Writer
Meet NYC passerby, Fariha Roisin, who details the rough path of a freelance writer trying to survive New York City. With her self-care rituals and daily routines with a massage every now and then, she still makes it work.
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Paris passerby, Clemence Sigu, is a freelance journalist who explores the relationship our world has with the fashion industry.
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Stephanie Danler is a writer and the author of the National Bestseller Sweetbitter, now available in Paperback from Vintage Contemporaries. She holds an MFA from The New School and her work has appeared in The Sewanee Review, Travel + Leisure, Vogue, and The Paris Review.
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The illustrator behind her popular Instagram, Mari Andrew has combined her talent and life's experiences into publishing her first book. While she may have experienced loss and tragedy during her twenties, she picked up her watercolors and got to work by sharing her thoughts through drawings.
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Marjon is a freelance journalist living in Greenpoint. Formerly the Senior Fashion Writer at Vogue.com and the founding Arts and Culture Editor at Saint Heron, her work explores the intersection of style and culture. Marjon’s writing has appeared on The Fader, Jezebel, Elle, Refinery29, and elsewhere.
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Maura Kutner Walters is an award-winning journalist who is currently an editor at New York Magazine's The Cut. Maura has held features editor roles at Town & Country and Harper's Bazaar and was the deputy editor of Bloomberg Pursuits and New York Magazine's special issues.
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Alyssa Coscarelli is a fashion writer, consultant, and influencer based in the East Village, New York City. After working as an editor for Refinery29 for 5 years, Alyssa recently took the leap to give the freelance life a whirl, and in addition to contributing to various digital publications, consulting for up-and-coming New York indie brands, she's working on launching her own online platform in the coming months. She's an impulsive shopper with a love for vintage and indie brands specifically, and can never pass up the perfect pair of Levi's (even though she owns more than any one human should).
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Based in Brooklyn, NY, Sara Radin is a writer and curator. Full time, she is the Youth Culture Editor for WGSN, where she consults global brands on consumer trends for Millennials and Generation Z. Outside of work, Sara does memoir writing and curates pop-up art events and workshops. She is the co-founder of It's Not Personal, a collaborative project, growing anthology and collective inspired by the female dating experience. Previously, her personal writing has been published by Bust Magazine, Huffington Post and Thought Catalog. She also teaches the pre-college program at the Fashion Institute of Technology and is currently a mentor for Girls Write Now.
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After studying journalism at Boston University, she started working at fashion magazine and spent her twenties living in Sydney, Australia until she moved back in 2012. Anna now creates content as Senior Fashion Editor for Barneys' The Window.
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Hallie Gould is a NYC-based Senior Editor at Byrdie. Previously, Hallie wrote for Marie Claire, ELLE, Real Beauty, and Time Out New York. She has a penchant for black clothing, lipstick, and maintaining the intricacies of her (slightly bewildering) skin care routine.
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Meet NYC Passerby, Kristi Garced, Fashion Market Editor at WWD
Read MoreBorn in Israel, Yael moved to Manhattan in 1994 and to Williamsburg in 2011. Her book, Falafel Nation, was published in 2015. She is the founder of the non-profit Umami Food and Art festival and is currently Director of Business Development at Splacer.
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Nada is a Los Angeles-based writer and editor, by way of Toronto, and the author of Future You, a collection of short fiction. By day, she manages editorial for Society6, a print-on-demand marketplace for 200k artists.
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“J moved to New York in 2009 to work for the New York Times as a technology reporter. Before that, they lived in San Francisco and worked as a waitress and fact-checker at Wired Magazine. They’re originally from Virginia, and studied biology and anthropology as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia. Having a background in science really helped them to see that they loved everything about information tech, infrastructure and thinking about how things work and evolve. Initially, J felt alienated from tech culture because they didn’t present as a stereotypical “nerd” but the more they dug into it, the more they became fascinated with the way the Internet, machines and software shape our understanding of ourselves, the world, and each other. And they’ve been doing that ever since. ”
Outfit Details: Top, Puma ; Pants & Blouse, Vintage ; Choker, ASOS
In summer, I wake up naturally. I love warm weather, and I can’t wait to be outside. In winter, it’s the complete opposite. I lie in bed and negotiate until I’m on my way into the day. No matter the season, I like to alkalize as soon as I wake up, with charcoal filtered water with a squeeze of lemon, lime or blood orange, whatever is in the fridge.
