A Few Words with Maria Tettamanti, the Chicest Greek in Miami

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In Miami, a 3:05 cafecito is like a right of passage, whether you're sipping a plastic, thimble-sized cup at the office or you've ventured out to the nearest ventanita. Knowing that, we thought an afternoon pick-me-up would be the perfect chance to get to know some of our city's most stylish and talented players. Welcome to A Cafecito With, where we let you sit in on our quirky conversations with our friends in Miami's fashion scene.

No that's not Jennifer Aniston in the picture above, although that wouldn't be the first time Maria Tettamanti got that from an innocent onlooker. We suppose you could call Tettamanti Miami's fashion blogger at large. When she's not keeping us up to date with Miami.com's fashion section, she's writing up "zany" posts on her personal style blog, The Wordy Girl, or teaching novice bloggers the ins and outs of blogging with her Blogging 101 classes, all while assuming full-time mom duties after 3:45. No wonder she needed to grab a cafecito with us before running off to pick up the kiddos from school.

We won't lie to you though. Tettamanti isn't much a fan of coffee. Either way, she easily coerced our waitress at Andiamo Pizza in Mimo into bringing us an iced coffee, which doesn't actually exist on the menu but should because it wasn't half bad. What is she a fan of though? Being a stylish mother of two, traveling to exotic lands like the Maldives and striking the perfect balance between love and work. This Coconut Grove native always has something to say, so rest assured there were no awkward pauses during our mini coffee date, and we're letting you in on the whole, wordy conversation.

So you mentioned you loved The Wordy Girl so much you had to buy the domain for your site from someone else. Why was this particular name so important to you?
Actually, my best friend came up with it. She said, 'you're always full of one-liners, you're always full of quips. The Wordy Girl is perfect for the name of your business,' and so it only made sense that my [freelance] business be called The Wordy Girl.

So let's say you weren't able to buy that domain. What would your blog be called now?
The Chic Greek, or a Damsel in This Dress!

What's the concept behind the Wordy Girl? It's not just a typical fashion blog.
I freelanced for a lot of New York editors who constantly told me, 'oh you Miami girls have no taste,' or 'oh, you girls are so tacky. You have this really cheesy sense of style,' so it was my way of saying we're not cheesy, we have brains, we have wits. I didn't want people to think that Miami girls just wore bandage dresses and heels and showed cleavage. It's not what Miami is all about. There's a huge demographic of women who dress, you know, classy.

How did you get started in fashion writing?
It kind of was a natural evolution. I'm not a fashionista in any sense of the word. I'm just not. From the second I graduated from college I worked at local fashion magazines and kind of just rolled with the punches. I got sucked in.

Did you always plan on staying in Miami?
Upon graduating at the University of Florida I wanted to do the whole Condeé Nast thing in New York but it was between that or life with my college sweetheart. I chose love over my Condé Nast life.

And are you still with your love?
Yes! We're married with two kids. We've been together since we were 21 and we have our 11 year anniversary on May 3.

What's your relationship advice for people in their 20s, when so many people are playing the field?
Marry your best friend. Passion fades, although we're definitely very passionate. You have bad days where you don't feel particular pretty, so you have to marry someone who says, I love who you are. He's the person you can come home to every day and have a good cocktail or a good cry with... from cries to cocktails!

Ha! How Damsel in Distress of you. As a mom though, how do you keep your sense of style? I feel like so many people give up on being stylish when they become mom's. All of a sudden it becomes more about comfort.
Totally, and that's another reason why I blog. I'm a 37-year-old mom of two and I see a lot of moms that drop off their kids and they look like they've just given up. I think my blog is another way of saying, hey, you're a mom but you can still get it together. You can go to the gym, you can rock that Alice and Olivia dress and you don't have to wear Juicy Couture track suits every day. Get out of your comfort zone every once in a while, but it definitely takes a lot more work to be stylish than it does pre [having kids].

Why is that?
Your time's a lot more limited. You're very tired. You're not sleeping as much. Kids take up an exorbitant amount of energy so you just don't have a lot of time or energy for that matter.

