vsWyoming Cowboy Classic (Final Round) de Castro Piera Finish One/Two Again As Men’s Golf Wins Wyoming Cowboy Classic4/1/2025 3:26:00 PM | Men's Golf Charlie Forster broke the school scoring by three strokes Check out these photos highlighting Piera Rodriguez's unanimous decision win over Josefine Knutsson at UFC on ESPN 63 from Amalie Arena in Tampa Santo Domingo.- Journalist Nuria Piera criticized certain digital media outlets calling them a “cesspool” for spreading misinformation She expressed solidarity with journalists Edith Febles who have been falsely accused of receiving foreign funds Piera urged authorities to regulate these platforms and called on the government to refine its criteria for allocating public funds to media outlets She also emphasized the need for stronger legislation to combat defamation on social media highlighting the risks posed by the lack of legal oversight Local February 17 Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" Regulation for the questionable digital outlets is a slippery slope “Who” defines what is disinformation Only thing that is sure is the people will be the one’s paying Sooner or later truth is disinterred and the universe will be back from chaos…sooner or later those who use lies and disinformation will be buried…most surely USAID is part of the problem… Economy North Coast Local Sports Health DominicanToday.com - The Dominican Republic News Source in English BY NICK HAWKINS, ASSISTANT WEB PRODUCER @NICKHAWKINSNYC In 2015, the team at Refinery29 was brainstorming ideas for the media company’s 10th anniversary party. They developed a concept called 29Rooms—an interactive warehouse space transformed into a 29-room curation of artist collaborations At some point in the brainstorming and pitching process someone said “Maybe we should just have a cocktail party.” That risk-averse attitude in the media landscape is what had led Refinery29 co-founder Piera Gelardi to launch her company in the first place—she wanted to create a media company that would stand out in “sea of sameness.” the vision for 29Rooms became a reality—and a viral hit reaching 25 percent of all Instagram users She’s now transformed 29Rooms into a full-fledged experiential events company “We created an event format that everyone in the industry copied,” she says it’s easy to get lost in that “sea of sameness,” paddling relentlessly only to feel like you’ve barely moved Gelardi sat down with Yelitsa Jean-Charles Editor-in-chief Mike Hofman to talk about how to get your message out in a world where digital marketing has become oversaturated and how to turn that into a valuable brand asset Healthy Roots Dolls is a mission-driven brand focused on representation in toys They make dolls that teach natural hair care to young girls of color Founder Jean-Charles says the first version of her product was awful I wouldn’t have my current product.” That’s because the first iteration opened her and her products to customer feedback about the packaging Jean-Charles says she used the experience as an opportunity to align her dolls with hair play and hair education Both founders agree that when you’re first starting up it’s scary to put something out that doesn’t feel perfect “you have to double down,” says Jean-Charles Have a social media post that’s doing well “That post could be used in your newsletter put a different audio on it—you can do so much with that.” This is especially true for teams with smaller budgets who must do more with less And don’t stop with socials—if content is doing well in one area turn it into a targeted ad and target people who have already engaged with your content “I call it spaghetti to the wall,” says Jean-Charles Gelardi says it’s about “doing small low-stakes experiments.” If those small bets pay off That’s how you move forward and how you continue to do fresh and new innovative things she says it comes down to being authentic to yourself and finding your niche “I think specificity and confidence just really work right now,” she says The super early-rate deadline for the 2025 Inc. Power Partner Awards is Friday, May 30, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now The daily digest for entrepreneurs and business leaders Learn More The partnership was first put into motion five years ago Chase Bliss and AnalogMan have teamed up on a new project A series of teasers have been shared online by Chase Bliss which shows its owner Joel Korte with Mike Piera – owner of the AnalogMan brand – taking a trip to Japan and seemingly putting together a brand new pedal The new product is currently set for launch on Tuesday 15 April with those signed up to the Chase Bliss newsletter able to receive early information on the evening of Monday 14 April The collaboration was first revealed with a screenshot of an email sent from Korte to Piera five years ago in which he shares his admiration of Piera (known as Analog Mike) and his work A post shared by chase bliss (@chasebliss) including footage of a conversation between the two as they are working together and a blindfolded pedal test video featuring Jake Brownstein of the band Eggy I wasn’t interested in doing too many collaborations but the way you described what you wanted to do seemed quite different from anything we had.” “I just think that you’re the absolute best person we could ever dream of partnering with on something like this and I think this is the last thing people are expecting A post shared by chase bliss (@chasebliss) A post shared by chase bliss (@chasebliss) A post shared by chase bliss (@chasebliss) Though no official details have yet been shared to confirm what the product actually is from the boutique brands a message on the Chase Bliss website reads For early access, you’ll need to sign up to the Chase Bliss newsletter via its official website. The world’s leading authority and resource for all things guitar. the managing director of research enhanced strategies at J.P you’ve managed to capture over 50% of market share in Europe So can you talk me through what’s behind the success and how you’ve managed to establish yourself as a leader in this space I’ve managed portfolio low tracking error for now 20 years and our portfolio tend to offer consistent alpha through time we’ve been able to combine tradition of J.P Morgan DNA coming from decades of running portfolios So the game changer came from our business in 2018 when we launched the very first four active equity ETFs And the key of the success has been to be able to marry tradition with innovation I was probably the most skeptical at the beginning of the journey The overall ETF ecosystem work in a different way compared to mutual funds The evolution that we have been experiencing has been that we are Kolostyak: So why do you think that research enhanced strategies are well suited for the ETF wrapper what are the benefits to investors from this Grassi: Research enhanced index strategies offer consistent alpha through time at low tracking error which means they are very similar to passive strategies And that means that they are well positioned to be mixed into the ETF ecosystem the clients with access to research enhanced index strategies were large institutional mandates the combination of the two allows for better access to a broader type of client the fact that we are able to deliver positive consistent alpha is an appealing feature of the active ETF ecosystem What makes us different compared to other competitors that are entering the space is the fact that we have best- in-class fundamental research DNA that we’ve been developing for the last 30 years We have the best connectivity between our research analysts and our portfolio management team as well as we are supported by a world-class technological platform called Spectrum Kolostyak: So you have been named as one of Morningstar’s ETF leaders in the spirit of International Women’s Day can you talk me through your career and the roles you’ve held so far Grassi: I have almost 25 years of experience I have started my career in risk management Morgan and I joined the research enhanced index team Morgan gave me the opportunity to develop and experience different roles within the team I started as a quant research analyst back then And so I covered different aspects of the business throughout my 20 years here at J.P the team at roughly $1 billion of assets when I took over in 2014 we actually have 40 billion of assets running across global and international REI strategies One thing to maybe point out with regard to the team since we’re talking about International Women’s Day is the fact that the diversity probably is an element that differentiate If we think about the industry and perhaps that the statistics around how many female portfolio managers you can find that out there While you looking at my team and the REI franchise we have more than 50% of portfolio managers which I’m really proud for and something that I’ve been fostering over the years One of the prerogative for me was to hire people smarter than me And that has paid off for me and for the franchise The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. 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Morningstar reveals the top 10 best performers over the last five years Morningstar OBSR reveals the top funds for investors seeking exposure to European equities Josefine Knutsson will battle Piera Rodriguez at UFC Tampa on Saturday The moneyline has Knutsson priced at -230 while Rodriguez is priced at +190 Josefine "Thunder" Knutsson has a mark of 8-0-0 The 28-year-old steps on the scale at 115 lbs and measures 5'3" The orthodox fighter extends her reach 60" Piera "La Fiera" Rodriguez stands in at 5'3" and weighs in at 115 lbs The orthodox fighter steps into the cage holding a record of 9-2-0 Josefine Knutsson is connecting on 4.87 per minute while Piera Rodriguez connects on 3.64 significant strikes per min Knutsson is connecting on 51% of the significant strikes she attempts while Rodriguez is landing 47% "Thunder" absorbs 2.07 significant strikes per min while "La Fiera" takes 2.84 Knutsson also defends against 57% of the significant strikes her opponents throw at her while Rodriguez thwarts 58% of the shots thrown Josefine Knutsson is not as efficient of a grappler as she takes her opponents to the canvas 2.00 times per 15 min Knutsson is finishing her takedown attempts on 72% of her tries and stuffing 57% of all takedowns attempted by her opposition Rodriguez is taking her opponents to the canvas on 41% of the takedowns she attempts and is defending 66% of all takedowns attempted on her Knutsson is the lesser skilled of the two fighters by trying 0.3 submissions per 15 min while Rodriguez tries 0.7 submissions per 3 rds Get all of our UFC Betting Picks Josefine Knutsson went up against Julia Polastri and got a win for the night by unanimous decision in round 3 Polastri landed 86 of 152 total strikes that she let go in that contest Knutsson ended the night having landed 145 of 271 total strikes She ended up landing 38 of 83 significant strikes aimed at the head Knutsson landed 50% of her significant strikes by landing 124 of 244 she connected on 68 of 173 aimed at the head 67% of the significant strikes connected on by Polastri and 87% of them connected on by Knutsson were done at a distance she squared up with Ariane Carnelossi and ended up losing the fight by a headbutt from Rodriguez in round 2 Carnelossi connected on 75% of the significant strikes she took from distance and Rodriguez connected on 55% of the significant strikes she tried at a distance Rodriguez landed 49% of the significant strikes she attempted by connecting on 40 of 81 She landed 34 of 73 significant strikes aimed at the head Carnelossi ended up connecting on 16 of 49 significant strikes in that fight Looking at the significant strike accuracy she ended up connecting on 13 of 43 directed at the head In regard to total strikes that she let go in that contest Carnelossi ended up landing 46 of 89 and Rodriguez landed 51 of 102 total strikes Another fight that you're going to want to watch is when Colby Covington encounters Joaquin Buckley Covington walks into the cage holding a mark of 17-4-0 The 36-year-old will fight at 170 lbs and measures in at 5'11" The orthodox fighter extends his reach 72" Buckley measures 5'10" and records a weight of 170 lbs Colby Covington gets a takedown 3.79 times per 15 min and Joaquin Buckley takes his opponents to the mat 1.96 times per 15 minutes Covington connects on 3.88 strikes per minute and connects on 38% of the strikes that he throws On the other side of the cage we have Joaquin Buckley who lands 36% of the strikes that he throws and connects on 4.13 per minute Another must see fight on the night is when Billy Quarantillo is set to clash with Cub Swanson The 41-year-old weighs 145 lbs and measures 5'8" The orthodox fighter has a reach of 70" Quarantillo measures in at 5'10" and is weighing in at 145 lbs The orthodox fighter comes into this bout with a mark of 18-6-0 The 36-year-old has a wingspan of 70" Cub Swanson stops 63% of the takedowns his opponents try and is taking his opponents to the canvas on 50% of the times he tries Quarantillo is finishing his takedown tries on 23% of his tries and curbs 61% of takedowns his opponents have tried Swanson is taking 3.86 strikes/minute and he is landing 4.67 per min is taking 5.57 strikes per min and is dealing 7.36 per minute Who will win tonight's UFC match against the spread Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Piera Rodriguez (+190) Get $60 worth of FREE premium member picks. No Obligation. No Salesman. No Credit Card. Fast Sign up with Instant Access Click Here Get all of Today's Free UFC Picks Get all of Today's Expert UFC Picks New York State Senator Luis Sepúlveda presented the Independence Resolution to journalist Nuria Piera in recognition of her distinguished career and contributions to Dominican journalism highlights her commitment to truth and investigative reporting were also recognized for their impact on journalism and dedication to objective reporting Sepúlveda emphasized that their work has played a key role in shaping public discourse and keeping audiences informed Piera called the honor a motivating force to continue her work while Ortega reaffirmed her commitment to journalistic integrity Maldonado acknowledged the award as a testament to teamwork and dedication in the field People April 1 noting that they exemplify the highest standards of