Issuu

T HE LI F E. T H E STYL E. THE EXPER IENCE.

T HE A RT O F LI V IN G W ELL WWW.INFLUENTIAL-MAGAZINE.COM NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2026

THE QUIET FLEX WHY FINANCIAL CONFIDENCE MAY BE THE ULTIMATE LUXURY

KEEP WHAT MATTERS

WILLIAM T. JACKSON CLOSING 2026 WITH CLARITY, CURIOSITY & INTENTION

Choose

Well. A MORE INTENTIONAL WAY FORWARD.

WHAT DESERVES TO FOLLOW US INTO THE YEAR AHEAD

THE PLACES CALLING US IN 2027 FIVE JOURNEYS WORTH TAKING

PEOPLE TO KNOW NOW SANDRA HUCKER AND FALENCIA FRAZIER, MBA

EDITORIAL INSIGHTS

ABOUT INFLUENTIAL MAGAZINE

nFluential Magazine delivers exceptional content to a sophisticated audience of educated, affluent, and forwardthinking individuals who embrace the art of living well. Our readers are not only upwardly mobile but also deeply engaged in the pursuit of inspiration, innovation, and personal growth.

InFluential Magazine establishes itself as the premier and trusted source for trends that impact the way we live, dream, and distinguish our world. Our content not only reflects what’s current but also provides a window into what’s next, empowering our audience to navigate life with confidence and creativity.

As a digital media platform, InFluential Magazine captures the pulse of emerging trends poised to shape our world. By showcasing avant-garde leaders and cultural innovators, we explore ideas and movements that inspire both personal and professional transformation. Our foundation is built upon identifying and celebrating key elements that define cultural relevance, influence, and positive impact.

Our readership is diverse, globally minded, and deeply connected to their local communities. With a strong sense of self and a belief in their future potential, they represent the aspirational ethos of the magazine. They seek a captivating mix of editorial content, featuring the most interesting people, culture, fashion, style, and health-related insights.

Through insightful storytelling and cuttingedge perspectives,

OUR MISSION To be the global authority and trusted voice on emerging trends, inspiring our readers to live boldly, dream boundlessly, and shape their world with distinction, creativity, and purpose. OUR VOICE Rooted in trust, fueled by inspiration, and driven to influence. InFluential Magazine speaks directly to dreamers, doers, and innovators, offering content that uplifts, informs, and ignites meaningful change.

FOUNDER & CHIEF

With each issue, InFluential Magazine continues to elevate the art of living well, offering trusted, forwardthinking content that informs, inspires, and empowers.

BUSINESS OFFICER William T. Jackson, ABA, B.Acy., MBA, 2018 Folio: 100 Honoree, ForbesBLK Member Round Rock, Texas CO-FOUNDER Sandra Rascon, ME Corpus Christi, Texas

FLUENTIAL NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2026

THE INFLUENTIAL DIFFERENCE With a sharp focus on lifestyle interests that matter most, InFluential Magazine stands as a beacon of trusted insight. We curate trends that not only inspire our readers to live boldly, and dream expansively but also empower them to distinguish their world with creativity, purpose, and flair.

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EDITORIAL TEAM Editor-in-Chief William T. Jackson, ABA, B.Acy., MBA, 2018 Folio: 100 Honoree, ForbesBLK Member Contributing Writers William T. Jackson, ABA, B.Acy., MBA, 2018 Folio: 100 Honoree, ForbesBLK Member InFluential Magazine Editorial Team ART & PRODUCTION Creative Services Argenis Gudino / Jose Luis Venegas Quintero Contributing Photographers Colombia Moda All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the Founder & Chief Business Officer. All the rights of the artwork and photography belong to the Founder & Chief Business Officer. InFluential Magazine is Round Rock, Texas owned and operated.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2026

FLUENTIAL

EDITORIAL INSIGHTS

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

CONTACT INFORMATION Advertising Opportunities For advertising inquiries, email us at influentialmagazine roundrocktx@gmail.com. Public Relations For media or partnership inquiries, mail us at the address below.

to accommodate as many voices as possible in each issue. Submissions may be edited for clarity, grammar, and length, ensuring your message aligns seamlessly with the overall flow of our publication. Rest assured, our goal is to preserve the essence and intent of your message.

General Information For general inquiries, mail us at the address below.

e value deeply the voices and perspectives of our readers, as they are the heart of InFluential Magazine. Your thoughts, feedback, and ideas help shape the dynamic dialogue that defines our publication. Whether you wish to share reflections on a featured article, insights on emerging trends, or your personal experiences inspired by our content, we welcome your contributions.

To ensure your letter receives full consideration, please include the following: • Full Name: As a testament to the authenticity of your submission. • Daytime Phone Number: For clarification purposes, if needed. • Mailing Address: To maintain proper records and facilitate correspondence. Please limit your letters to 300 words, allowing us

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Mailing Address: InFluential Magazine P.O. Box 1811 Round Rock, Texas 78680

By submitting a letter, you become part of a larger conversation, one that celebrates the art of living well and fosters meaningful connections among our community of readers. Selected letters will be featured in future issues, highlighting the diverse and inspiring viewpoints that make InFluential Magazine unique. We look forward to hearing from you and thank you for contributing to the vibrant dialogue that drives our mission forward.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

his issue of InFluential Magazine was proudly envisioned, crafted, and brought to life in Round Rock, Texas, a vibrant city that embodies creativity, innovation, and community spirit. Rooted in local pride yet soaring with global ambition, this publication reflects a harmonious blend of regional charm and worldwide influence.

We extend heartfelt gratitude to our readers for their unwavering support and enthusiasm. Your passion fuels our mission to deliver content that informs, empowers, and elevates. Together, we continue to shape a world where innovation meets inspiration, and where dreams are not just imagined but realized.

Every page of this issue celebrates the art of living well through a lens that transcends borders and cultures. It’s a tribute to the visionaries, writers, designers, and contributors who inspire us to explore new ideas, embrace fresh perspectives, and redefine what it means to live boldly and exceptionally.

This issue stands as a testament to the transformative power of storytelling and the enduring pursuit of excellence. With every issue, we reaffirm our commitment to being your trusted source for trends, insights, and ideas that shape the way we live, dream, and distinguish our world.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2026

FLUENTIAL

CONTENTS

106

THE PERSPECTIVE

THE INFLUENTIAL LIFE

We Are Not Starting Over, We Are Continuing, Wiser

The Art of Staying In

30 | 24 |

50 | 54 |

30 |

The Quiet Flex Why Financial Confidence May Be the Ultimate Luxury

What’s Next Next, Without the Hype

The Places Calling Us in 2027

108

The New Luxury at Home

THE COLLECTIVE

The Table We Want Now

Sandra Hucker The Art of Showing Up

Keep What Matters

34 |

The People Who Get Access

60 | 68 | 74 | 78 |

What Are You Drinking?

110 |

Feel Good. Live Well

Falencia Frazier, MBA Still Becoming

The InFluential Gift Guide

The Right Kind of Attention

84 | 88 |

106 |

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114 |

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120

POWER MOVES

THE INFLUENTIAL EDIT

Never Stop Learning

A Brotherhood of Style

120 |

40 | 94 |

Puertas Adentro SS27 by La Petite Mort

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2026 NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2026

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A NOTE TO YOU FROM OUR PUBLISHER

There is something about the closing weeks of a year that invites us to look in both directions. We look back at the months behind us and remember the plans we made, the surprises we never anticipated, the people who entered our lives, the doors that opened and, yes, the ones that closed. We remember the moments that made us laugh, the experiences that stretched us and the quiet victories that may never appear on a résumé, social media post or year-end list of accomplishments, but mattered deeply nonetheless. For each of us, 2026 has been its own story. Some chapters unfolded exactly as we hoped. Others required us to adjust, reconsider and occasionally begin again. There were things worth celebrating and lessons we probably would not have volunteered to learn. Yet here we are. Wiser in some ways. More certain about some things and wonderfully uncertain about others. Still curious. Still becoming. That is worth celebrating. As I reflect on this year, I am reminded that a meaningful life is not measured solely by how much we accomplish. It is also found in the people we love, the places that awaken something within us, the conversations that change our perspective, the courage to reconsider an old assumption and the ability to recognize something good while we are actually living it. Perhaps that is one of the great gifts of looking back: perspective. We can appreciate how far we have traveled without pretending the journey was effortless. We can be grateful for what served us and still acknowledge what no longer does. We can carry the lessons without carrying every disappointment. And we can enter a new year without demanding that it somehow erase the one before it.

I hope 2027 brings unexpected invitations, fascinating people and places you have never seen. I hope there are meals that last longer than planned, conversations you wish would never end and opportunities that make you slightly nervous because they ask something new of you. I hope you discover music you cannot stop playing, ideas that challenge what you thought you knew and reasons to laugh loudly and often. I hope you take care of yourself, not simply so you can accomplish more, but so you can enjoy more. I hope you protect your peace without closing yourself off from possibility. I hope you spend wisely, travel curiously, love generously, learn continuously and make room for the beautiful things that cannot be scheduled. And when choices present themselves, as they inevitably will, I hope you choose what moves you toward a life that feels increasingly like your own. That is the spirit behind this final issue of 2026. Throughout these pages, we celebrate living with intention while remaining open to discovery. We look at where we have been, consider what matters now and turn our attention toward what might be waiting just beyond the horizon. To everyone who has read, shared, contributed to, supported or simply spent a few quiet moments with InFluential Magazine this year, thank you. Your presence allows us to continue creating something we believe matters. So, as we close 2026, let us do so with gratitude, not because everything was perfect, but because we were here to experience it. And as 2027 approaches, let us meet it with open minds, open hearts and a little excitement about all we do not yet know. There are new places to go. New people to meet. New things to learn. New reasons to gather. New opportunities to discover.

We are not starting over. We are continuing.

The story continues.

And there is so much to look forward to.

And I have a feeling there are some very good pages ahead. l

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William T. Jackson, ABA, B.Acy., MBA Publisher & Editor in Chief, InFluential Magazine

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THE PERSPECTIVE FEATURE

We Are Continuing, CARRYING THE LESSONS WITHOUT Wiser. CARRYING ALL THE WEIGHT

THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THE END OF A YEAR THAT ENCOURAGES US TO SPEAK IN ABSOLUTES. WE CLOSE CHAPTERS. WE DECLARE FRESH STARTS. WE MAKE LISTS OF WHAT WE ARE LEAVING BEHIND AND PROMISES ABOUT WHO WE INTEND TO BECOME WHEN THE CALENDAR TURNS. 18

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t midnight, one year disappears from the page and another takes its place, and for a moment we imagine that life might be just as easily divided. But life does not work that way. We do not arrive at January 1 untouched by everything that came before it. We bring the conversations, decisions, disappointments, discoveries and victories with us. We carry the people who showed up when we needed them and, sometimes, the quiet realization that certain relationships no longer occupy the place they once did.

nWRITTEN BY WILLIAM T. JACKSON, ABA, B.ACY.,

MBA, 2018 FOLIO: 100 HONOREE, FORBESBLK MEMBER

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THE PERSPECTIVE FEATURE

Every year leaves evidence. Some of it is easy to celebrate: the goal reached, the door that finally opened, the journey we had promised ourselves we would take, the idea that moved from conversation to reality. Other evidence is less photogenic: the plan that failed, the opportunity that never materialized, the money we should not have spent, the conversation we avoided too long, the risk that did not reward us as expected. Wisdom may begin when we stop requiring every experience to become either a triumph or a tragedy before we can learn from it. Some things simply teach us.

What the Year Knew Before We Did

And, if we are fortunate, we learn that there are pleasures we should stop postponing. Use the good glasses. Wear the beautiful thing. Take the photograph. Order dessert. Play the music louder. Make the reservation. Take the trip when life and finances allow it. Tell people what they mean to you while they are still here to hear it. We can spend so much time preparing for life that we occasionally forget to participate in it.

