Julia Sherman was born and bred in New York City. Sherman runs "Salad for President," an evolving publishing project that draws a meaningful connection between food, art, and everyday obsessions.
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Meet Sarah Vinciguerra
in Nurse
Sarah was born in a beach town in Florida. Seeking more energy than the small towns she was accustomed to, she moved to Brooklyn with her husband two years ago to pursue a degree in Nursing as well as be closer to her friends.
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Meet Arpana Rayamajhi
in Jeweler
Born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal. She received her BFA from The Cooper Union School of Art, focusing primarily on Painting and Sculpture. She founded her jewelry brand in 2014, where she brings her Nepali heritage and craftsmanship to each of her pieces whilst drawing inspiration from tribal/ethnic, pop cultures, Rock & Roll and Death. In addition she is also the co-founder of DISPOSE, an online magazine collection of disposable photographs that narrate the day of an individual.
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Meet Lauren Nostro
in Writer
“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.”
♫ LISTEN TO Lauren'S PLAYLIST | ⌨ LAST GOOGLE SEARCH
STREETSTYLE DETAILS: Jersey, joefreshgoods
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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
✓ 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.
FAVORITE MOVIES
Meet Sue Williamson
in Editor
Born in a small town outside of Memphis, Tennessee, Sue moved to New York over seven years ago to study Fashion Design and Art History at Pratt, interning for stylists and at places like NYLON and Refinery29 along the way. She is the digital editor at W, where she writes about fashion, beauty, and culture. In her free time she loves taking pictures with a cheap old film camera, drawing, watching tons of movies, and hanging out with her dog Owen.
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Meet Pamela Garavano-Coolbaugh
Meet NYC passerby, Pamela Garavano-Coolbaugh, Head Project Manager at Captured tracks, where she oversees albums from beginning to end on all fronts.
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Meet Emma Orlow
“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.”
on her morning routine
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.
on her interest in confessional art
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.”
on the beginning of her art series
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.
on moving on to other projects
[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
“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.”
on her beauty routine
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.
on her shopping habits and style
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
emma's favorite books
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
emma's favorite movies
The Doom Generation, Coffee and Cigarettes, Reality Bites, Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion
emma's favorite places in nyc
Lowkey brunch spot: B&H Deli
Favorite sandwich: Cheeky Sandwiches
Best bookstore: Mast Books
Photography by Audrey Cotton
Meet Nadia Bedzhanova
in Filmmaker
Meet NYC passerby, Nadia Bedzhanova, Russian native now pursuing film directing.
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Meet Sunny Shokrae
in Photographer
Born in Tehran, raised in So-Cal, Sunny went to UCSC to study Politics & Sociology. After college, she worked in LA for 3 years in various fields. Unfulfilled with the post-college 9 to 5 life, Sunny uprooted and moved to NYC to pursue her passion in photography and attend ICP. Today, she is an acclaimed photographer with a wide variety of clients like Barneys, Oyster, Nylon, & Levi's. Right now she is very stoked to be working on a long term book project with Brooks Headley of Superiority Burger.
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Meet Dana Drori
in Model
Originally from Montreal, Canada, Dana is a model, actress, and non-fiction editor living in Brooklyn. As a model, she has worked with top photographers, brands, and magazines, including Bruce Weber, Ellen Von Unwerth, Michelangelo di Batista, Greg Kadel, Clarins, Garnier, L’Oreal, Marie Claire, Elle, Cosmopolitan, among others. In 2014, she started Aftertastes, a non-fiction literary website that focuses on food stories. She has a few tiny scenes in some movies coming out next year, of which she is really proud. She still likes going nuts to Led Zeppelin.
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Meet Charlotte Doherty
Meet NYC passerby, Charlotte Doherty. She went to college for writing in NC and moved here to further that pursuit, but ended up transitioning into the fashion industry. Currently, she is the general manager of Courtshop Denim and does art on the side.
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Meet Peisin Yang Lazo
in Producer
Meet NYC passerby, Peisin Yang Lazo. Half Ecuadorian, half Taiwanese, Peisin grew up in Ecuador as well as Nicaragua, before moving to the States by herself to go to Boston University and study Film/TV. Now she’s a producer at ad agency Johannes Leonardo.
