Digital Edition: September

WHY SCOTTSDALE SHOULD BE YOUR FALL GETAWAY SPEEDBOAT RACING GOES ELECTRIC HOW WOMEN ARE TRANSFORMING THE WHISKEY INDUSTRY

Back to Work

How to Arrange Your Office to Promote Good Company Culture

C ON T E N T S DIGITAL EDITION 03 | SEPTEMBER 2021

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Worth’s Guide to Scottsdale, Ariz.

Stunning resorts, delectable food and amazing adventures to consider for your next trip to the Sonoran Desert.

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An Update on the Economy The broad-based sharp rise in asset prices is likely to hit some speed bumps.

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How Topps Has Led the Baseball Card Boom The trading card giant took over Citi Field for an event just before all hell broke loose.

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Reflecting on the Crypto Industry’s Growth and Maturity Valued at approximately $2 trillion, the crypto market has attracted institutional investors and venture capital firms, and they show no sign of turning back.

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It’s Electric: The Future of Speedboat Racing Young Norwegian boat designer Sophi Horne’s radical design could set a precedent for future through-the-water propulsion.

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The Importance of Black Chefs and Culinary Traditions in America with Marcus Samuelsson The celebrity chef and author on his latest cookbook, what the pandemic was like for him and his restaurants and more.

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The Leadership Style That Can See You Through Crisis Transformational resilient leadership will not only get you through the fog of crisis but also foster growth beyond it.

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Whiskey Is No Longer ‘a Man’s Drink’ Four distinguished women in the industry discuss how the spirit is attracting a more diverse consumer than ever.

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The Berkshires Are Calling What you can expect from a trip to the stunning region of Western Massachusetts now.

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Departments 04

Masthead

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Editor’s Letter

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Contributors

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Editors Picks

20 Questions: Marcus Glover

Make Your Office Your Haven One executive on how to get your employees excited about returning to the office.

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Jim McCann CHAIRMAN

Josh Kampel CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

James Ledbetter CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER

EDITORIAL E D I TO R I A L D I R E C TO R S E N I O R E D I TO R A S S I S TA N T E D I T O R C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R E D I T O R AT L A R G E CO N T R I B U TO R S

Emily Cegielski Micki Wagner Eva Crouse Nicole Dudka Richard Bradley Carlos Betancourt, Bob Diamond, George Everly, Larry Kantor, Michael Levin, Jonathan Russo, Jessica Zweig

INTERNS

Ariel Kohn

PARTNERSHIPS, ADVERTISING & EVENTS V I C E P R E S I D E N T, PA R T N E R S H I P S

Greg Licciardi

V I C E P R E S I D E N T, PA R T N E R S H I P S

Chris Spadafino

PA R T N E R S H I P S M A N A G E R

Christian Harris

PRODUCT, OPERATIONS & FINANCE HEAD OF MARKETING M A R K E T I N G C O O R D I N AT O R

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Kimberly Anderson

M U LT I M E D I A D E S I G N E R

Jon Wu

E X E C U T I V E A S S I S TA N T

Kate Breed

WORTH HEADQUARTERS 245 FIFTH AVENUE, SUITE 1501, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10016 646.952.9361

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Clyde Lee III

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E DITOR ’ S LE T TE R

Finding Peace in Uncertain Times

I L L U S T R AT I O N : LY N D O N H AY E S

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o one enjoys uncertainty. Sure, we all know the old “death and taxes” idiom, but in reality, we all expect certain things (like going back to school) to happen at certain times (like the fall). At least that was the case prior to March 2020. Never in our lifetime have we collectively experienced so much doubt about what will come next, and with the Delta variant still wreaking havoc across parts of the U.S., that uncertainty we’ve been dealing with for nearly a year-and-a-half hasn’t gone anywhere.

In fact, it’s almost been made worse by the Delta variant. For a short amount of time, vaccines were rolling out, the super-spreader COVID variation had yet to get a foothold in the States and life very nearly seemed to be returning to some version of normal. Companies started implementing return-to-office plans, schools announced that kids and teachers would return to the classroom come fall and in-person events slowly started trickling back on to our calendars. But then Delta hit, and with the proliferation of anti-vaxxers plus looser restrictions, cases began to skyrocket again, leading us right back to where we started: completely uncertain about what the future holds.

At Worth, we had planned to return to live, in-person events with our Women & Worth: Reset. Refresh. Rebuild. Summit on September 29. However, due to

the precarious nature of the Delta variant, we had to pivot to a mostly virtual experience. Instead of putting anyone’s health at risk, we’ll be hosting vaccinated speakers and VIP guests at our office for a live production, streaming the entire summit to the majority of our audience online. While it’s not exactly what we had imagined—and we’ve had to work hard and fast to make the transition—we’re still excited to host an event that won’t be entirely conducted over Zoom. It’s only a small step forward during a time when we’re all ready to take massive leaps and bounds, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

At this point, I’m not sure we can ask for much more. We will make progress if we all work together, practice patience and remember that the uncertainty we’re facing affects everyone. Taking baby steps is better than taking no steps at all. And in this digital edition, you’ll find many pieces that offer advice on how to move forward—maybe slowly, definitely surely. For those heading back into the office after Labor Day, SimplyBe. CEO Jessica Zweig’s piece (see page 32) offers guidance on how to create an office environment that promotes real connection, team collaboration and a vibrant company culture. Although it may seem minor, creating a space that prioritizes the mental health of employees is one way to move forward (not to mention the rewards businesses reap from investing in its workers) during such a tumultuous time.

I hope that as we enter into fall, we can reach some peace with all of the uncertainty in the world. We might not know what’s coming next, but we do know what we’re each individually capable of, and we can all move forward, making the best decisions possible to create a more equitable society once the pandemic is finally over.

— Emily Cegielski E D I TO R I A L D I R E C TO R

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CONTRIB UTORS

Jessica Zweig

Bob Diamond

Larry Kantor

Jessica Zweig is the CEO of the SimplyBe. Agency, a premier personal branding firm based in Chicago, serving clients across the globe. Jessica facilitates sold-out workshops and speaks on the power of personal branding to corporations including Google, Salesforce, Virgin, Nike, Motorola, Red Bull and Bank of America. She also hosts the top-ranked marketing podcast The SimplyBe. Podcast. Jessica’s debut book, Be: A No Bullsh*t Guide to Increasing Your Self Worth and Net Worth by Simply Being Yourself, launched in February 2021 with Sounds True, an imprint of Macmillan.

Mr. Diamond is founding partner and chief executive officer of New York-based Atlas Merchant Capital. Until 2012, Mr. Diamond was chief executive of Barclays, having previously held the position of president of Barclays, and was responsible for Barclays Capital and Barclays Global Investors (“BGI”). He became an executive director of Barclays in 2005 and was a member of the Barclays Executive Committee since 1997.

Mr. Kantor is an operating partner at Atlas Merchant Capital and is based in New York. Mr. Kantor is currently a member of the Investment Committee at Betterment, an online wealth management company with AUM of over $30 billion. Previously, Mr. Kantor served as an Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow at Harvard University, and prior to that, spent over 10 years as a managing director and head of research at Barclays Capital.

Prior to joining Barclays Capital, Mr. Kantor was the head of foreign exchange strategy and chief European economist at J.P. Morgan. Before J.P. Morgan, he was a chief economist and strategist at Normandy Asset Management. Mr. Kantor also served as an economist at the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C. He began his career as an assistant professor of economics at Lehigh University.

Q: Why is it important for employers to be intentional when designing their office space?

A: Your office is where you spend 90 percent of your life. You don’t want it to feel like an afterthought for you or for your employees. You want it to feel like it’s one of the most important places in their life, next to their homes. At SimplyBe., we have so many people that come through our offices, not just employees, and our ultimate goal has been to invest enough in our space to make everyone who comes through it feel like it matters.

Q: How can your workspace affect your mental health?

A: Imagine if you were to go to a space every day that has fluorescent lighting, lime green colored walls and it’s freezing with no art. It’s going to make you feel depressed! Spaces that are cold and inhuman, like the DMV or the lobby of your favorite doctor’s office, are often our least favorite places to be.

An office should feel welcoming, warm, inspiring, and that’s why our space is full of cozy furniture, plants and artwork—all aiming to lift the vibes of our team no matter their state of mind.

Q: What excites you most about returning to the office?

A: Being with my staff! Your staff should feel like your favorite people; they’re not just there to do a job and work for you, but they are your collaborators in dream building and world changing. I love my team!

Q: What is your favorite space in SimplyBe.’s new headquarters?

A: My favorite space in SimplyBe. HQ?! That is such a tough question because I love it all! I’d have to say that I love my office! It’s extremely spacious, and we call it the Rose Quartz because there are Rose Quartz crystals everywhere, and I share that space with my assistant. Between our two offices, we have our own separate wing that, of course, everyone is welcome to. It’s really started to feel like a second home to me and has all the things I love.

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Prior to Barclays, Mr. Diamond held senior executive positions at Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley in the United States, Europe and Asia. Mr. Diamond worked at Credit Suisse First Boston from 1992 to 1996, where his roles included vice chairman and head of global fixed income and foreign exchange in New York, as well as chairman, president and CEO of Credit Suisse First Boston Pacific. Mr. Diamond worked at Morgan Stanley from 1979 to 1992, including as the head of European and Asian fixed income trading.

Mr. Diamond is currently a member of the Board of Directors of South Street Securities Holdings, Inc., Crux Informatics and Atlas Mara Limited. He is a trustee of The American Foundation of the Imperial War Museum Inc., a life member of The Council on Foreign Relations and is involved in several nonprofit initiatives, including being a director of the Diamond Foundation. He is also life trustee and former chair of the Colby College Board of Trustees. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Colby College and an MBA from the University of Connecticut.

