We met Janelle at Fanelli’s, on the corner of Prince and Mercer in SoHo.
AskaNewYorker: Hi Janelle! How long have you lived in New York?
Janelle: Just seven months.
AskaNewYorker: Where are you from originally?
Janelle : Charleston, South Carolina.
AskaNewYorker: What brought you to New York City?
Janelle: I finally graduated and I wanted to come up here to do something in my chosen field.
AskaNewYorker: Which is?
Janelle: It was Arts Management but now I’m doing fashion P.R.
AskaNewYorker: Two jobs? Obviously you are also waitressing here.
Janelle: Yes, I am doing an internship at Quinto Company. It’s a fashion P.R. Firm.
AskaNewYorker: What was your eighth grade gym teacher’s name?
Janelle: Oh man, ahhh, it was Mr. Gaddy. I thought he was hot, and that’s how I remembered.
AskaNewYorker: What has the romance situation been like here in New York? Dating anyone?
Janelle : No, they all suck so far. This guy screwed me over, it’s cool though, I’ll get over it.
AskaNewYorker: So, I understand you will soon be in the New York Post. What’s that about?
Janelle : Well, I worked at the TBC (to be confirmed) big trade show event. All the LA designers came and showed their collections for next fall and winter, and the P.R. firm where I worked produced the event. Actually, we did not produce it, but we are the P.R. firm behind the event. I went to an after party third day of the show. Two hundred people showed up and I got all dressed up and this chick from the Post came up and liked my outfit and took a bunch of pictures and interviewed me and said I’d be in the Post.
AskaNewYorker: We’ll keep our eyes open for it. What’s your favorite cocktail?
Janelle : Stoli vanilla and orange juice or Stoli vanilla and diet coke. The one with the orange juice tastes like a creamsicle. You know, I wasn’t allowed to have creamsicles when I was a kid because I have A.D.D. and wasn’t allowed to have sugar, but I do like them now.
AskaNewYorker: How would you describe your fashion style?
Janelle : I like to dress up, I like wierd things that no one else wears, I also wear heels every day. I have a graveyard of heels. Forty-five pairs of shoes without the nubs on the bottom because I wear them out and everyone hates me because I sound like a tap dancer, like a white trash tap dancer, the little metal spike sticks out of the heel which makes that metal-on-cement noise.
AskaNewYorker: Those are some cool earrings, where’d you get them?
Janelle : Somewhere in Chinatown.
AskaNewYorker: Do you have a motto for life in New York?
Janelle : “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” would be one motto, but it’s not my motto.
AskaNewYorker: You have great teeth, ever wear braces?
Janelle : I used to have braces, and look (opens mouth), I still have a retainer. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for buying me braces.
AskaNewYorker: What is your favorite sport to watch?
Janelle : You know what? I hate watching sports. But I had a boyfriend who used to love sports a lot, and I ended up watching football. I’m not into it unless I have a boyfriend who likes football, because I like watching him watch football. That’s the fun part, because they act like animals, all roaring and jumping around.
AskaNewYorker: Is there anything you’d like to say to anyone, regarding your Uberchic status?
Janelle : I love my mom and dad, they are my best friends. My birthday is next week, and my dad is coming up tomorrow.
AskaNewYorker: Happy Birthday! That would make you….
Janelle : ….a twenty-seven year old Aquarius.
AskaNewYorker: Why does Fanelli’s have all these boxing pictures on the wall?
A different customer of Janelle’s: The guy who owns this place, he used to be a boxer, and his family didn’t want him to box anymore, so they bought him this bar.
AskaNewYorker: Are you reading any interesting books right now?
Janelle : I’m reading Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins. Everyone has read it except for me, so I’m finally reading it. It’s good, a little wierd.
AskaNewYorker: Do you have any pets?
Janelle : I do. But it’s at my mom’s house. It’s a bird named Snowflake, a cockatiel. But I can’t have it here because my room-mate has two cats! I raised it since it was a baby, it actually sleeps with me sometimes. You think I’m wierd now? I never kept it in a cage. When it was dark, it would freak out if it couldn’t see me, so it had do sleep with me every night.
AskaNewYorker: Janelle, thanks for taking the time to talk to us, and have a very happy birthday!
