The Happy Grownup

Jackie Camacho is my new skincare guru. A mutual friend introduced us, she sent me her line — Cible, one of the most exciting French skincare brands to arrive on this side of the Atlantic — and two weeks later, the difference in my skin was not subtle. It was, frankly, startling. Jackie came up through SkinCeuticals, one of the most hallowed names in dermatological skincare, which tells you everyt...

I don't know about you, but I find Andy Cohen irritating. Who the hell smiles that much? It doesn't matter whether he's standing in Times Square, freezing his butt off on New Year's Eve. Sitting in the middle of a dozen freshly tucked, cleavage bearing women, talking and tossing trash on Real Housewives reunions, or fairly bouncing out of his host chair on Watch What Happens , baiting Hillary Clin...

The Happy Grownup came about because while I knew the years were flying (at this stage, Time is driving a McLaren like an F1 qualifier) but I couldn’t understand why I didn’t look or feel like I thought I would at this age.  I mean, yeah, the mirror made it clear that I was on a bridge way too far from 37, (my perfect imagined age), but rather than taunting me, it agreed with me. I looked damned g...

I have had a crush on Vanessa Williams for…oh, a little over 40 years. I know this sounds astounding now, but back in the ‘80s over 55 million people watched the Miss America pageant and my family never missed it. It was like this well-dressed, benign version of Survivor all in one night: parading beautiful young women, each representing their home state, vying for lucrative college scholarships....

Why do I love talking to Dana Thomas? Because she knows more about fashion than just about anybody but doesn’t ever gush about clothes with inane commentary like, “She’s killing it!” “Now that’s red carpet realness!,” or “I die!” Instead Dana is refreshing and candid. She can reveal the elusive way designers instigate desire, explain how a growing trend gets marketed, highlight the industry’s infl...

Why do Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez, David Beckham, Eva Longoria, Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Michelle Pfeiffer, as well as tens of millions of women and men who want to look in the mirror and smile at their own reflection, adore Anastasia Soare?  Because 25 years ago, this lovely, poised, and determined Romanian émigré came to Los Angeles not able to speak the...

To the people who work for her, Cathy Hughes is known as the Queen, Her Majesty, or simply Miss. H. You may not recognize her name, but there’s a damn good chance you have connected with at least one channel of the extraordinary communications corporation that she founded 45 years ago. Starting with one lone radio station in Washington, D.C., Miss Hughes soon expanded her reach with an insinuating...

From the first time I ever saw Jerry Mitchell in the 1991 musical Will Rogers Follies – he was the Indian of the Dawn, barely dressed in a loincloth on an elevated drum – there’s been one through line in his career as a Tony-winning choreographer for Hairspray, The Full Monty, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, La Cage aux Folles, and then as a Tony-winning director-choreographer...

I will forever be indebted to today’s guest. In fact, because of Winnie Holzman’s startling talent, I have been changed for good. Because on no less than four distinct occasions, her enviable ear for the nuances of speech and behavior have crafted stories that have left me drop-jawed, moved, and entertained.  First, Winnie was one of the writers of thirtysomething , one of the few TV series that h...

Maybe the only person I know who loves movies more than me is Dave Karger, the host of Turner Classic Movies. His knowledge of film first surfaced as film savant for Entertainment Weekly and is now featured in his most recent book 50 Oscar Nights (Running Press, 2024) . If you love movies, whether you watch them on the big screen in the dark (where you should be) or on the small screen from your c...

I’ve always thought that eating is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Well, it’s not so bad with your clothes off either. But for as much as I’ve enjoyed and I’m grateful for a career writing about both food and fashion, food does something that fashion doesn’t. It engages all of your senses. I’ve never understood anyone who just eats to live. I mean, like, what’s wrong with you? For...

Linda Ellerbee is possibly the smartest, slyest, news journalist television has ever produced. Speaking with a strong Texas twang abetted by a wry, salty edge and just enough rasp you can imagine her singing Jazz in a cocktail lounge, Ellerbee’s superior storytelling, forthright delivery and wicked smarts made for riveting television on such landmark shows as Overnight and Nick News . Her fearless...

Today I opened Instagram to see Beth Ann Hardison, one of the first black models, agency owners, and prominent advocate for diversity looking spectacular and beaming magnificently at age 82 in her Gucci gown at the Gucci show in Milan, the label for which she is a brand ambassador. Beth Ann was one of our first Happy Grownup interviews, and listening again to her insight, wit. unapologetic arrogan...

