Second Life

Sandra Oh Lin is the founder and CEO of KiwiCo, the company that’s helping millions of children develop creativity and problem-solving skills through art- and STEM-based activities. Remembering how much she loved participating in hands-on projects with her mom when she was a child, Lin sought to inspire that same sense of innovation and “creative confidence” in her own kids. Soon, other parents began asking about the activities she was creating for her children’s playdates, and she realized that she wasn’t the only parent wanting to provide fun, educational experiences for her kids. With her engineering and business degrees, alongside her experience at major companies like eBay, Procter & Gamble, and PayPal, Lin started KiwiCo out of her garage. Over the last decade, she has scaled the company to include more than 1500 products, sent out 50 million shipments of KiwiCo products, and developed partnerships with over 400 educational organizations.

Zac Posen is an internationally acclaimed fashion designer whose designs have been worn by Natalie Portman, Oprah Winfrey, former First Lady Michelle Obama, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Rihanna, among many others. Posen is known for his fine craftsmanship and glamorous gowns, and powerful women have historically sought him out to dress them for significant moments in their lives. Because of this, it only made sense that Ryan Murphy and Gus Van Sant called upon Posen while developing FX's Feud: Capote vs. the Swans to craft costumes for the reimagining of a real-life event: Truman Capote's 1966 Black and White Ball. He's giving us all the details about how he walked the line between historical accuracy and his signature stylistic flair to create showstopping looks for all of Feud's leading ladies. This episode was brought to you by eBay.

Crown Affair is a haircare brand that empowers people to create ritual out of their hair routine. Launched in 2020 with four products (a towel, a brush, an oil, and a comb), Crown Affair has since grown to include a range of hair products and tools; has become one of the buzziest beauty brands on TikTok; and is now sold at retailers such as Goop and Sephora. But before Cohen founded Crown Affair, she spent her early career in marketing and partnerships and later consulted for some of the most influential direct-to-consumer companies of the time. Think Away luggage, Outdoor Voices, Harrys, Buck Mason, and more. But when a Google Doc detailing her other passion (aka her haircare routine) began circulating, Cohen realized it was time to take a pause on building other people’s companies and create one of her own.

New York Fashion Week just wrapped, and Editor in Chief Kat Collings and fashion editor Jasmine Fox-Suliaman are here to give you the inside scoop on what the fall-winter 2024 collections had to offer. Tune in to hear which emerging designers to have on your radar, who's giving a sultry update to workwear, which types of interesting necklines we can expect to see everywhere this fall, and what it was like breathing the same air as Beyoncé at the Luar show. This episode was brought to you by eBay.

Super Smalls is a line of playful, gem-studded accessories inspired by and made for kids. After years as an accessories editor and director at fashion publications Glamour and Elle, as well as working on brand development at personal styling company Stitch Fix, Maria Dueñas Jacobs developed a deep knowledge of the accessories space. So when her daughter, who was five at the time, began playing with her beautiful (and expensive) jewelry, a lightbulb went off for Dueñas Jacobs. Soon, she began channeling both her inner child and her trained editorial eye to bring the luxury jewelry experience she knew and loved to a kid-safe jewelry line. Today, Super Smalls has made Oprah’s Favorite Things list three years in a row and expanded into a stunning range of jewelry, shoes, crafts, and more. Each item is made for play and is sure to bring joy to any kid (or “kidult,” as Dueñas Jacobs refers to herself in this episode) who wears it.

Amy Smilovic founded the women's luxury brand Tibi in 1997, and over the years, she's honed her distinctive brand identity and coined a phrase for her design philosophy: creative pragmatism. If you're a creative pragmatist like Smilovic, you find your style rooted in creative expression and utility, and you feel at home in an aesthetic that is at once chill, modern, and classic. Written from the point of view that style can indeed be learned, her book The Creative Pragmatist details all of her guiding principles, from how to style colors and prints in a way that feels modern to how to pick basics that aren't, well, basic. Smilovic has developed a highly analytical approach to making outfits look effortless, and she's breaking down her greatest and most useful style tips for us this week. This episode was brought to you by eBay.