Mr. Kantor is a member of the boards of Economic Mobility Pathways, a nonprofit that helps low-income families get out and stay out of poverty, and Ideas42, a nonprofit that uses behavioral science to solve global social problems. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, Phi Beta Kappa, from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. and an M.A. in economics from Ohio State University.

“Every business cycle is different, which is one of the factors that has made our jobs so interesting. If you’ve been in the financial services business long enough, dealing with crises becomes part of the job. But we have never experienced anything remotely like the one we are in currently. Recessions typically involve the resetting of key sectors: a period of low activity in cyclical industries, such as autos and housing, a pullback in lending and balance sheet rebuilding for households and businesses and weakness in wages and prices. Most of these things happened this time around, but only very briefly. At first, policymakers didn’t allow it to happen, and then the vaccines came along.

“This business cycle resembled an international natural disaster (like a hurricane or flood).

When it hit, economies collapsed as all but the most essential businesses and activities shut down. But that lasted only a couple of months. Since April 2020, the combination of historic monetary and fiscal support, incredibly effective COVID vaccines and an enormous amount of pent-up demand has delivered a bona fide boom in the economy and prices of all kinds—from goods and service (inflation) to commodities, houses and financial assets.

“We now seem to be transitioning to a new phase with the reopening surge having peaked, fiscal stimulus fading and the prospect of central banks beginning to reduce their extraordinary provision of liquidity. Economists have been struggling with their forecasts due to the lack of historical precedents, suggesting an unusual amount of uncertainty around what happens next. In writing this article, we have drawn on our many years of experience in the financial sector to hopefully provide some useful insights.”

E DITOR ’ S PICKS

CLOTHING

NUULY As seasons have changed over the last year-plus, my wardrobe remained the same. But with offices reopening and in-person events taking place again, I decided it was time to upgrade my closet. Instead of buying a ton of new clothes, I invested in a clothing rental service called Nuuly. With this subscription, I can rent six pieces of my choosing every month. My favorite piece has been a red dress with white polka dots from Ronny Kobo that retails for $478. Even better, with Nuuly, if I end up loving the pieces, I have the option to buy them at a discounted rate.

—Micki Wagner, senior editor STARTING AT $88/MONTH

BOOKS

The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It

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ennifer Moss’ new book documents the high levels of burnout in the modern workforce and argues for a sweeping reinterpretation of what causes burnout and how it can be effectively treated. Clarim Media’s chief content officer Jim Ledbetter recently interviewed Moss.

S TAT I O N E R Y

A GOOD COMPANY’S NOTEBOOK A5

Q: Do four-day work weeks really work?

A: I advocate the 35-hour work week, you can work five days, just reduce the hours you work. All the tests, including Microsoft in Japan, have gone unbelievably well.

Despite the fact that Apple has made it possible to take notes on just about any device, I have always preferred the feel of a physical notebook. There is something so rewarding about manually crossing off a to-do list, taking notes or journaling by hand; it’s a sensation that typing on a laptop or writing on an iPad cannot recreate. However, it’s hard to justify the waste of buying paper notebooks. Thankfully, A Good Company has taken all the guilt out of this choice by designing a notebook that is made not of paper, but stone. The A5 notebook is “the world’s first climate-positive notebook,” made entirely out of recycled stone—and this means it comes with some perks. For one, it’s completely waterproof! Not to mention, it’s very difficult to tear, the ink does not bleed through the pages (even with a Sharpie) and the “paper” is the smoothest, most satisfying thing to write on.

—Eva Crouse, assistant editor

HARRVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PRESS, $30, 260 PAGES

A GOOD COMPANY’S NOTEBOOK A5, $29.99

Q: You argue that burnout should be viewed as a systemic problem, not a failure of individuals.

A: We have to separate burnout prevention strategy from wellness strategy—more breathing, more yoga, these meditation apps—that isn’t tackling the problem upstream.

You can’t ask people to be motivated when they’re not even at that place where they’re getting proper corporate hygiene.

Q: How do companies fix the burnout problem if they are the cause of the problem?

A: This is a leadership book, for even middle managers to make strategic decisions in their teams. I provide prescriptions because the whole switch has to happen at the manager level—they need to model the behaviors.

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Worth’s Guide to Scottsdale, Arizona Featuring luxe hotels, once-in-a-lifetime adventures, world-class spa services and elaborate dining experiences, Worth highlights some of the best Scottsdale has to offer on your next trip to the Sonoran Desert. BY MICKI WAGNER 08

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P H OTO B Y H OT A I R E X P E D I T I O N S

Flying over the Sonoran Desert at sunrise with Hot Air Expeditions.

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LODGING

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The Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain Resort & Spa The Sanctuary is a completely different experience from the Boulders. While the Boulders embraces the desert in its design, the Sanctuary has a sleek, modern style that has attracted celebrities like Beyoncé and Jay-Z. We stayed in a mountain suite, nestled at the base of Camelback Mountain, which had a balcony across the whole suite, room service and close proximity to a pool (and by that, I mean, I walked down our private staircase from our balcony, and I was basically at the pool).

The resort also has a gorgeous infinity pool, tennis courts, a restaurant and a cocktail bar. The dining was absolutely incredible, from the room service to Elements restaurant to Jade Bar. I would recommend staying at the Sanctuary if you want fantastic dining and incredible service with breathtaking views.

P H OTO C O U R T E S Y O F S A N C T U A R Y O N C A M E L B A C K M O U N TA I N R E S O R T & S PA

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he Sonoran Desert is a strange place. For one, it’s the only desert in the world that can grow saguaro cacti (AKA the type of cactus you’re probably imagining right now). For another, it houses an array of interesting, cute and truly terrifying wildlife, including javelinas, quail, coyotes, scorpions, desert rabbits, mourning doves and more. And finally, Scottsdale, Ariz.—a veritable oasis for high net worth individuals, as well as luxury-seeking vacationers—is situated squarely within it.

The Sonoran Desert is a mystifying place. It appears to be the perfect spot to not only get away from it all but also to spend some valuable time with yourself, assessing where you are, where you’re going and what it might take to become all that you want to be. It’s a great backdrop for experiencing world-class wellness and spa services.

The Sonoran Desert is also a nourishing place. Spending time in nature, amongst the mountains, is something I always find rejuvenating, but paired with the top-notch dining, once-in-a-lifetime adventures, stunning architecture and friendly people that Scottsdale has to offer, it’s a vacation destination that has all the makings of a truly relaxing and memorable getaway.

And I can confirm that it is. In June, Experience Scottsdale brought me out to the desert to, well, experience all that Scottsdale has to offer right now. Let me tell you, it’s been two months since my trip at the time of publication, and it’s one of the best trips I’ve taken in recent memory.

Now my trip was probably less relaxing than yours will be, as mine was packed with things to do and places to be. So below are the eateries, activities and hotels I’d recommend for your consideration when you plan your trip out West (and I seriously recommend that you plan that trip ASAP).

The Boulders Resort & Spa The two properties I stayed at on my trip exemplified different aspects of luxury.

The Boulders is a truly expansive resort.

As we pulled up to the main lodge, I was struck by how secluded it felt, like you never really needed to leave the resort.

The property is stunning, giving you the feeling of being part of the desert. As the name suggests, there are great, massive boulders throughout the property, including at the main lodge, where you can actually climb them when it’s not too hot.

The resort also offers four swimming pools, two world-class golf courses, tennis and pickleball courts, four on-site restaurants, a full-service spa, nature trails and an array of outdoor activities ranging from rock climbing to guided desert hikes and hot air balloon rides. My sister and I stayed in a casita at the Boulders, which was cozy and outfitted in a Southwestern aesthetic, complete with a fireplace and a balcony fit for stargazing. I would recommend staying at the Boulders if you love being in nature and want to make the resort the focus of your stay.

ACTIVITIES Hot Air Balloon Ride Some aspects of my Scottsdale trip were incredibly relaxing. This was not one of them. But who takes a hot air balloon ride to relax, right? We were picked up at 3:50 a.m. by Hot Air Expeditions to take a sunrise flight. The wind was being somewhat tricky, so we ended up unable to board the balloon until well after sunrise—but better safe than sorry. The ride itself was serene and delivered some of the most amazing views. While being up that high in a basket might not be for me, it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience made all the more memorable by the fantastic and spirited crew who guided the whole expedition. For thrill seekers and those who aren’t afraid of heights, Arizona is a stunning place to take a hot air balloon ride.

P H OTO C O U R T E S Y O F B O U L D E R S R E S O R T & S PA S C OT T S D A L E

Sonoran Explorin Tour At the Boulders, I was invited to take this ethnobotany tour of the desert.

It ended up being a two-hour tour, but I loved every minute of it. Our guide Brandy Anderson was so knowledgeable and really gave us a hands-on experience, showing us different cacti and the fruit that grows in them, as well as teaching us about the different wildlife in the desert. It was a really cool experience and honestly was one of the highlights of my trip.

Taliesin West For Frank Lloyd Wright fans, Scottsdale is a mecca, housing one of his most iconic works—Taliesin West.

Made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019, Taliesin West was built in the 1930s by Wright and his apprentices. The structure would serve as his studio and winter home until his death in 1959. Today, you can take the masterpiece in for yourself through a guided or self-guided audio tour.

It looks like an oasis in the middle of the desert. Truly, the property is sprawling and so stunning; you’ll want to explore every nook and crevice of it, taking in the brilliant details installed throughout.

Spa Services At both resorts, I got to spend time at the spas, and truly they were both wonderful experiences. At the Boulders’ spa, I got the Desert Zen massage.

