“Do not covet your ideas. Give away everything you know, and more will come back to you."   Raised in California and Utah, Kendra Smoot started her career as a prop and set stylist in New York before returning westward, where she now lives an hour north of California with her husband and three children. She has spent the last 15 years as a freelance stylist and today works alongside some of…

  Prop stylist and interior designer Olivia Sammons has been a woman we've respected and admired for years. A creative force whose inspirations transcend trend, her perspective on how to tell stories through space and imagery are as grounded as she is. Her outlook is a reminder to trust your intuition, seek simplicity, and respect the boundaries of self. Here, a snapshot of a late autumn day in…

  “It’s precious, this life. I hope I’ve made the most I can of it.”   This week, we journey to Iceland to visit the intrepid, incredibly inspiring Felicity Aston — polar explorer and the first woman to ski across Antarctica alone, traversing a distance of 1,084 miles in 59 days. Among her other accomplishments, Aston led the first all-women of team to cross the Greenland ice sheet, and the…

    PIECE OF MIND is a survey of the sensorial details and qualities that are front-of-mind for the women who inspire us.     Photos by Casey Zhang A place: California, always.    An idea: How do I tune into discomfort and find myself. Do I move away from it, or run towards it? How much discomfort is too much discomfort? I’m trying my hardest to discover the lessons contained in the…

"I am discovering and becoming the woman that I want to be everyday, a little at a time. My idea of that woman shifts with me organically as I find myself and grow, and as I learn to accept and embrace who I am." When we think of graceful strength and living with intention, Yuko Yamamoto comes to mind: Born in Japan and raised in Europe and U.S., Yuko has recently moved after 15 years in New…