If you’ve dipped your toe into the world of functional, non-psychedelic mushrooms, you’ve likely seen Alice’s chic adaptogenic chocolates grace your social media feed or the shelves of your local boutique grocer—you have Charlotte Cruze to thank for that. In 2022, Cruze and her co-founder Lindsay Goodstein launched Alice with two products: Nightcap, a sleep aid, and Brainstorm, an energy booster. Today, the line has expanded to include an aphrodisiac chocolate called Happy Ending and a limited-edition lingerie collab with Fleur du Mal. But before she was creating mushroom chocolates, Cruze spent most of her career in media at companies such as Refinery29, InsideHook, and NBC. During that time, Cruze realized she loved the food industry, and in the early days of the pandemic, she enrolled in a food studies master’s program at NYU with the intention of pivoting her career. From there, she took on a role as the head of operations at meal-kit company Quinn and later led growth at Nutella-alternative brand TBH. While Cruze was still working at TBH, Goodstein, a former pharmaceutical salesperson, tapped her to help build Alice, and the rest is delicious, benefit-packed history.

Twenty years ago, Paige Adams-Geller saw the need for a female voice in the male-dominated American denim industry—someone who deeply understood the female form and could help other women find their perfect fit. As a successful fit model for the top premium denim companies of the time, she knew she was the woman for the job, and Paige was born. Today, Hillary sits down with the founder to talk about the brand's history and many expansions into menswear, outerwear, shoes, accessories, and beyond. They also dive into why denim sizing is such a tricky science, what goes into developing new fabrics, and which Paige jeans are so comfortable you could sleep in them three nights in a row, something Adams-Geller tested herself.

Natalie Holloway and her husband, Max, had their aha moment during a yoga class in Indonesia. As the class was more meditative than sweat-inducing, they wondered, Why isn’t anyone making chic wrist or ankle weights that could turn up the resistance on everyday exercises? They immediately began brainstorming their idea on a napkin, and after returning to the United States, the two created prototypes of what would eventually become the best-selling Bala Bangle. With the help of a Kickstarter campaign and a successful Shark Tank debut, Bala has grown to include a range of fitness equipment sold in retailers including Goop, Saks, and Target, as well as a digital fitness instruction platform called Balacize. But what led Natalie and Max to Indonesia in the first place? The two met while working at global advertising agency 72 and Sunny, where they thrived but ultimately felt burnt out. They decided to take a sabbatical to travel, and a year later, returned ready to use their branding expertise to give the ’80s-era fitness equipment a fashion-forward makeover.

This week, Editor in Chief Kat Collings chats with Wes Gordon, the creative director behind the legendary womenswear brand Carolina Herrera. Before taking the reins at the glamorous New York heritage brand in 2018, Gordon ran his own successful namesake line for eight years, establishing himself as a visionary with staying power. Today, he's sharing how graduating into a recession gave him the hard skills he'd need to one day run Carolina Herrera, why we should disregard the archaic fashion rules around how to wear color, and what kind of storytelling to expect from his upcoming fall/winter 2024 collection as New York Fashion Week approaches.

At a young age, Gabriela Anastasio fell in love with stone while visiting the work sites of her father’s landscaping business. Throughout her childhood, she began to associate a new patio or an updated blue-stone trim around a pool with good fortune, and years later, in 2021, she launched her home accessories brand, Anastasio Home, with a single category: stone trays. The brand quickly gained popularity for its expanding offering of upcycled, luxury home accessories, produced by the company’s factory in India. That being said, Anastasio’s journey to building her business was anything but linear. After graduating with a degree in art, she spent over a decade in public relations, eventually working her way up to director of communications at the luxury watch brand, Tudor. Combining the skill set she gained from her early career with her art education and love of stone, Gabriela decided to bet on herself, and soon after, Anastasio Home was born.

From Ayo Edebiri’s custom 3D-molded Louis Vuitton gown at the Emmys to Greta Lee’s Loewe menswear moment at the Critics Choice Awards, our favorite celebs continue to stun this award season. This week, Who What Wear Editor in Chief Kat Collings sits down with Erin Fitzpatrick, our associate director of fashion news and resident award show expert, who often serves as our eyes and ears live from the red carpets. They’re deep-diving on the style standouts we’ve seen thus far, predicting what fashion choices we can expect on upcoming carpets, and discussing why the most interesting looks sometimes show up at the smaller, less buzzy ceremonies. This episode was brought to you by eBay.

