I thoroughly enjoyed reading this memoir. All millennials who have been faced with the challenge of quickly rising in your career and navigating agism, sexism, and many other "isms" will relate deeply to Korn's story. I found myself nodding my head often, highlighting passages and marking pages to reference later. In the past few years, publishing and magazines has seen the rise of young executives and editors and for the large part, has handled the rise of those individuals poorly.

I also really enjoyed learning more about Korn's personal story, and how her struggles with her weight, eating disorders and mental health impacted other areas of her life.

I appreciated her acknowledgement of privilege throughout the book.

I know that this may shock you but I do read different genres of books if it does attract me. And Everybody (Else) is Perfect did catch my attention when I read the book summary. Gabrielle shares her honest opinion in being a woman while also rising on the top in the beauty industry. It was such a refreshing book to read because it honestly shared the truth about the beauty industry around the society. And I love it. The beauty industry does have expectations for women to live up for but the reality of it can be so harming. And Gabrielle does a wonderful job in explaining the raw side of it with her experiences. I truly believe that everyone should pick it up because it's such a raw reality of women rising in the beauty industry.

Everyone (Else) Is Perfect is a deeply insightful and beautifully honest memoir by the former (and youngest ever) editor in chief of Nylon magazine, Gabrielle Korn. During her experience working in women's media throughout her 20s, Gabrielle fought hard to dismantle the widely accepted beauty standards of the time that excluded anyone who wasn't thin and white. She worked tirelessly to evolve that standard into one that not only includes, but actually celebrates women of all races, body sizes, and sexual orientations.

Gabrielle took a deep dive into many topics I realized I had only thought about on a surface level. One that especially resonated with me was why as women are we champions of body positivity as it applies to everyone one else, but oftentimes don't afford our own bodies that same grace and acceptance? Gabrielle notes that even in this golden age of feminism when were supposed to promote a message of self-love, eating disorders continue to rise. This conversation leads to one of my favorite quotes in the book (a quote I will revisit every day as a reminder): "The misogyny that says women need to be skinny has infiltrated your brain until you believe it, until it feels like it's a belief you organically hold. It's oppression at its most sinister: so pervasive that it becomes a part of you... you are in effect working to uphold the values of a system built on keeping you down."

I didn't know what to expect when I picked up this memoir, but it absolutely blew me away! I think it would make a great book club pick to inspire important and honest discussion among women, and I know so many women will benefit from reading this!

I went into this book not having heard of the author - the cover is what completely drew me in. While it took me a while to finish it (I found myself liking the second half much more than the first), the themes covered were very important and relevant. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Atria for the free copy in exchange for my review!

This book was so raw and real! I love the perspective of being someone who works in the media, facing criticism, body dysmorphia, imposter syndrome, sexism and everything in between. I feel this book can be very eye opening for people looking to pursue a career in media relations and trying to understand. Most of these essays were very well written, easily relatable and enjoyable! A solid read.

Thank you to NetGalley + Atria for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, what a perfect read to start off my 2021. As someone who works in media, I found myself nodding my head and agreeing with so much of what Gabrielle Korn wrote. From facing imposter syndrome to feelings of body dysmorphia, Korn was able to beautifully put into words things that have been clattering in my brain for years. Plus, I ended up learning a lot along the way.

This is one of those books that I know I'll keep returning to throughout the course of my career (and my life). Korn's words will be engrained forever in not only the pages of this book, but also in my memory.

Gabrielle Korn delivers nothing but honesty and humility in her new memoir Everybody (Else) Is Perfect through various essays with interconnecting themes. Readers get an inside look at the world of beauty and fashion journalism through the eyes of the intelligent and accomplished author. Korn spent her 20s developing an identity within her sexuality, maneuvering through various romantic interests (some of which being extremely toxic), and regaining herself through a battle with an eating disorder. Meanwhile, Korn rocketed through the ranks at an independent fashion, entertainment, and music magazine, Nylon, until she became the editor-in-chief at the spritely young age of 28. However, Korn delves into how her fancy new title came with new, nearly insurmountable, responsibilities.

