Our fabulous friend Aaron Stewart has a passion for all things design and has worked most of his career in the home category. Growing up in rural Kansas, little Aaron would pour over the pages of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar dreaming of a big city life. Fast forward, he started his first company, Sové New York, a luxury bedding line whilst he was a junior in college with literally $4 in his bank account and within 3 years grew his business into a million dollar brand. When 9/11 hit and the world turned upside down he had to rethink owning his own company. With a brand-new BFA in Home Products Development from FIT, Aaron was hired as a designer for Martha Stewart Living. He then became Creative Director of luxury bedding company Sferra and later returned to Martha as VP of Product Development and Design. After 19 years of torturous NYC winters, Aaron convinced his husband, Fernando, that they should move back to Fernando's hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they launched an award-winning home store and interior design firm Stewart-Rodriguez. Paradise isn't always perfect and balmy Island life presents its own challenges, surviving Hurricane Maria and reviving their business only to face the global pandemic proved yet another opportunity for creative success and Portococo was born! Reinventing and reimagining sanitizer in a stylish, sustainable way.

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Robert Bannon has been dazzling audiences on the stage and screen for years, his emotive and powerful vocals and knack for comedy bringing people by turns to tears of emotion, laughter and elation, and always to their feet. But his road to success wasn't without complications and challenges. At 12 he declared to his parents he wanted to sing and by age 13 was accepted into the very first prestigious Juilliard Prep class for musical theater under the direction of Broadway icon Bertin Roswer at Lincoln Center. Severe illness and being hospitalized for many of his formative years forced him to put his dream on the back burner. He became an elementary school teacher and got his masters in education and currently works as a 5th grade teacher but the burning desire to perform was too much to abandon. He faced his own fears and persevered on his dream path to perform and thankfully so, he has gone on to perform with a number of iconic vocalists including Patti LaBelle and George Benson at legendary venues like Madison Square Garden, is a regular actor on "Saturday Night Live" and has just released his solo album "Unfinished Business". As a part of our Pride Month celebration Robert shares his inspiring and uplifting personal journey to living as his authentically happy self. 

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Todd Plummer, a Massachusetts native, quickly rose to become one of NYC's top society. He cemented himself quickly as a fixture on the New York social scene covering the most coveted events and interviewing A-listers, if it was happening in the Art world, fashion world or at a Gala Todd was there writing about it for Vogue, WSJ, NY Times, W mag and Interview to namedrop a few. After six glittering years of interviewing celebrities and sitting front row, at the tender age of 25, Todd had a quarter life crisis, his very own "Eat Pray Love" love moment! He bought a one way ticket to Bali, left everything behind and reinvented himself as a travel writer. He joins us to talk about having two major career changes by the age of 30 and how to go after the dreams that spark joy in you and make them a lucrative and successful career no matter where you started.

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Daryn Carp and Liz Culley are totally owning the podcasting space with their podcast Scissoring isn’t a thing, bringing a hilarious queer perspective to pop culture. They represent the L and the B of the LGBTQ+ community and no topics are off limits. From discussing identity to dismantling old school stereotypes, co-hosts Liz get some of the most personal and hilarious interviews from your favorite celebs and personalities. Daryn and Liz are power players in the entertainment industry and have writing, directing, producing and on air hosting amongst their collective credentials. Amongst many hats they so chicly wear; Liz is currently the Executive Director of Entertainment Partnerships at Condé Nast and Daryn is the host of People TV’s Reality Check and the ride or die to the King of Pop Culture himself Andy Cohen.

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Taylor Strecker came right out of the college gate into a coveted spot on SiriusXM’s Cosmo radio and was a fixture on the air for 11 years with her show Wake Up with Taylor! Taylor’s authenticity and honesty engaged listeners immediately and amassed her a devoted following. To the outside world Taylor had it all, a hit radio show, a happy marriage to a totally rich dude and a career that was on the up and up! Until she was fired. Publicly and unceremoniously fired. Little did she know at the time, this was the “Wake Up” that Taylor needed to realize she was ready to go it alone in the broadcast space, launch her own radio show and live her best (lesbian) life. (Which also involved divorcing her husband and falling in love with her beautiful 6ft tall blonde best friend, also named Taylor.) Now she hosts Dear Media’s Taste of Taylor and her daily two-hour talk show The Taylor Strecker Show and is engaged to the love of her life! Taylor’s energy is so infectious this episode will  light a fire under you and have you racing towards your best life! 