Dominican journalism vsBadger Invitational (Second Round) Massive Second Round From Alejandro de Castro Piera Propels Men’s Golf9/30/2024 3:42:00 PM | Men's Golf The junior’s 9-under 63 is tied for the third best round in program history Here's how the judges scored every round of every fight: Main Card Results | Prelim Results Official Result: Piera Rodriguez defeats Josefine Knutsson by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) | Main Card Results | Prelim Results Official Result: Davey Grant defeats Ramon Taveras by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27) | Main Card Results | Prelim Results Official Result: Miranda Maverick defeats Jamey-Lyn Horth by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) | Main Card Results | Prelim Results Official Result: Felipe Lima defeats Miles Johns by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) | Main Card Results | Prelim Results Official Result: Sean Woodson defeats Fernando Padilla by TKO (strikes) at 4:58 of Round 1 | Main Card Results | Prelim Results Official Result: Joel Álvarez defeats Drakkar Klose by KO (flying knee) at 2:48 of Round 1 | Main Card Results | Prelim Results Official Result: Michael Johnson defeats Ottman Azaitar by KO (right hook) at 2:03 of Round 2 | Main Card Results | Prelim Results Official Result: Navajo Stirling defeats Tuco Tokkos by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) | Main Card Results | Prelim Results Official Results: Daniel Marcos defeats Adrian Yanez by split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28) | Main Card Results | Prelim Results Official Result: Dustin Jacoby defeats Vitor Petrino by KO (right hand) at 3:44 of Round 3 | Main Card Results | Prelim Results Official Result: Manel Kape defeats Bruno Silva by TKO (strikes) at 1:57 of Round 3 | Main Card Results | Prelim Results Official Result: Cub Swanson defeats Billy Quarantillo by KO (right hand) at 1:36 of Round 3 | Main Card Results | Prelim Results Official Result: Joaquin Buckley defeats Colby Covington by TKO (doctor’s stoppage) at 4:42 of Round 3 | Main Card Results | Prelim Results Watch Post-Fight Interviews With The Main Card Winners And More From UFC Fight Night: Covingto The Fights & Performances That Warranted An Extra $50,000 In 2024 You Only Get One Chance To Make A First Impression And These Ten Debutants Made The Most Of It In 2024 The fast-paced action of the Winter Games NZ alpine ski racing program continued at Coronet Peak on Friday with the first of two FIS Australia New Zealand Cup (ANC) Slalom races Spectators passing over the top of the course on the Coronet Express chairlift were treated to prime viewing including a winning performance by New Zealand’s Piera Hudson A large field of 86 men and 39 women representing 16 different nations tackled two runs set on the ProAm slope “A lot of international teams have travelled to New Zealand to train this season and are using the ANC races as a pre-World Cup test and to benchmark themselves ahead of the northern hemisphere season,” explained Winter Games NZ Alpine Manager Hannah Hazeldine The women were first on course this morning with Hudson laying down a fantastic first run which initially had her sitting in second place just 0.05 seconds behind Switzerland’s Janine Maechler Hudson managed to jump into the lead with Maechler dropping back into fifth place on combined run times Emotional on seeing the result at the finish line “This time last year I was in hospital for a second knee surgery A year later it just feels really good to put it together and finally start to get my confidence back and some self-belief.” Austria’s Franziska Gritsch picked up the pace on run two to finish in second place 0.09s behind Hudson while Great Britain’s Reece Bell skied an exceptionally fast second run which saw her jump from eighth after run one into third place on combined times for a place on the podium It still turned out to be a good day for the Maechler family with Janine’s older brother Reto claiming the win in the men’s field Trailing compatriot Joel Luetolf by 0.10s after run one and with experienced World Cup racer Sam Maes (BEL) sitting just 0.46s off the lead in third place Maechler knew it would be all go on run two Conditions on course became challenging as a very cold wind whipped across the course drying out the top layer of snow and making the surface grippy with almost half the men’s field recording DNFs in run one Maechler put the hammer down and recorded the fastest time on run two to leapfrog into first place Luetolf finished his day in second place 0.23s behind Maechler the second run was really tough with the snow conditions but I’m really happy with the result because there are a lot of really good racers here,” said Maechler “I had a tough season last year but now with this race I’m feeling good.” The Winter Games NZ alpine action continues on Saturday The FIS Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup presented by La Roche Posay & Cardrona Alpine Resort was postponed due to high winds and is taking place on Saturday FIS Park & Pipe Contest Director explained that the inconsistent wind gusting on course created an uneven playing field for the athletes and therefore the decision was made to postpone the event No female fighter has more UFC submission wins than Gillian Robertson The 29-year-old finisher has secured a submission win seven times out of her 17 UFC fights to date, and after spending over five years chasing flyweight contention, the strawweight division now has to deal with her jiu-jitsu prowess.  UFC Fight Night: Magny vs Prates Fight by Fight Preview “The Savage” has an opportunity to rise in the rankings this weekend when she faces Luanna Pinheiro at UFC Fight Night: Magny vs Prates.  Let’s take a look back at each of Robertson’s submission wins as we wait for her to make the walk this Saturday at UFC APEX The Ultimate Fighter: A New World Champion Finale - Dec 1 (Watch Robertson Submit Whitmire On UFC Fight Pass) Although things didn’t work out for Robertson on TUF 26 UFC brought the then-22-year-old back for the finale The fight went to the canvas quickly and Robertson transitioned into an armbar seemingly out of nowhere that forced Whitmire to tap immediately It was a lightning fast armbar that was a preview of things to come UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs Till - May 27 (Watch Robertson Submit McCann On UFC Fight Pass) Fighting someone in their hometown isn’t an easy task but Robertson was more than up to the challenge of facing Molly McCann in Liverpool Robertson was dominant and it only felt like a matter of time until she was going to lock in a submission she secured a deep rear naked choke that would have forced most fighters to tap – not McCann “Meatball” Molly decided to go out on her shield UFC Fight Night: Blachowicz vs Santos – Feb 23 (Watch Robertson Submit Macedo On UFC Fight Pass) That’s how UFC commentator John Gooden described Robertson’s performance against Veronica Hardy But no matter what was happening in the fight She waited for Hardy to make a mistake and as soon as she did In round two Robertson reversed Hardy on the canvas to land in full mount Robertson wasted no time and sunk in the rear naked choke UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs Volkov – June 20 (Watch Robertson Submit Casey On UFC Fight Pass) This was the type of fight where Gillian Robertson thrives Most of this fight was spent on the canvas with the two engaging in scrambles and submission attempts Robertson’s longtime coach Din Thomas told her she was up heading into the third round but to “try to finish it” and she did just that With less than 30 seconds remaining Robertson was able to sneak a rear naked choke in and force Casey to tap (Watch Robertson Submit Cachoeira On UFC Fight Pass) Robertson entered the Octagon at UFC 269 on a two-fight skid She came in motivated to get back to her winning ways and it was evident that she was seeking a quick finish against Priscila Cachoeira Robertson was able to get Cachoeira to the canvas at about the halfway mark of round one She threatened with a kimura before spending some time landing some great ground-and-pound She locked in the rear naked choke and put an end to the fight with one second remaining in the opening frame UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs Song – Sept 17 (Watch Robertson Submit Agapov On UFC Fight Pass) We’ve seen Gillian Robertson persevere time and time again Robertson’s willingness to walk through fire in order to get the fight to the ground was on full display against Mariya Agapova The exciting striker had an excellent first round landing significant strikes and preventing Robertson from setting up submission attempts Agapova almost slipped right into an arm triangle but was saved by the bell Agapova made that mistake that Robertson had been waiting for As Agapova worked her way back up to her knees she gave up her back and Robertson pounced on the rear naked choke Agapova fought the choke and essentially tried to just tough it out UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs Allen – April 15 (Watch Robertson Submit Rodriguez On UFC Fight Pass) “The Savage” followed up her win over Agapova with a switch down to the strawweight division and an excellent performance against Piera Rodriguez at UFC Kansas City Robertson started off with a solid first round as she got Rodriguez to the canvas and was able to control her for the better half of the round Robertson went right back to the well to start off the second landing a takedown in the first ten seconds landing ground-and-pound elbows that opened Rodriguez up She continued landing big strikes until she transitioned to an armbar after nearly four full minutes of softening Rodriguez up It was unclear if Rodriguez tapped but referee Keith Peterson called an end to the fight to protect the fighter Even though the ending came with controversy it was a brilliant performance from Robertson Iconic UFC Events Retold: New Collectibles Combine Event Artwork with Event-Used Canvas See Which Fighters Moved Up And Down In The Latest Edition Of The Rankings A Loss On Dana White's Contender Series Last Year Didn't Stop Cortavious Romious From Living Out His Dream Of Being A Piera's intelligent particle sensors with AI identify sources of indoor pollutants including vape MISSISSAUGA, ON, Oct. 2, 2024 /CNW/ - Piera Systems Inc., today announces its Canāree IX6 Vape Detector with Noise Monitoring has been selected as a Vendor of Record (VOR) by Supply Ontario for the Province of Ontario's Initiative to reduce vaping in school buildings and other public spaces.  Student vaping continues to grow with 13.4% of middle and high school students that vape daily (source: Ontario CAMH OSDUHS 2023 study).  While vaping can be less harmful than smoking many vapes have much higher nicotine levels leading to lower impulse control increasing the risk of future addiction to other drugs The Province of Ontario's "Vape Detectors and Building Safety Initiative" provides funding to install vape detectors with noise monitoring to identify vaping and smoking incidents in seconds time and duration information.  Simultaneously sustained noises indicating activities that require school staff attention Sensors do not record sound or video ensuring privacy Canāree can also integrate to available video security systems where location and time data can be used to determine if individuals or repeat offenders can be identified.  In addition signage will indicate vape and smoke free zones so students can know when monitoring is in effect.  Devices are installed in tamper-proof locations and their status monitored continuously "Indoor air pollution has a significant impact on human health and productivity and our unique ability to identify vape and smoke accurately and quickly at an affordable cost was a key reason for our selection for this initiative," said Vin Ratford "We are honoured to be selected as a supplier and applaud the provincial government for allocating funding to reduce indoor vaping and the health impacts caused by secondhand smoke." Funding is available immediately to Ontario Public Service ministries including all Ontario schools The deployment process will begin once vendors are selected by individual school districts Canāree monitors are currently deployed worldwide in schools commercial and residential spaces to monitor air quality and provide alerts on vaping and smoking activity delivering significant health benefits.  The Canāree Platform The Canāree IX6 Vape Detector with Noise Monitoring is based on Piera System's Canāree IX platform of AI-based intelligent Indoor Environment Monitors (IEM) that detect various gases and particulate aerosols in real-time capable of identifying sources of pollution as well as providing feedback on mitigation steps to clean the air and other environmental factors that affect inhabitants like vape and smoke Piera Systems' own intelligent particle sensor The IX can be customized to include additional sensors such as CO2 (NDIR-based), CO All Canāree models collect real-time air quality data locally and send that data to Piera's SenseiAQ cloud for remote monitoring SenseiAQ then displays the data on a dashboard including Air Quality Index (AQI) scores color-coded to EPA/EEEC standards along with vape/smoke/AQ alerts APIs are available to support third-party integrations such as video security systems building management systems (BMS) and IoT device management ON) mission is to make air quality measurement as accurate enabling a major improvement in the health of all humans The IPS family of intelligent particulate matter sensors uses a custom patented particle-counting microchip to determine particulate matter's size Piera can identify pollution sources such as vape Our SenseiAQ air quality monitoring platform monitors and alerts users to poor air quality and pollution events Headquartered in Canada, more information on Piera Systems' air quality solutions can be found at https://www.pierasystems.com Supply Ontario is a crown operational agency of the Ontario government that leads and manages procurement-related work on behalf of the Ontario government Its mandate is to strengthen supply chain management and procurement across the public sector and broader public services such as hospitals reliable products at the best value.  