So Clive Davis is a big time record executive, he quote. Unquote discovered Whitney Houston and Carlos Santana and Janis Joplin, and all these iconic musicians.

I got to talking to somebody at this label and he was like, Well, do you want to intern? We have internships available.

I literally started ditching school and going in two, three times a week, no pay, 12 hours a day. I wanted to be a sponge. I would walk in every day. And from the moment I was there, I just wanted to observe and take everything in. And somehow it led me to this. I spent like three years as an intern at Arista Records.

Working for free didn't finish college. Got offered my first job in my last year of college. And my first job was at Motown Records, working in radio promotion, and I spent a year working at Motown. We all got fired because another company bought out this label, everybody got let go. I got my second job working at Sony, my third job working back at Arista Records, the place that I interned.

After Arista, I went to Virgin Records, spent two years there, got so burnt out and took a year off. In that year. I saw Devil Wears Prada. And somehow I realized that that is the one thing in my career that I haven't done yet. Like work in the fashion industry, it's that film that made me want to work here, I mean, here, in fashion, in general, in magazines. I remember seeing that movie and realizing that Vogue is basically at the top of the food chain.

That was my goal all along. Hopefully one day I get to work at this magazine. How did you get to Vogue? I worked at six different magazines before working with Vogue, I spent five years at Cosmo.

While I was at Cosmo, I got my own magazine, they gave me 17, so I was booking 17..

After 17, I did RedBook and Women's Health. My last job at that company was working for Harper's Bazaar, which you obviously know as well. This job at Vogue somehow became open because the previous booker, who's here for 20 years, was leaving.

My friend works at GQ, she was like, you should come and interview for this job, there's no way in hell Anna Wintour is going to hire me. I dropped more fuck words, more fucks in a single sentence than probably anyone she knows.

I'm covered in tattoos, I'm not polished, I'm just a worker, I go in, I have a vision.

How do I get it done?

I don't even know how to explain it, but I walked into her office. The first person I interviewed with was Anna, There was no human resources, there was no number two. My first interview for this job was with Anna.

I had a broken foot, three broken toes, and I refused to wear my boot. I was going to say she would not like the boot, she probably would have been fine with it. But I was like, there's no way I'm walking into an interview at Vogue. Limping with a boot. I was in so much pain wearing this Valentino boot that I barely squeezed my foot into. I never dress up to go to work.

You're not going to see me in a sweater or a tie or a jacket. I walk into Harper's Bazaar that day in a really nice sweater, really nice pants, these Valentino boots. Someone I work with goes, Do you have an interview? why are you dressed that way? I'm like, No, no.

I have an event after, he's like, No, I don't believe you, there's no way you're coming into work looking like this. I go to the interview here.

I've heard before that usually interviews here take five to 10 minutes at the most, we ended up talking for maybe 20..

I was only supposed to meet with Anna, I got to meet with two other people that day. Walking out of here, I kind of had an idea that I was maybe the front runner. It all just happened so quickly, I think within two weeks I was hired.

It's been almost six years. Wow, that's a journey I feel like most people would think about.

What is that sort of experience? How do you stay in the?

I was obsessed with supermodels back in the day. my walls were covered in photos of Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell and Casey Turlington. Apart from music, supermodels was my obsession. I always paid attention to what fashion magazines were doing.

Now everything I do, I pay attention to what's happening in theater, to what's happening in film and television, in music, with influencers, with TikTok, it has to make sense for a Vogue at the end of the day. It is a fashion brand, but you don't want to miss out on something that's happening in pop culture that has nothing to do.

There's this weight because it must be taken so seriously. Is it a gut feeling? This feels right?

Something that works for Harper's Bazaar is not going to work for all those other brands. However, once you're in vogue, you literally could go anywhere. I knew that when I started out working at Marie Claire. That is the epitome of what's happening in pop culture here. It is your personal opinion.

