OJ&B In The Press: A Q&A With Texas State's University Star!

Texas State University's campus newspaper, The University Star, was kind enough to ask me to do a Q&A for their paper that starts off the Spring Semester. We discuss Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Fashion GPS, Tim Gunn, Whitney Port and more. Read the full Q&A below!

Q & A: Alumnus talks about Big Apple Living

By Jordan Gass-Poore'

As alumnus Jonathan Valdez boarded a plane from New York to Texas for the holidays a woman approached him with an affinity for orange juice and biscuits. The woman recognized him from one of the NYC parties Valdez had recently covered for his blog, Orange Juice and Biscuits. Valdez’s fan base reaches further than airport waiting areas. The Texas State alumnus has approximately 2,000 followers on Twitter. Valdez’s dream of having his own talk show came to fruition during a stint as a DJ, where he worked with alumna Adrienne Brown for a semester. Valdez and Brown hit it off and created the award-winning KTSW morning show, Orange Juice and Biscuits (Brown created the name). The pop culture-inspired show (and now blog) has provided Valdez the opportunity to interview countless celebrities. His move to The Big Apple last year has further advanced his reputation as an up-and-coming blogger and social media personality.

JG: Do you have any immediate events that you’re going to be attending when you get back to New York, or anything within the month?
JV: I have some events that I’m going to that aren’t anything too crazy. With that said, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week for fall/winter 2011 happens in February, so I think that’s my big thing coming up.

JG: How was the (2010 Mercedes-Benz) spring/summer Fashion Week?
JV: Yeah, Spring/summer was awesome. It was the first time at Lincoln Center, and I think it really went off without a hitch. It’s a bigger venue, and I think it allowed for more people to attend, and they even used a lot more technology. So instead of, you know, the traditional publicist with a clipboard they had a thing called Fashion GPS. You could go in and your ID or press badge had a barcode, and you could scan it. Then all your shows, invites come up for that day and you could walk in and go. So it makes things a little bit easier, and it was interesting to be a part of the first group of media.

JG: Was the event better or worse than what you expected?
JV: I really had nothing to compare it to, because it was my first official fashion (week). I thought it was nice. I mean, they (organizers) were just saying that in such a huge venue that people are all over the place, but I liked exploring. To me it was awesome. All the big, huge players that you all hear about, they were all there.

JG: Who were some of the people that you were able to interview (during Fashion Week)? Did you meet anyone that you really wanted to meet?
JV: I had met a few people earlier in February at a Project Runway press event. I ran into Tim Gunn at Lincoln Center in the tents, and he’s always so nice. One of the big highlights, that I think a lot of the people would be interested in at Texas State, is that I got to meet Whitney Port and see her presentation. I thought that was really interesting just because she really has a collection. I was surprised at how much she actually cared about it. I overheard her telling the models just to have fun, smile and to be themselves. I have a picture with her. She seems very into her work.

JG: How were you able to obtain a press pass for Fashion Week?
JV: Well, every year they open up an application for media. It took about two or three months. You have to send in writing samples and your website. They check you out and make sure you’re legit. Not everyone gets the credentials. I know one person who has a bigger website than I do who did not obtain press passes. I was really honored to get into Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. You have to apply every year. I was telling one of the reporters Fashion Week reminds me so much of South by Southwest, just replace music with fashion.

JG: When you first moved to New York did you know anyone in New York City?
JV: I really didn’t know that many people when I moved to New York. Twitter helped me out. I had put on my Twitter that I lived in New York and Austin, even though I hadn’t left yet. I was tweeting about New York parties and fashion and a lot of people thought I lived in New York. There’s a website, Meetup.com, and I saw that there’s fashion people getting together, and I joined one of those parties, and I made friends that I’m still friends with.

JG: Anything you’d like to add?
JV: I’m in talks with some social media projects for other companies that I can’t really talk about, but we’ll see what happens. I’ll post it on the blog. It’s a really exciting time.

Special Thanks to Jordan Gass-Poore' for doing an amazing job with the Q&A. Check out the original post here.