Carry the Lesson, Not the Weight Continuing does not mean carrying everything forward. Some burdens have completed their usefulness: old resentment,

There are lessons we understand only after we have lived long enough to recognize the pattern.

We learn that not every closed door was a loss and that being busy and moving forward are not necessarily the same thing. We learn that access to us should not be automatic simply because someone has known us for a long time, and that ambition can belong in a beautiful life without being allowed to consume it. We discover that peace is not the absence of responsibility; it is the clarity to know which responsibilities are actually ours. We learn that money can buy extraordinary things, but one of its greatest privileges is room, the room to breathe, choose, wait, recover and occasionally say no. We learn that staying home can be as luxurious as going somewhere spectacular when we have created a life we enjoy inhabiting. We learn that our bodies deserve attention before they demand it, that rest is not something we have to earn by nearly exhausting ourselves first, and that the people we love should not have to compete indefinitely with the things we call important.

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shame over a decision we have already learned from, the need to explain ourselves to people committed to misunderstanding us, expectations inherited from versions of our lives that no longer exist. We can remember without dragging. We can honor what happened without allowing it to dictate what happens next. There are also dreams that deserve reconsideration, not because we failed, but because we changed. Sometimes courage means continuing toward something difficult. Sometimes it means admitting that the destination no longer belongs to us. Growth is not always additive. Occasionally, becoming more requires carrying less. That is why I have never been particularly interested in “New Year, New You.” I do not want to discard the person who survived, struggled, learned, loved, succeeded, failed, adjusted and

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kept going. I want the wisdom earned by the one already here. The more useful year-end question is not simply, Was this a good year? It is: What did this year teach me that I refuse to waste? Maybe it revealed that you are more capable than you thought, that something you were pursuing was never worth the cost, who calls when there is nothing to gain, what kind of work makes you feel alive or how peaceful life becomes when you stop auditioning for approval. Whatever the lesson, keep it. The weight is optional.

Continue Beginnings photograph beautifully. They come with announcements, resolutions, launch dates and clean pages. Continuing is less glamorous. It means returning to the work after the excitement has disappeared, nurturing relationships beyond their easiest seasons, saving again next month, taking another walk, making another call and trying once more after something did not We are not work. Yet much of what eventually becomes starting over. We are extraordinary is built exactly that way: quietly, continuing, wiser. repeatedly and imperfectly.

“ ”

So, I am not approaching 2027 interested in William T. becoming someone entirely new. I want to Jackson, become more intentional about what already ABA, B.Acy., MBA matters. I want to recognize good people while they are standing in front of me. I want to spend less time performing a life and more time experiencing it. I want to remain ambitious without becoming unavailable to joy. I want to keep learning, keep creating and keep making room for people and possibilities I cannot yet see. When December 31 gives way to January 1, we do not need to erase the year behind us or pretend we are arriving empty-handed. We are arriving with evidence: scars and stories, better questions, people we love, things still unfinished, a few regrets, hopefully fewer illusions and, if we have been paying attention, considerably more wisdom. Take what served you. Learn from what did not. Put down what has become too heavy. Make room for what has not arrived yet. Then keep going. l

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THE PERSPECTIVE

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Keep What Matters EVERY JANUARY ARRIVES CARRYING AN ACCUSATION. BECOME BETTER. DO MORE. EARN MORE. SAVE MORE. LOSE THE WEIGHT. BUILD THE BUSINESS. FIX THE RELATIONSHIP. CHANGE THE HABITS. nWRITTEN BY THE INFLUENTIAL MAGAZINE EDITORIAL TEAM

inally become the person you promised yourself you would be. Aspiration matters. Yet our culture has turned the new year into a referendum on everything supposedly wrong with the person who made it through the old one. We are sold transformation before considering whether everything about us needs transforming. Perhaps it does not.

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THE PERSPECTIVE

colleague who spoke your name in a room you had not entered. Relationships reveal their architecture over time. We learn who can hold our joy without diminishing it, hear disappointment without exploiting it and remain interested when there is nothing impressive to report. We also learn that closeness changes shape. Not every relationship that changes has failed.

As 2026 draws to a close, there will be plenty of invitations to look ahead. Hope needs somewhere to go. But before racing toward what is next, there may be equal wisdom in looking at what is here. What did this year reveal worth protecting? Which relationships became more precious? Which ambitions still feel true? What did we learn about how we want to spend our time and the price we are no longer willing to pay for things once important? Before deciding what must change, perhaps we should decide what matters enough to remain.

The Pressure to Become Someone New Life teaches us that progress is not always synonymous with acquisition. Sometimes growth looks like adding: another credential, opportunity, room, zero, accomplishment. Other times progress is discernment, recognizing what deserves more of us and what no longer does. There may be no applause when we stop explaining ourselves to someone determined to misunderstand us. No award arrives for learning that exhaustion is not evidence of importance. Still, these may be among life’s most consequential achievements.

Not Everything Needs a Silver Lining Not everything that happened in 2026 needs to become a lesson. We have an appetite for turning difficult experiences into evidence of growth. Pain must produce purpose. Disappointment must reveal destiny. Loss must make us stronger. Sometimes something simply hurt. Sometimes we made the wrong decision despite good intentions. Sometimes a relationship changed and neither person was a villain. We do not have to romanticize those experiences to move beyond them. Some chapters deserve neither bitterness nor gratitude. They simply deserve to end.

The Things Worth Carrying What is worth carrying forward may be quieter. Perhaps it is the person who called without needing anything. The friend who celebrated your success without calculating what it meant for theirs. The

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And leave a chair open for the people you have not met yet.

“ Becoming more does not always require becoming someone else.

”

William T. Jackson, ABA, B.Acy., MBA

Preserve your capacity for delight. Adulthood can make pleasure feel earned. We schedule joy after the work, bills and deadlines. But there will always be another condition. Luxury is not always extravagance. Sometimes it is an afternoon nobody has claimed. A beautiful meal on an ordinary night. Music while dinner is made. Fresh flowers with no occasion attached. A conversation that lasts longer than planned. The freedom to say yes because we want to and no because we do not. Do not become so committed to building a good life that you forget to notice when you are already inside one.

When Success Changes Its Meaning The same scrutiny belongs to ambition. Wanting more is not a character defect. Ambition can change a family’s trajectory, build institutions, create art and make unimaginable lives possible. But occasionally, ambition should explain itself. Is the goal still ours, or are we pursuing someone else’s definition of success? Are we building a life that feels good inside, or one designed to look impressive outside? Perhaps success once meant the title and now means autonomy. Perhaps wealth once meant visible abundance and now means enough saved to sleep peacefully. Perhaps influence once meant recognition and now means usefulness. There is no failure in allowing the definition to mature as we do.

Crossing the Threshold Before 2026 disappears into memory, preserve some evidence. Remember what frightened you at

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the beginning of the year that no longer carries the same power. Remember the decision you made, the boundary established, the risk taken, the kindness someone extended, the moment you surprised yourself. Progress does not always announce itself loudly. Sometimes its clearest evidence is that we respond differently to something that once would have undone us. Then leave room for what you cannot predict. Planning is useful. Goals matter. But life has never agreed to confine itself to our plans. Some important things in 2027 may not appear on our list. An unexpected introduction may alter a career. A casual

invitation may become a treasured memory. An idea nearly dismissed may become something important. So change what needs changing. Release what has become too heavy. Repair what can still be repaired. Rest where you are tired. Begin something that frightens you a little. But do not become so enamored with the promise of a new year that you fail to honor what the old one gave you. Keep the wisdom without worshipping the wounds. Keep the ambition without surrendering your peace. Keep the people whose presence enlarges your life. Keep your curiosity, standards, capacity for delight and enough openness to be surprised by what has not yet arrived. l

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THE PERSPECTIVE

What’s Next, Without the Hype THE FUTURE HAS BECOME ONE OF THE EASIEST THINGS TO SELL.

any predictions disappear before the year they were meant to define is over. That is the nature of hype: it asks us to confuse novelty with significance. The better question is not simply what will be next, but what is becoming important enough to last.

percent had been influenced by AI recommendations for consumer packaged goods purchases, while 27 percent use AI shopping assistants or other AI-powered tools. Advantage will come from knowing where AI improves an experience and where human judgment remains essential.

AI Stops Being the Story

The Human Premium

Artificial intelligence may become less interesting in 2027, and that could signal its importance. NielsenIQ’s Consumer Outlook: Guide to 2027, drawing on more than 21,000 consumers across 31 countries, found 55

PwC’s 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer, analyzing more than one billion job advertisements across 27 countries and territories, found AI increasing demand for judgment, creativity and leadership.

nWRITTEN BY WILLIAM T. JACKSON, ABA, B.ACY., MBA, 2018 FOLIO: 100 HONOREE, FORBESBLK MEMBER

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THE PERSPECTIVE

The divide may be between those who merely operate powerful tools and those who bring context, taste, empathy and the confidence to know when the machine is wrong. Humanity may become a premium feature.

Trust Gets Expensive The easier it becomes to manufacture an image, endorsement, review or voice, the harder consumers must work to decide what deserves belief. Advantage may belong not to those producing the most, but to those whose judgment can be traced, tested and trusted. In 2027, the most powerful luxury a brand may possess could be credibility.

The Middle Has a Problem NielsenIQ reports that more than $23 billion in value share has shifted away from mainstream-priced consumer packaged goods toward value and premium alternatives, while quality and performance now outrank affordability alone in determining whether a purchase feels worthwhile. Products that are neither meaningfully affordable nor exceptional will have a harder story to tell. The question is increasingly: Is this worth it?

Luxury Gets Personal Deloitte’s Global Powers of Luxury 2026 describes a market moving toward selectivity and significance. McKinsey and The Business of Fashion, drawing on more than 2,000 luxury clients in the United States and China, found emotional connection ranking ahead of heritage and status as a driver of desirability. Luxury is shifting from possession toward the experience of being considered. the differentiator is attention, ease, memory and intimacy: less friction, more feeling.

becomes less about an idealized body and more about caring intelligently for the one carrying us through life.

Attention Becomes the Real Status Symbol In a culture built to interrupt us, the ability to control one’s attention begins to look like wealth. A packed calendar can communicate importance; an intentionally open one can communicate freedom. Perhaps abundance will mean having more attention available for the things we choose.

The Return of Discernment Look closely and these shifts converge. AI makes human judgment more valuable. Infinite content makes trust more scarce. Consumers spend when value is unmistakable. Luxury craves intimacy. Wellness becomes simpler. Attention becomes harder to protect. The connecting idea is discernment. For years, digital culture taught us to accumulate: followers, choices, subscriptions, products, information and access. The next phase may be defined less by acquisition than by editing. Which technology improves my life? Which information deserves my trust? Which purchase is worth the money? Which experience deserves my time? Which people deserve access to me? That may be the cultural signal most worth watching in 2027. Not another platform promising to change everything. Not another machine asking us to confuse speed with progress. Something quieter and more powerful: knowing what matters, understanding why it matters and choosing accordingly. Perhaps the future is asking us to become better at deciding what deserves to come along. l

Wellness Leaves the Performance NielsenIQ identifies self-directed health management, healthy and natural products, food-as-medicine thinking and GLP-1-influenced behavior as forces reshaping consumption. Beneath them is a shift from wellness as appearance toward wellness as function. People want to sleep better, remain strong, preserve mobility, manage stress and maintain independence. The question

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Sources & Further Reading • NielsenIQ (NIQ) — Consumer Outlook: Guide to 2027, September 30, 2026. • PwC — 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer, June 15, 2026. • Deloitte — Global Powers of Luxury 2026. • McKinsey & Company / The Business of Fashion — The State of Luxury, June 29, 2026. • Sources reviewed October 2026.

