One of the Smartest Women in the Biz

Surfing the net, reading pop news. I see quite a few stories on how Jessica Simpson let the sex of baby “slip” out. Let me share a fact with you friends.

Do you know who one of the smartest women in entertainment is – Jessica Simpson. **gasp, gasp**

That’s right. I said it and I meant it.

Let me back up to make sure everyone is on the same page…Jessica came on the scene with an innocent, but mediocre pop sound. Comparable to the likes of a Mandy Moore in my mind. The music in terms of metrics wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t along the lines of a Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera – her peers at the time. What brought Jessica to the forefront was her reality show with hubby Nick Lachey.

At the time, these two were pioneers in letting the world into their new marriage. (Today, these shows are a dime a dozen.)

The idea of giving two B-artists a television show turned out to be a goldmine. Now of course the intrusiveness was one of the factors that ruined their marriage, but goldmine nonetheless. Part of the show’s gimmick was presenting Jessica as a dumb blonde. The most infamous example comes from the first episode, when she’s looking at a can of Chicken of the Sea tuna, and asks Nick “Is this chicken, what I have, or is this fish? I know it’s tuna, but it says ‘Chicken… by the Sea’.”

Now there’s no doubt that she said this on her own, unscripted. However, there’s also no doubt in my mind that she quickly learned from ALL the negative press that those type of antics were going to be her meal-ticket.
While everyone thought Jessica was an idiot for the whole ‘Chicken by the Sea’ comment, this girl was laughing all the way to the bank.  Trust me when I say the real idiots were the media who couldn’t see this for exactly what it was.

She then launched a huge clothing line – the Jessica Simpson Collection – which I heart. In 2011, it grossed close to $1 Billion (you read that right) in gross sales.

Sidebar:  True story, my mom detests Jessica. In the store one day she fell in love with a belt. Pranced around several full length mirrors with it on. Once she bought it, I said to her, “You know that’s a Jessica Simpson belt right?” The belt, $30. The look on my mom’s face … priceless.

Fast forward to now, both the reality show and her fashion success have led to countless endorsements and the fashion mentoring show, Fashion Star, which airs on NBC with Nicole Richie.

Friends, this girl knows how to make lemonade from lemons. She saw how America was branding her and used it to her advantage. I’m so prideful. I could never do that which is honestly what I consider a fault of mine. I’m going to take some lessons from Jessica and stop fighting life. Sometimes when things don’t work out how we would like, our first instinct is to try to “force” it. But what if what we want isn’t part of our destiny or path to success. What if there was a different path and those countless attempts to force a bad relationship or horrible job was just us prolonging unhappiness. She’s just another example of how success and/ or happiness doesn’t always come in the way we plan. Be open.