Take Your Time

For our final solo episode of the season, I'm sitting down to answer the questions you all ask me most on Substack, in my DMs, everywhere. I get into how to build something slow and intentional in a world that rewards speed, the difference between chasing a trend and building a real movement (and why I call the trade-offs "pinches of poison"), and the three free, accessible things that taught me h...

Today's episode features beauty icon Bobbi Brown, the makeup artist behind the "no makeup" makeup revolution. Bobbi takes us back to growing up outside Chicago, never quite feeling pretty, and the conversation with her mother that sent her to Emerson to build her own degree in theatrical makeup and photography. We trace her path from a 1980 move to New York, working alongside photographer Bruce We...

In this solo episode, I go deeper into my own story, the version before Crown Affair existed. I talk about being a B-plus student in a small town in South Florida who found the first thing she was ever good at in an art history classroom, and how that feeling of awe became a North Star I'm still chasing. I share the story of a marketing class at NYU where a guest speaker named Gary Vaynerchuk crac...

For this episode, I sat down with David and Kavi Moltz, the uniquely talented couple behind D.S. & Durga. They met on Avenue B in 2007, started making perfume in their Brooklyn apartment a few months later, and never really stopped.  In our conversation, David and Kavi take me through all of it: the early-aughts Brooklyn scene that shaped them, the scrappy years handmaking orders in their kitchen,...

Today's conversation is with the brilliant Sarah Creal: beauty industry veteran, product developer, founder, and the woman behind some of the most iconic products in the history of prestige cosmetics. Sarah opens up about growing up in Warren, Pennsylvania, where she lay on rocks as a kid watching airplanes overhead and dreaming of what was out there. In our conversation, we trace her path from th...

This week, I'm giving you a guide to one of my favorite books in the entire universe: Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. I break down what this 12-week program actually is, why it changed my life (and how I approached building Crown Affair before and after doing the work), and I walk you through all 12 weeks, from recovering a sense of safety in week one, to the anger and jealousy of week three, th...

Cassandra Grey is the founder of Violet Grey, the legendary Los Angeles beauty destination that, since 2013, has set the standard for curation, visual literacy, and taste in the beauty world. In this episode, we travel the full arc of Cassandra's life, from making Wonder Woman cuffs out of tinfoil as a child, to creating business plans as a young woman in the Bay Area, to falling in love with and...

Today's episode is with the amazing comedian and actress, Ego Nwodim. Known for seven seasons on Saturday Night Live, where she created an indelible gallery of original characters, Ego is now stepping into a new chapter on her own terms. This episode is about the slower, less visible journey underneath her impressive résumé: the role Ego's immigrant mother played in shaping her belief in herself,...

For this episode, I sat down with one of my closest friends: Quincy Moore, the brilliant mind behind New York or Nowhere . We met over twelve years ago in a conference room, and what followed was a friendship built on shared ambition, a lot of downtown New York benches, and an unspoken understanding that we were both trying to build something real. In this conversation, Quincy takes me through the...

Today's conversation is with the incredible Jennifer Fisher: jewelry designer, entrepreneur, cookbook author, and all-around force of nature. Jennifer opens up about growing up in Santa Barbara before becoming a true New Yorker, her early career as a commercial stylist, and how a health journey through chemotherapy and Hashimoto's led her to build not just a jewelry empire, but an entire lifestyle...

Today's episode features the brilliantly funny and deeply warm Heidi Gardner. Heidi takes us back to her childhood in Kansas City, Missouri, where mall visits and prank phone calls helped shape her into the performer she is today. We explore the winding road Heidi took from working as a hairstylist for years, to watching her first Groundlings show, to performing on SNL for eight seasons. She share...

For the very first episode of Take Your Time, I'm sharing my own story and the "why" behind this podcast. I reflect on growing up in a small town in South Florida, discovering art history in eighth grade, and how collecting images through magazines, art books, and Tumblr became my creative safe space. I talk about how Take Your Time became my personal mantra as I built Crown Affair, what it really...

For our first interview of the season, I sat down with my mentor and friend, the brilliant and ever-wise Ara Katz. During our conversation, Ara reflected on many things: her return to New York after years living in LA, how experiencing grief as a teen shaped her worldview, and how she turned to creativity as a means of survival as a child. We explore neuroaesthetics and the impact of physical spac...

Welcome to Take Your Time, a podcast about creativity and intention hosted by Dianna Cohen.