Lien Ta knows Hollywood. As the managing editor at Hollywood.com she brings entertainment and Hollywood news to her readers through the lens of a movie lover. She is dedicated to covering film, TV, celebrities and inside entertainment news that comes with working in the heart of Hollywood. Prior to managing editor, Lien was Hollywood.com’s celebrity and fashion editor. Previously, Lien worked as an editor and columnist at Movies.com, where she penned the daily column “Carpet Burn.” She also reported for E! Online’s infamous gossip column, Ted Casablanca’s “The Awful Truth,” covering everything from exclusive celebrity interviews to Hollywood’s biggest red-carpet events. Additionally, Lien was a “Top Cop” for Us Weekly’s fashion police. Lien is regularly quoted in print and online media including Glamour, InStyle, W and Los Angeles Magazine. www.hollywood.com and www.movies.com
Photos courtesy of Lien Ta.
Angelia Miller is the founder of Diva Maverick Mavens www.divamaverickmavens.com a new bread of feisty, non-conformist adventure loving adrenaline-high entrepreneur. The tag-line is: Empowering Women by Interviewing Empowered People...Inspiring "You" to Take Action! Casting exceptional dynamic talent for fresh content is the mission of Diva Maverick Mavens. The interview is in the original transcript form with minimal editing to preserve the integrity of the content.
Let's talk about your background are you from California?
Lien Ta
I was born in San Francisco and I spent a tiny bit of time as a younger Lien in Orange County. When people ask I usually tell people that I am from Atlanta because I spent my formative years growing up there. I'm kind of a Southern Bell and it was in Atlanta I got my first taste of Journalism; I was on the yearbook staff in my high school years.
So that's how you got started in Journalism in high school?
Lien Ta
Yes, it was sort of a fluke. Hum, I never took journalism but the same professor that taught my English Literature class also taught Journalism and he just stuck onto the yearbook staff without really my giving my OK. I actually enjoyed it very much.
Did he stick you on the yearbook staff because he thought you were particularly gifted in English or he just stuck you there?
Lien Ta
I don't really want to speak for him but I guess he thought I was gifted to an extent. I'm organized and I covered the Senior section and I happen to be the Senior class officer as well. I happen to be the Secretary so I did really creative things like doing the bulletin board, sending really cool flyer out and planning the Senior class Luau and stuff. So it just sort of worked that I could collect photographs and baby photos of every Senior class member, do questionnaires and things like that. You know and really just have fun with them and my portion of the yearbook.
Once you got a taste of Journalism, did you decide you wanted to major in Journalism?
Lien Ta
Only a tiny bit. It's so funny being exposed to the yearbook I actually wanted to be more of a designer than a writer. So then, I went to Emerson College a small liberal arts school in Boston. It's fantastic and it's right in the heart of Boston. The majors there were really finite. At first I began with print journalism and then I realized all my classes were all about covering the news for a newspaper or something like that. I thought this is so not my "beat." So then, I switched to a Major called Writing, Literature and Publishing thinking that I could get into some design courses. Instead, I had to get sort of Literature courses, Magazine writing courses out of the way. When I was in this magazine writing class it was actually this very moment that I was told that I was a decent writer because I had no idea. I thought that I was just trying to get by doing these papers and the assignment was actually to write a profile piece, choose somebody I'd want to write about in detail, and figure out who your audience is. So, I don't know what was wrong with me. I didn't realize that I was that sassy. You know I decided I was going to profile a bikini waxer. I'm going to find the craziest bikini waxer in Boston and I'm going to talk to her for a few hours and get a bikini wax for the first time and then write about it for a Maxim male audience. So, I did it and my teacher who is a professional writer as well. He was like Lien I think you should get into writing and I was like you have got to be kidding me. And, I didn't know that I was funny but apparently I get this weird twitch to be funny when I write. It's really bizarre. So that was really sort of the moment when I realized. I met a really dear friend of mine who is now a magazine editor and she and I decided to start Bossy magazine together on campus. Because there was always a literary magazine and newspaper on campus. There was never a magazine that either of us ever wanted to get into you know for our professional careers. So, from scratch we gathered a bunch of money and a whole new staff and hired and fired and we began a magazine called Gage. The tag line was for people who know better. It's actually still in existence today at my college so basically ever semester a new staff comes on board and everyone designs it the way they want and they find the stories the way that we want. We had such amazing stories that year I think. One of my favorites was about elevator etiquette. It was just a short quick story about how awkward it is to get into an elevator and huh, you know things like that. We had another story on Become a Maxim Guy and taking the advice and going with it. We had so much fun with that magazine and I went from Managing Editor to the Editor and Chief so that's exactly how I started writing. It sort of just fell into my life I suppose.
