Growing up together on Long Island, Shari Von Holten now of Wantagh and Cathy Day of Massapequa have been lifelong friends who share a love for gossip and what’s happening in the world of celebrities. They often begin their conversations with the question, “Have you heard...?” and wanted to let others share their inside information.

Both women know there is a genuine public interest in what celebrities are doing and their impact on society. In fact, our love affair with the rich and famous hasn’t waned even during this recession, and continues to be one area in media that is increasing its audience.

With the idea of sharing their passion for celebrity gossip, this past summer, Shari began blogging on her site, famefashionandfun.wordpress.com.

“I always read all of the gossip magazines and [Cathy and I] wanted to do something together. We were always shooting ideas off each other.”

They took Shari’s blog and hired a Web designer to give the site a more professional look and www.HaveUHeard.net was launched a few months ago. “We wanted to make it more interactive and personal,” Shari says. Their opinions on celebrities, fashion, entertainment, trends and any other topic that people would be discussing can be found on their site.

“We look at feeds from all over the world,” Shari explains, regarding how they get their information. “We write about things that you might not see [anywhere else].” Their traffic has grown to more than 1.5 million page views this past month, and is increasing every day. Both Shari and Cathy, who are stay-at-home moms, post between 10 and 15 articles a day. Shari does the bulk of her writing during the day, while her children are in school, and Cathy, who has younger children, writes at night.

There is an art to celebrity journalism, and Shari and Cathy try to give a positive spin to their stories. “Gossip can have such a negative connotation. It’s much easier to be nasty,” Shari says. In fact, they won’t write negative stories about a celebrity who is struggling with weight or other issues, they say. “Celebrities are powerful and can do such positive things. We like to highlight charitable organizations that celebrities are involved in,” Shari says. “We tend to cover people that we like,” Cathy adds, illustrating her point with Nicole Richie and how she changed her life to be a positive role model. and about Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter updates. “He has a [different] cause every day” she says. {Promoting things like] World Malaria Day and awareness about sex slavery.”

The two have very different views and interests. Cathy is more daring while Shari is more conservative. Cathy would be more likely to cover a Metallica concert and Shari a photo shoot of Zac Efron.

The pair have been making the rounds at local events and want to publicize local artists, new businesses and organizations. “We really like [local band] Push Play,” Shari says. “We want to help other people [by writing about their stories]. It’s about networking and getting yourself out there.”

Cathy, who has a very interesting view on the shelf life of gossip magazines versus the get-it-now-while-it’s-hot online gossip, says, “[Magazines read] like a history book now.”
Shari agrees. “We want to talk about anything that’s hot.”

For more information go to www.HaveUHeard.net or email Cathy and Shari at haveuheard.net@live.com.
If you know a super woman who deserves good Fortune—and a profile—e-mail your nominations to Beverly at bfortune@longislandpress.com.