Rael is a line of clean, high-performance feminine hygiene products, skincare, and supplements designed to help people with periods through every phase of their cycle. Back in 2017, Yanghee Paik and her fellow co-founders were shocked by the outdated offerings in the United States and set out to bring the advanced fem-tech innovations they grew up with in Korea to the U.S. market. They then launched Rael with organic cotton cover pads, which quickly became the best-selling pads on Amazon. Since then, Rael has raised $35 million in Series B fundraising, launched in major retailers such as Target and Walmart, and just this month, debuted a line of supplements. But Paik wasn’t always running a major startup company—she spent most of her early career working in entertainment, with hopes of popularizing Korean media in America. She steadily rose through the ranks to become an executive at Disney, where she focused on distribution strategy and sales. Though Paik’s career has evolved, her passion for bringing Korean culture to the United States—whether through entertainment media or holistic menstrual cycle care—continues to be her North Star.

Sisters Wendi Ferreira and Nicole DeJulio teamed up as a styling duo in 2005 and have since raised the bar astronomically for men's fashion across Hollywood. While they've become experts in classic suiting and have often debated over as little as an eighth of an inch of material on Tom Cruise's pant legs, they've also helped clients hone and experiment with personal style beyond the gray, black, and navy suits that used to dominate red carpets. With Ferreira and DeJulio's styling expertise, clients like Jacob Elordi, Seth Rogen, and Chris Pine have leaned into their unique tastes and proven that men can—and should—have fun getting dressed too.

In 2015, Morgan Zanotti and her Primal Kitchen Co-Founder Mark Sissan set out to do something unheard of: replace the unhealthy condiments, sauces, and dressings that had come to dominate American grocery stores with equally delicious “cleaned up classics.” Built on a foundation of high-quality ingredients, the brand launched with an avocado oil mayonnaise and has since grown to over 70 products that can be found at over 16,000 retail locations. But before Zanotti was building one of the fastest-growing natural product companies and leading it through the acquisition of Kraft Heinz for $200 million, she was living a different life: She worked as an accountant, waited tables at a resort in Wisconsin, and surfed throughout South America. After returning to the United States, she was still unsure what a corporate career would look like for her, but as she says in this episode, sometimes it’s best to “just try something… without the pressure of this being the end-all-be-all.” With this mentality, she took a job at a branding and design agency and quickly learned she had a knack for marketing. Zanotti went on to become the Marketing Director at beverage company KeVita. It was there that she met Mark, whom she chatted with about building a company together. Soon after that, Primal Kitchen was born.

Celebrity stylist Molly Dickson may be a sporty tomboy at heart, but she’s lauded as the ultimate girls’ girl on the Hollywood styling scene. After assisting Leslie Fremar for seven years, Dickson began her independent styling career, working with Scarlett Johansson and dressing Katherine Langford right as Langford’s Netflix hit 13 Reasons Why took off. She’s also responsible for Sadie Sink’s glorious style evolution from teen to adult, Kelsea Ballerini’s magical mid-performance dress change at the 2023 VMAs, and, of course, Sydney Sweeney’s iconic Miu Miu micro-miniskirt moment at the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards. Today, she’s giving us the behind-the-scenes stories about all of these looks and many more.

Shan-Lyn Ma, co-founder and co-CEO of wedding registry site Zola, was destined to be an entrepreneur. In fact, her childhood bedroom décor featured a poster of her idol, Jerry Yang, the co-founder of Yahoo. After graduating with her MBA from Stanford, Ma pursued her lifelong dream and took a role at Yahoo, first as an intern and later in product marketing. Two years later, she moved over to e-commerce company Gilt Groupe as its first Product Lead. It was during her time there that she founded and ran her own business unit, Gilt Taste, where she worked closely with future Zola Co-Founder Nobu Nakaguchi. Though Ma moved on to a role as Chief Product Officer at jewelry company Chloe + Isabel, she and Nobu were percolating on an idea for a business. During that time, Ma was also spending nearly every weekend at friends’ weddings and was repeatedly met with clunky registry sites. She and Nobu realized this area of wedding planning needed disrupting and they set out to do just that. Zola has now helped over 2 million couples plan their weddings and just recently expanded to include a baby registry service.