I’ve been reading since I was 2, the story goes, so it feels natural that I would work in words. My family is very working class, so it took me awhile to realize I could earn a living by writing, and once that happened, there was no going back.
I love having a job that allows me to investigate the human condition, and think about life, and explore alternate ways of being and doing things.
My goal for the rest of the year is to expand my idea of myself as a creator. I am working on an art book with a friend, and teaching myself more about film and moving images. I love working with video. In five years, I hope to be as excited and invigorated as I am today to write and connect with new people.
“Anything that explores the interiority of black women appeals to me and I was lucky enough to get a copy of the new Zadie Smith and I haven’t been able to put it down since.”
I mostly shop online. Trying on clothes gives me body anxiety and so many places have free online returns, so. In general, I aim for maximum comfort and bright colors, which I get from all over. I am experimenting with more masculine styles right now because that's what is in my heart. I love ASOS and I have a few friends who sell vintage and they occasionally set pieces aside for me, which is dope.
Raw honey is a perfect skin mask. I just buy a jar of something raw and organic and spread it on my face a few minutes and then rinse it off. I do it a few times a month, in the morning or before bed . Honey is a natural antibiotic and moisturizer. It keeps my skin clear and looking dewy and moist. It’s THE BEST!
My skin is so temperamental and hyper-reactive, so I can’t use too many things at once or too much makeup, or my face has a meltdown. I just try keep it clean and moisturized to prevent break-outs. I love Orgaid sheet masks because they have probiotics and witch hazel in them, which is incredible. I’ve been using a vitamin C serum too, which is working wonders for my summer complexion.
Outfit Details: Kimono, Free People
Outfit Details: Dress, ASOS; Kimono, Free People; Rings, Pamela Love
“Holistic health is very important to me! I’ve become extremely attuned to the foods that make me feel great and the ones that make me feel terrible. And now I’m learning to experiment with teas and things just for health. I bought a block of organic reishi mushrooms at the Union Square Farmer’s Market for $10! I’m going to brew it this winter as a health tonic. I just started a newsletter to document these adventures. TinyLetter.com/FermentationandFormation”
The Black Book by Middleton A. Harris, Ernest Smith, Morris Levitt, Roger Furman, & Toni Morrison
This Bridge Called My Back by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa
Best Coffee: SuperCrown
Best Paletas: Tulcingo Deli
Best Juices at AP Cafe
Best Place for Cool Shows: Trans-Pecos
Best Discowoman Sets: TheLotRadio and Market Hotel
Best Acupuncture: TigerLily
Best Spot For A Date & Sushi: Momos
Best Place for a Movie: Syndicated
Streetstyle Details: Vintage
“Lauren is the Music News Editor of Genius.com. She’s responsible for mining the internet for the stories behind your favorite songs, lyrics, and artists. Lauren was previously the Managing Editor of Complex Music where she profiled the best rapper alive Nicki Minaj, spent a day with Khloe Kardashian, and wrote Complex’s first digital cover story on Danny Brown. More importantly, she did her master’s thesis on Future and went on a SlutWalk with Amber Rose. She has bylines on VICE, Fader, Paper Magazine, Jezebel, and more. These days, she lives in Brooklyn with her cat, Tunechi.”
Photography by Xenia Alexandra
“I moved to New York to get my master’s in writing at NYU. I ended up getting an internship with Complex and worked under the music editor Insanul Ahmed at the time. We work together at Genius now, too. I really had no idea what I was doing, I knew a lot about music but certainly not enough. I’m pretty sure I learned more in that year of interning at Complex than I did in all of grad school and possibly college. From there I was an editorial assistant, bounced around and worked at VICE’s Noisey for a bit and ended up back at Complex from 2013 to March 2016 as managing editor of the music channel.”
Lauren's favorite records
“My cat, Tunechi, usually wakes me up around 5:30 a.m. to be fed and then I’m in and out of sleep until 8. I’ve narrowed my morning routine down to 30 minutes so that I can lay around and pretend to meditate/snuggle with my cat all morning. I force myself to drink 4 glasses of lemon water before I leave the house.”
Top, Banana Repbulic ; Pants, H&M ; Shoes, Vans
“I’d been at Complex for almost five years and I think there was just a breaking point of, “OK, what now?” I ended up leaving to go freelance for a few months and grow up. Then I started talking to Genius and ended up doing some freelance for them before coming on as their music news editor. It helped that a handful of my old editors at Complex moved to Genius, too. What appealed to me was that Genius was solely dedicated to the music—the stories behind the lyrics, the songs, the production, and the artists. These days, artists don’t need media to tell their stories, they have their own sites, their own magazines, their own platforms. We work *with* artists to tell their stories. What Genius does is really just add another layer to that by dissecting and breaking down the meaning behind that.”
