When was Socialite Life founded and what was the inspiration behind the site?
I founded Socialite Life back in August of 2003. I have always been a huge fan of pop culture and celebrity gossip. At the time I was working as a business banker for Citibank, and while I had been in banking for a number of years, I was beginning to get bored. So I decided to launch a celebrity/pop culture blog. So every night, once I got home from work, I’d post my opinions about celebrities and pop culture from a “socialite’s” point of view on SocialiteLife.com.

I worked on the site part-time for two years, and after some noteworthy pickups on my posts (Page Six, New York Daily News, Gawker) I decided that I’d like to do this full-time. So I quit my banking job and began writing and producing Socialite Life full-time.

I never imagined I’d be doing what I do as my full-time job. It’s amazing when a hobby doing something that you absolutely love, becomes your new career. I’m extremely proud of my accomplishments with Socialite Life.

At the top of the site, a prominent navigation bar showcases Socialite Life’s trending topics. Today, it features Matt Bomer, Kate Middleton and One Direction. How are these trending topics determined?
The trending topics bar, which is located above Socialite Life’s logo, is our way of showcasing what people, events, and categories that are currently doing well on Socialite Life. They are determined by a number of criteria. Either being a highly searched Google term which have led users to our site, or celebrities or topics which are consistently successful on the site, and those subjects that are big news stories at the moment (for example – The Oscars or Whitney Houston’s death).

What it basically comes down to is that the trend make up who and what our readers are really responding to at that given moment.

What does the August 2012 addition of Buzzmedia’s in-house video production studio mean for Socialite Life? Not looking for any spoiler alerts here, but can we look forward to more original video programming (like The Duchess Diary) in 2013?
Having in-house video production studio is huge! In the years before Socialite Life became part of Buzz-Media, we produced a handful of weekly video series, such as Liquid Lunch. That show in particular was shot in our video-producer’s bedroom. While, the production values at that time were great for what we had to work with, the BuzzMedia studio and staff have brought amazing value and expertise to what we are now able to produce for the site.

Kelly Lynch’s The Duchess Diary is based on a passion of hers, Kate Middleton and The Royal Family. I think in order for a successful series to work well, gel and become successful, there really needs to be a passion behind the subject matter.

‘The Duchess Diary’ Episode Four

We’d love to launch another web series in 2013 that would involve our readers and their opinions on a topic(s) that we share a passion for. I have a few ideas that I’m currently working on, but we definitely want our readers voices to be heard, so the new series will definitely be interactive in that way.

Has being an editor of Socialite Life opened the doors for any particularly interesting or noteworthy celebrity encounters? Who would you most like to meet in the future?
Having done most of my work on Socialite Life while living in Chicago, I’ve probably had the fewest celebrity encounters of all the gossip bloggers out there.

Probably the biggest highlight for me was attending the 2008 Emmy Awards and Governors Ball. At the Governors Ball, I literally ran into Cynthia Nixon (she was very gracious), Tina Fey hit me with one of her Emmys (she apologized, I secretly wished I had been physically scarred by it; sadly I wasn’t) and I got to meet the lovely and extremely sweet Sandra Oh. Plus, The cast of “Mad Men” looks even more gorgeous and handsome in real life.

The celebrity I ran in to the most while living in LA was Sharon Stone. I probably saw her eight times in the two years while living there. Only once on the red carpet, and generally at a restaurant. She was gracious every time I saw her.

As for the celebrity who I’d most like to meet? I’d have to go with Joanna Lumley aka Patsy Stone (from Absolutely Fabulous). She’s the inspiration behind Miu von Furstenberg (the original voice of Socialite Life), so martini’s with the Joanna is definitely on the bucket lis.

Tell us about Male Model Mondays.
You have websites like Egotastic, The Superficial and Celebslam amongst others which regularly feature female supermodels, so I thought, why not turn the tables and give the ladies and our gay readers something to ogle every week. At the same time, embrace an aspect of fashion (which consistently does well for us) that isn’t being featured on countless of other celebrity gossip blogs.

Within weeks, Male Model Mondays turned into the most popular recurring feature on the site. I think the key to its success is the fact that we only feature it once a week. One thing I’ve learned over the years is the overkill leads to boredom and disinterest, so that has been our way of keeping things fresh. Socialite Life is now at the point where models are reaching out to us to be featured on Male Model Mondays

What did you think of the culmination of the Twilight saga, Breaking Dawn Part 2?
“The Twilight Saga” phenomenon was nothing like anything I had seen before. The hype, the passion and hoopla surrounding the films and the lead up to each film was unprecedented. The “Twilight” fans are like no other fans I have come across in my years reporting on celebrity gossip and talk about fierce passion and proctectivness!

