The Tai Life
The Tai Life is where women come to get a healthy dose of style inspiration, life motivation and of-the-moment tips. You’ll find interviews with celebrities, influencers, thought leaders and entrepreneurs as well as profiles on women you need to know (just like you)! See roundups on what’s happening in culture and entertainment and ways you can kick ass at home, at work and in life. The Tai Life is a community of 21st century women who love, live, give and inspire in style…unapologetically!
Contributing editor and writer for TheTaiLife.com
Larger than just plus (size)
Designer Byron Lars expands his line to include all women
Tuesday night I walked into an all white loft with floor to ceiling windows in Midtown New York for Byron Lars Beauty Mark’s panel on size and inclusion in the fashion industry. Fittingly, the space was full of women and men of every size, gender, color and style. Yes, we all looked different, but diverse I learned is not the right word to describe this setting. As panel guest Michaela Angela Davis, image activist & Creator of MADFree, explained, diverse would imply that we in that room were different than some perceived norm of what this room was supposed to look like. The truth is that this room was simply filled with women and men, all fabulous, beautiful, successful and unique, but still just women and men.
And with that, we arrive here with Byron Lars and his namesake brand Byron Lars Beauty Mark’s, transformation. The revolutionary Lars’ expanded his runway at New York Fashion Week to include models of sizes 0 to 18 and announced that a curated selection of his ready to wear line will be available up to a size 22. The groundbreaking show in September began with a voice over declaring, “This is all about body-positive inclusion… this is not a plus conversation, this is a woman’s conversation.” These words set the tone for a show and a movement by Lars for the everyday women.
When he decided to make the change, Lars told The Tai Life, “The word plus kept coming up and it didn’t seem accurate or modern or correct. So we’re just not really putting a label on her. We’re just including her in our style story and hoping that she comes on board.”
Lars wants this discussion to include the 67 percent of women in America who wear over a size 14, not separate them by a label like plus size.
“Calling out things like plus and diversity as an industry insider feels dated and not modern because we’re looking at a whole beautiful bouquet of women,” said Davis. On the other side of the discussion, panelist Allie McGevna, Editorial Director at Hello Beautiful, said as a woman who wears a size 18, she embraces the word plus. Despite this both women agreed that size should not separate or alienate a woman.
Lars’ admits this expansion was long over due but feels woman are now truly embracing their unique sizes (and labels). “She’s always been hot, but now she knows she’s hot. And that’s a change… She’s fabulous, she knows she’s fabulous, and she owns it. She needs clothes for that. I’m really excited to try and give them to her,” said Lars.
His reason for this transformation was simple, but getting the product was not. He had wanted to go larger for a long time but the resources in the industry weren’t available. Lars explained that he had been telling buyers for years, “Listen, we keep hearing from this woman that she wants this product and she’s out there, yet we hardly even get a ticket for a size 12.”
After more than a decade, Lars couldn’t wait any longer and set off to make it happen, with or without the industry. He was all in and this meant the product needed to be impeccable. He wanted comfort, style and fit to come together seamlessly, which required up to seven fits for certain pieces, yes seven! He even admitted to crying when he finally got the motto pant to work. His blood, sweat and even tears went into making a body inclusive product that worked for every woman. Bryon Lars, thank you, thank you, thank you!
We’re the first to admit that there’s still a long way to go when it comes to inclusion in fashion, but we are so excited to see efforts like this one from Byron Lars Beauty Mark. Davis is with us in celebrating the small victories. “There’s a lot of work to be done on different angles, but I’m encouraged. I think all the stereotypes right now are being challenged,” she said. Cheers to big efforts (pun intended) and many more small victories to come!
Byron Lars’ line goes live on ByronLarsBeautyMark.com October 15 and whether you’re a size 0 or 22, we think you’re going to love it!
Women Who Run Shit: Erika Szychowski
Thanks to her, your favorite childhood snack is spirited and GOLDEN!
Her spirit is infectious, her creativity cannot be contained and her ambition limitless. She roams the world with a harem of bad b’s, she’s fearless, she never freezes in danger, she’s a... zebra. Well, sort of. The zebra is Erika Szychowski’s spirit animal and the inspiration behind her fittingly named brand Good Zebra, the first-ever spirit animal cracker brand.
Only someone as wild as a “zebra” could create a brand with this much soul. Good Zebra is your favorite childhood snack reinvented with high quality, all natural, preservative free ingredients, packed with 12 grams of protein and sweetened with organic honey. Only the “good stuff” is in these cookies- “black and white, nothing shady.” Like a zebra!
