I'm a journalist covering innovative ideas and people driving media, technology, food, culture, and philanthropy.
Interview with NPR Reporter & Author Aarti Shahani
Aarti Shahani reports on all things tech for National Public Radio. A native New Yorker, Shahani is determined to understand Northern California and to bring to light emerging innovation as well as contradictions within the tech ecosystem. Shahani brings a sober perspective to her stories – free of rose colored glasses, yet fair to her subjects. She’s been recognized for her ability to unearth hidden gems with a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, an award from the Society of Professional Journa...
Stanford Alumni launch data-driven luxury goods startup
Operating more like a tech startup than a traditional luxury-goods company, Wen and Chung started out with a few dozen sketched designs. They raised $1.3 million in funding from angel investors, partners from Peterson Partners, GSR Ventures and S-Cubed Capital, and began testing prototypes with hundreds of women in their networks. “At a certain point of showing it to people, they started to say, ‘Can I buy this? I want to use it immediately,’” said Chung. “That was a strong sign that we were ready.”
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Professor Dundes Renteln Break The Code
Rather than armor women with shoulder pads and pants to match the men on the playing field, it conveys power by explicitly pointing out the wearer's gender and elevating it as a celebrated asset, rather than a handicap to be masked in garb traditionally worn by men. Yahoo's CEO Marissa...
Investor Chuck Esserman Interview: The Art of Rebranding
TSG, Chuck Esserman's private equity firm, has delivered net returns topping 24% over his last three funds and more than 35% for TSG’s most recent fund. Yet thirty years ago, Esserman’s brand-centric approach was met with skepticism.
The Cycles of Advertising Legend Rich Silverstein
Rich Silverstein, co-chairman and partner of the award-winning advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, is well known for the "Got Milk?" commercials, among many others.
Interview with Silicon Valley Brand Devan Vincent
Devan Vincent has worked with Silicon Valley titans for more than a decade. Clients who work in venture capital have offered to invest in his eponymous line and scale it to a mass market. Vincent contends..
Bay Area cooking schools are booming: Here are 6 of our favorites.
Nonprofit and local institution 18 Reasons has been educating and serving the community for over a decade. With its charred wood façade and polished concrete floor, the space cuts an intimidating scene for the uninitiated. Yet, every night behind the center’s colossal steel and glass doors, awaits a welcoming crew of volunteers and instructors who offer the intangible, precious gift of believing in all of the students in the room. In our sourdough galette lesson, people who had never held a chef’s knife learned to deftly slice citrus into delicate octagons.
Retail Report: Bain & Co. says Athleisure wear to stay on top of the sector
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If you’re so done with athleisure, sorry to disappoint.
Legacy fashion houses like Louis Vuitton and newer players like Ivy Park have launched versatile collections that stretch the boundaries of the trend, elating Lycra fans across Silicon Valley who’ve tried to covertly pass off yoga pants as workplace attire for more than a decade.
“The space is very crowded with a lot of little brands,” Cheris said. “We’re at a long period now ...
Interview: Alicia Silverstone in San Francisco for book tour
Author and actor Alicia Silverstone, wants to make pregnancy a delicious, beautiful time with her latest book "The Kind Mama: A Simple Guide to a Supercharged Fertility, a Radiant Pregnancy, a Swee......
TikTokers Compare Post-Soviet Parents to Dictators in Viral #GrowingUpRussian Videos
Wrapped in an ornate kerchief that’s stereotypical of Soviet-era babushkas, TikToker Kateryna Fylypchuk portrays a frustrated Russian mother confronting her depressed child: “Are you not normal? Do you purposely want to upset me? When you were little you brought me only joy and now you make my heart hurt,” she says in deliberate, exasperated Russian, punctuated by a disdainful, cold glare. “That’s enough. Go fix your mood, then come back asking for forgiveness.”
As of July 21, Fylypchuk’s mon...
TikTok Accused of Shadow-banning Pro-Ukraine Content
Ten-year-old folk singer Bohdanka Stavnicha may be Ukraine’s answer to Shirley Temple for the times. Within weeks of creating her first TikTok profile in August, the pint-sized virtuoso gained over 27,500 followers who tuned in to her video performances, where Stavnicha often appears in traditional, embroidered shirts — or vyshyvanki — alongside her mother Katia and their tabby Pikavka, as in “Peep,” named for the sound the kitten makes when he meows along to the music.
Yet the wholesome cont...
Data on Ashkenazi Jews hacked from 23andMe
The genetic testing company 23andMe has been a godsend for people wanting to discover their heritage, but the experience for hundreds of thousands of people with Ashkenazi Jewish lineage has taken a potential turn for the worse.
An anonymous hacker, or group of hackers, was claiming last week to be selling information from 999,999 customer accounts that was cobbled together and stolen from Sunnyvale-based 23andMe.
The listing on the dark web was titled “ashkenazi DNA Data of Celebrities” and ...
John C. Jay Leads Creative Direction for Nike & Uniqlo | SOMA Magazine
John C. Jay was voted one of the “Top Ten Most Influential Art Directors of the Past 50 years” by Graphic Design USA Magazine and has received numerous awards for his work in advertising, which includes campaigns for Nike during his time at Wieden+Kennedy as Global Executive Creative Director. Today, Jay serves as President of Global Creative at Fast Retailing Co. and is widely lauded as one of the most creative thinkers in the business.
In Silicon Valley, Alef’s CEO imagines a future with flying cars
In between the countless flight tests of his company’s flying car, Alef Aeronautics CEO Jim Dukhovny is happy to take a walk oc terra firma around downtown Palo Alto to discuss his company’s invention and his late father’s influence on this massive engineering project.
“It goes back to my father who taught me to bring positive things into the world despite the risks,” he said.
In Palo Alto, this Israeli startup is saving bees from their death spiral
The bees are stressed out. This is bad news for the bees, and very bad news for the global food supply, which depends on bees to pollinate some 1,200 vital crops worldwide.
Stress isn’t the only problem facing honeybees. Commercial beekeepers for years have been rapidly losing colonies to mass die-offs or abandonment due to climate change, pesticide use, invasive insects such as mites and hornets, and other factors.
“In the United States, we lose 40 percent of all managed colonies every year,...