Ever wish that The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants applied to your fashionable friend's closet? Well, new flash sales site decktOut is kind of like that, except with a focus on purses. Pre-owned authentic luxury handbags to be exact.

So why would you want to buy and sell used purses online?! 

Because decktOut founder, Liza Adams is all about making your life easier. After experiencing the annoyances of trying to sell some of her designer purses on eBay (getting only $100 for what should've gone for $800), she started to envision decktOut. She especially hated the hassle and research involved in trying to find authentic purses online. That's why she built her business model around honesty and customer service. 

I had a chance to chat with Liza on the phone recently and learn more about decktOut. Here's the scoop: 

Liza originally launched decktOut in October of 2010 and is relaunching version two of the site on March 15th. After living with her best friend last year, she continued to trade clothes with her even when they weren't living together. Knowing that lots of ladies could relate to her penchant to change up her look and long for something in a friend's closet, Liza decided to focus decktOut on designer purses because, after all, they are one size fits all. (Sure, that's debatable based on what you lug around everyday, but the logic still holds). 

I asked Liza, what's in a name? Why "decktout?" She explained,

"Realistically, every girl would love to be decktout in Louis Vuitton designer clothes or at least accessorized in designer [pieces]. I wanted it to be something for any girl out there to own something that makes her feel good." 

So who are these girls? decktOut is focused on women ages 25 - 55. 

"It could be the girl who is just starting out professionally but isn't making enough money yet. Maybe she has only one professional looking bad. Or it could be older ladies who are crazy about bags and like to switch around bags every few weeks. They're the ones who have more money to play around with and are looking for a good deal to keep up with their habit. [Both audiences] are crazy about fashion and designer goods and appreciate good customer service," continued Liza.

How does the website work?

"The new version of decktOut is like Gilt Groupe for pre-owned [luxury purses]," revealed Liza. "Previously, the site solved the original problem of the hassle of selling on eBay or consignment stores, but we've expanded by eliminating a point system. Now its just cash and we'll have flash sales for the bags. If you're selling a bag of your own we'll only take 20% cut of what you make. You'll be able to keep in your decktOut account and buy something [to replace it]. Shipping is free both ways; we want to make it very very easy for users. We're still bag focused, but we'd love to see expansion to other items at some point." 

How are you utilizing social media? 

"Social media has been a place for true feedback," said Liza. "When you put a version out there and get people you don't know to give you feedback, that's what really helps. Version one of decktOut was strictly a swap site, but I soon learned through customer feedback the system should be more. [For instance,] I kept getting requests for picture of the inside of the bags, so I added that." 

Liza added, "The new product pages will have Twitter and Facebook links so users can share the deals. I'd also like to see the Stay Fabulous blog go [more in-depth] into the history of the bags we have coming in and ask users for feedback of what designers they like. I'd use this for leverage and try to get more bags by a specific designer for the community."

Okay, that may not be true for all start ups, but it is for decktOut. In this case, it's founder Liza Adams. Liza went to art school at the New England Institue of Art and has done design work since. She loved it for a few years until it wasn't fulfilling enough. She had always thought of starting her own business and had a lot of ideas, but for her it was about mustering up the courage to go after one and not be afraid of failing. She explained,

"A lot of people have a fear of failing. They think 'what if I do this and fall flat on my face?' Sure it's a ton of work but you have to never give up and if you don't every try to do it, it won't work."

She is currently an interactive designer in Boston, but plans to devote herself to decktOut in the near future.

A little depth behind the fashionista:

"A cappuccino from Starbucks. I've always been a die hard Starbucks person and was really inspired by Howard Shultz's book. I actually wrote him a letter telling him how he inspired me as an entrepreneur and then he actually called me! He left me a voicemail a month after I sent the the letter. It was a three minute voicemail telling me to follow my dreams and that he would love to get to meet me some day!"

• Like decktOut on Facebook 
• Follow TheLizaAdams and decktOut on Twitter
• Add the Stay Fabulous blog to your RSS feed

That's not to say I stopped thinking. That would just be sad. I suddenly stopped sharing "doses" of my thoughts here and instead shared only 140 character or less snippets here. 

But on to the good news: I'm back! [Cue: Backstreet Boy's Everybody (Backstreet's Back)]. 

