HOW WE LIVE | Uptown Brownstone

HOW WE LIVE

Uptown Brownstone

Tara RyazanskyPhotos by Max Ryazansky

Victoria Alario greets me at the door of her uptown brownstone. The place is beautiful with old architectural detail. The archways and high ceilings in her entryway make the space feel grand. Just off the entrance is a comfortable living room with an extensive book collection and items that Alario found in her travels. She says that she visited Italy last summer around the same time that she signed her lease. She found this apartment while still living in Miami, Florida. “It was probably 2 AM when it just became listed. I texted the number right away. I knew this apartment would go. When I got in touch with them, there were already more than ten applications in, but I said, ‘I’m getting this apartment. I don’t care what number I am.’ I was like, ‘Whatever you’re getting, I’ll beat it,’” Alario says. That kind of certainty and decision-making is typical for Alario, who is the host of a podcast called For The Girls that gives advice to young women on topics like dating, friendship, money, and business. Alario’s favorite topic to cover is confidence.

Victoria Alario

Max Ryazansky

Max Ryazansky

“That’s the main premise of my podcast. The underlying message is always about confidence. It comes naturally to me,” Alario says. “I’ve always been the way that I am. Of course, as girls, we can get emotional and insecure, that’s just our make-up, but I’ve always known that people either love you or hate you, and I don’t like people who don’t like me. A lot of people want people to like them. But I’m just like, ‘If you don’t like me, well, I don’t like you.’ I just don’t really care to please anybody. I’m just me. It’s attracted amazing, high-quality people into my life. It’s also turned off a lot of people because I’m very honest and I’m very outspoken.” For The Girls attracts all kinds of listeners. “The girl I’m speaking to doesn’t have an age, she doesn’t have a demographic, she has a very big desire to have more in life. This is for the girls who say, ‘I can have it all,” Alario says that she has listeners of various ages. “I get a lot of women in their 40s or 50s who say, ‘I wish I thought like her at that age.’ I also get a lot of, ‘You’re like a big sister energy.’ from the younger ones. I have a more traditional style with how I see things, but I’m the middle man. I’m the modern woman who speaks her mind but also with that traditional flare when it comes to my values, my morals, and things like that.” Modern and traditional are also words that could describe Alario’s design aesthetic. She seamlessly pairs antique-style pieces like a

white column or a stone fireplace mantle with trendy decor items like pampas grass and figural sculptures. “My vibe is vintage but also classic,” she says. “Florida was very modern. Everything was very crisp. Everything had to be marble and white,” Alario says that while she likes a neutral look, it was a little bit sterile. “It gives hospital vibes. Some of these things never matched my Florida apartment.” Alario is originally from Staten Island, so Hoboken isn’t entirely new to her. She used to enjoy nights out here before moving to Florida. “I was ready to come back up north, but I wasn’t moving back on Staten Island,” she says she wanted something walkable. Hoboken was the perfect place for her. “I love it here. I’m such a homebody. I love just staying in my neighborhood and going for walks and chilling.” Some favorite spots include Tosti Cafe, Saku, and The Madison Bar & Grill. “I love their fish tacos,” she says of The Madison. She makes her own as well. “I love my kitchen. I like to cook, but I make the same stuff all the time. I love making fish tacos. I also make sauce; regular marinara sauce, or vodka sauce, which is my personal favorite.” Making sauce is a family tradition for Alario, who is Italian- American. She points out old family photos in several rooms. “That’s my grandmother. She looks like an old movie actress in that photo,” she says. Off the kitchen is a room that looks like it’s definitely for the girls. The place is a shoe lover’s dream, with heels and boots lined up on display shelves. Alario transformed an extra bedroom into a wardrobe area where she gets ready to start her day. “It’s such a cute little girly area.” Across from that is her office. “This is where I podcast. I feel like I’m in my own world when I’m in here,” she says, adding that in her first apartment, her desk was in the living room, which wasn’t great for productivity. Having a dedicated workspace was essential for her. Alario also does direct sales for a beauty brand called Monat. She works as a social media influencer and does consulting as well. She points out some prints on her office wall that she had framed locally at Framing On Washington. She happened to be passing by and wanted to support a local shop. “Azim did a great job,” Alario says. Alario says that her favorite room in the apartment is her bedroom. She points out a gallery wall of mirrors that she hung herself. “Some are vintage. Some are from Amazon,” she says. Alario also added some molding detail pieces and brightened the place up with a fresh coat of paint. It’s a good thing the apartment is so spacious because Alario has a new endeavor on the horizon. “I’m in the middle of launching a brand too. I don’t have too much to say yet, because it’s still in the works,” Alario says that it should be ready at the end of the summer or the beginning of fall. “It’s going to be the definition of a small business. Everything is going to operated out of here.”— 07030

Victoria Alario

Max Ryazansky

Max Ryazansky

Max Ryazansky

Victoria Alario

Max Ryazansky