8 Sarah Jessica Parker quotes from her tour with Business Chicks

We’re still on a high from our recent breakfast events with Sarah Jessica Parker, and it’ll be a high that lasts for a long time. SJP said so many gems that made us laugh, think, and fist-bump (scroll down to see what she said about stay-at-home mums). Read on for our favourite quotes from the tour …

On what it meant to play Carrie Bradshaw:

“Privilege frankly. An opportunity to sit in a room with you today, to have interesting conversations, to travel, to be in business. I wouldn’t have that if I wasn’t part of a story so integrated into people’s lives. I feel that I have a friendship with a gang of 10 million women.”

On growing up in a family of eight:

“Everything you got that went beyond need meant the world to you. Even if it was a hand me down. I coveted my sister’s jeans. I lived for my sister’s hand-me-downs. I lived for them. And that’s what I do to my kids!”

On running a business:

“You get better the more time you spend doing something. You learn from mistakes and regrets in the way things are handled, and when you fall short it’s incredibly meaningful.”

On making tough decisions:

“We’re always better for getting somebody else’s contribution and point of view. Difficult decisions are the privilege of running a business. The more you can complete things the way you would imagine it to be most respectful, efficient, and economical, the better.”

On finding energy and time to herself:

“What’s more interesting is the women who work two or three jobs, who don’t feel comfortable with their childcare. I think it’s remarkable. My question is how are they doing it? How do they do it? When are they having a moment to themselves?

“I want to recognise the incredible contributions women are making all the time and every day. And by the way, the women who are staying at home and raising families. And why aren’t we talking about that? Why aren’t we looking at that as a massive and important contribution? We should be thinking about that as a profession. They should be properly rewarded for it. Why are we not making sure those who deserve success are crossing the finishing line too?”

On the Me Too movement:

“We are in the very, very early stages of the Me Too movement and there’s lots to be revealed. There will be years of women and men sharing stories.”

“I had exchanges or experiences that didn’t feel good or made me uncomfortable or felt inappropriate that I just tucked away. Like many young women, I found a space for it because I loved my work. I made that the exception, not the rule of my professional experiences. But mine really pale in comparison to the shocking and often harrowing stories that many women shared that really were the gateway to these bigger conversations.”

On living in NYC and staying out of the spotlight:

“You want to be among the people you’ve essentially chosen to live with. New York is a very interesting city populated with people far more interesting than us. People who are enormously successful, who are part of great change and having interesting conversations. These people who are working in publishing, and architecture, and city life and the theatre and in the arts so we are among many, many people.

“And we like that, so we can just become part of the 8 million people who ride the trains and walk the streets, and therefore our children can become part of the city and engage with it, and we think it’s much better for them.”

On success:

“Success can be tiny and it can be private,” Sarah Jessica told Fifi Box (and 1500 people in the room) at our Melbourne event. “Triumphs can be unrecognisable to the naked eye. Triumphs are deeply personal. And honestly sometimes [for me], it’s an exchange with somebody that I’ve been nervous about having – or getting the opportunity to publish a manuscript. With that comes a huge about of work but also with that comes privilege and opportunity.”

“Success doesn’t have to be recognisable to many. Success is the accumulation of things you feel good about.”