Meet Marzieh
Meet Marzieh

Most days, Marzieh can be spotted at her shop in Paris’s 5th arrondissement, Les Trésors de Perse, where she brings Persian crafts and the beauty of Iranian culture to the French capital. If it’s not too busy, she might be chatting with other local shop owners, sharing tea and cake. When she’s not working, you may see her walking along the Seine if the weather is nice, hopping on her boyfriend’s scooter on the way to a movie or a new museum show, or at the gym, where she strength trains with friends. Here, Marizeh tells us about growing up in Iran, being one of eight siblings, and getting signed up for a dating app by her daughter.

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Shop OwnerClemence PolesVanvesComment
Reality Bites with Tamara Jo Hicks
Reality Bites with Tamara Jo Hicks

Cheesemaker, farmer, and clinical psychologist Tamara Jo Hicks is likely to be spotted in the small town of Tomales in West Marin, 60 miles north of San Fransisco’s Bay Bridge. She and her husband run the beautiful Toluma Farms & Tomales Farmstead Creamery, producing award-winning cheese and working to build a healthy community and a healthy ecosystem. Across the Bay, they run Daily Driver, a beloved local bagel business with an on-site creamery. We talked to Tamara about growing up in Oklahoma, her great-grandmother’s chocolate cake, and the art of making cheeseboards.

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Farmer, CheesemakerClemence PolesReality Bites, California, Marin CountyComment
Meet Kim Dadou Brown
Meet Kim Dadou Brown

Kim Dadou Brown moved around frequently as a child, but Rochester, New York always felt like home. Now that she’s back after seventeen years in prison, Kim, a survivor of domestic violence and advocate for survivors like her, can be found shopping at Goodwill, speaking to lawmakers, or traveling the country as an expert speaker on domestic violence and the impact of criminalization. We talked to Kim about hanging out with her cool cousin in high school, finding love in prison, and making a world where survivors of domestic violence are heard.

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ActivistClemence PolesRochester, New YorkComment
Life in 10 Tracks with Erica Weiner
Life in 10 Tracks with Erica Weiner

Jewelry historian and entrepreneur Erica Weiner started out designing costume jewelry on the Lower East Side, amidst the music scene of the early 2000s. Over time, her interest in jewelry lead to a career selling esoteric antiques. Here, Erica shares the song she lost her virginity to, the Britpop that soundtracked suburban drives and a semester in Scotland, and the song that sound like the smell of New Jersey roads in the summer.

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JewelerClemence PolesLife in 10 Tracks, NYC, Hudson ValleyComment
Meet Mette Prag
Meet Mette Prag

Architect and urban planner Mette Prag spends most of her time in Christiania, the anarchist commune in the heart of Copenhagen where she’s lived for 37 years. When she isn’t negotiating discussions among the 770 adult residents, she is dancing at a nearby gathering, swimming in winter, or travelling. We spoke with Mette about growing up in one commune and raising her children in another, traveling through the Sahara desert, and going vegetarian.

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ArchitectClemence PolesChristiania, CopenhagenComment
Camera Roll with Amandine Gay
Camera Roll with Amandine Gay

When filmmaker Amandine Gay is the creative force behind Speak Up, a documentary about Black Francophone women, and A Story of One’s Own, a documentary about transracial and transnational adoption. She’s also a frequent speaker on filmmaking, feminism, and adoption, and she has her own production company. She might spot you when she’s taking a well-deserved break people-watching in Montreal’s cafés. We spoke to Amandine about developing an Afro-feminist aesthetic, sleeping in on the weekends, and getting a hysterectomy.

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FilmmakerGuest UserCamera Roll, Montreal, Saint-DenisComment
Meet Kaitlin Phillips
Meet Kaitlin Phillips

These days, publicist Kaitlin Phillips is splitting her time between Manhattan and Marseille. In New York, she’ll meet you for a drink and might even help you get a job. In Marseille, she’s reading on the beach and eating three meals a day, prepared by her husband. We were excited to talk to her about watching the Olympics on a rented television set, finding a job on Facebook, making rent, and more.

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PublicistClemence PolesEast Village, NYC Comment
Life in 10 Tracks with Raquel Medina-Cleghorn
Life in 10 Tracks with Raquel Medina-Cleghorn

Esthetician Raquel Medina-Cleghorn’s music preferences have traced her journey from San Diego to Portland back to San Diego to her eventual arrival in New York, with early interests in punk giving way to a love of electroclash and shoegaze. Here, she shares the songs associated with some of her strongest memories, from rebellious hair-spiking makeovers with her childhood best friend all the way to her wedding day.

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EstheticianClemence PolesLife in 10 Tracks, NYC Comment
Reality Bites with Lexie Smith
Reality Bites with Lexie Smith

Lexie Smith is an artist and baker presently based in upstate New York who spends a lot of time researching, thinking about, and making bread. She runs the online resource center Bread on Earth, which explores bread’s “potential as a social, political, economic, and ecological barometer.” In this interview, she shares her favorite spots for pastries, bagels, and loaves in New York City, as well as a variety of books and resources for learning more about bread and grains.

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Artist, BakerClemence PolesReality Bites, NYC, AncramdaleComment
Meet Mindy Seu
Meet Mindy Seu

We were excited to pick Professor Mindy Seu’s brain, as full of associations and asides as a Wikipedia page is loaded with hyperlinks, touching on everything from resistance training to how minds work to the effects growing up in a conservative household had on her sexuality to her love of Dries van Noten — read on for all this and more.

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Professor, Graphic DesignerClemence PolesNYC, Brooklyn HeightsComment
Meet Zari Gesce
Meet Zari Gesce

We had the chance to talk to Zari about her work in addiction medicine and academic detailing, her ad hoc approach to connecting with her Iranian heritage, and how newfound community in NYC has given her the feeling of “home” for the first time in her life.

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PharmacistGuest UserNYC, Bedstuy Comments