To get a taste of how the character Betty Suarez on Ugly Betty must feel around the cool fashion editors at her fictional Mode magazine, spend some time with Meryl Poster at her Upper East Side apartment. The ultimate alpha female, Poster succeeded in the shark infested waters of the movie business, spending 16 years at Miramax Films producing blockbusters like Chicago, Chocolat, and The Cider House Rules. She also survived Harvey Weinstein, famously sending him to anger-management specialists while working as his head of production.
Photographs chronicling her glamorous life Poster with leaders of the free world (Clinton), Oscar winners (Streep, Zellweger), and icons (Madonna) mix with prestigious awards like a Golden Globe and a platinum record. It's enough to make a reporter a bit self-conscious about her own residential shrine of success (somehow a framed YOGA CAMP PARTICIPANT certificate and photo with William Shatner don't pack the same punch).
But even more impressive than Poster's accomplishments is her straightforward, down-to-earth nature. A born New Yorker, she holds a genuine appreciation for the life she's built and the city she calls home. "I never take for granted that I live in the greatest city in the world," she says. "I come from a long line of Manhattan women. My great-grandmother came here from Russia in 1904 and settled on the Upper West Side, where my grandmother and mother then also lived."
Poster’s involvement in the entertainment business seems to have been predestined. When she was young, her grandmother would let her skip school and accompany her to the movies (rather astonishing, considering that she was a New York City public school teacher). “When I was young, instead of taking my brother and me to the park, she always took us to the theater or a movie double feature,” says Poster. “She told us all about Clark Gable and Shirley Temple. Somehow it was inevitable that we’d both end up in show business.” (Her brother is noted music supervisor Randall Poster.)
The renovation of her expansive prewar co-op has evolved organically—a room or two whenever inspiration strikes. Popular interior designer Julie Hillman recently helped transform the guest room, entry foyer, and sprawling kitchen and den into chic modern spaces. “Meryl let me know from the
beginning that the movie business is her forte and decorating is mine,” she says. “Her only criteria was that each room have its own style.” The bright and inviting kitchen seems to be the heart of the home for Poster and her two children, 10-year-old Ava and seven-year-old Jed. “It’s our favorite area, where we spend the most time,” says Poster with a laugh. “It’s where homework is done, art projects are made, takeout is eaten, and yes, where TV is watched.”
The apartment is warm with a casual elegance and old-school charm. Instead of trendy, statusworthy furnishings, the space features antique pieces (like the sycamore commode that graces the formal entrance) and items with important personal history. “I would definitely call my style eclectic,” Poster says when discussing the tossed-off, authentic aesthetic of the home. “I love collections, so the apartment is stuffed with stuff!”