The Vape Detectors and Building Safety Provisions (Tender 19788) will be used by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Service – Ontario and includes: Media Contact: Vincent Ratford, Piera Systems, [email protected] Do not sell or share my personal information: Piera Wolf and Claudine Eriksson are the energetic pair that lead WE studio a multidisciplinary graphic design studio based between Zürich and New York that weaves purposeful visual languages in the worlds of art The two met in an apartment on Havemeyer Street in 2017 and have been working together ever since Distinct in their tastes and sensibilities Piera and Claudine are a fusion of contrasting elements pairs perfectly with Claudine's radiant positivity evoked by a silver hue that reflects light In our current creative landscape saturated with design studios W—E studio transcends borders and categories with a practice rooted in the creation of brand experiences across all formats They love to see young blood thrive which is why they balance their creative practice with teaching and research engagements at academic institutions such as Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) They've received accolades from the Art Directors Club and Type Directors Club for their role as design lead engagement with studio Ferdinando Verderi for Vogue Italia Design by Radical Indigenism by author Julia Watson and art fair design for The Armory Show New York They are also our art directors for this issue (and the previous one) so if you like it then they're probably doing something right Claudine Eriksson— Basking in natural light shared with friends working in other disciplines PW—  Trusting the universe: a journey of intuition and gut instincts and engineered serendipity If you were to assign a color to each other the SHINIEST and for reflecting lots of light Is there something you collect or have collected over a period of time PW—  I'm not a collector — I enjoy journeying light — BUT I do have a rich library of different tactile paper samples CE— An unintentional but beautiful collection of patterned textiles from all over Which three words best describe your relationship PW— One of them is I Am Love with Tilda Swinton that I first saw at the beloved Sunshine Cinema in the LES (before the theater got demolished) PW— ‘Mission Chinese’ NYC — still hugs my heart CE— A bubby on the street from Asha’s Parlor the Extra-Terrestrial — I trained my voice so hard to sound like him saying "E.T What is the most interesting thing in your trash can PW— The many used chewing gums of my 2.5 year old daughter who recently became a fanatic chewer What are your favorite features of the human body PW— Hands (that create) and eyes (that go deep) but there is something special about shoulders Her debut EP, 2.0 dropped on April 11th: Von’s discography recontextualized and immortalized for the underground the 2.0 rollout unfolded through a series of invite-only “There’s this widespread relatability kink right now in music artists are so pressured to over share absolutely everything,” Von says “There’s a lot of unsolicited advice about the frequency we should post and how much we should divulge etc This was kind of my tongue in cheek way of giving in to the over share.” In the bowels of H0l0, guests were invited to wander around the fog-filled rooms and enjoy another one of Von’s freakshows produced by Chloe Philips “Each event there’s a crazier request than the last,” Philips laughs I’m constantly figuring out niche permits and safety protocols you’d never think to consider.” Rachel, one of Von’s dancers, traipsed around the space with 30 needles intricately placed into her skin (by @babyrocktattoos) that rounded her back like an S—just a typical body horror moment you can expect from a Von event “The continuous testing of my own being—the desire to either find myself or lose parts of who I’ve been In the backroom, tattoo artist Tyler etched 10 lucky fans with the iconic Von symbol—which he tattooed on Von’s chest live at her last event, LABOR where she released the single “MOMMY 2.0.”  “There’s something so intimate about permanence,” Von mentions “Sharing something so intimate with other people makes me feel really deeply connected It’s like such a deep form of mutual affection.” Von’s latest spectacle wasn’t just a party or a performance—it was a full-body full-sensory declaration of creative autonomy and of the line between artist and audience she’s not just releasing music; she’s releasing herself—layer by layer and more painful introspection—relentlessly synthesizing all of it together.” Whether through blood The desert heat was pulsing and the full moon cast a glow over Coachella’s first weekend—setting the scene for a wild ride where I got low and snapped the best dressed hotties. With the CARVINGBLOCK crew as my compass I kicked things off with a cute St~Germain cocktail crafted by the Michelin-starred team at Camphor I snacked my way through the grounds—stacked sandwiches from L’Antico Viniao and iconic slices from Prince Street Pizza fueling me up for the night ahead I made it to the Main Stage just in time for Missy’s takeover—VIP buzzing with familiar faces like Patrick Schwarzenegger But it was Lady Gaga who stole the show with a jaw-dropping Night two began with frog legs and duck confit under the stars at Outstanding in the Field where Chef Diego Argoti hosted a cool intimate dinner in the Rose Garden I turned the duck confit and made it a high fashion green wrap to go to Charli’s set—brat anthems echoing across the field as the sun dipped behind the mountains She delivered a set that blended her classics with deep cuts only day-one stans would know I try to avoid trends so I gotta admit I was never officially a brat until now My friends and I wandered through the night—bar-hopping between hidden speakeasies and vibing across stages—before closing it all out with horsegirl’s dreamy the Caracas-born icon stunned with a genre-bending set surprise cameos by Addison Rae and Tokischa the night felt seductive and surreal—like a desert fever dream we never wanted to end Caught in the middle of the California desert Once you made your way through the crowds and chaos raw energy bouncing off its chain-link walls Mad Maximus brought the grit of a street-style football showdown to the fields of Coachella, merging performance, culture, and community. Rising stars from across Los Angeles showed up, not just to compete but to represent a vibrant movement of young athletes, creatives, and supporters. A collaboration between Nike and Travis Scott the event felt like a love letter to the game where the rules are constantly being rewritten Set inside the immersive Cactus Jack pop-up the space subverted the idea of an activation Mad Maximus channeled the unpredictable electricity of street football and layered it with Travis’s signature touch: offbeat The weekend kicked off with the Open Crossbar Challenge a simple setup that quickly became a crowd favorite Winners walked away with not only bragging rights but Nike gear and an earned shot at the “Winner Stays” 1v1 tournament on Sunday each bringing their uniqueness to the pitch a Nike NIL athlete and rising star from Chicano FC proving what happens when style meets substance The culture and the Los Angeles community were see The audience waved Mexican flags in support while cheers and claps echoed through the cage Mad Maximus blurred the lines between music but to celebrate a thriving community that may not always get the recognition it deserves It was a reminder that empowering the next generation doesn’t come from placing them under a spotlight the energy could still be felt and sounds of cheers and thudding footwork were still at a high one thing was clear: The future of football doesn’t start in stadiums It starts in cages and on corners with young creatives playing games on their own terms Please confirm that you are at least 18 years old Piera Rodriguez landed multiple illegal headbutts at UFC Fight Night 241 that led to her disqualification but she still questions Ariane Carnelossi's inability to continue 2-2 UFC) landed the blows Saturday at the UFC Apex 2-2 UFC) was allotted five minutes to recover the physician informed referee Mark Smith the fight should be waved off Smith obliged and designated the fouls "intentional." Carnelossi was not present when cage announcer Bruce Buffer named her the winner She was escorted backstage and later transported to the hospital for evaluations of her nose Rodriguez looked disappointed in the cage and in the hours that followed vented frustration toward Carnelossi on social media "I rather lose a fight because of a mistake I did, than go home calling myself a 'winner' knowing I am a coward," Rodriguez wrote on Instagram maybe because of adrenaline… But you have to go to sleep with that lie in your head your entire life @ariane.sorrisoufc and you call yourself brave Carnelossi has yet to comment publicly on the matter The defeat dropped Carnelossi into a two-fight skid Carnelossi moved to 3-1 in her most recent four outings For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie's event hub for UFC Fight Night 241 Piera Rodriguez had a strong start to her UFC Vegas 92 fight with Ariane Carnelossi but she’ll go home with a disqualification loss due to a pair of intentional headbutts After blasting Carnelossi with strikes on the feet that sent her falling to the canvas Rodriguez followed up with some ground-and-pound before jumping into her opponent’s guard Rodriguez led with her head as she came crashing down into Carnelossi which earned her a warning from referee Mark Smith Rodriguez brought her head crashing down into Carnelossi again and Smith immediately paused the action to admonish her for the foul Carnelossi remained down on the canvas for several moments as medical personnel came into the octagon to check on her Replays clearly showed the headbutt from Rodriguez and Smith ultimately waved off the fight once Carnelossi was deemed unable to continue Carnelossi walked out the octagon before the final decision was even announced Doesn’t really seem like incidental contact. pic.twitter.com/9uwDk2LgeM Smith opted to disqualify Rodriguez for the intentional fouls with the official end time coming at 3:16 in the second round Carnelossi gets the win but her night certainly didn’t end the way she wanted “It was going well until she had a blatant foul,” UFC color commentator Paul Felder said of the result you can bump that chin and you probably get away with it The disqualification loss serves as Rodriguez’s second in a row overall after she fell to Gillian Robertson in April 2023. As for Carnelossi, the win puts her back on track following a loss to Loopy Godinez back in May 2022 Piera Rodriguez felt like something was off She was in pain from pushing through injuries from not resting her body enough and from facing expectations on her as an undefeated fighter she was in the UFC and picked up two victories in 2022 after winning on Dana White’s Contender Series It came to a head when she suffered her first professional loss to Gillian Robertson in April 2023 her mom looked at her and asked: “How the hell can you enjoy this if you’re in pain all the time?” That started a process of clicking things back into place for “La Fiera.” She took time off underwent surgeries and spent time healing her body and mind just days from her first fight in a year at UFC Fight Night: Allen vs Curtis 2 Order The Epic UFC 300 Event “I reset everything,” Rodriguez said in her interview with UFC.com I trained with the people that I trained with for the first time The 31-year-old Rodriguez truly believes she wasn’t “fully there” for her last two fights Although she picked up a win over Sam Hughes before losing to Robertson she believes she was there physically and consciously Saturday's Full Fight Card Preview While an undefeated record is always a nice thing to brandish, especially for a fighter making their way up the ranks, it also comes with a weight, one Rodriguez described as a “heavy bag.” That’s partly why she was able to shake off the loss so well. While it was the first time facing failure in a mixed martial arts contest, Rodriguez is quick to acknowledge that she has faced adversity before.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Piera "La Fiera" Rodríguez (@pieralafiera) but this is not my first loss in life,” she said and I think like every time I lose something or I have to go through a hard situation it just makes me get a better version of myself because I have to push myself to develop a new thing about me I think this loss just makes me better as a fighter I can enjoy my fights again.’ I can go crazy UFC 300: Every Champion On UFC 300 | Watch The UFC 300 Promo | The History Of Chinese Fighters in The UFC | BMF Title Lineage She’ll absolutely need to put her best foot forward as she faces UFC veteran Cynthia Calvillo Although Calvillo has lost her last five fights (the last two via split decision) she is still viewed as a tough challenge and has fought the best at strawweight and flyweight Calvillo was also someone who came into the UFC as an undefeated prospect and Rodriguez expects a gritty challenge from the 36-year-old.  Rodriguez feels like she has rounded out her own game nicely and can succeed wherever Calvillo choose to engage.  