THE PERSPECTIVE

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The People Who Get Access AS LIFE EVOLVES, SO SHOULD THE CIRCLE AROUND IT

here comes a point in life when the question is no longer how many people we know, but how many people truly know us. Not our résumé, our public persona or the polished answer we give when someone asks how things are going, but the person underneath all of that. The people who recognize when something in our voice is slightly off. The ones who understand what it took to become who we are, who can celebrate our evolution without making it about themselves and who have earned access to the parts of our lives that are not available to everyone.

nWRITTEN BY WILLIAM T. JACKSON, ABA, B.ACY., MBA, 2018 FOLIO: 100 HONOREE, FORBESBLK MEMBER

That kind of relationship becomes increasingly precious as life expands. We build careers, families, communities and networks. We accumulate acquaintances, collaborators, neighbors, colleagues and people we genuinely enjoy. Yet time eventually teaches us that longevity does not automatically produce intimacy. Some people can know us for twenty years without knowing us deeply, while someone who enters our lives much later can meet us with a curiosity, generosity and ease that makes time almost irrelevant. History matters, but history alone cannot carry a relationship. As life evolves, perhaps our understanding of who gets access should evolve with it, not through dramatic declarations about “cutting people off,” but through something quieter and more mature: discernment.

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Not Every Change Requires an Ending Modern culture has developed a peculiar enthusiasm for ending relationships. Protect your peace. Match their energy. Remove anyone who no longer serves you. Compressed into a social-media quote, the language can sound empowering. Human relationships, however, are rarely that tidy. Sometimes people genuinely need to leave our lives. Relationships can become dishonest, destructive or so relentlessly one-sided that distance is not cruel; it is necessary. Boundaries matter, and access should never require tolerating harm. But maturity also requires the ability to distinguish toxicity from inconvenience, betrayal from disappointment and an unhealthy relationship from one simply moving through a difficult season. People will occasionally fail us. We will fail them. A good friend may become consumed by a demanding career, a new marriage, parenthood, grief, illness, caregiving or the complicated work of rebuilding a life. Someone who once called every week may begin calling once a month. Another friendship may go quiet for a year and somehow resume over dinner as though the conversation had merely paused. Every change in rhythm is not rejection. Some relationships need an ending; others need grace. Wisdom is knowing the difference.

Proximity is Not Intimacy One of adulthood’s more surprising lessons is that the people physically closest to us are not always the people emotionally closest to us. We may see colleagues five days a week and know almost nothing about what matters most to them, while a friend living three states away can understand precisely what a two-word text means. Frequency creates familiarity. Intimacy requires something more: trust, attention, vulnerability and the accumulated evidence that what we reveal will be handled with care. That distinction becomes increasingly important as our worlds grow. Every good person does not have to become a close friend, and every enjoyable connection does not require deeper access. Some people belong beautifully in our professional lives. Some are wonderful dinner companions. Some make

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excellent travel friends. Some are the people we call when life falls apart. Occasionally, one extraordinary person can occupy several of those spaces. The mistake is assuming everyone must. Discernment is not coldness; it is understanding that different relationships can be valuable without being identical.

Reciprocity is a Pattern, Not a Scorecard The strongest relationships are reciprocal, but reciprocity is easily misunderstood. It does not mean calling exactly as often, spending the same amount, giving identical gifts or maintaining a private ledger of who did what last. Healthy relationships rarely operate with that kind of symmetry. There will be seasons when one person carries more. A friend grieving a parent may have very little to give. Someone caring for a sick spouse may disappear for a while. The person who once supported us may eventually need to lean heavily in our direction. Reciprocity reveals itself over time, in the larger pattern of being considered. You initiate, and sometimes they do too. You ask about their life, and they remain curious about yours. Your success does not threaten them. Your vulnerability does not entertain them. They can sit beside you in difficulty without immediately centering themselves, and they can stand beside you in triumph without quietly resenting the view. Perhaps most importantly, reciprocal relationships leave room for both people to change. There is something profoundly loving about the person who does not require us to remain who we were when they met us.

Leave an Open Chair Loyalty to old relationships should never require closing the door to new ones. One of the great pleasures of continuing to evolve is discovering that meaningful people can enter our lives at almost any stage. A colleague becomes a confidant. A neighbor becomes family. Someone met through a shared interest becomes the person with whom conversation seems inexhaustible. A friendship beginning at fifty, sixty or seventy can be every bit as transformative as one beginning at fifteen. Making room for new relationships

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requires something from us, too. We have to remain curious. It is easy, particularly after disappointment, to become so protective of an established circle that nobody new can penetrate it. We call it discernment when sometimes it is simply fear wearing better clothes. New relationships involve uncertainty. They require us to tell our stories again, risk being misunderstood and discover whether another person can be trusted. Not everyone will become important, but someone might. A full life should still have an open chair.

our emotional energy actually goes. Who leaves us feeling understood rather than managed? Who can tell us the truth without humiliating us? Who celebrates good news without requiring us to minimize it? Who has demonstrated that private things remain private? Who notices when we disappear? Who allows us to be imperfect without permanently defining us by our worst day? These are not questions designed to produce a list of people to eliminate. They are invitations to notice where trust already lives.

Access Should Have Levels

And equally important: for whom are we that person? This conversation cannot only be about evaluating everyone else’s qualifications for access to us. We should occasionally examine the experience of having access to us. Are we present? Do we listen? Do we celebrate without competing? Do we reach out without always waiting to be pursued? Can we apologize? Can we forgive without repeatedly weaponizing the offense? Do the people we love actually know that we love them, or have we assumed they should simply know? The quality of our circle depends partly on the quality we bring into it.

Perhaps the healthiest way to think about relationships is not as one circle but several. There are people we love deeply, people we trust, people we enjoy and people with whom we create, work, worship, travel, laugh or share a particular chapter. There are relationships that flourish in proximity and others strong enough to survive distance. There are people whose role in our lives was once central and is now smaller, not because anyone did something terrible, but because life moved. A relationship does not have to end badly to become less intimate. We can honor what someone meant to an earlier chapter without requiring that person to occupy the same place in every chapter that follows. We can love someone and call less often. We can wish them well without sharing everything. We can remain connected without remaining entwined. The opposite is also true: when someone consistently demonstrates care, discretion, honesty and generosity of spirit, perhaps we should allow that relationship to deepen rather than keeping everyone at a safe emotional distance. Access should not be determined by habit. It should be informed by trust.

Who Gets the Real Version? As another year closes, there is value in considering not simply who occupies our contacts list, but where

Perhaps that is the more mature way to enter 2027: not with a dramatic list of people to remove, but with a clearer understanding of the relationships worth tending, the relationships that need room to change and the new connections worth allowing to begin. Some people will remain for decades. Others will accompany us for a particular stretch of road. A few may surprise us by returning after years apart. And somewhere ahead are people we have not met yet who may eventually become impossible to imagine our lives without. We do not need everyone to have access. We simply need to become wiser about who does, and generous enough to make that access mean something. l

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A BROTHERHOOD OF

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Two Brothers. Distinctive Style. One Enduring Bond. ELEGANT, memorable, AND unmistakably FASHION focused. IT celebrates YOUR relationship WITHOUT making THE editorial FEEL like A family PHOTO album.

FEATURING WILLIAM T. JACKSON AND WESLEY T. JACKSON NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2026

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or a long time, going out was the event. We dressed for the reservation, navigated the traffic, waited for the table, ordered the bottle and returned home talking about how wonderful it had been. But perhaps luxury has been hiding in the return all along. There is a particular pleasure in closing the door behind you and realizing there is nowhere else you are required to be. No host stand. No valet. No room competing for your attention. The evening stretches differently when it belongs entirely to you. The art is in transforming home from the place where the day ends into the place where the evening begins. Not through extravagance or by recreating a restaurant inside the living room, but by creating an atmosphere so considered, comfortable and unmistakably yours that leaving would feel like the compromise. The guest

The Art of Staying In WHY THE MOST LUXURIOUS NIGHT OUT MAY BE THE ONE YOU NEVER LEAVE HOME FOR

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list may contain four names, one name or none at all. The luxury lies in intention.

First, Change the Room A beautiful evening begins with the room. Turn off the overhead light. Lamps, candles and warm pools of light change a space instantly. Then edit. Clear the mail. Put away the laptop. Luxury is often less about adding than subtracting. A few flowers or a sculptural stem bring life into the room. Add fragrance with restraint. It should be discovered, not survived.

Let the Music Arrive Before the Guests Music gives an evening architecture. It determines pace and can make ordinary movements feel unexpectedly cinematic. Start slower than you think: jazz, soul, bossa nova, sophisticated R&B or a beautiful vocalist. Let the energy rise if the evening does. And if you are alone, play it anyway. Beauty does not require witnesses.

Use the Good Glass Use the beautiful things. The weight of a good glass changes a drink before it reaches the mouth, and the same principle applies to linen, serving pieces and china. Objects earn their value through use. Tonight can be important enough.

Pour Something Worth Savoring A thoughtful evening no longer assumes everyone wants alcohol, and a zero-proof drink should never feel lesser. The standard is the same: make something delicious. Whether pouring a martini, wine, bourbon or a sophisticated nonalcoholic drink, ritual matters, the glass, ice, garnish and attention.

Dinner Does Not Need to Be a Production Extraordinary food and complicated food are not synonyms. Roast chicken, excellent fish, a beautiful steak, vegetables or something ordered from a restaurant can anchor the evening. There is no prize for unnecessary suffering. The difference between feeding ourselves and dining is often presentation and attention rather than difficulty.

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Dress for the Life You Are Actually Living Staying home removes the obligation to dress for strangers. Luxury can loosen its collar: cashmere, a silk shirt, soft tailoring, a structured robe or beautifully cut pajamas. Comfort does not have to mean surrender. The evening is allowed to feel attractive even when nobody is documenting it.

The Guest List Is a Luxury, Too If others are invited, choose them with care. Four people genuinely curious about one another can create more energy than twenty waiting to speak. Resist over-hosting. Pour a drink and sit down. If dinner runs late because the conversation is good, perhaps dinner is not actually late. People remember how a room made them feel.

And Sometimes, Invite No One Solitude has suffered from terrible branding. A night alone need not be a consolation prize. It can be the plan. Cook what you want. Read the waiting book. Listen to the album. Watch the film without answering messages. There is a difference between isolation and

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chosen solitude. One diminishes us; the other can return us to ourselves. Perhaps that is the deeper luxury hidden inside staying in: nobody is asking you to perform. There is no stranger to impress, no image to maintain. For a few hours, life can become wonderfully private.

The New Night Out This is not an argument against going out. We should go. We should discover. But perhaps we have underestimated home by treating it merely as the place where we recover from everything elsewhere. Here the beautiful glasses get used, dinner can linger and the final drink never arrives with a check. Luxury has long meant access, to extraordinary places, objects and service. But perhaps one of its most modern expressions is simpler: having created a life you do not constantly need to escape. Light the candle. Chill the glass. Put on something beautiful. Make dinner, or order it without guilt. Invite the people who make the room better, or protect the evening for yourself. Then close the door. The most desirable reservation in town may have been yours all along.l

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The Quiet Flex FOR YEARS, WEALTH HAD A RECOGNIZABLE COSTUME: THE CAR, THE WATCH, THE HANDBAG, THE ADDRESS, THE COVETED RESERVATION.

here is nothing inherently wrong with beautiful things. Exceptional craftsmanship deserves appreciation. Travel can enlarge us, and pleasure does not require an apology simply because it came with a price tag. But there is another kind of luxury that rarely announces itself: the unexpected expense that does not become an emergency, the credit card statement paid without dread, the ability to leave an intolerable situation without immediately wondering how next month’s bills will be paid. It is taking the vacation without bringing its debt home, an investment account quietly growing, and enough room between what comes in and what must go out that money no longer dominates every decision. In a culture skilled at helping us look prosperous, perhaps one of the most sophisticated luxuries is no longer needing to prove that we are.

nWRITTEN BY WILLIAM T. JACKSON, ABA, B.ACY., MBA, 2018 FOLIO: 100 HONOREE, FORBESBLK MEMBER

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The Cost of Looking Wealthy Consumption is visible; financial security is mostly invisible. We see the car, not the payment; the house, not the mortgage; the vacation, not the balance carried home. We rarely see the emergency reserve, retirement contribution or debt quietly eliminated. Spending and wealth are not synonyms. One produces evidence immediately; the other requires patience and unseen progress. Social media gave status a permanent stage. The deeper danger is not simply buying something because we saw somebody else wearing it; it is financing an identity. Lifestyle expands to meet income and occasionally races ahead of it. Looking wealthy rewards immediacy and visibility. Building wealth often rewards decisions nobody applauds. There is no photograph of a credit card balance reaching zero. Yet these quiet achievements can alter a life more profoundly than another visible acquisition. Looking wealthy can be a performance. Building wealth is a practice.

