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.
Read MoreThese 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.
Read MoreEsthetician 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.
Read MoreLexie 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.
Read MoreWe spoke with designer and archivist Jenn Park about her early love for Marc Jacobs/Juergen Teller ads, her recent success tracking down a lost documentary after a 15-year search, and how she treats her phone as a hard drive.
Read MoreWe 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.
Read MoreWe had the chance to talk to Lexii about how she manifested herself as a superhero (or sexy villain?), the merits of weird art people dinners, empowering sex workers to choose their battles, and much more.
Read MoreWe had the chance to speak with Maria about her nearly-50-year-long career in nursing, her discerning tastes in fashion and filets, her eye-opening philosophies of life informed by working so close to death, and more.
Read MoreWe chatted with Danny about her unexpected path to fighting (she took a detour in musical theater that taught her a different kind of strength), her non-parent-approved tattoos, the importance of learning how to not get hit, being a constant for her clients, and much more.
Read MoreWe 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.
Read MoreWe spoke with writer and professor McKenzie Wark about her punk-soundtracked pathway to academia, rave strategies to keep you on the floor no matter your age or the hour of the day, and the manual labor being a writer entails.
Read MoreNiat is a lawyer who moved to the US in the early 2010s from Ethiopia’s conflict-torn Tigray region. Marked early by social and political injustice, her childhood and upbringing caused Niat to embark on a legal career that focuses on immigration, human rights, and gender-related issues — fields that have taught her much about our shared human experience. We speak about the traumatic experiences that sparked her professional ambitions, activism, and what lasting effect the ongoing conflict in her home country has had on her life and sense of self.
Read MorePostal worker DeNeita Watson is most likely to be spotted on the road — her daily 9-mile walking route through Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, to be exact. After growing up with a single mother in South Carolina and having not one, but two children straight out of high school, she moved over ten years ago to take advantage of her familial support system in the city and leave behind memories of a destructive relationship. DeNeita talks to us about early motherhood, the physical ramifications of her job, and how her fashion sense has evolved over the years.
Read MoreCostume designer Miyako Bellizzi, the brain behind the character-defining looks for movies like Uncut Gems, Good Time, or HBO’s hit show Scenes from a Marriage, sees her role as “cultural anthropologist with a specialization in clothing.” Born in the Bay Area, Miyako moved to NYC 15 years ago to embark on a multi-faceted career across film, tv, editorial, and print that is marked by patience and her DIY attitude. We speak to the fashion maven about growing up in a family of stylish women, her research process, and home-made beauty remedies.
Read MoreWe might have never come to know Laurie Simmons for her sharp critiques of gender, mass media, and consumerism or as part of New York City’s celebrated Pictures Generation if it hadn’t been for an unsuspecting downtown psychic in 1972. “Join the photography club. You'll meet people, and you'll make friends.” Following this advice set Laurie off on a path of integrity, grit, and curiosity through decades as an artist, wife, and mother. We talked to her about the importance of prioritizing friendship, why a successful marriage is based on accountability, and being unapologetically feminine for the first time in her life.
Read MoreIn a special edition of our Camera Roll series — where we glimpse into the current moment through an in-depth look at our interviewee’s phones — we speak to Iranian-American actor Tala Ashe about the political situation in her native country of Iran and how she captures the things that matter to her right now.
Read MoreOne of mechanical engineer Josephine Hack‘s most prominent character traits is curiosity — along with a high degree of self-reflection that applies as much to her career at Brooklyn startup Terra Kaffe as to her philosophy on beauty and fashion. She talks to us about the effects of nature on her mental health, working in a male-dominated industry, and why she likes to wear dresses on hikes.
Read MoreAs a writer and editor for the likes of Travel + Leisure, The Wall Street Journal, or Vogue, and co-founder of James Beard award-winning food magazine Gather Journal, Fiorella Valdesolo can look back at years of powerful epicurean storytelling. In this conversation, she elaborates on her two-breakfast routine, the NYT cooking app’s comments section, and why we should all eat more kraut.
Read MoreHelen Radulovic is a self-proclaimed fan of taking the long path: “It will help you become stronger, more experienced, and prepared for all the challenges life brings upon you.” We talk to Helen about uprooting her life mid-thirties to move to a foreign country, turning her basement into a walk-in closet, and why she doesn’t subscribe to traditional communist ideals about women and family.
Read MoreBetween leisure time spent flitting around her Clinton Hill neighborhood and beyond, Marina Sulmona takes on the role of working closely with artists to help bring their visions to life, in fully realized form — be it here, as passerby's treasured editor, or in the work she does as a producer and artist manager. Look carefully into her own creative practices and writing, and you'll notice how the act of joining imagery with words lies at heart. Together, her knack for working with artists and her own keen eye induce the multidisciplinary work she's done here — working with writers, taking stock of our audience's interests, and overseeing it all — and for other clients. Marina grants access into the intricate corners of her life in the conversation ahead, speaking about her obsessiveness, when she makes time to write, and saving movie still screenshots.
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