63MIX ROUTIN3S | JULIAN WORKS
PHOTO CREDITS | ABC The Golden Bachelorette/Gilles Mingasson
THE GOLDEN BACHELORETTE S1. E4. | JOAN DIGS DEEPER
PHOTO CREDIT | Disney/Ricky Middlesworth
This week’s The Golden Bachelorette is going to be a bit of a doozy it seems as we see Joan Vassos and Chock hugging one another and you hear them crying.
We hear Chock talk about what the experience has been like and we see Pascal learning how to do his laundry!
The date card arrives and they find out that Jonathan, Pascal, Dan, Charles, Gary, Mark, Gil, Chock, and Keith will be on a group date. Guy and Jordan were not called. The group date men arrive at a theater and see Joan on the stage. Kaitlyn Bristowe joins her on the stage. We see the Chippendales dancers as well as the original Chippendales dancers! They are partnering with Stand Up to Cancer as well to dance in honor of supporting this important charity.
She thanks them for the date and being open! She enjoys spending time with each of them and you can see the guys are really present with her. Chock receives the group date rose.
When we’re back from commercial break, we realize that Chock’s mom passed. He tells the guys that he is going to leave because he has things that he needs to take care of. Joan heads to the house for her 1-on-1 with Jordan and she is met by Chock. He tells her that his mother passed.He needs to go home to take care of things and Joan knows how it is when you need to take care of your family even when you feel that you’re experiencing an amazing connection.
Jill is sad that Chock left, but she knows she must be present for Jordan who has his date. She is excited that they’re going ice skating. Jordan takes a nasty fall, but they have a fun time spending time with one another. They get to chat a bit while enjoying some treats. REO Speedwagon also performs for them in their winter wonderland! He receives a rose as well. Although she was sad about Chock, she said she laughed more with him than anyone.
For her 1-on-1 date with Guy, they are at her home and they are cooking together! It’s a great way for them to interact with one another, follow instructions, and just to get to know more about one another. We can tell that Guy is not a cook, but you can see that he is enjoying it.In addition to making pasta, they also make dessert together as well. They have a great conversation and she offers him a rose as well!
Going into the rose ceremony, she’s still thinking about Chock and wondering if he will be back and how he is doing. She sees the men and lets them know that she realizes that they have families and situations back home and that’s a lot for them to put on hold to be there with her. She spends time with each of them to get to know more about them and it’s nice to see how they continue to move forward. As each week passes, we know how difficult it will be when she has to still send guys home. Chock is back and in his time away, he was glad to handle what he needed to do and then he realized that he wants to put his walls down.
It wasn’t until the rose ceremony that we realized that we hadn’t seen Jesse Palmer all episode!
JOAN GAVE ROSES TO | Chock, Guy, Jonathan, Jordan, Keith, Pascal, and Mark
JOAN DIDN’T GIVE ROSES TO | Charles, Dan, Gary, and Gil
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Golden Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
HERE’S WHO WE THINK WILL GO TO HOMETOWNS
THE GOLDEN BACHELOR CONTESTANTS
Featured TV Show
PHOTO CREDITS | ABC The Golden Bachelorette/Gilles Mingasson
THE GOLDEN BACHELORETTE S1. E3. | LET'S PLAY BALL!
PHOTO CREDIT | Disney/Ricky Middlesworth
We see a flash forward of how Joan Vassos is trying to get into the mindset of moving forward and she knows that she is still attached to her husband which is a sweet and honest moment. We also check in on how the men sleep/snore and pass the time to kick of this week’s episode of The Golden Bachelorette as we watch Joan Vassos navigate the next few weeks!
Jesse Palmer checks in with men to see how they are doing and we find out that Pascal doesn’t cook his own food or make his own coffee. He also leaves them with the info that there are 2 1-on-1 dates as well as a competitive group date! The date card goes to Pascal and he looks forward to seeing if they are a good match.
Joan picks up Pascal in a red sports car where she lets him know that she will be driving, they hop on a private flight to go to Las Vegas. Joan lets us know that she is aware that he lives a very comfortable lifestyle and that he dresses well, but she wants to know if he has a heart and if they can connect and are compatible. They navigate the strip in a limo with champagne and head to the Paris Hotel. They arrive at a suite that is filled with stunning dresses, suits, and accessories that have been picked out for them. There is a piano that plays for them as they try out outfits. They select their outfits and look so chic for a night out in Vegas.
Back at the house, Charles and Gary hit up the farmacy to get the guys things that they need to stop the snoring and ensure that everyone gets a good night sleep!
Back in Vegas, Wayne Newton comes in and sings for this chic 1-on-1 date! The day date has shifted to the night and they have an outdoor dinner where they can see the Eiffel tower. She’s excited to know more about him and he wants to share more about who he is as a person outside of the life that he has made for himself. He talks about when we think of Paris, we think of the beautiful side, but he didn’t grow up with money and he had tough times growing up and when he came to the US he willed himself to do better and to make something of himself. He said that being vulnerable is hard for him; however, when he shares his story, you realize that you can’t make assumptions about people. Pascal receives the date rose.
Back at the house, the next date card arrives and the group date lets Chock, Gil, Charles, Dan, CK, Gregg, Gary, Guy, Kim, Jordan, Mark, and Keith know that they will have time with Joan. Jonathan is excited to have the 1-on-1 date, but he is emotional because he doesn’t feel ready to do this and is concerned that he may be going home!
We’re on the football field for their next date. Eric Dickerson and Andre Reed are on the date. They hear that they will play kickball and we see them stretching. The winners go to the after party and the losers go back to the mansion. We watch the guys play kickball and we have to say that it’s a strong game and even Charles who has never played kicks the ball and helps some of the others cross home plate! In the battle between the Red Team and the Blue Team, the Blue Team wins! June meets up with the Blue Team and she lets them know that she loved the kindness that she saw on both sides of the ball and she starts to spend time with each of the winners. She got to know a lot more about the men and we hear that Joan’s mom isn’t doing well (reminds us of last season when Joan’s daughter needed her to come home). She gives Gil the group date rose.
Back at the house, the men are gifted massages by Joan to work out their muscles.
Jonathan makes his way to Joan for their 1-on-1 date. He knows that he will be totally exposed on this date and hopes he won’t be afraid to share things with her. They’re going horseback riding and Joan isn’t a fan of them as she was bitten by one and Jonathan has never been on one.
After horseback riding, they make their way to enjoy some champagne with her as they sit and talk. He tells her about how he got divorced and that he was blindsided and that he wondered if he would ever be enough! She lets him know that he is enough and she gives him the 1-on-1 date rose.
Throughout this week she has been dealing with her emotions about the death of her husband as well as her mom not feeling well. She is someone who pushes her feelings down because she is a caregiver and now she realizes that she needs to share so that it is fair to them as well. She thanks the men for being amazing and that she loves that she is hearing important things about them. She lets them know that she wants to take care of them as she is a caregiver and she realized that that is causing her to mask and so now she is going to be vulnerable with them as well. She lets them know that being strong is tiring, she misses her family, her kids, her mom who is sick as she is 92, and then she tells them about her husband and that she will always only by 80 ior 90% available. She cries and she is concerned how they will take in what she has said. They tell her thank you and they like that she has shared this information.
Gerry makes his way to the mansion and they have a catch up season. She lets him know that it has been emotional, but she has a great group of men. She also let’s him know that she understands how it is to be in a situation when you are thinking about your husband and moving forward and she gets how Gerry felt. He asked her if she considered that there may be a possibility that her person may not be there. He lets her know that he is rooting for her. He tells her to not be perfect, but to be herself. He leaves after giving her a boost. The men lift her spirits and find way to connect with her and let her know that they are ok with her being vulnerable. She thanks them and lets them know that she has a connection with each one and it’s hard when you realize that to get to the end, only 1 will be left.
JOAN GAVE ROSES TO | Charles L, Chock, Dan, Gary, Gil, Guy, Jonathan, Jordan, Keith, Pascal, and Mark
JOAN DIDN’T GIVE ROSES TO | CK, Gregg, and Kim
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Golden Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
HERE’S WHO WE THINK WILL GO TO HOMETOWNS
THE GOLDEN BACHELOR CONTESTANTS
Featured TV Show
INTEGRITY EXCELLENCE SUSTAINABILITY | CHEF FARIYAL ABDULLAHI
As the Summer comes to a close, we're looking ahead to the Fall and Holiday! We love being able to take time with friends and family and those that are in our inner circles to connect and many times, these gatherings take place in our favorite restaurants! It's within these 4 walls that memories are made, food is shared, and horizons are expanded. With the restaurant as the canvas, it is helmed by those give us the foundation for this exchange to take place.
This month's cover is Executive Chef Fariyal Abdullahi of Hav & Mar which is located in Chelsea's Art District in the Starrett-Lehigh Building. We talk about how a passion for food, fine dining, sustainability, and advancement led to a culinary career that has included phenomenal restaurants and a track record of integrity; her helming and being personally selected by Marcus Samuelsson (Red Rooster, Streetbird, MARCUS ADDIS) for this restaurant that is in the Marcus Samuelsson Group; being the Chef for and walking the Met Gala red carpet in 2021; being a judge on Food Network shows such as Chopped and Alex vs America, and being a James Beard Award 2024 Finalist! We wanted to know more about her culinary journey, her approach to food, sustainability, and changing restaurant culture.
ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s been such a fun day in being able to hangout at your baby, Hav & Mar and your cover editorial here with, a number of looks, and to see your restaurant and you in this way.
What was the first dish that you remember when you realized that you fell in love with food?
CHEF FARIYAL ABDULLAHI: Um, ok, so I grew up in Ethiopia and I am the youngest of 6 siblings. My mom would cook all of our meals herself – breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We were a family of 8, it didn’t matter. She always made it herself. You know, people say that their mom was a good cook, I can tell you objectively as a Chef that my mom was very talented and she didn’t have any formal training or anything. She was just very intuitive and very good at it. Because of that, everybody used to come to our house for food because her food was just that good! Holiday and everything, my uncles would be at the house. They were not at their wives homes with their cooking. They would be at the house and I noticed that at a very young age. I was like, “mom, you have to put me on!”
So it’s not a particular dish. But, she started me out with salad from the beginning. It was nothing that had to do with fire and stuff. I was a Garde Manger Queen (Editor’s Note: The pantry chef, commonly known as Garde Manger or Garmo is responsible for the preparation of cold dishes, salads, charcuterie, and appetizers in a commercial kitchen) when I was 6 years old. I was like, I want to do this, I want to do what you do. But it was also the process of – we’re very close to our food source. So, I have photos of me from when I was a kid making salad! We would go to the farm which was right around the corner from our house and they would grow the lettuce. So it was a whole process. I would go get the lettuce, the tomatoes, and all of that stuff and I would have the connection of seeing all of this stuff going from the soil, the farmers that grew it, and then I would go back home and it was literally a simple salad. Romaine Lettuce, Serrano Peppers, and Tomatoes – you didn’t even make a vinaigrette for it – it was just lime juice and salt.
AM: Oh wow!
CHEF FA: Yeah, that was my responsibility. It was very few ingredients, but it built my relationship that I had with food. It kind of made that first part where I had that connection with the people that grew my food. Then I turned what they did into something that was delicious to eat, and then everyone comes over - everyone pulls up. It was really that process where I was like, this is what I want. This is that thing that connects all of us.
AM: You graduated with a Bachelor’s in Clinical Child Psychology. When did you realize that you wanted to be a Chef as opposed to going down that track in terms of a graduate degree? You opted to go to the Culinary Institute of America in Nappa as opposed to staying on the psychology track.
CHEF FA: I always knew that I wanted to be in food. But, it’s the classic immigrant story where you leave your country and you go to America. The American Dream is that you are a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. Those are the 3 things. I would tell my mom when I was 14 or 16 that I wanted to cook and that I wanted to be a chef. And she would always tell me that that was a hobby and that it wasn’t a career. So when you’re a doctor, you can go home and cook as a hobby. That was your hobby, that was not a career. But I was like, “damn, that is really what I want to do!” As the youngest of 6 siblings, that’s what they did. So I have a sister that is a Neurosurgeon, my brother is an Immuno Oncologist – so he is doing cancer research, I have a brother and a sister that is doing Internal Medicine – so then it was my turn and I mean, I guess my second love is just knowing people and understanding behavior and that is why I went into Clinical
Psychology. But it never -
AM: It never really felt right.
CHEF FA: It didn’t! It really didn’t and I am a very empathetic person and so I got my Bachelor’s in Clinical Child Psychology and my sister who is in UCLA – both of my sisters are in UCLA, I went to go visit them and they said, “let’s show you the psych department.” They took me to where the children are and that’s what kind of changed me forever because I knew that I could not work with sick kids every day. I couldn’t do that and then go home with it! I knew that I would always go home with it! So that day, instead of applying to grad school, I applied to culinary school. I had my heart set on CIA because I had read 2 biographies from Grant Achatz and Anthony Bourdain and they both went to CIA and it is supposed to be the Harvard of culinary schools. I thought, hold on, if I get accepted to this school – this 1 culinary school, it’s go to be big right? So, I didn’t apply anywhere else, I just applied there.
AM: One shot!
CHEF FA: Yeah, one shot and I got accepted. So I told my mom, you have to let me do this.
AM: I used to have a teacher who felt that I should be a surgeon because in our labs when we were dissecting various animals, my precision in cutting was something that she loved. I had to explain to her many times that it wasn’t the work that I wanted to do, and that inspired me to find a piece that called back to that to bring it to this set. My mind will continue to run and replay a number of things and I can’t make my mind not work that way. I don’t know if I could take running a procedure in my head where something went wrong on that level and be ok.
CHEF FA: Yeah, I don’t know how they do it!
AM: So while you waited to hear about your application, you went to 18 countries and traveled for 3 months! What was it like to go to these places and for someone who already had an interesting palette already, how did you retrain that to take on all of these other areas that you had not previously been exposed to?
CHEF FA: So that was the purpose because I didn’t think that I had a palette. I don’t want to say advanced, but I didn’t think that I had a good palette yet. So the first 16 years of my life, I lived in Ethiopia, so I had a very high tolerance for spicy food, but also like very heavily spiced food. Things are very seasoned in Ethiopia so that is my threshold. I came to the States and my intro into American food became what I ate on campus.
I was like, “what is this flavorless, unseasoned – what is going on?” I swear that at 16, because I started college fulltime at 16, I used to walk around in my purse with Tabasco before Beyoncé said it, I swear to God that I had hot sauce in my bag! Because I was like, this ain’t it for me! It was just no flavor! It was that and the burritos, the burgers, and I’m in college. I kept thinking that there had to be an in between – hold on!
Yeah so, that was kind of the purpose behind my trip and I knew that there had to be more food out there. So it was 18 countries and now I’m on my 56th country. But in those 3 months, I did 18 countries and it was just to eat!
AM: That’s insane and amazing!
CHEF FA: It was cool because it’s like the whole 10,000 hours that Malcom Gladwell talks about (Editor’s Note: Malcolm Gladwell is a Canadian journalist, author and public speaker. He is known for his unique perspective on popular culture. He has been a staff writer with The New Yorker since 1996 and has published 7 books. He is also the podcast host of Revisionist History and the co-founder of the podcast company, Pushkin Industries. In his 2008 book Outliers, he states that, “10,000 hours is the magic number of greatness.” This theory means that to be considered elite or truly experienced with a certain craft you would need to practice it for 10,000 hours) it was the exposure of different flavors and textures that I would not have been exposed to if I had not traveled to these different countries. It became my little culinary school!
AM: Did you have a little travel journal and write down things as you navigated these countries?
CHEF FA: Yeah! I was solo too! I went by myself!
AM: Got it! Wow that’s a lot!
So what was it like to attend CIA and what were some of the kitchens that you trained in as you navigated to where you are here?
CHEF FA: So CIA, so I was responsible for my own tuition and that was the deal when I moved from Ethiopia. I did 8 hours of school a day, that’s how long our classes were – 8 hours, but then I would also work as a Teacher’s Assistant for the first 8 hours of my day. So that’s when I got into the 16 hour work day.