The Luxury of Margin Margin is the space between what comes in and what must go out, between an unexpected problem and a financial crisis. The Federal Reserve’s 2026 report on household economic well-being found that 63 percent of adults could cover a hypothetical $400 emergency expense using cash or its equivalent. Cash reserves create breathing room. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau notes that emergency savings can help keep a financial shock from becoming debt, while FINRA encourages building a cushion over time. The amount differs by household; the principle does not. Margin changes the emotional temperature of a problem. Debt belongs in this conversation without shame. Borrowing has helped people buy homes, obtain education and build businesses. But expensive revolving debt can turn yesterday’s lifestyle into tomorrow’s obligation. The dinner is over and the trip has ended, yet a high-interest balance can continue charging admission. Eliminating expensive debt therefore feels less like subtraction than addition: more cash flow, more capacity

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to save and more freedom to make decisions based on what we want rather than what we owe. Beyond what it can purchase, money can buy time. Savings can provide time to find the right job, recover from an interruption in income or make a decision without panic. Lower debt means less of tomorrow’s paycheck has already been promised to yesterday. Financial confidence is not simply possessing more money. It is expanding the number of choices available when life refuses to follow the plan.

Building What Nobody Can See Year-end financial conversations naturally gravitate toward numbers, but some consequential victories look modest precisely because they represent beginnings. Perhaps someone paid off one credit card, saved a first $1,000, increased a retirement contribution, began investing $50 at a time or simply learned what actually gets spent each month. None is likely to attract attention, but each can mark a shift from financial uncertainty toward agency. Financial confidence cannot belong only to people who have already accumulated substantial wealth. For someone rebuilding, it may begin with three realities: knowing what is owned, knowing what is owed and having a credible plan for what happens next. There is dignity in clarity even when the numbers are not yet where we want them to be. Once the foundation strengthens, investing gives money another job. FINRA emphasizes unglamorous fundamentals: establish goals, maintain emergency funds, address high-interest debt, understand risk, diversify and invest consistently rather than predict every market move. Wealth building is less cinematic than wealth displaying because it is largely ordinary decisions repeated over time.

Spend Beautifully, Not Performatively None of this is an argument for turning life beige. Buy the coat if you genuinely love it. Take the trip. Upgrade the hotel

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room when the experience matters. Buy the artwork that stops you each time you pass it. Money should support a life, not become the reason we postpone living one. The sophisticated consumer asks better questions: Do I value it? Will I use it? Is the quality real? Does it give me pleasure, or communicate something about me? Selective consumption is not austerity. It is discernment applied to money: spending where life becomes richer while questioning expenses sustained by habit or performance. Even “buy experiences, not things” is too simple. A dining table around which people gather for twenty years may create more meaningful memories than a weekend booked because everyone else seemed to be traveling. A camera can begin a creative practice; a piano can fill a home with music for generations. The better question is not things or experiences. It is meaning or accumulation. Luxury becomes personal when we stop outsourcing its definition.

The Quiet Flex As 2026 closes, perhaps the most revealing financial audit asks different questions. Did money create more freedom in my life or more pressure? Did my spending reflect what I value? Did I build anything that will still be working for me five years from now? Did I make decisions for my life or for my image? Where did I spend without regret, and where did I spend without thinking? The answers will differ. For one person,

confidence may mean eliminating high-interest debt. For another, beginning to invest, building cash reserves, increasing retirement savings, creating an estate plan or simply looking at the numbers without fear. There is no universal photograph of financial confidence. But there is often a recognizable feeling attached to it: room. Perhaps that is what makes this version of luxury compelling. Some of wealth’s most powerful expressions remain hidden: the reserve nobody knows exists, the balance quietly declining, investments compounding, the trip already paid for, the ability to help someone without destabilizing ourselves, the job we are not financially trapped inside and the night we sleep without calculating which bill can wait. Comparison is an unwinnable game because another level is almost always available. Financial confidence offers a different one. The goal is not to look as though we can afford everything. It is to build a life in which we can afford what matters while protecting the person we will be tomorrow. Enjoy beautiful things. Travel well. Dress beautifully. Give generously when you can. Invest in your future. And leave enough margin that the life you worked so hard to create does not become another thing you have to survive. Because perhaps the ultimate flex is not convincing a room that you can afford the life you are living. It is closing the door behind you, looking at that life honestly and knowing you can. l

Sources & Further Reading • Federal Reserve Board — Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025, May 2026. • Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — An Essential Guide to Building an Emergency Fund. • Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) — Investor education concerning financial foundations, emergency savings, high-interest debt, investing, asset allocation and diversification. • This article is intended for general informational purposes and is not individualized financial or investment advice.

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The Places Calling Us In 2027 B

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN LUXURY TRAVEL COULD BE EXPLAINED LARGELY THROUGH SUPERLATIVES. THE LARGEST SUITE. THE MOST EXCLUSIVE ADDRESS. THE LONGEST WINE LIST. THE PRIVATE TRANSFER WAITING AT THE AIRPORT AND THE VIEW POSITIONED PERFECTLY BEYOND THE INFINITY POOL. ALL OF THOSE THINGS CAN STILL BE WONDERFUL, AND WE HAVE NO INTENTION OF PRETENDING OTHERWISE. BEAUTIFUL HOTELS ARE BEAUTIFUL FOR A REASON. nWRITTEN BY THE INFLUENTIAL MAGAZINE EDITORIAL TEAM

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ut something more interesting is happening to the way sophisticated travelers are thinking about the world. Increasingly, the question is not simply, Where can I go that is luxurious? It is, Where can I go that will give me something I cannot get anywhere else? That distinction may help define travel in 2027. Affluent travelers are still willing to spend, and in many cases spend considerably, but the appetite is shifting toward experiences that justify both the money and the time required to have them. Privacy matters. So does personalization. Families are traveling across generations. Adventure is becoming more sophisticated. Personal enrichment has become part of the itinerary. And value, perhaps surprisingly, is becoming more important rather than less. Luxury is not disappearing. It is becoming more discerning. The five places that follow were chosen with that evolution in mind. They are not simply destinations with expensive hotels, nor are they obscure places selected for the satisfaction of saying we arrived before everyone else. Each offers something more enduring: heritage, discovery, beauty, adventure or the increasingly rare luxury of slowing down. Pack accordingly.

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Nara & Asuka, Japan Go Deeper Than the Obvious Japan enters 2027 at an extraordinary moment. Demand is soaring, with the country now sitting at the top of the luxury travel conversation. Tokyo and Kyoto remain magnificent, but for the traveler who has already admired Tokyo’s velocity and Kyoto’s refinement, or simply wants a quieter encounter with the country, the more compelling journey may begin elsewhere. About an hour from Kyoto and Osaka, Nara offers a different rhythm. This is ancient Japan experienced through temple grounds, forests, craftsmanship, ritual and an extraordinary sense that history remains present rather than preserved behind glass. Nearby Asuka reaches even deeper into the country’s story. In July 2026, the Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara, a collection of 19 archaeological sites dating as far back as the late sixth century, were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. A new HOSHINOYA is scheduled to open in Asuka in 2027, while nearby Nara has already

welcomed one of Japan’s most intriguing adaptivereuse projects: a former prison transformed into an extraordinary luxury hotel. But the reason to go is larger than a new hotel. Go because Japan rewards attention. Spend time rather than collecting sights. Walk slowly through places that have existed for centuries. Eat according to the season. Notice the craftsmanship of an object that might otherwise appear ordinary. Allow a landscape to be the experience rather than merely its backdrop. For a traveler accustomed to equating luxury with abundance, Nara and Asuka offer another proposition entirely: what if luxury is the privilege of encountering something deeply considered? Go for: Ancient heritage, extraordinary hospitality, contemplative landscapes and design. Best suited to: The culturally curious traveler who wants Japan beyond its most familiar itinerary. Make time for: More than a hurried excursion from Kyoto. This is a place to inhabit, not simply check off.

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Rabat, Morocco Marrakech knows how to make an entrance. Rabat is more interested in conversation.

to another chapter entirely. Rabat’s distinction is not that history and modernity coexist; many cities can make that claim. It is how comfortably they seem to share the same afternoon.

Morocco’s capital offers the colors, textures, architecture and layered history that make the country irresistible, but it delivers them at a different tempo. Set between the Bou Regreg River and the Atlantic, Rabat brings together an old medina, royal architecture, gardens, beaches, contemporary art and neighborhoods that still feel lived in rather than arranged entirely around visitors.

Then there is simply the pleasure of being there: mint tea taken without urgency, beautifully tiled courtyards, Atlantic air, doors deserving photographs of their own, the aroma of spice and grilled food, and gardens offering shade when the day becomes warm. Rabat rewards the traveler willing to notice rather than rush. Do not go expecting Marrakech without the crowds. That would miss the point. Go to meet Rabat on its own terms.

The Kasbah of the Oudayas rises above the water in blue and white. At Chellah, archaeological ruins share space with gardens and storks. The Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art reveals a Morocco actively engaged with the present, while the Mausoleum of Mohammed V and Hassan Tower speak

Go for: Architecture, contemporary culture, Atlantic air, gardens and a gentler immersion into Moroccan life. Best suited to: The traveler drawn to atmosphere over spectacle. Make time for: An afternoon with very little scheduled. Rabat is particularly good when allowed to unfold.

Morocco at a Different Volume

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Vietnam Where Value and Sophistication Meet Luxury and value are sometimes treated as opposites. They are not. Luxury is not improved simply because something costs more, and value does not mean settling for less. The sophisticated traveler increasingly understands that the sweet spot is receiving an experience whose richness exceeds its price. Vietnam makes that argument exceptionally well. The country rewards movement. Hanoi is exhilarating: history, scooters, street life, old architecture, exceptional food and contemporary creativity occupying the same frame. Hoi An slows the pulse with lantern-lit evenings, historic streets and easy access to the central coast. Ho Chi Minh City brings another energy entirely, ambitious, design-conscious and kinetic. Beyond the cities are mountains, river landscapes, extraordinary coastline and resorts capable of delivering serious privacy and service without completely disconnecting guests from place.

But food may be Vietnam’s most persuasive ambassador. One of the pleasures of traveling here is discovering that a memorable meal does not always arrive beneath a linen napkin. It might be served in a beautiful dining room, but it might just as easily arrive from a kitchen where the recipe matters considerably more than the décor. That unpredictability is part of the seduction. Vietnam also makes an important point about how we might travel in 2027: spending intelligently is not the opposite of traveling beautifully. A discerning traveler can care about design, service and comfort while still caring whether an experience represents genuine value. That may be one of the most contemporary definitions of luxury available. Go for: Exceptional food, layered cities, coastline, design and remarkable variety. Best suited to: The traveler who wants cultural immersion without surrendering comfort. Make time for: Eating beyond the hotel. Some of the journey’s most memorable moments may arrive without a maître d’.