Lots has changed since I was here last. For starters, I'm full-time employed now! After a long year of applying for internships and jobs, networking, living the college life, graduating, moving home, missing the college life, interning, interviewing, buying an adult wardrobe, visiting college friends, getting a full time job with a real cubicle, and going on my first business trip, 2010 is over. Phew.

So onwards and upwards, here's what you can expect of me both personally and professionally in 2011 (in no particular order): 

Online/Digital:

• Redesign on my digital profiles including, but not limited to: this blog, my Flavors.Me (do I need an About.Me too?), Linked In, resume etc.  
• Write frequently. 
  • I want to post at least 3-4x a month here. I plan to feature more start-up interviews and a few series.
  • I'm going to strive to guest blog more often. I'm even creating a dream list of outlets and folks I'd like to write for. 
• Continue freelance consulting. 
• Use social media for social good to give back to a community or a cause. 
• Contribute more often to discussions in communities I'm already a part of like Carol Phillip's Millennial Marketing Super Consumer Community, Sarah Evans Sevans Network, #pr20chat and #u30pro.
• Co-host a Twitter chat. I have no idea what about though.

Offline: 

• Attend more digital, PR, social media and gen y conferences. Be invited to speak at one. *Crossing my fingers I attend SxSw. 
• Be more charitable.
• Live a healthier lifestyle (I know, this one is uber cliche, but it's a true goal): sleep more, eat better, drink more water and less coffee and actually use my gym membership. 
• Like the girl scout motto I leanred when I was eight, make new friends, but keep the old. Even though I tweet, Facebook, Gchat, text and email everyday, I'm not great at keeping in touch, but I'm working on it.
• Travel. With limited vacation days, I still plan to get out of my routine 4x this year to visit friends/family. 

I'm sure there are a ton of other goals I have floating around my head, but this is what I've got for now. And with that, I leave you with Leonardo da Vinci's popular quote:

"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." 

Photos via WeHeartIt, WeHeartIt

Love to brag about the deal you got on your latest purse purchase? Wish you were buying what's in season now, rather than what's so last year? Then welcome ToVieFor into your life.

Dubbed "entertainment shopping," ToVieFor mixes the lure of high-end sales sites like Gilt Groupe with a chance of luck and risk. To play, users must buy site credits and use them as entry fees into purchases. As more people enter into a sale, the price of the product begins to decrease; players can lock in the sale at any time.

Sound confusing? ToVieFor's How it Works video explains it all step-by-step:

During a phone interview with co-founders Susanne Greenfield and Melanie Moore, we talked about fashion 2.0 and the movement toward entertainment shopping. 

Susanne defines fashion 2.0:

"Fashion 2.0 goes beyond straight e-commerce. It's not just about putting an item in your cart online. It's a form of mixing internet elements to create innovative integration."

Melanie defines entertainment shopping:

"Entertainment shopping is the new trend. Shopping is no longer just about going to the store, getting pampered and spending a ton of money. People like competitive shopping like sample sales. This is where the market is going."

Susanne added, "It's kind of like a Groupon element. A couple of people getting a real great deal."

The duo described the ideal ToVieFor user as "an aspirational and contemporary woman who loves fashion and often makes purchasing decisions emotionally rather than rationally." Capitalizing on the emotions, ToVieFor is initially focusing on the game mechanics to ensure it is actually a fun experience for users. Susanne and Melanie foresee plans for growth by expanding the merchandise into other verticals including: men's, children's, footwear and apparel.

To bring a social community element to the company, the two plan on experimenting with asking users what products they want to see on the site. Susanne elaborated,

"We want to engage our users. Instead of us telling them what they want, we want them to tell us what they want."

To foster the community from the start, ToVieFor has a presence on Twitter and Facebook. They also have a dedicated portion of their site to highlight sale winners.

So who are the savvy fashionista brains behind ToVieFor?

 Susanne Greenfield and Melanie Moore met as college students while interning at Merrill Lynch in New York City. They instantly became friends and kept in touch for the years following. Melanie explained:

"After all, in the male-dominated environment there weren't that many cute perky blondes to befriend!"

Early on in their friendship, the pair discussed the desire to break free from working for the man. Then a little over a year ago, Susanne and Melanie sat down one evening and created the beginnings of what is now ToVieFor. They drew their inspiration from a hybrid mix and analysis of existing sites like Swoopo and Gilt Groupe. As frustrated online shoppers, the duo created their own solution: "We thought: Why isn’t there a way for us to buy the new Marc Jacobs Stam Quilted Satchel for half the price? Thus, the idea for ToVieFor was born…."

