When Aurora James was launching her luxury shoe line, Brother Vellies, she didn’t know that she’d eventually launch a non-profit and an equity fund dedicated to supporting black-owned businesses. But after the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 that’s what she did. Today, we talk to Aurora about how that’s going, and how she keeps her own company aligned with her values.

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Imara Jones didn't necessarily set out to be the founder of a news organization: her company, TransLash Media, grew out of a documentary series she made in 2018 about being trans in the age of Trump. The organization has been reporting on the trans community ever since — reporting that is now more urgent than ever. So today, we speak to Imara about the election and how she’s leading in this moment.

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Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo love a steamy, swoony romance novel. They also love a good business opportunity (Claire & Erica were behind the beloved yet shuttered retail company Of a Kind). And as they got deeper into the romance genre, they saw one: people don’t just read romance novels – they build universes around them with fan fiction and lively TikTok discussion. So Claire & Erica launched 831 Stories, an entertainment media company built around romance novels. Today, we chat about what that really means, and how they’ve learned to work together over their 14-year business partnership (spoiler: it involves learning to fight). 

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In 2018, Puja Patel was named editor-in-chief of Pitchfork, the legendary music criticism publication. She had a vision for the site: make it more accessible, maybe a little less pretentious. Then, in January this year, Condé Nast announced that GQ would absorb Pitchfork. Immediate uproar ensued — both from fans and musicians. Puja left the company. Today, she talks about what happened, how she negotiated her own power within a legacy institution, and what’s next for music criticism.

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Today, the start of a new special series about work. Hosted by friend of The Cut Samhita Mukhopadhyay, former executive editor of Teen Vogue and author of The Myth of Making It: A Workplace Reckoning. We’ll talk to women at the top of their fields, each with different perspectives on ambition and success. Women business leaders who pay their employees almost as much as they make. Women who have been held accountable — unfairly, or fairly — for their management decisions. And women who are very careful about the opportunities they say yes to. That’s where we start, with celebrity esthetician and skincare expert, whose products have a cult-like following: Renée Rouleau. 

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Actor, producer, and entrepreneur Taraji P. Henson talks to Lindsay about her illustrious career, including her roles in Hustle & Flow, EMPIRE and, most recently, The Color Purple. Plus, Henson talks about her fight for equal pay in the industry, her work in mental health advocacy through her Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, and why she's recently partnered with Kate Spade.

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Female athletes, both college and professional, continue to make gains in pay and TV-airtime equity, shatter records and break into once male-dominated sports. 

Today's conversation delves into those topics and more with three accomplished athletes. It comes to you from a rooftop panel at this year's South by Southwest conference. 

Guests: Dina Asher-Smith, World Champion and the fastest British woman in history. Haley Rosen, former professional soccer player and founder and CEO of Just Women’s Sports and Chloe Kim, American snowboarder and two-time Olympic gold medalist.

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In the summer of 2018, host Lindsay Peoples wrote a piece called Everywhere and Nowhere, What it’s Really Like to be Black and Work in Fashion. It shook the table and ushered in a conversation on race in the industry. She interviewed over 100 people, including designer Tracy Reese—who's been working in fashion for more than five decades. For the fifth anniversary of the piece, Lindsay spoke to Tracy about what's changed, how far the industry has come, and how much work still needs to be done.

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Today's episode illuminates an essential foundation of Black life: namely, Black love. 

A new book from Zando Press assembles letters and original illustrations on the topic from celebrated Black writers and thinkers. The collection, Black Love Letters, explores the concept of Black love in all its facets, from diasporic connection to familial and community care to romance. Its array of contributors includes Dr. Imani Perry, Michael Eric Dyson, Tarana Burke, and the Reverend Al Sharpton.

Lindsay spoke to Natalie Johnson, who conceived of and co-edited Black Love Letters with Cole Brown, about the process of bringing the idea to life.

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Jamila Wideman has a fascinating career trajectory that's spanned law, advocacy, and basketball—and mentorship has been a thread stitched through all of it. 

Wideman made history in 1997 when she was drafted for the inaugural WNBA season by the Los Angeles Sparks. While there, she launched an afterschool program for marginalized teens, "Hoopin' With Jamila." After playing four years in the league, she went on to attend NYU Law. 

As an attorney, she represented incarcerated people and low-income populations facing eviction. Now, Wideman works for the NBA, as Senior Vice President for Player Development. She works with rookies to help them acclimate to life as a professional athlete, and guides players in thinking about their lives holistically off the court.

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Our guest on In Her Shoes this week is Geraldine Chung, the founder of the beloved online fashion brand LCD. 

It began as an online destination, showcasing an inspired mix of emerging independent designers. The brand grew fast—within a few years, Chung went on to open a brick and mortar location in Los Angeles. 

But like so many other small businesses, LCD took a big revenue hit during the pandemic. It's been difficult for small brands like it to regain stability, much less profitability. Earlier this month, Chung announced in a very candid Instagram post that she's shutting down the business.

We wanted to talk to her about how she reached this decision, and ask her to reflect on what she learned in a decade of building and evolving the brand in a changing retail landscape.

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