Dress, Topshop ; Shoes, Vans
“My favorite record that I own is Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday—the vinyls are pink, but I have them framed on my wall. The others are all ones I stole from my college’s radio station—they basically had them outside of the studio in crates to give away and I came across them at midnight after a long night in the college newspaper office. I have so many random vinyls at this point—Ma$e, Lil Flip, Black Rob, Faith Evans, a lot of early Bad Boy records. Then Take Care, of course.”
“I also interviewed Khloe Kardashian and I had a very nice lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel -probably one of the more honest and open interviews I’ve ever done. Then there was the Amber Rose Slutwalk, it was surprisingly one of the most emotional experiences I’ve had while writing a piece. It was a really incredible experience that I feel like opened a lot of people’s eyes to the women’s issues she’s trying to tackle.”
“Anyone that works in music should have a copy of egotrip’s Book Of Rap Lists, it’s like the bible for rap writers. Shea Serrano, one of my favorite writers, commissioned a ton of music writers for The Rap Yearbook, I was able to write about Kanye West and Jay Z’s Watch The Throne in it. As for So Sad Today, Men Explain Things To Me, and Joan Didion, I like to make myself cry.”
Dress, Topshop
“I interviewed Nicki Minaj for a Complex cover story at 2:30 a.m. after an almost 20 hour shoot. It was rough, we were both out of it, but we ended up really connecting during the interview. I never wanted to interview my idol—she’s my favorite artist of all time—but I lucked out. After it was over, she basically gave me a pep talk on how to navigate the industry, handed me a Myx moscato, hugged me and then I ended up sitting outside in Hollywood crying for 30 minutes after the shoot.”
Lauren's favorite books
Lauren's favorite beauty products
“I use a L’oreal day lotion with collagen in it and an Aveeno ultra-calming night cream because I have combination skin. I love Mario Badescu rose water spray to refresh my skin throughout the day—and my hair. I’m also newly obsessed with their drying lotion for any blemishes. A lot of my make-up is Make Up Forever including their HD foundation because it’s easy on my skin and never feels cakey. I use the Anastasia Dipbrow pomeade after my friend put me onto it. Other than that I use a combination of drugstore makeup that’s better than any ultra expensive shit—Maybelline liquid eyeliner has been my go-to for the last decade. As for fragrances, I’ve been wearing Acqui Di Gio, the men’s cologne, since I was in my teens.”
Top, Banana Republic
“I rotate maybe four to five outfits and usually wear black jeans, white Sk8-Hi Vans, a white, black or gray tank/V-Neck, and some sort of sweater. I love robe sweaters in the winter and occasionally fuck around with spandex plain black dresses in the summer. I have no real aesthetic to my wardrobe I just like plain clothes that fit and then I just stack a lot of my grandfather’s old gold jewelry on.”
✓ I love this old school Italian spot in Carroll Gardens called Red Rose —go on Thursdays for the stuffed artichokes.
✓ Soft Spot for drinks.
✓ Three Kings for tattoos.
“Born and raised on the Upper East Side, Emma is a confessional writer, aspiring curator, taurus and an only child. In high school she co-founded a global webseries about telling the stories of teenagers via videos of their bedrooms which garnered a front page NYTimes spread. She is currently graduating from NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study with a concentration in confessional art and contemporary female artist. Emma writes poems and creates text art that focuses on the relationship between female sexuality and food. Emma is also working on a curating collective and trying to put together her first show which is going to be an entire home for visitors to explore.”
Outfit, Vintage
My morning routine is usually making awkward eye contact with my neighbors across the way who have seen me eat snacks in my underwear, have sex, and cry way too many times because for no reason I refuse to get blinds. After that’s over, I usually put on music and try to remind myself to hydrate.
Confessional art as a genre intends to reveal a truth that is inherently shameful. I guess I like that because I don’t go to therapy and am an only child, so it’s the way that I deal with things on my own. Plus I like turning gross, rotten memories into the silliest, most colorful looking objects to cherish. Although I suppose you can argue that all art intends to reveal something autobiographical, even a paired down abstract painting. I like making work that most people probably think is embarrassing, like anything about the time my laundry bag opened in the elevator and this guy handed me back my period stained underwear seems like relevant fodder, even though period art for the most part is pretty done at this point.
