Hanneli Mustaparta is the beautiful model-turned-blogger behind her eponymous blog. I first met Hanneli in February when I embarrassed the hell out of myself. Seriously. On an impulse I went right up to her on the street outside Milk Studios and asked her if she was someone else (I can’t remember who it was I mistook her identity for). I didn’t even think first, I just acted. She laughed and said “no, I’m Hanneli,” and was actually very nice about it. I was horrified as you can imagine, because I read her blog and it was even listed on my sidebar link list. I immediately turned bright red (I never blush) and felt my stomach drop. The second she said Hanneli my heart fell since I since I instantly realized who she was. I loved her blog and had tremendous respect for her photography skills. It was one of those Oh.My.God. moments, where you do something so absurd you can’t believe it just happened. It’s like you’re watching a movie about someone else’s life. Because you can’t possibly be idiotic enough to do what you just did, right?

We all do stupid things in life at some point. I was inspired to write about this incident because of a post I was mentioned in on the Alcoholics Conspicuous blog. Any time your job involves networking or talking to strangers, you’re going to say and do dumb shit at some point. 99% of the time no one remembers what idiotic thing you said five seconds after you walk away, because they’re too busy worrying about the next thing they’re going to say. Plus, honestly, they don’t care. Meanwhile you’re replaying the tape in your head over-and-over making yourself sick. People are self-centered and half the time aren’t even listening closely, especially at public fashion events. They’re too busy thinking about themselves, which works to everyone’s advantage. And honestly, if someone treats you like crap that says more about who they are than it says about you. Trust me, you are not the first person to be on the receiving end of their nasty behavior.

Moral of the story is that when you embarrass yourself in front of people, their reaction is a reflection on their heart and soul, not you. And most people out there are very kind. I’ve embarrassed myself with awkward conversation at parties enough times to know! Most importantly, you’re going to learn valuable life lessons from those experiences. That’s what they’re there for. It’s not just a touchy-feely new age organizational psychology buzzword, mistakes really are learning experiences.

Compassionate people like Hanneli understand that people make mistakes. Like I said, that’s just life. Thankfully for me she has a very warm heart! The majority of people I’ve met in fashion are really great people, which is endlessly surprising since the industry has such a bad reputation for cattiness. I think Hanneli’s good heart is one reason she’s had such tremendous success in fashion recently, including an editorial in Net-A-Porter’s magazine and a feature in American Vogue. Her tangible warmth, in an individual so beautiful and successful, is the X-factor behind her much-deserved ascent into the highest echelon of fashion blogging. It’s impossible to resist the allure of someone who is so profoundly beautiful both inside and out. The camera captures both with Hanneli, you can feel her positive energy through the photographs of her.