BMF TITLE: Justin Gaethje Loves The Unknowns Of Fighting | Max Holloway Just Wants To Build His Legacy | BMF Title Lineage Although Rodriguez isn’t one to force a finish all but one of her six wins on the regional circuit came before the final horn She is happy to have shown she can go a full three rounds at the highest level free of pain and free of the pressure to keep her record unblemished believes she can show a freer version of herself on April 6 one that hopefully earns her way to a Top 10 matchup should she get her hand raised on the weekend Rodriguez says she remembered how to turn on her “aggressive side.” Rodriguez’s advice to everyone about to handle this version of her now Go Through All The Heavyweight Title Winners In UFC History An Overview Of Every UFC Weight Class And How UFC Weigh-Ins Operate Dana White's Contender Series Returns As Prospective Fighters Fight For A UFC Contract In Front Of UFC President Dana by 25 March 2025 Piera Dennerstein is set to make her Newcastle debut with her award-winning solo cabaret Pursuing Pleasure at the Royal Exchange Salon Theatre in Newcastle Known for her stunning vocal versatility and compelling stage presence Piera brings a deeply personal and thought-provoking performance to audiences eager for a cabaret experience that blends humour A former opera singer who transitioned into cabaret she uses her voice to explore a spectrum of musical styles and healing after leaving the opera industry and overcoming personal trauma With direction from Olivia Charalambous and dramaturgy by Melbourne Fringe living legend Moira Finucane Pursuing Pleasure aims to break down barriers between high and low art and awe as she navigates themes of rejection and self-acceptance with a voice that has captivated crowds from rural China to Kalgoorlie Pursuing Pleasure will run from March 28 to 30, 2025 at the Royal Exchange Salon Theatre in Newcastle as part of the Newcastle Fringe Festival. Grab your tickets and find out more by heading to newcastlefringe.com.au Privacy Policy Our simplified product lineup offers bespoke and affordable advertising options designed to capture the attention of our hyper-local audience We create original and engaging media to tell your story sell your tickets and get people through the doors it’s on Newcastle Live – the Hunter’s source of entertainment and lifestyle news and information We’re devoted to all the great things happening in the region We’ll keep you up to date with what’s on in Newcastle and across the Hunter region Hawke’s Bay alpine skier Piera Hudson likes nothing better than racing down slopes “carving clean turns” as her hips graze the snow But the last few years have been full of twists and while recovering from potentially career-ending injuries At the age of 4 she picked up her first set of skis in Dunedin where her family would holiday and at 8 was scouted to compete overseas in back-to-back winters Her parents continue to help her and all the proceeds from their Coastal Cowhide business go towards her programme to compete on the World Cup circuit all of that was put in peril when she had the worst injury of her career in January 2023 suffering a full rupture of her anterior cruciate ligament while training in Europe for the world championships After surgery and six months in rehabilitation “I was just not making the progress that I was supposed to be at that point with my physios and we were not even going two steps forward.” An MRI scan in August 2023 revealed Hudson had 7cm of scar tissue in her knee that was preventing any extension All of a sudden she was starting rehabilitation all over again I’ve honestly had a pretty bad string of injuries in the last four years I’ve had broken legs but all of those things take about 12 weeks to heal.” and always had a goal to get back to being competitive on the World Cup circuit “There was never any doubt about quitting or retiring I did the injury and two days later I was getting the surgery and I was in an athlete rehab clinic in Austria.” Surrounded by other recovering athletes was “really nice to have” for motivation She returned to the snow in October 2023 and has slowly worked her way back to competing “Taking that time away from skiing was healthy for me because I really did learn to fall in love with it and for the first time in my life She said it was hard to watch her competitors improve while she had sat still but she was slowly getting her groove back and finding “race pace” “It is not about who looks pretty,” Hudson said of her snow discipline The skier competed at the recent Winter Games NZ alpine ski racing programme at Coronet Peak in Queenstown with the first of two FIS Australia New Zealand Cup (ANC) slalom races She won the overall ANC yellow bib competition and secured her spot on the World Cup Tour this year which ranked her in the top 100 for slalom races “There is so much muscle memory that it becomes automatic and my focus now is absolutely charging it in races because when I do that the result is good.” Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay newsrooms She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities The Slavin family have been counting down the days until the season opens UFC returned to UFC APEX with a thrilling clash of featherweight contenders that saw legendary KO artist and No. 12 ranked Edson Barboza take on undefeated Lerone Murphy It was an entertaining night of action inside the UFC APEX, and we’ve got the details on what went down collected for your consumption below. | Prelim Results | Main Card Results  Official Result: Melissa Gatto defeats Tamires Vidal by TKO (strikes) at 0:37 of Round 3 | Prelim Results | Main Card Results  Official Result: Oumar Sy defeats Tuco Tokkos by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:43 of Round 1 | Prelim Results | Main Card Results  Official Result: Tom Nolan defeats Victor Martinez by TKO (knee to the body) at 3:50 of Round 1 | Prelim Results | Main Card Results  Official Result: Angela Hill defeats Luana Pinheiro by submission (mounted guillotine) at 4:12 of Round 2 | Prelim Results | Main Card Results  Ariane Carnelossi is wearing the damage from her bizarre UFC Vegas 92 outing “Hey guys, we just got back from the hospital and we’re already at the hotel,” Carnelossi wrote in Portuguese on an Instagram story it was detected [I have] a fractured nose and an injury to the zygomatic bone plus the formation of a blood clot in the sinus region “Thank you EVERYONE who sent me positive messages what people need to understand is that what often differentiates humans from animals are the RULES.” Carnelossi did not specify if her injuries stemmed from the illegal blows Her manager told MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz that surgery will not be required prompting Smith to immediately halt the bout Ringside doctors deemed Carnelossi unable to continue and Carnelossi was awarded the disqualification victory Rodriguez then lit into Carnelossi in a social media post after the bout “I rather lose a fight because of a mistake I did than go home calling myself a ‘winner’ knowing I am a coward,” Rodriguez wrote maybe because of adrenaline…But you have to go to sleep with that lie in your head your entire life Rodriguez has now dropped two consecutive UFC bouts, while Carnelossi rebounds from a May 2022 loss to Loopy Godinez following a two-year layoff UFC Vegas 92 took place May 18 at UFC APEX in Las Vegas The Maine-reared media maven knows where she comes to play Like most any Maine millennial or Gen-Xer worth her salt note for note: “The great American family comes to play at Funtown Splashtown but when the 39-year-old cofounder and creative director of women’s media company Refinery29 was a kid in Cape Porpoise Maine’s largest — and most garish — amusement park seemed like a straight-up fantasy land there wasn’t always a lot to do,” Gelardi says “but my family went to Funtown once a year and let me bring one friend I have the best memories there.” Among other things she remembers the sensory overload: the park’s vivid colors The place helped inform her evolving aesthetic — today Gelardi is known in New York fashion and media circles for her kaleidoscopic tastes She honed her creativity studying art at New York University an award-winning photo director at NYC’s CITY magazine When she and three colleagues cofounded Refinery29 in 2005 it was a discovery platform for designers and fashion sorts — these days and just about any other topic that might interest millennial women But Gelardi credits Maine with sparking her imagination — then and now and transforming the environments around her into playgrounds she recharges at spots like Arrowsic’s Squirrel Point Light “but the nature in Maine is grounding for me.” Of course as she has also introduced a few New York pals to Funtown are as spellbinding as ever: “The music on Dragon’s Descent the wooden track of Excalibur — there’s nothing else like it.” Which language would you like to use this site in A high-profile woman journalist in the Dominican Republic has been targeted with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware in the first confirmed case in the country Amnesty International reveals in a new investigation published on World Press Freedom Day Analysis by Amnesty International’s Security Lab confirmed that a mobile device belonging to Nuria Piera was targeted and infected with Pegasus which enables full and unrestricted access to a device Piera is an investigative journalist who has focused on issues of corruption and impunity in the Dominican Republic throughout her decades-long career The latest discovery means there are now at least 18 countries where it has been confirmed with forensics that journalists were targeted with spyware though the actual scale of this abuse of surveillance technology is likely to be much higher The Dominican Republic is the third country in the Americas where Amnesty International has confirmed the use of Pegasus to target journalists and human rights defenders “The Dominican Republic is the latest country where spyware is being weaponized to silence and intimidate courageous journalists Having already uncovered multiple cases in Mexico and El Salvador we will continue to investigate any evidence that arises of the possible further use of Pegasus in the Dominican Republic We call on states to urgently adopt a global moratorium on spyware,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas Americas director at Amnesty International Amnesty International’s investigation found evidence of Nuria Piera’s device first being compromised with Pegasus on or around 20 July 2020 Similar signs were also discovered on or around 8 September 2021 and 1 October 2021 Amnesty International also shared forensic data with The Citizen Lab for peer-review who confirmed the conclusions using their independent methodology Nuria Piera told Amnesty International she was working on sensitive, high-profile investigations around the time her device was infected with Pegasus. She was looking into reports of corruption related to high-ranking government officials and relatives of the nation’s former president; months later, criminal judicial proceedings were brought against them for alleged bribery and other criminal charges Piera first received confirmation that she had been targeted by Pegasus when notified by Amnesty International’s Security Lab. In November 2021, she received the Apple notification that was sent to users whose devices were reportedly attacked by exploits used by Pegasus and Quadream’s spyware Piera stated that she had never received a judicial order or any other formal notifications from the Dominican authorities that she was under surveillance These invasive tactics can be particularly harmful to women journalists including accusations of having violated traditional social “You have to work hard to not become neurotic because you’re always suspicious that someone may have information about you Sometimes you don’t even know how they want to hurt you which is even more serious” Nuria Piera said Amnesty International urges the authorities to promptly conduct an independent and transparent investigation into the unlawful targeted surveillance of journalists in the country including the targeted attack with Pegasus on Nuria Piera “In a country where journalists and human rights defenders have long alleged that surveillance is prevalent finding Pegasus should be taken as a concerning threat Since surveillance poses enormous risks to the physical safety and mental well-being of journalists the Dominican authorities must immediately investigate this case and provide effective safeguards to protect journalists and prevent this from happening again,” said Elina Castillo Jiménez Digital Surveillance Researcher at Amnesty International Amnesty International spoke to dozens of journalists and human rights defenders in the Dominican Republic nearly all of whom suspected they had been targeted for surveillance because of their work Most suspected that intelligence officers were targeting them using traditional forms of surveillance The lack of transparency around the use of surveillance and spyware makes it difficult for victims to obtain information or to seek accountability there are no clear avenues for adequate remedies in the event of unlawful targeted surveillance a constitutional avenue for data and privacy protection available in the country and the criminal remedy available under Law 53-07 on Crimes of High Technology (Ley 53-07 sobre Crímenes y Delitos de Alta Tecnología) can only be used when you know who is surveilling you which is not always possible without being granted access to information or without the necessary technical skills It is often virtually impossible for targets to even prove the existence of surveillance either because of technical hurdles or the covert nature of its use These factors limit access to remedy and further expand the chilling effect of surveillance In a country where journalists and human rights defenders have long alleged that surveillance is prevalent journalists known for investigating corruption may also risk becoming the target of smear campaigns another prominent woman journalist who uncovered irregularities during the tenure of the former attorney general told Amnesty International that she was regularly the target of waves of what appeared to be orchestrated attacks on social media because of her work “Something of this nature deeply harms the rule of law and harms the professional practice [of journalism] No journalist should be subjected to acts of this nature which basically seek to undermine their word to undermine the possibility of people finding out what is going on what they are trying to do is to put an obstacle between you and the communication you have with people,” said Edith Febles Amnesty International asked the Dominican authorities for information or comment on the use of Pegasus the office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Interior and Police responded that neither institution had bought or used Pegasus during the tenure of the current officeholders and stated their willingness to investigate Other authorities did not respond to the request Amnesty International also asked NSO Group for comment As the country begins a legal reform of the National Intelligence System Amnesty International urges the Dominican Republic to embrace this as an opportunity to implement a rights-respecting regulatory framework Unlawful targeted surveillance violates the right to privacy and can lead to violations of numerous other human rights including the rights to freedom of expression Inter-American and international law and standards