Monica Michelle has found her for passion with a network for all things floral.
Author Edith Wharton chose a different path & pursued her dreams.
Editor, Sharri Harmel, shares how her part time life in Paris now feels like coming home.
Resident Fashion Stylist, Sara Griot, shares how you can beautifully dress for your body type.
An interview with, Monica Michelle, the Founder & CEO of BloomTV
Mindy leads very special hikes through the Berkshires based on the Camino de Santiago.
Ideas to ignite your next dream!
A tour through the gorgeous home of Edith Wharton in the Berkshires.
China at The Mount, Home of Edith Wharton
I’m back in Paris for the fall and re-energizing my Parisienne attitude.
Like most places in the northern hemisphere, Paris is a lovely place to be in the fall. Chestnuts roasting, leaves falling, school is in session, great clothes with the anticipation of December holidays in the air.
There is much excitement in the office of Extraordinary Women!!
Very soon we will be making a magazine announcement that I guarantee you will love. Two years after coming up with the audacious idea of launching an online magazine for women like you, we found yet another way to make Extraordinary Women even better.
We want Extraordinary Women to be THE magazine for women who want to make their next season, next chapter, next pivot full of joy, purpose, and fabulousness.
This month we traveled to the Berkshires of Massachusetts where we highlighted a magical place and two extraordinary women. Mindy Miraglia and her Berkshire Camino so perfectly explained how the Berkshires is a place where your soul, your physical well being, and your imagination all meld together to create the perfect mix to jump start life.
We also visited The Mount, the gilded age summer home of author Edith Wharton. For those of you who love houses and often find connection with stories, the Mount will deliver.
Then there is Edith Wharton herself, who was truly an Extraordinary Woman. Edith pushed against societal pressures to become a prolific writer. Her passion and drive remind us that putting off our dreams for that perfect someday, is not honoring who you are and what you are meant to do. Let’s shift that way of thinking. It’s always the right time for you to step into a bigger and better life.
You’ll also meet Monica Michelle, founder and CEO of BloomTV. BloomTV is a network for everything about flowers from gardening to flower arranging, to cooking and baking with edible flowers as well as the wonderful health benefits of plants. That is the amazing network called BloomTV!
Monica’s story of her journey to the creation of this inspiring network is a testament to what you can build when you let yourself think big. Really big!
Maybe you want to create a new lifestyle or embrace positive thinking every single day. Maybe you want a new or better relationship, or you have your dream business in mind, something that is all your own.
What is it that you want? Let yourself imagine what it is and then multiply it many times over! Having a big, audacious goal is exactly how YOU honor the extraordinary that is YOU!
PS! I am honored to announce that I am now the new guest host of BloomTV Podcast! Twice a month, I get to interview amazing people who are creating businesses around their passion for flowers.
The Mount
Photo by Joy Gora
I’m fully into my fall time in Paris and loving every minute of it. People often ask me what I do when I’m in Paris?
Well, so many things. Here are a few….
Spending time with girlfriends who regularly come to Paris. I’ve got this new tribe of women who are all from New England and the Northeast US, and we have gotten together for lunches, dinners, and apéritifs. But don’t I do that in the US? I do, but it’s much more of a production to try to mix four or more women together for a dinner in Boston than in Paris. Maybe because everyone who comes to Paris, other than me, is on a sort of vacation, therefore they have no other competing events and the only thing on their to-do list is to have a lovely time.
ne recent group had gathered because of their shops or popups they were opening back in the states, so they are off to visit many of the best antique markets around Paris and are heading up to Normandy the end of the week.
It was fun to hear and see photos of gorgeous antiques they had seen at the Foire de Chatou flea market and hear about their business plans. We met at Le Relais de l’Entrecote on Saint Germain.
Shockingly, I had never visited this institution and I marveled at the brilliant business idea. One meal, with only one decision, “How would you like your And who doesn’t like Steak Frites?
The green pepper sauce on the steak is a “secret” and even the waitress said she did not know the recipe. Of course we had to ask.
There are no reservations at any of their locations, but we got in line around 6:40 and within ten minutes we were seated at a table for seven. It made for a lovely evening, sharing, laughing and talking about future plans.
One thing I have learned during my time in Paris is join organizations. I joined The American Club in Paris over Covid after attending several of their lunches, and it has been a must have in my life here.