After traveling six hours the previous day, it was incredibly needed. And it delivered. Even the bed and massage oil were both heated, which added to the relaxation. The spa itself was lovely and had some unique offerings, including an emotional rebalancing. The spa also has an adults-only pool, a café— which I highly recommend for lunch one day, as it offers a very tasty tuna poké bowl and a refreshing strawberry

basil lemonade—an authentic teepee that was made for the resort and blessed by a shaman and a labyrinth, which was constructed to help you relieve your burdens and aid in self-reflection.

At the Sanctuary, I did reiki for the first time, which is a treatment that is supposed to help relieve stress and promote healing. The treatment itself was something totally new for me and was a nice experience, but what I really loved was all the amenities at the spa itself. It has a hot tub, a quiet room and a sauna, all of which I spent time in whilst waiting for our hotel room to be ready. And I couldn’t imagine a better place to wait it out.

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tasty tagliatelle wagyu Bolognese. I also sampled a few cocktails, and for me, the standout was the Pop Rock & Drop It, a Franciacorta and amaretto cocktail with strawberry essence that tasted so nostalgic, like a strawberry candy I just couldn’t put my finger on. And the garnish! The drink had a strawberry dipped in strawberry Pop Rocks on the rim of the glass, and that is now my favorite way to eat strawberries.

FOOD & DRINK The Mission Old Town This was my first stop after getting off the plane, and it was just what I needed, starting with the white bean puree. I never consider getting bean dip as an appetizer, but this was truly something special—creamy, savory, luscious. We also got a flight of margaritas, my favorite being the cucumber jalapeño

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iteration. If you end up at The Mission, definitely try the tacos. The sleeper was the brussels sprouts taco, which was rich in flavor without having the sulfuric taste that brussels sprouts can sometimes have. As well, the Tecate-battered mahi-mahi taco was great—fried fish that melts in your mouth, refreshing slaw, green olive aioli. Truly worth a visit, whether for lunch or dinner.

The Americano The Americano was hands down one of the best eating experiences I had while in Scottsdale (and I had a lot of good eating experiences). The staff was incredibly friendly, the atmosphere was chic yet approachable, the food was both thoughtful and delicious and the drinks were so fun! I sampled approximately half the menu, and I can tell you honestly, it was all good. But my favorites were the focaccia ripiena filled with potato and gooey, melty cheese, the garlicky caviar fries, chef Scott Conant’s signature pomodoro and the equally

Elements Elements was truly a culinary experience, from the food to the drinks to the stunning view of Paradise Valley from our table. We got to sample an array of dishes at Elements, as well as a series of cocktails, which you can also enjoy at the adjacent Jade Bar. Some of the standouts for me were the lobster and squash blossom tempura with green romesco sauce, which was like eating a high-end crab rangoon, a duo of tartares—of the steak tartare and tuna tartare, the tuna was my preference as it was fresh and citrusy with a light avocado crema, but the two together made for a nice juxtaposition, the rich with the refreshing—and oysters on the half shell served with wasabi tobiko and raspberry

P H OTO B Y R YA N C O R D W E L L F O R E X P E R I E N C E S C OT T S D A L E

Hike This is the only activity on this entire list I didn’t actually do in Scottsdale, but everyone said I should. The truth is, I just didn’t have the time, but on my next trip, I will absolutely seek it out.

When I went, it was about 108 degrees during the day, so I wouldn’t recommend hiking in June, but when the weather gets cooler during the fall and winter months, I would absolutely suggest this.

When I stayed at the Sanctuary, I was told that many people like to hike up Camelback Mountain. It seems like a serious trek, but it also would make for an amazing hike with the views to match.

Hash Kitchen Frank Lloyd Wright For a brunch that feels like a party, complete with an in-house DJ and makeyour-own Bloody Mary bar, make your way to Hash Kitchen. The location I visited was near Taliesin West, which made for a fun morning. As the name would suggest, they have a myriad of hashes on the menu. I sampled the blackened shrimp and grits hash, which was decadent with its creamy grits, Cajun garlic butter and poached eggs atop crispy potatoes. The real winner of brunch, though, was the cannoli donuts we kicked off the meal with. They were hot, crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside and set off perfectly with sweet cannoli cream. This was one of the dreamiest things I ate in Scottsdale. The cocktails on offer are just as playful as the place itself. Apart from the build-your-own Bloody Mary bar, which has over 50 toppings to choose from, they also offer CBD cold brew cocktails, a cereal shooter flight and a mimosa flight.

mignonette. Throughout the night, we tried a few different cocktails, as well.

I’m partial to a mezcal cocktail, so I really enjoyed the Little Leaf, which had mezcal, cucumber, cilantro and jalapeño. (Can you tell I like jalapeño cocktails?) I also really enjoyed the River’s Edge cocktail, which is reposado tequila with apple, ginger and truffle. The truffle was incredibly subtle, so what really shined through was a bright, citrusy note with some sharpness from the ginger.

LDV Winery Tasting Room Something I was surprised to learn on this trip is that Arizona produces wine.

And the owners of LDV Winery Tasting Room are some of the winemakers producing vino out in Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains. The land that their vineyard resides on was once inhabited by Native Americans who used it to grow corn and squash. The land is remarkable for the fact that it has never been used for producing commercial agriculture, so the vineyard has never had pesticides, herbicides or any chemicals used on it.

And I can confirm that the wine coming out of this region is really quite good. But you don’t have to take my word for it, as the winery was awarded a silver medal by the San Francisco Chronicle for its 2015 Grenache, 2015 DECADE Red Wine Blend and 2014 Petite Syrah. I sampled the 2017 Viognier, the 2015 Grenache, 2015 Syrah and the 2014 Petite Syrah. The Viognier was crispy, citrusy and refreshing; the Grenache was jammy and spiced with notes of rich dried fruits; the Syrah was a smooth blend of 96 percent Syrah and 4 percent Viognier; and the Petite Syrah tasted of dark fruits, like cherries, with an acidic kick. If you’re an oenophile, definitely stop into one of Scottsdale’s wine tasting rooms, or better yet, embark on Scottsdale’s wine trail.

juice and bitters, it was a lovely blend of sweet and smoky, and quite honestly, one of my favorite cocktails of the whole trip.

On this particular night, one of the specials was a dish we can probably call a salad with green apples, brie, walnut vinaigrette and Palo Verde honey (which was so deliciously sweet and floral, I was scraping it off the plate with my fork).

This was one of my favorite dishes of the night, as it was very flavorful, fresh and light, great with some grilled sourdough and overall a nice starter to get the palate going. From there, we had kale falafel, which tasted like fried hummus with a

The Sonoran Desert is a mystifying place. It appears to be the perfect spot to not only get away from it all but also to spend some valuable time with yourself, assessing what it might take to become all that you want to be.

yogurt-based sauce that also had kalamata olives, Aleppo pepper, radish tops and bottoms and habanero in it. Then, it was on to the spring green salad, with green beans, grapes, watermelon radishes, goat cheese and salsa verde. The dish that came next was one that surprised me. It was diced cucuzza squash with crispy croutons and topped with a fried egg. The squash was tender and slightly sweet, while the egg was salty and rich. It was a tasty juxtaposition that created a beautifully harmonious dish. We then moved on to the arctic char, which tasted very similar to salmon and was nicely grilled with some hearty beans and fragrant herbs.

We took some of their butterscotch pudding to go, and I enjoyed it as a late-night snack back at the hotel. The waiter told me this is the dessert they always have, even when they change the menu. And let me tell you, I love a pudding. This one tasted almost like burnt caramel—sweet, but deep, rich, nearly bitter, which is nice because it counters the sickly sweetness puddings can sometimes have. It was a wholly enjoyable way to end my night, and ultimately, my time in Scottsdale.

FnB On our last night in Scottsdale, we sat down for dinner at FnB—a place everyone I talked to told me they loved. The menu changes frequently to truly highlight the top local farms and culinary artisans. I started with the Peaches & Smoke cocktail. Consisting of blanco tequila, mezcal, peach liquor, honey syrup, lime WORTH.COM

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E C O N O M Y U P D AT E

Coming Off the Boil: An Update on the Economy The broad-based sharp rise in asset prices is likely to hit some speed bumps.

BY BOB DIAMOND AND LARRY KANTOR

W

hen it comes to the economy and financial markets, we have been experiencing a rising tide that has lifted all boats.

Economic growth has surged, as have prices of goods and services—that is, inflation—as well as assets of all kinds, including houses, commodities and financial assets. But this one-way steep uptrend is now at risk.

The rapid spread of the Delta COVID variant is interrupting the reopening of economies in developing countries.

Meanwhile, the surge in spending related to reopening in China and the U.S.—the two biggest economies in the world by far—is now past its peak, fiscal stimulus is fading and the Fed is likely to begin withdrawing its massive monetary accommodation before yearend. What’s more, inflation has climbed in recent months to levels not seen in decades. All of this suggests that the steady uptrend in asset prices is now on shakier ground, with a decent probability of significant corrections before year-end.

The U.S. economy was bound to slow following the reopening surge (just as China’s did). The impact of the last—and biggest—COVID stimulus package has faded. Consumer spending has slowed following the fiscalinduced March and April jumps, and housing and manufacturing activity is also coming off its torrid pace. And while additional fiscal stimulus has been proposed, a divided Congress suggests not all of it will be legislated.

More importantly, whatever is passed will fall far short of the economic impact of the massive COVID stimulus packages.

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This is not to imply that U.S. economic growth will be weak in the second half of the year. Most forecasters project GDP growth in the rest of the year to exceed 5 percent, and that doesn’t seem unreasonable. The Fed has not yet taken its foot off the gas pedal, maintaining policy rates near zero and continuing to buy $120 billion worth of bonds per month. In addition, there is still a lot of pent-up demand on the part of consumers. Households accumulated a huge amount of wealth from rising house and equity prices and saved far more than they usually do during the pandemic.

Still, the data point that everyone has their eye on is the inflation rate, which came in much higher than expected in each of the last three months.