require that any state interference of the right to privacy should be lawful Targeting journalists or other human rights defenders because of their work is never in accordance with international human rights law Using spyware to target journalists and human rights defenders — in the absence of adequate transparency and other safeguards — also instils fear and has a chilling effect on their ability to work without undue interference Unlawful targeted surveillance can also have significant effects on mental health It can lead those who suspect they are under surveillance to distrust and limit their interactions with others and even change their families’ schools or housing for fear of attacks against their loved ones in retaliation for their work or activism As surveillance of one person can also expose the personal information of people in their network it can also lead to concerns over the well-being of their colleagues unlawful surveillance can also have an impact on the right to health of those targeted and those around them In 2022, Amnesty International’s Security Lab began to independently analyse technical data from a sample of individuals identified as potential Pegasus targets in the Dominican Republic, including journalists and human rights defenders, as part of a broader, ongoing investigation into unlawful surveillance NSO Group claims to only sell its products to government agencies stating on its website: “NSO products are used exclusively by government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to fight crime and terror” This claim is clearly contradicted by these new revelations regarding the use of Pegasus to yet again target a journalist Together we can fight for human rights everywhere Your donation can transform the lives of millions If you are talented and passionate about human rights then Amnesty International wants to hear from you Piera Rodriguez looks at herself at two different people One inside the Octagon and one outside the Octagon Order UFC 273: Volkanovski vs Korean Zombie | How To Watch In Your Country so when I was younger it was hard to deal with and hard to control but when I found martial arts and the discipline that helped me to control all these of emotions calm person outside of the ring or the Octagon,” Rodriguez told UFC.com ahead of her bout at UFC 273 The 29-year-old strawweight is set to make her Octagon debut at UFC 273 on Saturday night after an impressive showing on Dana White’s Contender Series last fall Rodriguez has complied at perfect 7-0 record with all but two of those victories coming by knockout The former LFA strawweight champion is taking in all the moments leading up to her walk on Saturday night but I have an inner peace because I feel like I’m in the right place at the right moment,” Rodriguez said “I’m enjoying this process a lot and you’re going to see it.” who is getting to make her debut on a pay-per-view card in front of a full crowd in Jacksonville having a performance in front of such a big crowd in such a big event with such big fighters like this card?” Rodriguez said Life is finally giving me back all that I’ve been working for Her opponent on Saturday night is 22-year-old Kay Hansen who is the second youngest woman on the UFC roster Hansen made her flyweight debut last time around against Jasmine Jasudavicius where she fell on the wrong side of the judges’ scorecards It was her first fight since 2020 after taking 2021 off to deal with some personal health issues Piera Rodriguez reacts after her victory over Valesca Machado in a strawweight fight during Dana White's Contender Series season five Rodriguez noted that Hansen is a dangerous opponent because she waits for her opponents to make mistakes and that’s how she capitalizes Her strategic ability is something that “La Fiera” must look out for during the fight “I’m going to be very alert to not make any mistakes,” Rodriguez said “I’m going to have my eyes open and don’t go into her game take me down and grapple with me and I’m going to try and avoid that I’m a striker but I’m a mixed martial artist so maybe in this fight you can see a little bit more of me I don’t want to waste energy trying to show off.” Heading To Singapore? Get Your Tickets For UFC 275: Teixeira vs Prochazka And when asked what fans can expect to see during the fight very hard and you’re going to see her desperate trying to hold me and grapple me; that’s what you’re going to see in the fight,” Rodriguez said Piera Rodriguez reacts after being awarded a UFC contract during Dana White's Contender Series season five She’ll be strictly business as she makes her walk to the Octagon on Saturday night “I think my head is going to be completely empty because that’s what I do before walking into the Octagon,” Rodriguez said I’m going to empty my mind before walking in and you’re going to see my focused face.” Fight By Fight Preview | UFC 273: Volkanovski vs The Korean Zombie There’s nothing quite like a UFC debut for a fighter Rodriguez isn’t going to let the opportunity slip past her but this is not just a fight,” Rodriguez said This Saturday is very important to me because it’s showing ‘La Fiera’ is here and she deserves to be here.” If you're trapped on an island and had to choose a handful of fights you couldn't live without Updates to UFC Fight Night: Luque vs Muhammad 2 Piera Gelardi is the co-founder and Creative Director at Refinery29 which describes itself as “a global media and entertainment company focused on celebrating women and claim their power.” Here she discusses what it means to be a Creative Director what she learned from previous creative failures and the hard work involved with making other people understand your particular vision Creative director Piera Gelardi discusses her role at Refinery29 and always prioritizing your own creativity The title of Creative Director can mean a lot of different things depending on where you work What does it mean in relation to your job at Refinery29 There are so many different types of Creative Directors it means really looking over the vision of our brand and how it comes to life across everything that we do plus finding ways to create a forcefield around the brand that allows people to understand who we are and how we express ourselves and to be able to execute amazing work that is consistent you want to have the flexibility to allow the talented people that we’ve hired to express their own voices within our larger voice I sort of think of myself as a fairy godmother of our brand or somewhere between a quarterback and a cheerleader and inspire people to create within our brand I also oversee how our brand is growing and expanding and evolving into different places as a business There’s a lot of content on Refinery29 that spans a wide variety of subject matter how do you make decisions about what to cover Things that either feel right or just don’t for some reason We have our brand guidelines and a philosophy around our mission which is to be a catalyst for women to feel empowered and we have to always try and define for people what those words mean and how they come to life in the work that we do Those values ideally serve as a decision-making filter for everyone here the main thing is that it hits on at least one of those four values to our audience so we try to create content that is a resource that doesn’t dictate how someone should live their life but instead gives them information and resources to make their own decisions We’re also trying to create a space that’s free of judgment we look at the topics that our audience cares about and we figure out how we can write about those things How do we write about things in a way that ties back to our brand and what we stand for without being judgmental about the topics that people care about and want to read about There’s so much judgment around taste and around change and around things that are considered “millennial” in nature we’re not judging those things; we’re trying to take those interests into account and find relevant ways to bring them to life within our site Previous to working on Refinery29 you were involved in starting a magazine that didn’t work out You’ve spoken in the past about how that failure was ultimately very illuminating and how did that experience carry into what you did next I come from an entrepreneurial family and am definitely very entrepreneurial myself I like the challenge of that and I get bored doing the same thing over and over again It wasn’t necessarily doing the same thing over and over again per se but after a few years the cycle of the magazine and the actions that you’re constantly doing started to feel routine Even though the shoots are different and the content is different for every issue the structure is the same and the challenges are kind of always the same and a couple friends and I wanted to start a magazine of our own that was basically a merger of arts and creativity and entrepreneurialism Something about creative people that were launching their own weird We were really excited about the idea and it was a fun but ultimately it didn’t work out because we all had basically the exact same skill set Because of working at that small magazine I learned how to write I knew about design and even a little bit about the advertising side of things our skill sets all fell heavily on the visual side of things We met every Sunday for the whole day for about a year and a half and built out all the content high-production magazine that would include things like flexi-discs and die-cut things as part of it But at the end of the day we didn’t have the business knowledge or the access to money to get it printed We didn’t have circulation or distribution the things that you need to really bring an advertiser in we had put together this 250-page thing and tons of amazing people had participated in it Ultimately I do think it was a helpful learning experience for me because I realized that it’s much better to start small Just start by putting something out there and working through it versus working for a year and a half to make something that you think is perfect but that’s so top-heavy that you can’t actually birth it into the world I tend to lean towards perfectionism and I have a high standard of excellence for myself and others so a deadline helped me to learn when that’s useful and when that’s not useful I had to learn how to scale things back so that you can actually put things out into the world and learn from them and then make them better you’re probably never going to put out something that’s just totally shitty Even if I’m putting something out that I feel like is at 60% that’s probably someone else’s 125% or something The other thing I learned from that experience was that I do need partners and I need for them to have different skill sets and areas of responsibility apart from me we really laid out the roles and responsibilities much differently so that it was more balanced with who was going to handle what I wanted to be able to play to my strengths I still wore every possible hat when we were launching Refinery but I also had these talented partners around me to fill in any gaps When things really took off with Refinery29 how hard was it making sure you had the right people around you and knowing when you could let certain things go so you could focus on the big picture It’s funny because we often say that it took us eight years to be an overnight success I think in other people’s minds the trajectory appeared much faster but at least the first six years were so DIY and the growth was pretty slow that was definitely a hard thing for me—going from actually making the content myself to having other people also do it In the beginning I was often doing the whole thing—sometimes I would be photographing a story To go from being so hands-on in controlling all those aspects to giving over that control to other people felt very weird I think it’s just a skill that you have to develop but it was more an issue of having to understand how to export my brain Not that people have to think exactly like me but they need to know that filter that I’m putting something through so that they can operate with the same knowledge and framework that I have while also bringing their own expertise to the table It was basically about creating systems that I could give to others regarding how I did things There was a point in time when I myself was still approving every single story or image that would show up on the home page People would practically have to push something by without me seeing it because I was so busy I realized that I was creating a bottleneck so I sat down and I looked back at hundreds of these emails and I identified the themes—what was making me say “yes” to a piece Eventually I was able to very simply put those into six decision-making filters and then I said Here are the six questions I want you to ask yourself before you set something live.” I told everyone that if I see something that I think is really off It’s not to make you stop what you’re doing and scramble and fix it it’s just for your reference moving forward or to start a dialogue so I can also understand how you were thinking I remember that moment vividly because it was an early challenge of scaling and of realizing it was me who was creating a bottleneck I had to figure out how to let someone be autonomous while still feeling secure in that they understood what it was I was looking for I think a lot of my work as Creative Director is about setting those expectations and making it as clear as possible for people as to what it is you’re looking for That’s been my approach ever since—to try and just take the time to understand my own mind and then be able to give that to someone else We also have a monthly creative meeting that I work on and remind people of the purpose behind what we’re doing We can also bubble up feedback from the audience and from different people that reinforce the impact that we can make I think it’s become a bit more of a teaching and influencing-people thing versus directly managing or approving I approve almost nothing on the site at this point which is something I feel really good about When your creative project becomes a big business how do you stay connected to creative part of yourself when you’re also sitting in tons of meetings and dealing with money and numbers I think I was more creative—at least in the way I expected I would be creative—at the magazine job that I left to