About Sarah

My name is Sarah Protzman Howlett. I moved to New York City at 24 with no job and no apartment — just a college degree, some long-lost friends in Brooklyn, and a few thousand in the bank. It took me 18 months to save it on a $30,000 a year salary, but heaven help me, I WAS MOVING TO NEW YORK CITY.

I started this blog while I was single in Manhattan; now I’m married and freelance writing in Boulder, Colo. I still bring the NYC-advice thunder like no one you know. Things I do include: Yoga, hiking, bike-riding, singing, crying at happy movies, making gifts, and photographing the people I love.

I was born and raised in Texas, got a journalism school degree from the University of Missouri, and began my career at a respected newspaper in small-town Colorado. I lived in a huge two-bedroom apartment that cost, like, nothing (though at the time, it seemed expensive…that’s how it works, right?), but the New York hook was already in my mouth: It was only a matter of time before I up and moved. I picked a date (February 19…brrr) and booked a flight. I still have the ticket stub on my dresser.

After temping for four months, I got a job as a fashion assistant at a Fancy Magazine Company. I went to runway shows, dressed up for parties and interviewed celebrities, which — aside from being a pretty cool gig — taught me a lot about what’s important to me (and that I never want to be famous).

My first apartment was caddy corner from the Morgan Library on 36th Street. I shared a studio — yep, as in one big bedroom — with an FIT graduate I met via Craigslist. We had fun for 18 months, then she met a gazillionaire and asked me to move out…via email.

When I moved over and down, to Murray Hill, I got my own bedroom at long last. It was 7 by 12 feet, but hey, it was a door to close. I started this blog in 2009 sitting in that room on my blue-flowered Ikea duvet cover.

From Day 1, I’d been chronicling my NYC adventures on a personal blog; it later became a memoir called Two Years in New York City. After that, I quickly realized the need for a blog that speaks to 20-somethings who are dreaming of the city life just as I was (much of which is also now a book).

As a hardcore realist yet eternal optimist, I aim to be an encouraging voice through your relocation and early years in the city. And I hope that, after you’ve been in NYC a year or two and all this is old hat, I’ll have earned your recommendation to other newcomers.

If you would like to ask me a question (but please read the blog thoroughly as I’ve covered a great deal of topics related to moving to NYC) or pitch a guest blog, email me at sarah@sarahhowlett.com.