You are curating these ideas, you go into a meeting with a big staff and you make pitches. Every single publicist, every agent, every manager, they pitch ideas to us. We speak to them on a daily basis. Every single booker, from every single brand, from every single TV show, you have to know, but you don't always know. Because there's not enough time in the world to watch every TV show, to watch every film, to listen to every single album or single that's sent to you.

You have to have a gut reaction to this person. There's always a buzz. Someone will be the first one to discover it. I'm not the one who's going to discover it. I'm going to ride the wave, but I have to pay attention to what's happening in pop culture.

It's my job to walk in every single day and say, I heard about this. We should look into this person, or we should pay attention to this, to what's happening here. Maybe they're not ready for Vogue yet, but maybe in two months they will be. That's how every single magazine works, we all function in the same way.

We all want to be the first to put somebody fresh on the cover who no one has had before. But then you don't want to risk it and put somebody on the cover who no one is going to click on. It's this double-edged sword. Every time you do a cover story or a feature, or put somebody in a video, or invite somebody to the med, or bring them to an event, it's always a 50-50. You never know, yeah.

How do you feel like?

Like, yes, everybody still wants Vogue, but is it going to be the right thing for both the brand? And just because you have 300 million followers doesn't mean that we need to cover that project. Yep, yep. And if you're doing every single thing under the sun, what's the gain in us featuring someone?

If you live your life on social media, how is that going to be interesting for our audience, right? Like, if you already put everything out there, what are you giving to us? Or W, or Vanity Fair, or like, if you're doing 17 covers, what's the point? That's a great point.

It's almost like it becomes diluted, like you, literally. Just if you give up everything on social media every single day, yeah, why do you need a cover like?

You don't even need it, that's.

Yeah, I love picking up Vanity Fair and reading a story about a cover star where, like Courtney, Love literally admitted to, like, taking drugs during pregnancy. And yes, that backfired on you, yeah, and it was a horrible experience for her.

But, like celebrities back in the day, weren't that afraid to speak up.

Or, guess what, it's. It's our job as a journalist to ask the questions, it's your job to say, you know what, I don't want to answer that.

Can we move on? Yeah, why do you? Why does your publicist have to tell me in advance that's don't ask that question?

If your talent doesn't know how to pivot, then maybe you should do some more media training. That's a really, really phenomenal.

You need me, you know what I mean? Which is obviously not true. We both need each other, we both need each other.

Like, it's like everyone needs each other, and that is very fascinating. People are just so scared because such a such a witch hunt sort of time that everyone's like, so maybe it's always been.

Celebrities were being followed, politicians were being followed. yeah, anyone who in some way was famous was being followed, and you wanted to know their secrets.

And there was Star Magazine and National Enquirer, Yeah, so like, there was always that witch hunt, yeah. The moment you become famous, regular people feel like you don't have feelings as a celebrity. That you are prepared for anything that comes your way because you chose that life.

Sure, but at the same time, there are boundaries for everyone. Yep, nowadays you are afraid to speak about anything.

Yeah, because social media will tear you apart, yeah, but all you have to do is don't go on social media, I know.

Don't pay attention, guess what? Like, Yeah, it's just a bunch of people who are trying to start shit.

It means something, yeah, it's a status for a lot of people. And once you get Vogue, you like these fashion brands, and just brands in general. Look at you in a different way. And you will probably get bigger jobs. So it is that we need you and you need us.

Yeah, moment. We have an amazing video team and we literally will brainstorm and pitch ideas. Like, we have quite a few series that we do on the regular, from the Getting Ready to 24 Hours to the Cooking series. That you did for us now. Serving 73 questions. Life and looks and like, it is a curation. Like every single time we have to do an episode, we go through a list of names of who would be the best person for that video. Tied to a project. Like it is all connected and we get access like no one else does. Which I'm incredibly grateful for because at all my other magazines, I was like, struggling. And look not to say that we get everyone we want here.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like almost everyone. It's nice to work at a place where, for the most part.

