Thomas P. Farley is a manners expert who's been interviewed on matters of etiquette by the Today show, the CBS Early Show, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Christian Science Monitor, People Style Watch, USA Today, CNN, ABC and Nick at Nite's TV Land, as well as on radio stations across the country. In addition, he writes a regular column on manners for the New York Post.
As overseer of Town & Country magazine’s “Social Graces” column from 2000 to 2008, Farley helped to shed light on topics from “Elevator Etiquette” to “Horrible Things People Do in Public.” His book, Modern Manners: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Social Graces, went into multiple printings. He is also a featured contributor to The Experts Guide to Doing Things Faster (Clarkson Potter; 2008).
Throughout 2011, he served as an ongoing guest-host for the daily call-in program Living Today on the Martha Stewart Living Radio network. He also helped launch that channel’s “Manners Monday” segment, which focused on matters of contemporary etiquette. Among his latest initiatives is a program called “Manners & Manicotti,” which he created and hosted in New York’s Little Italy, alongside television’s “Aunt Chippy,” of Jimmy Kimmel Live! Along with fellow etiquette expert Diane Gottsman, he also created Thanksgiving Unplugged--a nationwide awareness campaign that encouraged Americans to disconnect from their electronics on Thanksgiving 2012 as a means of reconnecting with family, friends and, of course, food!
Farley’s passion for topics of manners extends well beyond the printed page. He has been a guest lecturer at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies and has done manners classes for schoolchildren. “I think it’s important for both adults and kids to know that being mannerly doesn’t entail memorizing long sets of rules,” he says. “It often means simply thinking twice before you act.”
A graduate of Fordham University, Farley says these are challenging times for good etiquette: “In this age of constant connectedness and digital distractions, polished manners are in very short supply.” And yet, he explains, “Individuals who make a habit of valuing people over pixels are the ones who will truly get ahead.”