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South Africa The Journey That Becomes a Story Some trips are wonderful while they are happening. Others become part of family mythology. South Africa has the potential to be the latter. Begin in Cape Town, where mountains appear to fall directly into the sea and the city’s restaurants, art, design, history and neighborhoods can easily occupy several days. Continue into the Cape Winelands, where estates around Stellenbosch and Franschhoek combine landscape, architecture, food and wine with an elegance that encourages lingering. Then change the scale entirely and go into the bush. Safari remains one of travel’s rare experiences capable of making sophisticated adults genuinely speechless. The first elephant appearing unexpectedly through the landscape, the sudden sight of giraffes moving almost impossibly gracefully across the horizon, tracks discovered during a morning drive, dinner beneath a sky that seems larger than the one at home, these moments resist the usual language of luxury because the luxury is not primarily the lodge. It is access to something larger

than ourselves. That is precisely why South Africa feels so relevant now. As families increasingly use travel to create memories across generations, a journey combining city, wine country and wildlife offers something a possession cannot: a story everyone who was there will remember differently, and tell for years. The best lodges understand that luxury here should facilitate the experience rather than compete with it. Privacy, remarkable guides, excellent food and beautiful design matter, but none should be more memorable than the landscape outside. If 2027 is the year you decide to take one journey that feels genuinely consequential, South Africa deserves consideration. Go for: Cape Town, wine country, safari and the astonishing contrast between them. Best suited to: Couples, friends and multigenerational families who would rather collect a shared story than another possession. Make time for: All three acts. Cape Town, the Winelands and safari should never be rushed merely because they fit neatly onto one itinerary.

Portugal, Beyond Lisbon The Luxury of Slowing Down There are destinations that encourage us to do more. Portugal can persuade us to need less. Lisbon remains irresistible, but for this journey we would keep moving toward the open landscapes of the Alentejo and the understated coastal world associated with Comporta. Here, luxury often speaks through restraint: low-slung architecture, natural materials, long tables, Atlantic light, vineyards, cork forests, extraordinary produce and stretches of landscape that seem to lower the volume of everything around them. Comporta is hardly a secret, and pretending otherwise would be silly. That is not why it belongs here. Its relevance is that this part of Portugal embodies much of what sophisticated travelers increasingly say they want: space, privacy, excellent food, thoughtful design and enough time to actually feel where they are.

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This is not the trip for an aggressively scheduled itinerary. Have lunch that lasts too long. Visit a vineyard. Drive without turning every stop into content. Walk beside the Atlantic. Read something substantial. Dress beautifully for dinner even when dinner is twenty steps away. Allow a hotel to become somewhere you genuinely want to spend time rather than simply the place where you sleep between activities. The great seduction of this Portugal is not excess. It is permission. Go for: Atlantic landscapes, wine, food, restrained design and gloriously unhurried days. Best suited to: The traveler who has begun to understand that doing less can sometimes deliver considerably more. Make time for: Nothing. Leave part of the itinerary intentionally empty.

Together, they reveal something larger about the way travel is changing. We may be becoming less impressed by luxury that could exist anywhere. A beautiful suite matters, but increasingly we want to wake up knowing where we are. We want the meal to taste of the place, the architecture to tell us something, the guide to know more than the script and the experience to remain with us after the luggage has been unpacked. Perhaps that is the real invitation of 2027. Not simply to travel farther, but to travel deeper. Choose somewhere capable of surprising you. Stay long enough to get beyond the photograph. Learn something. Taste something unfamiliar. Meet someone. Put the phone away occasionally. Let a place interrupt your assumptions. And when you return home, bring back more than evidence that you went. Bring back something that changed the way you see. That is a souvenir worth keeping.l

What We Are Really Traveling For The most interesting thing about these five destinations is how little they resemble one another. Japan offers the luxury of attention. Rabat offers discovery at a gentler rhythm. Vietnam demonstrates how beautifully sophistication and value can coexist. South Africa gives us awe and shared memory. Portugal reminds us that time itself may be the amenity we have been searching for.

Editor’s Note Our 2027 selections were informed by current destination developments and global luxury-travel research, including the Virtuoso Luxe Report, Japan National Tourism Organization, Moroccan National Tourist Office and official destination resources. Travel conditions, openings and availability can change; readers should confirm current details when planning.

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The New Luxury at Home F WHEN SQUARE FOOTAGE IS NO LONGER THE MOST INTERESTING THING ABOUT THE HOUSE

nWRITTEN BY WILLIAM T. JACKSON, ABA, B.ACY., MBA, 2018 FOLIO: 100 HONOREE, FORBESBLK MEMBER

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or a long time, the shorthand for an impressive home was remarkably simple: more. More square footage. More bedrooms. More bathrooms. A larger kitchen, a grander entrance, another sitting room waiting for someone to sit in it. Size became an easy language of arrival because it could be measured, compared and advertised. But a house can be enormous and still fail at the one thing a home is supposed to do exceptionally well: support the life being lived inside it. That may be why the conversation around residential luxury is becoming more interesting. The question is shifting

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from How big is it? to How well does it live? The distinction changes almost everything. A beautifully considered 2,500-square-foot home can feel more indulgent than a 7,000-square-foot house filled with rooms nobody uses. Luxury begins to move away from excess and toward experience: light at the right hour, rooms that adapt, air that feels clean, technology that disappears, materials that become more beautiful with age and spaces that make everyday rituals feel unusually good.

among work, wellness and play, while Houzz reports growing interest in homes designed for long-term livability, including multigenerational needs and aging in place. Nearly two-thirds of renovating homeowners surveyed by Houzz expect to remain in their homes for at least 11 years. The luxury, then, is not merely having a beautiful room today. It is having a home intelligent enough to remain useful when life changes.

Wellness Moves Into the Floor Plan A House That Knows What It Is For The most compelling homes increasingly have a point of view about how their owners actually live. They are not collections of impressive rooms; they are environments built around behavior. A kitchen may be designed as much for conversation as cooking. A library can become a place to read, work or disappear for an hour. A guest suite may accommodate a parent later. A dining room that once waited for formal occasions might become the most animated room in the house when it is designed for lingering, games and regular gatherings. That emphasis on usefulness is showing up in current design thinking. The National Association of Home Builders has highlighted flexible spaces that can move

A generation ago, residential wellness might have meant a treadmill in a spare bedroom. Now it can influence the architecture itself. Natural light, acoustics, air and water quality, access to nature, restorative bathrooms and dedicated places for movement or quiet are becoming part of the luxury conversation. Architectural Digest has described wellness as a core expectation in the high-end market, while 2026 Houzz search data shows sharply rising interest in wellness rooms, calming interiors, biophilic design and spa-like spaces. The point is not that every desirable house suddenly needs a sauna, cold plunge and Pilates studio. That can become another form of amenity collecting. The more meaningful shift is that comfort is being understood more

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holistically. Does the bedroom encourage sleep? Is there somewhere to be alone without feeling banished? Can morning light enter the rooms where mornings actually happen? Does the house make movement easy? Is the bathroom simply expensive, or does it genuinely make the beginning and end of the day feel better? Wellness becomes luxurious when it is embedded in daily life rather than displayed as equipment.

Technology Should Know When to Disappear The smartest technology in a sophisticated home may be the technology we barely notice. Lighting scenes that change with the evening, shades that manage glare and heat, climate systems that quietly maintain comfort, discreet charging, security that does not make the house feel like a command center and audio that seems to emerge from the architecture can all improve daily life. But a wall crowded with controls and glowing screens can make an expensive home feel strangely complicated. Designers are increasingly integrating appliances, storage, lighting and smart systems so that function recedes into millwork and architecture. That is a useful standard for residential technology: it should remove friction, not introduce another layer of maintenance and attention. The luxury is not being able to control forty things from a phone. It is needing to think about fewer of them.

Character Is Beating Perfection There is another welcome change taking place inside the home: perfection is losing some of its authority. The immaculate gray-and-white room designed to photograph beautifully but reveal almost nothing about its owner is giving way to interiors with warmth, texture and evidence of a life. Houzz’s 2026 reporting points to stronger interest in tactile materials, warm woods, natural stone, plaster, collected objects and rooms that feel assembled over time rather than purchased all at once. This is where luxury becomes difficult to imitate. A room with an inherited chair, a contemporary painting,

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books actually read, a table discovered while traveling and beautifully made new upholstery may carry more presence than a room in which every object arrived from the same showroom. Patina can be more seductive than polish. Craft can matter more than a logo. The home begins to tell a story that could belong only to the people living there. That does not mean abandoning restraint. Personal does not have to mean cluttered, and warm does not have to mean visually loud. The discipline is editing: choosing fewer things with greater meaning, allowing exceptional materials room to breathe and resisting the urge to fill every wall simply because a wall exists. The result is not minimalism for minimalism’s sake. It is confidence.

The Outdoors Is No Longer an Afterthought The boundary between indoors and outdoors is also becoming less rigid. Large openings, courtyards, shaded terraces, gardens, outdoor kitchens and smaller, carefully planned exterior rooms can extend the emotional

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of a two-story foyer. They can, however, allow a beautiful home to remain beautiful to live in for decades. That kind of foresight changes the definition of resale value, too. We often think about what the next buyer might want. There is equal wisdom in asking what our future selves might need. Designing for adaptability does not require making a home feel institutional or prematurely old. Done well, universal design is simply good design: easier movement, clearer circulation, better lighting, intuitive storage and fewer unnecessary obstacles.

The New Measure of Enough None of this argues that size is irrelevant. Space can be magnificent. A generous kitchen can transform the way a family gathers; a proper dressing room can make mornings easier; a guest suite can turn hospitality into something effortless. The question is whether the square footage has a job.

footprint of a house without adding conditioned square footage. NAHB has noted continued demand for naturefocused design, while Houzz reports interest in compact outdoor areas and landscapes that are both usable and environmentally thoughtful. This is particularly relevant in climates where outdoor life requires some negotiation. Luxury may be less about an enormous exposed patio and more about shade, airflow, fans, privacy, lighting, durable furnishings and landscaping that makes the space genuinely inviting. The best outdoor room earns its square footage by being used.

Design for the Life Ahead Perhaps the most sophisticated idea in residential design is also one of the least glamorous on paper: a home should be able to evolve. Wider circulation, a curbless shower, thoughtful storage, a first-floor room that can change purpose or a separate suite with enough privacy for extended family may not produce the dramatic reveal

A home becomes truly luxurious when its resources, space, materials, technology, money and attention—are deployed with intention. Perhaps the ultimate residential flex is no longer a room count impressive enough to recite at dinner. It is knowing why each room exists. It is walking through the door and feeling the house settle around the life you actually have: beautiful without being precious, intelligent without showing off, comfortable without becoming careless and personal enough that nobody could mistake it for someone else’s. The new luxury at home is not necessarily more house. It is more thought. More ease. More meaning. More of the things that make us want to stay. l Sources & Further Reading • Houzz — 2026 U.S. Emerging Summer Trends Report; 25 Home Design Trends Defining How We’ll Live in 2026; 2026 U.S. Houzz Fall Design Trends Report. • National Association of Home Builders — Best in American Living Awards design trends for 2026; NGBS Green +WELLNESS resources. • Architectural Digest / AD PRO — 2026 reporting on luxury residential design and wellness-focused spaces. • Sources reviewed October 2026.

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THE TABLE WE WANT NOW WHY THE MOST MEMORABLE MEALS ARE BECOMING MORE PERSONAL, GENEROUS AND DELICIOUSLY UNCOMPLICATED

or years, the dinner table kept trying to become a stage. Plates grew architectural. Ingredients needed biographies. Hosts curated every detail, guests photographed the evidence, and somewhere between the edible flowers and the perfect tablescape, dinner occasionally forgot its most important job: bringing people together.

Entertaining for people begins somewhere else. It asks what will make guests comfortable, what they will actually enjoy eating and what allows the person who invited them to sit down, too.

longer needs seven courses to prove generosity. A deeply flavored braise, a beautiful salad, warm bread, something cold to pour and one excellent dessert can say more than a menu designed to impress strangers.