AM: Right!
CHEF FA: So, it was actually teaching me the work ethic that I needed honestly at the time, I didn’t know! I didn’t know how many hours people worked at restaurants. I had never worked in a restaurant before and there were no examples around me. So CIA in addition to obviously the culinary fundamentals, it was the first thing that taught me – ok, you can’t be tired. If you’re going to do this, you’re going to have to have the energy for this. I mean, it’s the Harvard of culinary schools and I do think that I got into Noma which was my first job ever – I mean Noma was the best restaurant in the world for 4 years in a row! It’s because I set myself up by going to the CIA!
AM: For sure!
CHEF FA: I felt like I was behind because when I was attending the CIA, my classmates were 18 years old and I was 25! I knew that I had to be on the fast track. Yeah, so it was essentially, a career change for me.
AM: Clearly, it all worked out as I’m sitting here talking with you in your restaurant!
CHEF FA: Yeah, I’m pretty much on a space ship and I’m on it.
AM: So, you were at Noma and I know that they are closing at the end of this year, but they will be more of a food laboratory and so that’s an interesting evolution with how they will continue their journey. So what are 3 things that you learned in your time of being at that restaurant? I mean when you hear of people who were at that restaurant, it’s no joke and it’s highly prestigious!
CHEF FA: I mean, especially with that being my first job ever! I remember when we were in culinary school getting ready to graduate and my classmates were like, we’re going to start off at this restaurant and then work our way up. I was like nah! I knew that I had to go straight to the top. They were like, you can’t do that. That’s not how the system is set up. You have to work your way up to Noma and I’m like, “cool, that’s what y’all are going to do.”
AM: But when you have a vision and you already feel like that you’re older than those that you have been with, you just can’t go at the same cadence because you have to make up for lost time.
CHEF FA: So the first thing that I learned at Noma is Integrity. Because my thing was that if I want to learn to be the best, I have to learn from the best! They were the best restaurant 4 years in a row and I was like, cool. What is it that makes them the best. It’s not always necessarily the food, what I learned there was Integrity is so high. Everybody was doing the right thing whether someone was looking or they weren’t looking. There’s no cutting corners. If this is how you’re shown how to do something, you do it. If there is something that is stopping you from doing it, you do it. Either way, you always do the right thing. That’s really powerful! So integrity!
10 years ago, the restaurant industry and kitchens are set up on this bully system I would call it. You get called all kinds of names, you get yelled at, that’s the relationship that you have with your Chef. The standard is always excellence and you will never reach that. So you're getting yelled at constantly every single day. So I was like, ok cool, this is how it is. If this is how it is, you just adjust to it. You learn how to have tough skin and you move on. But there is a changing area and I was getting ready to close out from the day and I heard René Redzepi (Editor’s Note: Danish chef and co-owner of 3-Michelin star Noma in the Christianshavn neighborhood of Copenhagen, Denmark) having a conversation with his leadership team and I guess there was this line cook that was being bullied and he just couldn’t take it anymore and he just left and he wasn’t answering anybody’s calls for 3 weeks.
AM: Oh wow!
CHEF FA: And people were like ok, whatever, if he’s gone, he’s gone. That day when I was getting ready to leave, I was in the changing area and I heard the conversation that René was having with his leadership team and he was telling them, “we have to shift the culture. How do you guys not care? What if this guy isn’t even alive right now? What is wrong with you?”
AM: That’s what I was wondering!
CHEF FA: He was really laying into them. He said, we have to be better. So he was like, “cool, you guys are going to go to his apartment, you’re going to find him and make sure that he is fed.” He was an intern so he wasn’t getting paid, but he was like, “do we need to pay him?” He wanted to find out all of this information. René’s wife was pregnant at the time and he thought that he was having a son and he was like, “if my son told me that he wanted to work in the kitchen, I would tell him no.” That’s because it is very abusive and we have to shift the culture and we need to be able to create a system where people want to come to work and that they feel appreciated and cared about. I was like, what is he talking about? That is not how kitchens run. Don't you just get yelled at and told that you ain’t shit?
AM: Yeah and you go into the corner and do a cry where no one can see you so you can get back in the game.
CHEF FA: Right? You go to the side, handle it and go right back out!
AM: Right? That’s how it was for me in fashion and that was just how it went!
CHEF FA: Yeah and I thought that it would be like that forever! But that was the first time that I had ever heard anybody talking about changing and shifting the industry! I thought, ok I guess that it could be different. So that sparked the biggest thing in me where it made me say that I run my kitchen with joy. I lead it with joy. I think that that is why we have such a high retention rate here. People want to stay working here.
AM: We have been here for a few hours and I haven’t seen anyone slacking, slinking off or even watching us do a photoshoot and having me interview you. Everyone is just focused!
CHEF FA: Yeah they have a very heavy prep list. They are super focused! They are totally fine! I am really proud of what I have built. It all stems from my Noma days. Build a workplace that people actually want to come to and I learned that from René and have integrity! Always do the right thing!
AM: You leave Noma and prior to Hav & Mar, what are some of the restaurants that you were working at between these 2 periods?
CHEF FA: Right after Noma, I went back to LA because that’s where my family lives and while I was there, I got a call from a Chef here in NYC and he was an Executive Chef at a restaurant called Caviar Russe which is a Michelin-starred restaurant and he called me and he was like, “hey, I need a prep cook." I was like, “damn, starting from the bottom. I just came from Noma!” But it made sense because there is such a huge gap in my resume because I went from culinary school to the best restaurant in the world and while I was at Noma – you know, that’s the third thing that I learned.
I learned that you determine your own growth in terms of how quickly you grow. Because I went as an intern and interns don’t really get to work the line especially prep, but I was out of the prep kitchen after a month and they put me on the line.
I remember that there was a huge symposium that they do called the MAD Symposium (Editor’s Note: René created the MAD Symposium which is considered the G20 of Food Industry Change) where they bring some of the best culinary minds and René would be on huge pins and needles and he was very anxious to make sure that service went well. Obviously, they had all the interns in the prep kitchen and he came upstairs and he said, “what are you doing here?” I was like, “Chef, this is where I was put.” And he told me that I was going to be working on the line. He put me on the line for one of the most important services that he was about to do. So I said, “got it Chef.” I just put my head down and I did the work.
AM: Inside, you must have been like, argh!
CHEF FA: Oh yeah! I mean, we’re extremely close, but he could be very intimidating. So, we always knew when he was in town because when he is in the kitchen, all you would hear (Chef Fariyal pulls her keys out of her pocket and puts her finger through the keyring and flips the keys over and over through the loop) is those keys and you would say, “Chef’s here.”
So he put me on a station with a Sous Chef from Finland and he was this massive guy! He said, ok you're going to work this station with him. The Sous Chef was like, “don’t say nothing. All you have to do is shuck these 200 year old clams and that’s it!” I mean, dude, they were the size of my palm. I’m like wow 200 year old clams, but I was like, “yes Chef.” He let me know that no matter how intense it got, all he needed me to do was to stay calm and just shuck these clams. So I said, “yes Chef.” 5mins into service, René comes around the corner and starts screaming at the Sous Chef and asking him why his station was dirty. It was not even dirty. “Why is your station dirty? You know what, stop, everyone come here. Look at how nasty his station is.” He kicks the Sous Chef out of the kitchen and now I am in the station by myself.
AM: Oh no!
CHEF FA: I said, “the Sous Chef told me to shut up and just keep shucking so I’m just going to shut up and keep shucking my clams!” So I learned to stay cool and to stay calm. So nothing gets me out of my zone.
AM: Nope!
CHEF FA: So that is my 3rd thing. You determine your growth because I was the only intern working the line on a shift that René kicked my Sous Chef off his station that I worked at and then it became mine. That was all because I put my head down and I put in the work.
AM: We also know that you accepted that job at Caviar Russe.
CHEF FA: Yes so Caviar Russe was the first job after Noma. They called me and I said sure, prep cook is kind of crazy, but sure. So I came and I moved to NY for that. Fine dining is my love and it’s what I love to do. But 6 months of doing that, making minimum wage and you’re in NYC – I was barely surviving – barely. I was like I don’t know how much longer I can sustain this. When I was in school, we always used to have job fairs and there would be this restaurant group, Hillstone.
AM: Oh yeah!
CHEF FA: They would always be in the school and try to recruit kids from the CIA. They have a few restaurants in NYC.
AM: Yeah, they had the spot at 53rd & Lex as I used to eat there quite a bit in my early days of living in NYC. That was my place at that time.
CHEF FA: I was never interested in working at a place like Hillstone. I was like, I’m a fine dining girl from CIA – what are you talking about? I’m not trying to make burger and fries! But then I was like, ok, fine dining is not cutting it. I’m literally a starving artist right now and I’m hungry and can’t even feed myself. I got recruited to Hillstone and I said, let me see what this is about. I went and I remember when I did my stage, I was like hold on, they may not be making the type of food that I am interested in, but the restaurant is run like a fine dining restaurant. So I thought hold on, maybe I can do this. They pay you a 6 figure salary right off the bat and I thought, I can do this and not be broke!
I was like, this is compromising the type of food that I love making, but it is done to the same standards. Also, the paycheck is cute and I did the switch from fine dining to Hillstone. I did that for about 5 years.
AM: That’s a long time.
CHEF FA: 5 years, 9 different restaurants, I moved 9 times to different cities, and I became the opener. That’s how I got my experience in opening restaurants. Anytime you are asked to open a restaurant as a Chef, that is a huge compliment because you’re laying the foundation.
AM: Yeah the standard.
CHEF FA: They’re saying that they want you to instill and to inject your work ethic and the trajectory of the restaurant is all based on -
AM: Your brand standard!
CHEF FA: Yeah so I opened 9 restaurants in 9 different cities with Hillstone.When I was with them, they had 53 restaurants in a number of major cities. It was a $650 million dollar restaurant. It was 1 owner, he did not go public.
AM: Oh wow!
CHEF FA: Huge!
AM: That’s a flex!
CHEF FA: That’s a flex! That is where I learned my leadership. That is 100% where I learned my leadership style. A lot of Chefs say that it is one of the best run restaurant groups in America. Hands down, easily.
So Caviar Russe to Hillstone and then I was like, I’m tired. By that time, I had been in the industry 8 years and there was never any Black women and even with Hillstone, I grew really quickly so after 9 months they gave me my own kitchen which was also very much so on the fast track. People had issues being led by a woman of color and they would make it very clear.
AM: Oh yeah.
CHEF FA: Like they would actually verbally say I’m not doing that. Why? Because you’re a woman and you’re Black. I would say, “cool, do you take a paycheck from a woman because guess who is writing your paychecks?” So if you’re cool with that, you’re going to do this task. But that was very exhausting. It felt like I was in a state of isolation. Because I was far away from my family, cities and states that I didn’t have friends or family in them. So I was very much so alone and then you go into work and they make it a point to feel even more alone. Even though I was Head Chef, you didn't really have much of a say. It wasn’t my food. I didn’t get to hire the people that I wanted. So I wasn’t making any of the changes that I wanted to make. I was tired and it was 2020 and I felt that I was done with the industry. I moved back to Ethiopia. I was like, “I’m done, this is wack and I’m not into it.”
Then I get a call from Marcus Samuelsson. “I was like, what the heck is happening right now?” He’s like, “Chef, it’s taken me quite awhile to track you down.” I was like, “what – what do you mean?“ I was so confused. He tells me about this restaurant. He told me that he was opening a restaurant in Chelsea and he wanted it to be run by me. I wanted to know more. He said that he wanted to build a sustainable menu and that he wanted it to be led by a woman of color as he felt that he had not put any spotlight on women of color.
So I was in Ethiopia for 6 months. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was chilling. I still had my home and my brother still lives there – I was cool. There was no rush. So Marcus called and he said sustainable menu which really mattered to me a lot and having it led by women of color. I was like, “hold on, so I can make whatever food I want and I can hire whoever I want?” He was like, it’s you. It’s your restaurant. You can do what you want! So I was like, alright cool, I have to come back. Also, it didn’t feel like I was done with the industry.
AM: Right, you just needed the right fit.
CHEF FA: So this was my second chance at the industry. Then within a year and a half, we have had a stellar NY Times review, I’ve gotten my James Beard Nomination, all of this stuff and it’s like – wait, what?
AM: That’s so insane! You must have gotten off of the call and just been like – he’s been looking for me? I’m going to be working with this man?
CHEF FA: How? I mean – what? You’re looking for me? That don’t make no sense!
It was and it is and he is letting me do my thing. I’m really glad that I came back.
AM: It’s such a great story. I have had the pleasure of interviewing him before and I have also done a fun culinary video with him and seeing him at culinary events and competitions. Love his personality and his focus as well as everything about him is really amazing.
What does it mean to you for him to place you in this position and to have this massive responsibility as well as being able to chart your own path?
CHEF FA: It’s 2 things. There is that whole show that comes along with it. It’s a very public and media facing restaurant. I wouldn’t have known that I could be a voice for women of color in the culinary industry if he didn’t trust me with this you know? There is only 6% of women of color that are Executive Chefs which no wonder that we feel so lonely. I do know some women of color that are Executive Chefs, but they say that they don’t have to talk about it all the time. They feel that the more that you focus on race and all of that stuff, you’re taking away from your craft. But I’m like, people are making it a point to focus on it anyway.
AM: Exactly!
CHEF FA: Right, so why don’t you talk your shit?
AM: It’s intertwined!
CHEF FA: It is!
AM: You can’t do one without the other.
CHEF FA: People don’t want to separate it so I will talk about it. People immediately are only focused on the food. I am going to talk about it and he gave me the voice which I think really helps. Because now, so many women of color reach out to me and say, “Chef this is so inspiring. I almost gave up on the industry.”
But the other thing is that Marcus is the first and the only person to ever tell me this. When we first started opening the restaurant he could tell because I had never really worked for a restaurant where I was in charge that was this front facing. He started talking about that we would get reviewed in the first couple of months and I was like woah, “I have never had to deal with this.” I wasn’t sure if I could do it and he was the first person to ever tell me, “Chef, you’re here because you deserve to be. You know that right?” I’ll never forget those words. I’m like, “no actually. No one has ever said that to me. Not a single person has told me that you’re here because you deserve to be.” He told me that I worry about that way too much and that he brought me here because I made great food and I tell a great story. So he told me that, ”whoever walks through that door, if they don’t see you, that’s not your problem. You’re here because you deserve to be.” And that kind of felt like the shackles that I had the first 8 years of my career –“
AM: Broke.
CHEF FA: Yeah, it unlocked it. I was like, cool. I don’t have to prove myself to anyone. I’m here because I deserve to be. You know, you don’t see white men prove why they are there.
AM: No you don’t.
CHEF FA: Right, everyone just knows that that is what it is. They make the food, people see that is the chef and there isn’t anything else that has to be said or debated. So he gave that to me. He gave me the belief and the understanding that I am here because I deserve to be. He gave me that voice so it’s been very impactful. It’s the first time and I always tell my siblings that their job is important because they are literally saving lives. My job is not important and that is what I have been saying for the last 8 years, but now like I have been doing this for 12 years and it’s the first time that I have felt that what I do is important. I’m changing an entire industry in terms of how you can run a restaurant and also many people see that you need to bring more women of color into your restaurant.
AM: There are a lot of people out there in your space telling a story, but you need to also be out on platforms sharing how you’re rocking things too. To hear as you said that it’s less than 6%.
What can you tell us about this space, the ambiance, the design, and what can diners expect when they come here? I love how decadent it is when you look in. But there is a relaxing element to the space as well as whimsical with the Black mermaids which I love!
CHEF FA: Yeah! Well that’s all Derrick Adams! So when Marcus commissioned Derrick Adams to do the artwork here, he told him it was going to be a seafood restaurant and that it would be led by women of color. So immediately, Derrick Adams was like Black mermaids. He titled it, We Are From the Water Too.
AM: I love that!
