good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere

I think getting old is a fear we all have, my mom always says it beats the alternative (which I whole-heartedly agree with).  The thing that gives me comfort is that even though I know I will age and look different I don't really plan on changing that much, I mean I don't know about you but I pretty much plan on being a bad-ass old lady. 

Well into her 80's, Helen Gurley Brown, long time editor for Cosmopolitan Magazine, was still dawning her signature outrageous jewelry, mini dresses and fishnets- I can only hope in 50 years that will be me.  Mrs. Brown did a lot more than make a fashion statement, she drastically changed the face of Cosmo. Formerly a vanilla, Leave it to Beaver-esq, post war magazine, Cosmo transformed, to promote an  independent, fashionable, driven and (gasp!) sexual woman. 

Helen Gurley Brown came from a poor, "hillbilly" family which she despised (the poor, hillbilly part) from the time she was a young girl.  As a young woman Helen climbed the ladder, holding 17 different secretarial positions and along the way learning to "work the system" with her sexuality by taking advantage of bosses who wanted to take advantage of her. 

After becoming a copywriter Mrs. Brown was encouraged by her husband to write Sex and the Single Girl, the unmarried woman's guide to men- an explosive book that made Helen Gurley Brown a household name.  Keep in mind this was well before people openly talked about sex, this book really spurred on the sexual revolution.  Two years later Helen was asked to head up Cosmopolitan Magazine, a position she would hold for the next 32 years.

Whether you agree with her methods or not Helen Gurley Brown taught women not to settle, to work hard for what you want and to enjoy success, money, fashion and sex.  She is famously quoted as saying, good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere.

I have far different goals from Mrs. Brown but I am always inspired by self-made women and I love this quote of hers:

What a comfort, I have a chance!

RIP Helen Gurley Brown 1922-2012

via Huffington Post, NY Times, Gawker