You mentioned you were into design so what was your first love or passion (career) growing up?
Lien Ta
I don't know that I really...I guess it was design but that didn't really happen until I was about 17 years old. I'm not sure what I wanted to become earlier than that. I always had ideas kind of put upon me by my parents like you're going to become a pharmacist. And I always used to think I don't think that my personality fits with becoming a pharmacist. I just really didn't know who I was then and I think maybe for a moment I wanted to be an Astronaut. I think every kid wants to become an Astronaut because the universe is so bizarre. I took a lot of art classes. I remember I was gathering my APR Art portfolio and still life drawings versus letters, I really liked letters. I'm really into typography and typefaces. I think that is how it all began and making collages so I did have an affinity for design. It's just kind of fallen off to the side here.
How did you get to California and into the career positions you hold currently?
Lien Ta
Sure. I think the natural progression from studying on the East Coast and studying in magazine was actually to move to New York City. But as young hearts and young loves do you follow your boyfriend who wants to become an Actor in Los Angeles. As we discussed before, I sort of had a background on the West Coast so I didn't feel particularly daunted by it all. So, I thought I'll just go to L.A. and figure out what the publishing world is all about and so for about 6 months I was slinging shoes in a shoe store but then I found an internship at a magazine that I coveted called Flaunt Magazine. It was a beautifully designed magazine. I began my internship there and soon realized that it wasn't a great fit. I think it was mostly because of the writing. There wasn't a lot of integrity in the writing. It was such a fashion magazine and such a design magazine. I think something was happening inside of me. You know I think words are more important to me than the way things look. Luckily at the same time I got my internship with Flaunt I also received a trial run as a reporter at E! Online and this was riotous because I knew not a single thing about a celebrity. I mean I had no idea what a Bennifer was; it turns out it was Jennifer Lopez and Ben Afflect. I didn't know that they had broken up and that he had cheated on her. It was just so funny. I thought I am going to fail miserably at this 30 day run to become a reporter for a gossip column. It was a whirlwind. My first assignment-unpaid was to attend a premier of a movie called "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton" and it is a small movie with bigger stars now but at the time I had no idea who they were. They had Kate Bosworth, Topher Grace from that 70's Show and Josh Duhamel who is now married to Fergie. I thought I was just going to stand on the red carpet and I got a recorder and made sure that the batteries worked about 15 times. I prepared a few funny, sassy questions and then last minute I also had to cover the post party. So, here I am at the "W" hotel in L.A. hunting for celebrities to talk to. Celebrities that I don't even know and I had done all this research. I had print outs but you can't bring print outs to a party because where am I going to stick those print outs. It was just nuts to be rejected by Topher Grace who is and will always be on my bad list forever and ever because he didn't have the time of day for me. Wilmer Valderrama however gave me a hugh hug. Josh Duhamel was a little inebriated and he was wearing a pink shirt and he told me that he was the kind of man that had the balls to wear a pink shirt and Kate Bosworth had two different colored eyes. This was the most I remember from this event and I wrote it up and at the time it was like ghost writing essentially for a gossip column for E! Online that still exists. At the time E! Online was a weekly column called the Awful Truth with Ted Casablanka. Ted Casblanka was my boss and mentor so I had to write like him and he is a very famous gay reporter writer columnist man. So, I had to write in his voice and he sort of developed a whole new language on his own and suddenly I was a gay man for about 3 years. It was an amazing, amazing experience and about 4 to 6 nights a week I was at a party, a store opening, at a premier, at the Oscars, interviewing celebrities and then coming home to write the story to contribute to the column.
How did you get that internship? Did you have to audition for the position or did it come out of the blue? How did it happen?