There was nobody talking about like, we don't like that cover, we don't like that person, we don't like that interview, we don't like the cover line. We hate that tiny part of the video.

It just, it disappeared into the abyss. Yes, now every single thing is under a microscope, and we are under microscope for everything. But by the way, I don't feel I'm not going to feel bad for us, yeah.

Everyone else goes through the same thing. Yep, every single brand, from fashion to entertainment to publishing, we all experienced the same problems.

Well, it's like.

Yeah.

You're going to be annoyed, you're going to be agitated about every single thing that that's happening. It's not an easy job, yeah, but we're also not saving lives.

Yeah, we don't have to take ourselves seriously, we have to take our job seriously because we get paid to do a job. And if you don't want to be here, you don't have to be here, you always have a choice.

Yeah, but if you're doing this, I mean, my parents taught me from when I was a kid. If you sign up to do something, you have to finish it. Yeah, we have to make it work. Like, I don't know how to explain it, but like.

We have to figure it out because if we don't move with the with this ever changing industry, we're going to get left behind.

And its main job is to raise money. Every single seat is paid for. every seat is paid for by a designer or a brand. They're the ones who are bringing talent in support of the museum, so every single seat has to be paid for.

Yeah, somehow it became the event to go to every single year. Yeah, usually it starts the day after the Met Gala ended, so like this year's Met Gala is May 6th.

On May 7th, I will get an email from Anna asking me to work on next year's event. I may not know what the theme is, but she's going to ask me for ideas. uh-huh. The theme comes later. Interesting.

I mean, she knows what the theme is. I don't know what the theme is. Oh, I found out about this year's theme, I don't know, maybe six months before, okay?

Everything is kept under a lock and key. Wow, so the day after she'll say, You know, I have some ideas, I want to hear yours, yeah.

Let's meet. And it literally takes us maybe a few months to brainstorm ideas, then a few more months to figure out who we want to go after for co-chairs. And then the last part of it is music. It's always a surprise. This is my sixth met, I think.

I can't tell you like, I am like a kid in a candy store. Every single time I get to work on the Met, it is so much fun, even when it's like the most hard job on the planet. Because there are so many details and there's a huge team, like we have a huge Vogue team working on the Met every year, and every single detail is thought of.

Like every single, like napkin, knife, florals, arrangements, chairs, every single detail is thought about way, way, way in advance. Even the way your name is written on a placement card is thought about. And there's a reason for it. It is so fascinating to watch from the sidelines. Because I'm not really involved in that part. Like, I'm involved in the co-chairs, I'm involved in the performer, and I'm involved in the last month of preparation. And, like, I help with some of the guests.

But towards the end, once our team, like, literally places almost everyone. I can't even tell you how many emails and phone calls we get every single day. Leading up to, like the Met, like four months prior to, it will be like 50 to 100 requests for the Met on a daily.

That's what's scary, because it's like everybody puts so much effort into making you look good. And now it's up to you to stand there and like, make it come to life. In the face and you get it's like a performance, even though all you're doing is like, standing there like that. But I mean, I think now I'm not afraid anymore, maybe.

Like, maybe this year. I don't think I'll be afraid at all this year, but I mean, I think my heart will beat. I'm not gonna be afraid.

I'm, like, vaguely familiar, it's a Ben Stiller movie about being a male model. Oh, it's pretty brilliant, it has all these cameos from.

Like every celebrity, you can imagine fun, all these fashion designers, and it's basically it's poking fun of Zoolander, yeah.

But it's absolutely brilliant. And he had this look called blue Steel. Maybe you should adapt.

I think it's gonna be really, really handsome. There's everything, everything like, I'm thinking of being Anna, and I'm like, there's no way that she's signing off.

We have rehearsals with dancers, we have fittings, we have, like, we go through, like, once we're at the Met preparing in that one room, everything is kind of like it gets laid out days in advance. She's there to oversee it all, she's literally there at 10 p...m.

