TV star Wendy Williams knows exactly what women need to do in their 20s to succeed - and not everyone is going to like it
The talk show host opened up about her secret to success when I was interviewing her about her successful YouTube channel. As it turns out, for Williams, success is more about saying no than saying yes.
Williams attributes many of her career victories to the fact that she put her romantic and social life on hold throughout her 20s.
"I was successful in radio because I didn't have a baby at 24," she said. "And I put love on the back burner while I chased my dream."
She nabbed a radio job in New York two months before graduating from Northeastern University and started two weeks after graduation day.
"I wasn't staying behind in Boston for a boyfriend and I definitely wasn't trying to have a baby," she said.
Scientific studies back up Williams' viewpoint that women can benefit from waiting to have children.
But perhaps even more difficult for a young woman who's killing it in her career, Williams didn't go out for single girls' happy hours with her friends every day.
"I knew how to say no to girls' nights out and a lot of things, and yes to me and things I had to accomplish," she said. "It was a very, very lonely road."
She didn't stay single forever, though. She fell in love with her husband, Kevin Hunter, when she was close to 30, she said.
But she was deliberate in choosing who to settle down with.
"There's certain kinds of guys I have time for and certain kinds of guys I don't have time for," she said. "[Boyfriends] can't get in the way. You can't wanna be a rapper. You have to have your own thing going on or be able to help me."
Studies also back this up - choosing a compatible and equally successful mate has long proven to be a secret to success.
Although all this might sound difficult to juggle for people in their 20s who want to make the most of life, she said it's "easy to do what you want when you have your priorities in order and you learn not to say yes to everything."
In fact, Williams still practices this. In addition to shooting her show, she also has a comedy tour coming up and a gig on HSN. She'll be in 16 cities over the course of July and August.
"I had to say no to two fabulous Hamptons parties today," she said when we talked. "Fabulous. But I can't go."