CHEF FA: We Are From the Water Too! So Black mermaids. So Marcus always says, “when you lose the message of Hav, look at the mermaids.” Like, they will always bring you back to what our message is at Hav. Visually and aesthetically, the architects name is Zébulon Perron (Red Bull Music Academy, Broccolini Condo Store, Pancho) and he’s won awards for creating this space and he's actually amazing.
But I love how it looks simple, right? Which is why you can feel so relaxed and it doesn’t feel intimidating where you feel that you have to be buttoned up. But then you get into the details and it’s like woah, hold on!
AM: It’s very Matrix-y in some ways with the way that the fixtures are floating. There are sections and yet everything is still together. It’s mind trippy! A little bit like Salvador Dalí (Editor’s Note: A Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and his striking images. Major themes in his work included dreams, stretching and mixing realities, as well as the subconscious.)
There’s just a warmth.
CHEF FA: And you know, he wanted it to be an open kitchen obviously. So I always stand in the pass (Editor’s Note: This is where plates go for a final garnish or inspection before they’re sent to the dining room. It’s also where components of a dish that are prepped at different stations meet to be plated together,) so I am the first person that people see. If we’re going to have a restaurant led by a woman of color, we’re not going to hide her. We’re going to make sure that people know that she is at the helm of it all. So I take my position right there and we have guests that walk up. Sometimes people are like, “can we meet the Chef?”
AM: It’s like, hello!
CHEF FA: Haha yes, hello! Were you expecting someone or something different?
AM: Sometimes they are!
CHEF FA: Well most of the time they are!
We get so many people that come up! Little girls and they’re like, “I want to be a chef!” This space! When I first walked in, there was nothing! It was rubble – a pile of rubble! I was like, “I don’t know what y’all see!” They did it just like that – 2 months!
AM: Really?
CHEF FA: Yeah!
AM: Wow!
CHEF FA: I love it here. I spend 80 hours in this building so -
AM: You know it very well!
CHEF FA: It’s not a bad place to spend 80 hours.
AM: What is the meaning behind the name?
CHEF FA: So Marcus is both Ethiopian Swedish. Hav is Swedish for ocean and Mar is the Ethiopian word for honey. So we are from the Sweet Waters which is how he describes it. But, it’s to pay homage to both his Swedish and Ethiopian roots.
AM: So what would you say the cuisine is and what are the ingredients and the flavors that are indicative of it?
CHEF FA: So when we were first talking about how we could make a sustainable menu, we kept coming back to seafood. Initially, he wanted to do a vegan restaurant.
AM: Part of me thought that this would have been a vegan restaurant.
CHEF FA: Right because when you talk about sustainability, that tends to be the best route to go. But then we were like, gosh, it’s really hard to tell our story through just plants. So we landed at seafood. I like to describe it as seafood. When we first opened it was, seafood told through the lens of the African Diaspora because it was very heavily influenced by African ingredients. I’m Ethiopian born and raised so a lot of Ethiopian influence, but I did a lot of West African ingredients too. Then we evolved because I have a Sous Chef from the Philippines and a Sous Chef from Puerto Rico.
PF: Oooo
AM: Yeah, both of us just said ooo at the same time!
CHEF FA: Yeah as the Executive Chef, the menu is mine. One day, I was feeling under the weather and my Filipino Sous Chef made me a traditional Filipino soup called Sinigang. I was in the pass and she saw me struggling as I was saying fire for the dishes. She said, “Chef, I made this for you.” I was like what is this and why is this not on our menu? She explained that it was from the Philippines and that they have a traditional soup made with fish. I was like, “you know we have a seafood restaurant?" Then I was like, hold on, I think that we should start bringing in their voices to the menu too. I don’t have to gatekeep this.
So then we started incorporating their dishes and then I think that that’s when Pete Wells (Editor’s Note: Pete Wells was the restaurant critic at The New York Times from 2011 – August 2024) came in to do the review and I was like, oh my God, we don’t really have an identity besides the fact that we are a seafood restaurant. He was like, “Chef Fariyal uses her global influence –.“ I was like, that’s who we are - we are a seafood restaurant. Some people will come in and say this is not African and I’m like we’re a seafood restaurant with a global influence. That’s it and now it has all of their global identities.
We have Puerto Rican flavors, we have Middle Eastern flavors, Filipino flavors – we have everything!
AM: That’s amazing.
CHEF FA: But the vessel is seafood. The seafood tells our story in terms of sustainability. It’s what keeps me up at night.
So when I was designing the menu and we were creating these dishes, we need to use as much of the ingredient as possible. I want very little waste. So the thing about restaurants is that we are one of the highest contributors of the Climate Crisis because we produce so much food waste and that ends up in landfills and I’m like how can we avoid all the waste that we produce here ending up in landfills? So it’s about using as much of the ingredient as possible.
So we are getting really creative so I have something called Ash Oil. So I was like, can we do anything with all of these scraps with the skins of scallions, onion skins, scallion tops that we throw away, garlic, and all of that stuff. Things that you would throw away and I thought that there has to be flavor in here! So we just put it in the Hearth oven which goes up to 800° and it gives it a nice char and then I blended it into a salt and then I mix that with oil so it has this super...
AM: Smoky
CHEF FA: Yes smoky flavor! So I was like, hold on this is edible and it gives this whole other dimension to dishes. So I was like, alright cool lets get really creative like that. Let’s use parts of ingredients that normally get thrown away. So that was Step 1.
Step 2 was how do I make sure that – obviously you can’t use 100% of everything.
AM: Right.
CHEF FA: How do I make sure that this doesn’t end up in landfills? So I did some research and found 2 different organizations one is called Afterlife. They come and pick up our compost every day. They grow mushrooms with our compost.
AM: Oh wow!
CHEF FA: I built a dish around these mushrooms so it’s like a full 360 moment. But then, the most important thing is that after they are done growing these mushrooms they take the substrate which is the compost and they turn it into soil and they create something called Biochar. So Biochar is soil, but it has the ability to sink carbon for a 1,000 years.
AM: Wow so they are a Circular Farm.
CHEF FA: Right, so I was like hold on, this is really fly! So all of our compost goes to them. I work with them a lot and they are doing a lot of really amazing things.
AM: And they are based here in the city?
CHEF FA: Yeah! They do all of that and they make Biochar by using our compost and then they donate the Biochar to farmers and it helps them increase their yield. So farmers are getting better yield while making sure that we’re not increasing the output of Carbon Dioxide to the air. They also donate it to parks and it goes to Governors Island. So they do all of these wonderful things with our compost.
AM: Wow!
CHEF FA: And then the second company, they’re called Billion Oyster Project.
AM: That’s the host of the dinner we’re going to on Thursday at Governors Island (Editor’s Note: You can read the story about this dinner from Outstanding in the Field in this issue).
CHEF FA: No way!
AM: Yeah Le Jardinier is the culinary portion and we’re very excited.
CHEF FA: Ok, that makes sense!
They are my second partner. So what they do is they collect oysters from restaurants and they are basically reconstituting the oyster population in the Hudson and all of the rivers here. What that does is it gives us a good filtration system. So they take our oysters because I’m like, let’s not get lazy with it. Technically, you could throw everything into a compost, but I’m like are there things that we can separate within the compost that makes better use? So since we have been open, Billion Oyster Project has been in the loop.
That is the most important thing to me. We can get all of the best accolades in the world. But the thing is, If you are contributing to a worse planet, what are you really doing?
AM: We have to do something and to keep researching for new innovations.
CHEF FA: Exactly!
AM: Wow!
CHEF FA: I like talking about it because for example, Afterlife they have 20 restaurants that they have partnered with in NYC. Do you know how many restaurants there are in NYC? That’s wild that there are only 20 restaurants that participate!
I eventually want to end up in policy. I do work with Save the Children. I do a lot of advocacy work and I eventually want to end up there. But for now, if you can implement the stuff while you’re on the ground, that’s a great place to start.
AM: I can see you doing Food Advocacy work as Tom Colicchio and Todd English, both of them are doing what they can and making their voices heard.
CHEF FA: It’s important! Listen, I am a mushroom fiend! They are very tasty.
AM: In looking at the menu, the flow of it is really great! What are 3 dishes from your Raw & Cured that you would suggest for those coming in?
CHEF FA: Raw & Cured, so I am a little biased with my Tuna Tartare.
AM: I love a Tuna Tartare moment.
CHEF FA: It’s so good! Tuna Tartare is a must. Hamachi has been there since we have opened. It’s a ceviche that I use called the Black Ceviche which is non-traditional and I use the Ashe Oil in there. It’s very acidic, but that Ash Oil gives it that other dimension of what I was talking about when I was saying smoky. That’s not very traditional for a ceviche. I can never get rid of that. It will be on the menu forever. There are just some things – I mean we are a seasonal menu, but there are just some things that’s just like, there will be an uproar if we take that off the menu.
AM: People will be like, wait, is it even a restaurant if I can’t get this here? Forks raised in the air – where is it?
CHEF FA: For real – picketing! The Hamachi Ceviche and there is a dish called the Swediopian. So it is something that we have had since the beginning. Swediopian is our play on words where it’s Swedish and Ethiopian. So way before this restaurant opened, Marcus and I did an event for Pepsi and it was around the Super Bowl and he wanted a dish that represented both his Ethiopian and Swedish roots and he said to play around with the cured salmon. So I cured it using Swedish techniques, but then I used berbere which is an Ethiopian spice so it’s a twice cured salmon.
AM: Oh wow so it’s punchy.
CHEF FA: Yeah very actually. You guys need to come in and eat. Seriously.
AM: Oh we will, we want to be able to try that.
CHEF FA: So those three from the Raw & Cured are great!
AM: What are 3 Small Plates that you suggest that we should enjoy?
CHEF FA: Small Plates, we do a beautiful Scallop here.
AM: I love a Scallop.
CHEF FA: Yes, we have our Fall Menu coming in 3 weeks and so the format will change again.
Yes and the Salad is a big hit too! We always bring that in every Summer. I have this formula that I use. For this particular Salad I do a purée and it’s about what ingredient is at its best during the season? So for the Summer Salad, I do a corn purée then Heirloom tomatoes because you know and then I do a compressed watermelon.
AM: Wow!
CHEF FA: What could be more Summer than that? So I always say get the Summer Salad and the Scallops – those are my 2 favorites.
AM: What is Happy Hour like here?
CHEF FA: Happy Hour is from 5-7pm. We have a separate menu that we do and our General Manager Tia, a woman of color whose Jamaican, she’s a Somm and she does the Beverage Program here.
AM: Wow!
CHEF FA: So she wears many hats! So she makes awesome cocktails. We work in tandem and she takes ingredients from the kitchen that we are processed and done with and instead of throwing it away and making waste, she makes cocktails with it.
AM: Oh that’s smart and the sustainability continues.
So that means some of your cocktails are even a bit savory as well?
CHEF FA: Yup the Hav & Martini – so I make pickled red onions that I use as a garnish and I put beets in it to make that beautiful pink color. So when we're done pickling it, we used to toss out the juice. But she uses it in her Hav & Martini.
AM: I like that!
CHEF FA: Yeah it’s this beautiful pink hued beverage. She has this really beautiful way of explaining it because I don’t drink alcohol and I’m Muslim and I have never been in that world.
The way that she explains it she’s like this cocktail uses onions and this is why. I’m like, girl I don’t know, but it sounds good!
AM: It’s smart because there are a lot of studios in this area -
CHEF FA: Art studios.
AM: So you’re open for dinner every night. Do you ever foresee a lunch service? What was the decision behind this?
CHEF FA: So one thing that I love patting myself on the back for is because when you start getting to this whole thing – James Beard, Michelin, and all of that stuff – people equate how difficult it is to get into a restaurant with how successful that restaurant is. I always tell people – it’s not a competition, but when you look at and line up all of the restaurants, I have 140 seats. We are open 7 days a week and a lot of these restaurants are not open 7 days a week. They’re not and in this post COVID climate, it’s very challenging to have enough staff to be open and operating 7 days a week and that’s a really huge deal.
AM: Yup!
CHEF FA: And most of the restaurants, I mean this is a very big operation in terms of seats.
AM: When I walked in, I thought, they’re not playing.
CHEF FA: Yeah so 140 seats, 7 days a week. I’m like, you guys don’t understand – like when you guys are like who is the best chef? Look at the operation also, you know what I mean? I could run a 12 seat restaurant that’s open 4 days a week. I could run that very easily. So it already is doing the most because we are open 7 days a week in this restaurant. But Marcus does have pipe dreams of being open for lunch and I’m like, “Chef, where are these people? Where is the staff that I’m supposed to find?” I would say that that is the biggest challenge of being open for more service – it’s just not the same. The pool of people to hire is not the same at all.
AM: So speaking to that, what is an average day like?
CHEF FA: So the operating hours is that we are open from 5-10pm.
So there are 2 shifts. The AM team gets here at 8am. They are here from 8-4pm. They prep the food that all the guests are going to eat. So our rule is, “today’s food, for today’s guests.” So everything is made fresh inhouse every day. There is no rolling over. I have a Sous Chef, I have a Pastry Chef, 2 Prep Cooks, and a Dishwasher.
AM: Wow.
CHEF FA: So that’s who’s here from 8 – 4pm.
Then at 3pm, my line team gets here. So they are the ones that cook the food. So there is an hour overlap between the 2 of them. But they will be here from 3 – 11pm. So there is the prep team and the service team.
AM: Oh wow.
CHEF FA: I have to kind of be here for both.
So I get here between 12-2 and then I stay here until the last table leaves.
AM: So on your admin day, is that when you are touching base with the group?
CHEF FA: So with the group, we have weekly meetings every Wed. So we have our meetings with our Director of Operations. The only reason why she is here today is because our General Manager is in Chicago. But we have a meeting with her, our CEO, and our CFO every Wed. about our P&L. So I have to know every single penny that comes into this building and every single penny that leaves this building. So I always give them a presentation every single Wed. This is where we’re at, this is the goal, this is what my food cost is, this is what my labor cost is, and this is our bottom line. It’s every Wed. and I have to be prepared to talk about our numbers in and out.
But when I say admin stuff, it’s like every Mon. we do payroll. Bit every day, I process invoices. So there is always something. Or there is scheduling I do that every week.
AM: You are a woman of many hats.
CHEF FA: It never ends.
AM: So obviously we were talking about the Met Gala earlier during your shoot. You looked phenomenal on the red carpet. What did it mean to you to be part of that event in addition to obviously doing the menu itself? Just being in that apex of fashion.
CHEF FA: So in the moment, I obviously didn’t grasp how big it was!
Somehow in the end it looks like I’m a fashion forward person ...
That was important for me 1 – it was kind of my debut. We had done so many shoots with Vogue and a lot of stuff and it was like, Chef Fariyal, Chef Fariyal. I was always cooking behind the scenes and now it was like, people know me as a chef now. It was cool and that’s what kind of catapulted the whole TV and media. Because that is when I got a call from the President of Food Network. They were like, hold on, who are you and why are you not on TV? I was like what do you mean because I’m a Chef? What do you mean TV? But that is what catapulted it all. It was that Met Gala, that red carpet.
AM: You were on a lot of the main pages of a number of international editions of Vogue as well as the one here. It was like Lady Gaga what? I remember thinking wow and she’s a Chef on that red carpet – wow. It’s like that’s huge because I thought that she would be in the kitchen.
CHEF FA: I thought that I was going to cook, but no!
AM: What does it mean to your brand because you are doing Chopped as a judge or you’re on Alex vs. America as a judge, or you’re on your Roku show, Celebrity Family Food Battle, and you have done different kinds of things. What does that mean to you when you look at that particular component. Because it feels like being a Chef now – although you don’t have to do this – it has become elevated where you have to have these other touch points that includes TV.
CHEF FA: So it kind of goes hand-in-hand. One of the reasons that the restaurant has been successful is that obviously we’re blessed to have Marcus and his brand behind it and now it’s 50/50. Just as many people walk into the building to meet me as they do asking for Marcus and it’s because I do so many things and when they introduce me on TV they say, that is the Executive Chef from Hav & Mar. So it really helps and my brand is very closely tied to Hav & Mar. So we keep those butts in these seats.