Consumer prices in June were 5.4 percent higher than a year ago, while core prices—the focus of the Fed and considered a better measure of underlying inflation—increased 4.5 percent, amounting to the highest inflation figures in some 40 years.

Both policymakers and markets have been looking past these high inflation figures thus far, relegating them to a temporary surge associated with the reopening of the economy.

There are sound reasons for that view.

The surge has been concentrated in a narrow set of categories associated with the reopening of the economy that are expected to fade. Excluding cars, hotels and airfares, core inflation is running around 2 percent, right around the Fed’s target. Rising car prices reflect computer chip shortages and associated auto plant shutdowns that are occurring just as the reopening has increased the demand for cars. Car prices should come back down as these supply shortages get resolved. Meanwhile, the jump in hotel prices and airfares merely reflects

an unwinding of the discounts that persisted during the pandemic. More broadly, inflation hasn’t been a problem for decades, and the structural factors accounting for that—international competition, automation and AI and retail buying using the internet—all remain in place.

Even if the surge in inflation proves to be temporary, bond yields seem unusually low.

But while there are good reasons to believe that high inf lation is temporary, the issue is far from settled. Elevated global shipping costs, sharply rising input prices and supply bottlenecks (including labor shortages) suggest that high inf lation will continue over the next several months. If inf lation expectations beyond the next year or so begin to pick up and high inf lation extends beyond a narrow set of categories, markets will begin to price in sooner and more pronounced Fed tightening. That in turn would likely mean higher bond yields and a good chance of a stock market correction.

Even if the surge in inflation proves to be temporary, bond yields seem unusually low given the current environment of strong economic growth and higher inflation. Ten-year Treasury yields peaked at around 1.75 percent at the end of March—before the surge in inflation—and are now below 1.3 percent. Some commentators have attributed the drop in bond yields to concerns about economic growth, but that does not jive with the performance of the stock market, which continues to hover near record highs. To some extent, the recent drop in yields probably reflects a preponderance of short positions that have been squeezed out. And there is no question that the continued accommodative stance of the Fed has produced an abundance of liquidity that has helped drive asset prices higher across the board.

Indeed, banks are flush with deposits and have been buyers of duration.

The Fed has already effectively moved up its timeline for hiking rates and tapering its asset purchases. With high inflation and strong growth persisting for at least several more months, the Fed will probably announce a reduction in bond purchases before yearend. It would be surprising if bond yields are not higher by then.

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COLLECTIBLES

How Nostalgia and Innovation Have Made Topps Unbeatable Now, more than ever, people have the opportunity to collect in ways previously never imaginable.

BY EMILY CEGIELSKI

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Back in July, before trading card giant Topps lost exclusivity with the MLB and mutually ended its SPAC with Mudrick Capital, the company took over Citi Field for an entire evening, its logo displayed on the Mets’ jumbotron and plastered around the stadium. The air was full of excitement as 30 or so baseball card collectors filed past security and up to the VIP area for cocktails, nibbles and networking, ahead of a much-anticipated dinner.

Despite the intricately designed baseball card centerpieces and the decadent food—a gorgeously fresh Caesar salad, the option of equally mouthwatering chicken or short rib and a rich chocolatey dessert—the main stars of this meal were MLB Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Mike Piazza, who joined halfway through for an intimate Q&A session.

The event was part of Topps Transcendent Collection, one of the most exclusive baseball card collections ever produced. Priced at $25,000 and limited to 50 cases per year, each collection comes with a coveted invitation to wine and dine with baseball greats—an idea that came about as the Topps team pondered what an “ultimate product” would look like without having to take price points into consideration.

“We started talking about what the ultimate product would look like…if I opened up a box of trading cards, and my favorite player was in the box of cards,” Clay Luraschi, vice president of product development at Topps, told Worth. “We can’t do that. But how about we put an invite in there where you can meet the player. And then, this kind of like fantasy product came about…

How do you get the player even closer?

You bring the player to the fan. That’s where the concept is kind of crucial.”

Launched in 2016, Topps’ first Transcendent Collection event, which took place the next year, featured former Cubs player Kris Bryant straight off the team’s first World Series win after 108 years—and just like that, the event became a must-attend affair for baseball card collectors and fans worldwide. It was at this first Transcendent gathering that baseball card collector and CEO of Brand Vending Products Scott Jochim met his best friend.

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“It was an amazing feeling—we’re seated at the same table, we’re sharing this experience together,” Jochim explained. “Kris Bryant walks through the door, and we’re just awestruck.

We’re business owners. We’re leaders of industry, and we’re awestruck. One of the World Series winners walks through the door and we’re like, ‘Oh, wow!’ And he sits down at our table, and that bonded us. It was the most amazing thing. So, that group of people at the table, I’m still friends with, and we travel every year to events like these.”

The feelings of community, nostalgia and togetherness were running deep at this most recent Topps Transcendent event in July. After having

One of the nation’s most extensive collections of historic baseball cards was sold at auction for $21.5 million, and a frenzy of high-tech, next-gen traders seemingly turned the collectibles into commodities overnight.

been delayed due to the pandemic, attendees seemed overjoyed to be back with their buddies, sorting through packs of baseball cards and reminiscing over past sports moments.

However, despite the negative impact COVID had on in-person events, the pandemic has actually been credited with creating a boom in the trading card market. This summer, one of the nation’s most extensive collections of historic baseball cards was sold at auction for $21.5 million, and a frenzy of high-tech, next-gen traders seemingly turned the collectibles into commodities overnight.

Although many recent headlines around post-pandemic baseball card trading have indicated otherwise, correlation does not imply causation. In fact, Topps had seen an uptick well before COVID hit, according to Luraschi.

“The pandemic obviously added a different layer,” the Topps VP explained.

“A lot of people went up into their parents’ attics and down into their basements to look for their old cards.

Also, a lot of parents were looking for parent-child activities. And with the tie into sports, it made for nice entertainment while you were at home.”

“People were sports starved,” he continued. “And when you don’t have sports, you start thinking about, ‘OK. Well, when we watched sports, who were our heroes? Who did we follow?

What were the moments that we appreciated, enjoyed?’ And Topps has been all about that. That’s what we’re doing, we capture those moments.

Topps is a great tool to reconnect with your favorite moments in the past.”

And while baseball cards might be riding a bull market at the moment, they shouldn’t be considered an alternative asset, like jewelry or artwork, that will necessarily appreciate in value over time. As Investopedia puts it: “A collectible is an illiquid, taxed investment that produces no income and can lose its value if you drop it. If you are going to buy one, make sure it is one you will be happy to own forever, rather than counting on some big money sale in the future.”

“It’s also different because, depending on how the player performs, the perceived value of that trading card changes,” Luraschi said. “So, for example, if player X hits a home run, you see activity around it. And just going back to the whole [idea of] like ‘value for dollar saved’ or ‘value for just because you appreciate it.’ We don’t push anything because we encourage people to collect how they want to collect. If you just make great products that are collectable, people have a choice on how they want to collect. Like I said earlier, whether it’s a parent-child activity, just trying to collect the set, if you have your favorite card and you want to encase it and keep it in a drawer, so have you. But we want to encourage all types of collecting.”

Now, more than ever, people have the opportunity to collect in ways previously never imaginable. From collaborations with street artists to experimenting with cards that include pieces of jerseys in them, Topps has been continually innovating and stepping up its game for the past 70 years—while continuing to capture moments and connect collectors with some of their favorite memories.

“Topps allowed me to, in a sense, enjoy being an adult,” Jochim explained. “You reflect on what it was like to be a kid again. It allows me to empower, I guess, even in my toy factory, knowing that I’m making a difference. That’s exciting for me, this is fun. This is what I get to do as an adult. I get to be a kid again, and Topps allows me to do that.”

“People were sports starved. And when you don’t have sports, you start thinking about, ‘OK. Well, when we watched sports, who were our heroes? Who did we follow? What were the moments that we appreciated? And Topps has bee all about that.” —CLAY LURASCHI

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FINTECH

Continued Investor Demand: A Reflection on the Crypto Industry’s Growth and Maturity The current total value of the cryptocurrency market is approximately $2 trillion. Both institutional investors and venture capital firms have arrived and show no sign of relenting. BY GEORGE SALAPA

2021

has seen an explosion in cryptocurrency trading and a huge influx of institutional and private investment in the crypto space.

As of August 2021, venture capital funds had invested approximately $17 billion into cryptocurrency and blockchain companies, according to data from PitchBook. This is a record figure, surpassing the total figure for 2020.

In August alone, there have been several significant capital raises.

CoinDCX—the India-based cryptocurrency exchange—raised $90 million in a Series C funding round, bringing its valuation to $1.1 billion. CoinDCX is the first Indian crypto exchange to become a “unicorn,” and this funding round came just eight months after its $13.9 million Series B raise.

The Helium Network—the startup behind crypto-powered decentralized wireless networks—announced a $111 million raise in a token sale led

by Andreessen Horowitz, and digital asset trading platform FalconX also reached unicorn status, following a $210 million Series C raise at a $3.75 billion valuation.

In July 2021, FTX—the Antiguabased cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, which offers futures, leverage tokens and OTC trading—raised

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$900 million from over 60 investors.

This included venture capital firms Paradigm and Sequoia, hedge funds and the private equity group Thoma Bravo. It was the largest private equity deal in the crypto industry’s history, valuing the business at $18 billion—one of the largest rounds of financing for a digital assets startup.

In May 2021, Block.one —the Peter Thiel, Alan Howard and Louis Bacon backed blockchain software firm—pumped $9.7 billion into a new cryptocurrency exchange subsidiary called Bullish Global. Even excluding Block.one’s capital injection, there was $6.2 billion of private funding in the digital asset industry in Q2 of 2021—a 90 percent increase quarter-overquarter.

