Second Life
Second Life
Second Life
Hosted by Who What Wear co-founder Hillary Kerr, Second Life spotlights successful women who have made major career changes. Guests share lessons they've learned through fearlessly daring to pivot, and how they've used skills from their "first lives" to navigate their winding career journeys.
The Who What Wear Podcast: Author Amy Odell on Chronicling the Life of Gwyneth Paltrow, From '90s Fashion Icon to Wellness Mogul, in Gwyneth: The Biography
Three years after authoring the incredible biography of Anna Wintour, fashion and culture journalist Amy Odell returns to the pod to discuss her newly released biography of actress and Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow. Through hundreds of interviews and countless hours of archival research, Odell chronicles Paltrow's life of cultural influence—from '90s fashion icon to polarizing wellness mogul. She tells us who she talked to in order to paint a full picture of a public figure who's been in the spotlight for three decades. Plus, she reveals what she would have asked Gwyneth if she'd gotten the chance to speak with her for the book. Order a copy of Odell's book here! Shop our editor's eBay picks here!
Aug 6
37 min
Samina Virk: U.S. CEO and Chief Marketing Officer of Vestiaire Collective
Samina Virk is the U.S. CEO and chief marketing officer of Vestiaire Collective, a global luxury resale platform. As a young girl, Samina loved fashion. She grew up making her clothes, thinking she might break into the industry on the creative side. Instead, she started her career in tech, working in e-commerce during the dot-com boom. She eventually went back to school to study business in hopes of merging her love for fashion with her tech experience. She joined Target’s MBA merchandising program before scoring a full-time job on the company’s marketing team. It was there where she dipped her toes into retail, overseeing Target’s designer collaborations before taking an interest in the resale market. Samina followed her curiosity to eBay, where she launched the platform’s new fashion vertical team, before she ended up at Vestiaire Collective. She helped launch the Paris-based brand in the U.S. market before going on to serve as the U.S. president and global chief marketing officer at Threads, a social-first styling service. She then realized her time at Vestiaire Collective wasn’t over and decided to return—this time as North American CEO and CMO.
Aug 4
57 min
The Who What Wear Podcast: WWW Weddings 2025: The Definitive Guide to This Year’s Bridal Fashion and Wedding Planning Trends
This week, Associate Director of Special Projects Kristen Nichols and senior fashion editor Anna LaPlaca are giving you the definitive report on all things weddings. Kristen runs through the biggest trends from 2026 Bridal Fashion Week, where she saw chiffon capes and voluminous skirts in full force. And Anna has the scoop from experts in the wedding industry about everything beyond dresses—from unique destinations to wax-sealed invitations. They’ve got everything you need to know if you’re walking down the aisle anytime soon. Plus, the pair break down the relationship between bridal fashion and the fashion industry at large. Shop our editor's eBay picks here!
Jul 30
26 min
Ali Mejia: Cofounder of Eberjey
Ali Mejia is the visionary and cofounder of elevated sleepwear brand Eberjey. Although she’d always had a soft spot for pajamas (getting ready for bed was a self-care ritual in her home growing up), Mejia began her career on Wall Street. After graduating from Princeton, she followed many of her peers to New York City and got a job as a financial analyst. When her bank unexpectedly closed, she was laid off and left to confront the nagging feeling that she should be exploring her creativity. She used her severance package to fund a trip to Florence, Italy, and being immersed in the arts and culture inspired her to make a change in her career. Upon returning home, she took one more short-lived finance job and then landed a fashion internship at Cynthia Rowley that energized her. She moved back home to Miami and took a direct marketing job to pay the bills while quietly working with a local patternmaker and learning how to design sleepwear. Once she had designed a few prototypes, she told her coworker at the direct marketing company about her business idea. This coworker, Mariela Rovito, became Mejia’s cofounder in Eberjey. In 1996, they left their day jobs, put $10,000 each into this new venture, and set off on a brand-building journey with no business plan. Today, almost three decades later, Eberjey remains a leading international sleepwear brand with five brick-and-mortar shops and products sold in over 500 retailers, from Neiman Marcus to Nordstrom.
Jul 28
53 min
The Who What Wear Podcast: The Bear's Molly Gordon on the Importance of Female Friendships—and Delusion—While Making It in Hollywood
This week, Who What Wear Co-Founder Hillary Kerr is chatting with our June cover star, Molly Gordon! You likely know Gordon from playing Claire in FX's The Bear, or from past roles in Booksmart, Theater Camp, Shiva Baby, and many more. In addition to acting, Gordon has approached her career from the angle of multihyphenate since the beginning. In fact, her newest project—a hilarious, genre-bending film called Oh, Hi!, which she co-created, produced, and stars in—comes out on July 25. In this episode, Gordon shares her favorite improvised moments from The Bear season 4, how Oh, Hi! was inspired by a "5% crazier" version of herself, and how she found the confidence to direct. Plus, she gives us the rundown on her press tour looks and her partnership with one of our favorite stylists, Jared Ellner.  If you'd like to watch the best bits of this interview, tune into our YouTube here! Shop our editor’s eBay picks here! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jul 23
32 min
Amrit Tietz: DJ and Co-Founder of Spread the Jelly
Amrit Tietz is an international DJ and co-founder of the modern motherhood platform Spread the Jelly. Although she initially set out to study economics, Tietz dropped out of college, unbeknownst to her parents, to pursue a path she was more passionate about: music. She auditioned multiple times for the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, a music conservatory, before being accepted into the musical theater program. During her time there, she collected jazz units and switched to a music performance degree while also learning how to DJ on the side. Tietz moved to New York City after graduating and worked various jobs—from waitressing to retail—while taking DJ gigs to build her network. She eventually landed a full-time role at Starworks Agency, advancing from executive assistant to director of talent and engagement. After nearly six years at the ad agency, Tietz decided to take her DJing career full-time, successfully leaping from managing talent to becoming the talent herself. She has since toured globally, performed for iconic names like Dior and Vogue, and had her original music featured in HBO and Apple TV+ productions. While Tietz continues to DJ—and did so even while seven months pregnant—she recently moved into a new space with Spread the Jelly, an independent online platform redefining the narrative around modern motherhood. She and her co-founder, Lauren Levinger, launched the platform as a space for mothers to tell their diverse stories more authentically, build community, and “embrace the sticky” parts of motherhood together.