AM: You’re rocking those 7 nights!
CHEF FA: Yeah!
AM: And being a finalist for James Beard. What does that mean to you?
CHEF FA: Oh my gosh, that was never – to me, it was one of those things like James Beard wasn’t even a North Star for me. It wasn’t something that I thought would ever be in my world or something that I could even attain. Then when I moved to Hav & Mar and we opened this restaurant, Marcus asked me what some of my goals were.
I was like, James Beard and he said, “oh, ok.” I was like, “what you mean?”
AM: And he was like what part did you not get? The O or the K?
CHEF FA: I want to be nominated for a James Beard. The other thing was Food & Wine Best Chef. I wanted to be in that category too. And he made me write a list and he said that these were all things that we could work towards. I didn’t think that it would come so fast within my first year of opening the restaurant.
So when I got my nomination for James Beard, I was on set at Chopped and the list came out. It was like right between takes and my phone because I always have it under my leg, it was going off. I was like is the restaurant on fire? What is going on? So I kind of snuck a look and I was like what? James Beard – whatever. And then in between, I read the first text and it was like, congratulations you are a nominated and I was like, what are they talking about? So I was with my co-judges and I was like, Tiffany, I just got nominated for a James Beard and everyone was like what that’s so cool! Then it was like, “and action!”
So literally this is happening in between takes and obviously everyone on set knew how big of a deal this was and what made it really special was that at some point, somebody went out and got flowers and a card. They made the entire team come out on set – every single person that works on Chopped came to give me flowers.
They announced it and said Chef Fariyal is a James Beard nominated Chef! It was very emotional.
AM: That is very cool!
CHEF FA: It was really emotional and how cool is that moment? I’m on the set of Chopped, we’re their celebrating a James Beard nomination and then of course, everyone was like wow just to be nominated is really important and a lot of people don’t even make it to the finals. The people were making sure that I didn’t get my hopes up. But sure enough, I made that shortlist too! It was like what? This is insane. So now, we’re really pulling up. We’re pulling up to the James Beard Awards – this is amazing. I thought that up until that moment that it was just the nomination that mattered to me.
But then, I am in the first category. I sat down, there was a quick presentation. First award of the night is the Emerging Chef Category. I had this super powerful and emotional speech written. I had envisioned it, I was going to go up there and Marcus had given me a pep talk and said that not that many people get it on their first nomination. So if they don't say your name, just try to find it within you to not be disappointed. Because the fact that you made it this far is insane.
AM: Yeah, it’s huge!
CHEF FA: Right so it’s my first nomination. I just remember that they didn’t say my name. I was like woah, I want that. But I didn’t know that I wanted to win. I thought – I mean my goal that I had written down was – I wanted to be nominated. But when they didn’t say my name, it was a 2 second thing where I said, I do want to win. Next year. Then afterwards, the President of James Beard came up to me and everyone was coming up to me and everyone was shocked. They thought that I really had this one. But they told me, you know you’re going to be here many, many, many more times.
AM: Exactly! And the dress you wore was amazing!
CHEF FA: That was like full on from my tribe! Because I did a little bit of it for Met Gala with the headband. But then I wore the full attire this time. That was part of the speech too! I was like gosh, I have to wear it every year now?
AM: Well, you set a little precedent for yourself.
CHEF FA: I did! But that was really important you know because I -
AM: Well representation!
CHEF FA: That’s the thing! I represent 4 voices in America – I’m Black, I’m a woman, I’m Muslim, and I’m an immigrant. 4 of the most underrepresented voices and I think about that every day. I just can’t carry myself like that – this stuff matters, you know what I mean? People are paying attention to me and I have to be very careful about how I speak, what I say, and it’s not all fun and games.
The reason why I was disappointed that I didn’t get it is because we talk about so much about how this is – I always talk about how we need to give women of color more opportunities in the kitchen. So when I got the nomination, it wasn’t just me, I was making a case and a point for why more people of color should be nominated in these things. Then when I didn’t win I was like, gosh, did I let everybody down? I don't know.
AM: No, not at all.
CHEF FA: I got us in the room.
AM: You got in the room and like you said, you will have many more opportunities.
Do you envision having your own cookbook? I know that you had a recipe that was included in a cookbook.
CHEF FA: They are on my case every day!
AM: Haha I can imagine.
CHEF FA: It’s definitely in the pipeline. It’s just a matter of me finding the time.
AM: Last year, we had the pleasure of covering the Food Network Wine Food Festival and this year, you are going to be participating. How excited are you to be part of it, is this your first time?
CHEF FA: This is my first time!
Well I’m doing -
AM: I know that you have a sit down dinner that you’re doing right?
CHEF FA: It’s a Hav & Mar X The Musket Room Brunch with the chefs from The Musket Room. So that’s Mary Attea and Camari Mick. How much more aligned can we get? Like Camari is also killing it in the game! So we got on the phone and we came up with the menu in like 3 seconds and we knew that this was going to be so fun. But I think that that will be so powerful. That should be fun so I’m excited.
I’m also doing the Blue Moon Burger Bash: Champions vs. Challengers presented by Pat LaFrieda and hosted by Rachael Ray.
That is going to be fun, a little burger competition.
AM: We loved the spread of coverage and the fact that you could to eat a number of amazing dishes, connect with people we have covered as well as to hang out with the food community, it’s a good time.
I love that we’re living in a time right now where people are understanding more and want to get a better awareness of the restaurant industry. That’s whether you’re watching Chopped, Top Chef, or The Bear.
CHEF FA: Oh yeah.
AM: I love The Bear!
On your IG, you’ve been talking about the industry, explaining terms, and giving people an inside scoop. Why do you also enjoy sharing this aspect so that people are able to know more about you, but also the industry?
CHEF FA: It was kind of a natural progression from people developing an interest from watching these programs. There are all these Food Network shows, but it’s not an insight into how restaurants are. I think it was The Bear that started this whole thing. People would start using kitchen terms and be like, “how does the pass work?” and I was like what? How did you know about the pass? Where did you -
AM: Carmy said it!
CHEF FA: Exactly, Carmy said it. Oh my gosh! But I am glad that if they’re going to take any information from a show, it’s The Bear because it’s 1000% accurate. Now obviously, there are some Hollywood liberties that they take so that it makes it more dramatic or whatever. But it is a very accurate representation of how restaurants are. So, it came from people being so interested and asking questions. Then on my end too, it’s like it was such a huge shift when the industry was shut down during the pandemic and then opening back up. I was like, people are going to be nice. Right? Because we’re all struggling collectively as humanity.
No, we would get people that were so mean to our servers and just being super mean, just like – beyond. So I thought, well maybe if you give people insight into how tough that it actually is to get the food to your table, you’d be more grateful for this experience.
AM: Tell me about Take Care of Home, why you created it, and what does it do?
CHEF FA: So it’s a non-profit that I started with my friends from Ethiopia. Education has always been at the forefront of my philanthropy work because my mom was set in an arranged marriage when she was 16. So she had to drop out of school in the 8th grade and she was married and started having kids at 16 and her only regret in life was that she didn’t finish school. She stressed that with us. She put all 6 of us thorough private school. It was really important to her. So it became important to me. In Ethiopia, there is a huge gap where in the capitol city, there are a number of schools. But in rural parts of the country, there aren’t actually that many schools because the government only has the funds to subsidize teacher’s salaries, but there are no physical structures because no one has the money to build these infrastructures. So on paper, the schools exist, but no one is going. You’re learning under a shed and under crazy circumstances.
So we were like if this is what is going on and all they need is funding to build the schools, why don’t we do that? So we created Take Care of Home just by the first year was just asking our friends. We were like, we could build a school with $20,000 US or $60,000 US depending on the size of the school. The first year we raised money just by asking our friends. Then it becamea formal thing. We became a non-profit, and we spent an entire year raising money and we just built our 9th school.
AM: Wow!
CHEF FA: We’ve been open for 7 years. We have also expanded our initiatives as well. The first school that we completed, we always go back and visit. We noticed that it was mostly boys that were attending school, but not girls. So when we started digging into that, we learned that in that part of the country, girls don’t really get to go to school because they have house things that they have to do. Especially, when it comes to getting water. None of these homes have direct access to water so the girls have to go to the river and it’s not always close or nearby. So they can’t go to school. So I said, what if we fix that problem?
So we started a second initiative where we build water pipelines to the homes. We started doing that and that freed the girls to start going to school. So we are learning as we go. We’re adding more initiatives in addition to building schools.
AM: 9 is huge!
CHEF FA: 9 schools and I’m very proud of it!
AM: Are there any upcoming projects that we should know about that are on your radar that you are comfortable in sharing with us?
CHEF FA: Not really – obviously you know that there are always talks like TV shows.
AM: How do you take time for yourself when you’re not doing all of the things at the restaurant or are on set for TV? How do you reset especially with the amount of hours you have for work?
CHEF FA: So my reset is if I do take 2 days off like a human being, and I am doing this next week, after I get off of work here, I go straight to the airport, hop on a redeye, to go be with my family for 36 hours and then come right back. So I usually catch the red eye coming back and I come here straight to work. I’m usually suitcase out and suitcase in. So my family is my reset.
AM: What do you want your legacy to be?
CHEF FA: See that’s an Oprah style question?
AM: Yes, she was my very first interview when I was 12.
CHEF FA: No way. But it makes sense. I’m not surprised!
Ok, what I want my legacy to be is the Chef that changed the culture.
AM: Yeah!
CHEF FA: Anybody could make good food honestly. I could give anybody the recipe and they could carry it out. But to make people feel seen and that they deserve to be here the same way that Marcus made me feel that I deserved to be here regardless of your race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation – none of that stuff matters when you’re making food. None of that stuff matters at all! But we have not created that yet and I think that that is what I have done with these guys. But I want it to go beyond these 4 walls. This should be how restaurants are run.
AM: 100%
CHEF FA: I’ve had these conversations with Chefs and they’re like, nope – it would never work. Like, if you want to make this kind of food, this is how you have to run the kitchens. Ok, but then why am I able to make it work here? It’s happening here now.
INTEGRITY, EXCELLENCE, SUSTAINABILITY COVER EDITORIAL | TEAM CREDITS
PHOTOGRAPHER Paul Farkas | FASHION STYLIST Kimmie Smith | MUA Dru Coppin/Felicia Graham Beauty Team | HAIR STYLIST Lea DeLoy |
IG @pvfarkas
INTEGRITY, EXCELLENCE, SUSTAINABILITY COVER EDITORIAL | CREDITS
NIGHT OUT LOOK FRONT COVER + PG 16, 34 - 43, + 62 | NORMA KAMALI Super OS BF NK Shirt/Body/True Navy + Shirred Mini Skirt/True Navy | LAGOS Long Superfine Diamond Drop Earrings | MIGNON FAGET Banana Leaf Cuff | GOLD STORIES Rani Cuff Ring with Sapphire + Rani Cuff Ring |
WFH LOOK BACK COVER + PG 18, 21 | SCOTCH & SODA Printed Maxi Cotton Voile Dress | PONO BY JOAN GOODMAN Evelyn Necklace Starlight | LAGOS Blue Ceramic Stainless Smart Caviar Watch, 18K Gold and Blue Ceramic Hoop Earrings, Small Ceramic Dynamic Stacking Ring, Ceramic Beaded Bracelet 9mm + Caviar Skull Bracelet 9mm |
OUT & ABOUT LOOK I PG 22, 25 | TOMMY HILFIGER The Letterman Cardigan | AIR AND ANCHOR Stainless Steel One of A Kind Kinda Necklace Neutral /14K Gold + Center of the Universe Necklace Set | GOLD STORIES Rani Cuff with Sapphire + Intertwined Bangle | PARKER THATCH Cross Your Heart Sling - Leather Butterscotch + Adjustable Crossbody Strap - Modernist |
OUT + ABOUT LOOK II PG 26, 29 | SCOTCH AND SODA Short Trucker Jacket in Multi Color Stripe + Relaxed Fit Cotton Linen Chino Joggers | LNA CLOTHING Essential Cotton Kaden V Neck | AIR AND ANCHOR Stainless Steel One of A Kind Kinda Necklace Neutral /14K Gold + Center of the Universe Necklace Set | GOLD STORIES Rani Cuff with Sapphire + Intertwined Bangle | CONVERSE Chuck 70 Canvas |
FITNESS LOOK PG 30 - 32 | NORMA KAMALI Hologram Foil Mini MotoJacket + Hologram Foil Cropped Leggings | MACHINES FOR FREEDOM Foundations Bra | HAMMITT Tony SML | GOOGLE Pixel Watch 3 45mm | PONO BY JOAN GOODMAN Colette Luce Bracelet | CARRERA Super Champion Italian Style Pilot Sunglasses | LAGOS Delicate 18K Gold Beaded Bracelet 3mm, 18K Gold Superfine Caviar Link Necklace + 18K Gold Karat Pendant | ATHLETIC PROPULSION LABS TechLoom Bliss |
Read the AUG ISSUE #104 of Athleisure Mag and see INTEGRITY EXCELLENCE SUSTAINABILITY | Chef Fariyal Abdullahi in mag.
Featured
FROM STUDIO TO SMILES | KEEGAN MICHAEL KEY
We had the pleasure of catching up with Keegan Michael-Key who is an actor who always leaves us in good spirits! His ability to make you laugh and think is something that we appreciate. We enjoyed talking with him about his work as a teacher, investing in children’s lives through learning, partnering with Lysol promote clean environments in school and at home, and of course his work on one of our favorite shows Abbott Elementary and other projects we’re excited about!
ATHLEISURE MAG: We have been a fan of yours for a number of years and have loved your shows and of course most recently, Abbott Elementary. But you actually have teaching experience at Penn State and at Second City. Can you tell us more about this?
KEEGAN MICHAEL-KEY: Yes, I was a graduate student at Penn State and I taught Fundamental Acting, Non-Majors and I had a really fulfilling and fun time doing that. I had a great time with the students and I also interestingly learned a lot and it helped reinforce the training that I was getting.
When I was a performer at the Second City Theater, both in Detroit and also in Chicago, I spent a good deal of time teaching improv as well as communications techniques to people. And also in Detroit at the Mosaic Youth Theater of Detroit, I spent time going to classrooms and teaching children improv skills. That was also a very fulfilling experience too. So I have done a lot of teaching in my past and I really really loved it.
AM: That is such a great story! When did you realize that you wanted to be an actor?
KMK: I realized that I wanted to be an actor probably when gosh, I would have been around 14 or 15 and that would put me in high school. I was encouraged by a family friend and my drama teacher in school was really hands on and very supportive. She really helped to pull me into that world! Once I was in it, I was in love!
AM: Why do you feel that hands on learning is so important and can you tell us about HERE For Healthy Schools?
KMK: Yeah, to answer the first question, I think that when kids have an opportunity to do things hands on and interactive, I really feel that the information that they are being given that the teachers desires for them to receive, really gets into their minds better and they can practically handle things and move through things. It’s more effective learning and that is kind of why I wanted to work with Lysol at the HERE for Healthy Schools Program this particular year. Because, what they are doing with the initiative this year, is that they are putting together the Lysol Minilabs Science Kits and the kits are going to contain educational materials that are designed to be hands-on so that the kids can learn about germ education, healthy habits, and how to keep the classroom environment as well as the general environment clean.
AM: Whether you have children that are going back to school, maybe you’re an aunt or uncle, or you just live alone solo, what are some healthy habits that we need to know about so that we’re not transferring germs and we’re reducing all the ick?
KMK: Ha – all the ick! You know, I think that the first thing across the board that everyone can do and that we can always teach children, is of course, washing our hands. Washing our hands after an activity, washing our hands after using the bathroom so that we’re not the germ spreaders if that makes any sense? We’re so mobile as humans, and then we’re the ones spreading the germs! So cutting that off at the pass if you will and then also, when you think about countertops, and desktops, and door handles which are things that we come into contact with every single day, and many times during the day, it’s just a wipe here or a spray there that can hopefully keep the germs down. Then we're allowing ourselves to be in a cleaner environment!