start Refinery I was suddenly creative in a different way I was someone that knew how to take an idea and make it into a reality kind of figuring out how to build and grow something and how to take these different impacts and inputs and turn them into something real Early on I got excited about the analytics I would go into Google Analytics and see what was performing and moderate audience feedback and send traffic reports I enjoyed immediately seeing what was working and learning from that that part didn’t feel like something that could suck the life out of creativity it was an input that I could use to justify the next thing that we wanted to make or the next thing that we wanted to try over time I’ve been able to circle back around to a lot of the things I used to love so much I’m fascinated with expressing creativity very vibrantly and colorfully in a very multi-faceted dimension mostly because of where the web world was at that time I feel like I’ve watched the medium grow up At times it’s been challenging for me to get used to the world of an executive of sitting through business strategy meetings and figuring out some of the big hairy business challenges that come from growing and running a business the size of ours But in terms of staying connected to the creative I put myself in a position where we were building something new and I am there to help build it so that allows me to tap into what I love the most which is unknown territory—the blank page of what can we can do Probably my favorite project that I worked on at Refinery is when we created 29Rooms We knew we wanted to do something for our 10-year anniversary and it was really fun to gather everyone together to just hang out and brainstorm and present ideas I also love just tapping into all the creative minds here and creating a structure where people’s ideas can flourish so getting people together and hearing their ideas and being able to pick out those diamonds in the rough that we can then polish into something beautiful is… well I always want to make sure that I still am involved in exciting new projects where I can create new prototypes and show people what’s possible and I was filled with so much fear and doubt because we’d never done something like that before Internally people were calling it my project because they didn’t really get it That sounds great in theory—to have it be your project—but at the time it was terrifying when you expand in a new way and show people a new sense of possibility it reverberates and creates so much excitement You’re reminded that there are these creative opportunities all around us Staying connected to the creative people here is also really important to me I prioritize my own creative inspiration as often as possible I think one of the most invigorating thing you can do as a creative person is to take a class This year I’m taking a storytelling class and a pottery class It’s invigorating to always continue to learn and think especially when it’s something that is not directly related to your own work We have an education stipend here and it’s always cool to see what people do with it and how it launches these new passion projects for them doing these kinds of classes just makes me love humanity In this storytelling class I’m taking there are people of all different ages and backgrounds all with their own different reasons for taking the class Each week people get up and are just so incredibly vulnerable sharing these little windows into their lives You’re seeing these different people’s creative process happen in real time These kinds of experiences are great because they often let you connect with people who might not always connect with When I worked at the magazine we would often do these brainstorms and it would be very free-flowing just picking up a magazine or a book and seeing what words pop out to me or opening the thesaurus—that really gets my brain going but I also find that just looking at Pinterest will often jog something in my brain My whole office is filled with photos and little scraps of paper with words on them I like to be visually surrounded by a lot of input that I can pull from Here's a space to search our entire website Try typing something like "creative blocks" "green" or "blue" and our snail will find what you're looking for I just remember Bruce Buffer saying my name for the first time Piera Rodriguez is reflecting on her UFC debut last April The victory over Kay Hansen at UFC 273 was predictably sweet for her but the reality that she could make her own dreams come true is what sticks with her Don't Miss Any UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs Araujo On ESPN+! “This was always a dream…but it’s kind of a fantasy when you start you start getting a little bit closer and maybe it can happen You reach your biggest goal in your life…it’s amazing.” Piera Rodriguez of Venezuela punches Kay Hansen in their strawweight fight during the UFC 273 event at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on April 09 No UFC athlete has had an easy journey to the Octagon Rodriguez scraped by on meager earnings to manifest a career as a mixed martial artist “I started training like seven or almost eight years ago When I stepped in the cage for the first time MORE UFC FIGHT: Fighters On The Rise | Fight By Fight Preview Never mind that she had already achieved a degree in psychology She knew in that moment what her true calling was “I'm going to really try to do my best in this thing,” she recalls telling herself Her career after that change is a testament to what can be accomplished when you realize what you’re put here to do the Venezuelan claimed the LFA strawweight title before getting the call for Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021 Employing a style she self-describes as “violent aggressive and unstoppable,” she secured her spot in the UFC last October Yet as she sits in the UFC APEX for our interviews she’s all smiles as the memories of that night wash over her Too many emotions in my in my heart on that day.” Piera Rodriguez of Venezuela poses on the scale during the UFC 273 ceremonial weigh-in at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on April 08 She’ll climb back into the APEX Octagon Saturday with the intent of creating more epic memories when she meets Sam Hughes on the prelims of UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs Araújo “I didn't know much about Sam Hughes before this fight but I knew she fought with my friend Vanessa [Demopoulos of course I started looking at her and seeing where she's breakable.” Order UFC 280: Oliveira vs Makhachev Today! “La Fiera” has a knack for finding where her opponents are breakable All of her finishes have come as a result of her clinical striking but she boasts a blue belt in BJJ if the action goes to the mat Already overwhelming to all her opponents to date she picked up a few things in her travels from a UFC star who specializes in being overwhelming: Khamzat Chimaev “I went to Stockholm and I slept in the one room that was his room when he was living there…a little room inside the gym.” but the experience turned out to be invaluable She studied his arc and can see a blueprint for her own path MORE PIERA: Athlete Profile | Piera Reacts To Winning Her UFC Debut “I get so inspired by him because I see where he lived every day of his life a few years ago I was also able to see how he trains every day I want to get to the point of my career where I can look back and see all of my process It just makes me want to push myself a little bit more.” We have the address for the funeral home & the family on file If you're not happy with your card we'll send a replacement or refund your money 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Made with love by funeralOne Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker and the growing pains of running a 14-year-old company If you buy something from an Eater link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics policy the co-founder and executive creative director of media company Refinery29 learned early on that vulnerability and adaptability weren’t just crucial for her career but also for the growth of her company She and her three co-founders and friends had to adapt to an ever-changing media marketplace and also their roles within a company that grew from nothing to a major player with hundreds of employees This week on Eater’s business podcast, Start to Sale Coolhaus) talk to Gelardi about impostor syndrome and being your own cheerleader how her company is trying to change who has access to opportunities and the emotional rollercoaster of running an ever-adapting company (and getting pushed out of a key role) On battling impostor syndrome: “As women we often we feel the need to credential ourself to this unrealistic level Like you kind of think about often women will feel like they need in order to apply for a job they need to hit every single requirement in the job description .. on recognizing my own experience as valuable and realizing that I have a lot of credentials that I don’t give myself credit for .. It was a lesson that there’s a difference between being humble and being self deprecating And it’s really our own jobs to build ourselves up and to give ourselves that credit On trying to create real change: “What we’re trying to change is we’re trying to change the way that media and advertising represents women and as a result change the way that women feel about themselves and help women to claim their power What we hear from our audience is that seeing our content gives them inspiration and fuel and information to really excel in different areas in their lives.” On adapting to new roles as the company grew: “Over time I started to be able to focus more on my strengths but also had to learn a lot of new skills like leadership how to rally people around the goals and the projects that we were doing as a company Then as we grew in the last couple of years and there was a moment where basically we were looking at the organization and several people on our executive team said I don’t think it makes sense for you to manage the creative teams because creative and content are so interlinked so we think that our chief content officer should manage all of the teams.” It took me about two years to get through the grief of that decision.. you want to hold onto something that seems powerful in some way That you’re personally responsible for managing a lot of people I think the other thing was having a shift in my own mindset of basically managing people versus influencing people It took me about two years to work through it and get through to the other side.” On the evolution of her partnership with her co-founders: “We definitely have a very tight bond our company has gone through ups and downs our relationship has gone through ups and downs I think that for us it’s been about sparring without parting Being comfortable with challenging each other being comfortable with calling each other out when we need to but having the love and empathy to stick together and to .. I think we all know when one of our partners is calling us out that it is done for the benefit of all of us and it is not done with any kind of malice.” Erin Patinkin: One of the things that we wanted to talk about today was that progression from not being confident in who you are and what you’re doing to being confident in who you are and what you’re doing And a while back on Instagram you talked about an interview you had regretted when you offhandedly had put yourself down and the result was titled Six Lessons from a Creative Director with Zero Work Experience despite the fact that you actually had a whole lot of valuable work experience and how it affected you and how you thought about yourself and how you presented yourself to the media so I think at the time of the interview I was going through a particularly acute bout of imposter syndrome “I have no experience to be doing what I’m doing.” And it resulted in a headline that said I had no experience people ask me about my lack of work experience which drives me bananas because I have a ton of work experience it’s not the subsequent journalist that asked me that question It’s my own damn fault because I said I had no work experience And I think that comes from imposter syndrome And I think it’s particularly gendered and acute for women PG: And I think that as women we often we feel the need to credential ourself to this unrealistic level they need to hit every single requirement in the job description whereas .. but whereas I think men are more comfortable saying Natasha Case: I will learn that when I get there And so I think that was a big lesson for me and realizing that I have a lot of credentials that I don’t give myself credit for Because it was only when I saw it in print that I discredited .. That’s not true.” It’s not true that I have zero work experience Not only have I been building this company- Not only have I been building this huge company from nothing to where it is today which now is 14 years of on the job experience I also had years of experience before that in media and creative I think it was a lesson that there’s a difference between being humble and being self deprecating I think I’m someone that’s very transparent And I value vulnerability in the work that I do so I don’t think it’s that we shouldn’t talk about our imposter syndrome like we’re doing right now I think it’s important to talk about imposter syndrome It’s just you have to think about the context that you’re talking about it and making sure that you’re talking about it and recognizing that it is what it is That it’s something that you need to conquer I had internalized it and made it my truth so I think that was definitely a big lesson for me NC: I’ve heard you say it’s almost like you should talk about yourself the way .. another advocate would be talking about you and talking you up That sometimes has to be you being your own cheerleader in that way “How dare you talk about my daughter that way.” My mom also often has a hard time taking compliments and we both helped each other to get to a better place Like I taught my mom a few years ago how to accept a compliment PG: And then she has to teach me the lesson that I taught her EP: What I found that I was doing for years is someone would ask me about the company that I was building It’s been really hard.” And always sort of showing what I had done and built followed