Private investors, like venture capital funds, have become particularly promiment forces in the crypto space.

Despite a turbulent market in May and June, due to increasing scrutiny from global regulators and politicians, investor demand in the sector has remained strong.

This reflects the crypto industry’s growth, mature development and unique investment opportunities.

In their infancy, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin appeared to be the antithesis of assets that institutional investors typically invested in. However, 2021 has seen more institutions diversifying their portfolios and allocating into to a wide variety of digital assets companies. The growth potential of digital assets is now universally recognized.

According to a recent Fidelity Digital Assets study, seven in 10 institutional investors expect to buy or invest in digital assets in the near future, and over half of the 1,100 participants already owned such investments.

One factor behind this increase in capital deployment could be attributed to the movements of leading asset managers. When the likes of BlackRock and Morgan Stanley Investment Management add cryptocurrencies to their balance sheet, it sparks interest amongst the wider financial community, and financial advisors and investors begin to explore ways of gaining exposure to the market.

Private investors, like venture capital funds, have become particularly prominent forces in the crypto space. Equity-type investments have set new records with 10 of the 12 largest financing rounds ever completed by firms in the crypto market occurring in 2021, totaling just under $3.9 billion.

As Xinshu Dong, a partner at venture capital fund IOSG Ventures, said: “Many see the crypto market as the one with the most growth potential, justified by a much more frictionless and transparent way of business.”

Despite regulatory debate and short-term market volatility, venture capital funds have remained unfazed. They have identified the prospect of high-risk, highrewards.

Fear of missing out (FOMO) must also be acknowledged. Venture capital funds investing early have enjoyed significant returns. The NFT trend has arguably exacerbated this sentiment. Investors see NFTs’ potential to revolutionize arts and culture—akin to how the likes of Instagram disrupted the media sector.

According to PitchBook research, Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group (DCG) was the most active U.S. investor in the crypto space. DCG invested in 111 startups. Coinbase Ventures was the second most prolific, backing 79 startups, followed by Pantera Capital with 74, Blockchain Capital with 68, Andreessen Horowitz with 58 and Polychain Capital with 51.

The current total value of the cryptocurrency market is approximately $2 trillion. Both institutional investors and venture

capital firms have arrived and show no sign of relenting with traditional allocators increasingly looking to gain exposure and bigger deals occurring.

Having successfully navigated the turbulence in May and June, the outlook for crypto markets is bullish. We expect more deals, large capital raises and continued investor demand. Our long-term outlook for the asset class remains bullish, and we expect to see new all-time highs for Bitcoin and Ethereum in the near future (Q4 ’21 – Q1’22).

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Speedboat R acing Goes Elect ric

Young Norwegian boat designer Sophi Horne’s radical design, the “RaceBird,” not only breaks the mold of what a powerboat should look like, it could also set a precedent for future through-the-water propulsion.

BY JONATHAN RUSSO

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t must be a wonderful feeling to wake up, decide to do something unique, have the ability to do it and then make it happen.

That feeling belongs to Alejandro Agag and Rodi Basso, two dreamers—and now actualizers—of the electric speed boat racing program, the E1 Series.

Their motivation? As co-CEO Basso told Worth, “We wanted to create something bringing together all aspects of powerboat racing—innovative design, an advanced battery and electric propulsion—and resulted in a major carbon footprint reduction. We also knew we had to make it exciting to watch, so we could have a global event.”

Entrepreneur Agag had already done this for motorsport; he created the successful Formula E and Extreme E series.

Basso, aside from loving the sea, is an electrical engineer. His successful F1 career saw him working with Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull Racing. So, he knows a few things about going fast.

After the vision was articulated, designing a super-swift, batterypowered boat was needed. Here, the two broke new ground by turning to young Norwegian boat designer Sophi Horne. Her radical design, the “RaceBird,” not only breaks the mold of what a powerboat should look like, it could also set a precedent for future through-the-water propulsion. Horne, who founded SeaBird Technologies, partnered with Brunello Acampora of Italy’s Victory Marine in order to “create a boat inspired by nature…specifically birds, one that would rise above the water’s surface.”

The testing and validation process was extensive, but, in the end, they have a foiling boat that will maneuver in close quarters. Since the E1 Series is going to be raced in urban waters, so viewers can see the action from the near shore, it was always crucial the boats be well controlled and aftereffects, like boat wake, be minimal. The target speed is 50 mph.

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The E1 Series is also developing the technology for recreational marine purposes and hopes to be a template for commercial uses, like ferries and transport ships. After all, the concept of less drag and lighter materials is where the entire boating world is heading. Foiling as a design feature is now part of recreational sailing…even your kid’s kite board now has foils.

All racing, however, will not be so civilized. Alongside the E1 urban series there will be, as Basso puts it, “The extreme series. We are going to take these boats to the ends of the Earth in order to remind everyone how small our planet is and the importance of taking care of it. We are going to use sport to show the impact of technology on society and the environment.”

You might be wondering how the boats will get to the Amazon, Greenland and the Middle East. Basso and Agag are going to use a mothership, the St. Helena, to transport up to

“We are going to take these boats to the ends of the Earth in order to remind everyone how small our planet is and the importance of taking care of it.” —RODI BASSO

12 boats and their teams to the far-flung locations. Once there, everything will be self-supporting, and all the other aspects of the event, like video production and mechanical support, will be too. As in other marine adventures, there will be a scientific component, with the St. Helena serving as a base for water analysis and marine biology research alongside the extreme racing. Basso added, “We want all the events, wherever they are held, to be a technology festival that helps spark a revolution in engineering of both batteries and materials.”

They are also rightly proud of the all-European content for the project. From the designer in Norway to the battery design and manufacture in Austria to the boat production in Tuscany, the technology innovation comes from and stays in the West, an unusual occurrence in this age where so much comes from Asia.

The battery supplier is Kreisel Electric. They have developed software that maximizes power output and longevity. As with cars, there are challenges with both battery features; developing new materials and software will be one of the major goals of the entire E1 Series.

“We want to catch up and hopefully surpass all the battery innovation being done on land. The marine environment is fragile, and we need to respect that.”

New partners and venues are being added. Recently, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund announced a partnership with E1.

As they transition their economy away from fossil fuels, it makes sense to both invest in E1 and hold events in their waters.

Agag, Basso and Horne have a lot of work to do. Organizing a series of global events, especially during a pandemic, is not easy. Developing cutting-edge speedboat design and using new powertrain technologies is not easy. Bringing the St. Helena and her complement of race crews, event producers and scientists is

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not easy. Does any of this daunt the team? No, they assured me. As Basso put it, “We have the desire, decades of expertise in doing this on land and a love of the sea that will allow us to overcome all challenges.”

One remaining hurdle for E1 will be to go green in the materials used in the construction of RaceBirds. Some of the most innovative yacht designers and builders are using green composites, like flax and plant-based epoxies, to further reduce their carbon footprint.

E1’s use of carbon fiber and other petroleum-based composites are going the way of the gas engine.

The exact event schedule, which is due to kick off in early 2023, will be announced soon.

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DIVERSITY

The celebrity chef and author sat down with Worth to discuss his latest cookbook, his partnership with Bombay Sapphire and what the pandemic was like for him and his restaurants.

BY MICKI WAGNER

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P H OTO B Y J A KO B L AY M A N

Marcus Samuelsson on the Importance of Highlighting Black Chefs and Culinary Traditions in America

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Q: First off, obviously we all know last year was a tough year for restaurants and the hospitality industry as a whole.

How are you and Red Rooster doing after last year, and what’s the reopening process been like for you?

A: We’re fine. It’s been very, very difficult, but I know the restaurant community, as a whole, we’re very resilient. Our customers have been amazing coming with us, like eating outside in February in New York, and I have to say thank you to the customers and our staff, who have gone to work and worked through these very difficult times, but also found new ways of being creative. I think outdoor patios and takeout and deliveries are definitely here to stay.

Red Rooster in Harlem is such an iconic restaurant. How did you grow it to become as renowned as it is now, while also still remaining relatable and approachable to so many?

Well, I think it has a lot to do with our community. Harlem is a very special community. Red Rooster wouldn’t be the same without the community citizen, but if we’ve ever done something together, it’s within the community and even what we do in our campaign, it’s all community based. Living in Harlem helped me understand how revenues should be in the community and of the community; it’s a very important part. I lived in Harlem six years before we opened the restaurant, so I understand how this iconic neighborhood works. And I think that’s helped us shape Red Rooster Harlem, but also Red Rooster Overtown in Miami.

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You were born in Ethiopia, raised in Sweden and now you live in America, so I’m curious how all of those cultures have inspired who you are as a chef?

I draw [on] and have learned from all three. Growing up in a fishing village in Sweden really shaped me a lot with my grandparents and my parents, but I had the opportunity to travel to Europe and work in Europe, and then eventually come to America, come to Harlem in New York City, so many opportunities presented themselves, and also the humility and the work ethic from Ethiopia, so I think it gives me a really fortunate window into three very different but fruitful cultures.

And at the end of the day, hospitality, it’s a people business. And all of these three places are very dear to me. But everything I do is really based on people; I couldn’t do it without the amazing team that we have.

“Living in Harlem helped me understand how revenues should be in the community and of the community.”

—MARCUS SAMUELSSON

When you became a chef, did you always have your sights set on New York City or had you been just kind of going with the flow?

You have to be very deliberate when you build a career as a chef. So, for me, the first year was about working in Switzerland, working in France, building that resume. And then eventually, it was my goal to come to New York City in America and achieve it and eventually open my own restaurant, like Red Rooster. It was always a dream of mine, and I feel like, being able to achieve it, it’s been one of the highlights of my life, and then being able to be with my family, my son and my wife, but also my extended restaurant family—it’s something that you don’t take for granted but are very appreciative of.