AM:100%!
Obviously, you have so many awesome things that are coming up - Season 4 of Abbott Elementary is slated to premiere on ABC on Oct 9th! Every time that we see you on the screen we just know that it’s going to be good. What can you tell us about – obviously not a lot – as we prepare for the next season?
KMK: Well, without giving away next season, you can stream Season 3 now of Abbott Elementary now which I am really happy for people as you can enjoy repeat viewings if you feel so inclined! I have a small arc on the show in the season where I play the Superintendent of Schools in Philadelphia which is where Janine, Quinta Brunson’s (A Black Lady Sketch Show, History of the World: Part II, Weird: The Al Yankovick Story) character works now and she feels encouraged to affect more change in the school system. You get to watch that story play out and really the big thing that you get to watch is this struggle between her love for everyone and the students at Abbott Elementary and then this more macro environment with the Superintendent and there is this struggle of being pulled between these two things. Can I do more good here? Should I go back to Abbott and be more of a boots on the ground? She’s trying to figure out what way can she be more effective for the students?
AM: We enjoyed watching the 3rd season and getting that layer.
What attracted you to want to be on this show? So many people love this show and so many actors and other people are trying to find ways to get into this show!
KMK: Oh yeah!
AM: What was it for you that made you want to do it?
KMK: First of all, I think that Quinta is a real amazing talent and I have known her for years and I have watched her grow as an artist and the pride I feel for her is overwhelming because what she has done is such an achievement! But also, within that, is the humanity of the show. I think that just the thematic subject matter of the show is about nurturing and investing in our future which is about children. It’s also this kind of intrinsic, American underdog story – an underfunded school district, how do we pull ourselves up by the boot straps and do what we have to do for the betterment of these children. So that is really heartwarming in a way it is very inviting because they are letting the world in and it is inspiring. That is why I wanted to be part of it. It’s also very funny!
AM: Oh it’s very funny!
KMK: So funny!
AM: Well you’re also in Transformers One and Dear Santa! That’s 2 amazing additional projects that are coming out! We’re sure that you’re excited about them and can you tell us about them?
KMK: Well, Transformers One will be coming out in September 20th and it’s a really exciting project to work on. The director is a gentleman by the name of Josh Cooley (Up, Inside Out, Soul), very talented animation director. He directed Toy Story 4 that I starred in with Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us, Nope). We played partners – we played a little stuffed duck and a little stuffed rabbit that were connected to each other and we had such a great time that Josh asked me to come on and play Bumblebee in Transformers One which really is an honor because he’s a very popular character in the Transformers universe!
Dear Santa is a holiday movie that stars Jack Black (Jumanji universe, Kung Fu Panda universe, The Super Mario Bros. Movie) and he is absolutely fantastic and I hope you fo see it and everyone that you know goes to see it! It’s really fun and it has a lot of heart. It’s silly and zany and it’s going to be great!
AM: Do you have any other projects whether it’s TV, film, or philanthropic that you would like for us to know about that we should keep an eye out for because you’re always doing great things! It’s great to see you in a number of commercials as well as you are a busy man!
KMK: Ha ha yes I am praise God!
Well one thing in September that is coming up, I wrote a book with my partner at Elle Key (August, Fair Game, The Blackout), we wrote a book called The History of Sketch Comedy: A Journey Through the Art and Craft of Humor, and the audio version of that book is coming out then. So again, I know that it is early for the holiday season, but if people want to, they have the opportunity to download that or to send it as a gift and it was a real passion project for us and we’re really proud of the book. So there is also that! So that’s about it for right now if that’s not enough!
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 156 - 159 Disney/Giles Mingasson | PG 160 - 161 Michael Simon |
Read the AUG ISSUE #104 of Athleisure Mag and see FROM STUDIO TO SMILED | Keegan Michael Key in mag.
Featured
PHOTO CREDITS | ABC The Golden Bachelorette/Gilles Mingasson
THE GOLDEN BACHELORETTE S1. E2. | THE JOURNEY BEGINS!
PHOTO CREDIT | Disney/Ricky Middlesworth
The first night is over and now, we’re in the thick of starting the journey on The Golden Bachelorette as we watch Joan Vassos navigate the next few weeks!
We see the guys settle into the mansion and we learn that Pascal sleeps in the nude! There will be 2 Group Dates and then 1 1-on-1 date. Jesse Palmer tells them that that if you go on the 1-on-1 date and you don’t get a rose, you will be going home. He gives them a Date Card rose and we find out that Gary, Bob, Jonathan, Charles L, Mark, Jordan, Guy, and Keith will be on the Group Date. They go to the other room and see that they will be going to the Prom. There are clothes on a rack as they put together their suits for the date. Pascal helping Charles L get ready is pretty cute to see. They head to the venue in a party limo and Joan is excited for their Senior Senior Prom. She feels that prom brings you back to your first dance, first kiss, and first love. They enter and there are other guests that are there to celebrate the 1st Golden Prom. Jessie lets them know that they all want to know who will be crowned the Prom King and will receive the First Date Rose. Taylor Dane performs for them. She also spends time with each of them to know more about their backgrounds, how they grew up, and more. You also hear a few stories that sound a bit sad as it has a bit of their trauma so elements of this are a bit of a healing moment.
Back at the house, the next Date Card arrives and Chock gets the 1-on-1 Date Card! That means the remainder (Charles K, Christopher, Dan, Gil, Gregg, Jack, Pascal, and Michael) of the men will be on the 2nd Group Date! Back at Prom, The Prom King is Jonathan which is so sweet!
It’s the next day and we see the guys enjoying the house, doing cannonballs, Gregg doing Pascal’s laundry and just enjoying life. Chock gets ready for his date which will be at The Happiest Place On Earth - Disneyland! Rocjing their ears and meeting Mickey and Minnie is so cute! Interesting that she wasn’t sure whether Chock would be fun or childlike and wanted him on this date so that she could see that - smart! She lets him know that she is having fun with him and they talk about what they love about Disneyland.
At the night portion of their date, Joan is dressed like Disney Princess Joan with her Cinderella-inspired dress and Chock looks dapper. They talk about how their partners before they died let them know that they needed to continue on and find a partner. She gives him the rose and they go out and see the fireworks with the other guests at the park.
Back at the house, we see the men taking care of the house fixing things that are broken! The second Date Card arrives and Chock lets them know that this date will be a Talent Show and they take some time to practice their skills. We all get to see Joan’s talent show experience when she was on The Golden Bachelor! Loni Love comes out as the guest judge that will do this alongside Joan and Jesse. The winner of this group date will get a 1-on-1 dinner with her!
The men share their talents - Pascal did a fun bob in 3 minutes, Charles K broke a board, people sang, did standup, and more. You could tell that the men showed Joan that they wanted to be there and they cared about her even if their talents weren’t traditional! The winner of the talent show is Dan!
Dan and Joan have their evening portion of their date. Joan lets him know how brave it was for him to share his trimmer with everyone. The remainder of the men return to the house. The men realize that Kim is sad that he didn’t have that 1-on-1 time. Back on the date, Dan receives the rose.
She gets to hang out with all of the men at a BBQ at the mansion and spends time with everyone! She gets to play games as well as spend time with each of them to find out more! After all the fun and games, it’s time for the Rose Ceremony. She;s sad that she will have to let some men go, but knows that they will be ok and that the situation is just unfortunate.
JOAN GAVE ROSES TO | Charles K, Charles L, Chock, Dan, Gary, Gil, Gregg, Guy, Jonathan, Jordan, Keith, Kim, Pascal, and Mark
JOAN DIDN’T GIVE ROSES TO | Bob, Christopher, Jack, and Michael
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Golden Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
HERE’S WHO WE THINK WILL GO TO HOMETOWNS
THE GOLDEN BACHELOR CONTESTANTS
Featured TV Show
BAD MONKEY | NATALIE MARTINEZ
We're always looking at what will be our next movie or show to watch whether we're taking a break between one project or another or are taking significant time off for a proper binge! Bad Monkey premiered on Aug 14th and is streaming on Apple TV+ with its season finale dropping on Oct 9th. This series is an adaptation of the Carl Hiassen's New York Times bestselling novel of the same name.
We follow former Miami Police Department office Andrew Yang (Vince Vaughn) as he becomes a health inspector in the Keys. When he stumbles upon a case due to a human arm being fished out by a tourist, he believes that if he can solve the murder, he will be able to go back to MPD!
He works alongside an interesting cast of characters which includes the coroner, Dr Rosa Campesino which is played by Natalie Martinez (Under the Dome, Kingdom, Ordinary Joe). We sat down with her to find out about the show and why she wanted to be involved in this comedy drama series!
ATHLEISURE MAG: What do you love about storytelling?
NATALIE MARTINEZ: I mean, everything! Storytelling goes on before our time I feel! It’s how traditions are passed through. It’s a great form of entertainment and it starts from the beginning. I have a 1 and a half month year old and he doesn’t even know how to speak, but he loves reading books and it really shows you that it is kind of in us and it’s just in our nature to love storytelling! Especially when you have an ensemble cast such as this with an amazing writing and creator with a book to adapt from, it just makes for a really good story!
AM: We love that!
What drew you to Bad Monkey and how did you prepare to play your character, Dr. Rosa?
NM: I got a call from Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso, Shrinking, Scrubs) actually who asked me to be part of Bad Monkey and asked and telling me about the character. It’s crazy because the character and I have so much in common. I mean, she’s Cuban American, she’s born and raised in Miami as am I. Just having Bill Lawrence as the Creator, Executive Producer, and writer for the show as I am a huge fan of his. Seeing this ensemble cast with Vince Vaughn (Swingers, Anchorman franchise, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story), Michelle Monaghan (Mission: Impossible franchise, True Detective, MaXXXine), Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim, Anne Boleyn, The Acolyte) as well – everyone is so talented and they bring so much to it that it was something that sounded like a really fun project and I love a murder mystery! I had never really done comedy before so to be able to go head-to-head with Vince Vaughn on a comedy – come on, how was I going to pass that up?
AM: 100%
What can you tell us about the character that you play as well as the show?
NM: I play Dr. Rosa Campesino, she is the coroner. When you have her in the script, she’s not fulfilled in her job being a coroner. She loves what she does and there is so much value to it and people are able to find closure and it helps solve cases. It’s a very important job to do, but it also weighs on you after awhile! The things that are coming through those doors can be a little taxing! So I think that she is in a point in her life where she doesn’t know what she wants and is a kind of a little stuck and then Andrew Yancy who is played by Vince Vaughn comes along with this arm that they found in the ocean. The case intrigues her, he intrigues her because he is this quirky big kind of personality. They both get what I would say is obsessed with this case. They want to figure it out and she finds this kind of perspective in life and a new energy that kind of gives her the motivation to find out what she wants to do.
AM: What do you hope that viewers will walk away with in watching this series?
NM: All I can hope for is when people walk away from this series is that they just had a good time! I think that that is one of the most beautiful things about storytelling and one of the beautiful things of creating these shows is that sometimes we just need an escape. We need a story to be able to sink our teeth into it and to dive in. This story gives you a hell of a ride, it’s so much fun, and you have twist and turns. You have a cliffhanger in every episode and then you get that satisfaction of the case at the end and you meet a lot of funny characters along the way!
PHOTOS COURTESY | Bad Monkey/Apple TV+
Read the AUG ISSUE #104 of Athleisure Mag and see BAD MONKEY | Natalie Martinez in mag.
Featured
CATCHING UP WITH ALYSIA REINER
It's always great to circle back to our faves and in this month's issue we sit down with Alysia Reiner who was our cover for our JUN ISSUE #18 in 2017 where we talked with her about Netflix's Orange is the New Black and we also chatted with her in our JUN ISSUE #78 in 2022 talking about Ms. Marvel ahead of the show dropping on Disney+ as well as becoming a volunteer fire fighter!
This month, we find out what she has been up to from joining the cast of Netflix's DIPLOMAT (which we loved the 1st season), to additional shows we can look out for, how she is staying in shape, traveling, and of course, sharing some of her must-haves with us in terms of sustainable style!
ATHLEISURE MAG: It's always fun catching up with you to find out what you were working on. Last time we talked, it was ahead of Ms. Marvel and you were in Shining Vale! Are there any projects coming up that you're able to share with us that we can see you in or keep an eye out for whether it's on the stage, in front of the camera or behind it?
ALYSIA REINER: I’m currently filming the Netflix show THE DIPLOMAT, season 2 comes out Oct 31st! I am also now filming a new independent film called OUR BODIES & OTHER SHAMES, and a film I did called GOING PLACES will be in theaters in the Fall. Also look for the short I made WE SHOULD EAT on the festival circuit!
AM: This year has definitely been interesting! We had an earthquake here in NY, an eclipse, some of us saw the Northern Lights, and we're only halfway through the summer. What have you been up to this summer?
AR: Its a wild world right?? I have been filming in London playing secret service (shhhhh), on fun adventures in Amsterdam and Paris, and relaxing and on duty as a volunteer fire fighter (yes really!) in Fire Island.
AM: You have always been one that enjoys a good workout! This summer, what have been some of your favorite studios that you have been working out at?
AR: I always love RUMBLE IN NYC, and tried RUMBLE in the UK which is a HIIT gym I loved! I also went to Camden Boxing in the UK. AARMY is my go to for cycle both in person and on-line when I am away - I LOVE AKIN so very much as a human and coach - he is magic - the perfect balance of pushing us all to greatness - but with KINDNESS and LOVE.
Here in Fire Island I also train and do BOOTCAMP with Jim - a former marine who kills us!
I just got the META QUEST for workouts with FITXR and cannot wait to try it! I hear such great things!
AM: Do you have any foods or drinks that you like to incorporate into your workouts whether it's for energy or recovery?
AR: YES YES YES! I love to make my own protein smoothies - I keep it very simple but delicious - people say it tastes like ice cream but super clean and sugar free!!!
I LOVE MY SODA STREAM and to add yummy/healthy drops to it - my favs right now are JING and PURE INVENTIONS - both sugar free, zero calories, no chemicals and lots of amazing health benefits from vitamins, electrolytes and adaptogenic mushrooms!
When I am out & about I love a GORGIE or COVE soda, both zero sugar, zero artificial junk and so yum.
MORTAL HYDRATION, CURE, as well as PURE BOOST are my favorite energy/electrolyte packs to throw in my purse or carry on bag for travel - all have yummy and fun flavors - again no crap and lots of health/hydration benefits!
I come from a family of diabetes, so I have to be super careful with sugar - My favorite protein bars are MISFITS and N!CKS - both super low sugar, high protein and taste like CANDY!! NIcks also makes THE BEST (healthy!!) ICE CREAM ON THE PLANET.
AM: What do you do in terms of stretching or relaxing your muscles post workout?
AR: The #1 thing I do is meditation - changes my life daily - so helps me not hold stress in my body. And here is a special discount link to MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE MEDITATION APP - it is THE BEST !!! I also love YOGA WITH KASSANDRA (free on you tube!), and I try to roll on a roller every night before bed (and also use my red light face mask at the same time - multitasker)
AM: In the next few weeks, we have Fashion Week coming up and you're known for rocking sustainable brands. Are there 3 designers that we should have our eye out for?
AR: I am still mourning Mara Hoffman closing her doors - she is so incredible, a real game changer in Sustainable fashion. I love love love Gabriela Hearst, and I just found Lauren Altman Studio - all repurposed & up cycled and hand painted - I get more compliments on her dress than anything I have ever worn! Check out https://www.instagram.com/remakeourworld for more truth about sustainable fashion!!
CREDITS | PG 104 PHOTOGRAPHY Laurie Bailey MUA Nova Kaplan | PG 106 PHOTOGRAPHY Anthony Rhoades MUA Brian Dean HAIR Damian Monzillo |
Read the AUG ISSUE #104 of Athleisure Mag and see CATCHING UP WITH ALYSIA REINER in mag.