At night, when we're rehearsing with a performer, wow, like. I remember my first year, and like my first year, I literally was like, I don't know how I got here. I hope I don't get escorted.

I don't know how I fooled people into thinking that I belong here. But like, Poker Face was on 10 that time, yeah, and Cher was the performer. Wow.

Which is so like, unreal, like this is a like icon and legend get thrown around about every single person nowadays, like that is a fucking legend. Yep, and I remember seeing, going to see Cher the night before her rehearsal at either Barclays or MSG. She went on tour at the time and going backstage with her publicist.

And, like, being like. It wasn't my first time meeting, Cher, but it was just like, you're in such an awe of this woman, the way she talks, like she makes jokes and the way she looks like, she's just so brilliant. And I was like, I'll see you tomorrow at the rehearsal, we get to the rehearsal, of course, like, Anna's there.

Yep, Cher gets on stage, does her thing comes off. And she was like, How was it? what do you think? I'm like? are you really asking me? like, how was it? I was like you?

Literally, this is what I said to her. Yeah, I go. You literally could sing the phone book and I will fucking listen and say it's the most brilliant album on the planet. Yeah, I don't care what you sing.

I'm like, you on that stage is enough. Yep, and Anna was there for every single rehearsal. Wow, and like, she loves being a part of this.

That's amazing, like she's raised something like half a billion dollars for the museum. Yeah, in her, I want to say, like, what 25 years that she's done the Met, yeah.

Yeah, you don't have to, people are just having fun. Yeah, like, our world is so fucking dark.

Yeah, right, like, if this is the one time a year that everyone gets together and has fun and you get to watch it from home, it doesn't mean anything. Yeah, it's just people having a good time.

Yeah, like we've all been through some shit in the past, like coming to the Met, seeing what people are wearing, like, Yeah, it's fun.

I don't care what anyone says, I have fun, yep, and even if I wasn't there, I still would want to see what people were wearing. Same.

I would be watching you on livestream, yeah, I would be watching.

I mean, I can imagine there are probably some challenging.

Like, I would call everybody I know, and I would say, Is anyone available? And do they have a look that they can wear to the Met? Like, I remember calling someone at SNL, knowing like the entire cast is in New York, yep, multiple times when somebody would fall out, wow.

And I would be like, can we please get so-and-so to come? Like, Yeah, there are challenges, but like, again, we're not saving lives like placing. So, like my first year, we got to bring so many people that have never been to the Met.

It was the theme was camp like, who's better to come to the Met than Rupaul? like it was the first time Rupaul got shot for American Vogue in his 30-year career. Yep, like, I love nothing more than having somebody for the first time.

It makes me as happy as it probably makes them, you know, like, having a first man on the cover. Yeah, Anna and I talked about that for a long time. I think for like, a year. I was told, you know, it's a women's magazine.

Yep, so like, you know a guy solo, like, why would we do that? Yep, let GQ do that, let you know another brand do that.

Then we saw everything that was happening with Harry, as far as his style and how he was embracing fashion. And like, it just made sense, yes, and it became, I want to say, like, if not the biggest, probably like top three biggest of all time, yep.

Cover-wise, social media clicks, there were like essays written about, like Harry Styles being on the cover of Vogue. Yeah, and whether it's positive or negative, the point is that people are reacting, yes.

Like, you don't want people to just not care, yeah, like, whether it's a positive reaction or negative reaction, people care about what we're doing. And I'm not gonna sit here and say, like, I take everything so seriously, like, this is, you know, I am the word.

Yeah, like, if it's not in vogue, I don't care. No, that's not yeah. Like, when I worked at Marie Claire, I gave as much passion to what I was doing there as I did at seventeen, as I did at Women's Health and Red Book.

And I do at Vogue now, like for me again, it goes back to, like my mom always telling me, if you start something, you have to finish. Yep, so everything I do here, no matter how hard it is. At the end of the day, like, I don't have a real office job.

I get to work with creative people, yep, we get to put cool people in clothes, we get to shoot them, we get to bring them to events.

