The Trove: Lynda Johnson August 11, 2011

Living lovely in Harlem. Lynda Johnson was born and raised in Syracuse, New York but her family’s roots are in Montgomery, Alabama and it shows in her Southern hospitality and colorful storytelling. Her people were part of the epic, 20th century migration of blacks from below the Mason-Dixon line in optimistic search of opportunity up [...]

The Trove: Myles Carter August 4, 2011

The visual and culinary artist in Paris. A highly sentient soul, Myles Carter loves fiercely, be it his family, mastery of the brush stroke or an elegantly prepared and plated meal. He lives in sensory call and response: he touches and is touched in return. The enamored husband, delighted father and adoring son revels in [...]

The Trove: Sienna Gonzalez July 31, 2011

Sienna photographed by family friend, Charlotte-based Mary Ebert. Sienna Gonzalez is in many ways your typical American tween: she likes Selena Gomez, she loves to hang with her friends, she shoos her little brother out of her room for privacy and like most born in the new millennium, she knows her way around a Wii [...]

The Trove: Erin Robinson July 23, 2011

With schoolgirls in Banda Village, Rwanda. Erin Robinson loves summer thunderstorms and she got one as we chatted in her childhood home in Washington, DC over the July Fourth weekend, her sweeping gestures and sound effects underscored by the distant thunder and gentle rain. We noshed on fresh fruit and spoke of mutual travel glories: [...]

The Trove: djassi daCosta johnson May 26, 2011

Mrs. Verini: djassi daCosta johnson, 2 months pregnant. djassi daCosta johnson adores her “ridiculously amazing family.”  It is in the haven of their embrace and the freedom of their trust that she’s been able to move fearlessly through her life. Her educator parents Awolowo and Orundun, of whom she speaks reverentially, anointed their eldest daughter [...]

The Trove: Malene Barnett April 18, 2011

Malene and her limited edition “Tap Tap” carpet. Inspired by the colorful buses of the same name in Haiti, she donated the profits from the sale of this carpet to Aid to Artisans Haitian Artist Recovery Fund. Since the 2009 launch of Malene b Custom Handmade Carpets, principal Malene Barnett has enjoyed enviable and well-deserved [...]

The Trove: Nicole Landaw April 5, 2011

Mover of Metal: Goldsmith & Jewelry Designer, Nicole Landaw. A few weeks ago, gloriously pregnant and furiously nesting, the lovely Nicole Landaw welcomed me for lunch at the Williamsburg home she shares with her handsome hubby, architect Mark Maljanian.  I’d been introduced to Nicole and her gorgeous jewelry designs a few years back by our [...]

The Trove: Cheryl R. Riley & Courtney Sloane December 2, 2010

An invitation and homage: Courtney Sloane & Cheryl R. Riley. Gotta love a woman who whips up a few baubles to wear on her opening night from the discards of  “yesterday’s soup.”  And so it is that interior designer Courtney Sloane adores such a woman, her wife, Cheryl R. Riley. Cheryl, one of the artists [...]

The Trove: Matthew Serynek November 11, 2010

Finding his center: Matthew Serynek. Though Matthew Serynek is well aware of white male privilege and the impact it has had on his life, he too is keenly aware of the feeling of otherness. A flame-haired adoptee, he bore no resemblance to his family and was a minority among Americans (2%) with naturally occurring Titian tresses. “So many things [...]

The Trove: Fanon Che Wilkins October 20, 2010

The polymathic professor. Since meeting the powerfully named Fanon Che Wilkins over a year ago while dancing Michael Jackson’s memory to the skies in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, I have seen him only twice: ringing in the new year at the Harlem home of mutual friend, theHotness Grrrl and just last month as we enjoyed pristine September weather [...]