Susan Korn is the founder of the charming, quirky, and downright joyful accessories brand Susan Alexandra. Korn started her brand by making jewelry and creating handmade painted pieces. But one fateful day, she discovered a bead shop in Chinatown and had a vision of a beaded bag she wanted to create. Her beaded bags have since cemented her as the queen of whimsical fashion. Now, she’s expanded into DIY charm jewelry, custom sculpted pet pieces, home goods, a full Judaica line, and has collaborated with brands like Pebbles, Bose, and Crocs. This week, she joins Kat to talk about how she approaches designing a new product, her dreams for the brand in 2025, and her epic dog fashion show with Rachel Antonoff at New York Fashion Week this past fall.

Listen to Susan Korn’s Second Life episode here!

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Aisha Bowe is an aerospace engineer and the founder of the engineering consultancy firm STEMBoard. Bowe wasn’t always an engineering wizard. In high school, she struggled to connect academically and enrolled in community college with little hope that any field could interest her. But a teacher identified her strengths and suggested she try out engineering. She thrived in her engineering courses, and her confidence and sense of possibility for her career began to grow. She followed this passion to the University of Michigan, where she gained two degrees in aerospace engineering. Bowe interned at NASA in college and then was hired full-time. She ultimately spent seven years there, working on small spacecraft and flight trajectory dynamics. In 2013, she founded STEMBoard, a startup that provides engineering services and solutions—a feat she accomplished without any outside funding—and eventually left her job at NASA to pursue her startup full-time. In 2020, she founded Lingo, a company that creates self-paced, at-home STEM education kits for kids. Earlier this year, it was announced that she would be the first Black woman to travel to space with Blue Origin, the spaceflight company founded by Jeff Bezos.

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This week, Shopping Director Bobby Schuessler sits down with Associate Director of Special Projects Kristen Nichols to discuss her 2024 Luxury Report. Her insightful, well-researched piece breaks down everything you need to know about the high-end fashion business right now, the biggest trends, what the most-coveted pieces say about where the industry is headed, and how leadership changes at the top fashion houses are setting the tone for luxury fashion’s future.

Watch this episode of the Who What Wear Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYortCBaf3A

Read the Luxury Report here.

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Taryn Delanie is a content creator and a former Miss New York. Taryn grew up in Seattle and originally had her heart set on becoming a diplomat. She gained a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from St. John’s University, and even spent time in Paris working in diplomacy. But when she was studying for a master’s degree in international communication and intercultural studies at St. John’s (and trying to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic), she started posting comedic videos on TikTok. She immediately went viral, and her second-ever video—which was of reviewing her less-than-desirable NYC apartment—currently has over 21 million views. She started posting regularly, with fans loving her honest, joyful sense of humor. Ever the multitasker, in 2022, she won the Miss New York pageant, spending her time raising awareness of housing insecurity, and in 2023, she became the first runner-up for Miss America. In the last year, she’s grown her following and created new and instantly beloved characters like Denise, a receptionist in heaven. She’s also explored new opportunities such as co-hosting the Amazon Prime talk show Influenced.

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Becky Malinsky is a stylist, consultant, and writer of the popular Substack newsletter 5 Things You Should Buy. In 2022, after several years as The Wall Street Journal's deputy fashion director, she started her own business, offering executive and professional styling, consulting, trend reporting, and more. At the same time, she launched 5 Things You Should Buy, which provides insightful, straightforward advice and fashion analysis, and the newsletter now has over 64,000 subscribers. In this episode, we picked Malinsky's brain on everything from her hero pieces and how she styles them for winter to her favorite pieces from her brand-new Alex Mill collaboration and, of course, five things we need for the holiday season.

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Rebecca Zhou is the co-founder and CEO of the bodycare brand Soft Services. Zhou has been at the forefront of the DTC consumer goods industry for over a decade. She began her career as a strategist at Gin Lane Media, an early investor in trendsetting brands like Harry's, Quip, Sweetgreen, and Reformation. She then moved over to Glossier as the third-ever employee and head of digital product. After that, she consulted for five years, bringing her expertise and keen design eye to places such as Khaite, Peach & Lily, and DVF. In 2017, she co-founded a luxury housecoat business with her husband called OffHours. That project sparked her desire to return to building a company from the ground up, so in 2019, she co-founded Soft Services, an innovative bodycare brand that creates sumptuous products that provide effective solutions for skin issues like keratosis pilaris and body acne. Earlier this year, Soft Services launched at Sephora online and in 300 stores across the country.

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Paul Tazewell is the costume designer for the film adaptation of the smash musical hit Wicked, which was released in theaters on November 22. Tazewell is a renowned costume designer celebrated for his contributions to Broadway, television, and film. In fact, in 2016, he won both a Tony for his designs in Hamilton and an Emmy for his creations on The Wiz Live! Today, he joins Who What Wear Entertainment Director Jess Baker to give us a deep dive into the development and creation of Wicked’s incredible costumes. They talk about everything from the color palette chosen for Shiz University’s uniforms to creating an entirely new pair of silver slippers inspired by 1930s court shoes and tornadoes (of course).

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Lauren Caris Cohan is a filmmaker and the chief creative officer of the chic and sustainable womenswear brand Reformation. Lauren got her start as a styling assistant at Free People in Philadelphia in the late 2000s, eventually working her way up to the title of artistic director. While looking to pursue a newfound interest in screenwriting, she was given carte blanche to create a series of narrative short films for the brand. In 2017, she left the company to look for new opportunities to explore filmmaking. She consistently worked on her projects, creating short films, writing scripts, and co-founding a creative services agency called Lolly Would. In 2017, she co-founded the industry-disrupting lingerie brand Cuup, again bringing her distinctive creative flair to craft the storytelling around the start-up. In 2020, she was brought in by Reformation to consult on projects, and in 2022, she was appointed the role of chief creative officer. In her time as CCO, she’s guided Reformation through some truly amazing collaborations—from the New York City Ballet to Monica Lewinsky.

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This week, Kat, Who What Wear co-founder and Chief Content Officer Hillary Kerr, Shopping Director Bobby Schuessler, and Editorial Director Lauren Eggertsen are here to discuss their best, chicest, and most original gift ideas for the holidays. They’ve curated a list for (almost) everyone in your life, from a vintage butter mold and a gorgeously kitschy wine bottle apron for the host in your life to personalized packing cubes for your travel-obsessed bestie. They also talk tips for buying presents for multiple people in your life during the busy holiday season, the value of a personalized gift, and whether or not thank-you notes are still required in this day and age.

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Geo Rutherford is a popular TikTok creator and author of the new book Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes That Dot Our Planet. Geo started her career as a high school art teacher in the Midwest, creating engaging and thoughtful art curricula for her students. She eventually decided to get her MFA at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Upon moving, she fell in love with the Great Lakes and their unique role in our ecosystem. (She even based her thesis art show on them.) When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she started posting videos on TikTok, and one of her first-ever videos about her Great Lakes–inspired art went viral. She then leveraged her background in arts education with her newfound limnology hobby and posted more about lakes, telling informative, entertaining stories about the oddest and coolest lakes worldwide. This fall, she published her book, which Kirkus Reviews calls “a chilling but thrilling primer for budding limnologists,” and continued her annual TikTok series, Spooky Lake Month, in October.

Content warning: Brief discussion of suicide

Note: The audio introduction incorrectly states that Geo received a Master's in Arts Education. She received an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

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