We get to do videos with them, we get to in some way, be a part of this pop culture train. And I have to enjoy it. Because if I start hating on every single thing, that in some way agitates me or annoys me, yeah.

I'm going to be a miserable fucker. Amen, and I don't want to be that. Yeah, hell, no.

But then gummies help, too. Oh my god, I have to get home and I have to, like, pop a gummy.

The yuzu ones, I had two of them once and went into like a 12-hour, ten milligram or five. I think I took two fives, that's nothing, that's what I thought.

Full Oh, maybe they were tens, they were probably tens.

Yeah, and every single song with a gummy, you're in heaven with a gummy.

And that is very important to the event. However, it seems that that tends to be where the drama is. Did people follow the theme? No one understands the theme? Also, though, too, a lot of brands, I think, don't really want to do the theme.

Like, I feel like there's this sort of, or they like, they're like, we love this, you know what I mean? How important is the theme to Vogue, and how important is it that people follow the theme? Because I feel like a lot of times the internet will get mad on Vogue's behalf when people don't follow the theme.

Because Anna approves looks somewhat, I wouldn't say it's approved like.

Yep, and I'm sure like, look, I'm not in those conversations. Yep, don't ask me about fashion because I don't care. Like, I know I work at a fashion magazine, but like, you're wearing a dress amazing.

Yeah, you either look good or you don't. For me, yes, however.

Yes, I think in my this is my sixth year here. The only time that I saw pretty much everybody on theme was Camp, Yeah, because it's easy to reinterpret camp.

Broad It's somewhat fun, it's a little cheesy. yeah, it's a little over the top.

And it was, for the most part, it was an iconic year. Like I've seen Camp now every single year since Camp, I know it's true like everyone wants to be camp now.

And my favorite story? Okay, another going back to share. So, um, the night before at the rehearsals, uh, I was like, What are you wearing? He's like, Well, I'm not doing red carpet.

I'm like, Well, why not? She's like, I don't. I'm like, No, obviously nobody knows that I'm coming, yeah, that I'm performing, I don't need to dress up.

I'm like, Well, you probably don't need to, because so many people are coming as you. Yeah, and she goes, What do you mean? so many people are coming as me? I'm like, your share.

Like you are the definition of camp, like Bob Mackie Camp Bob Mackie is an incredible designer, he's a master. But like definition of camp, like when I think of camp, I think of Vegas. Over the top, like feathers and jewelry and blingy.

Like it is, you are camp. She goes bullshit, she literally goes bullshit. Then next day I see her like, she arrives, I see her.

I go, Did you look at the carpet? She goes. I did quite a few people dressed as me, like, literally dressed as me. She goes. That's why I changed my mind. She goes. I'm literally going to perform in jeans and my puffer.

Share is not in camp, but she's wearing jeans and a puffer. Because she saw so many. That year was literally like, Jennifer Lopez came in inspired by Share. Yep, Emily Roszajewski came and inspired by Share.

Yep, um, there were literally, I think, like six or seven people. My brain doesn't work well, clearly because of the gummies, um, but there was so many people dressed to share. And it was just so funny to see this woman who literally is the epitome of the word. It was like, No, I'm going to let you all have it.

Yeah, I'm.

She was on the carpet, Lenny Kravitz was on the Was the Performer two years ago, he was on the carpet, yeah.

It depends like, if you want it, you can, if you don't, you don't have to.

The first year, the first year, I remember so vividly. I come in and I'm starving, I'm like, I'm so hungry, like, we've just been well. I also do the interviews, so it's like, I'm there for like five hours, just interviewing.

So they make me interview for 24 hours straight. Oh my God, we are horrible. No, and it's the best joy of my absolute life.

Yeah, cause you and Jack have this thing that you created, that we've created. You only come for Jack, for Jack.

I know that well, now, it's like, I can't.

This is your fourth year hosting or third? This is my.

