Month: February 2019

TueNight 10: Kelly Notaras

Age: 43 Basic bio: Author of The Book You Were Born to Write (Hay House, 2018). Founder of kn literary arts, a virtual editorial studio helping authors write, edit and publish their books. Beyond the Bio: “I did something kinda crazy last year—after spending my entire adult life in “blue bubbles” like NYC, Boulder and San Francisco, I bought a house in a tiny conservative town full of ranchers and coal miners. I did it for really good reasons: to help co-parent my late partner’s 10-year-old twin boys, and because I could afford to buy here. I renovated the house and painted everything white, including the wood floors. The day the house was finished, I started dating my contractor. The result has been a rich exploration of the very real divide our entire country sits on right now. Somehow we’re making it work but I have shed a lot of tears over how differently two loving and thoughtful people can see the world.” 1. On the nightstand: The best lip balm on the planet, Annemarie Borlind’s For Lips(you’re welcome). Nobody …

TueNight 10: Shira White

By TueNight Crew

Age: 58 chronologically, various in every other metric Quick Bio: Founder of BeautifulNow, a digital media (and soon social commerce) startup that focuses on the most beautiful things happening in the world right now, including the Arts/Design, Impact, Nature/Science/Tech, Food, Travel and Wellness. Beyond the bio: Right now, I am rebuilding major parts of my life: Rebuilding home after catastrophic flood. Rebuilding business with new monetization strategies and goals. Rebuilding community now that I am based in NYC vs mostly in London and constant global traveling. Rebuilding my love life after recently ending a 16-year life partnership. Rebuilding my body after some illness (and all of the above mentioned stresses took their toll). Rebuilding my philanthropic efforts, given all of the above changes. While all of this rebuilding is challenging, to say the least, it comes with so many opportunities for growth, expansion, and new possibility — already I am experiencing some rewards. 1. On the nightstand: My new bullet journal (it actually works!). Barbara Kingsolver’s latest, Unsheltered. Well-read over and over, Diane Ackerman’s I Praise My Destroyer and MFK …

How to Date Your Crazy

By Ruth Gallogly

I should have known we wouldn’t work out when I messaged him one of my favorite quotes from Alain de Botton. It’s from the On Being podcast “The True Hard Work of Love and Relationships.” In it de Botton says the question we should really be asking on first dates is: “How are you crazy? I’m crazy like this?” “I don’t get it,” he replied via WhatsApp. “How do you ask about crazy?” Of course he didn’t listen to the podcast to find out. I let it pass. He was sweet. He was cute. He was smart. He had his career together. I took this to mean he had his emotional life together too — all of it nicely bundled in a cultivated gift wrap and tied up with the sexy bow of an Australian accent. We matched on Tinder two days before he moved from New York to Colorado, and when we couldn’t work out a meeting before he left, I figured he’d disappear. But he didn’t. A month after we connected, he flew …

TueNight 10: Candice Cook Simmons

By TueNight Crew

Age: 40 Quick Bio: Candice is the Managing Partner of The Cook Law Group PLLC. She provides legal, business and strategic counsel to clients in the business, technology, and entertainment industries. Beyond the bio: We asked Candice how has life changed for her as she’s gotten older. “I have a defined perspective. I have lived in six states. I have worked as an attorney for almost sixteen years. I am a wife and a mother and a daughter to aging parents who live in a different state and all of those things create layers to life. I have enough experience and perspective to value every aspect of my blessings—even the annoying things like the temporary discomfort of a sick child or a few sleepless nights. I am incredibly grateful for the life that I have and I’ve learned to not allow the insecurities of others to infiltrate that joy.” 1. On my nightstand: a Bible (that I have read from cover to cover—it was a resolution a few years back and I am so glad that I …

TueNight 10: Jennifer Garam

By TueNight Crew

Quick Bio: Jennifer Garam is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor. Some of her favorite pieces include a personal essay/reported article about how to grow out gray hair, a satire piece about if people had honest first date conversations, and a blog post about how to keep writing when no one gives a shit. Beyond the bio: “At the beginning of this past October, one month after my 43rd birthday, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer. This came as a complete shock. I was in what I thought was perfect health, and had basically just had stomach pains and bloating for a week. Also, I thought that there was no cancer in my family and just didn’t think I was at risk for ever getting it. After I was diagnosed I dug a little deeper and discovered that there was a history of cancer in my family. Additionally, I got a genetic test and the results showed that I’m BRCA1 positive. This experience has obviously turned my life upside down and prompted me to reevaluate my priorities and …

TueNight 10: Marjorie Ingall

By TueNight Crew

Age: 52 Quick Bio: Columnist for Tablet Magazine; author of Mamaleh Knows Best (she will come speak to your synagogue or JCC!); frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review; and co-creator of SorryWatch, the web site devoted to all of your apology analysis needs. Beyond the Bio: “I have responded to going gray by adding MORE GRAY. More precisely, white — I added a fake white streak in the front of my hair. I was going for Susan Sontag, but have heard Rogue from X-Men and Alexandra the villain on Josie and the Pussycats, which are fine too. My aunt has a gorgeous cloud of white curls, and that is my #hairgoals, but my hair colorist says it is too soon.” 1. On the nightstand: Fenty Stunna lip paint in Uncuffed, a birthday present to myself. Sorry About That: The Language of Public Apology by Edwin L. Battistella. Current issue of The New Yorker. Spiral notebook made out of a vintage light pink, orange, and hot pink children’s book (anthology published in 1960 by Doubleday, just looked). Hedy Lamarr: An Incredible Life by William Roy & Sylvain Dorange. …