A Day in New York City with Cooper Hewitt's Social Media Manager Olivia Manno

Olivia Manno is a Brooklyn, NY-based writer, editor, and digital content strategist with a focus on visual and performing arts. Currently, she is the social media manager at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and has previously worked at the Guggenheim Museum and Artnet. Additionally, Olivia is a columnist for Dance Magazine, where she profiles rising talents in the dance world, from companies including New York City Ballet, L.A. Dance Project, and A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham. Olivia’s day involves inspiration from John Birdsall, analog planning, filming at the museum, and watching a performance at the PAC.

8:15am: On a regular weekday morning, I’m usually up at 7:15 in the morning and en route to Cooper Hewitt on the Upper East Side of Manhattan soon after that. This summer though, we’ve been working from home while the museum completes a few office renovations. I miss seeing my co-workers and wearing real outfits every day, but it has been nice to ease back into a morning routine again. I also admittedly just love spending time in my apartment, which is in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. My friend lived here before I took over the lease; when I moved in, I poured all of my energy into decorating and designing a space that functioned within the triad of living, working, and entertaining.

But I digress—back to the morning routine. In 2018, I read this wonderful Grub Street Diet written by one of my favorite authors, John Birdsall, which I still think about to this day. In it, he so beautifully outlines his morning ritual of slicing a loaf of Acme bread and brewing coffee, a practice that’s been a constant in his life for years. Every moment of Birdsall’s morning felt so intentional, meditative, and entirely his. I’ve never been one to even attempt to commit to a routine, but lately, I’ve felt very seduced by the idea of so seamlessly navigating through the movements of my morning that they become almost unconscious and wholly mine.

8:45am: I load up my Mr. Coffee machine with whatever I have on hand. While it brews, I make a soft-boiled egg and slice up an avocado. I grab a notepad and pen and time-block the rest of my day, which involves some meetings, as well as a midday trip up to the museum to film content.

I’m fully analog when it comes to organizing my life—I just write everything out in my planner or on whatever stray sheet of paper I can find. I fully attribute this to the fact that my dad was a lawyer and would frequently give me stacks of fresh legal pads when I was a kid; I have forever loved the feeling of manually, physically crossing something off a list.

9:30am: After finishing up breakfast and outlining the day, things begin in earnest. As Cooper Hewitt’s Social Media Manager, I occupy a unique position in that I work closely with nearly every department within the museum. My job, while high stakes in some regards, is also so communal and exciting. I get to represent the museum online, converse with our audience, partner with colleagues and external creators, and share our incredibly expansive collection.

I spend the first part of the morning scheduling our social media for the next few days. I’m sharing content about our exhibitions, public programs, and collaborative projects, in addition to evergreen themes like “#TextileTuesdays” and “#WallpaperWednesdays.” I then check in on a few ongoing projects, including a video series highlighting participants from our upcoming triennial “Making Home,” as well as the project I’m filming later today: a collaboration with Alexandra Hodkowski, the museum’s Curator of Public Programs, showcasing her upcoming public program, “Design Index.”

12:30pm: I make a quick lunch before heading uptown. I love to cook and try to make each meal an event, no matter how big or small. I’m short on time today, so, channeling my inner Birdsall, I slice two pieces of sourdough bread from She Wolf Bakery and pop them in the toaster. As the bread crisps up, I combine a can of tuna with some chopped scallions, shallots, and dill pickles in a bowl with a few squeezes of Kewpie mayo, dijon mustard, a ton of curry powder, and a dash of salt and pepper. I spread it all out on the warm slices of toast, top it with some lemon zest and olive oil, and voilà—lunch is served. I dash out the door immediately after finishing my sandwich.

1:50pm: On certain days, it takes three subway transfers and a hearty dollop of patience to get from my apartment to the museum. Today was one of those days — I will spare you the details. I arrive at the museum just before our scheduled 2pm start time and head up to the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Library, located on the second floor of the townhouse adjacent to the museum. Fun fact: the library is open to the public by appointment!

2:00pm: The talent arrives! Today, I’m filming Design Index’s inaugural participant, artist Megumi Shauna Arai. The program invites contemporary designers, artists, and creatives to explore the library and select materials to be viewed, pondered, and discussed with a design librarian and a small group of attendees. I won’t fully spoil what Megumi has been working on, except to say that her selections are beautiful, rare, and fascinating. And for anyone interested, the culminating public program is on September 18th!

3:15pm: Once filming is finished, I stay at the museum and wrap up my to-do list. I map out and write a few more weeks’ worth of content, chip away at my social media plan for “Making Home,” then begin editing and formatting a bi-monthly collaboration I launched with our conservation department, called “Dispatches from Conservation.” For this latest iteration, I took a trip to the museum’s offsite storage facility, where many of our 215,000+ objects live. I photographed and filmed a number of things happening in the conservation lab, and checked in on some of my favorite collection objects that aren’t currently on display—they’re all doing well.

5:00pm: I head home and begin to mentally switch gears on the commute. In addition to my full-time job at Cooper Hewitt, I am a freelance writer and columnist for Dance Magazine. After graduating from NYU in 2015, I got a job as an editor for Dance Spirit magazine, the Teen Vogue to Dance magazine’s Vogue, if you will. It was one of the most fun and formative jobs I’ve ever had, and I took full advantage of the generous press ticket accommodations made for editors. I went to performances across the city almost every single night, rapidly expanding my dance lexicon far beyond ballet. My old boss is one of my current editors, and her exceptional talent for dance writing continues to shape my own.

Tonight, I have press tickets to see CATS: “The Jellicle Ball” at the new Perelman Performing Arts Center in the Financial District. I recently interviewed Primo, who plays Tumblebrutus in the production, for the magazine’s September issue, and I’m very excited to watch him dance.

6:00pm: After a blissfully uneventful commute, I make it home and change into a fun look — two outfits in one day, can you even believe it?! I touch up my makeup before meeting my partner, Ashley, for a quick dinner at Chef Katsu in our neighborhood. We have delicious chicken katsu burgers and head into Manhattan for the show.

7:15pm: We arrive at the PAC with enough time to grab a drink at their lobby bar and restaurant. Ashley went to school for architecture — we met back in 2019 on my first day of work at the Guggenheim Museum, where she was the assistant curator of architecture and I was the nervous new social media manager, so she loves to analyze details and materials. As she waxes poetic about the building’s facade, our cocktails — two Manhattans — arrive.

10:30pm: We leave the theater, buzzing from the wild and absolutely raucous production. Primo was phenomenal, as was the rest of the cast. Everyone spills out and onto the street in an incredible mood, and the energy is truly infectious. Moments like these make my heart vibrate with even more love for New York than it already regularly does.

1:00am: After getting home, I do some neglected dishes and reset my space a bit for the morning. When I’m working from home, I usually stay up very late, and tonight is no exception. I love the stillness and solitude that define the hours of 1-2 AM. This is another habit I fully attribute to my dad, who is almost certainly awake, too—I send him a text and we share our respective New York Times Spelling Bee scores of the day. I pick up my book of the moment, “Commonwealth” by Ann Patchett and read for a bit, until I feel the gentle tug of sleep and finally turn off the light.