Why Tina Fey is the Ultimate Bestie

Today (May 18th) is Tina Fey‘s 44th birthday. And I wish that I could personally thank her mother and her father. When it comes to female role models today, Fey stands out as smart, beautiful, strong, and hilarious. Not to mention super duper successful. Let’s take a moment and look at just a few of the reasons Tiny Fey is our best friend.

She tells it like it is. Tina would tell us if we had broccoli in our teeth, and that is an important attribute for a best friend. She would say what she was thinking, sometimes without a filter, and we could always count on an honest opinion. This characteristic comes out in her character Liz Lemon on 30 Rock, and it’s part of what makes Liz so lovable and so real. As a best friend, you know that Tina would always stick up for you.

She has the most adorable children, but she doesn’t rub it in our face. Alice and Penelope are totes adorbs, but Tina doesn’t flaunt it. I was actually just chatting with one of my best girlfriends about this when we saw an American Express commercial which featured little Penelope giving Tina a “yogurt facial.” We both stopped and looked at each other, aghast, I said “Where has she been hiding these precious, completely adorable little humans!?!” and the Google image search commenced. The pure fact that she has kept her beautiful babies along with her personal life so personal scores her even more awesome points. This is one good mama.

You owe me this ’cause I clean your tooshie.

She is hilarious. There would literally never be a dull moment while hanging out with Tina. And she’s not the annoying type of funny, she’s the type with perfect comedic timing and a realness that makes her so relatable. She stays on our level, while simultaneously making us die laughing.

When humor works, it works because it’s clarifying what people already feel. It has to come from someplace real.

Her biggest weakness is cupcakes. I mean, need I say more? Cupcakes are pretty much everything Tina is: amazing, adorable, and totally fun to eat. Okay maybe not that last one, but you get what I’m saying. The fact that she loves cupcakes makes us all want to just hang out with her, have a ladies night in, pop a bottle of wine and eat cupcakes shamelessly. While watching Mean Girls, of course.

She is all about girl power. To be a successful female in an industry so saturated by men is no small thing. Tina‘s amazing career is hard-earned well deserved. She started back in ’95 at SNL as both a writer and an actress, and since leaving the show, Fey has written and/or starred in a few movies and tv shows you may have heard of (if you’re not living under a rock). 30 Rock (which earned her two Emmys, I might add), Baby Mama, Mean Girls, Date Night, Admission, and Muppets Most Wanted are only a few on her hit list. Oh, and she also wrote a powerful, witty, hilarious book, Bossypants. Smart and funny, bold and beautiful, Tina is the kind of BFF who would always encourage you to work hard, play hard, enjoy life, and never discount your potential as a woman.

So, my unsolicited advice to women in the workplace is this. When faced with sexism, or ageism, or lookism, or even really aggressive Buddhism, ask yourself the following question: “Is this person in between me and what I want to do?” If the answer is no, ignore it and move on. Your energy is better used doing your work and outpacing people that way. Then, when you’re in charge, don’t hire the people who were jerky to you.

She has a happy and healthy marriage, and would give us the best relationship advice. Her hubby, Jeff Richmond, is also super talented. An actor, director, composer, and tv producer, Richmond has roots in SNL, much like Tina. He composed music for SNL, and he even composed the totally rockin’ theme song for Tina’s 30 Rock. Not to mention that he directed a few 30 Rock episodes. How fun (and impressive) that a husband and wife, both talented in their own rights, could work together on projects and be just as successful together as they are individually? Talk about an excellent example of a healthy relationship. And I just died when I learned where they first fell for each other: “They fell in love quickly, soon after a Sunday afternoon spent together at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.” Nerdy love = the best love. I rest my case.

She isn’t afraid to make fun of herself. Tina is down to earth and not pretentious. She has positive self esteem, but is also very forgiving and self-deprecating, in a lovable and relatable way. During a Vanity Fair interview, she indulged in one of her favorite vices, cupcakes, and she joked that it was okay if she gained a little weight before an upcoming Annie Leibovitz photo shoot because “Annie’s going to photograph my soul, right?” “The most I’ve changed pictures out of vanity was to edit around any shot where you can see my butt,” Fey told her interviewer. “I like to look goofy, but I also don’t want to get canceled because of my big old butt.” She’s not into botox, but maybe the adorable yogurt facials due the trick?

She speaks up for others. Tina is a supporter of Autism Speaks, which is an organization that sponsors autism research. She participated in Night of Too Many Stars, which was a comedy benefit show for autism education back in April of 2008. She also supports Mercy Corps, a global relief and development organization that works to end world hunger. Love Our Children USA, an organization which fights violence against children, named her among their Mothers Who Make a Difference in 2009. She also worked with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in 2009 as their spokesperson for the Light the Night Walk. Wow, Tina, where do we even begin? Having a best friend like you could only encourage us to become more involved in issues that are important to us.

So basically, we all want to be Tina Fey’s best friend, and it is pretty clear why. Hats off to you, Tina, for being someone who our generation can look up to, because that is pretty rare. Happy birthday, BFF! <3

Featured image via empireonline.com, Image via arktimes.com, via funnycommercialsworld.com, perezhilton.com, contactmusic.com, wired.com, rebloggy.com, gurl.com

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