A peek into the pair's personalities:

Favorite blog or website:

Susanne: "BothSidesofTheTable.com. It's written by a venture capitalist who gives great information for the first time entrepreneur."

Melanie: "Truthfully, I visit New York Magazine most often. It has a great layout and features with bursts of news and fashion. I use the restaurant search feature too. It has all the things I value."

Favorite fashion designer:

Susanne: "Christian Louboutin. I probably own way too many shoes!"

Melanie: "I like something elegant like Alexander Wang's fresh designs or Christian Siriano's really innovative looks."

First designer purse purchase:

Susanne: "My first one was a baby Dooney & Bourke little shoulder bag. It was the most expensive purchase I had ever made at the time!"

Melanie: "Mine was a Kate Spade in junior high school. At the time I thought it was the coolest thing ever!"

Most cherished accessory:

Susanne: "My Birkin. I'd give my life and a limb to keep it!"

Melanie: "Classic diamond stud earrings that I can use in a lot of different contexts."

Starbucks order:

Susanne: "Skinny cappuccino."

Melanie: "Black with two sugars. I just need an IV of caffeine!"

Superpower choice:

Melanie: "To be able to stop time!"

Susanne: "No! That's mine! I think it would be a blessing and a curse."

Melanie: "I would never get anything done though because I would always be stopping time to do something else."

Get in on fashion's new secret soon and be envied by your friends. Or even just the onlookers who take a double take at you on the street.

Personally, I have yet to make a purchase. Will you take a fashion risk and enter into a ToVieFor sale?

In the meantime, read up on The Envied blog for fashion tips, tricks and news.

We’ve seen how social media impacted the response to the Haiti Earthquake not long ago, now it’s time to turn our attention to Pakistan’s flood victims.

But first, what is going on in Pakistan?

According to the United Nations, the number of living people affected by the August flooding in Pakistan is over 20 million, which is more than the combined total of the 2004 Tsunami, 2005 Kashmir earthquake and 2010 Haiti earthquake.

A breakdown of the statistics:

- 20 to 25 percent of the country is now under water
- 6 million have lost their homes;
- 8 million need food supplies
- 3.5 million children are in imminent danger of contracting cholera and diarrhea

The role of social media in the crisis:

With mainstream media's limited coverage of the crisis, individuals and groups have turned to an online grassroots movement to garner attention from their friends, followers, concerend on-lookers and celebrities. Coming from varied backgrounds, three young women I have encountered on Twitter are individually making in-roads in attracting awareness and subsequent donations all by sitting behind their computers with strategic plans to make the voices of Pakistan's flood victims heard.

Read about their successful and creative projects here and see the end of the post for a list of simple ways you too can help use social media for social good:

Myra Shaikh: The Speak Up Oprah Campaign

Being a self-proclaimed softy for humanitarian efforts, especially those focused on kids, Myra became alarmed when she received an unusual rate of emails from UNICEF urging donations to Pakistan’s flood relief efforts. After donating and subsequently forwarding the email to everyone in her contact list, Myra began to write letters to Oprah, both online and via mail.  Through this effort, Myra with the help of her friends Nosheen and Amy Kokhar  launched The “Speak Up Oprah” Campaign. Myra explained,

“It felt like my one letter would be lost among the thousands [Oprah] gets every day. It occurred to me that if I could get as many people as possible to write to her and ask her to say something for the flood relief efforts; it might make a huge impact.”

 Myra decided to focus her efforts on attracting Oprah because of her track record of relief efforts with previous natural disasters.

Initially, Myra utilized the “Causes” application on Facebook as a method to reach mass amounts of people with her message. After surpassing her first goal of 2,000 members, Myra decided to join Twitter to reach out to Oprah’s connections directly. While exploring Twitter, she quickly was initiated and met like-minded people who helped spread the word about her efforts.  Some of her key successes on Twitter include tweets about the Speak Up Oprah campaign from Chris Anderson (curator of the TED Conferences), Imran Anwar (entrepreneur who founded the .pk internet email domain), Jonathan Sinclair (Oprah’s producer) and Nate Berkus (Oprah’s good friend).

