WHEN I LOOK AT THE BOOKS on my shelf, it isn’t always the content of each book that comes to mind. I often imagine where I was when I read it, who I was, what I was going through. Books are powerful in this way. We can take them with us anywhere, a companion to help make sense of the world in which we live....

26 November, 2019 /

WHAT CONNECTS US all in this human experience? It isn’t our success. Success varies from person to person and means something different to each of us. We’re connected by the times of struggle. It’s the dark times that in the end, change who we are at our core....

26 November, 2019 /

OUR TWENTIES can be a monumental time of self discovery. Yet, it can also bring some of the most confusing and doubtful moments of our young lives. We begin to feel society’s expectations weighing down on us. All, on us....

25 November, 2019 /

THERE'S A FEELING we get when we see something beautiful in the world that really resonates with us. I notice these moments when traveling in old wonderful cities with a palpable history and culture. Every detail of the roads, the buildings, the style makes me think. I have boundless energy and want to discover everything I can about what makes these places distinct....

23 November, 2019 /

IT'S AMAZING TO LOOK back at the ones who came before me on my family tree. From my Dutch Italian roots on my father’s side to my Russian Jewish beginnings on my mother’s half, I've learned an incredible amount about my history from the stories and first hand accounts of who these characters were...

21 November, 2019 /

THE CLOTHES WE PUT ON OUR BACKS say something about us. It’s the moment where we decide how we want to be seen and what we want to represent to the world. What we wear is a way of communicating without saying a single word....

20 November, 2019 /

HISTORY HAS TAUGHT US how to be a part of a group, a system. We learn about civilizations, wars and armies. Besides the leaders who command these armies into battle, we rarely learn about what each person of that civilization believed in. Were they thinkers, dreamers, outcasts who challenged the norm? Surely. But they would die instead of being given the freedom to explore their own beliefs....

20 November, 2019 /

IT WAS THE TIME OF DAY when you could see a crisp outline of your breath against the darkening sky every time you spoke. Dusk in Berlin. I was on my way to meet a few friends in Kreuzberg, a borough known for its eccentric qualities. As I briskly walked along the canal that runs through the neighborhood, I felt a light burning inside of me. It gave me confidence....

18 November, 2019 /

AROUND US ON THE HILLTOP'S COBBLESTONE STREETS, merchants and artists went about their business as if nothing’s changed for hundreds of years. My brother and I looked out over the sprawling sight of Paris from the apex of Montmartre, taking in the full scope of the city for the first time. In front of us was the city who’s beauty, history and architecture I’ve read about, who’s culture and lifestyle fascinates me, who’s energy is constant and so uniquely real....

16 November, 2019 /