That shift may be one of the most appealing expressions of modern luxury. Ease is not the absence of effort. Often it is the result of better judgment. The confident host no

The Return of the Middle There is something wonderfully democratic about food placed in the center of a table. A whole roasted fish. A platter of vegetables burnished

Perhaps that is why the table we want now feels different. We still want beauty. We still appreciate the extraordinary bottle, the hand-thrown bowl, the perfectly roasted fish and the linen napkin that makes an ordinary Tuesday feel considered. But increasingly, the meals that stay with us are not necessarily the most elaborate. They are the ones where somebody says, “You have to try this,” and pushes the platter toward the middle. Are We Entertaining People, or Entertaining for People? There is a distinction. Entertaining nWRITTEN people can become performance: BY THE the immaculate room, the ambitious INFLUENTIAL menu, the host disappearing into MAGAZINE the kitchen while everyone else EDITORIAL TEAM supposedly has a wonderful time.

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at the edges. Pasta carried in still steaming. Chicken with crisp skin and pan juices. Rice fragrant with herbs and spice. A cake that arrives whole rather than pre-portioned into precious little rectangles. The gesture changes the meal. Passing, serving and offering create small acts of participation. “Do you want some more?” becomes part of the evening’s language. Nobody is merely receiving a composition from the kitchen; the table itself becomes active. Generosity is visible. This does not mean abandoning refinement. Quite the opposite. Simplicity exposes quality. When there are fewer distractions,

the tomato has to taste like something. The bread should deserve the butter. The chicken cannot hide. The olive oil matters. Uncomplicated food is not careless food. It requires the confidence to stop before the dish loses itself. Luxury You Can Actually Feel For all our fascination with beautiful objects, the deepest luxury of a table may be abundance without anxiety. Enough food. Enough time. Enough room for another chair. A host who is present. Guests who do not feel they must perform gratitude for every detail. The permission to linger. That kind of hospitality can happen beneath a chandelier or around a kitchen island. It can involve vintage crystal or mismatched glasses collected over years. What makes it luxurious is not price alone, but attention: remembering who loves the crispy corner, knowing who does not drink, putting something delicious on the table for the vegetarian without treating it as an accommodation, sending someone home with leftovers because they loved the dish that much. Put the Phone Down. Pass the Plate. Food has become extraordinarily visual, and there is pleasure in documenting beauty. But perhaps the next evolution of the beautiful table is one we are willing to

experience before we broadcast it. The steam disappears. Ice melts. Sauces cool. People notice when we are looking at them instead of the screen. A memorable meal has always been partly about appetite and partly about attention. We remember what we ate, certainly, but we also remember who was there, what made us laugh, the story we had never heard before and the moment someone stayed longer than planned. The food opened the door. The people made the evening. Set the Table for Real Life So set it beautifully. Use the good plates. Light the candles on a Wednesday. Open what you have been saving. Cook the thing you know how to cook well instead of attempting six things you do not. Invite the interesting mix of people. Leave space for spontaneity. Put something generous in the middle. The table we want now is not less sophisticated. It is sophisticated enough to know that perfection was never the point. The point is pleasure without pretense, beauty without stiffness and food that tastes as though somebody wanted you there. The best compliment may no longer be, “That was impressive.” It may be something warmer, simpler and far more difficult to manufacture: “When are we doing this again?” l

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WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING? THE MODERN BAR HAS ROOM FOR EVERYONE

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN ORDERING A DRINK CARRIED EXPECTATIONS.

martini suggested one kind of evening; whiskey neat another. Declining alcohol sometimes required an explanation no one had earned the right to hear. But the modern bar is becoming less concerned with whether everyone drinks alcohol and more concerned with whether everyone has something genuinely good to drink. A beautifully made cocktail can sit beside a zero-proof aperitif, Champagne beside sparkling tea, bourbon beside an elegant botanical drink. The point is not conformity. It is pleasure, hospitality and choice. IWSR’s 2026 research suggests moderation is increasingly embedded across generations, while no-alcohol choices are moving beyond seasonal challenges into ordinary drinking occasions. The bar is not disappearing. Its vocabulary is expanding.

The End of the Consolation Drink For too long, the nonalcoholic option was club soda with lime or a syrupy “mocktail.” That is no longer good enough. The principles that make a cocktail memorable, acidity, bitterness, aroma, texture, temperature and balance, apply without alcohol. A zero-proof drink should not need an apology. It should simply be excellent. Hospitality Without the Interrogation Good hospitality also does not require knowing why someone is not drinking. They may be driving, protecting tomorrow morning or simply not in the mood. “What can I get you?” is enough. A gracious host makes every answer feel equally welcome, serves zero-proof choices in beautiful glassware and never turns another person’s decision into the evening’s conversation. Quality Over Quantity None of this means indulgence is disappearing. It may simply be becoming more intentional. One exceptional cocktail can be more

satisfying than three forgettable ones. An extraordinary Scotch can be savored in a measured pour. A zeroproof drink after Champagne does not demote the evening. Pleasure does not become more legitimate because there is more of it. A Better Question Perhaps the better question is not whether someone drinks, but what they enjoy. The modern bar can still have rare whiskey, beautiful martinis and bottles worth discussing. It can also offer sophisticated botanical drinks, sparkling teas and something exceptional for the guest who wants no alcohol at all. These choices do not diminish one another. They make the bar more complete. So, what are you drinking? Whatever makes the occasion better. Whatever suits the evening. Whatever you can enjoy without explanation. The best bar in the room is no longer the one with the most bottles. It is the one where everyone can raise a glass, and nobody has to justify what is in it. l

nWRITTEN BY WILLIAM T. JACKSON, ABA, B.ACY., MBA, 2018 FOLIO: 100 HONOREE, FORBESBLK MEMBER 78

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Sources & Further Reading • IWSR, 2026 consumer research on moderation and no-alcohol beverage trends. • Reviewed October 2026.

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FEEL GOOD. LIVE WELL. A MORE HUMAN DEFINITION OF WELLNESS

ellness has become remarkably good at giving us homework. Count the steps. Track the sleep. Hit the protein target. Close the rings. Drink the water. Protect the morning routine. Optimize the evening routine. Somewhere along the way, feeling well became another arena in which we could feel behind. Perhaps we need a more human definition. Not one that rejects discipline, medical care, movement or good nutrition, but one spacious enough to include pleasure, rest, nWRITTEN BY THE friendship, purpose and the ordinary INFLUENTIAL rhythms that make a life feel worth MAGAZINE protecting. As 2027 approaches, EDITORIAL the most useful wellness question TEAM may not be, “How perfectly am I doing this?” It may simply be, “Is the way I am living helping me feel better ªnd live better?” Health Is Bigger Than the Numbers There is value in knowing our numbers. Blood pressure matters. Lab work matters. Preventive screenings matter. Sleep, movement and nutrition matter. Technology has made many aspects of health easier to measure, and current wellness research shows consumers thinking

about health more broadly, from heart and cognitive health to stress, sleep and healthy aging. But measurement is information, not identity. A watch can tell us how long we slept; it cannot tell us whether our days feel meaningful. An app can count a walk; it cannot measure the conversation we had

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along the way. Data is most useful when it helps us care for ourselves, not when it turns the body into a permanent performance review. Make Room for What Restores You The wellness industry often sells improvement. Human beings also need restoration. Sometimes the healthy choice is the workout.

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Sometimes it is going to bed. Sometimes it is preparing a beautiful meal instead of eating over the sink, stepping outside without a phone, laughing until the conversation runs late or admitting

and time with loved ones among the most important ingredients of a good life. Wellness, in other words, does not happen only at the gym or in the doctor’s office. It happens in the way we arrange our days.

cruelty. Missing a workout does not erase the month. Dessert does not constitute a moral failure. Rest is not laziness simply because it cannot be posted as an accomplishment. A sustainable approach to health leaves room for being human.

Connection Is a Health Practice, Too We should stop treating relationships as something we fit in after the “important” things are done. Social connection is part of wellbeing. The meal with friends, the call we almost did not make, the community that notices when we are absent and the people with whom we can be unpolished all contribute to the quality of a life.

Feel Good. Live Well. Maybe that is the evolution worth carrying forward: away from wellness as an aesthetic and toward wellness as stewardship. We care for the body because we live in it. We protect the mind because we need it. We nurture relationships because life is richer when it is shared. We make room for joy because survival was never supposed to be the only objective.

This does not mean every calendar needs to be crowded. Solitude can be restorative, too. The point is intention. Wellness should help us become more available to our own lives, not so consumed with improving ourselves that we forget to participate in them.

that we need help. Research increasingly reflects this wider view. McKinsey’s 2026 health work describes healthy living through interconnected influences that include movement, sleep, diet, stress, social interaction, nature and productive activity. Gallup research likewise finds that Americans place sleep

Consistency Without Cruelty There is still room for goals. Walk more. Get stronger. Eat in ways that support the body you have. Keep the appointment. Take the medication as prescribed. Protect your sleep. Ask the difficult health question instead of postponing it. Small, repeated choices can be profoundly consequential.But consistency does not require

There will always be another routine to try, another metric to monitor and another promise of a better version of ourselves. Some may genuinely help. But the goal is not to become a perfectly optimized person. The goal is to have enough health, energy, clarity and connection to inhabit our lives more fully. Feel good. Live well. Not flawlessly. Not performatively. Humanly. l Sources & Further Reading • McKinsey & Company / McKinsey Health Institute — 2026 research on healthy living, healthspan and the expanding definition of wellness. • Gallup — 2025–2026 research on the good life, social connection, exercise, stress and wellbeing. • Sources reviewed October 2026.

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The

InFluential Magazine Gift Edit BEAUTIFUL THINGS. THOUGHTFULLY CHOSEN. Giving well begins with attention. You notice what someone reaches for each morning, the places they dream of visiting, the rituals that settle them and the small pleasures they rarely buy for themselves. A thoughtful gift grows from that knowledge. Its value is felt in recognition: you remembered. For our November / December edition, we have brought together objects and experiences that make life a little richer. There is fragrance with a sense of place, silk for the quiet hours, design that earns its place at home and discoveries from makers near and far. Some invite a splurge. Others prove how much pleasure a modest budget can hold. Choose for the person, rather than the performance of giving. Think about what they will enjoy, use and remember. There need be no occasion beyond the wish to make someone feel considered. No occasion required. nCURATED BY THE INFLUENTIAL MAGAZINE EDITORIAL TEAM

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The Edit FOR THE PLACES YOU GO AND THE LIFE YOU MAKE. l Music with a sense of place

Bang & Olufsen | Beosound A5 in Oak

For the person who hears a room before seeing it. The Beosound A5 brings Wi-Fi and Bluetooth audio into an object handsome enough to leave on display. In oak, it feels at home beside good books, comfortable seating and an evening with nowhere else to be.

l A scent for every mood

Nopalera |

10ml Travel Fragrance Trio Gift Set

$1,850 | Explore and shop

Wood, warmth and a little intrigue. This trio of Mexico City inspired fragrances lets the recipient explore three different moods before choosing a signature. The 10 ml sprays slip easily into a travel bag, turning discovery into a beautifully portable pleasure.

l An invitation to go somewhere

RIMOWA |

Original Cabin in Silver

$75 | Explore and shop

The invitation is implicit: go somewhere wonderful. RIMOWA’s grooved aluminum cabin suitcase combines an unmistakable silhouette with practical rolling luggage. Choose silver for its cool, architectural presence, and give it to someone whose next chapter deserves a departure lounge.