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Meet Leslie Hamilton
in Illustrator
Meet NYC passerby, Leslie Hamilton, a freelance design assistant working for independent designers while also working for American Two Shot.
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Meet Rachael Yaeger
in Entrepreneur, Producer
“Born outside of the Adirondacks, upstate NY, Rachael is the creator and editor of The Working Pair—an online editorial that showcases couples; their lives, love, work and the balance of it all. She went to Flagler College for Communication with a minor in Journalism and got her MA in Marketing from Regent’s College in London. She is also the founder of Human NYC, LLC. a front-end focused development shop for thoughtful design and has worked with clients such as Saturdays NYC, Coming Soon, Basic Rights, Tanya Taylor, Sandy Liang, Sight Unseen, Know-Wave radio.”
on her morning routine
I like to get up around 7:30 AM, Hugh and I snooze the alarm a couple of times. Shower, fight with my closet a bit. The walk through Chinatown and seeing all of the cheap, colorful fruits makes my day. Coffee from Happy Bones. They're family. Human NYC shares a studio space with RoAndCo. We do team morning stand-ups at 10 AM, and then get building websites and working on projects.
on her career path
I grew up with the lucky mentality that the sky's the limit. My parents always did the best that they could do to enable me to fulfill my goals, from playing sports to studying abroad, to going on scuba diving trips, to going to graduate school in London. I knew I wanted to work with people and talk; I also have a certificate in mediation. I graduated in 2009 with my MA and went home to upstate NY, I was substitute teaching and called my friends to see what they were up to, they graciously set me up in the city. I landed with a sublet on E. 7th and Ave. A, a bartending job and an interview at Gin Lane.
on creating her projects
I started The Working Pair as I couldn’t believe there were people in solid relationships in New York. I felt like there was a stigma that if you were in a relationship you were lame and not working hard enough on your own career path. I wanted to prove the opposite. You know when you meet two cool people and you’re inspired by them, and then you realize they're actually a couple and it blows your mind, that’s what I wanted to find. I started with Archie Coates (pluspool.org) and Emily Coates, from there the site has really been an extension of that friend group. I’m super grateful to work mainly with photographer Meredith Jenks, and started out by shooting with Ryan Patterson. The Working Pair is truly a labour of love.
““Modoc” is the best book ever written! “Plein Air” is designed well and visually beautiful. “Riposte” is the epitome of my zine obsession. I have to limit my trips to McNally Jackson and Bouwerie Iconic.”
on creating opportunities
I left Gin Lane in 2013. I felt a surge of entrepreneurial spirit and wanted to go for it. I started theworkingpair.com and opened a gallery on Meserole and Manhattan Avenues in Greenpoint with my dear friend Jill. We curated female focused shows and printed two zines, one with Akila Berjaoui solely of her work and the other entitled, “The Babe Show” highlighting creative women around us. In 2014 my now technical partner Michael, left Code & Theory where he had been after Gin Lane (where we met originally) and we started working together again on websites. The gallery allowed me to work in a more tangible way, but with both curating shows and building websites I get to work with people by providing a platform to showcase their work and grow their business. I realized at Gin Lane how meaningful it is to work with friends. Once you’ve been in the trenches together, you establish this trust that makes it so easy and fun to do work as a team.
on her favorite job
My favorite job was at an Ace Hardware store called Coakley's. I like working, I started working at a young age babysitting, I also like painting walls and garage doors. I did an internship with my Aunt's company in DC and learned a lot about production! I went into Gin Lane on a Friday and kind of jumped in on a Monday. I had a Blackberry and a PC, and Gin Lane's founder Emmett immediately took me to the Apple store. We built websites for clients so I quickly realized that designers and developers were my keys to success. I enjoyed working with our internal team and managing our external clients. I also got to shoot content and help to build @adidasWomen with social media and digital strategy.