Your most recent cookbook, The Rise, came out last fall. How important was it for you to be able to write a book that reclaimed Black culinary traditions, especially in light of everything that’s been happening in the last year?

It was a book that we worked on for four years, and it came out at a very important time in 2020, when we were dealing with a social justice conversation in this country. And Black chefs have done the work in America for a very long time, but it maybe had not been highlighted or broadcasted enough. And you see it now with The Rise, you see it with High on the Hog on Netflix, and you start to see a representation much, much more of people of color and Black chefs, and I’m excited about this opportunity. It took a long time, but I’m excited that we’re here, and it couldn’t be done without incredible Black chefs, particularly Black women who worked in kitchens for so many years to build the foundation of American cuisine.

What do you really hope that readers take away from your book?

In order to move forward, we need to know our past, and that’s what the book is about, but also that “Black chef” is not monolithic, Black food is not monolithic. It comes from Africa, it

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arcus Samuelsson has had a busy summer. The celebrity chef and author was named the launch curator of Bombay Sapphire’s new berry-infused gin Bombay Bramble, which means he’s been busy hosting their virtual cooking class series “Bursting With Berries” with chefs Joseph Johnson, Adrienne Cheatham and Tristen Epps, as well as working with Harlem-based graffiti and contemporary artists Cey Adams and Dianne Smith to transform some billboard spaces in Harlem into works of art. Samuelsson has been hard at work not only on his partnership with Bombay Sapphire, but at the end of last year, he also opened a Miami location of his iconic Harlem restaurant, Red Rooster, and published a book he says he worked on for four years called The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food: A Cookbook.

Worth caught up with Samuelsson to discuss what 2020 was like for him and Red Rooster, the importance of understanding the impact of Black culinary traditions on American cuisine and how we can help uplift Black voices, particularly in the arts and culinary spaces.

then, through migration and immigration, changes constantly. And today, it’s one of the cornerstones of American cooking—whether it’s barbecue or whether it’s Creole food—so I do think that it’s fascinating, the impact it has on American cooking. We should celebrate and honor it.

You’re known for uplifting Black voices, particularly in the culinary and arts industries. So, what are some ways our readers could help do that too?

Looking up/following Black chefs on Instagram, looking up, “are there chefs of color in your city that you can support?”

We have a fund that we built called Black Businesses Matter Matching Fund, which has really been amazing to be able to build something nationwide for African American-led small businesses because the pandemic really hurt the BIPOC and Black

population—hit them much, much harder.

So, I think if you have that opportunity to consciously be able to support, do that.

There’s never been a more important time to support Black-owned businesses.

What are you most excited about in the coming months?

I’m excited, as are my chef friends nationwide, about opening back up. And as people are coming back to work, we’re trying to all figure out, I think, “how do I balance work life?” “Do I go back to the office the same way?” So, at least America is opening back up, as we’re getting more and more vaccines. We have missed each other, not just connecting through Zoom or so on, but socially you can tell people are excited about going back to restaurants because they want to be part of communities. I’m excited about that.

“You can tell people are excited about going back to restaurants because they want to be part of communities.

I’m excited about that.”

—MARCUS SAMUELSSON

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AC TI V I S M

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Leading Beyond Crisis: 7 Commandments of Transformational Resilient Leadership

1. They understand that every

The answers are rarely black and white, but here’s what I’ve learned about harnessing people’s passion towards purposeful work. BY GEORGE S. EVERLY JR.

2. They listen before they speak. They

“W

anted—A Leader! In every great crisis, the human heart demands a leader that incarnates its ideas, its emotions and its aims. Till such a leader appears, everything is disorder, disaster and defeat,” wrote the New York Times on April 25, 1861. The greatest representative democracy the world had ever seen sat on the verge of collapse when these words of utter desperation were written. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina had seceded from the United States of America. On April 12, South Carolinian militia fired upon the United States Army garrison at Fort Sumter, causing its surrender the following day. Two weeks later, this call for a crisis leader could be heard around the world.

In the fog of crisis, we search for guidance. We search for a “hero” who will plot a course through the storm taking us to safety. It is as true now as it was in 1861—as we remember 2020 as a year that threatened not only our physical health, but also our economic and social viability as a nation.

Leadership in the best of times is challenging. Leadership in crisis is harder still. But there is a third type of leadership that must certainly be the most challenging of all—one that seizes upon adversity, and even crisis, as an opportunity for transformation and growth. Imagine a leader who can practice transformative leadership anchored in growthpromoting resilience that propels people, organizations and even communities to greater heights than before, greater heights than perhaps imagined. The leader who can not only lead to bounce back, but also foster quantum leaps forward from the abyss of crisis is a rare person, indeed. “The moment [such a leader] takes the helm, order, promptitude and confidence follow as the necessary result,” the 1861 New York Times article continued. “When we see such results, we know that a hero leads.”

I have studied transformative leaders who not only bring us back from the abyss but also help us grow stronger than ever before. Transformational resilient leaders are leaders who can foster organizational and community growth in the wake of adversity. They guide us through the “fog of crisis” with the promise of a better future. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies wrote that highly effective leaders can increase resilience to stressful conditions and may even lead to the creation of an entire culture of resilience that radiates to all aspects of the organization, and perhaps the community, as well.

My studies reveal these transformative leaders seem to practice what I refer to as the “seven commandments” of transformative leadership, which helps them not only navigate in the fog of crisis but also fosters growth beyond the crisis.

aggregation of people—whether organizations or communities—possesses two ongoing dynamic needs, which are always engaged and operational: First, physical and financial needs, and second, psychological needs. Leaders must manage both. If the leader fails to attend to both needs, those who follow will feel their needs have been neglected. In organizational leadership, such neglect leads to poor morale. In politics, such neglect leads to political failure.

listen with the intention of hearing, not merely responding. They have the courage to hear that which dismays others.

3. They are highly visible. Visibility matters. It’s hard to be an “invisible” leader. When in the office, they practice leadership by walking around. Visibility fosters reassurance.

4. They practice what they preach. People trust actions not words. Transformative crisis leaders understand they need to be role models. They cannot violate their own policies and mandates. To do so breeds distrust.

5. They understand there is no such

thing as an information vacuum. If the leader is not communicating truthfully, transparently and in a timely manner, they will lose trust and control.

6. They have an optimistic plan or

vision for not only surviving but also for prospering from adversity. They see beyond the constraints that limit others.

7. They act decisively. They have the

courage to act and even fail, understanding that failure can fuel subsequent success.

History and prudent speculation tell us challenges are coming for which the wise must be prepared. There will be another pandemic likely in 10 to 12 years, natural disasters are increasing in number and intensity, the financial landscape must undergo a dramatic change to address unprecedented deficit spending and social and political upheaval is likely. When choosing our current leaders and training our future leaders, it seems wise to emphasize these aforementioned qualities as they can guide us to not only survival but also successes that we never believed possible.

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Make Your Office Your Haven: How to Get Your Employees Excited About Coming Back to the Office Not only will your team greatly value a creative, inspiring workplace, but the physical environment you foster promotes real connection, team collaboration and a vibrant company culture. BY JESSICA ZWEIG

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We’ve experienced this firsthand at my company, SimplyBe. Agency. As our offices opened officially in April, we’ve spent the last few months designing our space more intentionally than ever in order to make the SimplyBe. HQ the most welcoming and creative space it can be.

Here are six ways to take your space to the next level as we return to an in-office environment.

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or the past year, businesses have operated mainly remotely, or in a hybrid fashion. Work from home (or WFH) became the new norm. With most businesses continuing to confidently operate in a WFH model, you might be asking yourself, “Why even come back to the office at all if we’ve proven we can survive working remotely?”

2020 was about surviving. But with the world opening back up, we can get back to focusing on thriving, and I firmly believe that live and in-person connection, collaboration and creation is the way to do that.

For many companies, especially those in creative, innovative and startup industries, having an office space isn’t a nice-to-have: it’s a must-have. Not only will your team greatly value a creative, inspiring workplace, but the physical environment you foster promotes real connection, team collaboration and a vibrant company culture.

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1. Encourage Collaboration With a Variety of Intentional Spaces Create niches and pockets throughout your office that lend themselves to various moods. It’s no longer enough to simply have a conference room and some cubicles. Here’s my rule of thumb—your office should contain different nooks that lend themselves to different needs and working styles.

Every employee has their own desk, and we have two classic conference rooms, but we also have plenty of lounge and sitting areas, so our team members can claim a space as their own for small

group working sessions or meetings.

Shaking up your environment allows employees to flow through the office to match their needs throughout the day.

2. Fuel Up With Coffee, Snacks and Music If you’re taking your workplace too seriously, you’re doing it wrong. Wouldn’t it feel so much better to step into your office with light tropical house music playing softly in the background and the smell of fresh coffee brewing?

Food is fuel. That’s why the SimplyBe. office is loaded up with organic, highly nutritional snacks that can be accessed at all hours of the day. And our office wouldn’t be complete without an ample supply of caffeine and La Croix to keep us focused and hydrated.

3. Practice Mindfulness and Balance With a Zen Den This space is probably the most coveted of any nook in our office. Walk into the smell of candles and incense and choose from an abundance of bean bags, pillows, crystals and various card decks to pull from.

This room doubles as a quiet space to plug in and work away as well as a space our team members go to disconnect from work for a moment. It’s so important to have a space that’s conducive to taking breaks and promoting balance throughout the workday.

also happens to be where your best work comes from.

To promote flow states in our office, we’ve created spaces that each employee can claim as their own. You’ve already heard about the Zen Den, but we also have a spacious lobby, built-in phone booths, multiple sitting areas and two conference rooms that are available to any team member. And in case you were wondering, yes, each room is named after a type of crystal and is available for reservation to all members of the team.

