The Jane Dough: HILLARY REINSBERG

As two women who work in the business world, we're no strangers to the uneven balance of female presence in our office environments. That said, our day jobs afford us the privilege of working among many talented women who transcend these odds to achieve new levels of success. And when we're not experiencing their efforts first-hand, we're reading about them on The Jane Dough, our go-to site for coverage and commentary on women in business. The Jane Dough "celebrates women who have found success, dissects how powerful women are treated in the media and applauds forward-thinking companies," and the site's personal voice and conviction offer a unique edge to the content that is covered, all thanks to the strong team behind it: Publisher and Founder Dan Abrams, Managing Editor Amy Tennery, and Associate Editor (and our Question(NY)aire feature!) Hillary Reinsberg. Hillary has been involved with The Jane Dough since the site's conception, bringing her expert writing skills and extensive background in journalism to the team - her previous experience includes positions at Crushable, Daily Candy, NY1, and New York Magazine.

Male or female, we encourage you to check out The Jane Dough for your daily dose of business intrigue.

Refinery 29: ANNIE GEORGIA GREENBERG

Annie Georgia Greenberg is a name to know in NYC—you heard it here first!  Ok, fine—we’re a bit biased because she’s a good friend of ours, but as the newly on-boarded New York editor of popular fashion editorial-site Refinery29, we expect for her name to be dropped in many a blog, magazine, or line at an exclusive VIP event in the upcoming months. Annie graduated from Barnard this past May with a degree in English & Creative writing (she’s a very skilled poet), and despite her rigorous academic schedule, her extensive experience in the fashion editorial industry is impressive: she’s worked for Nylon Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Vogue’s Department of Special Events, and Lucky Magazine, and her new role at Refinery 29 really brings her full circle in the industry—after all, Annie used to work as an intern for them when the site first launched a few years ago. Now, with Refinery’s rapidly growing acclaim and audience, Annie’s influence will surely captivate the “fashionista” masses for years to come.

Annie has managed to find a job that highlights both her strengths and her interests—she is gifted with words, has a great sense of humor, and most importantly a keen AND resourceful sense of style. Be sure to check out her posts here.

Photo Credit: Sam James

Immaculate Infatuation: CHRIS STANG & ANDREW STEINTHAL

Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal are of the opinion that, “In a city with so many great choices, is there any reason to eat mediocre food? No dice.” And we couldn’t agree more. Luckily for us—and for other hungry New Yorkers—Chris and Andrew founded the acclaimed foodie-website “Immaculate Infatuation” to air their fresh perspectives on NYC’s culinary world. In addition to capsule reviews and recommended dishes, Immaculate also presents other original content ranging from “Friday Fives” interviews, to “Infatuation TV”, to general features. Despite the site’s wild success and professionalism, Immaculate Infatuation is only an early morning/late-night hobby of Chris and Andrew’s; their days are spent pursuing careers in the music industry--Chris at Atlantic Records and Steinthal at Warner Bros. Records. However, their jobs often require them to entertain clients with a meal before a show, and so they developed a list of go-to’s and misses that they would recommend or warn against to a circle of friends. Now, with Immaculate, that circle of friends has grown to be enormous—and their credibility is hard to beat for diners looking for restaurants with the perfect balance of price, atmosphere, service, and food.

We take our hats off to blogger-professionals extraordinaires, Chris and Andrew, for bringing a hobby to a whole other level. We don’t remember how we ever chose restaurants before Immaculate Infatuation.

 

ALIOMI: CAROLYN PRIDE

It is no wonder that with 5 New Yorker’s at the helm of its success, fashion-site ALIOMI lives and breathes New York style. Carolyn Pride, ALIOMI’s Director of Operations, manages the development, design, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver ALIOMI to the masses. Designed as a “street-couture fashion blog and online boutique that sells vintage, DIY, and resale pieces,” the site was founded a year ago by Carolyn’s high school pal, Naomi Bishop, and her college friend, Allison Sparkhul (“ALI”+”OMI”). The founders sought to incorporate Carolyn into the venture because of her solid background in market research and business development, as well as her enterprising and upbeat attitude. Carolyn is a formidable individual who contributes her wide-breadth of experience to the group; having attended Connecticut College (‘08), she not only played on the Varsity Basketball team, but also majored in Economics and Sociology, and was selected to study Economic Development at Hanoi University of Finance and Accounting. Carolyn has brought her business savvy, sense of humor, and boho-chic style since day 1, and ALIOMI has been on the rise ever since.

ALIOMI is just what every NY fashionite needs--be sure to visit the site to browse through their wonderful selection yourself (and if you're wondering who took this awesome shot, it was Elias Wessel). 