Welcome back! For the first episode of 2024, Editor in Chief Kat Collings and Beauty Director Erin Jahns are here to walk you through refreshing your beauty routine for the new year. While you’re creating your annual goals, why not also start setting healthy habits like tossing your expired makeup or giving your nails a much-needed break from heavy manicures? Erin’s also sharing how to find a skincare specialist that’s right for you, which ingredients and treatments are sure to dominate this year, what hairstyles we can expect to see in 2024, and why she’ll use makeup wipes until her dying day.

Elizabeth Saltzman is the woman behind the impeccable style of some of Hollywood's most talented ladies. Think Jodie Comer, Julia Garner, and Gwyneth Paltrow. However, Saltzman initially wanted to pursue architecture and became involved in the Downtown New York nightclub and art scenes. But, unable to avoid her fashion destiny for long, she took a retail job at the Madonna- and David Bowie–approved fashion destination Parachute. From there, she was recruited to work at Giorgio Armani, where she worked her way up from the stockroom to the public relations department. After a few years, she made yet another pivot into editorial work, quickly becoming a senior fashion editor at Vogue and then fashion director at Vanity Fair. After spending 20 years at some of the most iconic publications and labels in fashion, industry experts suggested she try applying her impressive fashion eye to styling—and her friend Gwyneth Paltrow just so happened to be looking for a stylist. The two teamed up to create stunning look after stunning look, and the rest is fashion history.

Will Kahn is a stylist, editor, and overall jewelry expert whose résumé includes roles such as accessories director at Town & Country magazine and jewelry director at Moda Operandi. But of all his projects and accolades, our favorite is his Instagram account, @willsnotebook. What began with one post documenting Kahn's editorial process—namely, photographing pieces of fine jewelry placed on top of his personal notebook, surrounded by his notes—became a unique, approachable avenue of discovery for people who were curious about jewelry. In this episode, he shares how Lauren Conrad influenced his career path, why you should be shopping vintage jewelry, and what jewelry trends to expect in 2024.

Before becoming an entertainment powerhouse, Brit Marling was headed toward the world of investment banking. But during a college internship at Goldman Sachs, her gut told her that finance wasn’t the field she should be in. With a desire to tell stories, she soon pivoted into independent filmmaking. In 2011, she made a major splash in the entertainment industry when her films Another Earth and Sound of My Voice premiered side by side at the Sundance Film Festival. Both films were nominated for Independent Spirit Awards and picked up for distribution by Fox Searchlight, and in the years following, Brit went on to create massive hits like The East and The OA. Now, she’s evolving her career yet again: In November, Marling made her television directorial debut on the FX murder mystery show Murder at the End of the World starring Emma Corrin. Catch the finale of the series tomorrow, December 19.

Jasmin Larian Hekmat is the founder, designer, and CEO of fashion-girl favorite brand Cult Gaia. Hekmat started Cult Gaia as an accessories line, creating stunning pieces that doubled as objets d’art like the iconic Ark Bag. Eventually, she realized that in order to style the pieces the way she envisioned, she’d need to start designing clothes to go with them, thus the ready-to-wear and lifestyle brand was born. Hekmat's commitment to producing meaningful, artistic pieces has never wavered. Today, Who What Wear Editor in Chief Kat Collings sits down with the designer to talk about Cult Gaia’s Resort 2024 collection, which was recently shown at the brand’s first official fashion show in Los Angeles.

Though Monique Rodriguez always had an interest in beauty, she initially started her career as a nurse. Monique spent eight years in the medical field, but after experiencing a tragic life event, she returned to her passion for beauty to help work through her grief. She began experimenting with hair product formulations in the kitchen, sharing her personal haircare journey and explaining the science behind the ingredients on social media. But when her followers urged her to bottle and sell the haircare mixtures she was creating, Rodriguez realized that her side project had big potential. In 2014, she launched Mielle with one product, a mint almond hair oil, and since then, Mielle has grown to include 10 collections, arrived on shelves in over 100,000 stores, and in 2023, was acquired by Procter & Gamble, marking the largest exit ever for a Black female beauty founder.