Because my French is abysmal, most of my conversations with people are at about the first or second grade level. I don’t know if I’ll live long enough to have real conversations in French, but I keep trying.
Most of the American Club events are held at the Cercle de l'Union Interalliée, which is a beautiful old club in the 8th arrondissement, with an incredible history of its own but the luncheon speakers are there to discuss world events. I brought two guests to the la rentrée celebration this past September and it was magical.
The American Library in Paris is another gem. I am in a very interesting book club that often is on Zoom as well as in person, and because the book club members are from all over the world, it provides a perspective that I appreciate and thoroughly enjoy. Both the American Club and the American Library in Paris host events that you can attend as a non member. I did for years!
Another great way to connect while in Paris is Jane Webster’s book club. Jane is a an Australian who owns a château in France and hosts an once a week book club. Her original business was The French Table which has morphed into residencies, cooking classes, and Mastering the Art of Hospitality.
Yes, it’s technically a book club but I’ve find rarely has anyone read the book. Again, it’s a way to connect, meet people who have some of your same interests even though their life circumstances have been quite different from my own. I’ll share more about Jane’s offerings in the future.
inHow can I leave out apéritifs in some of the palace hotels? My favorite, as I mentioned many times, is Bar 228 at Hôtel Le Meurice.
Next week, I’ll be there with Poupie Cadolle, from Cadolle, the luxury French lingerie company and will be toasting, laughing, and enjoying our shared stories. I can Let’s all share a toast to life!
I’m thrilled to be the new host of the BloomTV podcast, so; Monica, please tell us all about BloomTV!
BloomTV is a steaming network all about flowers - cooking, garden design, flower arranging, health benefits, and more!
Think of the food network but with flowers as the central focus. BloomTV is THE video streaming network for all things floral.
ell us a little about yourself and how you got this idea.
Out of college, I took the cool pathway and went to work in a corporate setting. But it didn’t feel right for me. I’ve always loved nature, travel, and beauty. I worked remotely, so I traveled. Eventually I ended up in Paris. While enjoying the pastries and the beauty of the neighborhood flower shops, I began to dream of ways I could package it all up, bring it home and create a business out of what I loved.
I wrote my rough business plan on the plane home. Given I love to bake and I love flowers, the first business combined the two pastries with edible flowers. My first big client was one of the Oscars parties, a huge order! Amazing and the business seemed perfect. Yet, something still didn’t feel right. I wanted to scale something, grow something big and the bakery wasn’t it.
Talking over my ideas with my partner, it spiraled into this creative hurricane that ultimately became BloomTV.
But first I had to let go of the bakery business idea and that was hard to do!
I now know that letting go so you can create something even bigger is all part of the creative process.
Don’t be afraid. We never know when we birth an idea, what it will become. We have to be okay with not knowing. Accept that there will be many iterations of your original idea.
Tell us more about how BloomTV works. There may be some potential creators or “experts” reading this magazine right now!
A potential expert submits a video, much like a television pilot. If we choose to move forward, they will join the BloomTV expert team. They will then automatically become an affiliate of BloomTV, and their videos will be seen on a much wider platform than their own website. If a sponsor falls in love with them, a series is even possible!
Will you ever be available on my television?
Yes! Even though we look like a website, we are built on the same OTT platform as Netflix, Discovery, Magnolia, etc. The end of this year, we will flip the switch and BloomTV will appear on your smart tv just like all the other streaming channels.
In the beginning we had to embrace getting as many creators to play as possible, but as we grow, our experts will also need to become even more fabulous in content and presentation.
How did you figure out there was a need for something like BloomTV and not get stuck thinking someone has already done this?
When we started, no one was in the flower space. By the time we were editing our first videos, others were in the space. Yet, I never saw it as competition. Everything we do is going to be a little different.
We might have the same idea but do it our way. Much like two different water color artists, each artist’s vision is different.
his sounds amazing … and as BloomTV’s podcast host, I already love interviewing your experts. But share a little about the challenges ve face as the network has grown.
First it was the dream. I had a vision, a dream, but Devon, my business partner can see an even bigger vision that I can see.