“I used to work as an editorial assistant at New Distribution, which represents all these amazing independent magazines I love like Buffalo Zine, Food For Fashion, PIN-UP, and Editorial Magazine. I care about spending full price on thoughtful independent print projects because for titles that are actually going back to long-form journalism and using really experimental typography in their layouts I just feel like this is the most functional form of art to indulge. My favorite books of all-time are “The Glass Castle” and “Please Kill Me.” In the photo above though there some other good ones: Frida Kahlo’s diary in particular uses such poetic language to talk about selfhood and colors. I can always go back to it for inspiration. There’s also a hardcover poetry book I self-published called “I Want to Scratch ‘n Sniff You,” as well as a Japanese photo series on pregnant women and the uncanny of the domestic sphere.”
My best friend in high school and I started [The Do Not Enter Diaries]. Part of it came from the fact that we were obsessed with the art direction that went into the bedrooms in some of our favorite films and how it was, in a lot of cases, the crux of the characters’ development. We knew how much we had worked to make our own bedrooms these special havens and how much we hoped it said about us and our friends. We wanted to showcase how something as simple as the way you decorate is a form of storytelling. The other part was we felt like we didn’t have the outlet for all of our weird ideas in our claustrophobic high school atmosphere and wanted a space of our own to work on. It was very low-tech—we only had a crappy camera and didn’t know much about web development but it was such a fun and important learning experience. It was incredible that we got the kind of press we did. The fact that MTV and Amazon’s E-book office invited us to their office at one point was insane. But I am honestly glad none of that came into fruition at that point in my life.
[We didn't continue The Do Not Enter Series because] we were at first limited to our friends and friends of friends and those who emailed us, which didn’t make the project nearly as diverse as we wanted it to be. If we had a bigger network it would’ve been different. But eventually we started getting correspondents from as far as Slovakia and Shanghai, which was great. I think it had a lot of potential, but there are still so many other issues I would’ve loved to touch upon and it was hard to keep the film style consistent when the correspondents were sending us the footage. We realized that having your own bedroom itself was such a privileged concept and we wanted to explore more subjects who were engaging with the teenage bedroom in nonconventional ways. Had we had better resources—funding, even just a better camera-- I would’ve loved to delve in even deeper. But in the end, we both went off to college and got involved in other projects and being obsessed with archiving the teenage bedroom sadly seemed less pertinent all of a sudden.
Dress, Vintage
Top, American Apparel ; Pants, Bode New York
“I just finished a series called “Packed Lunch” which are humorous silk tapestries that use food metaphors for different erotic situations. I am kind of fixated on the relationship between food and sexuality, mostly because meals are a way that I archive a lot of memories. Someone recently told me that Graham crackers were created by this religious guy to keep boys busy so that they wouldn’t masturbate. I am so into that. I’ve been thinking of what foods would be the equivalent for women. Rewriting a mythology around Cheetos, maybe…where a psychoanalyst was like, women eat Cheetos because they remind them of penis envy, or something? I don’t know. I also just bought a dollhouse off of Craigslist that I am going to recreate, where each room is a different story from my past. I recently got back from this curators intensive program and my friend and I are brainstorming work for a curator collective we want to start.”
I don’t wear much makeup, but when I do it's usually a little bit of the Bare Essentials bronzer, Glossier Boy Brow, and maybe some sort of black eyeliner or red lipstick, depending on the occasion. I also recommend Glossier Priming Moisturizer, St. John's Shield Light Regenerative Bath & Body Oils, DKNY Be Delicious Eau de Parfum Spray, and C.O.Bigelow Rose Salve.
My dad is a dermatologist so I think I’ve grown up being really skeptical of most beauty products that say they can rock my world. I am still totally attracted to makeup with really groovy packaging or anything that smells like a Jamba Juice smoothie. I still think simple stuff like Dove soap really gets the job done best. I am wary of complicated ingredients.
Most of my wardrobe is vintage, junky thrift-shops, and random online places I follow on Instagram. I love 10 Ft. Single Stella Dallas, Amarcord Vintage, 9th Street Haberdashery, Coming Soon, and Georgia Vintage. I just want my wardrobe to look like a lava lamp sort of spilled all over an episode of Lizzie McGuire.