This week, Who What Wear Editor in Chief Kat Collings, editor Eliza Huber, and associate editor Yusra Siddiqui are here to walk you through the second annual Low-Cost, High-Joy Gift Guide. After spending weeks curating a list of 53 unique, delightful items that won't break the bank this holiday season, our editors have unlocked the golden rules of gifting in 2023: 1) Socks are actually a great gift when they're from Sandy Liang. 2) When in doubt, gift something that was made in France. 3) If you're not pausing The Real Housewives of New York City during scenes in Jenna Lyons's home, you're missing out on crucial gifting inspiration.

After graduating with her master's degree in fashion journalism and racking up industry internships at publications like British Vogue and Women’s Wear Daily, Alice Bell set out to become a fashion editor. She landed a coveted role as a fashion assistant at U.S. Vogue, and while working there, started spending her free time dissecting her love life through the lens of astrology. While her interest in editorial work waned, she quickly became the unofficial office astrologer for Vogue employees, and wanting to share her knowledge with a larger community, she began offering readings for free on her social media. Soon, Bell realized that astrology was her calling and quit her job to pursue it full-time. Flash forward to today, and Alice is a full-time astrologer, author of Trust Your Timing, podcast host, and, in a full-circle moment, the resident astrologer at British Vogue.

This week, Who What Wear Beauty Director Erin Jahns is back just in time to prepare us for December’s many celebratory events. The holiday season is the perfect time to experiment with new beauty looks, and whether you’re a beauty pro looking to re-create the year’s biggest runway trends or a makeup novice trying to elevate your look in one simple step, Erin’s got you covered. Plus, she’s recommending which brands to shop for the most festive products and sharing tips for ensuring your makeup lasts all night long.

In 2020, Lindsay Holden, alongside her Co-Founders Britta Chatterjee and Shannon Kearney, set out to disrupt the haircare space with the launch of their clean, inclusive, and salon-grade haircare brand, Odele. Derived from the Norwegian phrase for “to share,” Odele can be used by anyone who shares a shower, regardless of age or gender. Despite launching amid a global pandemic, the company reached profitability in the first six months of business, and today, the line is on shelves at CVS, Ulta, and Target. But before getting Odele on major retailer shelves, Lindsay worked on the other side: she spent eight years working at Target in various buyer and merchandising manager roles within the domestics and home department, learning what makes a great product. Even before that, she spent her early career as an account manager, first at the mattress company Serta, and later, at image-licensing business Corbis.

Laura Brown is a journalist, a former editor in chief of InStyle, the founder of LB Media, and the BFF everyone wishes they had. After losing her EIC position due to InStyle’s print shutdown in 2022, Brown was suddenly free to do whatever she wanted—namely bridging the gap between her fashion world and various community-building programs. Among her other initiatives to “meddle for good,” Brown recently became chair of (RED)’s Creative Council, where she rallies her friends in fashion and Hollywood to join the fight against AIDS. Plus, she launched a collaboration with the dreamy French brand Sézane unofficially called French Enough, an ode to the French-girl aesthetic with a hint of LB’s trademark mischief.

Back in 2015, Gara and her team at Post Investment Group recognized the lack of affordable yet elevated massage experiences—and The Now was born. With chic design and exceptional massages at the forefront of their business, they opened the first boutique as a calming oasis within Los Angeles, and over the last eight years, The Now has grown to over 50 locations, launched a line of wellness products, and introduced a membership model. But Gara’s not stopping there: in 2022, using her learnings from The Now, she created Bowie Barker, a full-service pet grooming and self-wash business. But before she was growing two businesses simultaneously, she applied her keen eye for design and sharp attention to detail to making jewelry. What started as a creative outlet during her years spent as an entertainment industry assistant quickly became her buzzy, celeb-favorite line, Gara Danielle.

