ELISABETH will always refer to Northern California as home, but New York is a close second (and not just because it’s fun to play the “that’s my neighborhood!” game while watching movies). If you run into her at a crowded event, she will probably be learning someone’s life story over a glass of wine; or she might be wearing her non-prescription glasses, which mysteriously allow her to adopt the otherwise uncomfortable identity of an extrovert. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, daughter, son, dog, and cat, but likes to think of her building as the site of an urban commune movement with her sister living right upstairs.
MIYA was born and raised in the Bay Area. She is the product of two cultures, two coasts, and an adulthood fervently hoping someone will invent a teleportation device so she can live in two cities at once. She likes her friends like she likes her bourbon: well-aged and complex. If bourbon could swear, that would be a plus, too. Miya loves documentaries on astronomy and oceans and would never admit to wanting to throw things at the TV and yell “NERD!” whilst watching them. She lives in Brooklyn with her daughter, her husband, and her cranky dog, who cracks himself up by occasionally faking his own demise.
TOGETHER, we’re You + ME*, a creative agency in New York. Most importantly, we’re friends, and we have been since long before we started this business. Our friendship has seen marriages, loss of loved ones, career changes, pregnancies, and the births of our children. Over time, we’ve found ourselves navigating our changing lives by telling stories about lessons learned from the extended community of women (and men) in our lives. The experiences were fleeting; the stories endured. The experiences of others shape us, and by understanding others, we gain a deeper understanding of ourselves. We longed for a well-designed, tangible, and enduring record of the stories and images that were resonating with us, and for a way of connecting to women who we didn’t encounter in our daily lives. From that, the Equals Quarterly was born.
We’re so excited to create something beautiful and thoughtful that people will be able to hold in their hands and keep on their nightstands, but we’re also eager to get this conversation started, so we’re launching the online Equals Record now. We hope you’ll join us.
Lauren Thurston hails from Northern California, and has found a small pocket of home in New York City. She is the Enforcer of The Equals Project, making sure deadlines are met, editors are fed, and typos are caught. She’s also literally part of the family, since she’s Elisabeth’s little sister (and therefore Miya’s adopted little sister). When she’s not at work, you can find her convincing her niece and nephew that she’s Mary Poppins, sharing a glass of wine with her sister and best friend from childhood (who both live in her building) or engaging in shenanigans in the bars in New York City.
Robert is a designer and a problem solver. Originally from a small town in North Carolina, Robert began making a new home in New York City in 2005. For as long as he can remember, he’s been creating things. As a kid, he favored art classes over tee ball and building forts over cartoons. His dad’s drafting supplies led to many amazing (albeit not structurally sound) house plans in his teens and it was laying out pages and cropping photos by hand for the high school yearbook that wed him forever to design. He loves the feeling one gets from experiencing good design. He believes in keeping things simple–in design and in life in general.
Zoe Rooney provides tech support on short notice, and, if we’re lucky, will throw in a joke or two while she’s at it. Her blog and twitter feed are a bottomless source of all things development-related. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two young sons, which makes her productivity even more impressive.
We also have an incredibly team of contributors who we are honored to work with and humbled to call friends. You can find out more about them here.