Dress, Vintage
Top, Topshop ; Skirt, Vintage ; Tote, Rube Goldberg
How Should A Person Be by Sheila Heti, Chelsea Girls by Eileen Myles, The Diary of Frida Kahlo by Carlos Fuentes, A Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, I Want to Scratch 'n Sniff You by Emma Orlow
The Doom Generation, Coffee and Cigarettes, Reality Bites, Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion
Lowkey brunch spot: B&H Deli
Favorite sandwich: Cheeky Sandwiches
Best bookstore: Mast Books
Photography by Audrey Cotton
“Born in Falls Church, VA Lisa is a Brooklyn-based writer who has written for Garance Dore, New York Magazine, The WILD Magazine, J. Crew, La Garconne and more. She’s also a florist who has done flowers for the likes of Ulla Johnson, Rachel Comey and Stone Fox Bride and her work has appeared in Vogue, New York Magazine and Elle.com.”
Top, J. Crew ; Pants, Belt & Earrings, Vintage ; Shoes, Zara
I wake up and resent the alarm with every bone in my body, shuffle out to the kitchen to a cup of coffee because my husband is awake before I am 99.9% of the time, procrastinate getting ready and out the door until I have no choice but to madly rush through my “beauty” routine: wash my face with a Clarisonic I got last Christmas (can’t tell if it’s really made a difference but now I’m too paranoid to stop using it), then some sort of eye treatment from my multitude of Kiehl’s Eye Treatment samples, smear overpriced but damn good Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat under my eyes, Diorshow Black Out Mascara, Hourglass Brow stuff for my anemic asian eyebrows, MAC matte bronzer and then this Bobbi Brown stuff in a pot that makes it look like my cheeks are living in a perpetual summer. Then out the door with toast in hand.
I moved to NYC because I had my tunnel vision focused on making it as a fashion writer (or really any sort of writer for that matter). What no one really tells you is how difficult/impossible that is. I pursued it pretty tirelessly, checking everything off the list—Master’s degree in journalism, internships, networking, establishing hard-fought relationships editors only to have them leave the publication, following up (always following up) etc. and just really hit a wall after many, many years with little to no results/income/progress and needed to step away from it all for a moment, which is when I started doing flowers. Copywriting was always in the back of my mind as an option that I really didn’t want to embrace but I’ve learned that 1. you can actually make a living doing it and 2. you can actually get pretty creative and still have a voice and still be challenged coming up with smart ways to reach people.
“So these books aren’t necessarily my favorite books of all time but rather a snapshot of what I’m reading right now/recently read and liked. I’ve been endeavoring to read East of Eden and started it on our honeymoon—the language is heartbreakingly beautiful in its practicality and sparse matter-of-fact-ed-ness and it reminds me of why I ever wanted to be a writer. It’s too beautiful for ugly subway rides—I almost want to go on a retreat somewhere befitting of its beauty and finish reading it there.”
After hitting a wall with writing I needed to just step away from things for a moment and separate myself from the tireless pursuit of it all. I had recently done a story on Brooklyn florists for New York Magazine’s The Cut and thought I’d trying playing around with flowers. I have such a Type-A, perfectionist personality that it felt really good to try something that didn’t have all my hopes and dreams wrapped up in it. My husband and I head upstate quite frequently so I sort of used that as a testing ground and practiced form and all those good things with the wildflowers and blooms that are rampant (and free) up there. Then I started reaching out to contacts I had from pitching fashion stories to pitch flowers instead.
The actual process is sort of different every time. Sometimes I’ll see an arrangement that really inspires me and will work off that, other times I have a specific color scheme I’m dreaming of working with or that a client specifically wants, and other times I go the less thinking route and just go for it. My favorite part is making the arrangements. I’m pretty not great at everything else, which is a bit of a problem since it turns out that arranging feels like it’s actually just 10-15% of the package. You have to be business savvy and be willing to take a pretty big financial risk—getting a studio and a team—in order to grow and I’ve just never been ready for that, which means my business has always had a pretty low overhead. It works for me but it is tough when you see other people pulling off larger, more glamorous installs and projects but then I have to remind myself and my ego that I chose this level of engagement and that it’s what works best for me for now.
Top, Vintage Dior ; Jeans, Vintage Levis
I’ve been using Bumble and Bumble Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner for as long as I can remember and I just recently discovered Oribe products—all amazing—but the Surfcomber Mousse is exceptionally so. I just put it my hair after I take a shower at night, go to sleep with my hair wet and in the morning my hair has just the right amount of gritty texture and wave (although my real dream is to get a perm, this’ll do for now). Love the idea of body oil as a moisturizer and I have this great one that smells like roses and earth and makes me feel like I should be at the beach but I like the ease of lotion and I’ve been feeling Kiehl's Creme de Corps for a couple of years now. I also recommend Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing Masque.