Lien Ta
It was a very 6 degree of Separation sort of connection with a girl that I have never met but she had gone to graduate school at Emerson College so I really have my college to thank. I'm glad that all that tuition money got me a job. One of my favorite professors taught a design course and she had taught this woman that was working at E! Online but she was progressing to a new position so she needed someone to fill her current position. I met her at a Starbucks and she was wearing Ugh boots. She told me to just come in and meet Ted Casablanka for an interview. I asked a lot of green questions like what do I wear, do I have to get a business suit, do I need to go to Anne Taylor right now. And she was like oh gosh no, you need to look cute. You need to look like your about to go to a Hollywood party. Thinking back on the outfit now, I guess it was cute then but now I would never wear it again. I think it was like a knee length denim skirt, a hot pink top and some funny looking heels but was very important for Ted. That's actually a hugh piece of advice for all you young girls in Hollywood looking for writing jobs, you should always just look cute versus looking business-like. There is no creativity exuding from a black suit and your 22. I remember my boss was getting his make-up prepped to get on E! News live and I was just like here I am I'm ready to work with you. It was so intimidating, completely intimidating but he was like alright we'll try you out but let's see I don't know if I'm going to like you. It was a good relationship for a while.
You have kudos because you just jumped in there. What was that like?
Lien Ta
I found that my other competing cohort that I would hang out with on the red carpet were very invested in the celebrity gossip. It was easier in many ways that I wasn't. I would run into Lindsay Lohan every other day and she would speak into my tape recorder and insist that her breasts weren't fake. I interviewed Angelina Jolie a handful of time and she is always so amazing it's just great to sort of tell the regular public that she's not as crazy as she seems or stuck up or any of those things; She's actually so fan friendly and really smart. On the flip side, I didn't feel like I wanted to be in the trenches and stalk these celebrities in these ways. I felt really greedy and needy by doing this. I really realized that maybe I wanted to become more of an editor. You know what I mean shaping stories and helping other people sort of do this sort of work on the field. It really is tailored more towards someone who is more passionate about celebritism and I am just from the sidelines. For me now as Managing Editor of Hollywood.com it's been completely helpful that I have spent so much time in the faces of all those celebrities. It's easier for me to gain a perspective of what these personalities might actually be like. Even though I might have no ideas and just making up what I think Jessica Simpson is really like but in life I think I have a decent instinct on who people are at first meet.
How long did you stay in the trenches?
Lien Ta
Full time for about 2 years and then I continued on in freelance for at least another year for various magazines like InStyle, W Magazine, Women's Wear Daily, Glamour Magazine. I also did some freelancing for L.A. specific sites like covering nightlife and covering different new bars and new shopping destinations in Los Angeles. I did all of that mostly for LA.com in a culture site called UrbanDaddy.com and so my experience was two-fold, one was completely celebrity driven and the other was actually city driven. I loved all of it that is what Hollywood is all about entertainment and the city life because it rivals New York City in such a different way. Those were my trench years and then I became an Editor and very quickly jumped a few positions I think. I went on to a site called movies.com and it focused on movies and I loved it. I was there for almost three years. Of course, I couldn't get away from fashion when I was at E! Online I had sort of become this sassy fashion editor, secretly and I don't know how it happened. I was talking about Natalie Portman and her ill-fitted dress or something and so at movies.com I was given a column called Carpet Burn and I wrote about anti-fashion on fashion foibles for three years there and everyday I would choose a couple of candidates whose outfits I felt weren't up to par. Every once in a while I would choose some positive outfits that I really liked. You know it's really not about Lien Ta being a celebrity hater; it's really my Carpet Burn personality that does all of this because this what people want to read. Everybody needs a bit of laughter in the mornings. I actually don't have a deep opinion about what you're wearing like my friends or anything like that. It's such a shame that people feel insecure around me and I'm like I think you look fabulous...
I think everybody has there opinion on fashion and especially when they are watching award shows. And you see these people and your like did you get dressed with the lights turned off.
