Everybody Else Is Perfect, Gabrielle Korn
Everybody Else Is Perfect, Gabrielle Korn
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Everybody (Else) Is Perfect
How I Survived Hypocrisy, Beauty, Clicks, and Likes

Author: Gabrielle Korn

Narrator: Gabra Zackman

Unabridged: 6 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/26/2021


Synopsis

From the former editor-in-chief of Nylon comes a provocative and intimate collection of personal and cultural essays featuring eye-opening explorations of hot button topics for modern women, including internet feminism, impossible beauty standards in social media, shifting ideals about sexuality, and much more.

Gabrielle Korn starts her professional life with all the right credentials. Prestigious college degree? Check. A loving, accepting family? Check. Instagram-worthy offices and a tight-knit group of friends? Check, check. Gabrielle’s life seems to reach the crescendo of perfect when she gets named the youngest editor-in-chief in the history of one of fashion’s most influential publication. Suddenly she’s invited to the world’s most epic parties, comped beautiful clothes and shoes from trendy designers, and asked to weigh in on everything from gay rights to lip gloss on one of the most influential digital platforms.

But behind the scenes, things are far from perfect. In fact, just a few months before landing her dream job, Gabrielle’s health and wellbeing are on the line, and her promotion to editor-in-chief becomes the ultimate test of strength. In this collection of inspirational and searing essays, Gabrielle reveals exactly what it’s truly like in the fashion world, trying to find love as a young lesbian in New York City, battling with anorexia, and trying not to lose herself in a mirage of women’s empowerment and Instagram perfection.

Through deeply personal essays, Gabrielle recounts her struggles to reconcile her long-held insecurities about her body while coming out in the era of The L Word, where swoon-worthy lesbians are portrayed as skinny, fashion-perfect, and power-hungry. She takes us with her everywhere from New York Fashion Week to the doctor’s office, revealing that the forces that try to keep women small are more pervasive than anyone wants to admit, especially in a world that’s been newly branded as woke.

From #MeToo to commercialized body positivity, Korn’s biting, darkly funny analysis turns feminist commentary on its head. Both an in-your-face take on impossible beauty standards and entrenched media ideals and an inspiring call for personal authenticity, this powerful collection is ideal for fans of Roxane Gay and Rebecca Solnit.

About Gabrielle Korn

Gabrielle Korn is a journalist, digital media expert, and the former editor-in-chief of Nylon Media, an international lifestyle publication focused on emerging culture. Under her editorial leadership, Nylon became a fully digital brand with an ever-growing audience and original, politically-driven, thought-provoking beauty, fashion, music, and entertainment content. She spent three years working on Nylon’s digital presence before her promotion to editor-in-chief, working across platforms and growing traffic. Prior to that, she was an editor at Refinery29, overseeing beauty content during a period of explosive traffic growth and working to expand the brand’s concept of what beauty means to the millennial reader. She graduated from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2011 with a concentration in feminist/queer theory and writing. She lives in Brooklyn.

About Gabra Zackman

Gabra Zackman knows romance. Her clever and “thrilling romantic caper” (Library Journal) Bod Squad series was inspired by the more than one hundred romance and women’s fiction titles she has narrated for audio. She divides her time between her native New York City and Denver, Colorado.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Cindy

This is actually more of a 3 star read, but I’m bumping it up to 4 due to personal bias and just cuz I feel like it. Things I liked: - Discussions about the cult of empowerment and commercialization of body positivity - The disconnect between how brands talk about empowering women VS the actual culture......more

Goodreads review by Katie

This book is a fascinating collection of essays written by the former editor-in-chief of Nylon, a lifestyle magazine known for its focus on pop culture and fashion. A highly respected gig as Gabrielle Korn was responsible for shaping the magazine's content. Invites to every industry related party, a......more

Goodreads review by Sheena

This memoir discusses many important aspects of what women and others in our society go through. Homophobia, sexism, racism, body dysmorphia, eating disorders, and mental health. I believe these topics are extremely important especially in this day and age. I did enjoy this but there was something I......more

Goodreads review by Casey

3.75 overall i enjoyed this, having experienced a similar work environment in the past i could really relate to a lot of what gabrielle talked about concerning her early career. one part of the story that i felt was the most profound and honestly was something i wished she spent more time on was tal......more