Latest news with #JennyDreizen
Newsweek
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Bride Invites High-School Acquaintance to Wedding—Then Comes the Demand
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. What started as a casual RSVP to a high-school acquaintance's wedding quickly turned into a boundary-testing request for one woman. In a post to Reddit, a 27-year-old makeup artist who occasionally posts her work on Instagram shared her story, explaining how she accepted an invite to the wedding of a girl she knew from high school. But her attendance led to a surprising request for free services. Since the post was published, it has gone viral with more than 6,700 upvotes and over 170 comments. Newsweek spoke to modern-day etiquette and boundaries expert, Jenny Dreizen, about whether or not the request to the guest was appropriate or not. Stock photo: A professional makeup artist applies eye shadow to a woman. Stock photo: A professional makeup artist applies eye shadow to a woman. nicoletaionescu/Getty Images In the post, the makeup artist wrote that, a few days before the wedding, she received a random Instagram DM from someone she didn't follow. The sender was the bride's cousin. "She somehow found out I was a makeup artist and would be at the wedding, so she asked if I could do her makeup. No greetings, no please, nothing," the poster wrote. Still, she responded politely by sharing her event makeup rate, and thanked the cousin for reaching out. It didn't go well. The artist had to further explain that her kit, time and effort are not free, but instead of appreciating the clarity, the cousin fired back. "She called me a greedy person and added that girls are supposed to support each other," the woman wrote. The irony wasn't lost on Reddit. "Girls need to support each other … Like supporting a woman and her business?" one person wrote. "I'm so glad you didn't cave!" another added. "You were going to the wedding as a guest, not as a makeup artist. I wonder if she tried to scope out the guest list looking for hairdressers so she could ask if they'd do her hair for free, too?" The kicker? At 7 a.m. on the wedding day, the cousin texted again asking if she could be "squeezed in." The makeup artist didn't respond and showed up to the wedding, glam and unbothered. "She didn't say a word to me," she wrote. An Expert Weighs In Dreizen, COO and co-founder of Fresh Starts Registry and host of the Jenny Says So podcast, told Newsweek that this kind of social pressure is far too common. "Whether it's makeup artistry, photography, catering or even legal advice, professionals are often put in positions where their work is expected for free, simply because they're 'already there.' It's a misunderstanding of boundaries and the value of skilled labor," Dreizen said. And, no, showing up at an event doesn't mean services come as part of the RSVP. Dreizen's advice for beauty professionals in situations like this? "Kind but firm boundaries are key," she said, suggesting scripts that involve clear communication of rates. "'My makeup work is a big part of my livelihood, so I have to stick to my rates, even for friends and family,'" she added. In the end, it seems the poster was able to keep her cool and her boundaries—and left with her glam intact. Newsweek reached out to u/IsoldeFairbourner for comment via Reddit.
New York Post
29-04-2025
- Business
- New York Post
This is the most useless phrase to put in an email, expert says: ‘It accomplishes nothing'
'Just checking in' is considered one of the worst phrases to put in an email and etiquette experts are begging you to stop. As reported by Parade, according to modern-day etiquette, boundaries and relationship expert Jenny Dreizen, you might as well be shouting into the void if you're using that wording. 'This is a vague non-statement that is basically the same as saying, 'Pushing this to the top of your inbox,'' Dreizen, the COO and co-founder of Fresh Starts Registry, she told the outlet. Dreizen also explained that it's not doing what you think it is. The phrase, 'just checking in' in an email is all fluff, according to experts. bodnarphoto – ''Just checking in' does not accomplish the task it seemingly needs to, which is to force the issue or expedite the to-do item,' she said. 'When we're using email as communication, we want to be as straightforward and direct as possible. This phrase accomplishes nothing while also coming off vaguely passive-aggressive.' That doesn't mean every email has to be robotic or ruthless, but Dreizen argues that if you want results, you have to be clear. She suggests swapping the fluffy 'just checking in' for something, like: 'Wanted to know how progress was going on [action item].' 'Writing emails to ensure people respond to your questions and/or get things done is an art,' Dreizen explained. Speaking of wanting to get a point across in an email, some employees are shying away from being overly polite in their OOO responses — and are instead telling it how it is. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, 62-year-old chairman and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, Barry Ritholtz has no problem being blunt in his automated replies. 'I am out of the office having way more fun than communicating with you,' his reply says, according to the Journal. 'I will likely forget to email you back.' 'During this time, I will be out of the office, not checking emails, avoiding texts, ignoring Slack, letting calls go to voicemail, off the grid, and generally unreachable. As such, my auto-responder is, well, auto-responding,' the rest of his email read. And while some employees are taking the straightforward approach in their work communication, some female workers are choosing to 'sound like a man' in their emails to get what they want, despite experts warning against it. 'In 2025, we write emails like men and get promoted,' wrote content creator @FeliciaPr1ime in a social media post that garnered over 46,000 views. While this is an empowering statement for many women, ''perpetuating gender stereotypes in the workplace could be 'harmful,'' said Danaya Wilson, CEO of BetterCertify, a professional training company in a report for WorkLife. It's 'better to communicate directly, with brevity, and focus on information exchange, but we don't have to necessarily align this with masculinity anymore,' she added.
