How Alison Brod Is Nailing Quarantine

by Eddie Roche

In today’s “Cabin Fever Diaries,” we catch up with PR powerhouse, Alison Brod, who has been splitting her time between New York City and the Hamptons with perhaps the most unique quarantine squad we’ve heard of yet. 

Where are you right now and who are you with?
A Zoom party with 70 friends from Tulane and New Orleans musicians performing live for us as we missed our annual Jazz Fest trip.

How have you been spending your time these past few months?
When the doors to the world closed, ABMC had about 72 hours to create entirely new 2020 marketing plans for clients or see many of our contracts go out the window. We worked around the clock to keep brands relevant and charitable. I have never been prouder of the work we are doing and have never felt closer to our clients. It was the opposite of what I expected.

What has been the biggest change to your routine?
I wore 6” heels every day even in high school, now I don’t even wear shoes.

Alison Brod (Courtesy)

What do you miss most about life before the quarantine?
Live music. I would rather see a live band than eat – and I really love to eat.

What are you doing to decompress
I will let you know when I figure that one out, but I am energized. I didn’t realize how happy people who didn’t wear heels must be.

How are you staying active?
My fingers are the thinnest they have ever been because I have never typed more. I did just buy a Pilates reformer and I walk with my son, Spencer, who is averaging 11 miles a day. Thank you FitBit.

How’s your sleep?
Quarantine life works kind of well into my normal sleep schedule…I always go to sleep around 2am, often to D-Nice’s live R&B feeds and now get to sleep later – no outfit to pick out, hair to do, Pilates class to run to.

What are you doing to help others?
I have donated money to every one of my local restaurants’ funds and to all of my favorite New Orleans musicians when they do live feeds. I try to do some kind of small act of kindness daily.

Alison Brod (Courtesy)

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve found yourself doing since isolating?
Sharing my Hamptons house every other week with my ex-husband and his wife, our two boys, his 4 year old, and his 8-month-old baby. My ex did learn how to cook well, so life isn’t so bad. We even zoomed in all of our parents for Passover. Oh, and I wore a hoodie for the first time ever.

What are you most anxious about?
As a publicist and lover of information, I pray that brands will support media outlets.

What have you been watching on TV?
My son Austin and I watch a show a night – we are having fun with the futuristic Upload, Sebastian Maniscalco and The Last Dance and, of course, that cute Governor Cuomo.

What have you been eating?
Giant artichokes, Twinkies, Puffy Cheez Doodles, Baked by Melissa, Dr. Praeger’s Perfect Burgers and bacon cheeseburgers from the pretty Burger King in the Hamptons.

Have you accomplished anything since self-isolating? 
I learned how to put a comforter in its duvet. Before Oprah taught the world.

What music have you been listening to lately?
DJ D-Nice. I love you D-Nice and I hope that generations before me discover your Classic R&B and sexy disco because this is no time for EDM, kids.

What do you want to do when this is all over?
Go to Brooklyn Bowl to see shows and reschedule my trip with my kids to a bubble hotel in Thailand.

How has the experience changed your outlook?
Photos without pollution took my breath away, almost no crime, and I actually love watching multi-generation families unabashedly busting out their TikToks. There is a lot of goodness in life that we can unearth again.

What has been the most surprising thing about this whole experience for you?
I date someone in LA who used to come to NYC every single week for almost a year – and now we do daily virtual happy hour calls with his Pacific Palisades roof deck sunsets and my Fifth Avenue cherry blossom views. I started out with nightly lists of silly relationship questions that I pulled off the Internet – and it worked. Somehow having to stare at each other without distractions for a couple hours a day became more intimate.

What are you feeling optimistic about?
The last scene in Mad Men was a re-imagining of the making of the famous, “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” and it was this trippy, hippy feel good moment in the midst of something sad, the end of an iconic show. I want to believe that at least some of this “we are all in this together” will survive. But I am under no illusions that we have a long road ahead.

Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on all the latest fashion news and juicy industry gossip

 

 

You may also like

1 comment

Avatar
Roz May 26, 2020 - 6:11 PM

Hi Alison, you may not remember me (JG’s influencer friend here in Texas!) Just want to say that you are having a great time in the Hamptons but I am with you on the stilettos…..I’m 5″2 and never knew another way to walk!!! I put some on to attend a funeral if you can imagine and could almost not walk! I’m confident I’ll get my heeled groove back!!! Fun reading your story!!! xo Roz (myredglasses!!!)

Reply

Leave a Comment