Lien Ta
Totally. With me as a fashion writer and I'm watching the Academy Awards like a normal person I'd probably being thinking about what they are saying, whose gonna win, and yeah who looks nice and who doesn't look nice but when your writing about fashion it really is generating a story out of nothing. It's trying to find an angle on a decent looking dress and trying to find an angle that it actually is horrendous, a poor choice and yes you got dressed with the lights off obviously. It's really fun to push yourself like that versus writing something like she really looks bad because no body wants to read that.
Let's talk fashion with a popular tv show called the Rachel Zoe show?
Lien Ta
Rachel Zoe is absolutely crazy and I love her. I think her personal style is actually quite fantastic. I think that she could appear better in her long vintage gowns and her furry little cropped jackets if she had a little meat on her bones. I do feel at times that her clothing hangs as if it were hanging on a hanger and it is her shoulders that are the hangers. With that aside, if we were to put her clothes on the both of us I really think it is a fantastic look. She really knows how to put outfits together for herself. I think she looks really lovely in these sort of low cut long sleeve dress which are a very hard look to pull off. I find myself when I am at a flee markets or something when I see these cropped little fur coats I can not help but to get one myself. I have one actually and I do feel like I bring out the Rachel Zoe in me; however, I don't always love the way that she styles her clients. An orange big ball gown Oscars that Jennifer Garner wore sticks out for me and I really, really didn't like that gown. It was a one shoulder strap and I don't know if it has anything to do with me not liking Jennifer Garner thinking she's a little too earnest. It was just the wrong color for her and a little too feminine. So, I do think sometimes she's not thinking about the personality of the client at times. She does the best with Cameron Diaz. I think Cameron always looks a little bit edgy and funky so Rachel does well with her... I ran into her at a party at the Chateau Mont Mart at the unveiling of Charlotte Bronson's new line at JCPenney. It's a really, really cute super affordable line. Rachel was there with Brad her assistant and her husband Roger. Her other assistant whose name escapes right now was there but Brad was there and of course he just looked completely adorable in his preppy attire. It was so exciting and sort of being a foot away from Rachel Zoe. One of these very rare moments where I'm sort of star struck.
I think the next thing we will discuss is Project Runway. I love looking at the creative process and problem solving. What are your thought?
Lien Ta
I absolutely 100% agree and I also think it's why men tune into that program because it actually is a creative process. It isn't just about a bunch of ladies figuring out what to wear. I happen to have a lot of male friends that really get invested into the show. It's so amazing sometimes what they can whip up in a day challenge per challenge. I can't image it is easy to make something that looks like it a thousand dollars ...and usually there budge is like $75. They run into the fabric store, Mood, they back to the work room get to sewing and voila. It's like very much I want that Yes, Wow and sometimes it's a mess an absolute hot mess. It's so great to watch a room full of super creative people and really be able to pinpoint who are the talented folks and who are the ones who are obviously not going to make it. Christian Siriano is by far my favorite and I think he is everyone's favorite designer. I thought his work was just so unbelievable. Victoria Beckham was just in love with his designs and she was like you made me smile and it's hard to make me smile.
Most of the time I see Victoria Beckham she's very tailored. There are very few times that she doesn't look pulled together.
Lien Ta
You know I agree. We did a story on hollyood.com. It's a weekly feature called Dunzo and it's about something we're tired of or is over with. It was a positive Dunzo on Victoria Beckham's implants because she had recently taken out her implants. I was hunting through millions of photographers of her trying to find one that would really amplify her cleavage and what I discovered it that she is often times covering her cleavage. She's actually a very, very classy broad and she wears a lot of cute tight cut jackets and suits. She's just got impeccable style and she's not slutty about it at all. She's really just a fit Mom of 4 who is married to the hottest man on the planet. She looks good even when she chops off all of her hair and dark gray make-up. She really knows what looks good on her which is the slimming look...
If you want to know about the other celebrities...Keira Knightley, Jessica Alba, Angelina Jolie, Christina Ricci, Eva Longoria, Zoe Zoldana, Megan Fox, Hillary Swank, Biance, Jennifer Aniston, Clive Owens, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr., and so on...
Lien Ta is hilarious and our interview is somewhat akin to gossiping to your best friend on the phone late one night! Enjoy the full interview. http://www.divamaverickmavens.com/main/podcast.html