Szychowski is a seasoned global branding authority who, before her foray into food, specialized in sports, entertainment, financial services and fashion. Her client roster has included names like Rolling Stones, the NFL and the Olympic Games. She also worked in the fashion industry as an executive at Brown Shoe Company and later became the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Nine West.
As she climbed the corporate ladder all the way to the top, she realized something didn’t feel right. The glitz and glam of corporate New York City had lost its shine. “I was just exhausted – I found that the more senior I became, the more rules were imposed upon me – I used to refer to it as the ‘death of creativity’ – the brain that was taught to question everything, to think outside the box and to constantly strive for solutions was being caged,” Szychowski explains.
As we all know, zebra’s don’t do well in captivity. Szychowski decided to trade the security of her corner office in the C-Suite, for the wild, grassy, plains of entrepreneurship.
How’s she fairing? We’ve got all your unanswered questions below.
Why Good Zebra?
In my own life [as an adult who works out], I've seen how difficult it is to avoid refined sugar, and I've long enjoyed making sweets with honey or maple syrup. When choosing snacks, it is extremely difficult to avoid processed sugar and chemicals. Good Zebra is fearlessly crap-free. You can pronounce every one of our ingredients. Good Zebra cookies have protein, so you actually feel satisfied after snacking. I put an enormous amount of energy into researching my ingredients, supply chain and process to invent a formula that retains the nostalgic elements of animal crackers -- the look has been elevated, no more lions and tigers, instead a tattoo artist created peacocks, butterflies and wolves, to name a few.
How have your past experiences prepare you for entrepreneurship?
Snack food is my fourth industry. Working in environments from the Olympics to the fashion industry has showed me again and again the value of being fearless. I think that shows in both the company's personality and in how I have taken on the challenges of this business. People told me that it would simply not be possible to make a cookie from the ingredients I wanted to use -- not that it would taste bad or that it wouldn't sell or that it would be expensive but that it was beyond human science and technology to combine these ingredients, shape them and bake them into animal crackers. I wasn't afraid to do the work to make Good Zebra a reality.
What are the major differences between corporate America and life as a founder?
I got pretty used to having a large team of people to get things done, but with that came corporate politics and a lot of processes and procedure. Startups are built by innovative thinking, humility, loyalty and aligned beliefs for the greater good. Lots of compromise, but knowing what is worth it and what isn’t makes it easy to pivot and go a different direction. Corporations can’t do this so easily – of course they need to change. They have an entire generation of entrepreneurs bubbling up around them – called Millennials.
What’s your advice for someone who wants to become an entrepreneur?
1. Create a very tight inner circle because you’re going to need more support than ever before.
2. Trust yourself and [ have patience] in the process.. For me personally, every time I rushed a step, it had to be redone.
3. Keep a journal. The ups and the downs poured out on paper seem to have a much different interpretation a day or two later.
In such a saturated market, how do you stand out?
We have created a product that delivers greater value. We are the only animal cracker that delivers high protein while being free of refined sugar. Our competitors are not animal cracker brands, but rather protein bars and protein cookies. And our unique shapes (tattoo inspired) are the only option in a resealable zip top pouch that allows you to eat as many (or as few) as you want!
You’ve traveled all over the world in your career, what is your favorite destination?
Travel is in my bones. It drives my heart and my former road-warrior days are actually what inspired this brand and our launch product. I love so many places for a variety of reasons, but right now I dream of a beach. So, let’s go with the one place I can fully relax, be spoiled rotten and hit the beach: Isle of Hope, Georgia. Home of the parentals.
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
Hearing from our customers their favorite animal cracker memories and seeing in their eyes how excited they are to be given permission to eat animal crackers again.
How important is giving back to and mentoring?
My mentors were the ones that not only laid the foundation of my entire career, but in the moments that I was pondering this brand – they collectively were the ones that cheered me on. Not many days ever pass where I don’t reach out to one of them asking for guidance, advice or a contact. I will spend the rest of my life trying to pay this forward, hoping to do so with half as much grace as each of them have shown me. So – in other words – TOP of my priority list.
Around The World: Veni, Vidi, Vici Edition
Nothing ever works out quite the way it’s planned, especially when traveling. Tess McCurdy shares her on-the-road tips to ensure your next vacay is more breezy and less bustling.