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of online shopping, mostly stalking Etsy for vintage goods. Stella Dallas in Williamsburg is great too but it can be a real undertaking since there’s so much stuff in there. I usually go with a specific mission in mind. I also feel pretty lucky to know a handful of friends who are amazingly talented designers: Ilana Kohn, Aurora James of Brother Vellies, Marissa Maximo of Anaak…I love wearing their pieces. Rounding all that out, there are the usual big chain suspects: Zara, Madewell, J.Crew. And then there are the designers I covet but can never pull the financial trigger on: Rachel Comey, Apiece Apart, Maryam Nassir Zadeh, Caron Callahan etc. I’ve also been working my way up to a pair of Jesse Kamm pants—resolving to do that here really really soon. Oh! And Ace and Jig for textile amazingness.
That Bon Iver album makes time stop. AA Bondy (paired with Timber Timber) is great for driving around Joshua Tree at night as the full moon rises over the mountains. Melaena Cadiz has a voice like a train. The Iron and Wine album is perfect for playing Gin Rummy in bed with a mezcal gimlet in hand—actually, it’s the perfect soundtrack for peaceful contentment.
Top, Vintage Dior ; Jeans, Vintage Levi's
“My man and I just went on our honeymoon in February—we sort of drove all over the desert-y areas of the west coast and hit other little spots along the way too. Joshua Tree and Ojai were great but we really fell in love with Tucson—it’s a real gem of a town that for some reason a very specific demographic (ahem, people who live in Phoenix) tend to hate on but don’t listen to a word they say. I like to think that the people who end up drawn to it and loving it are the exact people Tucson wants in its arms anyway.”
Dress, Ace and Jig
JUMPSUIT, MADEWELL ; BAG, VINTAGE ; SUNGLASSES, RAY-BANS ; SHOES, MARAIS
The Lover by Marguerite Duras, Blue Nights by Joan Didion, Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler, You'll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein, East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Cinema Paradiso, Finding Nemo, Amelie, Ain't Them Bodies Saints
American Hearts by A. A. Bondy, Around the Well by Iron and Wine, Deep Below Heaven by Melaena Cadiz, For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver
Achilles Heel for stupidly good small plates and cocktails (and the occasional chicken/lamb/goat roast)
Alameda for the best unpretentious burger
Troost for the best backyard hang—go on a Monday for their bratwurst and sauerkraut night
Acapulco diner for huevos rancheros
Porter James = furniture eye candy
Meet NYC passerby, Kelsey Garcia. Born and raised in Miami by her loud and crazy passionate Cuban family, Kelsey moved to New York when she attended New York University, earning a dual degree in Journalism and Gender and Sexuality Studies.
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“Kyla is a graduate of Spelman College and the Writing M.F.A. at Sarah Lawrence College. She lives in New York, where she is working on a memoir about a chance encounter with a distant relative that leads her to research her family’s origins. Her poetry and prose have appeared in Blackbird, Gawker, the Guardian, O, the Oprah Magazine, the Poetry Foundation, SPOOK Magazine, Vinyl Poetry, and elsewhere. Her work has earned her numerous honors, including a Jacob K. Javits Fellowship.”
“I started writing very young—in Kindergarten. I really enjoyed doing it, and was celebrated for it, so I just kept going. I started writing poetry as a teenager, and over the last few years, I became serious about writing creative nonfiction. I am also a freelance writer which I do with equal parts pride and annoyance.”
Dress, Willow & Clay ; Shoes, INC
“My morning routine is very, very basic. I shower, dress, and eat breakfast. I usually listen to music as I get dressed; if it’s Tuesday, I’ll listen to the Another Round podcast or 2 Dope Queens.”
“I’m writing a book that explores the relationships with family I’ve met later in life, and by surprise—everyone from siblings I’d never met to a white cousin (who didn’t know she was black!). There’s a travel element to it—going to my ancestral homeland to meet some of these people, dig through old court records; there’s secret identities, murder. People keep asking me if this is a novel, but it’s actually my life.”
Kyla's favorite book
Kyla's favorite book
“I picked Letters to a Young Poet because it is my personal secular art bible. It’s gotten me through some very tough times, when I felt lost, or confused, or alone. Over and over, I’ve said to myself that great, famous quotation from Letter 4: “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” I’ve been slowly embroidering that quotation onto a ribbon as well.”