As far as Myra’s new realization of the power of social media (she didn’t know what a hashtag was until she signed up for Twitter on August 23^rd), she says social media is the only thing that made her campaign possible. When referencing Twitter, Myra continued,

"It gives everyone equal opportunity for a chance to be heard, which is something Pakistan isn't getting enough of."  

Myra, 28, is a stay at home mom living in Detroit. While her parents are from Pakistan, she has only visited the country twice.

Attia Nasar: Follow for a Dollar, Crowdsourced Charity

Attia was inspired when she saw a fellow tweeter pledging to donate 5 cents for every new follower she got a month to a charity of her choice. Since she was planning to doante money to the victims of the Pakistan flood regardless, Attia decided to let the twittersphere decide how much she would donate. She tweeted:

"Every new follower I get for the month of #Ramadan I will donate $1 to support #PakistanFlood pls RT! (started at: 428)."

Attia has since gained 55 new followers and is avidly seeking a sponsor or organization to match her donations. She will have a final count on Friday September 10^th, the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Since she started her crowdsourcing project, she has received a mixed reaction. At the onset, she encountered negative replies from tweeters saying “let’s make her broke,” but soon after the support started to roll in. Attia chose social media as her platform because in her opinion it “…is the fastest way to reach a large group of active consumers who more than often will act when asked.

Attia, 23, is a graduate student at Syracuse University in New York studying Public Diplomacy. As a first generation Pakistani-American, she has not been back to Pakistan in over a decade.

Natasha Jahangir: Celebrity Tweets

“Help raise awareness/donations for Pakistan. Please RT! #pkfloods.”

Realizing her tweets would get lost among thousands of other fans tweeting @ replies to celebrities constantly, Natasha decided to take on a self-described “spammer” approach to get attention. She repeatedly tweeted at a celebrity, each time adding an extra hashtag of #pkfloods so that the first tweet would have it once, the second twice and so forth. Combing her efforts and the retweets of other concerned tweeters, Natasha successful got Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Michelle Branch, Queen Noor of Jordan, Marie Digby, Tom Cruise and Ryan Seacrest  to tweet a message about Pakistan relief efforts. Natasha purposely did not include a specific charity or link in her tweets; her main goal was to create awareness of the devastation in Pakistan. Natasha explained her strategy,

“If a celebrity retweets what I say it guarantees the fact that the people out of the thousands that follow them are going to retweet it and perhaps do their research and donate something to the relief fund. We can't force people to donate but we can make sure they know what's going on no matter what.”

Natasha’s target list of celebrities now includes The Fray, LLcoolj, Snoop Dogg, Khloe Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, Rachel Zoe, Victoria Beckham, and Pink. She particularly wanted Kanye West to speak up, but thanks to his friend Lupe Fiasco he recently did. Natasha has been featured in the Dawn blog and The Times of India for her efforts.  

Natasha, 23, is a senior at New York Institute of Technology studying Architecture. As a child, she lived in Lahore, Pakistan for nine years.

So what can you do? Simple ways to utilize your online presence for social good:

If you have a cell phone,

•  Text “SWAT” to 50555
•  Text “FLOOD" to 27722

If you have a Facebook account,

•  Join the Speak up Oprah causes campaign
• Update your status to include a message or link about the crisis

If you have a Twitter account,

•  Follow @AttiaNasar (until September 10^th)
• Send a tweet asking your favorite celebrity to use his or her influence for social good. See Fast Company's list of The Most Influential Celebrities on Twitter here.
• Tweet with the #Oprah25 hashtag to specifically get The Oprah Show's attention

 If you have a blog,

• Feature pictures and videos from the disaster. TED Curator Chris Anderson is doing this in his blog series “The stories from Pakistan you're not being told.”

If you have a few dollars to part with,

• Donate online now to a charitable organization working on the ground in Pakistan.

If you have any specific ways to help Myra, Attia, or Natasha in their efforts, please contact them via Twitter or leave a comment below.

There are many other creative endeavors happening online to help the flood victims. If you know of any specific examples, please leave a comment below.

