Friends For 10: Leandra Medine Cohen of Man Repeller
Q & A:
1. We just celebrated our 10 year anniversary (crazy, right?). What’s your favorite (personal) milestone that you’ve experienced in that last 10 years?
LMC: I would have said building a small media company with my own two hands and the help of an incredibly talented and intelligent team without having taken on a single penny of outside funding but then 5 months ago I gave birth to twins and now nothing, not even breathing, seems as important as that was. EXCEPT! The wild transformation my ankles endured as they ballooned and deflated over the course of the pregnancy.
2. What is your favorite Lizzie Fortunato piece from the Fall’18 collection?
LMC: The Napoli Earrings. But tbh, I want Mood Hoops more than most things right now.
3. What is your favorite way to style statement jewelry?
LMC: By wearing it like it’s just another appendage.
4. What is the most random thing in your purse right now?
LMC: Well, compared to the errant stick of gum, hair clip, wallet, keys and lipstick, I guess it is the Vintage Classics edition of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex.
5. I am a “_____” and I am passionate about "______":
LMC: Founder; telling stories that bring people together.
6. Small but impactful advice for aspiring female entrepreneurs:
LMC: You do NOT have to be a boss to, you know, be a boss.
7. What gets you out of bed in the AM?
LMC: Steamed oatmilk.
8. Any secret talents?
LMC: My greatest talent is a stark lack of talent; I can't play a single -- not a single! -- organized sport well.
9. What is the most played song on your phone (or iPod):
LMC: It is actually a podcast, called Masters of Scale.
10. What are you doing tomorrow?
LMC: Waking up, getting a coffee, writing a story, going to midtown for a meeting, coming back downtown for another meeting, taking my daughters to the post office on Varick Street to do something related to their imminent passports; I am still fuzzy on the details here. Then I am taking a call and finally: meeting my bowling league (not kidding) for bumpers and balls and beer at 6:30.
11. Up Early or Up Late?
LMC: Up early.
12. If I were a NY neighborhood I would be _____:
LMC: I'm one of those awkward in-between streets that doesn't technically fall into the category of any one neighborhood, but serves as melting pots for the coalescence of the neighborhoods around it.
13. What travel destination best matches your personality?
LMC: Bali during monsoon season because you go in hoping for the best and sometimes you get it and its even better than you'd imagined but sometimes those monsoons show the fuck up, often when you least expect them and stick around until they're ready to leave. It's unpredictable, somewhat irrational and often very annoying; I think the best of myself.
