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[21 Feb 2009|02:40pm] |
Violet Adair Allen was born on the first of December, 1980- in Savannah, GA. Her parents did well for themselves, and did well by both her and her older brother (and one of her best friends) Colten. They were, in the true tradition of the south, mindful of appearances and the opinions of others. The Allen children were groomed to be both bright and polite. From the outside their family was close, tradition was important- like Violet’s last name. For example, it was family tradition on her mother’s side of the family that the oldest girl has her mother’s maiden name as her middle name- that way the family name doesn’t get lost.
Appearances aside, their family wasn’t without its problems. Michael and Rachel Allen stayed together for the kids, in the true spirit of keeping appearances up. While their father was always close with his children, their mother kept herself at a comfortable distance. It was no wonder that Vi and Colt were both relieved when their parents split- with the both of them away at school (Colt at Boston College and Violet at Loyola-New Orleans) their parents were finally able to be themselves… and to be apart. When the divorce was final, Violet came back to Savannah from New Orleans to help her dad pack up his stuff and move into his new place- not because she had any sort of resentment toward her mother, but because she wanted nothing else than for her parents to finally be happy.
But back to childhood, for just a moment. Both grade and high school was good for Violet, not perfect, but not horrible to Carrie like proportions. Violet was comfortable at school. She had close friends. She dated a boy who played golf, followed by a boy who played lacrosse. She had friends and worked for the newspaper. All in all, not a bad existence. When high school was finished, Vi set her sights on New Orleans – still in the south, but a much more relaxed atmosphere. It was in New Orleans that Violet was able to finally become more comfortable with herself. The atmosphere in New Orleans, the openness of it compared to the proper atmosphere in her parents house let Violet come to terms with herself.
Violet has her BS in Communications from Loyola-New Orleans. When it was time for her to pursue her graduate degree, she decided on moving to Chicago. It was an adjustment to say the least. She wasn’t used to cold. She wasn’t used to that much snow. But she loved it. Attending the Medill School of Communications just worked for her. She loved how the city always felt alive. In 2006, she completed her graduate degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Medill. While she was still in Chicago, she worked for a small boutique public relations firm: Stargazer Communications.
While life was lovely in Chicago, it wasn't...it. All along Vi knew she wanted to be in New York, where the action was. If for no other reason than to prove that she could. She was never one to rest on her laurels - and being a big fish in a small pond was boring. She wanted excitement. She wanted to show off her talents and get ahead.
So on a whim, she sent her resume to Spent Magazine. Stargazer's biggest client was Chicago Magazine - so it wasn't like she was completely uninitiated to the publishing world. The whisper and prayer worked - now if only she could figure out how she was going to adjust living in a shoebox fifth floor walk up in DUMBO.
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