What2WearWhere: KAREN KLOPP

Karen Klopp founded go-to digital retail boutique and blog What2WearWhere in order to help women answer the eternally pressing question, “What should I wear?” After experiencing various industries and roles such as a producer for documentary films, a writer, and an event-planner, Karen has truly found fun and joy in her current position. A conservationist, traveler, board member for various organizations, chair of countless events and wife and mother of three, Karen has a well-rounded understanding of how to dress for various occasions in a woman’s life. Karen and her staff of ten formidable women seek to make getting out of the door and feeling good easier for the busiest of people, or those just searching for a bit of objective fashion advice. And what’s more--the website not only promotes fashion events that contribute to charitable organizations, but also donates 25% of its retail commissions to charities that help women and the environment.

The days of relying on your friends for fashion advice are over--W2WW has got your back with their researched opinions on what looks best.

Big Girls Small Kitchen: PHOEBE LAPINE & CARA EISENPRESS

Phoebe Lapine and Cara Eisenpress are not intimidated by the age-old warning that “too many cooks spoil the soup.” The childhood friends have joined forces to conquer the kitchen in their blog Big Girls Small Kitchen: A Guide to Quarter Life Cooks. With a book on the way, they command a loyal following of readers, speaking to the experience of foodies in the college and early post-grad demographic who persevere in the kitchen, despite constraints of budget, space, and time. Yet these girls have a much wider audience hooked as they experiment with anything from “pork butt” to pumpkin chilli. A Sex and the City idea with a more wholesome twist, we love BGSK because it is about building a repertoire of cooking experience among close friends.

Phoebe and Cara have gotten the recipe right: a little fun, some fearless cooking, and sharing it all with an appreciative audience—it comes out well every time.

 

New York's Financial Planner: RUSSELL BAILYN

Russell Bailyn spends his days as a Wealth Manager at Premier Financial Advisors, giving strategic advice to clients about how to maintain and build their wealth. Yet Russell isn’t just an ordinary financial planner, he is the sage behind popular blog "New York's Financial Planner" through which he showcases his expertise by giving advice to a much wider audience. Russel’s blog was so well received, in fact, that he was approached to turn it into a published book, Navigating the Financial Blogosphere, which explains IRAs, 401(k)s, picking stocks and bonds, among other more complex topics.

Russel bases his life around his knack for planning, yet has found himself in places of unexpected success because of his passion for his career.

Author: ANISHA LAKHANI

Author, teacher, screenwriter, blogger, and it-girl Anisha Lakhani (Columbia College and Teachers College graduate) gained national recognition for Schooled, her debut novel inspired by her own experiences as an English teacher turned private tutor at the Dalton School on the Upper East Side. After spending nearly a decade in academia (she rose to be chair of the Middle School English department), Anisha left Dalton in 2006 to further pursue her greatest passion, writing. She was approached by online fashion magazine Pink Memo editor Katrina Szish, who "knew Anisha liked to write" and offered her the position of New York Scene Editor, where she fittingly covers some of NYC's most fabulous events. Anisha has also contributed to Vogue India and The New York Post, as well as Q and Quest magazines.  More recently, she started her own blog, Back to A, on which she realizes her new-found love for home-decorating by documenting her journey to redesign her Upper East Side one-bedroom apartment. It's an unusual decor blog, and we can't help but wonder if Anisha is using it as inspiration for her next book?

Anisha's charm, passion, and exuberance ensures she'll live a fun and successful life enjoying what she does best: write. And keep your eyes peeled for Schooled the movie--we hear the rights were optioned by actress Lorraine Bracco and Anisha wrote the adaptation herself.

Author: AMITAV GHOSH

Our very own Hilary will be studying abroad in India next semester, and in anticipation of her travels, she has focused her leisurely reading on one of India's most famous and award-winning authors, Amitav Ghosh. Born and raised in India, Amitav offers an authentic, culturally descriptive homage to his country in his writing.  He has a distinguished portfolio of written work, including his novels (In An Antique Land, The Glass Palace, Incendiary Circumstances, The Hungry Tide, Sea of Poppies, among others) and his essays (published in The Hindu, The New Yorker, Granta, and The New York Times Editorial Section). He has also influenced many young writers while teaching at Delhi University in India and Harvard and Columbia Universities in the United States.

And so, we give you: a short but sweet peek into the mind of Amitav Ghosh.

Nosh and Tell: WHITNEY EDWARDS & ARIEL KANTER

NYU juniors Ariel Kanter and Whitney Edwards prove that "Everything tastes better with a dash of sass" in their website (formerly blog) Nosh and Tell, launched in March 2008.   Ariel has the dynamic combination of a love for cooking and the vivacity and commitment to initiate the Nosh and Tell enterprise, while Whitney, who has cooking in her blood (her mom is a gourmet chef and caterer), adds the innate culinary expertise that powers these recipes.

Not only has this pair inspired many delicious recipe experiments among their thousands of followers (even Britney Spears!), but they have also inspired the execution of our own blog, QuestionNYaire.