Kelly Cutrone (born Kelly Blanding; c. 1965) is an American

publicist A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for work or a project such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists wh ...

, television personality and author.

Early life and career beginnings

Kelly Cutrone was born and raised in Camillus,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Cutrone graduated from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

in 1986, whereupon she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She originally worked for publicist Susan Blond for a year; she followed this with a position as director of communications at '' Spin'' for Bob Guccione. Less than a year later, Cutrone founded the PR firm Cutrone & Weinberg with former Susan Blond intern, Jason Weinberg. Their clients included

Eartha Kitt Eartha Mae Kitt (née Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress. She was known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby" ...

and

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, record producer, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year for Amy Winehouse's album '' Back to Black'' (2006), as well as two for Record ...

. Cutrone has been married twice. At 21, she married artist Ronnie Cutrone, and at 28, actor Jeff Kober. Both marriages ended in a divorce. Cutrone had a daughter, Ava Cutrone, born in May 2002.

People's Revolution

Having tired of the PR life, Cutrone sold her half of Cutrone & Weinberg to her co-founder and spent a year and a half as a

tarot card reader Tarot card reading is a form of cartomancy whereby practitioners use tarot cards to purportedly gain insight into the past, present or future. The process typically begins with formulation of a question, followed by drawing and interpreting cards ...

. Cutrone founded the fashion PR firm People's Revolution in 1996. On September 11, 2002, People's Revolution broke the record for the most shows produced in one day during

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning seven to nine days when international Fashion design, fashion collections are shown to buyers, the pres ...

Television

Cutrone has appeared on three

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

shows: ''

True Life ''True Life'' is an American Television documentary, documentary television series that aired on MTV from March 31, 1998 to June 21, 2017. Each episode follows a particular topic, such as heroin addiction as in the first episode – "Fatal Dose". ...

''; '' The Hills'', on which she allowed Whitney Port and

Lauren Conrad Lauren Katherine Conrad (born February 1, 1986) is an American television personality, fashion designer and author. In late 2004, she came to prominence after being cast in the reality television series '' Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County'', ...

to film in her office; and '' The City'', where she served as the professional and personal mentor to and consulted on Port's clothing line. In February 2010, Cutrone executive produced Bravo's '' Kell on Earth'', an eight-episode reality TV show about Cutrone and People's Revolution. The series followed Cutrone as she balanced running her own company and producing Fashion Weeks in New York and London with being a single mother. In November 2010, Cutrone signed on as a contributor to the '' Dr. Phil Show''. In 2011, she became a judge on ''

America's Next Top Model ''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to b ...

'' for seasons 18 to 22.

Books and other media appearances

In February 2010, HarperOne, an imprint of

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, released Cutrone's memoir, ''If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You''. The book is co-authored by Meredith Bryan, and is a ''New York Times'' bestseller. Cutrone's second book, ''Normal Gets You Nowhere'', was published on May 3, 2011. Cutrone appeared in Terrence Malick's film, '' Knight of Cups'', in 2016. Cutrone has spoken at two TEDx events: at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

's independent event, TEDxOxford, where she gave an 18-minute talk about her career; and at TEDxAmsterdamWomen, where she spoke about her journey as a woman in business.

Published works

*''If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You'' (2010) *''Normal Gets You Nowhere'' (2011)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cutrone, Kelly 1965 births 21st-century American businesspeople American television personalities American women writers Living people People from Camillus, New York Writers from New York (state) Syracuse University alumni 21st-century American women