$1,550 | Explore and shop

Photos Credits: Photos courtesy of Bang & Olufsen, Riwona and Nopalera

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The Edit OBJECTS WITH PRESENCE AND GIFTS WITH STAYING POWER. l The journey begins at home

l A table with curves

l A gesture that keeps its composure

Georg Jensen |

Assouline |

Cartier |

Candlelight deserves an entrance. Constantin Wortmann’s flowing, mirror-polished stainless steel candleholders bring movement to a dining table even before the flames are lit. The graduated trio is a considered gift for someone who makes an ordinary evening feel beautifully hosted.

Aline Coquelle’s photography and Deborah Calmeyer’s text offer a richly illustrated passage through remarkable African landscapes, wildlife and places. The silk hardcover is an invitation to linger, dream and perhaps start planning. Give it to the traveler whose curiosity never stays home.

Some gifts need no flourish. The Tank Must’s rectangular steel case, Roman numerals and blued-steel hands convey a quiet assurance. This small model on a steel bracelet makes the grand gesture intimate: something to wear, remember and make part of a personal style.

$270 | Explore and shop

$120 | Explore and shop

$4,100 | Explore and shop

Cobra Candleholder Set of Three

African Adventures The Greatest Safari on Earth

Tank Must Small Model WSTA0107

Photos Credits: Photos courtesy of Georg Jensen, Assouline and Cartier

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Little Luxuries EVERY SELECTION UNDER $150. l

An edible work of art

Compartes |

20 Piece Signature Truffles Gift Box Silk after hours

Twenty patterned truffles turn a familiar gesture into something worth opening slowly. Handmade in Los Angeles, the assortment brings visual wit to the pleasure of chocolate. Choose the Luxe Black box for a presentation that feels particularly InFluential.

Slip |

Black Sleep Mask Black silk, a quiet room and permission to switch off. Slip’s classic sleep mask is a small indulgence for someone who travels often or treasures an unhurried evening. Pair it with a handwritten note encouraging a little time to themselves.

$72 | Explore and shop

$62 | Explore and shop

l The daily upgrade

Fellow |

Carter Move Mug 12 oz A ceramic-coated interior, considered drinking lip and compact silhouette make the morning commute a little more civilized. Choose a color that feels like the recipient, then let their everyday coffee ritual do the rest.

A little care at hand

L'Occitane en Provence |

Shea Butter Hand Cream 5.1 oz Practical can still feel indulgent. This generous tube of hand cream, formulated with 20 percent shea butter, belongs beside the sink, on a desk or within reach after a long day. A thoughtful pleasure with very little guesswork.

$29.95 | Explore and shop

$34 | Explore and shop l Photos Credits: Photos courtesy of Slip, Compartes , Fellow and L'Occitane en Provence

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Gifts Without Borders BEAUTIFUL DISCOVERIES WITH A SENSE OF PLACE. l

South Africa Woven for the journey

Mungo |

Organic Ruti Kikoi in Sage

Japan A clearer kind of ritual

A scarf, a shawl, a wrap or a compact travel companion: this light organic cotton textile makes versatility beautiful. Designed, woven and made at Mungo’s mill in Plettenberg Bay, it is a discovery with both a sense of place and a place in everyday life.

KINTO | UNITEA One Touch Teapot 460 ml Let the tea become part of the view. This glass teapot from Japanese design brand KINTO combines a generous handle with a strainer integrated into the lid. A modestly priced object that gives a daily pause a little more beauty.

$30.30 | Explore and shop

$68 | Explore and shop

l Peru Warmth worth wearing

Sol Alpaca |

Brushed Scarf in Cafe Chocolate Chocolate brown, a brushed finish and the warmth of baby alpaca make this scarf an easy companion to a winter coat. The Peruvian label brings tactile pleasure to a useful accessory. It is the sort of gift that becomes part of someone’s daily departure.

$97 regular price | Explore and shop

Portugal Something deliciously unexpected

Bordallo Pinheiro |

Cabbage Large Oval Platter A cabbage leaf becomes a conversation piece. The Portuguese house’s textured green platter lends a playful note to an otherwise restrained table. Give it to the host who understands that good taste can include a little humor.

l $115 | Explore and shop

Photos Credits: Photos courtesy of Kinto, Mungo, Sol Alpaca and Bordallo Pinheiro

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The Unwrappables SOME OF THE FINEST GIFTS BECOME MEMORIES. l Paris at their own pace

l A day with room to breathe

Ritz Paris |

Miraval Austin |

The Museum of Modern Art |

For someone already dreaming of Paris, give the freedom to choose their own indulgence. A Ritz Paris gift card can be used toward dining, spa treatments, culinary classes or a room reservation. A contribution to the experience is a beautiful gift.

Sometimes the thoughtful gift is space in the calendar. Miraval Austin’s day package includes lunch, resort amenities and a $250 spa credit. For an adult who could use a pause, it offers the pleasure of stepping out of the routine without leaving the Hill Country.

For the New York regular or the traveler who returns often, MoMA’s Access membership makes art part of the itinerary. Admission, member viewing opportunities and digital offerings extend the gift beyond one afternoon. Choose it for someone whose curiosity deserves more room.

From $475 per person | Explore and shop

$110 for one year

Gift Card

Choose your gift amount in euros | Explore and shop

l A year of looking closer

Day Spa Package

Access Gift Membership

| Explore and shop

Give yourself Make the visit. Write the letter. Offer a listening ear and stay long enough to hear the answer. Your attention, encouragement and willingness to help can give someone what no purchase can: the assurance that they matter. The greatest gifts remind people that they matter. Choose accordingly. Prices shown are subject to change. Availability may vary. Taxes, shipping and travel costs may be additional. Photos Credits: Photos courtesy of Ritz Paris, Miraval Austin and MOMA The Museum’s main entrance on West 53rd Street. © 2023 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo: Noah Kalina.

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SANDRA HUCKER

The Art of Showing Up AFTER BUILDING BUSINESSES, LOSING ONE AND REINVENTING HERSELF, SANDRA HUCKER IS TURNING A LIFETIME OF CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE INTO HER MOST PERSONAL VENTURE YET.

andra Hucker’s entrepreneurial journey began with repeat customers. While working in the service industry at a Los Angeles casino, she spent free time exploring the wholesale district and buying items that caught her eye. Compliments became requests, and requests became a business. “You don’t need a big start,” she says. “You need a real start.” What followed was a retail career spanning shopping centers, military bases and pop ups, sharpening a skill that would define every chapter that followed: connecting with people.

Reinvention by Necessity The transition out of retail came during the 2007–08 financial crisis, while Hucker was also navigating a lengthy divorce. After more than a decade as an owner, rising costs made the business unsustainable. “I’d been in business for over a decade and thought I could weather most storms, but this one wiped me out,” she recalls. “It

was humbling.” People had sought her business advice for years; consulting became a way forward. Her Los Angeles experience had also brought her into entertainment marketing and promotions, including work surrounding Snoop Dogg’s “Sensual Seduction,” along with executives at Interscope, television projects and promotional events at the Playboy Mansion. Back in Texas, those experiences informed a new chapter. Through Sandra Hucker Consulting (SHC), she looked at businesses as interconnected wholes: brand, customer experience, systems and the owner’s goals. “Technology is the vehicle, not the destination,” she says. “If your business isn’t trustworthy in person, no website will fix that.”

The Value of Being There Financial loss and fractured relationships also changed how Hucker measured her own worth. “My

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value isn’t defined by my bank balance or by who stays,” she says. “It’s defined by whether I keep showing up.” That idea helps explain Social Additions, a venture inspired by a recurring phrase she heard from widows, people who had relocated, busy professionals, empty nesters and those emerging from divorce: “I’d go, if I had someone to go with.” Social Additions is built around hiring a “plus one” to accompany someone to a business event, social occasion, restaurant or local experience. The shared occasion—not romance, is the focus. “Sometimes the most meaningful thing we can offer another person is simply, ‘I’ll go with you.’” Hucker sees a gap between online connection and dependable inperson company, and she hopes the venture can also create opportunities for people whose reliability and interpersonal skills help others feel at ease.

Living Forward “Retail taught me people. Technology taught me reach. Consulting taught me systems. And the hard seasons taught me empathy,” Hucker says. “I’m building from purpose now, not just survival.” Disappointment has made her more careful about trust without extinguishing her belief in people. “I could have built walls. Instead, I chose to build bridges, just more carefully.” Her advice for anyone facing a new chapter echoes the practical instinct that launched her first business: “You don’t have to leap all at once. Learn one new skill, make one call, say yes to one opportunity. Momentum builds confidence, not the other way around.” Hucker has learned that starting again can mean moving before confidence fully returns. Now she is applying those lessons to a simple human need she has heard repeatedly: the wish for someone to come along. Sandra Hucker keeps moving forward, and she wants to make it easier for others to do the same. l Learn more about Sandra Hucker and Social Additions by visiting www.SocialAdditions.com.

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FALENCIA FRAZIER, MBA

Still Becoming SHE MADE HISTORY AS THE CINCINNATI FIRE DEPARTMENT’S FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMALE LIEUTENANT. IN 2026, FALENCIA FRAZIER CONTINUES TO REDEFINE WHAT ACHIEVEMENT LOOKS LIKE, EARNING NATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR HER LEADERSHIP AND A MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. HER STORY IS A POWERFUL REMINDER THAT SUCCESS IS NOT WHERE WE STOP. IT IS WHERE WE DISCOVER WHAT ELSE IS POSSIBLE.

ome people make history and spend the rest of their lives being introduced by it. Falencia Frazier, MBA simply kept going. In 2015, after 15 years of service with the Cincinnati Fire Department, Frazier became the first African American woman in the department’s history to reach the rank of lieutenant. She was only the fourth woman ever to hold the position, an extraordinary distinction in a profession where women, particularly women of color, had historically encountered limited representation in leadership.

Yet what makes Frazier especially compelling is not simply the history she made. It is the determination, curiosity and commitment to growth that continue to define her journey more than a decade later. Growing up in Dayton, Ohio, Frazier had little exposure to firefighting as a potential career. She did not come from a family of firefighters, nor did she regularly see women who looked like her serving in the profession. That experience eventually shaped her understanding of how important

nWRITTEN BY WILLIAM T. JACKSON, ABA, B.ACY., MBA, 2018 FOLIO: 100 HONOREE, FORBESBLK MEMBER

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visibility can be in helping others recognize their own possibilities. Throughout her career, she embraced opportunities to connect with her community, participating in safety presentations and introducing children to the profession. She even appeared in firefighting gear at her daughter’s daycare, offering young people a firsthand example of a woman serving in a role they might never have imagined for themselves. Her message was simple but powerful: possibility often begins with exposure. In a 2015 interview with The Cincinnati Enquirer, Frazier challenged the hesitation that sometimes prevents qualified women from pursuing advancement. Her perspective was refreshingly direct: “If you know

the job, why can’t you be here?” Those words reveal something essential about her approach to leadership. Confidence is not necessarily the absence of uncertainty. Sometimes it is the decision to move forward, prepared and capable, even when the path ahead is unfamiliar.

A Year Worth Celebrating In September 2026, Frazier received the prestigious Ignition Award at the Women in Fire International Conference in Austin, Texas. The recognition honors leaders who recognize the need for change and inspire others to transform vision into action. For a woman whose professional journey has challenged expectations and expanded possibilities, the award represents a meaningful acknowledgment of her leadership and influence. But 2026 had another remarkable milestone in store. On October 24, Frazier graduated from Columbia Southern University with a Master of Business Administration, adding a significant academic achievement to a career already distinguished by public service and historic accomplishment.

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There is something especially inspiring about choosing to pursue an advanced degree after establishing a successful career. It requires discipline, sacrifice, intellectual curiosity and the willingness to become a student again, even when professional experience has already established one’s credibility. Frazier’s achievement reminds us that education and personal development are not reserved for a particular age or stage of life. Growth remains available to those willing to pursue it, and accomplishment need not diminish our appetite for learning. Her MBA represents more than another credential. It reflects an investment in herself, her capabilities and the opportunities that continued learning can create.

