More Than One Thing with Athena Calderone

How do you describe Laila Gohar? Well, it turns out there are a lot of ways. She’s a cook, an artist, a designer-- a visionary. Laila’s edible installations explore food as an art form and a means of communication. With her whimsical, delicious, and totally one-of-a-kind work, Laila makes space for people to come together and just be themselves. In this episode of More Than One Thing, she sits down with Athena to talk about self-doubt, self-love, hard work, New York City, and finding inspiration in everything from traffic cones to dreams.

Across his 12-year career, Sebastian Brauer has been the driving force behind multi-billion-dollar businesses. We’re talking Anthropologie, Williams-Sonoma, Inc., J Crew, and now as Senior Vice President of Product Design at Crate & Barrel. While building mega brands is undoubtedly impressive, it’s Sebastian’s purpose-driven leadership that really sets him apart. I experienced this intentional approach first-hand when I collaborated with him and his team on our Crate & Barrel collection. In today’s episode, we dive into our process, why intention is always at the heart of everything he does, how he navigated a non-linear career path, and so much more! Sebastian’s advice? “Fear can always be overcome. All it takes is a little courage.”

Jenna Lyons needs no introduction really but she is a designer, style icon, and former president and creative director of the J.Crew Group! A quintessential multi-hyphenate, Jenna’s creative influence has no bounds— she’s had her hands in fashion, art, interior design, media, and more. Her rule-breaking style single-handedly changed the landscape of fashion and design. On this episode Jenna reveals the difficulties of starting over — how the radio silence that ensued after her departure from J. Crew effected both her ego and identity. She also discussed how terrifying it is to not have the structure, ground work, and guardrails that her corporate job offered. It was beautiful to hear her raw honesty in admitting that she is in the incubation stage of everything currently and how intense that fear can be.

As a stylist and designer, Colin King is a force to be reckoned with—his work lines the pages of Architectural Digest, T Magazine, Elle Decor, Vogue, Domino, Marie Claire, and more. But like so many of us, his path to success was more of a zig-zag than a straight line. He worked as a dancer, personal trainer, content creator, and social media manager in LA and NYC before falling into the interior design world. Tune in to hear Colin speak about the importance of self-acceptance, not knowing what you want to do, and just showing up for yourself (and every possible opportunity).

Hannah Bronfman’s career truly defies categorization—she’s a DJ, wellness guru, media personality, author, and more. But to me, she’s best described as a beam of light—she’s built her multifaceted career with confidence and grace, all while navigating life in NYC. Tune in to learn about her biggest professional setback, the importance of self-confidence, and how creating a fake assistant can get you where you need to go.