Dress, Willow & Clay
“For better or worse, I don’t have a real beauty routine. I would like to think this is because I am a “natural beauty”—but really, I don’t get into products, because I don’t want to be dependent on them. My hair pretty much looks the same no matter what I do or don’t do to it, but I try to moisturize it, at least, with shea butter and oil. I wear tinted moisturizer, eyeliner and blush—more so for myself than for the appearance (I doubt I look much different with so little makeup on). I try to make sure things are paraben-free, and as simply made as possible.”
“Simple is better. Whenever I’m nervous about going somewhere or meeting someone, thinking, ‘Should I put on more makeup?’ I just remember that no one ever liked me because I had on mascara.”
“Because I’m old inside, I have always shopped at a lot of vintage or consignment stores. For a while, I was using Stitch Fix to find new clothes. I don’t have pierced ears, so I wear a lot of vintage earrings—I like Pippin Jewelers in Manhattan. I’m inclined to wear solid colors instead of prints or patterns—I prefer textures.”
✓ Four & Twenty Blackbirds this pie shop in Brooklyn is divine
✓ Ample Hills Creamery ice cream (I’m very into fancy ice cream.)
“Kayla Tanenbaum is a freelance writer/dog walker. She was born, raised, and educated in New York City, and is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Nonfiction at Columbia University. She is the Editor at Large of Enchantress Magazine and runs a dog walking service called KTpups. She dabbles in photography and ukulele.”
Jacket, JOIE ; Jumpsuit, REIF HAUS
Jacket, JOIE ; Jumpsuit, REIF HAUS
If I let myself, I would sleep until noon every day. I need to ease into mornings, so I set my alarm for two hours before I want to be out of bed, spend an hour pressing snooze, and 40 minutes watching TV. Back before Stewart left and Colbert moved on, that meant watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report every morning. I’m still reeling from that loss and figuring out my morning shows.
In college, I interned for a couple of magazines and at a literary agency and loved it. But I didn’t have the guts to pursue my own writing so I thought I would encourage it in others: I wanted to be an agent for a while, then I worked as a high school English teacher. I realize if I don’t try now, I will always wonder what could have been, so I left my teaching gig (which was very difficult to do) and applied to graduate school. I’m thrilled to say I’ll be going to Columbia for my MFA. I’m beginning to work on a book about people who live off the grid in various ways for various reasons (religion, anti-technology, etc.) and form alternative communities. I also write regularly for Man Repeller and Interview Magazine.
I have a dog whom I adopted after fostering him through Social Tees Animal Rescue. I still work with them, taking photos of dogs who need forever homes, but I realized I could make money doing something I love, hanging out with dogs and getting outside, so I launched KT Pups. More importantly, if I write all day, I’ll either get nothing done or spend the entire day in my own head, which is overwhelming and exhausting. Being responsible for other people’s pets gives me a way to break up my day and get outside. I don’t think I could write if I didn’t do something physical and not so introspective. I hate going to the gym, so I ride my bike to the clients’ houses and walk or jog for an hour. Nothing clears my head for writing like cleaning poop off the street.
“Why be Happy When You Could be Normal is a memoir by Jeanette Winterson. I’m about to get my MFA in nonfiction writing, so I’ve been reading the best of the best in first-person writing and feeling jealous, inadequate, and inspired. Jeanette Winterson is an fucking genius. She wrote an autobiographical novel Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit based on growing up a lesbian in a Pentecostal family in England. I loved the novel, but I’m partial to nonfiction. When I’m reading, I always underline the lines I wish I had written, and this book is basically black with pen underlinings because every single line is that good. She talks about her childhood in more detail here, but my favorite parts of are the sections on her writing life: what it took to write Oranges, her mother’s response, how she fell into books as a child and maintained that love. Her writing is so elegant and specific, not plainspoken at all, let entirely unpretentious. I had a very different childhood from her, but this book hit me in my inner most core. Plus, that title.”
I really love minimalism in interesting proportions. I tend to wear neutrals or earth tones (except bright red; I love bright red). I very much want to be a Maryam Nassir Zadeh girl. I also love Rachel Comey and Creatures of Comfort. I prefer to shop at independent boutiques (though I don’t think I’ve ever exited a Zara empty-handed). Two of my favorite stores in NYC are The Rising States and American Two Shot. They don’t really fit into this minimal aesthetic, but where I always go if I want something no one else will have, which is obnoxiously important to me sometimes. I also love the stores Sincerely, Tommy in Bed-Stuy and Otherwild in the LES. Online, I love Staud and Needsupply.
