Meet the Luminaries of 50+ Lifestyle
Cara: When I had the opportunity to help Karen at the shop starting up her social media, we discovered that we had alot in common - growing up in New Jersey, loving all things fashion and design and a real desire to try new adventures. O’So Good Living is just the culmination of all our experiences and interests and wanting to share all that information with a community of like-minded women. L&J: How did your previous experiences—Karen with “Share” and Cara with your social media and design expertise—shape your approach to this project? Karen: We are both very active on social media and found that there weren’t a lot of other women talking to us. Some felt too young, others very focused on just one topic; like the home or makeup and many that were appealing to a very specific niche like high end fashion or travel. We wanted to share a little bit of it all in an approachable way. We focus on the high and low when it comes to making purchases and that not all of life’s experiences need to involve elaborate travel plans. We really just want 50+ women to feel alive and optimistic about their future. Cara: Yes, I think we both like to keep current on all things style and design, as well as silly things like reality tv - a lot of that is through things like Instagram and TikTok. I have learned so much from TikTok - I’ve started cooking more than ever and also like to see what beauty products are new and what’s in and out as far as fashion goes. Not that I wear a lot more than yoga pants most days, I still like to know what pieces I need to get for when I actually need to get “dressed”. But it was hard to find any blogs or influencers who “spoke” to me, who combined all the things that I was interested in. We both love to search for that perfect gift for someone or the perfect face cream that is both affordable and effective so why not share the wealth! Karen O’Sullivan & Cara O’Dea
L&J: Can you each share a little about your background and what inspired you to start your new lifestyle newsletter, O’So Good Living? Karen: For me, I always knew I wanted to work in fashion. I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology and worked in PR and Magazines. After a move to Chicago, some jobs in advertising and raising my daughters, I was ready to open a store, which was the perfect way for me to take all of my ideas and make them come to life by curating the shop. But really O’So Good Living leads back to how much I loved working for magazines. It’s very fun to come up with story ideas, research them and then put them out there in a beautiful way. Cara and I share a passion for being in-the- know and doing deep dives on very random topics and we found that our friends and the customers at the shop really appreciated what we had to share. Cara: My background was completely different than Karens! I studied economics in college and worked in the financial services world after graduating. But I was always really interested in pop culture and beauty. After getting married, I moved to Chicago and then started my family. I worked part-time for various small businesses in town, eventually working in my friend’s dermatology practice, which I loved!
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