“I lost Martha Stewart in a Walmart once,” says Darcy Miller, Editorial Director at Martha Stewart Weddings. “She told me she wanted to look at their spices because she was trying to come out with a brand for Kmart at the time.”

*Cue wide-eyes from every intern in the room*

Sometimes, the perks of being a college girl are that you’re allowed to wholeheartedly embrace the label “intern” and hear stories like this. Darcy Miller is one of the most fabulous and inspiring women I’ve ever met, and she made a very distinct impression on me as a college female starting my career.

“When I became the Editorial Director at Martha Stewart Weddings, I was 25 and single,” she laughs. “My friends told me not to mention my career on first dates.” (I mean, Editorial Director at MS Weddings, or boyfriend…? TBH, I’d go with the first.)

Darcy has certainly had an exceptional career, one that any aspiring 20-something would kill to have. She has been with the Martha Stewart brand for nearly 25 years, and she worked with Martha to create the first issues of Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart Weddings. She was Martha’s right-hand woman, staying up until obscene hours to paint Easter eggs, design photo shoots, and deliver Martha’s personal china for events.

And when she isn’t traveling the country to attend weddings (sigh), Darcy Miller is an illustrator. She designs stationery, notebooks, scrapbooks (her fave) and scrap boxes.

So she’s one of the masterminds behind the Martha Stewart brand, BFFs with Kate Spade and Tory Burch, and has her own illustration collection on the side?! Can we have your life, puh-leaze, Miss Darcy?

Darcy encouraged us, as college women (and a few smart men), to do what we love. Her life is a party; her career, her designs, her illustrations and even her passion for weddings reveal her powerhouse party nature. Darcy’s words of wisdom? “Always say thank-you, and pay attention to the details,” she says. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it, Packed Party Peeps!?

Darcy didn’t choose to become the life of the party; she chose to make the party her life. She decided to stick with her career in weddings when her friends and family told her it wasn’t a real career. “I let it take me somewhere,” she says. 

Maybe, if we, as college girls, start to focus more on making the party (the happy-go-lucky kind) the center of our lives, we would have more room for happiness. Maybe if we do what we love, we’ll naturally find success (or become friends with Kate Spade).

Or maybe if we surround ourselves with powerhouse women who inspire us, we won’t succumb to thoughts of failure. I think it’s a little bit of everything, but every girl needs the right balance of perseverance, inspiration, and success in her life. Oh, and did we mention fun? Let’s start the (Packed) Party, you powerhouse, you.