We Need a Smart Girl Summer
Smarter Sundays: summer blueprint 101, 4 quality reads, look 10x better with this one product
🧠 SMART GIRL SUMMER
I’m declaring it!!! Welcome to Smart(er?) Sundays, a little weekly hub for how to feel, look, and think smarter this week. Hope you love it x
A NOTE TO START
I’m stepping into a new chapter, and I’m taking you with me. Post-grad, post-chaos, and finally rebuilding my life with something new: clarity!!!
After years of chasing what looked good on paper and months of making decisions from a place of survival, I realized I’ve still been wasting time on the wrong things - things that don’t excite me, fulfill me, or bring me energy. And you already know, we are too smart for that™️ !!!!!
Smart Girl Summer is a response to the “just a girl” movement. Cute, sure, I’ve said it countless times myself, but I realize now that any language that minimizes women’s power is not built for the moment we’re in. This summer isn’t about regression - we have enough of that in the Wh*te H**use. Remember, smart women aren’t waiting to be saved.
It’s about reclamation. Don’t be stupid: your grandmother would’ve killed for the freedom you have right now. You owe it to her to use your resources to both lock in and enjoy yourself. Reclaiming your time, your energy, your taste, your ambition, and your self-worth takes intention. But the return is everything.
I wrote the Too Smart For This journal when I felt disconnected from myself. Now I’m using it again to ask better questions and design the woman I want to become. It helps me reflect, recalibrate, and move with purpose.
Spot your insecurities before the world does. Clarity begins here! Get the Journal Here
✨The Smart Girl’s Guide to Summer✨
How to Feel Smarter This Week
Think about this: Would you rather go on a 10 day trip to Japan with someone who made absolutely no plans, meaning you miss out on reservations to the best sushi restaurant in Tokyo and have to scramble through the Osaka shopping district, only to end up overpaying for vintage Chanel because you didn’t know the right places to shop?
Don’t be stupid! You would want some sort of itinerary. Why?
So you could enjoy yourself fully.
Well, babe, if you want to have a 2016-level summer, you’ve gotta put in some planning.
You’re too hot, sexy, and cool to be staying in on a Saturday night or going to the same old spots with the same old people. Summer is a portal into serendipitous fun, fortuitous flirting, and increased 💓connection💓! It’s only natural that you make sh*t happen.
‼️DO IT NOW: Make a summer bingo card or bucket list‼️
Take 10 minutes to sort through your TikTok Saves and the IG DM’s that say “we should do this” between you and your bestie, and make a list of the spots you’ve been wanting to try or the trips you want to take. Write ‘em down and share with at least one person. Romanticize it. Make it fun. Add things that don’t cost money. You’ll likely have too much to do, especially if you’re in NYC, so make one plan a week, and have FUN.
Some standouts from my June bucket list:
Try out Othership (loveeee a sauna)
Japanese Food Festival in Park Slope
Focus on your 5-piece summer capsule wardrobe.
There’s nothing worse than feeling like you have nothing to wear. Except for when it’s 90 degrees out and you have nothing to wear.
Pull out that Pinterest board and make a note of the patterns you’re seeing across the outfits you like. Pick 5 staples. Invest in them. Mix. Match. Repeat. Consumption ≠ style. Staples = you always have something to wear.
But don’t shop yet. I’ve got intel that the Aritzia Clientele + Zara sales are coming later this month (June 9 and late June, respectively.) Be strategic, not reactive to trends. Let that desire simmer!
Here’s what I’m planning to shop for my 5 Piece Summer Capsule Wardrobe.
Make a plan to READDDDD.
A book to inspire, one to escape. Smart girls read. Period. Currently, I’m extremely locked, so working through a mix of historical and business books: The Nineties, Unreasonable Hospitality (Emma Grede x Mellody Hobson rec), Empresses of Seventh Avenue, and Good To Great.
ENJOY YOUR FRIENDS!
Think about everyone you’ve been meaning to reach out to, and while you’re watching the Summer House reunion this week, fire off texts to at least 3 of them during the commercial breaks.
My goal is to go to at least 1 social event a week (outside of work events) and have 1:1 time with someone I missed while at Wharton.
Reconnect with your journal.
The sun is out for 16 hours a day, OK??? When you’re depressed in dark ass February, you’ll wish you started the mental health habits that help you survive NOW. Sit in the sun with a journal and a pen for even 5 minutes a day. It can shift your whole mindset. Smart girls reflect. And this is about to be the best summer of your life, so you want to document it! If you don’t know where to start, well, I have a solution: Too Smart For This Journal.
🕵🏽♀️ Smart Things I Saw This Week
🎙️ Morgan Stewart on The Cutting Room Floor — This hit harder than expected. The Ultimate Ambitious Material Girl was incredibly raw about how lonely it feels when you’re such a magnetic personality; plus we got her usual hilarious, opinionated self. Well worth the Patreon subscription to watch the whole thing, and you can take a peek at the Steve Madden interview to.
💸 Mellody Hobson x Emma Grede — If you want to understand long-term wealth and presence as a woman, this is the episode. Mellody is the blueprint. Emma is the Blueprint. The quote I keep thinking about? “Be intellectually honest with yourself.” Brutal. Necessary. Perfect.
✈️ Delta x Beis Collab — It’s giving strategic. As a Delta Princess myself I was happy to see their collaborations reach a younger audience. Shay Mitchell & the Beis team have such a strong partnerships arm and brand POV, may have to do a brand deep dive on them soon!
🛍️Style Strategy 007: The 'effortless style' paradox this Substack article is from December, but it got me thinking about the complexities of class and style in a way I hadn’t been able to articulate. If you have a brand or care about personal style, you’ll leave with a new POV.
How to Look Smarter This Week
These are some of the latest PR trends that are all ambitious material girl approved.
☀️ Summer Fridays Bronzing Drops – THIS IS THE 10XER. Glowy, healthy, expensive-looking skin. I put this on with SPF before my walks or underneath my makeup, and the subtle glow is divine.
💦 One/Size Powder Setting Spray – Use this after you set your face with powder - it softens the whole look and pulls it together when paired with the OG Setting Spray. I used all throughout out Grad celebrations and my makeup was immune to humidity both inside the club and outside at the park.
🥂 Drinking De Soi – Mocktail girls are winning. I adore a cheeky little drink at night, these ones feel sophisticated and keep me clear-headed.
💇♀️ Short nails + natural hair + no lashes summer: Yes, it’s a recession indicator that there’s 10 million influencers telling you “short nails are in!” But tbh, I can type faster than ever and what better excuse to save some money on extensions this summer? Got my short Japanese gel mani at N+ Nails this weekend with ClassPass credits and it eatssss.
💡This Week’s Smart Girl Tip💡
Clarity is the new luxury. When I got back from Wharton, I was overwhelmed. I decided with the help of my therapist to get very clear about what I want the next 3 months and focus exclusively on that.
Stop floating. Decide. What are you wearing? What are you doing? Who are you seeing? What’s not worth your time?
Decide. And then relax. Happy Summer.
I’d love your feedback! See you next week for more on how to make the most of your Smart Girl Summer.
xx
Alexis
loved this
Thanks for rec’d my article on personal style!