Heather Thomson Talks Why Said Yes To Joining 'The Real Housewives Of New York City'

Forbes.com:

Before Heather Thomson launched her own brand, Yummie by Heather Thomson, she served as the founding design director for the Sean “Diddy” Combs fashion line, and also assisted Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez in creating and launching their individual labels.

She joined the cast of The Real Housewives of New York City in 2012. I spoke with Thomson to discuss her trajectory from the boardroom to reality TV.

How did you wind up on ‘The Real Housewives of New York City?’

I was sitting at my desk and I got a cold call from a casting director from Bravo who said they were thinking of replacing the entire cast or at least half the cast. I didn’t know any of the women at that time, and when she called me I actually thought she wanted to put Yummie on the show. I was thinking of The Apprentice and product placement.

Then we talked a little more and I was like, “Oh, you’re talking about me?”

And she was like, “Yeah, we’re talking about you. We want you to come onto the show as a Housewife.”

And I went, “Oh hell no.” I started to laugh; I was like, “Me? I’m a real businesswoman in New York City. I’m a squirrel trying to get a nut.”

Then the casting director was like, “That’s why we want you.”

She said they wanted to start showcasing real businesswomen and not kind of like this pseudo-socialite, if you will. She told me they wanted to start showing real New Yorkers. And once she said that a light bulb went off.

And I asked her, “What do you mean, ‘real New Yorkers?’” and she was like, “We want to try to raise the bar.”

So, at that point she had me. I was like, “Well I can raise the bar, and I can make that contribution.”

I was thinking, “I’m an entrepreneur, I’ve got a barely three-year-old business, and I’m in the middle of a lawsuit with Maidenform, who knocked off my intellectual property and now I have to enforce my patent. I’ve got trouble looking at my profit and loss statement sheet and I’m worried if I’m going to make payroll and be able to pay the lawyers.”

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