The best word to sum up the book (even though summarizing a book in one word is a terrible idea) is: important. Korn's ability to call out the beauty/fashion industry's hypocrisy for touting self-love and empowerment without improving the environment within their own offices is refreshing. People on the outside of the industry can be easily fooled into believing they're alone in their struggle to find a place of self acceptance when they're constantly bombarded with magazines and influencers telling them to drop all of your insecurities this second, and if you can't then you're just not trying hard enough. Additionally, Korn's honesty in how this industry dynamic affected her own experience with an eating disorder is exactly the kind of rhetoric the industry needs to produce more of to offset the insecurities they help create.

Everybody (Else) Is Perfect won't be for everyone. Despite Korn's evident writing talent, any reader who has no interest in journalism, specifically beauty and fashion journalism, might find they have trouble keeping an interest in this book. Since the book is a collection of essays, there are some essays that stand out and others that feel like they were used to puff up the book. This proved the book difficult to rate. While there are several 5-star essays, the inclusion of a couple 2 or 3-star essays averages the book out to a solid 4-star read.

At times, there was a little too much description of what people were wearing or what bag someone was holding. Of course, these are the kinds of details expected from a writer whose background is in beauty and fashion, so perhaps the reader should do their best to forgive Korn for these instances. The struggle with any book with a theme as strong as this one, is how it can start to seem repetitive after a while. Korn did her best in trying to bring certain points up in different ways, but it wasn't always possible to avoid. Due to the structure of the book, there are several essays in a row that are extremely similar and could cause many readers to give up before reaching the essays later in the book with novel themes. Readers who find themselves discouraged should try to skip around within the book and consider reading the essays out of order.

Prior to reading this book, I had no idea who Gabrielle Korn was. I just happened to stumble across her book on NetGalley and decided to request it because it sounded interesting. I’m happy that I did, because getting to discover Gabrielle’s existence was a highlight of 2020- not only is this girl hilarious, smart, witty, and a total fucking badass, but she is vulnerable and real and discusses a lot of important topics such as sexuality, feminism, racism, eating disorders/body dysmorphia, mental healthy, misogyny and more.

I really enjoyed learning about Gabrielle’s life and reading these essays. Gabrielle is raw, real and relatable and I applaud her for everything that she stands for. Her work ethic, courage and strong desire to stand up for others and for equality is truly inspiring and I loved reading her ideologies on so many relevant complex issues. Her essays about body image really resonated with me and were a bit triggering, forcing me to unbury some of my own past personal experiences with disordered eating, not realizing until now what it truly was.

Gabrielle’s voice is a force to be reckoned with and the world will be a better place simply because she exists. I personally can’t recommend this book enough. Everybody (Else) Is Perfect comes out on 1/26 💛 thank you so much Atria Books and NetGalley for gifting me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from Gabrielle Korn’s memoir - maybe something that leaned into the personal quite a bit more? - but I ended up really enjoying her reflections on women’s media, sexuality, and the cult of thinness that still pervades even though the female ideal has certainly shifted over the last 20 years. I’m of the same age as Korn with the same teenage musical taste and white girl background so a lot of this felt... obvious to me. Not in a bad way, but I have lived a lot of these topics and read about them as well. There are some things that she’s interested in discussing, but maybe doesn’t have anything especially new to stay and yet still I enjoyed hearing her thoughts. I will say some of what she writes about eating disorders is so vulnerable and triggering that it was hard to read... and I don’t feel I have particularly struggled with this in my life though as she says in her book it’s part of womanhood to a certain extent. The timeline of her career was sometimes difficult to follow between the essays - I had a hard time keeping track of what year and job she had, but that’s such a small issue in the scheme of things. Really enjoyed this!

I found Korn's essays to be honest and insightful. A unique look at the magazine and fashion industry from the perspective of one of the youngest chief editor of any magazine, Korn's story to tell is uniquely her own. The themes in her essays are current problems many young people face.
As a member of the LGBT community, Korn gives most of her time to thinking about ways in which the industry includes and dismisses people with various minority identities. She does a good job of calling attention to the whiteness still present in fashion standards. Discrimination abounds, and she is not exempt from those problems. She does talk about her own privilege and the lucky timing she experienced with climbing the ranks. I kept in mind too some information I learned in Oluo's Mediocre, about how when companies are on the verge of folding is often when they being in women or other minority groups to head the sinking flagship, and any failure after that point can be attributed to the chief of staff being of a minority identity, rather than the fact that the company was already failing.
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed these essays, although they are serious in nature. She discusses very openly and honestly about her eating disorder and the ways that she was encouraged to continue harming herself. She exposed the toxic culture around dieting, leaving little room for argument.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Advance copy received from Atria books in exchange for my honest review.