You may not know this week’s guest, but after our podcast you’ll probably wish Susanne Lerner lived across the street. She’s a is smart, a savvy entrepreneur, and, even better, she is street smart – in Yiddish you would say she has “seichel." A savvy entrepreneur, who began her clothing company Michael Stars with her husband, and after her his passing has continued to run the 40 year old label on...

Have you ever met anybody who doesn't want to be cool? I mean, you might as well be searching for a Wooly Mammoth. No such person exists. But what makes somebody cool? Well, you can have incredible style like Zendaya, incredible looks like Chris Hemsworth, or incredible talent like Bruce Springsteen. But for me, the coolest people have always been anyone who can make me laugh. Growing up, I didn't...

What if sometime during the last season of Mad Men , Don Draper sorted out his life, gave up angst for more than just Lent, started to get off on his own cleverness and find satisfaction in the memorably creative commercials he created on the way to becoming an icon of the advertising industry. What if he actually became a Happy Grownup? What would he be like? He'd be like Steve Pacheco. Having em...

I met my husband online about 28 years ago on America Online, not AOL mind you, but America Online – when you didn't tell anyone about such searches because trolling the internet was a primary example of looking for love in all the wrong places. Well, guess what they were wrong, so wrong in fact that we should have been invested because of our foresight. There are now over 8,000 dating sites aroun...

For two decades now, Mario Cantone has become instantly recognizable as Anthony Marantino on Sex and the City , And Just Like That as Charlotte's boisterously loud, kind of in-your-face, very savvy, grounded gay confidant and guardian angel. But when he is on The View or Turner Movie Classics, Mario Cantone is, well, he's still loud, kind of in-your-face, yet savvy and fairly grounded. Oddly and s...

He’s successful, he’s handsome. And I really like his taste. But what I like most about Shawn Henderson is that his mission seems to be in direct opposition of so many of his colleagues in the AD ( Architectural Digest ) 100. When I look at their realized visions I am impressed by so much overt ingenuity, stark drama, and distinct personality. Very often I no longer have to read the caption, I kno...

It may be a sunny morning but turn on the TV and here comes the news shrouded in storms and torrential turbulence. That’s why, if you see a guy walking down a New York City street humming or whistling wearing a benign grin, it’s fair to guess, ‘I bet he was watching Rosanna on Good Day New York. Over 100,000 people in The Big Apple tune in with him to watch and listen to Rosanna Scotto each weekda...

We’re taught that beauty is fleeing. (it even says so in the Bible, Proverbs 31:30). But the moment you see Cristina Ferrare, you can chuck that adage out the window since she is eternally, time defyingly gorgeous. Signed as a model when she was just 14, I repeat 14!, Cristina quickly became one the first supermodels when the label actually had authenticity. However, blessed with an inquisitive, a...

Search the faces of the millions celebrating New Year’s Eve on Copacabana Beach. Scope out all the blissed-out kids trodding around Disneyworld. That’s a lot of happy faces, but you still won’t find anyone having a better time than Bevy Smith. Wherever this New Ager goes in her myriad guises as TV host, author, motivational speaker (Her Ted Talk has been seen by millions), former beauty and fashio...

He’s the laid back of the five entrepreneurs in Eames chairs on Shark Tank. And yet, few deals that interest him pas him by. That’s because Daymond John puts his faith and energy into what he believes are his three touchstones for success – goals, instinct and fearlessness. That’s because at.23, his goal was to create a clothing company that focused and elevated people in his neighborhood, his ins...

If you are anywhere - a charity event, an AI conference at MIT, or a seafood restaurant in Montauk - and Norma Kamali walks into the room, go sit next to her. I don’t care who you came there with. I don’t care who she came there with. Tell them to shove over and sit yourself down because Norma will always be the most interesting person in the room. Pick any subject - health, exercise, longevity, b...

If you have been with The Happy Grownup from the outset, you may recall that the first Halgorhythm is “ Curiosity is the Best Moisturizer .” I got proof. I have known Rob Smith for a decade or two and while his easy smile radiated from an imposing, very handsome man, dammit if this guy isn’t even better looking at a New Aging 59. What is Rob’s secret? A new act, a mission that was never on his wis...