We were one of the first sites that embraced “Twilight,” so we have had a very loyal “Twilight” fan base on Socialite Life for the last five years. The “New Moon” premiere and film was probably the pinnacle of success for our “Twilight” programming.

“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ‚Äì Part 2″ promotion hit that snag when Kristen Stewart’s indiscretion with Rupert Sanders surfaced, but all in all, I think Summit pictures and the stars of the film handled things rather well and artfully. It made for a great ending for a fantastic saga

Now that Twilight is over, do you think Robert, Kristen and Taylor are going anywhere? Or can we still expect them to remain on Socialite Life and other celebrity news sites’ radar for a while?
With the ending of “Twilight,” what I really think what will determine the fates of Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner is what sort of box office success they each have over the next couple of years. So far, Kristen Stewart has been the only one who has enjoyed any real box office success outside of “Twilight,” with “Snow White and the Huntsman.”

As for covering the “holy trinity,” as I like to call them, we and other celebrity sites will definitely be covering them during their post “Twilight” careers. As long as their fan bases remain intact, and their passion remains intact, you’ll be seeing them on Socialite Life for a long time.
Awards season is just around the corner. In light of Socialite Life’s awards show coverage and expertise, any big predictions for the Oscars, Grammys or Globes?

I’m really excited to see if all the hype regarding Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper’s performances in “Silver Linings Playbook” turn into nominations. I think Marion Cotillard is going to be nominated by everyone for her amazing performance in “Rust and Bone.” She was flawless.

Film wise I think Ben Affleck’s “Argo” will be big this awards season, while “Life of Pi” and “Les Miserables” are shoo-ins for multiple nominations.

One of my favorite films of the year, that I’d love to see make it beyond the Foreign Film category is “Amour.” Despite its title, “Amour” is such a profoundly devastating film. So, so good!

I’ve always been a huge pop music fan (I own at least 2,000 45′s). So for this year’s Grammy’s I’d love to see Mumford and Sons do well. I definitely think fun will be nominated for a few awards, along with multiple nominations for Usher and Drake.

Frank Ocean (worthy) and Goyte (no so worthy) are slam dunks. Lana Del Rey could land herself a Best New Artist nomination

What s your favorite part of awards season? Favorite awards show?
Prior to launching Socialite Life I was a huge awards season fan, so award show season has always been a fun and exciting time of year for me personally. I was the one who always threw the annual Oscar party with Oscar prediction games and prizes.

I tend to root for the underdog, so I like to closely watch which celebrities whose work in little known films are getting buzz prior to the nominations coming out for the award shows. The spectacle of the red carpet is always fun, watching the red carpet triumphs and fails, was well as seeing if any unexpected couples show up on the red carpet.

For me though, the actual show itself is the most exciting part of it all. Especially, if there is an upset. If doesn’t matter if I agree with the upset or not, it just makes how predictable the award shows have become, a little more interesting.

While the Oscars are the pinnacle of award show season for me, The Golden Globes (since it is so unpredictable – booze should be handed out at all award shows) and the Screen Actors Guild Awards (I’m all for peers honoring peers) are my two other favorite shows

Which celebrity news sites do you read?
One of the best things about my job is that I do get to surf the web all day long while looking for topics to cover, or to gain inspiration for a post.

The sites in which I find myself spending the most time browsing during the day are the websites that inspire me the most, and/or exhibit the most creativity. To me, nothing is more boring than a celebrity news site (I’m not talking about the People’s and the Us Weekly’s) that doesn’t have an opinion or some sort of point of view. I have no interest in sites that kiss everyone’s asses, or diss a celebrity just for the purpose of dissing a celebrity, so I gravitate toward sites that have a unique opinion or point of view to share, that is done in an intelligent manner.

Gawker and Jezebel (hands down the best writing, the best post titles and topic selection on the internet), Vulture (I love their sophisticated pop culture tastes), Oh No They Didn’t (a great community of celebrity and pop culture lovers) and Buzzfeed (such amazing creativity)

If you had to crown one celebrity as the official socialite of 2012, who would that be?
I’d have to give that title to the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton! From her style, to the way she’s weathered scandal, to the positive way readers constantly respond to her, Catherine is definitely my pick. She’s a true socialite.

Runners up, just based on pure reader passion for these people and shows, would be Matt Bomer, Adam Lambert, Adele, Jared Leto, Ian Somerhalder and all things Supernatural.

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