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Lucia’s letter to Oprah is a gorgeous articulation of embracing your contradictions. Which in Style Statement terms is to say, really making the 80/20 principle work for you. Read on for plenty of inspiration. (And Lucia, thanks for the props to Ms. Winfrey!)

Dearest Oprah,

Thank you for being an example to me and others by living authentically, living up to your own potential in so many ways. I love your show and magazine!

I have always been a successful playwright, an acclaimed small time stage actor and a curvy minx in the kitchen who whips up dinner parties to make Bacchus blush. On stage I remember the words of my well meaning father: “I’m proud of you, even if you’re a failure”. And when I sit down to my computer to write, I carry the words of my mother: “You’re my favorite writer.” I have the support of wonderful friends, four of whom were at the birth of my first baby at home: ordering pizza, drinking Scotch and praying to Jesus. I find my happier endings by putting them on the stage and I fill my soul deeply by walking around Trout Lake park with God. I am a confident, loved and joyful woman and feel very grateful and blessed.

I have a wonderful life, but I have always felt that I have not been living up to my fullest potential and short change myself and others around me by being slightly out of focus. Why haven’t my plays gone international? Why can’t I perform on the regional stage? Why am I always overweight? Why did I waste so much time on bad boyfriends who were wrong for me? Why do I never look well put together?

I am generally on the right path, but I keep tripping over stones I am not looking out for, I wear sneakers that give me blisters, I keep falling into ditches because I am distracted, I keep stopping for the wrong cars who pass…sometimes with a handsome tattooed life-sucker about as articulate as a thumb harp…and I keep getting tired and having to make a pit stop, realizing I should have had an orange juice and granola for breakfast instead of an espresso and a chocolate croissant. I always get to where I am going but I get there sore, exhausted and late.

One day, my friend Cheryl set me up for a meeting with Carrie and Danielle… Danielle interviewed me: a compassionate, revealing and soulful experience, and then handed me my Style Statement. I’m “Traditional Current”. Basically, my overall hit is “Traditional” and my twist is “Current”.

This suddenly put my lens into focus on all levels. How did she capture my essence so well with those two words? Traditional. Of course! My heart lives for family, for heritage, for God. My best plays are all about seeking a place to call home, and honoring it again, exploring roots, healing familial bonds that have been broken. I feel most at home when I am at home. I am more grounded when I see my family more than once a year. I cling to my Italian heritage because it is part of my identity and my way of loving my father who just died. I do look best in a classic red Sofia Loren type dress with 1950s peek a boo pumps, and sassy red lipstick with simple eye make up. I am attracted to more traditional men who have modern sensibilities.

What makes me unique is how I put a current twist on all these things. My plays always re-examine an older story and shake the dust off of them. I make my Papa’s pasta marinara but I put mint into my ricotta stuffed shells instead of basil. I found a husband who is a macho man but incredibly articulate about his emotions. I wear that Loren dress with geometric clean lined jewelry. It’s as though I now know my “hit” and I can stop wasting my time and I can sashay down my path, toddler on one hip, lap top on the other, and a gourmet Italian picnic in my MEC backpack, complete with Pellegrino.

And you know what? In this past year since having my Style Statement done, I have received my first playwriting commission from an ‘A’ House – meaning, from one of the largest theatre companies in Canada. I was able to pitch Traditional Current ideas that were strongly based on what I do best and present them clearly. They happened to like both ideas so now I am writing two plays for them! I even negotiated to have a role in them as an actor. My income has gone up by $10,000.00 in one year, and this is the year I am a stay at home Mom, if you can believe it. I have a lot more time now that I am focused and am able to turn down projects that don’t quite suit what I do, I avoid time busters, I have more time for my family, my health, and I entertain as much as I ever have. I see my family more than I have in fifteen years. I am able to pick out a new Traditional Current wardrobe with ease because I now know instantly what I want and what suits me. This saves me time, money and embarrassing fashion faux pas. And the reason why I’m piecing together a new wardrobe is because I’ve lost twenty pounds!

So, yes. I feel more my authentic self than I ever have. I am the most joyful, most successful and actually, the sexiest I have ever been in my life and I’m almost forty. How? Well, many things. But I do attribute a great deal of this “new level” to having a Style Statement with Carrie and Danielle.

Thank you for this opportunity to articulate my gratefulness.

Sincerely,
Lucia Frangione
playwright/actor