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" \n Standing 4 feet 2 inches tall in flats (which she would never be caught dead in, anyway), Lauren Ruotolo has spent her thirty-four-ish years seeing the world from a unique angle \u2014 upwards. Lauren was born with McCune-Albright syndrome, a rare genetic disease that causes bone fractures and deformity of the legs and arms. Some people with the condition tend to go the wheelchair route, but Lauren decided at a very young age that that was a road she never wanted to travel. That fighting spirit served Lauren well in life, and today she is insanely successful. As the Director of Entertainment Promotions for Hearst Magazines (the company that publishes Cosmo), her day job consists of hanging out with hot Hollywood celebrities and finding ways for them to get involved with Cosmo and the other Hearst magazines. Killer gig, right? Oh and she just published her first book, Unstoppable in Stilettos: A Girl&amp;#039;s Guide to Living Tall in a Small World. We talked to Lauren about the struggles she faced growing up, how she got to where she is today, and her tips for ruling the world (Step one: Wear skyscrapers).  COSMO: You were diagnosed with McCune-Albright syndrome at two years old, and were in and out of hospitals and body casts those first few years of your life. At the age of 5, your doctors believed it would be best for you to be in a wheelchair rather than undergo intense physical therapy in order to walk, and you were posed the question: Do you want to walk, or be in a wheelchair? You were unwavering in your decision to walk. How were you able to be so firm at such a young age?  LR: Up until that age, I was walking, so that was all I knew. I just wanted to keep running and playing with my friends. But my doctors were worried that as I grew, my bones couldn&amp;#039;t handle my body weight. So they told me that if I wanted to walk, I had to commit to five days a week of intense physical therapy. But I was willing to do that in order to walk.  COSMO: You worked really hard in high school and college, and by the time you graduated, you had completed several internships at some major radio stations and VH1. But despite your impressive resume, it took you 31 job interviews to land a job. While you&amp;#039;re pretty sure you were hearing so many &amp;quot;no&amp;#039;s&amp;quot; because employers were concerned about your handicap, many young women today are going through a similar experience because of the crappy economy. What&amp;#039;s your advice for not getting discouraged and plowing ahead?  LR: I knew what my end goal was \u2014 which was getting a job in the PR or entertainment industry \u2014 and I wasn&amp;#039;t going to give up until I succeeded. I also told myself that everything has a time and place and things work out for a reason. I had to be very persistent to even get that internship at VH1 \u2014 I sent my resume to them every single day \u2014 so I was prepared for a tough job search. I just told myself that if I pushed hard enough, something had to happen.  COSMO: When you finally did land a job (at Markham/Novell, a celebrity PR firm), it wasn&amp;#039;t your dream gig, and your boss was old-school and very demanding. But you were determined to kick ass at it, and in turn, he taught you so much and gave you so many amazing opportunities. What would you say to Gen Yers who are stuck doing some very un-glamorous tasks for their bosses right now?  LR: In my early 20s, I knew I was going to have to order my boss&amp;#039;s lunch for him and yeah, it sucked, but I also recognized that he was going to be the one to advance my career. I also just accepted the fact that I had to pay my dues. I think knowing my place and not having extremely high expectations for my very first job out of college made it easier to get through that initial stage of my career.  COSMO: You talk about &amp;quot;toxic people&amp;quot; in your book, and you may take the cake for terrible ex-boyfriends. A few years ago, you dated a guy who seemed great at first, but showed his true colors after a while. He treated you badly and took advantage of you financially, and you ended up in a ton of debt. What did you learn from this experience with a toxic person?  LR: Women are very trustworthy people, and it taught me not to be less trustworthy, but to not believe everything that I hear or see. First impressions are not always what they seem. Right after our breakup, I even blamed myself for the situation, but after some time I was able to realize that none of it was my fault. But this experience was an important street lesson for me: I know now that people need to prove themselves to me before I&amp;#039;ll trust them.  COSMO: Because of your height and the fact that you walk with crutches, you deal with a lot of stares and the occasional rude comment. How do you deal with that?  LR: I&amp;#039;ve accepted the fact that I do look different, and that because I stand out on the street, people are going to look at me. But rather than see that as a bad thing, I like the fact that I stand out. I think it makes me special.  COSMO: In the book you say that a goal you think everyone should have is to be unforgettable. What are your tips for making a lasting impression?  LR: Always smile at people, like a massive Julia Roberts smile. It makes you so much more appealing to others. And if you&amp;#039;re talking to someone new, ask him/her a lot of questions to show that they&amp;#039;re &amp;quot;entertaining&amp;quot; you in a way. And the greatest thing I&amp;#039;ve learned from business meetings and conferences, is to find a commonality with someone. So definitely play six degrees of separation.  COSMO: You struggled in the dating world when you first got out of college and into the real world. But now you&amp;#039;re in love and living with a great guy. How were you able to let go of any insecurities you had in order to fall in love? LR: Acceptance (of yourself) is the key to finding someone. It&amp;#039;s cliche but it is so true. I would always go to a bar and sit down, so that guys didn&amp;#039;t notice my handicap. They would come up to me left and right, but when I would finally stand up, they were shocked. But when I stopped trying to hide my height is when I met my now boyfriend. He approached me while I was climbing a flight of stairs to a rooftop bar\u2014so there was absolutely no hiding anything about myself in that position! He said, &amp;quot;I think you&amp;#039;re beautiful, would you like to have a cocktail with me?&amp;quot; That was two years ago and we&amp;#039;re still going strong.  COSMO: You could have named your book so many things, but you decided on Unstoppable in Stilettos. And even though your doctors and physical therapist get nervous when they see you in heels, you absolutely adore them and prefer to be in them at all times. What is it about heels that is not only stylish, but symbolic for you in terms of how far you&amp;#039;ve come to get to where you are today?  LR: Heels make me stand taller, but ultimately, why I love them is because I was always told that I shouldn&amp;#039;t wear them. So when I do, it&amp;#039;s a constant reminder that I can do anything I put my mind to \u2014 even if others tell me I can&amp;#039;t. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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