Featured
PHOTO CREDITS | ABC The Golden Bachelorette/Gilles Mingasson
THE GOLDEN BACHELORETTE S1. E1. | WELCOME JOAN TO THE GOLDEN BACHELORETTE!
PHOTO CREDIT | Disney/Ricky Middlesworth
The series premier of The Golden Bachelorette is finally here and we’re excited for Joan Vassos to start her journey and to see where all the twists and turns will take her! We love that they open with her doing her makeup and seeing what her outfit will be accessorized with. It’s always fun catching these details and seeing how they all come together along with possible options that she could have worn as she gets ready in Malibu.
We get to hear her back story about her life with her husband, John. We see a number of images of her life with him alongside her family. You can tell that there was a lot of love there and then she shares how he was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. She relates to all of us how her life shifted and although she is a mother and a grandmother, it’s time that she focuses on her life now. We liked watching Joan during Gerry Turner’s season of The Golden Bachelor and now she will take center stage and we hope that she has a great group of men that she can learn about.
Her car pulls up and of course, Jesse Palmer is there ready to navigate this experience with her. They both talk about how excited she is to be here as she thought that when she left the mansion, she would not be back.
We get to meet the men that are here for her and they have such great personalities! There’s a retired Naval Captain, a retired FDNY Captain, those who have worked in finance, beauty, and more. All of them are putting their best foot forward and as one man says, “it’s also like meeting my brothers.” The one thing that we really enjoyed about The Golden Bachelor is that for the most part the women were really connected with one another and really leaned on one another and even helped each other prep for dates! It will be interesting to see if that continues in this series as well - but so far, so good! We even see Mark, Kelsey’s dad and it’s great that he was in his own limo with his daughter.
She thanks them for coming and knows how it is to give up things in order to be there. She realizes that when she came last year, she was looking for love and felt deserving after her experience there. We love that Pascal snagged her first! Joan connects with a number of men and then Jesse arrives with the First Impression rose. We see her pick it up and walk past the groups of men to find Keith! She loves that he had a big personality, made her feel safe and even described a date that she would enjoy.
JOAN GAVE ROSES TO | Bob, Charles K, Charles L, Chock, Christopher, Dan, Gary, Gil, Gregg, Guy, Jack, Jonathan, Jordan, Keith, Kim, Pascal, Mark, and Michael.
JOAN DIDN’T GIVE ROSES TO | Bill, David, Ken, Pablo, RJ, and Thomas.
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Golden Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
HERE’S WHO WE THINK WILL GO TO HOMETOWNS
THE GOLDEN BACHELOR CONTESTANTS
Featured TV Show
9PLAYLIST MULTI | CHEF FARIYAL ABDULLAHI
Read the AUG ISSUE #104 of Athleisure Mag and see 9PLAYLIST MULTI | Chef Fariyal Abdullahi in mag.
Featured
AWARDS SEASON | EMMYS WINNERS
Today, the Television Academy announced the 76th Emmys for this year’s nominees. Sheryl Lee Ralph (The Mighty Quinn, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, Abbott Elementary) and Tony Hale (Arrested Development, Drunk History, Veep) announced the nominees from the El Capitan Theatre. Programs that were eligible to be nominated had to air between Jun 1, 2023, and May 31st, 2024. The Creative Arts Emmys will run on Sept 7th and the 8th. The Emmys will take place on Sep 15th, 2024 at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live and will be broadcast live on this date at 8pm ET on ABC and will be available on Hulu for live streaming and on-demand. Jessie Collins Entertainment which is comprised of the trio: Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay are set to executive produce the telecast for the second year in a row. We will update this post at the end of each night for the 3 portions of the award ceremony.
As we do throughout Awards Season, we share our predictions in bold, the ones we correctly identified as winners are in bold italics and winners that we didn’t predict are in italics. On the night of the event, we will share who we predicted correctly as well as those we didn’t that won.
Best Drama Series
The Crown (Netflix)
Fallout (Prime Video)
The Gilded Age (HBO)
The Morning Show (Apple TV+)
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Prime Video)
Shogun (FX)
Slow Horses (Apple TV+)
3 Body Problem (Netflix)
Best Actress in a Drama Series
Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show, Apple)
Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age, HBO/Max)
Maya Erskine (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Prime Video)
Anna Sawai (Shogun, FX)
Imelda Staunton (The Crown, Netflix)
Reese Witherspoon (The Morning Show, Apple)
Best Actor in a Drama Series
Idris Elba (Hijack, Apple)
Donald Glover (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Prime Video)
Walton Goggins (Fallout, Prime Video)
Gary Oldman (Slow Horses, Apple)
Hiroyuki Sanada (Shogun, FX)
Dominic West (The Crown, Prime Video)
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Christine Baranski (The Gilded Age, HBO/Max)
Nicole Beharie (The Morning Show, Apple TV+)
Elizabeth Debicki (The Crown, Netflix)
Greta Lee (The Morning Show, Apple TV+)
Lesley Manville (The Crown, Netflix)
Karen Pittman (The Morning Show, Apple TV+)
Holland Taylor (The Morning Show, Apple TV+)
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Tadanobu Asano (Shogun, FX)
Billy Crudup (The Morning Show, Apple TV+)
Mark Duplass (The Morning Show, Apple TV+)
Jon Hamm (The Morning Show, Apple TV+)
Takehiro Hira (Shogun, FX)
Jack Lowden (Slow Horses, Apple TV+)
Jonathan Pryce (The Crown, Netflix)
Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Néstor Carbonell (Shogun, FX)
Paul Dano (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Prime Video)
Tracy Letts (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, HBO/Max)
Jonathan Pryce (Slow Horses, Apple TV+)
John Turturro (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Prime Video)
Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Michaela Coel (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Prime Video)
Claire Foy (The Crown, Netflix)
Marcia Gay Harden (The Morning Show, Apple TV+)
Sarah Paulson (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Prime Video)
Parker Posey (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Prime Video)
Best Comedy Series
Abbott Elementary (ABC)
The Bear (FX)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO/Max)
Hacks (HBO/Max)
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
Palm Royale (Apple TV+)
Reservation Dogs (FX)
What We Do in the Shadows (FX)
Best Actor in a Comedy Series
Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows, FX)
Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO/Max)
Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building, Hulu)
Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building, Hulu)
Jeremy Allen White (The Bear, FX)
D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Reservation Dogs, FX)
Best Actress in a Comedy Series
Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary, ABC)
Ayo Edebiri (The Bear, FX)
Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building, Hulu)
Maya Rudolph (Loot, Apple)
Jean Smart (Hacks, HBO/Max)
Kristen Wiig (Palm Royale, Apple TV+)
Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Lionel Boyce (The Bear, FX)
Paul W. Downs (Hacks, HBO/Max)
Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear, FX)
Paul Rudd (Only Murders in the Building, Hulu)
Tyler James Williams (Abbott Elementary, ABC)
Bowen Yang (Saturday Night Live, NBC)
Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Carol Burnett (Palm Royale, Apple TV+)
Liza Colón-Zayas (The Bear, FX)
Hannah Einbinder (Hacks, HBO/Max)
Janelle James (Abbott Elementary, ABC)
Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary, ABC)
Meryl Streep (Only Murders in the Building, Hulu)
Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Jon Bernthal (The Bear, FX)
Matthew Broderick (Only Murders in the Building, Hulu)
Ryan Gosling (Saturday Night Live, NBC)
Christopher Lloyd (Hacks, HBO/Max)
Bob Odenkirk (The Bear, FX)
Will Poulter (The Bear, FX)
Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Olivia Colman (The Bear, FX)
Jamie Lee Curtis (The Bear, FX)
Kaitlin Olson (Hacks, HBO/Max)
Da’Vine Joy Randolph (Only Murders in the Building, Hulu)
Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live, NBC)
Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live, NBC)
Best Limited or Anthology Series
Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
Fargo (FX)
Lessons in Chemistry (Apple TV+)
Ripley (Netflix)
True Detective: Night Country (HBO/Max)
Best Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Matt Bomer (Fellow Travelers, Showtime)
Richard Gadd (Baby Reindeer, Netflix)
Jon Hamm (Fargo, FX)
Tom Hollander (Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, FX)
Andrew Scott (Ripley, Netflix)
Best Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Jodie Foster (True Detective: Night Country, HBO/Max)
Brie Larson (Lessons in Chemistry, Apple)
Juno Temple (Fargo, FX)
Sofía Vergara (Griselda, Netflix)
Naomi Watts (Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, FX)
Best Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Jonathan Bailey (Fellow Travelers, Showtime)
Robert Downey Jr. (The Sympathizer, HBO/Max)
Tom Goodman-Hill (Baby Reindeer, Netflix)
John Hawkes (True Detective: Night Country, HBO/Max)
Lamorne Morris (Fargo, FX)
Lewis Pullman (Lessons in Chemistry, Apple TV+)
Treat Williams (Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, FX)
Best Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Dakota Fanning (Ripley, Netflix)
Lily Gladstone (Under the Bridge, Hulu)
Jessica Gunning (Baby Reindeer, Netflix)
Aja Naomi King (Lessons in Chemistry, Apple TV+)
Diane Lane (Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, FX)
Nava Mau (Baby Reindeer, Netflix)
Kali Reis (True Detective: Night Country, HBO/Max)
Best Directing for a Drama Series
Stephen Daldry (The Crown, Netflix)
Mimi Leder (The Morning Show, Apple TV+)
Hiro Murai (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Prime Video)
Frederick E.O. Toye (Shogun, FX)
Saul Metzstein (Slow Horses, Apple TV+)
Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, HBO/Max)
Best Directing for a Comedy Series
Randall Einhorn (Abbott Elementary, ABC)
Christopher Storer (The Bear, FX)
Ramy Youssef (The Bear, FX)
Guy Ritchie (The Gentlemen, Netflix)
Lucia Aniello (Hacks, HBO/Max)
Mary Lou Belli (The Ms. Pat Show, BET)
Best Writing for a Drama Series
Peter Morgan, Meriel Sheibani-Clare (The Crown, Netflix)
Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Graham Wagner (Fallout, Prime Video)
Francesca Sloane, Donald Glover (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Prime Video)
Rachel Kondo, Justin Marks (Shogun, FX)
Rachel Kondo, Caillin Puente (Shogun, FX)
Will Smith (Slow Horses, Apple TV+)
Best Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Richard Gadd (Baby Reindeer, Netflix)
Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror, Netflix)
Noah Hawley (Fargo, FX)
Ron Nyswaner (Fellow Travelers, Showtime)
Steven Zaillian (Ripley, Netflix)
Issa López (True Detective: Night Country, HBO/Max)
Best Writing for a Comedy Series
Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary, ABC)
Christopher Storer (The Bear, FX)
Meredith Scardino, Sam Means (Girls5eva, Netflix)
Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky (Hacks, HBO/Max)
Chris Kelly, Sarah Schneider (The Other Two, HBO/Max)
Jake Bender, Zach Dunn (What We Do in the Shadows, FX)
Best Talk Series
The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
Late Night With Seth Meyers (NBC)
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (CBS)
Best Reality Competition Series
The Amazing Race (CBS)
RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV)
Top Chef (Bravo)
The Traitors (Peacock)
The Voice (NBC)
Best SCRIPTED VARIETY Series
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Saturday Night Live (NBC)
HOST, REALITY OR COMPETITION PROGRAM
RuPaul Charles, "RuPaul's Drag Race" (MTV)
Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Kevin O'Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Robert Herjavec and Daymond John, "Shark Tank" (ABC)
Alan Cumming, "The Traitors" (Peacock)
Kristen Kish, "Top Chef" (Bravo)
Jeff Probst, "Survivor" (CBS)
BEST TELEVISION MOVIE
Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie (Peacock)
Quiz Lady (Hulu)
Red, White & Royal Blue (Prime Video)
Scoop (Netflix)
Unfrosted (Netflix)
BEST SHORT FORM COMEDY, DRAMA, OR VARIETY SERIES
Carpool Karaoke: The Series (Apple TV+)
The Eric Andre Show
Late Night With Seth Meyers Corrections (NBC)
Only Murders In The Building: One Killer Question (Hulu)
Real Time with Bill Maher: Overtime (HBO)
BEST SHORT FORM NONFICTION OR REALITY SERIES
After The Cut (YouTube)
The Crown: Farewell To A Royal Epic (Netflix)
Hacks: Bit By Bit (HBO Max)
Saturday Night Live Presents: Behind The Sketch (NBC)
Shōgun – The Making Of Shōgun (FX)
OUTSTANDING STRUCTURED REALITY PROGRAM
Antiques Roadshow (PBS)
Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives (Food Network)
Love Is Blind (Netflix)
Queer Eye (Netflix)
Shark Tank (ABC)
UNSTRUCTURED REALITY PROGRAM
Below Deck Down Under (Bravo)
Love On The Spectrum (Netflix)
RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked (MTV)
Vanderpump Rules (Bravo)
Welcome To Wrexham (FX)
HOST OF A GAME SHOW
Steve Harvey, Celebrity Family Feud (ABC)
Ken Jennings, Jeopardy! (ABC)
Keke Palmer, Password (NBC)
Jane Lynch, Weakest Link (NBC)
Pat Sajak, Wheel Of Fortune (ABC)
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Featured
63MIX ROUTIN3S | BROOKE BURKE
PHOTO CREDITS | ABC The Bachelor Disney/John Fleenor
THE BACHELORETTE S21. E9. | THE FINALE
PHOTO CREDIT | ABC The Bachelorette
We’re down to the end now and a decision will be made! We’ll see who Jenn Tran picks or doesn’t on tonight’s episode of The Bachelorette. Devin and Marcus are left to meet Jenn’s family.
While we watch how it all ends, Jesse Palmer is hosting the After the Rose Ceremony and we see Jesse and Jonathan in the audience who cryptically say that they are there for the rumors of whatever happened! Tell us more!
Devin is up first and the family takes some time to get to know him more. Devin speaks so highly of Jenn and you can tell that he has feelings for her. Devin asks Jenn’s brother if he can have the blessing and he says he appreciates that he asked, but he hasn’t talked to the second guy.
Marcus now meets her family and talks about his experience with Jenn and how he wants to see it all the way through with her. Marcus tells his mom and sister that he is trying to get there and his mom says, “oh, you’re not ready to get engaged?” Her brother tells her that she can’t make excuses for him and she needs to know where he stands. In addition, she asks him point blank and he keeps saying things that were said make him feel better, but he is still trying to get there and she feels confused.
Devin and Jenn do a fun ceremony with Hawaaians from the island. They talk about their concerns and worries with one another even though they are excited to be with one another. He hears that she has a fear of abandonment and he realizes that they are a couple and that he will need to be there for her as well. They throw large rocks into the ocean to signify issues that they have had that wore them down that are not being lifted off of them. They submerge themselves into the water so that they can emerge as a new person who are ready to move on. She enjoyed her date with Devin and she enjoyed the love and respect that she felt from him and that he knows what he wants. She also has a final date with Marcus and she doesn’t know where he’s at with her and even when she asks, she can’t get a response so that she can be settled with his answer.
Jesse and Marcus meet up to catch up with what is going on. Even Jesse is confused about how Marcus still doesn’t know and he tells him he needs to look from within to see if he really does love her and if so, he needs to tell her. While she is getting ready for her final date with Marcus, she decides that it is time to get her answers and she’s not going to wait and makes her way to him. She still doesn’t get the answers that she is looking for and he says that he is in love with her and is afraid to lose her, but the fact that it always feels like she has to pull answers out of him and he says that he is scared, that doesn’t necessarily make people excited to be in that situation either. She gets up to take a minute and she knows she has spent a lot of time and energy on someone who doesn’t feel the same way. She comes back and he continues to talk about his love for her and how he has been scared and honest with himself. He tells her he’s not giving her what she needs, She lets him know that she opened his heart to him every time and that she got lost in it and gave too much along the way. She doesn’t want to give and prove herself to be considered to be worth it. She doesn’t want to wait around and see if someone will get there. She lets him know that she is done and although she had hope, she is walking away. She lets him know that she appreciates his honesty so that she got the answers that she needed.