TOP, SANDY LIANG ; PANTS, ZARA ; BAG, Loeffler Randall ; Shoes, Teva ; Sunglasses, crap eyewear
““Apartmento” is my favorite magazine on this planet. When I left Gin Lane, I wanted to move to Barcelona to work for them, their aesthetic is perfect. Cass Bird is one of my favorite photographers.”
on her beauty routine
We recently launched theklog.co so I got into Korean skincare. I really like sheet masks! I use Glossier tinted moisturizer for that dewy look end-goal. I like to stay hydrated and listen to my skin. It looks best when I have been outdoors, not showered for a couple of days. As for tips, never wax your eyebrows, wear sunscreen (hi mom, I'm 29 and now realize this), DRINK WATER, smile, try to get rest, a little oil on the ends of your hair. I think confidence is everything, which comes from within.
I also recommend Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer, Lucas Papaw Ointment, Glossier Priming Moisturizer, MISSHA Time Revolution Night Repair Science Activator, MISSHA Time Revolution The First Treatment Essence, and Glossier Balm Dotcom.
on her shopping habits
I like to rep the brands that we work with! And I want to work with people that have brands we believe in. I wear Negative Underwear, Datura, Sandy Liang + pieces picked up from travels like my long black skirt from Berlin or red Kimono from Toronto, high waisted mom jeans, t-shirts from friends like Laferrera.pizza and acid.camp. I also wear all of my dad's old jackets, a white cable knit soft Woolrich sweater from my mom, a Timex from my brother and my Grandad's Pendleton's. My style is cozy. In an ideal world I am wearing all Rachel Comey, Apiece Apart, Acne Studios, The Row.
“I like brainstorming, art, reading, interacting with people, conveying messaging, marketing for me was like building a fire for ideas. ”
TOP, SANDY LIANG ; PANTS, ZARA ; BAG, Loeffler Randall ; Shoes, Teva ; Sunglasses, crap eyewear
rachael's favorite books and magazines
Riposte Magazine, Apartamento Magazine, Plein Air Magazine, Modoc by Ralph Helfer, Cass Bird: Rewilding by Cass Bird
rachael's favorite places in nyc
Happy Bones for coffee
Mr Fong's for a bar
Rintintin for dinner
Madhufalla Organic Juice & Smoothie Bar
Meet Yousra Elbagir
in Journalist
“Sudanese-born, British-educated journalist currently working in Khartoum, Sudan as a writer for the Guardian, CNN Africa, Reuters Africa and Content manager for Elephant Media.”
Yousra’s favorite books
on her morning routine
I usually spend quite a bit of time checking my phone with one-eye open for the first 30 minutes I'm awake. Once I drag myself out of bed, I brush my teeth, shower and wash my face with an all-natural Tumeric soap from India. It's amazing - exfoliates and purifies - I also use it as a body wash. Then I use the Pixi Glow tonic and moisturise with Embryolisse Lait Crème Concentré. I usually put on a thin layer of Clinique Moisture surge tinted moisturiser with SPF 15 if I'm heading out for the day. I have a lot of allergies and really sensitive skin so I avoid any other skin make-up or sun protection.
on her family and childhood
My dad is a Sudanese journalist and politician, and my mum is his business partner and publisher. His newspaper - Al-Khartoum - was printing in Khartoum, London, Cairo, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Before I was born, my dad was exiled for being government opposition. He hopped over to the University of Exeter in the UK to get his PHD in political science and that's where I grew up until I was 8. We then moved to Khartoum and I studied high school there for the next 7 years. When I first arrived it was really difficult assimilating, I remember getting teased quite a bit. But by the time I left for London at 16, I had a strong group of close friends and became fluent in Arabic. I did my A Levels (SAT equivalent) in London and read Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews, graduating last summer. I made the big decision to move back home for field experience as a journalist, where I now work at our family production company Elephant Media and have been there ever since.
““Asmarani is the chap-book of an incredible Sudanese-American poet, and very good friend of mine, Safia Elhillo (@safiamafia). This girl plucks poetry from the heavens. She’s got a book coming out called The January Children and I feel like my autographed copy of Asmarani is going to be priceless very, very soon.””
on her love for Sudanese culture
I fell so deeply in love with Sudanese culture as soon as I moved back. Studying anthropology really made me look at things in a different light - things I'd taken for granted before. The music, the food, the perfumed oils and heavenly sandalwood incense (bakhoor). At Elephant Media, we focus a lot on uncovering Sudanese culture. Through those projects, I've been introduced to an incredible community of contemporary artists - people who are constantly producing beautiful work regardless of socio-economic circumstance and lack of exposure. My room in Sudan is full of Sudanese art. I had to physically stop myself from bringing it all with me to NYC for the month.