6. Catalyzing Creativity With Crystals, Art and Books Let your brand personality shine through in your office interior. In our office, the walls double as working real estate. We’ve turned some of our walls into white boards that allow us to get messy in order to unlock our clients’ brands.

The walls that we don’t write on are filled with beautiful and unique art from all over the world collected from my travels, as well as gorgeous pieces from local artists and shops like Minted.com.

Bookshelves line the walls in our main office space and are stacked to the brim (in rainbow order, no less) with some of our office favorites like Be. by yours truly,

Traction by Gino Wickman, Radical Candor by Kim Scott and The Four Tendencies

by Gretchen Rubin.

And of course, crystals increase the positive energy of any space, and you’ll find one (or a few) intentionally set in every room in our 5,000-square-foot lofted office space. Provide your team with views and tools that empower and inspire.

Case in Point If I’ve realized anything over the past year, it’s that you simply can’t replace the magic of creative spaces. WFH doesn’t come close to capturing the team connections that happen over coffee in the kitchen, the inspiration that hits when you notice a beautiful piece of art or the collaborative working sessions and writing all over the walls that birth great ideas.

One of the best business decisions you can make is to invest in your people. And you can facilitate that through fostering a space that they love and are excited to come to each and every day. Create spaces that promote collaboration and growth.

Your employees will thank you for it, your clients will be better served for it and your business will grow from it.

4. Embrace Growth and Liveliness With Plant Friends Office or jungle? We like our plants at SimplyBe. HQ. And it’s not just for looks— having plants in the workplace has been proven to promote productivity. Plants help to reduce stress by elevating the spirit, and they increase productivity levels by 15 percent, according to a study by the University of Exeter.

Consider investing in a few succulents and floor plants to breathe some fresh air (literally) into your office, and be ready to reap the benefits.

5. Encourage Flow and Productivity With Hideout Spaces Being in a “flow state” is an extremely underrated concept in the work world.

Flow is a state of being when a person becomes fully immersed in an activity. Flow

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Whiskey Is No Longer ‘a Man’s Drink’ Four distinguished women in the whiskey and brandy industry discuss how the spirit is attracting a more diverse consumer than ever before—and drawing more women into the industry. BY MICKI WAGNER

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ince the dawn of whiskey-drinking, the beloved brown spirit has been heralded as a “man’s drink.” But the world is changing in more ways than one these days, and the consumption of spirits is a part of that. With women representing almost 30 percent of whiskey drinkers in the U.S. (up from 15 percent in the 1990s) and being responsible for up to 70 percent of alcohol purchasing decisions for the home, I decided to ask some of the industry’s top distillers and executives why this stigma still surrounds whiskey. According to Elizabeth McCall, assistant master distiller at Woodford Reserve, the stereotype has historic roots.

“Well, if you go back historically, women weren’t even accepted in bars. If you go back far enough, it’s like women, you don’t drink; if you do drink, you have a light cocktail, but never to get drunk—you should never be any of those things and you certainly shouldn’t go to the bar and you certainly shouldn’t go to a bar by yourself,” McCall says. “And just over time, women, we have evolved. I mean look at where we are just in the workplace.

We have come so far. And now, women are ruling the bars, and we are the ones asking for the whiskey and doing all of that. So, it really has deep roots in, I think, just female etiquette and what’s acceptable, and we’re changing that every single day. I mean we have women, not only in this industry, but leading this industry. I’m meeting our distillery director of both the Woodford Reserve distillery and the Old Forester distillery, and it’s a woman, so we’re leading the industry everywhere and it’s just taken time to see that evolve and become more accessible on the social side of things…And then, women’s palates are so exquisite and men’s are really, really fantastic, too, but I do think that there’s something to be said that women do have a very refined pal-

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ate, so [whiskey is] good for that.”

Rita Hansen, head distiller at E. & J. Gallo Spirits, says that, in part, this stigma of whiskey and comparable liquors being labeled a “man’s drink” has to do with the way it was and sometimes still is marketed.

“For years, the marketing showed a lot of men doing that consumption, and I think that’s changed,” Hansen says. “I think the stereotype really oversimplified the idea that men drink bourbon and brandy, and women drink rosés. But it really is about the consumer, and all consumers want a consistent and quality product regardless of what the category is. And I think everybody has their own specific taste profile and preferences. I also think the growth and explosion of the mixology category, or for mixologists in general, [has] people understand[ing] more about how to mix brown spirits…

“For years, the marketing showed a lot of men doing that consumption, and I think that has changed.” —RITA HANSEN

And I think that it opens the category up and makes it more approachable for both men and women. And I think really that’s one of the opportunities out there, right? Twenty years ago, you didn’t get to Google online how to make a Brandy Crusta or a brandy cocktail. I think it was a little bit intimidating, and I think that really has opened it up. There are so many great brandies, so many great bourbons out there with these different profiles.

And as consumers find out what profiles they like, they go back to those brands that offer that consistent quality and that profile for them.”

Samantha Leotta, brand director of Americas for The Macallan, echoes this sentiment, adding that for a long time, the brown liquor category wasn’t the most approachable for many women.

“The category itself is very intimidating, to be quite honest, probably like wine is. And I think it’s intimidating, not just for women, but also for younger and more diverse audiences,” Leotta says. “And now, I think women make up almost over 30 percent of whiskey drinkers in the U.S alone, and that number continues to grow.”

And with more women consuming whiskey, there are also more women entering the industry.

“I’ve seen a huge influx of women in the industry,” Hansen told Worth.

“And the team that I work on, when I first started, I was not the first woman in the department. There have been a few before. But over the last 10 years, I mean there’s been times in the department where we’ve been made up of 50 percent women, and it changes, as does every department. So, I really see it from our perspective here—there’s a lot of women that really are interested in distillation. I’ve also met a lot of women that own or manage craft distilleries.

I know that there’s that image that it is a male-dominated industry, but I’ve found a lot of women partners out there that I maybe wouldn’t have initially expected. So, I don’t know that I see it as a

Elizabeth McCall

roadblock, I’ve been given some amazing opportunities to be a part of the growth and the knowledge-building of California brandy…We’ve also seen a lot more of an influx of women in our intern program.”

As is true of many male-dominated industries, the more women see themselves represented, the more other women will feel comfortable to enter, too, along with being able to see earlier in life that this is a career they could have.

“I think it’s important for other women to see them in these roles and know that they can enter the whiskey industry professionally,” Leotta says. “From a consumer perspective, I think that’s really helped to lead more women and bash those earlier perceptions that it is meant to be a man’s drink—and an older man’s drink at that.”

Samantha Leotta

Dr. Rachel Barrie, a master blender at BenRiach and the first woman to ever be awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science in whiskey from the University of Edinburgh, says part of the reason women historically might not have wanted to drink whiskey was due to the fact that most were blended whiskeys, which can offer a more bitter flavor than single malt whiskeys.

“If you go [back], especially in the U.S., to the latter part of the 20th century, it was mostly blended scotch, so you know Johnnie Walker or Chivas or whatever, and it was blended scotch, and blended scotch almost has a bitterness to it, and it’s probably not as interesting because it doesn’t have the richness of dimensions, and it’s not as food-y as how you would talk about it,” Barrie says. “It’s difficult to kind of put your finger on it, but it’s not the same richness. The single malt really does WORTH.COM

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Rita Hansen

Dr. Rachel Barrie

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that. And so, I think women might be put off more by the blended scotch side, which is a bit harder, harsher, you know, three-year-old blends, harsher notes—not as welldeveloped or as rich flavors.”

Barrie likens where whiskey is now to the wine industry in the ‘80s in Scotland, which became much more complex because of the many different varieties of wine that became available on the market. She points out that women really took to wine then because there was more to explore, making it more accessible for more women to find a wine that suited their palates.

“I think we’re following the path of…I suppose…the New World wines that people understand more about, and really breaking down the barriers,” Barrie says. “Now, you know, we have this transparency and this openness, this welcoming, as well as flavors that I think a lot of people will enjoy. We’re really opening the doors now. And I think that’s why, and especially through now, you know connectivity on the internet, I think, has been very empowering for women. I think we can engage more than ever before; I think the pandemic—it’s been terrible—one silver lining is this connectivity and sharing of taste…

We’ve got this level of cerebral connectivity to the internet that I think is really empowering and is breaking down the barriers, very much so, and enabling the openness of communication to share the beauty of the world of flavor—be it food, be it wine, be it beautiful Speyside single malt and all the dimensions there are that really enrich our lives.”

So the question still remains, how do these women think we can power forward to debunk this myth that whiskey, and spirits like it, are a “man’s drink”?

“I think that by continuing to have conversations like we’re having right now…getting the word out there that women are driving the

whiskey category and kind of keep on reiterating and sharing that message so that people build cognitive awareness of the fact that it is no longer just a man’s drink, that women are drinking whiskey,” McCall says. “And I think that you’ll see five years from now, it starts to drop off as being this oddity and it’s more commonplace. It’s just like going out and having a beer, where men and women enjoy beers, men and women enjoy whiskey, and it’s not an odd thing, but I think it just starts with these conversations and building awareness of it.”

Hansen agrees: “I think we keep doing what we’re doing, as there’s more female distillers out there, as there’s more media presence. We keep talking about it too, right?

Just like for any other category in the area in which you want to enact and drive change…But I see even the marketing side, I mean there are a lot more [ads]—whether it’s print ads, whether it’s television—where they’re showcasing from a brand perspective, either the women that are behind the brand or they are showing women consuming it. And I think working on both sides as a business and continuing to network and develop

“We’ve made great strides as an industry. There’s still a lot of work to be done within the industry, but also from a consumption standpoint.”

—SAMANTHA LEOTTA

that next generation of female distillers…I think that that’s really opened people’s eyes when you see these brands and products represented with both men and women.