I consider myself a moderately seasoned traveler. I spent a semester abroad in Florence where I navigated the Italian train system. I’d hop over to Greece and find the the chicest and most unsuspecting rooftop restaurants in Athens. After trailing back to Italy, I managed rounds of free drinks from professional rugby players in Parma. And let’s not forget the pub crawls through the medieval streets of Prague. I travel. Well, I might add.
So when my best friend and I returned to Europe to visit my sister recently I figured it would be a breeze. We planned to spend our first few days in Barcelona and booked flights from Pisa to Barcelona on good ol’ Ryanair, the lowest guaranteed fair airline.
The morning of our only full day, my eyes cracked open one at time at about 11:30 a.m., three and a half hours later than our “scheduled” 8:00 a.m. wake-up call. Groggy, slow-moving and jet-lagged, we took on a we-can-do-this attitude and quickly pulled ourselves together and raced out of our rooms for the tour bus stop.
Up and down the piazzas we trekked, watching our sightseeing bus zip by over and again. We waved frantically, yelling to passengers seated atop, “Hey, where’d you get on this bus?” only to be answered by puzzled faces and “I can’t hear you.” After 45 minutes, my friend said, “I want to cry,” and I agreed. But then between squinted eyes as if staring at a mirage, I saw the bus stop.
We filed on the bus with a crew of fanny-pack-wearing, selfie-stick-holding fellow tourists and sat up top. Feeling both grateful and relieved, we took in the city’s buzz as the warm Catalina sun steadily caressed our shoulders. Like sponges, we absorbed the sights, sounds, and people, smiling tirelessly. We hit all of our stops, toured historical buildings, chugged sangria slushies (yes, those exist!), all with our trusty paper map in hand.
The rest of the trip wasn’t without its ups and downs. Cases in point: We made more than a few wrong turns down suspect streets. We loss track of time dancing the night away until 3:30 a.m. the morning of an anticipated 5 a.m. airport wake-up call. We sat impatiently in the airport during a four-hour flight delay during one of our in-country quests. And trust, there were others. But by the end of our long weekend escapade, none of that mattered. Why? Because we come, we had ate, and we had selfied at almost every point in Barcelona.
And by the end of it all, we realized, though wrought with imperfect and oft never-realized plans, we did Barcelona perfectly. At least as far as we are concerned. And isn’t that what traveling is all about? Growing and realizing new things as well as places--with or without a tour guide, a friend or a map. And while these mishaps make for questionable stories, belly laughs, and “oh, my God”s some things are best averted. Here are six tips to make your first solo trip easy like...well, you fill in the blank.
3. Do your research. Pick your must-see places and then map out the best ways to get from point A to B. Remember, you’ll be facing language barriers, foreign public transportation systems, customs and everything in between. Cut down on the “where the hell am I?!” moments by having a game plan. Grab a map from the front desk and draw out the best routes just in case you lose service (which you probably will). And make note of a few of our favorite travel sites and bloggers that provide authoritative insight as well as style inspiration LuxuryLink.com, TravelNoire.com, CondeNastTraveler, WalkinWonderland, and TravelistaTeri.
2. Ask a friend. Chances are you know someone who has traveled to your chosen destination. Don’t be shy. People or live or have visited a destination usually embrace the opportunity to show that they are “in the know.” If you don’t know someone, contact the concierge of the hotel you are considering staying. Ask him or her for shop, gallery, restaurant, bars, museums and day-trip recommendations that they loved. Yelp and Tripadvisor are great resources but often lead to tourist traps.
3. Reserve your times. Most well-known landmarks have long lines (that’s what makes them famous, right?) but there are several alternatives to avoid these time consumers. Once you decide where you want to go, check to see if you can reserve a ticket online or book a time slot. In Barcelona you’ll want to do this for destinations like La Sagrada Familia and La Parque Guell. Express line, here you come!
4. Be Insta-worthy. Photos are like little portals to the past. When you're on vacation, remember to document the important moments. Find the perfect lighting (the TyLite will ensure you are good) and strike a pose. You may feel silly doing it but you’ll be glad you have these photos—and your Instagram feed will thank you. Just no selfie sticks, please!
5. Bring a positive attitude. While traveling is a universally joyous experience, it can be stressful and exhausting at times. Check your mindset and expectations— after all, nothing is perfect. Take deep breaths, drink wine, inhale the fresh air and remember to be grateful.
6.Enjoy the moment. There will be that moment when the perfect opportunity presents itself to totally deviate from the above tips, Take it! The best memories are often those you didn’t plan for.
Ready to book that ticket and hotel? We are! Next up, Kenya!