The Starter Girlfriend

Stef and Ingrid emailed for a year before they became friends IRL. They know a lot of secrets about a lot of celebrities, because at that time, things weren't on social media. Celebrities could behave badly and not get caught. They reflect on these experiences, the "circle of trust" and their enduring friendship, in this episode.

"Who are we marrying?" Stef and Michelle discuss dating horror stories, and how their lives were so intermingled that anyone either of them dated would almost feel like they were dating both of them. Michelle has a LEGENDARY dating nightmare story that was a pivotal moment that led to her eventual marriage.

In maybe the most fun episode of the series, Stef is joined by her former party buddy Jackie, to discuss how they somehow were always out despite having no money, wearing each other's clothes, getting into silly roommate fights, boy drama, and more.

Stef and her former colleague Paul discuss separating your identity from work, how their lifestyle at the time was not sustainable long-term, and how they had to float in a world of celebrities and powerful people and sometimes even act as gatekeepers to those same people at events like Fashion Week.

Mike Vargas and Stef worked together in fashion PR and somehow made it out alive. Now as adults, they look back in shock on what their lives looked like in their early 20s, when the right bag was a status symbol, 4am was a common time they went to sleep, and crying in bathrooms was a normal occurrence.

Stefanie Skinner speaks to Voyage Media Head of Podcasts Dan Benamor about why she was "The Starter Girlfriend" that seemingly prepped her exes for marriage, moving to NYC alone with nothing but her wits, messy situationships while working in demanding fashion PR, her insane sink-or-swim difficult job, and why she wanted to do a show about the formative period of life when you first strike out on your own.