by And I have a wonderful mentor and he one day was like “Why do you constantly talk about what you do and follow it with something negative It’s such a strange habit.” And I don’t think I ever really realized that but there is a difference between sort of not taking yourself too seriously and not taking yourself seriously And that’s something that I had to learn too and it was very hard for me to accept that anything I did was good And it was a very pivotal moment for someone who I really respected to point it out to me And then I became ultra self aware for a while especially when you’re trying to present yourself to media or investors or clients I had just a very similar moment where I was like I need to stop doing this to myself NC: And I do think you hit on an interesting point about there is definitely some gendered stuff going on with imposter syndrome I think sometimes what women consider bragging is just how men talk NC: So getting into specifically about women and because that’s so much of your team and your community how does the experience you’ve had with that how has that affected how you interact with them Do you really find that to be also an issue within the culture and you try to break them from putting themselves down or not speaking up enough or anything like that I think the things that you learn for yourself then you’re able to see those things in other people and be able to point them out and help people through them There’s a great chapter in the “Feminist Fight Club” book called WWJD And it’s about conducting yourself like a mediocre white man It’s a really helpful chapter to read whether you’re a man or a woman It’s very instructive as to the ways that we conduct ourselves and a lot of the habits that we have I learned so much from the people that work for me and I see so many different types of leadership styles with the people in the company And it’s helpful because you see certain things that are incredible that you aspire to emulate and you see things that you want to help people work through When I see other people that have imposter syndrome or self doubt I’m actually really good at helping people through that as someone that continuously goes through that myself I feel like the things that we struggle with end up being the things that we’re most useful helping other people through EP: How many people do you have on staff now That was just a random question I was curious about PG: It’s just hard to expand your mind to take in sometimes what you’ve achieved And I also feel like sometimes that’s why we try and counterbalance it is because we’re actually afraid of our own greatness PG: Sometimes when you get to another level it’s just hard to even process that you’re there Is there a way that you feel like you can bring everything that you’ve learned to every single person that walks in through the door at Refinery 29 and people connect to people because we see ourselves reflected back How do you bring that not just to the media I think I try and do it by being emotionally honest it’s such a big difference between sometimes I think if only I could go back to when we had 20 employees EP: We want to talk about that actually PG: But with that many employees it is sort of thinking about what are the systems that I can put in place and the touchpoints that I can put in place to impact people So some of those are I have a monthly creative meeting where I gather .. but it’s largely the people that are working on different creative teams I usually open with what I call my soliloquy But I open sort of giving some perspective as to what I’ve been out in the world seeing and how that relates to the work that we’re doing I try and help people to see the meaning of the work that they’re doing So maybe I’ll tell them a story about someone who loves Refinery coming up to me on the subway and gushing to me about how meaningful the work that we do is to her Or recently I told them about going to a paid family leave think tank and having this big conversation about the fact that media and culture actually drive policy change And so sort of helping them to see where we sit in actually changing culture and changing policy and changing people’s lives So I try and help people to tap into the meaning of what they’re doing you’re not able to zoom above yourself and see what you’re a part of So that’s something that I really try and do with the team and I find that people get super burnt out because we have summer Fridays so they’re doing that and they’re taking their summer Friday So I also try and use that time to speak honestly about that So you might all be feeling end of your rope And I want you guys to find a self care buddy because when we’re at the end of our rope is often when we forget or we make excuses why we can’t take care of ourselves And you have to find that balance.” So I just try and encourage them to do stuff like that People feel like they probably have to hide at most companies what you’re saying already I feel like kind of dis-empowers it to take over I think that would be an amazing lesson for anyone listening and allowing them to acknowledge in themselves that something is hard I think mostly when I think of transparency in business my mind goes to being open with the numbers and the metrics and the goals But you’re talking about something so different which is really just using your words and the fact that you’ve been doing this for this long transparency about something in the financials or something I have found that my staff feels the best when we don’t hide the hard times And there are always hard times when you’re building a business especially in the beginning when there were moments when we were like We don’t know.” But instead of hiding that from people can we bind ourselves together and go crazy and knock sales out of the park and reduce costs and all of those things that affect food businesses the hardest moments oftentimes feel like the best moments in the history of the company because we That really brought people together in a good way even though they were hard moments in the end and the staff that were working with us still say but it was also the best,” because we all felt like we were working towards a goal together and we were being honest that we might fail You just mentioned that you try to get people you try to remind them that what you do changes lives What kind of lives do you want to change and how what we’re trying to change is we’re trying to change the way that media and advertising represents women and as a result gives them inspiration and fuel and information to really excel in different areas in their lives That’s the main thing we’re trying to change We’re also really trying to change who has access to opportunities We have a women’s film initiative because we want to get more women behind the lens EP: That’s the Shatterbox Initiative We’ve done a lot of different projects to visually change the representation of women from actually creating our own stock archive stock photography was really not doing women any favors with how we were being represented the stereotype is white women laughing into salad bowls PG: Not only was it these cliché type of images but we also just saw such a lack of representation and even things like when we were looking at what images of plus sized women looked like In the majority of the images of plus size women they were measuring their waist or standing on a scale PG: Their weight was the subject of the image versus their weight being an aspect of the image but where they were the protagonist doing other things That was a project we took on actually very early on and then we started going out with model casting cards to just make sure that we could really represent women of all types Then we started our stock archive collection and then we actually extended that with a partnership with Getty so that we could not only change the way women were seen on our site but that other brands- NC: And the largest stock photo company in the world PG: We started a “No Apologies” collection with Getty because we don’t think women should have to apologize for who they are or what they look like When you’re able to create content that successfully resonates with your audience and potentially shift culture really connecting with the audience in the way that we did built up the audience and that helped us to get the interest of advertisers that wanted to connect with the millennial women audience We also proactively went out to a lot of brands and said You can’t win without women.” That was our tagline PG: Then we’ve worked a tons of huge brands helping them to do a better job of speaking to and representing women That’s been how we’ve built our business basically is really doing the work ourselves to understand and speak to our audience in a way that they want to be spoken to going to a different direction for a minute There’s definitely been some pivots with Refinery in the past that involves switching strategies but I also imagine a pretty good change for you If you can just talk about what different roles have been and how you’ve gotten comfortable with them I think it’s interesting even what you mentioned earlier which is just having that nostalgia of maybe for oh was there a time that felt simpler and that felt great and you look back on it or are you always looking ahead to what it’s going to mean and what the next will be PG: It’s interesting ‘cause I feel like in the business world the word pivot can be used as a dirty word I think what I always find paradoxical about that is that the world is always changing it’s pretty likely that you’re not going to be future proof PG: We’ve had a lot of different shifts in our strategy and responsive shifts to what’s happening in the world continued to shift the way that we do business we started and I wore every hat imaginable “No job is too low,” as we were lugging out the trash or Philippe and Justin were trying to install an air conditioning unit that they got off of Craigslist EP: How did you do that with no work experience I just figured out how to do all of these different things so that we could what we wanted to do which is something that there really wasn’t a roadmap for at the time There was really nothing out there that was really doing what we were doing and we were figuring it out as we went along I love jumping around and doing different things that’s the greatest joy is building something and that thrill and adrenaline of doing it you are a real entrepreneur,” and you’ve been able to keep that entrepreneurial spirit that you have within you alive over 14 years because of those pivots and because you guys are such a nimble company I’ve just been doing this same thing every day for many many years.” It’s really interesting to me that you’ve been actually able to harness the love of change into the company that you’ve been building it’s really lightning in a bottle because there’s so much energy there you’re truly creating something out of nothing It’s so important to hold onto that energy You’ve talked a lot about that blank canvas and so maybe also the change brings that blank canvas for you and then you feel like you can recreate what the vision of the brand is I love when there’s a problem for me to solve or there’s some clear parameters to create within and I’ve taken on basically the new territories that oftentimes I’m taking on a new territory for us to grow into It definitely was that thrill of building again We didn’t know if we were going to be successful There was a lot of doubt within the company and it was definitely a hard sell to sponsors as well because there wasn’t really a comparative type event out there so you were wearing a lot of hats in the beginning and then there’s this huge evolution with the brand Can you talk about where you are now with your role and are you always in control of what your role is ‘Cause this is something that happens with so many friends in business now is sometimes their role changes because they decide but sometimes there’s other people deciding it’s definitely been an emotional rollercoaster building a company and my role has shifted so much other time There’s been points where I felt really great about that and points where I didn’t feel as great about it focused more into what are truly my strengths That was a comfortable transition for me because as much as I loved wearing all the different hats Google Analytics isn’t necessarily the place where I’m best suited so we think that our chief content officer should manage all of the teams.” It took me about two years to get through the grief of that decision It was one of the hardest times in our company because I think it wasn’t in my control really other people felt that that was the right choice I think what was hard about it was when I look back It took me about two years to work through it and get through to the other side I actually feel that it’s been something that’s been really great for me I’ve settled into and I’ve started to understand more and have built certain systems around in order to be able to have that influence because I still am responsible for the creative output I still have a huge stake in our brand and where we’re going with our brand and making sure people are on board with that and understand it and can execute it but I’m not personally responsible for managing each and every one of those people I had been working at that point for 10 years to learn how to manage creative people You now have to inspire and influence creative people.” I often call myself the fairy godmother because I create the force field NC: I think when you’re a founder Even I’ll have like the tiniest question my team will ask me “I just literally cannot make another decision today.” that is taken away from you even if it was exhausting I think it’s a huge mental block to get around the converse of decision fatigue is letting go If you have your hand in every single decision of the organization from what type of La Croix flavor you’re going to serve in the office to which investors you should be talking to the opposite of that is not having control over all of those things It definitely takes a change in mindset to get there NC: I’ll always control the La Croix though but I have a very clear vision of our brand It’s been a long process because even when I managed people there were many things that I had to let go I actually remember this particular moment where not only myself so