The IT Girl
What does it take to be an It Girl?
That’s the question I tried to answer in my latest profile on the actress, DJ, and producer Ella Balinska (aka Linska) for NYLON.
I was first asked to write a story about Ella early last summer. What originally began as a short write-up in the second issue of NYLON’s recently relaunched (and then promptly shuttered) print edition evolved into two different forms.
First, there was the original write-up, only this time used for a beautiful, Paris Hilton-covered broadsheet distributed during New York Fashion Week last fall. Then, my wonderful editor asked me to expand on it for a larger “It Girl” feature, this time solely for online, and now six months later.
It was a nice challenge, not only because I had never written for NYLON before, but also because I had never really revisited an artist’s trajectory in this kind of timeframe. So much of being a freelance culture journalist is picking up assignments, doing the work, and moving on to the next thing. It was exciting and intellectually inspiring to revisit Ella’s story—from her first foray into making music to where she is now, with an upcoming tour.
A lot can change in six months. I guess that’s the life of an “It Girl.”
Lots of progress and opportunity and a certain joie de vivre that motivates you to chase your passions, even if they go against the sort of boxes people aim to place you in. (For Ella, this was the Hollywood Action Star box.) You can, and perhaps SHOULD, embrace a multifaceted life. Your interests are not things to keep contained to your mind in a million, “what ifs.” You are capable, even if the initial results are not perfect. Do the thing anyway.
Those are the lessons I picked up from our conversation and the takeaways I’ll continue to utilize as I traverse what it means to be a writer today.
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