(FAIL) UP

Zan Goodman has built a celebrated career as a design director in New York City, from Teen Vogue, Nylon, and CR Fashion Book to creative agencies like Chandelier, Mythology, and Yard, to her current role as the founder and design director of her own studio, Zan Inc. Her work has shaped the visual language of many of today’s most influential fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands and has earned reco...

As a former advertising executive turned psychotherapist for men, couples, and organizations, Patch McCormick knows all too well the paradox of wanting to feel like enough, while always striving for more. In this conversation, Patch unpacks the psychology of ambition and burnout, how early ideas about love and success shape the way we experience failure, and why so many of us only stop when our bo...

Senior Director of Marketing, Insights & Comms Hilary Fischer-Groban , has built her career leading through change — from helping legacy brands reinvent themselves to steering culture-defining start-ups through their next chapter. Known for her clarity, humor, and composure under pressure, she believes leadership isn’t about having all the answers, it’s about connecting the dots, explaining th...

The artist and executive creative director, Gordon Hull , on longevity, relevance, and what it really takes to live a creatively fulfilled life. Gordon Hull first made a name for himself as the founder of Surface to Air — the cult-favorite creative agency and fashion label that helped define a generation of downtown cool in New York City. Since then, he’s brought his distinctive mix of art, humor,...

The President of Sotheby’s Motorsport on leading through uncertainty, owning failure as a leader, and learning to balance vulnerability with authority. A lifelong theater kid turned luxury auction executive, Colleen Cash shares how her background in performance shaped her leadership and how she’s found success as a self-proclaimed spin doctor —reframing and repackaging setbacks not to disguise the...

From an internship at Stella McCartney to her current role as Luxury Client Director at The Wall Street Journal, Agnes Majewska has built a career at the intersection of culture, creativity, and commerce that many would dream of. Fluent in three languages and having lived and worked in Milan, London, and New York, her career seems full of risk and reinvention. In reality, it’s been steady and caut...

Today’s guest is one of the most fascinating people you’ll ever meet, with one of the most unexpected career journeys you’ve ever heard. Alexandre Stipanovich is a neuropharmacologist whose PhD research on the molecular mechanisms of addiction was published in Nature . After completing postdoctoral work at Yale and Rockefeller Labs, he took a wildly creative detour into the cultural industries, de...

Known for his drive and charisma, Guy Griggs has spent two decades climbing to the top of some of the world’s most powerful media companies. When this episode was recorded, he was Vice President of National Sales at The New York Times . Today, he is SVP of Advertising Sales & Partnerships at CNN.  But behind all of Guy’s well deserved career success, is a hidden pressure. Shaped by a chil...

In this episode of (FAIL) UP , host Alanna Lynch sits down with celebrated arts & culture journalist, Julia Halperin. Julia Halperin has been asking tough questions about power, equity, and representation in the art world for more than a decade. She co-founded the Burns Halperin Report , the largest tracking study of its kind examining diversity in museums and markets, and is a contributor to...

In this episode of (FAIL) UP , host Alanna Lynch sits down with builder, creative leader, and founder of PRESENT , Josh Horowitz . Josh Horowitz has never loved the word entrepreneur. Even after building the experiential agency Fake Love and selling it to The New York Times , he has always seen himself less as a businessman and more as a builder of artful experiences that bring people together. So...

In this episode of (FAIL) UP , host Alanna Lynch sits down with Emmy Award-winning war correspondent, bestselling author, and founder of Noosphere, Jane Ferguson . Raised in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, Jane’s life and career have always been shaped by courage, resilience, and a willingness to step into uncertainty. For more than 15 years she reported from the front lines of the world’s m...

On the debut episode of (FAIL) UP , host Alanna Lynch sits down with Pakistani-American executive producer, director, and author Meetra Javed . Raised with the pressure to pursue a conventional career, Meetra trusted her intuition and chose a creative path — one shaped by risk and grounded in vulnerability. Today she has built a thriving career in New York, producing global campaigns, directing fi...

In a culture obsessed with success, (FAIL) UP explores an uncomfortable truth: it is failure, not success, that reveals our true character and teaches us what to do next. The show is hosted by Alanna Lynch , executive coach, founder of MELIOR FUTURI , and former executive at The New York Times and Artnet . Each week she sits down for intimate, unfiltered conversations with some of the most influen...