Marcus is on the couch in front of Jesse. He explains that it was tough to watch that back and he knows that it was tough for both of them. He talks about what being in Hawaii was like and how he reflected on where his feelings were and whether he was living up to her expectations. He said that he stumbled on some painful truths and he wanted her to know about them. He explains that when he got home, he wasn’t sure if they made the right choice, but once he was home, he realized that they made the right choice to not go forward. Although it seems that Jenn was the one that said she had to move on.
Although we don’t know what happened between her and Devin yet, she comes out to chat with Marcus. She tells him that the way Devin came to her, she realized that they were not aligned and that her heart was not in the place that she could be with him. She felt that it made sense to talk with him on what would have been their last date so that they could have that closure.
We’re back in Hawaii and we see Devin selecting rings with Neil Lane. She talks with Jesse and says that she will not let him propose to her, she will propose to him so that he knows he will fight for her every day.
We expected to watch the proposal which seemed it would be sweet; however, Jesse said that he couldn’t show the footage without have Jenn say what happened. They left Hawaii engaged; however, he began pulling away from her and not letting her hang with his family or doing any of the promises that he made to her. He broke it off with her and said he had felt this way for a long time and all of a sudden there was nothing.
They still show the video of the proposal which is super uncomfortable to watch. It’s something that definitely made us leave feeling pretty icky.
Each night during this season, we have tweeted about The Bachelorette and you have been able to can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
During each week, we let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
WHO IS CONTINUING BEYOND HOMETOWNS
PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Ricky Middlesworth
THE BACHELORETTE CONTESTANTS
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
Featured TV Show
PHOTO CREDITS | ABC The Bachelor Disney/John Fleenor
THE BACHELORETTE S21. E9. | THE MEN TELL ALL
PHOTO CREDIT | ABC The Bachelorette
The Men Tell All takes place tonight and the night starts off with a conversation between Grant and his mom letting her know he will be the next The Bachelor. He will also be on the show later on tonight. Jesse Palmer introduces all the men that are part of the Tell All. But first he reminds us that we have unfinished business from last night’s episode of The Bachelorette and we’ll get our answers with Devin and Jenn Tran. So we head back to Hawaii so that he can talk with her about where everything is. He lets her know that they will have a tough conversation. He tells her that he is in a weird headspace because she didn’t reassure him and he didn’t feel chosen. She says that she doesn’t know how to be in a healthy relationship and to be able to be there for him in a way that he has been with him. She realizes that she is not giving what needs to be given and she realizes that if he wasn’t there, she would feel lost. She tells him that she does love him. She explains that she is not good with her words.
At the Rose Ceremony, Devin gets a rose as well as Marcus. Jonathan is sent home and he says that he thinks that she is perfect for him and that he realizes that she doesn’t feel that he was perfect for her. He realized that their relationship was a slow burn and that that was his fault.
Jonathan joins the rest of the men and we begin to scenes that took place throughout the season when the guys interacted with one another as they dated her. Of course, they start with Aaron to find out why he dropped the news that there were men in the house that weren’t there for her. He shares that Devin, Spencer, and Sam N weren’t there for the right reasons. As they go back and forth between each other, Jesse says it’s time to have Sam M in the hot seat so that they can really talk about what is going on.
We watch various moments of Sam M with Jenn and we see that there was a vibe of some sort between the two. We hear a number of the lines that he said to her and we hear how she feels about him. We also see where the turning point of their relationship started. Jesse shares that many people feel that he is not authentic and he asks him if he really loved Jenn. Sam claims that he would never say that he loved her if he didn’t.
Jonathan is now sitting with Jesse and they look at his relationship. We see the attraction from a physical standpoint, but we also see how connecting on other levels was not the easiest for them. Jonathan is looking forward to seeing her and hopes she finds the person that completes her.
Next up is Grant who will be the next The Bachelor. We see how his love story with her ended and we know that his family is excited for this journey that he is about to start. Since he was announced, there have been over 10,000 women that have applied to be on the show since he was announced. Each day, more women are applying to be on the show. We’re looking forward to seeing how his story is going to evolve. Jesse tells him to get used to showering on camera and that Bachelor Nation loves to see lots of suds when they watch people lathering up. Jonathan and Hakeem express how happy they are for him to be part of the show in this capacity. He will also join the rest of the men as Jenn is about to come out to chat with everyone.
Jenn talks with all of the men letting Sam M know that he needs to learn from his experience, chatting with other men that she had connections with at various points. In addition, she enjoys the bloopers. We find out that Hakeem will join Jonathan in Paradise. Charity and Dotun were also on hand to talk to us about what they have been up to as well.
We also get a peek at the final episode and we see that there is still more drama on the way between Devin as well as Marcus. We know that whatever happens - this will be unprecedented and new territory in terms of Bachelor Nation. We can’t wait to see how all of this comes together. We know that she says that she can’t let the guy who is willing to propose to her to go through it. We’ll be back on next Tues for the 3 hour conclusion!
JENN GAVE ROSES TO | Devin, and Marcus.
JENN DIDN’T GIVE ROSES TO | Jonathan
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
WHO ARE THE FINAL TWO?
PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Ricky Middlesworth
THE BACHELORETTE CONTESTANTS
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
Featured TV Show
THE ANCIENT WORLD | LARA WOLF
This month, we're already excited for new shows that will be part of our steady streaming as we navigate the summer! We sat down with Lara Wolf to talk about how she got into the industry, her approach to playing her characters, and her latest project, Those About to Die which is currently streaming on Peacock as a Peacock Original! With an incredible cast and the ability to take us back to Rome, Gladiator Games, and corruption - we knew that we wanted to find out a bit more about what she is up to as well as this series.
ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the first film or TV that made you aware of this industry?
LARA WOLF: Growing up, music was actually more prevalent than film and TV. It was always playing in our house, either from my dad's massive record collection or from him playing the guitar. And I would always sit with him and sing. That was a significant influence on me and the foundation for me seeking to be in the arts later. Of course, I watched every Disney cartoon, but it wasn't until I was a teenager with battles that films like Incendies, Control, Hunger, House of Sand and Fog made me feel a certain way, maybe made me feel understood. And so I started to develop a palette for film, and the more I watched, the more I wanted to be part of the world.
AM: When did you realize that you wanted to be an actor and where did you train to hone in on your craft?
LW: As a kid, I jumped at every opportunity to perform in front of an audience. It allowed me to express myself as a somewhat introverted child otherwise. I didn't grow up in an environment that would encourage performance art professionally, so it didn't cross my mind. But later on, when I was already in college going on to be a psychologist, something was missing, something I couldn't ignore. So, I started reconnecting with that childhood passion and picked vocal classes. This allowed me to release whatever I was holding in, which then snowballed into gigging in bars around town and performing, at the same time watching films, then enrolling in studying film, film history, and film theory, and finally realizing and admitting that I wanted to be in them! But that also required that I move to a place that would offer acting programs, a movie industry, and like-minded people. So, I moved to NYC from Zurich and studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute for 2 years. I have lived there since, continuously honing my actress, singer, and writer skills.
AM: I remember you in Quantico, how do you approach playing characters and what are you looking for when it comes to deciding on whether you want to be attached to a project?
LW: When I receive a script, I quickly notice if I fit into that world and if the character resonates with me. I look for similarities and differences and personalize as much as possible.
When deciding about a project, I ask myself if it is a story I want to tell and if it is something I would be interested in watching. I also get excited about collaborating with a director whose work I admire and with actors I look up to.
AM: We have heard great things about The Performance which is an Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, The Price) short story and is directed by Shira Piven (Claws, Sweetbitter, Divorce) and you acted opposite Jeremy Piven (Entourage, Wisdom of the Crowd, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For). Can you tell me about this film, your character Sira and why you wanted to be part of this?
LW: I remember seeing the breakdown that my agent at the time had sent me and thinking: if I don't book this part, then I won't book anything, because the way this character was described fits like a silk glove. They were looking for someone who spoke English, German, and French and could sing jazz. It's so rare that a role would check so many of my boxes. Aside from that, I was excited about the project itself, a period piece based on an Arthur Miller short story about a Jewish-American tap dance group in the 1930s that decides to fly to Europe for a tour right before the second WW and get themselves into a tricky situation. The film explores how far you are willing to go and what you are willing to risk and sacrifice for your passion. And when does your passion turn into greed? While it was a period piece, it's still incredibly relevant today, and I find that very rewarding. It was a blessing getting to work with the wonderful Shira Piven, Josh Salzberg (Welcome to Me, Walking Man, Welcome to Flatch), Robert Carlyle (Stargate Universe, Once Upon a Time, The Full Monty series), Jeremy Piven, and my colleagues, who were fantastic actors and brilliant tap dancers, and it was such a pleasure watching them do the choreographies. Our days were filled with music, dancing, singing, and acting - a dream! Our costumes were phenomenal, and the locations in Bratislava, like the State Opera, helped immensely to dive into the period.
AM: We're looking forward to Peacock Original's Those About to Die! What drew you to this series?
LW: All of it was appealing: the genre, the historical aspect, having Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day: Resurgence, Moonfall) - the master of big-scale disaster films - lend his expertise to this ancient story, shooting in Rome where it all happened, Sir Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs, Nixon, Westworld series) playing the Emperor, and of course, getting to play the Judean Queen Berenice was a dream come true.
AM: What can you tell us about the show as well as your character Queen Berenice?
LW: Her life unfolded against the backdrop of the Roman-Jewish revolts when the Romans burned down the Second Temple and enslaved the Judeans. The Judean Queen Bernice was the daughter of King Agrippa I of the Herodian dynasty, and she was known for her strategic alliances and marriages. There were also rumors about an incestuous relationship with her brother, but there are no facts to prove it, and it might only show the threat she posed as a woman in power. Her most notable relationship was with the son of the Roman Emperor Vespasian (played by Anthony Hopkins), Titus, also known as the destroyer of Jerusalem and its temple. Naturally, this caused controversy and put her in the eye of public scrutiny on the side of the Romans and the Judeans. Despite this, her political acumen, diplomacy, and grace prevailed throughout history. And for me, it was an honor to be given the trust to play her and give voice to this incredibly powerful Queen in our history.
AM: It's a great cast that includes Sir Anthony Hopkins, Johannes Haukur Johannesson, and Iwan Rheon - what was your biggest takeaway from having this experience in this series?
LW: Every time I get to be on a set, it feels like the dream comes true again. My gratitude is beyond words. This is true, especially this time with this collection of incredibly talented actors, two top directors in our industry, and a production team that meets the highest standards. I love knowing that the people I work with are brilliant at their craft because it is a lot of fun working with them and motivates me to be a better actor. Ultimately, it's all about collaboration, honing your craft, getting as close as possible to the slippery idea of perfection, and seeing how it all comes together as a collective work of art.
AM: You've been acting for awhile and been in a number of series, but you are also a writer! When did you realize that you wanted to include this in your storytelling?
LW: From the moment I started this acting journey, different people in the industry encouraged me to write. Up until that point, all I had written were either essays or papers from when I was studying Psychology and Film, all in an academic tone. I had never imagined that I would ever write fiction and dialogue. I had never really seen myself as a writer, but I started dabbling in writing almost secretly and noticed how ideas would come up and evolve. Then, finally during the pandemic, the stories poured out of me, maybe because we were all cooped up and needed to sit still, which is typically not my forte. But it really allowed me to dig deep, improve and find the joy in writing. Currently, I'm working on a play I'm workshopping at the Primitive Grace Theatre Ensemble with Paul Calderón (Fear the Walking Dead, Bosch, Boardwalk Empire) and David Zayas (Michael Clayton, The Blacklist, Dexter) as co-directors.
AM: When you're not in the midst of a project, how do you take time for yourself?
LW: I guess that's exactly when I have the time to take time for myself. And I love getting back into a healthy food/sleep/exercise routine, which is often hard to maintain when working. I use the time between projects to reboot physically and mentally and feed myself creatively by writing or seeing art or plays. As I mentioned, I'm part of a theatre company in NYC which I'm very grateful for as it is my safe, creative place to work with other actors and writers and wonderful mentors. And then I also sing and write music and collaborate with other musicians.
AM: Do you have any upcoming projects that we should keep an eye out for?
LW: Keep an eye out for the film Reading Lolita in Tehran, directed by the renowned Eran Riklis (Shelter, Spider in the Web, A Borrowed Identity). It is based on the same-named NY Times bestseller memoir written by Professor Azar Nafisi and starring the Iranian icon Golshifteh Farahani (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Invasion).
And there is a next project on the horizon, and I wish I could tell you, but my lips have to remain sealed for now. I can only say that it's an action/spy film with a stellar cast! And you can follow me on @laradwolf for all the updates. Thank you so much!
IG @laradwolf
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 158 Sharon Daniels | PG 161 - 165 Reiner Bajo/Peacock |
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PHOTO CREDITS | ABC The Bachelor Disney/John Fleenor
THE BACHELORETTE S21. E8. | FANTASY SUITES
PHOTO CREDIT | ABC The Bachelorette
Coming off of a great week of Hometowns, we can see that this week, the men are in the midst of emotional struggle in this week’s The Bachelorette. Devin is going through it this week in the teaser! We catch up with Jenn Tran as she invites us to Hawaii. She’s excited that she’s getting toward the end with the 3 remaining men - Jonathan, Devin, and Marcus. She catches up with Molly Mesnick (who was on S13 of The Bachelor) to figure out where she is when it comes to the remaining men.
Devin and Jesse Palmer play a round of golf with one another and you can hear the beginnings of his insecurities and we hear that Jenn is not completely there with him yet as well.
Devin’s date is first and they’re on a helicopter date where they get to see Hawaii. In addition, they talk on the beach to find out what they can expect in their lives when they are back in the real world and not on the show. Devin lets her know that he is ready to be engaged, but we can see that she is not there yet and we can understand why Devin feels that he is getting signs that she may not be in the same place. To tell her that he loves them and for him to not hear it back, could play with anyone’s head. They continue their date to the evening portion and she says in the confidential that she hopes that she can get there with him as she can see all of his efforts. They both decide to go to the Fantasy Suites and Devin is looking forward to chat off-camera as that will be their first time. They spend time with one another and she states that he is better than Pete Davidson in every way. They have their inside jokes, they seem comfortable with one another, and they enjoy breakfast together. She hopes that their time together has helped him get out of his head a little bit. She leaves him and does the solo walk back to her place with her bag from the night before as she goes across the Fairmont property in her robe and slippers.
Jenn arrives in a Jeep for her date with Jonathan. She has an adventure date for him to go to some markets and to try some foods. They go to some food trucks and you can see that he is shocked that he has a forced cheat day since they will eat filled donuts together. He enjoys spending time with her. They continue with a picnic in the forest that is near a massive waterfall. They take the time to talk and to continue to see how they connect with one another. He recognizes that he can’t keep beating around the bush with her and he needs to take the initiative. They continue onto the evening portion of the date and you can tell that she likes Jonathan more than she likes Devin as she feels stronger connections. She talks with him about how much she enjoyed being at his Hometowns and how connected she felt with them as well. She shares with him that it is important the she shares her culture and where she comes from and she wants to impart that on her kids when she has them. They opt to spend the night together.
They wake up they do look cute in bed with one another. In Jonathan’s confessional, he says that he can see himself getting down on one knee. But then we see Devin walking around and he’s back in his head again as per usual! As Devin spirals. we see Jesse and Marcus playing golf together and talking about what he’s looking forward to as he’s about to take his date. Marcus is still waffling.
But they begin their date and we’ll see more about how they are connected. In her confessional, she says that she is in love with Marcus and hopes that they will be able to pick up exactly where they left off. Their date involves a boat where they cruise out to the ocean as they continue to talk about Hometowns, how their lives fit together and continuing the chemistry that they have had throughout this process. They are going snorkeling at sunset where they can see the inhabitants of the ocean.