This week, Hillary sat down with Kristen Nichols, Who What Wear's associate director of special projects. Kristen put together this year's Luxury Report, which details the brands and celebrities influencing designer shopping, the most coveted high-end items of 2023, and, of course, the ins and outs of the quiet-luxury trend. Plus, Kristen shares how to source sold-out items like the Alaïa fishnet flats, and Hillary explains her theory on why all fashion leads back to the Olsen twins.

Though Heidi is a highly sought-after interior designer now, she didn’t predict she’d end up in the design world. After graduating with a masters in international public health, she spent her early career working at a medical clinic in the Gambia. But when she returned to the U.S. to continue working, she was disappointed by how administrative many of the stateside roles were and began a quest to find a new career. She tried a variety of career paths including bartending, acupuncture school, and teaching scuba, but she still couldn't find anything that felt right to her. That is, until she began blogging about design. Through her blog, Heidi landed her first job at a design firm, and eventually, she set out to create a firm of her own. Today, her firm works on projects across the country, and just this September, Heidi debuted a book called Memories of Home, which details 12 of her incredible projects.

Mara Hoffman began her eponymous brand in 2000 by designing and selling one-of-a-kind, handmade garments out of her New York apartment. Twenty-three years later, she's still known for making gorgeous statement pieces with bold colors and prints, but she continues to evolve her approach toward sustainable design and manufacturing. Hoffman recently partnered with textile-to-textile recycling company Circ to release a groundbreaking dress made from 50% recycled textile waste, and she is this year's CFDA Environmental Sustainability Award honoree. This week, Editor in Chief Kat Collings sat down with Hoffman to discuss designing from a place of honesty, the "change or die" mentality, and where they hope fashion is headed.

Vicky Tsai founded her skincare company, Tatcha, with the goal of helping heal people’s skin and soul. But while Vicky’s a major player in the beauty space now, it took years of trial and error to find work that matched her values. She first began her career on Wall Street as a derivatives trader at Merrill Lynch in New York City, but after witnessing 9/11 firsthand, she left her job to attend Harvard Business School for a fresh start. She interned at SK-II, then took a job at Starbucks in China, and later joined a tech startup focused on sustainability. Even with a successful career, Vicky still struggled to find her purpose, while simultaneously dealing with acute dermatitis on her skin. Then, 10 years into her corporate position, she decided to choose her own happiness. With no plan and a mountain of debt, she quit her job and began traveling. While visiting Kyoto, she learned about the beauty practices of geisha, and soon afterward, her skin was healed. She knew she had to find a way to bring her learnings to the masses, and with the help of geisha and cultural advisors, Tatcha was born.

Stacey Battat is a costume designer and longtime collaborator of director Sofia Coppola, known for her work on films like The Bling Ring and The Beguiled. But most recently, Battat took on the huge undertaking of crafting the looks for A24’s newly released biographical drama, Priscilla. Based on Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me, Coppola’s Priscilla, which stars Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi, depicts the couple's epic yet tumultuous relationship, this time from Priscilla’s perspective. From the late ’50s to the early ’70s, Battat had a ton of ground—and fashion eras—to cover when it came to costume design. She’s here to talk about how wardrobe choices impact character development, what type of research is involved in telling true stories, and why having a solid team is of the utmost importance.

Growing up, Sohla El-Waylly always had a passion for cooking, but it wasn’t until after she graduated college with an economics degree that she made the leap to attend culinary school. In the years following, she worked in fine-dining restaurants, even opening and running her own high-end diner for a year, before pivoting to food media and landing jobs at major food publications such as Serious Eats, Bon Appétit, and The New York Times. Along the way, she began showcasing her cooking skills on camera, and most recently, she served as a judge alongside Dan Levy on the HBO competition cooking show The Big Brunch. And now she’s embarking on yet another new venture with her first cookbook, Start Here, which hits shelves October 31.

This week, Hillary hands the mic to Who What Wear Editor in Chief Kat Collings for a special episode welcoming Nikki Ogunnaike to her new position as editor in chief at Marie Claire, Who What Wear’s sister brand! Nikki has big plans for the iconic publication, which she hopes to make feel like "a group chat of your most ambitious friends." The two EICs discuss growing up with Marie Claire, high-impact, low-lift personal style, and the accuracy of the Miranda Priestly depiction of an editor in chief.