Photo Credit: National Geographic

20-something women rejoice: ChickRx is here to give you health advice on those taboo subjects you Google only to find a less-than-optimal Yahoo! Answers thread. Launched earlier this month, ChickRx is determined to "give you legit expert health information and entertain you at the same time (let's face it... a lot of the shit we do and worry about is actually pretty funny). We work with a dedicated panel of health experts (Rxperts), contributing experts and funny young women writers to deliver health information that 20-something chicks care about most."

After chatting with and interviewing co-founders Stacey Borden and Meghan Muntean, they explained they created ChickRx to fill a gap in health information available online. The main categories they cover are sex & gynecology, fitness & nutrition, emotional health & relationships, dermatology, and general health. Stacey pointed out,

"A lot of women feel alone in things. You can talk to your friends and they are comforting, but they aren't always accurate."

Some of the topics we talked about:

Humor:

ChickRx founders chose a snarky tongue-in-cheek attitude to deliver daily information to differentiate themselves from other sterile health advice sites. They especially didn't want the website to be preachy like a mom talking. Paying attention to details, each ChickRx post has witty tags at the bottom of articles. Some of my favorites: Mastication Complication, But What if I Miss a Booty Call, Blame the Paparazzi, and It's a Food Baby Not a Real One.

Celebrities:

"Celebrities look beautiful, but no is perfect," said Meghan.

"Women should feel comfortable and not embarrassed and ashamed that hey, they have diarrhea sometimes. You can still have those things and be a cool, hot girl! Guys laugh at bodily problems, but girls don't want to come off as gross."

Stacey adds, "Celebrities have a massive microphone. When you find out Kim Kardashian is using a certain product, you don't have an expert's unbiased view on whether it's good for you." And that's where the CelebRx section of ChickRx comes into play.

Privacy:

Anonymity is an important function of the ChickRx. The duo decided not to use Facebook Connect to emphasize to site users that your identity is in no way connected to what you say or ask on the site. "No one really will say I love Gaurdasil on Facebook, but they can talk about the topic on ChickRx," said Stacey.

Future Plans:

Currently Stacey and Meghan are focused on building a strong brand, but ultimately they see ChickRx doing things in multimedia and offline applications.

So who are the sassy ladies behind ChickRx?

Stacey Borden and Meghan Muntean met five years ago through 85 Broads, a global women's network, where they grew to respect each other's talent and decided they wanted to eventually go into business together. Two years ago during a conversation about birth control, ChickRx was conceived. But it wasn't until last year that the pair saw their passion and reality mesh together. Both Stacey and Meghan are seriously smart chicks with degrees from Harvard and Princeton (respectively) who both took huge gambles to make the project materialize; Stacey passed up an opportunity at Apple and Meghan halted her private equity interviews.

A little more about the pair:

Favorite blog or website:

Stacey: "Perez Hilton and Gawker. I enjoy the humor and they're fun to read. I got into them when I was in [working] in finance because Gmail, Gchat and Facebook were blocked!"

Meghan: "My answer is boring, but my go to site is Facebook to get info on my friends. I also love Gawker and Jezebel because they're snarky."

Favorite iPhone app:

Stacey: "Emoji! It's an app with icons that you can send in text messages. They have pictures of everything like a surfer, ghost or French fries. I'm a big texter, people get a big kick out of it!"

Meghan: "My favorite [Emoji] icon is the little pig! But my favorite app is so dorky and embarrassing, it's a fitness app called MyFitnessPal. It tracks calories and exercises. After it help me lose a few pounds, all my friends started using it."

Starbucks order:

Stacey: "Some mornings Starbucks is my office! My go to drink is a mocha frap light, but I'm a carb lover too. I like the bread muffins and all of their scones. I like drinks that taste like desserts."

Meghan: "I don't drink calories unless it's alcohol, so I can tell you my favorite drink is vodka on the rocks with four lemons squeezed."

Stacey: "She calls it the Meghan! She named it after herself."

Superpower choice:

Stacey: "I don't know if I should go the altruistic or selfish route, so I'll go sentimental. I'd choose to time travel [to the past] so I could see what my parents and grandparents were like and time travel in the future to see who I am going to get married to. I'm just curious about it."

Meghan: "I want every superpower, so I'd wish for a perma-genie to keep in my pocket. That way I could get anything I needed anytime!"

ChickRx has already been featured in TechCrunch, PSFK, The Huffington Post and more. So if you're not already visiting, you're seriously missing out. Oh and don't forget to send a link to your "know-it-all" friend too.