It’s about putting your existing customers first, and meeting them with genuine connection — What does a great customer experience feel like? I have thought about this for a long time, both professionally as a consultant to several retail startups, and as an individual consumer, surveying the landscape from Target to Tiffany’s. And it’s been fascinating — and disheartening at times — to observe…

Some things you might not think about — It may seem elementary and perhaps a bit presumptuous to write a post about how to buy shoes — I’m sure you’ve all bought plenty of shoes before and been just fine. …

(and not lose them when you get them) — Sunglasses are like anything we attach to our body — a wearable art form and an extension of ourselves — so we should all take a bit more pains to find ones that really complement our personal style and frame our face…such that the check-out clerk at the supermarket comments…

And it will help you too — I know it sounds like hyperbole. How can something as simple as twisting and folding a body around on a foam mat make such an impact? But during the most challenging, emotional, hopeless days of my life, I turned to yoga. Each time I felt anxious or frenetic, like my…

“Luxury” is often mistaken as synonymous with “cost” — During the year and a half that I lived in Italy, I learned about what truly constitutes a luxurious life. One lived in plush surroundings, without stress and worry, with the funding and resources to acquire anything desired certainly qualifies as luxurious in the traditional sense. But Italians have a…

It serves an important role in the urban fabric — Here’s my theory about trendy neighborhood markets, with their artisanal cheese selections and arrays of local produce: they’re great. They’re well-lit and efficiently arranged, with elegant, dignified options at every glance of the eyes. …

Alt title: the comedy and tragedy of gay online dating — In the gay male dating world, Tinder is the most vanilla of the online apps. It doesn’t allow sending pictures back and forth, and many profiles are connected to Facebook and Instagram accounts. It feels friendlier than Grindr or Scruff, which tend to have a sex-first, transactional feel. …

And jarring juxtapositions — I started this post intending to critique Las Vegas. Call it fake and off-putting. Excessive and bleak at the same time, lacking in any real culture other than money. And it is all that. But the truth is, I sorta liked it. I had a lot of fun there and…

Are we at a consumerism inflection point? — I keep seeing it: instances of circularity in the zeitgeist, where older and simpler is preferred in lieu of the latest and greatest. Viable, lucrative businesses being built on the exchange of contemporary preowned or plainly old things. An overarching cultural fondness for a rewind (Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, anyone?). …