So, I think we’re heading in the right direction for sure…I’m really excited as I see more and more women.”

Leotta’s answer to this question echoes her colleagues’ sentiments.

“I think we continue on this path,” Leotta says. “We’ve made great strides as an industry. There’s still a lot of work to be done within the industry, but also from a consumption standpoint. I think it’s just spreading the word and making it accessible…making the information available.”

As for Barrie, she says that it is up to us, as women, to have the confidence to discover what we like as consumers and make room for ourselves at the often male-dominated table.

“I think we just open people’s minds. I think it’s for us, as women, to be curious, to be open-minded, to explore. You know, we want to discover the world of flavor as much as anyone else, so it is for us to be curious and to be courageous, as well, and be bold, have confidence—it’s your life. Have confidence in what we like, and have the courage to be part of it, and say what we think. I think that is the key. The opportunities now are huge for communication because [of the] internet,” Barrie says. “There’s so, so many forums for whiskey…When you start to look into it, it’s probably the one spirit that just connects so many people in the world, I would say. It’s the richness and the diversity, it’s huge—probably because whiskey itself is the most diverse spirit in the world. So, it should bring in a very diverse range of consumers, the nature of whiskey celebrates that. I think we just have to keep influencing the future. You know, the typical, ‘be invited to the table, and if they don’t invite you to the table, invite yourself to the table.’”

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The Berkshires Are Calling—And They Say Come Out and Play The region’s vaunted cultural entities are all open for business, as are the inns, the hotels, the restaurants, the golf courses, the whitewater rafting, the museums and all the other activities that make the Berkshires lovely and unique. BY MICHAEL LEVIN

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he Berkshires, those gently nestled hills in Western Massachusetts, have a message for post-pandemic America: Come out and play.

The region’s vaunted cultural entities are all open for business, as are the inns, the hotels, the restaurants, the golf courses, the whitewater rafting, the museums and all the other activities that make the Berkshires lovely and unique.

Audiences for places like Jacob’s Pillow, America’s oldest summer dance festival, and Tanglewood, for generations the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, are back in full force. The masks are off and the smiles are on, as great performers take to the stages and happy audiences get essential parts of their lives back.

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For true culture vultures, you can stack one outstanding aesthetic experience on top of the next, if you so desire, or you can enjoy a more leisurely stroll through the music, dance and art that the towns of Lenox, Lee, Becket and Stockbridge offer. My wife and I took a more aggressive approach on a recent Thursday night and did Jacob’s Pillow and Tanglewood back-to-back.

Here are some of the highlights.

Jacob’s Pillow offers indoor and outdoor performances. The indoor performance space is currently undergoing renovations, but no worries, because the outdoor stage is about as spectacular a setting for the performing arts as exists on earth. Audiences sit on comfortable, socially distanced benches for two or four in an intimate setting with perfect sightlines to the stage.

The stage itself is a large, mounted platform with a backdrop consisting of the Berkshire hills in all their afternoon or early evening glory. It must be just as much of a thrill for the perform-

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LIFESTYLE

ers to be working outside as it is for the audience. Where else do you get to dance in front of a highly discerning crowd of balletomanes while soaking up the sunshine of a New England summer afternoon?

We saw the Ballet Hispánico perform, and they did not disappoint. The group has been a fixture at Jacob’s Pillow for half a century and, this time around, included a number that commented on Latinx imagery in West Side Story. The message: There’s more to our dancing and our culture than what was portrayed in the iconic film.

That’s an example of what you find at Jacob’s Pillow. Groups from around the world with highly original perspectives and talents, carefully curated by a discerning staff. If you love dance, you can’t go wrong at Jacob’s Pillow.

Once the show was over, we leapt in our humble Honda Accord and joined the Tesla and Lexus caravan heading for that other great Berkshires institution, Tanglewood. If you’ve never been, Tanglewood consists of an indoor performance space, the Shed, with vast indoor seating, and opens out to a massive lawn, where you can picnic, play frisbee and generally cavort until the music starts.

Tanglewood features both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Festival Chorus (of which, I am a proud alum), as well as popular performers including, in any given year, James Taylor, Diana Ross and Arlo Guthrie.

On our Thursday night cultural double-header, we saw something rather unusual. BSO music director Andris Nelsons led a master class on conducting, with an orchestra composed (no pun intended) of high-level music students attending Boston University Tanglewood Institute.

A young British conductor put his youthful charges through a Beethoven overture, under Maestro Nelsons’ watchful eye. Once they got through the whole piece, which ran about 12 minutes, Nelsons stepped up and coached both the conductor and the orchestra on new and deeper ways to think about the piece.

If you’ve ever wondered what an orchestra conductor does, then you definitely want to attend a master class

in conducting like the one at Tanglewood. Nelsons has an extraordinary depth of feeling for music; it’s not just the notes, it’s the story that the music is telling. Even if the audience doesn’t know the story, they will certainly feel the emotional impact of an orchestra that is privy to the emotions with which the composer originally imbued the work. A great conductor, therefore, can convey to the orchestra, in words and gestures, the emotions the music is intended to evince, and then the orchestra can translate those feelings for the listeners.

That’s a long way of saying that Nelsons showed the conductor how to conduct with comments like, “you don’t need so much geography,” meaning, “keep your hand gestures smaller,” to issues involving volume, pace, communication within different sections of the orchestra and other musical issues.

Nelsons cited Braveheart as a cultural reference that everyone in the orchestra could understand.

There’s something for everyone in the Berkshires, and it’s all there waiting for you right now.

The short of it is: Whether you go to Tanglewood for their traditional season-ending Beethoven’s 9th performance, for a popular artist like James Taylor or for an intimate evening watching aspiring orchestral musicians and conductors learn how to up their game, you will always come away richer for the time invested.

There’s something for everyone in the Berkshires, and it’s all there waiting for you right now. No more delaying. So, enjoy the winding roads, hiking trails and cultural attractions in the Berkshires before the leaves start to turn.

Shakespeare wasn’t kidding when he wrote that summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

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20 QUESTIONS

by Anita Kopacz. I recently moved to Miami Beach into a condo at the ocean. While many come to Miami for parties and festivities, my move has created a strong connection with the water and spiritual/ancestral energy of the water. Shallow Waters is the story of the Yoruba deity Yemaya. She is the spirit of the divine feminine and goddess of the sea often portrayed in the image of a mermaid.

02. What’s your favorite way to give?

Global spiritual leader, poet, peace activist and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh teaches of unconditional presence. In addition to all of the monetary or organizational resources I can give, my favorite way of giving is to be fully present for causes and people wherever they are in life.

Marcus Glover There are many passionate people in this world, but Marcus Glover is not only passionate; he’s doing something with it.

Throughout his career, he’s worn the hats of CMO to will.i.am, executive producer of The Beautiful Game, advisor within WeWork Labs, founder and CEO of M. Glover Capital and now managing partner of Lockstep Ventures, a VC firm helping Black entrepreneurs make their dreams a reality, while also addressing the issues that contribute to racial inequality through their venture capital. Worth caught up with Glover to find out all about his favorite cities, his investment philosophy, what worth beyond wealth means to him and more.

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03. Your favorite cities? Dakar and Marrakesh.

04. What do you love about them? Each has a rich palette of color, texture, taste, sight, sound, smell. They are African and draw upon a multi-sensory presentation of elegance and decadence.

05. How many days a year do you travel?

I divide my time between New York and Miami, with additional travel for work, so about over half of my year is spent traveling.

06. Do you fly private or commercial?

Commercial. Although I am invested in a minority-owned private aviation company called Jet It.

07. Other than a phone or computer,

what do you never travel without? A diary/ journal, mala beads and energy bars. Lately I cannot get enough of NOMZ pistachio bites.

08. What is your investment

philosophy? I am an impact investor with a strategy focusing on companies in social enterprise. Specifically, I invest in companies who endeavor to address areas of racial disparities, including health, education, wealth, justice and anti-recidivism.

09. What does “worth beyond wealth”

mean to you? I often remind people that the overwhelming majority of people will live in some way for at least two generations after they’ve taken their last breath on Earth.

Maybe it is being remembered by close family members, children and grandchildren; maybe through a good deed performed for a community. The point is nearly everyone has an opportunity to build a legacy. While

building financial wealth is an admirable pursuit, worth beyond wealth is both harder and easier. Easier in the sense that the majority of people can build a legacy. Harder in the sense that so few actually guide their legacy intentionally.

10. What do you wish more people

invested their time and/or money in?

Creating more equality. Society casts people aside. I wish we would invest greater efforts to making whole those who are marginalized in society.

11. What advice would you give to a

younger you? People say “Life is short.” Not true, life is long, so pace yourself. Make the investment into your health—mind, body and spirit. From there, you can accomplish anything you want to in the world.

12. Drink of choice? Quad espresso.

13. Favorite artist? Miles Davis. Miles

approached sound with color, texture and shape, the way a fine artist approaches the canvas.

14. The most difficult part of being a

founder? Oftentimes being a founder is being in the business of innovating something that doesn’t exist. The challenging part of being a founder is getting people to buy into a vision of something that hasn’t been created yet.

Peter Thiel described it as the business of zero to one, nothing to something.

15. Favorite movie? The Pixar movie Soul.

I was a jazz performance major in college and had dreams of pursuing a career as a professional jazz musician. This main character in the movie felt very familiar to me.

16. What’s at the top of your bucket list?

Traveling the world with my kids.

17. What keeps you awake at night? When I don’t take my minerals, Alkamind Mineral Sleep Supplement.

18. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome? Self doubt.

19. What do you deny yourself? Ice cream and chocolate chip cookies.

20. How would you like to be

remembered? I want to continue to create a legacy of service to others to be carried forward in the works of my children.

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y LY N D O N H AY E S

01. What are you reading? Shallow Waters

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