Having that person who dreams REALLY big, off the charts big, can help you expand what you think is possible. They don’t even have to be in your same business. Meet for coffee or a glass of wine and let them share a possible vision far beyond what you are currently imagining.
Just as there are the ‘numbers people’ who love nothing more than spread sheets, there are BIG vision-gifted people who can see huge possibilities that people without that gift cannot.
One of the things I’ve learned along the way as an entrepreneur is to be vulnerable enough to accept what you aren’t good at and ask for help.
Is it hard to manage people?
My weakness, especially in the beginning, was working with a large team and creators who weren’t able to work independently. I finally learned I had to provide more structure and bring in people who can do what isn’t my strength or it becomes a huge time waster.
I also learned that I am now speaking from the perspective of the business. For BloomTV to survive, and that means I’m speaking for the business. This isn’t about me; I am growing a business here.
Women are natural caretakers, and we like to build communities. I think that is why it is sometimes hard for women entrepreneurs to step into the business first role but once you do it, you’ll feel less stressed. As the CEO, you are the caretaker of your business!
How do you take care of the parts of you that have nothing to do with being a CEO?
The best of me is when I am alone in the wilderness. That is how I revive myself. When I was almost ready to launch BloomTV, I moved to Point Roberts, Washington for seven months. It is only accessible via a tiny road through Canada.
Steps from the beach. I think I saw maybe three people the entire time I was there.
inYou’d think nothing would happen when I’m alone in nature, but just the opposite happens.
I believe there is a direct connection between a company’s success and the internal groundedness of the leader.
You can listen to Sharri Harmel’s interview with Monica on the Extraordinary Women Podcast HERE. Subscribe to BloomTVNetwork to access all the floral based shows and listen to the BloomTV podcast hosted by Sharri Harmel.
What energizes you?
What are you doing when you lose track of time?
What make you so excited to do that you can hardly sleep?
Travel to fabulous places with interesting histories
Exquisite hotel rooms and bars
Planning the redecoration of an apartment
Finding a new collection to start
Going to estate sales and Paris flea markets
Magnificent dinners with good friends
Conversations with interesting people
Polished style
Wallpaper, chinoiserie, color, antique garden statues, symmetry
The Mount
Photo by Joy Gora
ven though I know fall is not the beginning of the year, somehow it always feels like it. A time to reset. Probably because it’s a new school year, a new season, and a new wardrobe changeover.
A change of seasons also comes with new, exciting trends in clothing and accessories. Some will resonate with you, and some will not. This is when it’s very important to understand your style and not get caught up in buying whatever is in the stores or online.
Even if pink is the color of the moment, when you consider your skin tones, is it a color that makes you look and feel fabulous?
If the goal is to have a well curated wardrobe that works for you 100% of the time, it’s time to dig in and really figure out what your personal style truly is.
Style is not about clothing alone; style is about making something your own. If it were, a plaid blazer, a white shirt, and jeans, would always look the same, no matter who was wearing them.
If the goal is to have a well curated wardrobe that works for you 100% of the time, it’s time to dig in and really figure out what your personal style truly is.
This time of year is always a good time to take a hard look at your wardrobe and edit!
Try on your maybe’s and determine if they work with the rest of your wardrobe, if they’re missing pieces that would make them work in your outfit rotation (make a wish list of those missing pieces), if they need alterations, or if they just don’t feel like you.
If you’re not ready to make them a yes or a no, but aren’t ready to part with them yet, put those pieces in the back of your wardrobe for now and reasess at a later date.
The beauty of having a wish list of pieces that you really need to fill in the gaps of your closet, is that it prevents you from making purchases that you regret and end up taking up space and energy in your wardrobe.
Great style, regarding what you wear, is like a form of magic. When you pair two things and they really work together, it’s an exciting moment and carries a special kind of energy.
If you’re wearing something that you don’t feel 100 % comfortable in, and you’re tugging at your hem, it affects what you put out into the world. Beauty elevates your energy; it elevates your mood.
Clothes affect not only how you think, feel and act, but are also the first thing made visible when we communicate to others. Up to 90% of our communication is non verbal.
It’s all about finding your own unique mix, owning it, and staying true to yourself. Clothes talk, even when we don’t. It’s hard to assemble a wardrobe and communicate personal style without understanding it’s elements.