Let me start by saying that I'm not a fan of giving memoirs stars as I feel like I'm rating someone's life and their impression of it. With that in mind, Everybody (Else) is Perfect is a very well written and very timely look at the hypocrisy in the fashion industry, on social media, and even the hypocrisy many of us are guilty of as members of society. As someone with an average body, I related to so much of what Korn shared about her body image and struggles to be thin. Double standards were a huge part of this book. I found the scenes especially poignant where we complement others for the same things we can't stand about ourselves. I also found Korn's work ethic and desire to speak up for others to be inspiring. I'm not far off her age and no where near as accomplished or brave as she is. I think she recognizes her privilege and does not come off as condescending or as entitled as she was often perceived to be. At times this book did feel repetitive and there were glimpses where I felt Korn was not fully able to practice her self what she preaches to others (but, the same is true for myself so this is comment not me judging).

Big picture, this is a relatable read but not necessarily a solution (nor should a memoir be one) to surviving the conflicting ideals and messages of society.

I enjoyed this book a lot! I thought it was a deep, real, memoir that really touched on a lot of the things that women go through. I flew through it and will be recommending it to many of my friends.

Having had no idea who Gabrielle Korn was prior to reading this book, I was surprised to find that she had experienced a remarkably similar emotional rollercoaster of a life as me. While the particulars of her story diverge, her sentiments, her ideologies, the ways in which she views/viewed life and herself resonate so deeply with me-- which, I think-- is often why we read memoirs, to find shreds of similarity, moments of shared humanity. My only real gripe with this book is that I felt like each part regurgitated the last. After the first third, Korn revisits the same time period and events, to focus on different parts of each of them, but it winds up being repetitive.

I really enjoyed reading how Gabrielle Korn changed norms re: gender and sexuality in her industry. However I felt like sometimes she was preaching from a soapbox.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I wasn't sure what I expected this book to be, but it definitely wasn't what I thought. That doesn't mean it was bad though! Gabrielle Korn's memoir is vulnerable and incredibly well written. I valued her insights in later chapters on feminism, fashion and the struggles that women face in our patriarchal culture: they were bold, personal and so relatable.

This memoir slash collection of essays from the former EIC of Nylon Magazine shares her own experience escaping the hamster world of the corporate world and success, especially as a journalist. She notes how, since resigning, she's been able to focus on her personal wellbeing, which isn't tied to work success. Through a series of essays, Korn shares memories about her place in life at work and covering articles she believed in, and her personal identity journey. This book handles such raw, vulnerable topics in a way that's well-written, compelling, and authentic. She reveals her internal struggles, personal identity journey and growth, and how she got where she is today both personally and professionally. Now, as a journalist and lifestyle writer slash editor myself, I came for the professional advice and guide to help further my own career goals, but I ended up reading something that was way more, with lessons about embracing my entire self with confidence and not just sacrificing my personal life for the sake of the job I dream of.

As a fellow writer who is close in age to the author and worked in the exact same industry at the exact same time, what I mostly felt after reading this is that we need to take a break from publishing essay collections/memoirs about the 2010s for a bit. Maybe until we're all in our 40s and have something new to say. I didn't find any of these essays particularly illuminating or unique. I've grown weary of reading about women's media (which quickly became more of a problem than a solution) and those who just sort of fell into it and rose in the ranks while so many others struggled. I just felt there was a lack of depth here, and I wish I'd enjoyed this more.

This book felt like a magazine interview with a famous person. The only difference was that it wasn't a famous person but a random lady I couldn't care less about. Very disappointing.
This book was provided to me for free from the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

I enjoyed the essays in this book for the most part, but had the author not been queer I probably would not have sought it out as the fashion industry isn't particularly interesting to me. Gabrielle's voice is assured and confident, even while sharing some of her innermost vulnerabilities, and I enjoyed reading about her experiences climbing the ranks at Nylon, championing diversity and expanding its content offerings as their EIC.

Ultimately this is a quick read that will resonate with many young women due to its breadth of universally relatable themes and insights, and I'm especially glad to see it told from the perspective from a lesbian woman.

I read this book a couple of times to let the message sink in. It addresses many issues relevant to women today. Body image, perfectionism, homophobia, eating disorders and mental health are all looked at and talked about in an extremely relatable way.
I appreciated the honestly and reflection in this memoir.