every image that was on the home page for every story PG: People would have to get us to approve them via email We were just trying to do quality control .. pulled me aside and they were very timid in telling me “I think it’s time that you and Christine talk about this and maybe there’s some streamlining that we can do here.” It was a very important moment for me because I thought how do I get myself comfortable with letting go of this small thing and how do I get Christine comfortable with it as well?” I looked back at all the emails that we had on these chains of opener approvals I saw the major themes that were coming through in our feedback It was like the image should have a clear focal point It should be easy to parse whether it’s small or full size The images that you choose should have diverse representation in them ‘cause when I looked back there was five themes that came up again and again and again That small thing really shifted the way that I thought about how to manage people but also how to let go Now even with things like our brand values everyone has to operate using our brand values and understanding our brand values no matter what role they’re in whether they’re ordering snacks for the kitchen or setting up a big partnership Another thing that we’ve started doing is doing these brand huddles We essentially set up these work sessions with people where they come and each one We’ll have a special speaker from internally who will speak about one of the four I’s and we’ll have our creative director from events speak about imagination and his creative tips for getting unstuck make sure that every single person gets to talk about how they exercise imagination in their day to day Then we’ll have some kind of real life challenge that they solve together thinking about how they could infuse imagination into their work it’s a nice respite for people to have an hour to talk about inclusivity and talk about what that means to them personally and hear other people’s experiences as well I think about also the example of a college campus of how do you facilitate and workshop these important conversations in a way that feels safe that feels like you’re giving everyone a chance to participate internally understand what you’re talking about as my role has shifted and I’m thinking more about these bigger ways of influencing people it’s totally changed the way that I operate EP: I’m sure all of your roles have changed significantly over time all of our roles have had to change I think The good thing is that we always had fairly defined areas of expertise and fairly defined territories that we fit into I feel like that’s part of what has allowed us to- Philip tends to be more focused on the content and tech side Justin has been more focused on the advertising side of the house so she really oversees our editorial voice and then I’m executive creative director so I oversee the brand Christine is definitely my partner in the brand as well the photography as well as the new places that our brand is showing up NC: It shows how much listening you’re all able to do also where in theory there’s no tie-breaker and then there’s four of you you really have to be willing to come to .. I don’t want to say compromise is like a negative thing but you have to be able to all get on the same page for something to move forward EP: Because you’ve been together for so long and you’ve stayed married PG: We definitely have a very tight bond I think we all know when one of our partners is calling us out that it is done for the benefit of all of us and it is not done with any kind of malice Christine and I actually worked together in my previous lack of job experience so she was the executive editor at this magazine called City where I started as an intern and worked my way up to being photo director so we had already worked together and knew that we had a really great creative partnership I’m able to really have the vision to carry an idea into execution and we bring out great ideas in each other That was always something that we knew we had and then Philip and Justin went to high school together so they’re very old friends and Philip and I are married It’s really it’s interesting to see someone to know someone personally and know them in the workspace and I think it’s something so incredible to get to see that person grow in that way being married and working together for 14 years It’s amazing in so many ways because it’s not like I go home and am just like I’m not having ideas anymore.” To be able to kind of always have someone to bounce those off of or build on each other’s ideas or help each other figure out how to approach something is super helpful I remember this one time I got into an argument with someone and I came home and I was telling him about it and he immediately .. but he immediately went into like trying to solve the problem and he’s like that person is under stress because these market conditions are like this He’s giving me all this advice and I was like “I just want you to say that person’s a jerk.” EP: Especially being married to my co-founder as well “I’m just venting and I just want you to say .. EP: Being that we’re both married to our co-founders there is something else we will have in common quite soon Can you talk about how you’re feeling about all that mostly just feeling very excited to welcome her into our lives I have no idea what my life is gonna be like Philip and I are both trying to plan our parental leave and at first I was so delusional “I totally can go.” I was talking to some moms in the office and they’re like I’m someone that I have big ambitions and I never feel like I’m doing enough I always have like 10 things that I want to do on the back burner and seven business ideas that are incubating for the future So I think that’s probably gonna be the thing that’s the trickiest for me is finding that balance of .. I also think that I want to be an amazing mom so I will have a lot of goals in that department and then a lot of goals in the work department and it’s just so hard for me to say no to things and it’s hard for me to- I’m always scared if I don’t take an opportunity that no more opportunities will come I feel like I’m always like a teenage girl in Maine that just is yearning for the big city and yearning for culture and yearning for opportunity and so whenever anyone asks me to do anything I think that’s gonna be the trick for me is not .. is learning that I can’t do it all and that I need to actually pick and choose and prioritize and be okay with that and not feel like a failure as a result NC: I think you will find you’re gonna be very efficient with your time there’s things that you might get done more and have more time for other kinds of tasks and whatnot EP: It can go so many different ways PG: the other thing is I don’t know what she’ll be like I was talking to a friend and she was like “What are you most excited about?” I was like when she’s a little older to do creative projects with her,” and she goes EP: I want to go to a baseball game She’s gonna be her own person with her own interests and so .. NC: Or she could be a total mini you PG: She’s gonna be a Scorpio and I’m an Aries and those are not the most compatible signs I don’t believe in that being so hard defined At the end of every show we ask our guest to share one skill with us that helped them build their business how would you break it down for our audience PG: I think the skill that I would share is vulnerability to not have all the answers and to actually listen to people so that’s meant really listening to our audience shifting things and being open to changing our own ideas when we realize they’re not working or they’re not resonating with the audience or internally I think also the vulnerability to admit what we don’t know and ask for help and ask questions In the beginning as we were starting the business There were many things we didn’t have experience with I don’t even know what type of experience would have allowed us to do what we did because there weren’t really businesses like ours out there I don’t think there were credentials to be had but we had to be vulnerable enough to admit what we didn’t know and to ask for help as I started growing into being an executive I remember sitting in these meetings with people that we had hired that had a lot more experience in the corporate world than I did and they were using all this jargon and language I didn’t know and at first I didn’t want to admit that I didn’t know it they wouldn’t respect me or they would see that I was a huge imposter and a big lesson for me was I finally thought .. I started to internalize this feeling of being an imposter I need to be vulnerable enough to ask questions because otherwise I’m not gonna learn this weird language that they’re speaking and all these acronyms.” The interesting thing was I started to ask questions I started to say what does this acronym mean What do you mean by that thing that you’re saying And I really thought people would basically laugh in my face when I started asking these questions but the amazing thing that happened was when I would ask the questions other people around the table and be interested in the answers or they would come up to me afterwards and thank me for asking the question or say I had no idea what they were talking about.” So I think for me that was a lesson in that actually vulnerability can be a strength in that way too that you can help other people when you’re vulnerable enough to ask a question to admit that you don’t understand something That it can actually open up a lot of space for other people I think for us too with the content that we’ve created when we started Refinery we wanted to talk about style but not in this rules-based way that was traditional in fashion where it was really design to make you feel bad about yourself We wanted to talk about it in a way that was about self expression that was about identity and as we started to build the company and the content that we were creating we were really focused on kind of letting the seams show talking about things that people didn’t otherwise talk about Those were the things that we were talking about with our friends and with each other but that we didn’t feel were being represented “We don’t want to talk about sex like Cosmo where everything has a wink nudge to it and it’s all about pleasing your man and we don’t want to talk about it the way that if you Google it PG: We just want to talk about it in a real vulnerable way and that was something that was so .. it really caught on with the audience was having that .. being vulnerable to just go at those taboo topics in that way I think was something that no one was really doing at that time I think what’s really amazing about that skill is unfortunately we often associate vulnerability with weakness EP: But vulnerability and being able to show how you feel is actually courage EP: I think that’s an amazing skill Thank you for that and thank you so much for coming today The freshest news from the food world every day Phone of investigative journalist Nuria Piera infected with NSO’s military-grade spyware Pegasus The Coalition For Women In Journalism demands authorities launch an immediate On May 3, Amnesty International revealed that lauded Dominican reporter Nuria Piera is the latest journalist targeted by NSO Group’s surveillance software Pegasus Piera’s phone was hacked three times between 2020 and 2021 according to a forensic analysis carried out by Amnesty.  Piera is a household name in the Dominican Republic renowned for her investigations into corruption She was working on a high-profile investigation into senior government officials and their relatives when the spyware was found on her phone.  Piera says a confidential source once alerted her that a government official had authorized the hacking of her phone to find out who was leaking information to her The incident left Piera, similar to other journalists who have been targeted by Pegasus, feeling violated “You have to work hard to not become neurotic because you’re always suspicious that someone may have information about you. It’s like being in quicksand. It really affects your sense of freedom, how free you feel to speak up,” says Piera.  Pegasus spyware has been used to target politicians, journalists, and activists around the world. The software's creators, the NSO Group, have been blacklisted by the American government following reports of states using Pegasus to spy on journalists and critics.   When a phone is hacked using Pegasus, a spyware operator can access all phone data, including location and encrypted messages. It can also be used to manipulate a phone’s camera and microphone to record turning it into a portable listening device including orchestrated social media attacks.  The Coalition For Women In Journalism demands states stop using surveillance software to spy on journalists and activists Illegal hacking of journalists' phones can leave sources vulnerable and ultimately damages democracy by limiting press freedom The invasive nature of Pegasus also disrupts the work of journalists instilling fear and paranoia and discouraging investigations into influential individuals We call on Dominican Republic authorities to immediately launch an impartial and independent investigation into the hacking of Nuria Piera’s phone.  The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive If you have been harassed or abused in any way and please report the incident by using the following form From Trolling to Deepfakes: The Online War Against Women Journalists Weaponizing the Courts: Erdoğan’s Escalating Legal Repression of Women Journalists SLAPPs Targeting Women Journalists Covering Gender Issues: 2020 – 2024Russia’s War on the Press Transnational Repression: 2019 – 2024 Our Philosophy Team Board of Advisors Partners DelegationsJob Openings Global Chapters #HeforShe 2024 Events 2023 Events2022 Events2021 Events2020 Events Latest IssueAll Issues Reach out to usTwitterInstagramFacebook Harris vs Trump NewsroomReportsSpotlightTimelines Campaigns Legal Trials Against Journalists Apply for MentorshipHow Mentorship Works Strengthen Your Mental Health CFWIJ has compiled a list of select women journalists whom you can follow to stay informed on the pandemic The Coalition launched in March 2017 as a pro-bono org From 2019 it will be operating as an NGO with the seed funding received from Craig Newmark Philanthropies.