LIFE TIPS FROM MTV’S ‘IT GIRL’

Here"s my New Year"s resolution: watch successful New Yorkers and do what they do. I truly believe that if I follow this new path, the usual things that I resolve to do (lose weight, get more freelance work, lose weight, improve personal relationships, lose weight, etc.) will all fall into place. I have decided to add to my list of those to emulate current It Girl and Los Angeles transplant Whitney Port, who has a new series on MTV called The City. Whitney, formerly of the other hit MTV show The Hills, distinguished herself from her co-stars, Lauren, Heidi and Audrina, by being the poised, mature, employable one, and actually ended a run on a reality TV show with her dignity intact. I guess that"s why she merited her own program, which chronicles her move to Manhattan and glam job in public relations at Diane Von Furstenberg. But what did Whitney do exactly to get her to this point? Here are what I consider the top three tips that I, and you too, might deem helpful for achieving success in "09: Shut up and do your job: unlike Heidi, who whined and connived her way into a promotion, then sabotaged her company and herself for the sake of her sleazy boyfriend (now husband), Whitney happily paid her dues in the Teen Vogue â??closet cataloguing merchandise for photo shoots, helping set up for parties and doing behind-the-scenes work for fashion shows. Her reward: a trip to Paris with her editor-in-chief, as well as her own turn on the runway. At People"s Republic (the place she worked at after Teen Vogue), she did such a good job her boss actually recommended her for the opportunity at DVF. Keep your biz to yourself and stay out of other people"s: On The Hills, who was Whitney dating? What was her relationship with her family? How did she really feel about her more chronicled cast members? No one ever knew. Lauren let every piece of stupidity that popped in her head fall out her mouth to anyone who would listen, attracted drama the way sample sales attract women with credit cards and fought with the other girls. In public, Whitney distanced herself from the commotion and got herself a drink and/or a cab. Be optimistic: there just never seemed to be enough Chanel bags, Christian Louboutin shoes or idly rich Beverly Hills boys to lift the spirits of beleaguered and teary Audrina, who treated every personal or professional mishap as though it were a time bomb instead of the firecracker it actually was. She could never chalk anything up to experience and move on. And the ultimate in crazy: she kept repeating the same behavior and expecting different results. Whitney, on the other hand, accepted what she couldn"t change, changed what she could and walked away from every adverse situation like a lady, looking on the bright side, and figuring out what she learned from the experience. Although I am positive that Whitney has brought her A-game cross country, she still might have to kick it up a notch. Her colleague at DVF is New York socialite Olivia Palermo. I suspect their relationship on The City is going to be an encore performance of The Hills episode where another New Yorker, Emily, went to L.A. to work at Teen Vogue with Whitney and Lauren. It took her all of five minutes to show them up. That"s what New York girls do. Perhaps, then, I should also be adding Olivia to my list of successful people to watch in the New Year. -- Lorraine Duffy Merkl is an Upper East Sider. Her column appears every other week.