I learned to surf in Rincon, Puerto Rico. I signed up for a women’s-only retreat at Samatahiti and we lived in tents (actually, more like yurts) and surfed for four hours/day. I feel in love with the physicality of surfing. I’m so in my head, by nature and by virtue of my day job, but while surfing, especially while learning to surf, there’s no room for rumination or neuroses. I think it’s really important to have a hobby you do only for you, not for any sense of recognition or ambition. For me, that used to be photography, but now I'm working towards getting some stuff shown, so my photography is kind of wrought with ambition as well. I’m a decent surfer, but I’ll never be actually good. That's the best part. It’s really just for me, just for fun. I’m going to the Rockaways to surf in a few weeks, then I’m heading to Panama for another women’s retreat.
Top, Georgia Alice ; Pants, Vintage Levi's
“Tumbleweed Connection is Elton John’s third album. It’s his take on Americana and country western themes. I’m from a New York City Jewish family who can never be outdoors because of our confusion and allergies, but for some reason, I’ve always been really drawn to the West. I love how well Sir Elton captures the spirit while being so damn English. He feels like an outsider to the themes in the same way I do. I love to go record hunting with my parents because it reveals to me they actually have great taste in music even though growing up they played the same Crosby Still and Nash album in the car for about 10 years. They gave away their record collection but recently bought me a bunch of albums they loved when they were younger, including this one. I thought Elton John was only “Tiny Dancer,” “Candle in the Wind,” etc. but this album has totally changed my mind about him. I’ve practically worn it into oblivion by listening to it so much.”
Top, Georgia Alice ; Pants, Vintage Levi's
I wash my face at night with a white washcloth. I bought a pack of 20 for maybe $5 dollars. They’re kind of rough on my face, which feels exfoliating, and are much cheaper (and more hygienic) than a clarisonic brush. Plus, because they’re white, you can really see when the makeup/city pollution is totally gone. A friend introduced me to Vintner’s Daughter. I bought the Vintner's Daughter Active Botanical Serum, which is by far the most expensive beauty product I’ve ever purchased. I use two drops/night mixed with moisturizer so it really lasts and my skin feels great. I used to be a product junkie — and such a sucker for packaging — but I started reading Paula’s Choice makeup blog and more articles about the beauty industry, and realized that most products are just gimmicks. I love trying new red lipsticks but when it comes to skin products, I don’t really believe the hype.
I love red lipstick on a bare face. It’s such a strange blend of trying really hard and not trying at all. I do a bold lip, fill in my eyebrows with Glossier Boy Brow and Benefit Gimme Brow, and if I’m going out at night, add some RMS Beauty Living Luminizer or Hourglass Bronzer in a C shape around my brow bones. Maybe I’ll still inspired by those Juergen Teller for Celine ads with Daria Werbowy, or maybe i’m just so sick of photoshop and Facetune on everyone’s selfies, but I think under-eye circles and freckles are so chic. I want my skin to look like skin. I really want to have a Signature Look, so I’m trying to only be photographed in lipstick, like Milk Makeup Lip + Cheek or Glossier Generation G Lip. I also recommend YSL Touche Eclat.
Jumpsuit, REIF HAUS ; Shoes, Urban Outfitters
“Before I moved, I pinned everything I liked onto a Pinterest board I called “be my house plz,” (which you can check out) and went through it, looking for patterns. It turns out I liked midcentury modern furniture, an aggressively neural palette, oriental rugs, and lots of plants. If you had asked me what I wanted my apartment to look like, I would have said something way more ornate and bohemian. So my advice is: you might be wrong about what you think you want. Look for what you’re drawn to, not what you say you’re drawn to.”
Top, Creatures of Comfort ; Pants, Tibi
Top, Creatures of Comfort ; Pants, Tibi
Top, Georgia Alice ; Pants, Vintage Levi's
Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It by Geoff Dyer, Teaching A Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard, The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson, Sex and Landscapes by Helmut Newton
Tumbleweed Connection by Elton John, El Camino by The Black Keys, Walkin' This Road By Myself by Lightnin' Hopkins, Still Crazy After All This Years by Paul Simon
kayla's favorite places in nyc
Mill Korean: tiny restaurant near Columbia, every time I go it's mostly Korean people, which I take as a great sign.
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas has the best films and baked goods.
Top & Shoes, Zara ; Pants, Rachel Comey ; Bag, Loeffler Randall