Emily Schuman had the initial idea for a food and fashion blog called Cupcakes and Cashmere back in 2008, and today, the company has grown into a full-fledged media and e-commerce business. In addition to running the Cupcakes and Cashmere company, engaging with the 570,000+ followers on her personal instagram and designing and restocking the bestselling jewelry on her online shop, Emily recently embarked on a new endeavor: candles. In December 2022, Emily debuted Lavune, initially launching with holiday candles like Evergreen and Ember, which have returned for this fall season alongside the line’s core collection. Before she was running her own businesses, Emily spent her early career working in media advertising, first at Condé Nast and later at AOL. But while she was gaining valuable knowledge about publishing and the digital landscape, her free time was consumed by writing about the things she loved.

Ziwe is a comedian and writer perhaps best known for her provocative Instagram Live and Youtube interview series, Baited, or her Showtime variety sketch show, Ziwe. Both shows highlighted her talent for getting to the heart of the most divisive American issues, while still managing to produce hilarity. Today, she’s here to discuss her most personal project yet: Black Friend: Essays. Ziwe talks about how her comedy background helped lay the foundation for the book’s content and structure, the reason the essays are heavily footnoted, and why becoming a good artist means being very bad at your craft for a long time. SPANX TERMS & CONDITIONS Offer valid only toward SPANX brand styles on http://www.spanx.com . Promotion code must be applied at checkout to redeem discount. Offer expires December 31st, 2023 at 11:59PM ET. Offer not valid at other retail outlets. No adjustments on previous purchases. Offer is void where taxed, restricted or prohibited by law. Offer is non-transferable, not redeemable for cash and subject to change without notice. Offer cannot be combined with other offers or discounts. Purchase limits per household may apply. This offer is made by Spanx, Inc.

As CEO and founder of The Sill, Eliza Blank is the ultimate plant person. Inspired by her mother’s love of gardening and her own struggle to find plants for her tiny NYC apartment, she started The Sill as a direct-to-consumer houseplant company, bringing the benefits of plants to indoor environments. Though Blank had the initial idea for The Sill back in college, she didn’t yet have the tools to execute it. So when she graduated, she actually began her career as a brand strategist at global brand agency Wolff Olins before moving to haircare brand Living Proof as a brand manager. But the whole time, she kept the houseplant business in the back of her mind, and in 2012, she made the leap. She left her job, created a Kickstarter that raised $12K, and The Sill was born.

Mario Dedivanovic is a beauty tastemaker of the highest order. His makeup career began over 20 years ago when he first stepped foot into a Sephora. Since then, he’s created viral looks for celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and shared his knowledge and methods with thousands of makeup artists in live MasterClasses. Finally, in 2020, he created his namesake brand, Makeup by Mario. This week, he’s talking through entering his soft era, developing products with intention, and how you should actually be applying your concealer.

Ría Safford, the founder and CEO of RíOrganize, is a home-organization expert. RíOrganize was founded in 2016 as a luxury home-organization solution to help make homes more functional. But after a few years spent building her clientele, Safford got a call to organize celebrity hairstylist and Ouai founder Jen Atkin’s beauty closet, and the project went viral on social media. Today, RíOrganize boasts celebrity clientele including Paris Hilton and Chrissy Teigen, and has expanded to include services in relocation and curation. Safford has also recently shared her immense knowledge in her new book, The Organized Home for New Parents. But Safford wasn’t always helming a home-organization business—in fact, she considers herself a naturally messy person. Before RíOrganize, Safford worked in real estate, but after becoming beyond burnt out, she left her job and embarked on a new path to build something of her own. The Organized Home for New Parents is Out Now: https://rstyle.me/+3vHJ9w3oAa-AvDcsv3DsGw

Marisa Meltzer has been a journalistic staple in fashion and beauty for over a decade, writing for publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, and Vanity Fair. She’s also written four books—This Is Big, How Sassy Changed My Life, Girl Power, and Glossy, which is the latest to hit newsstands. Glossy is an intimate profile of Emily Weiss and the beauty company she founded that seemed to define an entire era, Glossier. Meltzer is here to give us the inside story on the inside story. Buy the book here: https://www.marisameltzer.com/books