Think about what your style is. Do you prefer the tailored lines of a classic look? The soft flowing lines of a romantic look? Are you funky, minimalist, athletic, dramatic, or understated? Or are you a combination of a couple of different styles?
I’m a textbook classic with a twist and a bit of a minimalist. I love tailored lines of classic clothing but LOVE bold statement coats and earrings! Always in combination with classic pieces of course.
You also need to take your lifestyle into consideration … who are you? How do you live your life? Consider what clothes really fit your body and your life.
A very important question to ask yourself is, am I dressing for the body I have now? Or am I holding onto a past vision of myself? Maybe 20 pounds ago, or 20 years ago?
Being relevant and modern is vital, whether you’re in a professional setting or not.
can help in many situations to create the perfect fit. The idea of s important that your unique style makes you feel like your authentic self
Contact Sara to learn how she can help you find your unique wardrobe style.
She also has a Virtual Styling and Shopping service: www.saragriot.com
Listen to Sara’s interview on Extraordinary Women Podcast HERE!
Following a divorce and stepping away from her a long corporate career, Mindy Miraglia decided to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain to figure out what was next for her.
Was she going to return to corporate or was there something else? Something more in life she could be doing.
Mindy’s plan to walk the Camino shocked her family and friends, given her health issues, but walk she did.
In fact, she walked it two times … Mindy is an extraordinary woman for sure!
Photos by Joy Gora
After her second Camino walk, Mindy started to imagine how she could bring aspects of the Camino de Santiago back to her home in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.
Could she recreate the sense of community, the intentional mindfulness and soul searching that comes from walking in nature? She first began with an idea of recreating hostels on existing trails.
After presenting multiple pitches t Entrepreneurship for All, a mentoring program for budding entrepreneurs, Mindy decided to pivot her bus and instead focus on creating a wide variety of hiking experiences. In 2020, she launched the Berkshire Camino.
Unlike the Camino de Santiago, where there are yellow signs and med on the ground to keep hikers on the path, all Berkshire Camino hikes are led by an experienced guide.
This is a beautiful forested, and hilly terrain, not like the Camino de Santiago walked for centuries by spiritually driven pilgrims.
Another big difference is your comfort when you aren’t hiking! The Berkshires of Massachusetts are in the western most section of the state, equal distance from Boston or New York City. It was the former playground of the very wealthy during the Gilded Age, so there are quaint towns and lots of activities to engage in besides hiking.
Top photo: Front row Joanna Ezinga, Mindy Miraglia, Sabrina Jaffe
Second row: Ilene Marcus, Edi Pasalis, Carolyn Butler
ather than sleeping in hostels, you have choices ranging from luxury resorts to quaint country inns. For the foodies, the Berkshires is filled with amazing restaurants and numerous craft beer tastings. The Berkshires had what were farm to table restaurants before anyone had coined the phrase.
A multitude of art galleries, the Norman Rockwell Museum, and numerous theater venues will enhance any hiking choices. Given the Berkshires is also the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, you could plan a perfect summer evening with a picnic, good friends, and wine spritzers while relaxing in lawn chairs listening to beautiful live music. A special place for sure.
You choose the distance and type of hike you want to do. Ranging from 2.5 mile one day hikes to multi day excursions, you decide how you will balance the amenities of the Berkshires with your hiking ambitions.
People start to share many of their life challenges with hiking partners and find solace or answers as the steps multiple.
It seems that the safety of the environment, coupled with the community of fellow hikers is what Mindy so successfully re created from her own Camino Santiago experience.
Contact Mindy for your own walk at www.Berkshirecamino.com
About 50% of the Berkshire Camino hikers arrive solo, but everyone finds community.
Mindy shares that something happens when people hike together, which is what she calls “the Camino Effect”.
Written by Sharri Harmel
Photos by Joy Gora
Sometimes we are inspired by an Extraordinary Women from history. A woman who chose a different path and pursued her dreams. Edith Wharton the author, is such a woman.
Edith was born a woman of privilege, but she had a dream and stayed true to her dream throughout her life.
Privilege in the late 1800’s, really only provided men the freedom to be yourself. For women, the roles they were expected to step into upon marriage, were incredibly restrictive.
Nothing was tolerated beyond having children, socializing, and running a household. But Edith Wharton was different.