They have dinner together and he opens up to her to chat with her on where he is. He feels he wants to get his life right as he knows that he comes from a broken home. He lets her know he is worried and that he is unsure and she deserves someone who is sure. He doesn’t know if he can continue. He tells her that he is not in love and you can see her assessing everything that has just taken place especially because she had planned on telling him that she was in love with him! She does tell him that she is in love with him and that she feels the need to get it off her chest and not as a means to force him to say anything as she didn’t want to short change herself by not letting him know that. They go on the Fantasy Suites date, but to us, it’s a bit awkward as he has stated his position. They have a great night and she knows its a terrifying place to be in love with someone who is not with you. She knows that next week the remaining men will get to meet her family.
Back at the lobby bar area, Devin gets in his head again and ends up talking with Jesse and letting him know that he doesn’t feel like he is in a good place. He feels he didn’t get the reassurance that he needs and he doesn’t feel whole. Jesse is the perfect listening ear for him.
JENN GAVE ROSES TO | Devin, Jonathan, and Marcus.
JENN DIDN’T GIVE ROSES TO |
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
WHO IS CONTINUING BEYOND HOMETOWNS
PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Ricky Middlesworth
THE BACHELORETTE CONTESTANTS
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STORIES FROM THE DELTA | NICCO ANNAN + SHOSHANA GUY
Readers of Athleisure Mag know that we enjoy watching STARZ’s P-Valley. In fact, we even interviewed members of the cast for our MAY ISSUE #77 for the last season of this series. This series focuses on Chucalisa and the chosen family of those that work at The Pynk. In this series, we get to know about this strip club, those who work there, and the events that take place in the community that affect those that work there. We love that we get to see a lot about these multi-dimensional characters in terms of their hopes, dreams, how they support one another and beyond!
Although we’re all waiting for the upcoming season of P-Valley, today we get to watch Down in the Valley that lets us know more about the cities that represent Chucalisa as well as the stories that come from there as well as how elements of those lives directly tie into the show. In this companion series with 6 episodes hosted by and is Executive Produced by Nicco Annan (Shameless, Snowfall, Claws) who plays Uncle Clifford in the show and Executive Produced by Shoshana Guy (Rock Center with Brian Williams, High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America, The 1619 Project), we get to hear their stories and learn more about what we have all come to love about this series!
We had the chance to sit down with them to talk about the Mothership show, how this series came about, why it was created, and what we can expect from it!
ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we delve into Down in the Valley, what attracted you to P-Valley and why did you want to be in this incredible show which I have loved watching over the seasons?
NICCO ANNAN: Well thank you, what attracted me to this show, P-Valley, I am going to say is the fact that it was created by such an auteur as Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, Hurt Village, Tina - The Tina Turner Musical). She is really a person who I love her work in the theater and I was reading her work before I was actually even auditioning for anything like that. I also love that it was something that was a true reflection of where I came from and all different types of our culture. It wasn’t just limited to a narrow viewpoint of how I saw myself and my community.
AM: In watching the show, I love the complexities, the characters, the topics that are talked about, and the city almost becomes a character in and of itself. Although I know that the city portrayed in the series is fictionalized, it seems more like a composite of a number of cities in the South. How did Down in the Valley come about as I feel that it allows the city as a character to step forward a little bit.
NA: Yes, part of Down in the Valley, we wanted to be able to go to different cities, You're absolutely right! Chucalisa, Mississippi is a fictitious city, but it is a real Native American burial ground. In the world of P-Valley, all of this is behind us and we are really an amalgamation of the South and it would be almost like if Jackson, Mississippi and Memphis had a baby! You know with a Mama in Tunica. Haha – that’s Chucalisa.
One of the things you know that Shoshana and I talked about in creating this show, Down in the Valley, we really wanted to go to different parts of the South that were in The Delta – that Bible Belt space to see what it was really like. It was about the real people and the real places!
AM: So how did both of you become attached the show. Shoshana, I have also been a fan of your work as a journalist and a producer. As a Telecom major in college, I have been enthralled by your work. How did both of you come to this project?
SHOSHANA GUY: I had worked sort of adjacent to Starz on the 1619 Project and so I had a relationship with them there and you know, I am always looking for new folks to collaborate with so it was really exciting for the idea of - I mean, I love the Mothership Show as we call it. So it was a really exciting idea for me to be collaborating with Nicco and Katori and of course, a new production company Zero Point Zero (Nomad with Carlton McCoy, United Shades of America w Kamau Bell, Somebody Feed Phil) which it was produced out of. So once I sort of had that initial relationship, the idea of collaborating with a new group of people was very appealing to me so when I got the call, I said yes, that sounds interesting to me.
AM: And Nicco?
NA: What’s the question?
AM: We love you in the Flagship show but what drew you to come in as the host and the Executive Producer in this show? What were the stories that you wanted to tell as you mentioned earlier about focusing on the different cities and the people within it. I came across a quote that, “even though The Valley is a concept, and a state of mind, it actually reflects various areas.” As someone who is from the Midwest originally and has lived in NY for over 2 decades, I love learning about other communities.
NA: You know, when I created this show, I had the idea for this show back during S1 of P-Valley! So it was something that was always in my mind and it was about the right time. The industry has been going through a lot of restructuring, the big strike, there was this thing called COVID that the entire world experienced. So it just felt like, now is the time that we can have some space to do it. I had a little time off from the Flagship show, so when I brought it to the network, my ideas and I got that all pitched out and partnered up here with Shoshana, we really went in and found a team of people, a team of diverse people, Black women, queer people, people that were connected and had passion for the South to be able to come together and to tell this story and always having Katori in the mix!
It's so funny because my brain really just went for half a second to the script and the world of Chucalisa and I had to say, wait!
SG: Haha you were going to recite some lines for us?
NA: Right! I was going to go into a whole other place!
SG: Yeah! He’s an amazing multi-tasker!
AM: Right haha!
NA: It was just a natural, I mean honestly, it was a natural process and it was a labor of intense love, it has been one of severe dedication, you know to make during this past year. And it’s something that we wanted to do where it wasn’t about a replacement of P-Valley, it is about an expansion and creating something more. I really felt like it was an opportunity because I meet fans and other members of the Pynk Posse and there is an intense love! We can be quite intense and so I wanted to make sure that I could do something that is reflective of who I am meeting and who I am encountering, and I think that sometimes in life, you can forget the beauty and the strength that we can come from. So, I wanted to make something that was full of love, full of intention, and low on trauma.
SG: Yeah, I have to add to that to say that one of the fun things about being in the field is watching people’s reactions to Nicco was that they already felt so connected to him because of this character that he plays in the show. It was such an interesting and enjoyable piece of the operation to be moving around in space and to see how it all came together!
Remember when we went to the tailgating event?
NA: Yes!
SG: This older woman came up to me and asked me could he come over for just a second? So I looked over to where Nicco was and I said (waving her arms over), come on over here! She said to the group, “he’s coming home!”
NA: Yesss!
SG: I always remember that moment because it really felt symbolic of the way that people feel about the Mothership Show and also for us to be able to bring that feeling of home onto the screen.
AM: In preparation for this interview, I watched the entire season as I wanted to have a great backdrop for this series and to juxtapose that with the Mothership show.
I love that there are aspects of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. As you have this travel component in many respects and you also have this journalistic and getting into sociopolitical issues that are taking place and doing this without having the trauma aspect involved. That is such a complicated, nuanced, and beautiful mix to be able to put that together in a half hour show that is not coming off preachy, but is talking about issues that are also a crossover into what is being discussed and shown in the Mothership!
SG: Girl, who are you telling?
AM: I mean, in your mind it’s like “boop, boop, boop” triangulating all of this!
NA: Hahaha!
AM: I mean, I’m impressed by it and seeing how it is laid out and the depths of its connective tissue – it’s amazing.
NA: Oh thank you!
SG: Yes, thank you so much! It’s wonderful that you see the notes of No Reservations in there because we obviously produced it out of that kind of legendary production company, so it’s always going to have that sort of feel and flavor of that underneath it. You know, I'm a trained journalist, I have a degree from Columbia University. I worked at NBC News for many many years. So everything that I approach, has that kind of journalist feel underneath it. I’m always interested in how stories and narratives collide with real issues that are going on. We know that as Black people, it’s always a lot of things that we are working on, building on, celebrating, but also processing as a people. So our goal was to make sure that that came through. A nice balance of the fun and also the real things that we go through.
NA: To also add in, all of the creativity with the dance, and the dance elements that are in the storytelling, it’s connected. Things are elevated and there are moments of hyperreality so to speak. Like you experience that in the Mothership Show, we experience it in real life. It was just a way to capture that on screen and really tell these complex stories of real people who have real lives that are intertwined and showing you that it is really laced into the stories of P-Valley in this fictional world and here is the real world that is showing you those real things. Elements like how Hoodoo is ensconced in the community and it’s not something that the character Diamond (Tyler Lepley) just came up with out of thin air, you know what I mean? Some things like the superstition that we all have of “don’t sweep my feet,” like my grandmother would say that. Or throwing salt over their shoulder you know what I mean? Little things like that that you don’t necessarily know the root of, but you’re able to go in here and see where it all derives from in a fun, sexy, and entertaining way.
While we wait for the next season of P-Valley, watch Down in the Valley on STARZ and/or stream it on the STARZ app.
IG @alldaynicco
PHOTOS COURTESY | Down in the Valley/Starz
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PHOTO CREDITS | ABC The Bachelor Disney/John Fleenor
THE BACHELORETTE S21. E7. | WELCOME TO HOMETOWNS
PHOTO CREDIT | ABC The Bachelorette
It’s Hometowns on The Bachelorette and we’re starting off in Houston with Devin! Jenn Tran actually did what we think is the first run and jump of the season! He’s excited that he can show her his city as well as to plan their date. They’re participating in his run club that he enjoys every Wed. It’s nice that they have a Love Run where she gets to meet his friends and take in elements of the city as well. She also loves to run so that’s pretty cool that that works with her lifestyle as well.
She also meets his dog Charlie which she’s pretty cute. We didn’t initially have Devin and Jenn as a couple that would make it to Hometowns and although we do feel that there were times he provided drama, it does seem like he could be a great fit and that he is genuine about Jenn - but we’ll just have to see how all of this shakes out.
They make their way to meeting Devin’s family which is his mom, dad, grandfather, grandmother, brother, and his step dad (which Jenn reminds him of). They catch his family up on what they have been through over the past few weeks. His family seems really sweet. Hearing Devin and his dad Temo chat really showed the love between them. In the conversation between Jenn and his mom, it seems like such a loving vibe as well. His mother talks about how it took time to find her love story and that she knows it hasn’t been easy for him. Jenn let her know that she saw similarities between their families.
It seems like the date went well and with the backing of his mom, he tells her that he loves her. It was great that his mom let her know that now is not the time to be coy and to try to wait things out. Jenn tells him that she is also falling in love with him and that she does see a future with him.
We see Jenn in Fairfield, CT which is Jeremy’s Hometown - another energetic hug at a park he enjoys going to. They’re going shopping since they did that in Melbourne as well as in Seattle. They make their way to Stew Leonard’s. There are animatronics, items to sample, costume characters and more. As they enjoy eating hot lobster rolls that they shared, his aunt comes by unplanned. They had a great time with one another as they always do, but she wants to see him have a serious side and to make sure they they are on the same page. She looks forward to seeing more of his family so she can get those answers to see if he is ready for an engagement.
They make their way to his family and it’s interesting to see the dynamics. His mom Karen says in her confessional that what Jenn mentioned in terms of what she looks for in a guy is not her son! Sometimes it’s your own family and friends that share what they know to be true. When his younger sister Emily talks with Jenn she lets her know that his walls are not down and he is guarded. She talks with her brother and asks if he sees a future with her. Emily lets him know that Jenn feels that he is guarded and Jeremy is surprised that that is how she felt. He feels that he has tried to be vulnerable. When he talks with his mom, Karen asks if they have talked about serious things and she wants him to understand that fun is great, but he has to dig deeper to know who Jenn is. She continues to try to to understand the dynamic by sitting down with Jenn to find out more. She asks if they have a bond that goes beyond the fun part of their dynamic. Jenn asks if she thinks that he would be ready. Karen says that if it was the right person he could be ready, but it seems like she’s trying to let her know that she doesn’t think that he is ready.
Even though Jeremy and Jenn recap with one another, it’s quite clear to us that there is no way he goes past Hometowns.
Onto San Diego where she will meet up with Jonathan! Another physical date brings them to playing Lacrosse as they both played. So they have the opportunity to hang out with one another and to keep it easy. After playing on the field, they enjoy some champagne and they talk about the fact that he has some walls up and that they need to be brought down. He lets her know that he does see something there, but it’s hard for him to navigate his feelings, but he feels that there is something there. She is concerned that he is not able to fully get there with her in the time that she would like to see it in.
They continue on to his family and as we got a sneak peek at some of the conversation, we’re looking forward to how this part of the date unfolds. His Sister-in-Law shares how they met on Tinder, said I love you on the 3rd date, moved in together within 2 weeks and they have been married for 4 years and have been together for 7. Jonathan’s brother lets her know that because of his past, he is super protective of him. In speaking with his mother, Jenn is looking to get her feedback and she knows his brother is very hesitant about the process that they have gone through even though he met his wife on Tinder. Jenn explains that she understands that he is holding back, but she wants him to open up so that they can get there and have a stronger relationship ultimately. When Jonathan and his mom sit down to talk, she asks him why he is holding back.He lets her know that he wanted to get reassurance from his family and more importantly, his mom. He asks if she sees her being long terms. His mom said yes and you can see the weight lift off of his shoulders. She tells him that he has to put himself out there and to take that chance in order to go forward.
He lets her know that his family loved her and that he really needed today in order to connect more with her. He let her know that he is falling for her and that he feels it. She lets him know that she is falling for him as well.
It’s the last Hometowns date! We finally get to see Marcus and his family in Tacoma, Washington. Going into Hometowns, we felt that this date would be one that would go well. He lets her know that he will meet his sister, but not his adoptive family. In addition, he has some of his friends who he feels is family who will be there to meet her. He knows that he has struggled to be open to falling in love and having a future with Jenn and he feels stuck so he wants to find out what his support system thinks. Ultimately, he tells her that he is falling for her. She says the same.
All 4 Hometowns have concluded and now it’s about Jenn selecting those that should continue on the journey. The 4 contestants meet up for some beers to catch up on what they have gone through.It’s the last time they will be together before the rose ceremony. Marcus realizes that everyone seems comfortable with their Hometowns and that at any point, they would be ready to propose. Marcus realizes that he feels like he is behind. He realizes he shouldn’t feel the way he is feeling and yet he does - the epitome of conflicted.
All of the guys arrive and wait for the rose ceremony begin. Jenn arrives and connects with Jesse Palmer as they quickly debrief on what he past few days have been like.
She lets the men know how important Hometowns was and how it allowed her to reflect on what she needed. These were hard questions that were necessary for her to know so that she can pick the right men to continue. She sends Jeremy home which is not a surprise if you think about the feedback that Jenn received from his family.
Next week we have Fantasy Suites as well as the Men’s Tell All on back to back days and we hear more from the men on where their heads are at.
JENN GAVE ROSES TO | Devin, Jonathan, and Marcus.
JENN DIDN’T GIVE ROSES TO | Jeremy
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
WHO IS CONTINUING BEYOND HOMETOWNS
PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Ricky Middlesworth
THE BACHELORETTE CONTESTANTS
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
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PHOTO CREDITS | DISNEY/John Fleenor
THE BACHELOR S29. E0. | MEET GRANT ELLIS!
PHOTO CREDIT | DISNEY/John Fleenor
Last night, we saw that Grant Ellis was not going to be heading to Hometowns. We enjoyed seeing him throughout this season’s The Bachelorette’s as he competed for the heart of Jenn Tran. We were shocked that in the middle of the night they announced him as The Bachelor for Season 29! We can’t wait to see who will be on his season and to get to know more about him. But until then, we’ll look forward to what’s about to take place!
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
HERE’S WHO WE THINK WILL GO TO HOMETOWNS
THE GOLDEN BACHELOR CONTESTANTS
Featured TV Show