This week marked the debut of Kelly Cutrone's new Bravo show, Kell on Earth and the launch of her new book, "If You Have To Cry, Go Outside...And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You." Her character, made famous on MTV's The City, is a melange of qualities made for TV stardom: she's a certified bitch, reminiscent of Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada.

Her show and book highlight a deeper issue I've faced several times in my career— namely, I don’t know how to be a bitch. I like to have fun and get along with people. Me being bitchy, when unprovoked, just doesn't come off real (imagine Beyonce cursing; something to that effect).

My boss at The Magazine blamed my aversion to 'bitchiness' as a sign of my naiveté. A legend in the industry she worked at every major publication in the business and has styled every celeb from the latest 'It' Girl on the cover of Elle to the old Hollywood royalty that grace the pages of Vogue. [She’s like the Black Grace Coddington for those of you who saw The September Issue.] She had every photographer worth his weight in film on speed dial. And according to her, she didn't get there by being nice.

Our theories clashed one day when I was fulfilling a last minute request to get robes for a celebrity to be featured on the cover. I had already called in robes and gotten them cleaned, but this celebrity only wore Tommy Hilfiger, a delightful little detail the production team discovered and shared with me the day before the shoot.

So like any trained journalist, I put the harassing skills I learned at my town newspaper to use. I started calling and emailing incessantly to get the robe to our office by 5pm to be sent to LA. The Tommy PR guy, who I adore fondly, was doing everything he could to get the particular robe to my office, including calling stores to borrow it since it wasn't in the showroom. But when I gave my boss an update, she didn't think he was moving fast enough.

She told me to send him an email demanding that we get the Tommy Hilfiger robe right away or all hell (a la Kell on Earth) would break lose. Ugh...okay. I channeled my inner bitch and sent him a message that relayed the urgency and inadvertently, my desperation. I copied my boss, pressed send and proceeded to get back to panicking.

Ten seconds later, literally, my boss calls me in her office. The production manager is there, too. She tells me to sit and close the door. She folds her arms. Her eyes are glaring and the air in the room is suddenly thick. My mind is racing. Did I remember to pack extra garment bags? Pick up the Ralph Lauren? Give her layout instructions to the Art Director? Order flowers for the Gucci PR Coordinator that just had a baby? I'm near panic attack when she finally begins her rant… about my email?

For ten minutes, my boss, who curses out at least one person per day, chastises me about my use of the phrases like "please," "I would appreciate," and "as soon as humanly possible." According to her, the appropriate word was "NOW!" Niceities, she said, are not the way to get ahead in this business and thank God she was there to teach me that now. The production manager [think a Black Jackie O. without the Fist Lady title], who had become a pseudo-celebrity working in the industry since the 1960's, agreed wholeheartedly. I couldn't have been more confused.

So I started thinking about my old boss and Tommy Hilfiger-gate, Anna Wintour and Kelly Cutrone and then, about how there are few, successful women who aren't widely regarded as bitches. I wonder, do women need to be bitches to be successful?

Fashionistas, Beauty Girls and working women in general, what do you think? Fellas, do you have to be tough to be taken seriously?