One, two, three, four, four. I think it's the fourth, this is my fourth and have when we had him on all three years with you, or no, the last two.

Okay, so we need a third, so this will.

What's the week of the Met for you? summarized It depends this week I have.

Leading up, I'm telling you, like, it is like clockwork. Somebody will fall out and it will be anywhere between four to 10 people, someone will get sick. Someone's schedule will change with their production, and you either have to replace a person or figure out what to do with that seat.

So there's always those issues to deal with. Rehearsals, we always have a pre-party, we get an insane amount of emails for after parties, which we have nothing to do with. But we still have to answer those questions because you can't ignore people.

I literally respond to every single email. Day of the Met is insane, though I usually get anywhere between 200 to like 600 text messages. As people are arriving. Or publicists will be like, So-and-so is on their way. Can you look out for them? I'm like, Yes, I'm at the top of the stairs.

I will see everyone who arrives, you don't have to tell me that I say hi to everyone. I usually work with Lala at the top of the stairs, pulling talent for all of her interviews, so I'm Lala's bitch for the night.

And that's a pretty cool thing to do, because I know most people that come up. And a lot of them don't want to be on camera and talk, they just want to go inside and have a good time. And I literally have to force some people to do interviews, it literally happens every single time. J.Lo last year did not want to be on camera.

And I was like, Jennifer, you cannot not do this, and it took good convincing. Yeah, but they're always glad, I think that they did it. Poor Nicki last year.

She had a problem with her look, the top kept falling, yeah, and she did not want to be on camera, and she kept holding on to her dress.

And I was like, I promise you 30 seconds, that's all I need. Yeah, I'm begging you, I'm like, I just like.

I love Nicki so much, yeah, but I also love Cardi, so I don't want people to be like, he picks people, he picks his favorites.

You don't have favorites, I don't have favorites. These are all your children. I love them all, yeah.

And literally 30 seconds in front of the camera, she was so uncomfortable. But they do it, and, you know, that's where the charming Sergio comes out. Yeah, oh, yeah.

I have to turn that on because, of course, I could be quite the asshole.

Oh, you know what from like many, many years ago, I was going to.

Well, it's insane. I didn't know about the significance of the September issue until I don't know like three, like, you know, it's. It is interesting how it's like, well, September, and.

Yep, it's, you know, it's the.

Are you like, is life pretty normal for now? No, it's a little stressful, it's already.

Yeah, and I become the middleman between talent and our Met Gala team. Well, yeah, I feel like a lot of people listening.

Yep, and those are the people they want to take to the Met. They will check on their availability before they go out to anyone else, right? So if you have a relationship with the brand, that's the best way to go.

Yep, but here's the kicker. Nobody ever knows which designers are coming to the Met. So publicists will literally go to like 50 brands to see who's coming to the Met that year. And typically it's not like, because every year different brands are like, we're going to, we're going to make this investment.

Yes, yep, everyone always says, well, they've been before, why can't they come back? And it's not about that.

Of course, they can come back if a brand wants to bring you, absolutely fine by us. But at the same time, we also want to bring in different people every year. You don't want to have the same group of people every single time. Yep.

Even Rihanna doesn't want to come every single year. Yeah, Beyonce doesn't want to come every single year. Yeah, just because you've been before, it doesn't mean that you have to come every single year.

You want to have.

Yeah.

And.

Like, we have a director, there's always going to be like a brilliant director attached to the Met. Most people probably don't know, but Baz Luhrmann has an amazing like this longstanding relationship with Anna, and Baz works on the Met. Baz is like a brilliant film director. He always has a vision.

And for the last few years, like, it's a group of people that decide on who the performer is. Yeah, and you literally have to do, you know, a song and dance. Yeah, thank God, I don't have a voice because like, that entire room would be running.

But I do have a way of.

Somehow, convincing our team that we should lean a certain way, that's probably the hardest part every single year. Like, co-chairs are easy, because it's all. Anna, yeah.

