Gloss & Grit - Polished thoughts. Real talk.

  Frame of Reference | Violet Visions: My First-Year Highlights as an NYU Visual Arts Administration Student 💜🗽 So…I did it! I went back to school. I’ve always loved learning — it’s the Montessori kid in me who still wants to explore, question, create, and color outside the lines. And at this moment of midlife calibration (✨not✨ crisis), I decided to leap closer to my lifelong passion: the Arts . Now, as I’ve shared in past posts, I love my marketing career. I’m not leaving it behind! But this was my chance to live inside my passion for two years, to expand, to stretch, to see where it could take me. So I signed the acceptance documents and officially joined NYU Steinhardt ’s Visual Arts Administration  masters program — and I have not looked back. (One day, I’ll write the full “Going Back to School in Your 40s” post. Spoiler: it feels exactly like any big leap at any age — thrilling, terrifying, and totally worth it.) For now, I want to give you a peek behind the curtain...

Frame of Reference | The Big Walk — A Fall Surprise with NYU Gallatin Every now and then, something sneaks onto your calendar and ends up becoming a highlight of the season. For me, this fall, that was The Big Walk . I signed up knowing almost nothing—just that it was connected to NYU Gallatin ’s Arts & Works group, the name had a certain charm, and if it was their featured annual activity, it had to be worth showing up for.  Spoiler: it was one of the best surprises of my semester. First Impressions I arrived at Gallatin with my usual blend of curiosity and cautious optimism—classic grad school energy. Before I even had a chance to overthink anything, I was handed a pin identifying me as a Big Walker (a delightful title I may start using beyond this event). Dean Rosner and Professor Louise Harpman welcomed us with opening remarks that hinted we were in for more than a neighborhood stroll. And then it clicked. The Big Walk is Professor Harpman’s classroom—unbound by walls...