on her writing
Someone asked me once if we burn newspapers as incense at home. It was one of the most spot-on metaphors I've ever heard. My family is very media-oriented and our newspaper was around long before I even came into existence. My sister Safia is the only one who managed to escape the madness - she's a doctor. My eldest sister Nima is a senior foreign correspondent for CNN and my brother used to run our printing press and has now evolved the family trade into new media by founding Elephant Media. When I first moved to Sudan at the end of last summer, I started writing for the CNN Africa website. My first article was on Nuba wrestling, a thousand year-old tradition hailing from the south of Sudan that had meant displaced and persecuted Nuba were competing in the Khartoum and were being trained by the Japanese embassy for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. I'll never forget how I felt when it was published, I was just elated. I had been published by CNN and Reuters News before but never on Sudan or anything Sudanese. That really set the tone for everything I've gone on to write the last year - a blend of culture, human interest and news. I started writing for the Guardian in February, mostly on stories we work on at Elephant Media. I was recently able to combine my two worlds more seamlessly with Elephant Media becoming a partner of the Guardian Africa Network.
Shirt, H&M
““As a black, Muslim, African, Arab woman, Ive always known that I relate to some of the most underrepresented groups in the world. At home in Sudan, I’m the majority and growing up in the UK, I was a minority. Shifting between those binaries has really shaped who I am. I’ve always looked at it as a strength, access to a unique perspective that I can try and share with the world through connecting with people and telling their stories in a compelling way. I still have a long way to go but the aim of my entire body of work is to push the developing world narrative to the forefront of the media.””
on her sensitive skin
When I found out I was allergic to fragrances, I started using some of my mums perfumed oils because it's applied without a spray getting it everywhere. Now my mum mixes a special little bottle for me. I've had people stop me in the street and ask me where they can buy it. She's not selling! I think it's really important to monitor how your skin reacts to the elements and different products. My allergies have meant that I pay really close attention to that. There was a period of two years where my skin was breaking out constantly and what I thought was acne turned out to be a rash from my long list of unknown food intolerances. Listen to your skin, it'll always tell you when something shouldn't be in your system.
I also generously lather on moisturizer before I sleep - it's the best time for your skin to rehydrate. Additionally, I would recommend: Clinique Moisture Surge, Embryolisse, Pixi Glow Tonic Toner, and Mixed Chicks conditioner.
Top, Zara ; pants, Missguided ; Shoes, & OTHER STORIES ; Sunglasses, Sincerely Tommy ; Bag, Zara
Yousra’s favorite food in nyc
I tried Senegalese food recently at Africa Kine restaurant in Harlem. It was absolutely incredible - best grilled fish I've ever had.
Boulevard on Malcolm X boulevard has the most amazing soul food.
Champs vegan diner in Brooklyn kept me going back there every weekend! Was so great to indulge in some mac & cheese and not worry about my face swelling up.
yousra’s favorite shops in nyc
As for shops: I love Sincerely Tommy in Brooklyn - fell in love with their Perspex sunglasses.
I'm also obsessed with this Senegalese shop in Harlem called Kilimanjaro fashions. It's on 116th and Malcolm X boulevard and just full to the brim with these colourful African prints. They have an in-store tailor that can alter any purchases and make custom designs using their printed fabric.
yousra’s favorite books
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
What is the What by Dave Eggars
Asmarani by Safia Elhillo
Meet Lisa Przystup
“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.”
on her morning routine
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.
how she started out
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.”
on her interest in flowers
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.
on selecting an arrangement
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.
on her beauty routine
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.
on her shopping habits
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.
on her favorite records
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.”
JUMPSUIT, MADEWELL ; BAG, VINTAGE ; SUNGLASSES, RAY-BANS ; SHOES, MARAIS
lisa's recommended books
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
lisa's favorite movies
Cinema Paradiso, Finding Nemo, Amelie, Ain't Them Bodies Saints
lisa's favorite records
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
lisa's favorite places in nyc
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
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