Public Relations Sophomore
When Tina Fey—an
extremely successful writer, actress and comedian— creates a diagram of her
daily stress level from various jobs, and it makes you both laugh and cringe at
the same time because you can relate, you know you’re in trouble. Why? Because
if you’re like me, or really millions of other working women, you’re not
celebrity/working mother. But somehow despite the deadlines, never-ending
stream of work and constant scrutiny from the press, Tina Fey manages to pull
it off and make it look effortless.
Tina Fey was born
in 1970 in Pennsylvania. From her youth, she displayed a connection to the
stage and a knack for acting. Although she has worked at non acting-related
jobs, such as the YMCA in Chicago for a brief period of time, most of her
career has centered around writing, acting and producing in comedy-related
shows and sketches. She got her start at Second
City, which is the world’s premiere comedy club/theater and school of
improvisation. From there she met many of her colleagues that she would later
work with as Saturday Night Live. After 10 years with SNL, she wrote the hit
NBC show “30 Rock” and the quasi teen cult film “Mean Girls.”
Tina Fey is uniquely
qualified to write this book because she is a boss herself. She’s not just a
working women commenting on her boss, in fact, several times she states that if
it weren’t for her, the whole production staff for her various shows and
projects would be without work.
This book is an
excellent public relations tool for her to use to create openness between her
and her fans and audience. She even encourages engagement from readers after
she discusses her response to negative feedback. Since public relations can
often be used by offering specific publics information free of advertisements,
this book is advantageous in that it can be used by working women as a
guidebook for being a boss and just all it entails, and it can also be used for
entertainment.
I cannot doubt that Tina Fey is hilarious;
however, I personally feel that she over did the jokes and puns—almost to the
point where they were distracting and got old. However, her use of visual aids
was brilliant and thoroughly enjoyed. Her writing style is informal and
conversational, so for an autobiography it’s ideal.
While I learned
many things from this book, what I found most useful was how Fey deals with
criticism and negative feedback. Instead of responding to it and defending
herself—most people’s first instinct—she rises above it because she realizes
that despite how offensive and inaccurate the allegations can be, she’d just be
stooping to the level of her critics.
I would recommend
this book to working women, mothers and any other women interested in getting a
good laugh. However, unless they enjoy reading about issues exclusive to women
and being a mother, I would not suggest this to a man. Overall, it was a witty,
informative and poignant book that I intend to keep on my shelf for the years to
come.
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