She was a writer, a storyteller from a very young age and she never let the expectations of her family, or her culture override her dreams.
The Mount, the home she designed and built in Lenox, MA is majestic, and yet somehow cosy and comfortable. It is tucked in between forested hills in an area that feels quintessentially New England.
When you walk into the home though, you immediately feel you have walked into an old world country home in France or Italy. Looking out towards the water, you’ll see the stunning gardens.
Built on a hill, the back of The Mount gently slopes downwards, where Edith designed several different formal gardens including sculptures, walkways, flowers, hedges, and water features.
Though financially comfortable, Edith actually had to earn money from her writing due to her love for elegant living and beautiful houses. The Mount was her summer home.
Edith also had a Paris apartment and eventually a country home outside of Paris. To live in her beautiful homes and in the way that she preferred, earning money was a necessity.
Therefore, Edith not only wrote books, but she also wrote for the magazines of the day, which provided an income.
Early on, she accepted she had to balance what she really wanted to write with what would earn her the income she needed for her lifestyle.
dith’s first published book was The Decoration of Houses with architect, Ogden Codman. She had no formal design training but knew what she liked whether in homes or gardens. Edith, like many of the wealthy in that time, traveled between the United States and Europe. Those travels gave Edith the experience of living in homes and cities that had histories far older than anything in the United States.
Her love of houses and gardens grew from those experiences. But rather than bringing home the ostentatious design of many of the homes in Newport, Rhode Island, coining the phrase The Gilded Age. Edith treasured the elegance, balance and symmetry of old-world homes and learned to modify scale in alignment with functionality.
Edith’s choice to have her summer home in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, a beautiful but earthy land filled with wide open spaces left behind by farmers who found the land unsuitable for crops, was reflective of her desire to leave the constraints of her time behind.
It was in this wild terrain of western Massachusetts, equal distance from Boston or New York, that Edith designed and built a beautiful Italian French inspired home and gardens that she named The Mount.
Edith’s good friend, the author Henry James, a delicate French chateau mirrored in a Massachusetts pond.”
Her book, Decoration of Houses is still relevant almost 125 years later. Architectural Digest said, “This book is still relevant because practicality and common sense are never out of fashion.” Edith’s home reflected how she lived her life.
Build and decorate your spaces and your life based on your own individual needs rather than popular trends. Do and be what is true and real for you.
Edith was an incredibly disciplined woman. She wrote every day, primarily in the morning while still in bed. Her lovely bedroom at The Mount faces east, so she had the early morning sun, most likely a dog or two in her bed, along with a coffee or tea and her writing supplies.
Her disciplined habits were fueled by an intense need to write wherever she lived. Whether spending a summer at The Mount or living through the Great War in her apartment on Rue de Varenne in Paris, Edith wrote.
By choosing to escape the restrictions of Newport and New York for women of Edith’s status, she was able to nourish her dreams and surround herself with like minded people. Some of her best friends were fellow writers and designers who created the needed fertile environment for Edith’s creativity to expand.
Make space in your life for your dreams and passions. They are the true food for our bodies and spirits. Be brave. Surround yourself with people who nourish you. Your dreams expect you to be strong enough to make them come true.
Edith Wharton was a prolific writer, having published over 100 novels, novellas, poetry, and short stories in her lifetime.
She brought a unique perspective to her stories. She came from a very restrictive world and surrounded by privileged women of her time yet was able to step outside that world and beautifully capture the feelings within the everyday man or woman.
Her life reflected this same dicho tomy. Edith lived in beautiful homes whether at The Mount, her apartment in Paris or her home in the French countryside.
hen World War I broke out, Edith chose not to return to America as did most of her fellow Americans of similar wealth and privilege.
Instead, Edith stayed in Paris throughout the war and established sewing workrooms for many unemployed French women to help them earn the money needed to keep them and their children alive.
As the war dragged on, Edith then founded the Children of Flanders Rescue Committee, providing houses to many of the orphaned children and elderly left homeless and destitute by the war.
In 1916, France recognized Edith’s deep contributions during the war by awarding her Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest order of merit, civil or military.
Accept that there are many parts of you, many roles you play. Yet, never lose yourself to any one role. Hold tight to the dreams you have had since you were a little girl, and always set aside time every day to work on those dreams.
Sharri