At just 22 years old, Geri Halliwell-Horner shot to fame as Ginger Spice in the iconic and record-breaking girl group the Spice Girls. They went on to sell over 85 million records worldwide, cementing their status as one of the all-time greats. In 1998, Halliwell-Horner decided to leave the group, jumping into her solo music career. Along the way, Halliwell-Horner realized her passion for storytelling could translate to pursuits outside of songwriting, and she embarked on a new journey as a book author. After the success of her best-selling autobiography, If Only, Halliwell-Horner went on to pen the fictional children’s series Ugenia Lavender, which sold more than 250,000 copies in its first five months. And this October 3, her newest book, an adventure novel called Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen, will debut.

Jenna Lyons has been a household name in fashion since her 27-year tenure at J.Crew, and while she’s still as busy as ever, she’s found new freedom since stepping out on her own. She’s here to talk about what’s new with LoveSeen, how she’s expanded her interior design offerings with The Expert, and, of course, all things RHONY reboot. Lyons gets candid about how and why she really said yes to Bravo and which Real Housewife she’d love to style most.

In 2007, Kavi Ahuja Moltz and her now husband David launched D.S. & Durga out of their apartment in Brooklyn, New York. Today, the brand’s beautiful perfumes, candles, and bodycare products can be found in their three (soon to be four!) brick-and-mortar stores as well as in retailers like Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus, and direct-to-consumer. While David is the nose of the brand, crafting signature fragrances like Debaser, I Don’t Know What, and Rose Altantic, Kavi leads all design aspects as creative director and CEO. But it’s no surprise that Kavi has an incredible eye for design. In fact, she spent the early part of her career studying and working in architecture, and though she eventually realized the field wasn’t for her, she continues to use the skills she learned in her first career daily at D.S. & Durga.

This week, Hillary passes the mic to Who What Wear Editor in Chief Kat Collings and fashion editor Eliza Huber for a special New York Fashion Week recap. They’re breaking down everything they witnessed, from what’s happening in street style to the buzziest runway trends of the season—including one controversial pant style you thought was gone forever: capris.

Amina Porter is the CEO of PS, a private, luxury airport terminal for commercial flights. The service offers commercial passengers an elevated travel experience that allows them to bypass the stress of the normal airport terminal. But before Amina was trailblazing in the aviation and travel space, she was making moves across finance, real estate, hospitality, and even had a side gig in e-commerce. Then, in 2018, she experienced a personal tragedy that made her rethink everything and ultimately led her to embark on her second life in more ways than one.

This week, Who What Wear Editorial Director Lauren Eggertsen is taking us behind the scenes of how she styled our September cover shoot with Kaia Gerber. She’s walking us through the months-long process of putting together a shoot and sharing details on everything from how she and the team landed on the cheeky back-to-school theme to the last-minute outfit adjustments that took a look to the next level.

Babba C Rivera is the founder and CEO of Ceremonia, a line of clean haircare products rooted in Latinx heritage. In 2020, she launched the brand with a single product—a scalp oil inspired by personal childhood rituals and her father’s early career as a hairdresser in Chile. In the three years since, Ceremonia has grown its product line, opened a brick-and-mortar store in New York, and launched in over 500 Sephora locations, becoming the first Latinx-founded haircare brand sold at the retailer. Rivera also recently raised $10 million in a Series A, making her one of only 58 Latinas to raise over $1 million in VC funding. But before Rivera was building a haircare empire, she was leading marketing teams at companies like Uber and Away, and even operated her own brand marketing company called ByBabba.

Now known for her identifiable aesthetic—a colorful blend of French and L.A. influence—Clare Vivier began her handbag and accessories brand, Clare V., by hand-sewing laptop bags out of her home in 2008. Today, we’re reflecting on 15 years of the beloved brand and celebrating Clare’s upcoming book, La Vie de Clare V.: Paris Chic/L.A. Cool, which launches on September 12. Preorder now: https://www.clarev.com/pages/la-vie-de-clare-v