How would you describe your daughter's style?
She always reaches for the thing I would reach for last, which drives me nuts! She's more of a Target leggings and t-shirt kind of girl, and I want her to be in Crew Cuts. She always gets the opposite, in typical Aries fashion!

If Essie were to make a nail polish after you, what would it be called?
The Chic Greek. It's probably going to be a cerulean blue, like Santorini rooftops.

If they were making a movie of your life, which child actor would play you?
Could it be Natalie Portman circa The Professional? She freaking killed it. But you know who my celebrity twin is, right?

No! Who?
Jennifer Aniston. Do we look anything alike?

I think you guys could be distant cousins.
I get that I look like her once a week. At Publix I get stopped. At dinner I get free meals because they think I'm her. It started happening about six years ago. I've even submitted it in contests.

If you were a real housewife, what would your opening title be?
I always have the last Wordy.

What is a typical day like for you?
The typical day is to take the kids to school, go to Pilates, come home, write two assignments, Facebook, Twitter, Pin for another hour, grocery shop at Publix, make a Target run, maybe have a meeting like this, and then I'm picking up the kids. When I pick up the kids, it's on like Donkey Kong. Showers, homework, dinner, Bravo TV marathon.

You offer blogging lessons to novice bloggers. Tell me a little bit about that.
It kind of just happened as a passion project with me and my partner Nikki Novo. Our first class was out of Lester's, which is now closed. We thought that bloggers shouldn't see themselves as competitors. We should see each other as a community and we each have a voice. We teach people how to choose a platform, how to choose a name, how to tag photos, how to increase SEO. Lifestyle blogging aside, businesses need blogs, so it not only caters to people who want to lifestyle blog, but also to people who have a business and need more SEO on their website.

What are the three top lessons someone could take from your class?
Be passionate about what you want to write about. If you have a passion, if it doesn't feel like work, then you're going to be good at it. Number two, go with an easy platform. I always suggest Wordpress. Number three, aside from the usual tagging stories and using hyperlinks, you have to be really annoying via social media. Every time you post you need to pin it, you need to tweet it. Just be obnoxious via social media. That's how I did it.

You have the most ridiculous Facebook statuses. Do you rant right away, or do you let it build up and then update your status at home?
[laughs] In high school, I had this math teacher and I would always say really random stuff. He was so conservative and quiet, so he took a permanent marker to my hand and wrote "zany." I didn't know what it meant, so I went home, took a dictionary, and I thought that [word] was really symbolic of my life. I am a really zany person and he called it out in the seventh grade. I really tend to say what's on my mind. It just comes to me. It's a moment.

What's your favorite neighborhood in Miami?
I'd say it's between MiMo, my area, and the Sunset Harbour area. It's like yuppie workout central over in Sunset Harbour and then there's the hip pity dippety granola life over here.

What's your favorite store in Miami?
I'm like a big Saks girl. Is that lame? I love to support mom and pop though, so I love Rebel, right in my area, and Studio LX. I love Capretto for shoes and I'm having a Madewell moment, I don't know why. I love Sawgrass Mills. I get a lot of designer gems there.

What's your main tip for outlet shopping?
Have a strategy. The other day I went with my husband and it took us seven hours, whereas with my father, we map it out. Actually, I think I got the shopping bug from my father. My dad's a hoarder. He can out-shop me any day of the week.

What do you have planned next for The Wordy Girl?
Traveling! I travel a lot on my own and I started travel blogging. The next step was to start getting some travel gigs. I have my first one actually this week. I'm going to Trinidad and Tobago because Jet Blue is going to send me. With that being said, you just have to manifest. I feel like I manifested the blog, and then once the blog got off the ground I said, ok I want to start making money, so I started manifesting making money. And then I said I wanted to start traveling, but my intentions were always good. As long as you have good intentions and you manifest good things and you work hard, it will come together.
· The Wordy Girl [Official Site]
· Working Girl Workshops [Official Site]
· All A Cafecito With Posts [Racked Miami]