Jul 21
52 min
The Who What Wear Podcast: What to Shop at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, With Nordstrom’s Associate Fashion Director Linda Cui Zhang
The annual Nordstrom Anniversary Sale is live, and to celebrate, Who What Wear Shopping Director Bobby Schuessler is talking to one of the great curatorial minds behind the sale—Nordstrom Associate Fashion Director Linda Cui Zhang. In this episode, Zhang reveals the product selection process for the sale, the trends her team prioritized, and the new brands she was excited to bring into the fold this year. Plus, she shares the most covetable items to shop before they sell out, her favorite giftable beauty bundles, and the key pieces to prioritize if you’re looking to elevate or refresh your wardrobe but don’t know where to start (think seasonless Frye riding boots and versatile Vince short-sleeve wool tees). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jul 16
21 min
Sarah Davis: Founder and President of Fashionphile
Sarah Davis is the founder and president of the luxury resale company Fashionphile. Davis was a self-proclaimed “debate nerd” during her teens and had early aspirations of becoming a lawyer. After earning her undergrad, she quickly enrolled in law school at the University of Maryland. Growing up, Davis had become accustomed to taking odd jobs to pay for things like clothing, so she applied that same mentality to putting herself through school. To make money, she cut boys’ hair in the dorms and even started a peer-to-peer used lawbook platform with her brother-in-law called lawswap.com. She also began selling her belongings on eBay for extra cash, and that’s when she realized that there was a largely untapped market for luxury resale. In 1999, she created a storefront on eBay called Fashionphile, focused on reselling luxury handbags, and was soon able to make enough money to pay off her student loans. Although Davis did graduate from law school and even pass the bar, she had found her true passion in growing her resale business and decided to opt out of pursuing a law career. She ran Fashionphile on eBay for the first several years of the business before bringing her brother-in-law into the fold and legitimizing the brand with its own website. Today, over 25 years later, Fashionphile is the largest platform in the country for buying and selling pre-owned, ultra-luxury accessories. The brand now has headquarters in San Diego and New York City, an office in Tokyo, and retail locations all across the country.
Jul 14
44 min
The Who What Wear Podcast: Go Sports! Athlete Stylists Brittany Hampton and Manny Jay on Dressing WNBA It Girls, and Why It's More Than Picking Out Clothes
In this episode, Senior Fashion Editor Eliza Huber—Who What Wear’s resident expert on the intersection of sports and fashion—is sitting down with two stylists behind some of the best tunnel fashion we’ve seen in recent months. Brittany Hampton is a seasoned athlete stylist whose client roster includes some of the buzziest women in basketball: Paige Bueckers, Sabrina Ionescu, Cameron Brink, Evan Mobley, and Nika Mühl. She’s also the Golden State Valkyries’ fashion strategist. Manny Jay began his styling career working with musicians like Trippie Redd and Tink, and more recently manifested his way into the sports arena through his work with WNBA tunnel ’fit veteran Skylar Diggins-Smith. Today, Hampton and Jay discuss the WNBA’s unprecedented growth over the last year and how that heightened visibility impacts their clients’ relationships with fashion. They get into the ways that athlete fashion extends beyond aesthetics, influencing fan accessibility, marketing avenues for players, and even their on-court performance. Check out Eliza’s Go Sports content here!
Jul 9
36 min
Denise Woodard: Founder and CEO of Partake Foods
Denise Woodard is the founder and CEO of Partake, an allergy-friendly food company. Woodard started her career in pound-the-pavement sales roles at Philip Morris and FedEx, gaining robust experience in winning business by providing genuine solutions to her clients. She then spent the majority of her early career at the Coca-Cola Company, starting in sales and then finding her niche working on the emerging brands that were better aligned with her values, like Honest Tea and Health-Ade. After rising through the ranks and becoming the director of national sales for Coca-Cola’s Venturing and Emerging Brands (VEB), Woodard was proud of the career she had built for herself and didn’t envision she’d ever leave her job. But after having her daughter, Vivienne, and finding out her child suffered from food allergies, she started to realize just how stark the allergy-friendly food landscape was. She couldn’t find any options that were nutritious and delicious, and after some nudging from her nanny, Woodard decided to do something about it. She promptly put together a new business pitch for an allergy-friendly snack brand, entered a pitch competition, and won. She spent the next year building Partake while working her day job before leaping into it full-time. Since then, Woodard has become the first Black woman to raise over $1 million for a packaged food company, and Partake Foods can now be found in over 18,000 retailers, including Target and Whole Foods.
Jul 7
56 min
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