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JJ’s Own salad dressing is so much more than just a dressing in a bottle. It represents the journey that Joy Ortiz has been on for the last 8 years. After losing 150lbs, Joy set out to live a healthier lifestyle. She owned a local cafe specializing in sandwiches and salads when her side hustle was born: JJ’s Own: natural, preservative-free salad dressings. After securing her first major order, Hurricane Sandy threatened to destroy all she had built. Joy, with her infectious energy and determination, persevered and today her dressing can be found in stores from WholeFoods to ShopRite and is enjoyed internationally. 

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As Jen Fessler walked the streets of Manhattan barefoot, clutching her pumps in agony from a night of living it up at an event, she asked herself “Why has no one made a comfortable but sexy heel that looks as good as it feels?” After extensive research and an unpleasant experience in the luxury shoe department it was clear to Jen that the shoe industry didn’t care about her feet or her money! At 50 she had the money to splurge but nothing to buy. It became her mission to solve that problem with her own shoe, she single handedly secured a factory and set to work. When it came to marketing, Jen was interviewing potential agency’s in LA and staying with Shari Friedman, her college BFF, when they realized that they should join forces. Shari had a stellar career in marketing and had a vast wealth of knowledge and experience to bring to the table and so F.Major was born. The F.Major brand message is simple; a sexy black 3 inch heel pump that could take you everywhere in style and comfortably. It's an affordable luxury for all women and these boss babes are ready to disrupt the industry.

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Shelly, Kerry and Katy are three brave, female cancer survivors that aren’t just surviving but thriving with their newly launched non-profit organization Cancer Cartel. From their own personal experiences they realized that while cancer charities helped to ease the burden of expenses like treatment and aid research they didn’t support the elevated cost of living associated with your diagnosis. The financial impact can be devastating and the Cancer Cartel is dedicated to cleaning up the cost of cancer. They took their passion for fashion and beauty and created an online platform where they sell donated luxury goods to provide cash gifts to cancer warriors. Like the RealReal of the non profit space! They help everyone, men, women and children. With infectious personalities and unfaltering drive and determination the Cancer Cartel pivoted during the pandemic and were able to help those in need. And this is just the beginning for them.  

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Katie Sturino is a true powerhouse and the ultimate advocate for women! Whilst her start in luxury PR sounded like a dream job, life at Chanel and Dolce and Gabbana was far from a fairytale. By 25 Katie realized that going it alone was the power move she needed to play and to do it her way! She started her own PR firm, launched the career of the original “dog of Instagram'' her beloved Toast and amassed an army of followers with her body positivity posts. Katie has used her platform to start conversations with brands to increase their offering and be more size inclusive. Her hilarious videos are as engaging as they are effective. Taking the shame off of women and shifting the blame onto brands for not catering to all women. But she didn’t stop there, after years of shopping for personal care products targeted at women’s needs she found herself staring at shelves full of jock itch powder and wondering why nothing was for the girls! It was there that she was compelled to create MegaBabe! Perfectly packaged powerful products that solve issues like chafing thighs and sweaty boobs initially had people giggling and doubting... but Katie laughed all the way to Target and Ulta where they sit on the shelves in every store! Now Katie has written a body positivity journal workbook Body Talk: How to Embrace Your Body and Start Living Your Best Life. If she is not the definition of Mega Babe I don’t know who is! 

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What’s better than an entrepreneurial success story?... two entrepreneurial success stories! BFFs Dani and Jess both started their own wildly successful companies whilst students and working other jobs. Dani launched Inked by Dani, a temporary tattoo company, from her Senior year dorm room. Her hand drawn creations quickly amassed a celeb following and became a mainstay at the hippest retailers. Jess launched her fine jewelry line, Bondeye Jewelry on Goop after reaching out to Gwyneth Paltrow directly. Bondeye was born out of inspiration from her time in Australia and the fact that Jess felt there to be a lack of fine jewelry available that spoke to her kooky style and personality. Now they have come together for a collaboration that they manifested into existence! They combined their talents to bring Dani’s hand drawn designs into fine jewelry pieces, each which comes with a matching tattoo. These two young women are ones to watch; infectious energy, a hustle factor like no other and the knowledge that women supporting women is the way to live your Caviar Dreams! 

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