The Power of What Comes Next Being first will always be part of Falencia Frazier’s legacy, and deservedly so. Her historic promotion helped broaden the picture of who could lead within one of Cincinnati’s most respected public service institutions. But perhaps her greatest example is that she has never allowed one achievement to define the limits of her potential. The young woman from Dayton who entered a profession she had scarcely imagined became a firefighter. The firefighter became a lieutenant. The lieutenant became a history maker and an example for others. In 2026, that same woman celebrated national recognition and earned an advanced business degree. Each accomplishment adds another dimension to a life shaped by purpose, perseverance and possibility. There is a lesson in her journey for anyone who has wondered whether it is too late to pursue another ambition, develop a new skill or begin a different chapter. We do not have to diminish yesterday’s achievements to make room for tomorrow’s

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aspirations. Nor must we have every step figured out before deciding that our next step is worth taking. As 2026 draws to a close, Falencia Frazier embodies a particularly meaningful definition of success: the courage to keep learning, the discipline to keep growing and the generosity to help others see possibilities for themselves.

She is someone we should know not only because she made history, but because she continues to demonstrate that our most meaningful accomplishments need not be behind us.

Falencia Frazier, MBA made history in 2015. In 2026, she is still writing what comes next.l

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THE RIGHT KIND OF ATTENTION HOW TO CHOOSE A PR FIRM THAT BUILDS MORE THAN BUZZ

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here is no shortage of people willing to make you visible. They can distribute announcements, pursue podcasts, contact influencers and promise irresistible exposure. Yet visibility alone has never guaranteed influence, and a mention does not automatically confer credibility. In an environment overflowing with content, being seen by everyone can be less valuable than being known, understood and respected by the people who matter. That is why choosing a public relations firm requires more than admiring a pitch deck or client roster. At its best, PR is strategic counsel: understanding where an organization is going, whose attention matters and which stories can influence perception. Before signing a retainer, the question is not simply, Who can get us press? It is: Who understands what we are trying to become, and how communications can help us get there?

Start With the Destination nWRITTEN BY THE “We need more exposure” is not a strategy. A young company may INFLUENTIAL MAGAZINE need trust; an executive may need EDITORIAL visibility beyond the organization; TEAM another brand may be entering a market, launching a product or preparing for reputational risk. Before approaching an agency, leadership should answer three questions: What needs to change? Whose opinion or behavior

matters? What would meaningful progress look like? A sophisticated agency should welcome that specificity.

into unfinished rooms of the business. Competence matters. Trust does, too.

Give Them the Story Test Ask one revealing question: “Based on what you know about us, what is the most compelling story you would pitch tomorrow, and why would anyone care?” A strong answer understands the difference between what matters internally and what is genuinely interesting to an outside audience. The best agency may be the one willing to say your favorite idea is not ready or your coveted publication is not the right audience. That is not a lack of enthusiasm. It is evidence of an adviser rather than an order taker.

Hire for the Problem, Not the Prestige An impressive client roster can be seductive, but logos rarely reveal what an agency was hired to accomplish or whether the work succeeded. Ask for the story behind them: What challenge did the client face? What did the agency recommend? What changed? Boutique and large agencies each offer advantages; industry insiders and intelligent outsiders can both bring value. The real question is whether the firm has the judgment, capabilities and curiosity to solve your problem.

Meet the People Behind the Pitch The executives leading the courtship are not always the people who will manage the account. Meet the professionals who will develop strategy, write, pitch and handle the relationship day to day. Ask how much senior oversight remains after the presentation. This matters because a PR firm may eventually know about product problems, executive changes or reputational threats before the public does. You are not merely hiring someone to write press releases. You are inviting an outside partner

Beware the Seduction of “Guaranteed” Genuine earned media depends on independent editorial judgment. A reputable firm can stand behind its strategy, writing, outreach and counsel, but it cannot compel an editor or producer to cover a client. If a proposal guarantees placement, ask exactly what is being guaranteed. Paid and sponsored media can be useful, but commercial visibility should never be presented as independent editorial validation. Professional ethical standards and Federal Trade Commission guidance emphasize transparency around sponsored content. A trustworthy partner makes the distinction clear.

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THE COLLECTIVE

PR Red Flags Be cautious when an agency promises editorial placements without explaining how they are obtained; talks endlessly about media “connections” while showing little curiosity about your business; confuses database size with strategy; blurs earned and paid opportunities; hides the professionals who will service the account; or reports activity without connecting it to outcomes. Be especially wary of a firm more interested in making you famous than making you credible.

Make the Scope Uncomfortably Clear A retainer alone tells you almost nothing about what you are buying. Understand which services are included—strategy, media relations, thought leadership, executive positioning, media training, crisis counsel, influencer relations or reporting—and which are not. Photography, video, travel, influencer fees and paid placements may sit outside the fee. Clarify contract length, cancellation provisions and ownership of created materials. Ambiguity at the beginning has a remarkable tendency to become disagreement later.

Don’t Be Dazzled by Big Numbers Millions of impressions and enormous potential reach may look impressive, but they should

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lead to a more important question: What changed? AMEC’s Barcelona Principles V4.0 emphasizes outcomes and impact rather than publicity volume alone and rejects advertising value equivalents as a valid measure of communication value. If the objective was thought leadership, did the executive enter more consequential conversations? If awareness was the goal, did the right audience discover the brand? Everything being measured should have a reason for being measured.

Understand the New Reputation Landscape People now discover companies and leaders through search, social platforms, podcasts, newsletters, digital publications and AI-assisted discovery. A person may encounter your name in one place and investigate you somewhere else. That makes credible third-party information increasingly important. Fifty forgettable mentions may be less valuable than five authoritative ones that establish expertise, relevance and trust. Reach can make an organization visible; authority can make it matter. Before You Sign Ask what the firm believes your real communications objective should be, which audiences matter most, what comparable problem it has solved and who will actually work on the account. Ask

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what it can realistically promise, exactly what the fee includes, how success will be measured and how it distinguishes earned opportunities from paid ones. Request references from clients who worked with the professionals assigned to your account. Then ask one more question: “Who would you choose not to pitch our story to, and why?” If the answer is no one, keep looking. From the Editor’s Desk At InFluential Magazine, we experience PR from the other side. The strongest pitches work because someone did the homework. The publicist understands the publication, recognizes our readers’ interests and makes clear why the story belongs in our editorial environment. The weakest pitches reveal mass distribution with little understanding of who we are or whom we serve. Effective media relations is not sending a release to hundreds of inboxes and hoping someone responds. It requires research, restraint, relevance and judgment. The Right Kind of Attention The best PR firm will not simply ask where you want to appear; it will ask why appearing there matters. It will challenge an idea that is not ready, strengthen a story before taking it to market and recommend a smaller but more influential audience when everyone else is chasing the largest one. It will understand that protecting

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credibility can matter more than generating immediate attention and that sometimes the most valuable counsel is two words: Not yet. That is what separates publicity from counsel. Look beyond the

famous client names, promised impressions and intoxicating possibility of seeing your name in lights. Look for intelligence, curiosity, transparency and judgment. Look for professionals who understand not merely how to

tell your story, but why it matters, where it belongs and when it should be told, and who are willing to tell you the truth before they tell the world your story. Because attention is everywhere. The right attention is earned. l

Sources & Further Reading • Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) — About Public Relations; Code of Ethics; Glossary of Terms; professional resources concerning media relations and communications measurement. • International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) — Barcelona Principles V4.0; Integrated Evaluation Framework. • U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) — Guidance concerning native advertising, endorsements, influencers, reviews and disclosure of material connections. • Sources reviewed October 2026.

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POWER MOVES

NEVER STOP LEARNING WHY CURIOSITY MAY BE ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE THINGS WE CARRY INTO 2027

here is a peculiar temptation that comes with experience: to believe we have earned the right to stop being beginners. We know our work. We know what we like. We know which ideas have failed before, which people to call and how the world generally works. Expertise gives us confidence, and it should. But when confidence hardens into certainty, something valuable can disappear: curiosity. As we move toward 2027, knowing a great deal remains useful. Being willing to learn may be even more so. Technology is changing how we work, industries are being reorganized, careers are lasting longer and ideas that once seemed comfortably settled are being challenged. The person best prepared for what comes next may not be the one with every answer. It may be the one still interested enough to ask a better question.

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BY THE INFLUENTIAL The Courage to Be a Beginner MAGAZINE Learning is easy to celebrate when EDITORIAL TEAM we are young because beginning

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is expected. Later, it can become uncomfortable. Accomplishment gives us reputations to protect. Titles, degrees and years of experience can quietly make not knowing something feel like a deficiency rather than an invitation. Yet some of the most interesting people remain willing to enter rooms where they are not the expert. They take the class. Ask the younger colleague how something works. Learn the software instead of dismissing it. Pick up an instrument. Study a language. Read outside their profession. Visit a place whose history they do not know. They allow themselves to say, without embarrassment, “I don’t know. Tell me more.” That sentence may be one of the most sophisticated expressions of confidence we have. Curiosity Is Not the Same as Chasing Everything There is, however, a difference between remaining curious and becoming distracted by every new thing. We do not need to master every platform, follow every trend or turn each emerging technology into a personal emergency. Curiosity without discernment becomes noise.

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POWER MOVES

The more useful habit is selective curiosity: paying attention to what might deepen our understanding, expand our capacity or challenge an assumption we have carried too long. Sometimes that means learning something directly connected to our work. Sometimes it means doing something with no obvious professional value at all. A photography course, a history book, a cooking technique or an evening spent listening to someone whose life looks nothing like ours can change the way we see. Not everything valuable needs to become a credential.

happens if the obvious answer is wrong? Tools can accelerate information. They cannot decide what deserves our attention.

Experience Should Make Us More Curious One of the great advantages of getting older is context. We have seen enough to recognize patterns, understand consequences and know that certainty is often temporary. Ideally, experience should not close the mind; it should make us more precise about what we still want to understand.

Mentorship, at its best, should travel in both directions. We can teach and still be teachable. We can offer wisdom without assuming that wisdom gives us the final word. Some of the most valuable education available to us may be sitting across the table.

That matters in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence. The easy assumption is that access to more information makes curiosity less important. The opposite may be true. When answers can be generated in seconds, judgment becomes more valuable: What should I ask? Is this credible? What is missing? Whose perspective is absent? What

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Learn Across Generations Curiosity also keeps us connected to one another. Every generation knows something another does not. Younger people may understand emerging technologies, language and cultural shifts with an instinct that cannot be taught in a seminar. Older people carry history, pattern recognition and lessons purchased through experience. The exchange becomes powerful when neither side enters it determined to prove superiority.

Protect the Question Curiosity requires room. It is difficult to wonder when every idle moment is filled with notifications, commentary and somebody else’s urgency. Learning sometimes begins by protecting enough quiet to notice what we do not understand. Read the long article. Walk through the museum slowly. Stay after the lecture. Have the conversation that does not fit neatly into fifteen minutes. Follow

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an idea beyond the point where it becomes immediately useful. And perhaps most importantly, remain willing to change your mind. Learning that merely confirms everything we already believe is comfortable, but it is not always growth. A curious life occasionally disrupts us. It introduces better information, more complicated people and questions whose answers require us to revise the story we had been telling ourselves. Carry This Forward We spend a great deal of time thinking about what we should acquire for the future: more money, stronger credentials, better technology, greater security. All have value. But curiosity travels remarkably well. It does not require a particular title, age or bank balance. It can enter every room with us and make that room larger. So take something unfamiliar into 2027. Read about what you do not understand. Learn from someone you would not normally ask. Become a beginner at something that delights you. Question an assumption that has grown too comfortable. Education does not end when the diploma is framed or the career is established. If anything, that may be when we finally get to choose what we truly want to know. Never stop learning. Not because we are incomplete, but because life remains interesting enough to keep discovering. l