The Profile

Rickey Gates is a writer and adventurer who traversed the width of America in 2017 — from South Carolina to San Francisco. He ran a total of 3,700 miles through trails, roads, rivers, and snowy mountains. His journey painted a portrait of America, one that captures the spirit of the country and makes us realize we're not as divided as we think.  -- Stay up to date by singing up for The P...

Lauren Johnson is a mental performance coach who most recently worked with the New York Yankees, where she helped develop strategies for athletes and sports professionals to help them cultivate mental resilience. In this conversation, Lauren and I deconstruct the strategies and tactics of 7 mentally tough people and how they learned to perform under pressure. -- Stay up to date by singing up for T...

It's been four years of The Profile. That means that since February of 2017, you've received 208 Sunday emails, 50 Profile Dossiers, and thousands of longform profiles. Every Sunday, we come together to study the most curious, innovative, and successful people in the world. Want to join the club? Sign up here: https://readtheprofile.com

James Clear, the author of New York Times bestseller Atomic Habits, has been writing on his website JamesClear.com since 2012. In this interview, Clear explains his writing and idea-generating process and offers practical strategies to help us form better habits in the new year. -- Stay up to date by singing up for The Profile, our weekly newsletter that brings you the best profiles of successful...

Even though Square transformed the world of payments, it was anything but a smooth ride. Co-founder Jim McKelvey woke up one day to discover that Amazon had copied their hardware, undercut them on price by 30%, and was offering live customer support. The bitter battle between Square and Amazon lasted more than a year. But McKelvey and Dorsey ultimately did the impossible: Through persistence, dete...

Humans of New York has touched millions of readers over the years and turned into one of the best places on the internet. HONY creator Brandon Stanton sat down for an hour-long interview with The Profile, in which he explains how he develops intimacy with strangers, why his conversations are so transformative, and why it's natural for us to empathize with other people's pain. --- Stay up to date b...

One moment of anxiety changed the entire course of Foursquare's trajectory and founder Dennis Crowley's career. Over the next two years, he would find his own successor, step down as CEO, and move to an executive chairman role. In this conversation, Crowley gives an honest account of what happened when he realized that he was no longer the right person to lead the company he founded. --- Stay up t...

Noah Galloway was three months into his second deployment in Iraq when his vehicle ran over a tripwire that detonated a roadside bomb. He lost his left arm, left leg, and entire military career. Here's how Galloway turned his mindset — and life — around. --- Stay up to date by singing up for The Profile, our weekly newsletter that brings you the best profiles of successful people and companies. Si...

Growing up in Pakistan, the first time Sidra Qasim learned about the internet was in 2006 and she couldn't fathom how people could by things over the web. Today, she runs one of the hottest direct-to-consumer startups in Silicon Valley. She and her partner Waqas Ali co-founded Atoms , a sleek shoe company, that has raised more than $8 million in venture funding. I interviewed Sidra about her mind-...

Kara Lynn Joyce is a three-time Olympian-turned-entrepreneur. In this conversation, Joyce explains that self-confidence and mental resilience are the keys to succeeding in sports, business, and life. Here's how she was able to pair her Olympic experience with the adrenaline-filled journey of starting a company. -- Stay up to date by singing up for The Profile, our weekly newsletter that brings you...