The performer, like most people, like, there's like a group of people and everyone has their own opinion. Yeah, I don't know if that answers your question. It's not no, that's a.

Like, Oh, and then it's trying to find the best option, the best fit. Yeah, that's what it really is, that's all it is.

I'm so excited for this year. Are you excited? are you? Have you figured out what you're wearing? I okay.

It's have you had fittings, I've had one fitting and we did sketches. I've had about two or three calls and it's happening. And it's the most on theme I've ever been, which I know you don't care about as much, but it's no, I love seeing people on theme.

This one's really on theme, which I'm stoked about because I feel like in the past it's maybe not ended up being as on theme. Like, it's been like, great and I love it. But I'm like, this is not quite on theme as much as I want to be like, I want to be on theme.

I mean, look.

Like, it's the only time you can literally use that as, uh, the theme for the Met. Yeah, and I don't think anyone like I I think people are either really thinking that it's florals for spring, which it really isn't like the. From what I understand, this is my interpretation. Yep. The exhibit features all these like incredible gowns and dresses that have been locked away for many years and they're being reawakened.

Yeah, so yes, sleeping beauty florals in some way, but it's about rebirth. It's about, you know, florals for spring. Yeah, I think, when you're.

Oh, like you were, you were freaking.

I didn't realize that never.

Is that the excuse? Uh, well, it was kind of me not knowing how to use the microphone. Listen, I was like having a hard time, like switching it back and forth. That's before we miked me and then I could just hold the mic like this, which we figured out.

We did that immediately after, cause we were like, I can't, cause people just don't talk like that. Like, I'm not used to this. Even when you're like, Ryan Seacrest, Well, you needed the two mics, or, yeah, it was just not right.

So anyway, so that was that we fixed that immediately after, and then everything became way better. Um, but she, I was like, she is going to never have me back like I. I was certain of it after that. And I don't. And I couldn't have blamed her because, you know, I mean, in in such a. She was the first one of the day, the very first one to arrive.

So it was like, Uh, it was. It was basically doomed. Um, but she, you know what, she was patient with me.

Uh, every single day I leave here, I feel like I've accomplished something every single day like this is not bullshit. I don't stay at jobs that I don't need, that, I don't want to stay in. I don't have that fixation on, like, what will I do without this?

Like, I literally come from nothing. We came to this country with two pieces of luggage. Like, if somebody takes all of this away tomorrow, I'll be fine, I'll start all over again.

However, I do appreciate like I am the first person who was going to be incredibly grateful for every opportunity that comes my way. Absolutely, I get to work with someone who literally changed the face of this industry, I get to learn from this person every single day. I get to walk into that office every day and have any conversation I want with her.

And she will listen because we've established a relationship now where I contribute to what she's doing. I am of help and I've proven my I would think that I've proven myself in almost six years of working here. So, like, I greatly appreciate every single thing she brings to the table, whether I agree with my boss or not. At the end of the day, she has been doing this much longer than I have, and for the most part, she knows better than I do.

And this job is about challenges, like she challenges me, and I hope that in some way, I challenge her when she does not know someone. And it's my job to make her and the rest of our team see why. This person is important to cover, why this person is important to come to the Met, why this person is important for a feature or a cover story or a video. And I appreciate working here because I work on a level that everyone else wants to work on. As far as this brand, because I come from six other brands.

Like, I've been here, I've worked at so many other companies and we always talked about what this brand does so like. I am grateful for this opportunity and I work my ass off because.

So at the end of the day, I have to admire and appreciate and be grateful for these opportunities. And the Met is one of them. I used to watch it literally every single day, I mean, every single day, every single year. So to be able to work on the Met every year now is pretty fucking cool.

So fucking cool, oh my god, this was amazing. This is it. Are we done?

Are you not going to sing? Well? I guess, you know what? I'm going to sing at the Met, I'm going to sing at the Met, Amazing.

You're the performer, so this is my big announcement.

Yeah, I feel like we're good. That was amazing, that was like, incredible.