Life + Culture

The Art of Lifting Others

Redefining Visibility, Resilience and the Power of Community Article by Cat Rolfes There are women who rise, and then there are women who lift. The distinction matters. Rising can be solitary. Lifting is relational. It assumes responsibility for who comes along. In this issue, our cover feature with Erin Coupe reflects on the power of living with intention. Here, we turn to two more women whose lives embody that ethos of purposeful uplift. Their paths are different, but their impact is...

Arts + Culture

Rebecca Makkai, Questions that Stay

Indie and local books that are bound to inspire. Article by Cat Rolfes Entrepreneurship has its myths. So does memory. In I Have Some Questions for You , Rebecca Makkai builds a narrative that sits squarely in that tension, part page-turner: part excavation of how we remember, revise and sometimes misread our own past. The novel grew out of a particular moment. "Being old enough to look back on that time from a very different era, being young enough to have teenage kids," she says, created a...

Entertainment

Timeless and True

Mali Wilson returns with a love story album rooted in faith, experience and Chicago soul Article by Cat Rolfes Mali Wilson has spent decades shaping the sound, careers and creative spaces of other artists with quiet intention. With her new album, Retro in Real Time: Where Love Feels Safe , the Grammy-nominated producer and artist steps fully into her own light, offering a deeply personal body of work that reflects a life lived, lessons learned and love embraced. Released March 20, the...

Food + Beverage

A place for us

A chef’s final station finds its audience Article and Photography by Cat Rolfes Halfway through our meal at Elyon, Chef Özgür "Ozzy" Yavuz said something that stopped me mid-sip. "This is your restaurant." Not a pleasantry. A declaration. He built this place for us. All of us. Because English isn’t his first language, the words arrive without ornament or excess, and land with exactly the weight he intends. Which makes what's happening on Vernon Avenue feel less like a restaurant opening and...

Arts + Culture

Force, Form, Flow

Three artists redefining feminine perspective Article by Cat Rolfes May invites a closer look at women who create with intention and authority. On the North Shore, three artists are doing just that, each shaping distinct visual languages grounded in material, memory and self-definition. Karen Ross works in molten wax, building luminous surfaces that resist control. Erin Kaya constructs layered compositions where geometry gives way to emotion. Patricia M. Dolan turns to the Aegean, translating...

Education

Holding Space

Erin Coupe on redefining success, building real capacity, and why leading yourself first may be the most radical leadership act of all. Article by Cat Rolfes On a recent evening, Erin Coupe had just landed back in Chicago from San Francisco. Another keynote delivered. Another room full of leaders. Another conversation about success, pressure, and what it actually costs to keep going at the pace modern leadership demands. This is not a book tour, she is quick to clarify. It only looks like...

Professional Services

Closet Capital

How thoughtful storage turns everyday organization into lasting home value Article by Cat Rolfes | Photography by Provided On Chicago’s North Shore, value is rarely defined by flash alone. It is defined by intention. The homes that endure are those where beauty and function work in tandem, where spaces feel tailored, efficient and quietly refined. In that context, one of the smartest home investments is also one of the most understated: a well-designed closet. Today’s closets are no longer...

Home + Design

Portable Paradise

How a North Shore family turned prefab cabins into backyard escapes and boutique getaways Article by Amelia Levin Remember the she sheds, backyard offices, and man caves everyone wanted during the pandemic? Anisha Mehta Seltenright took that demand seriously. In 2022, she launched PrefabPads with her husband, Peter Seltenright, and father, Hemang Mehta—turning a shared passion into a thriving business selling high-quality, ready-to-use homes, offices, pool houses and backyard spaces. The...

Arts + Culture

Betsy Fore Built on Purpose

Indie and local books that are bound to inspire. Article by Cat Rolfes Entrepreneurship has always rewarded vision, grit and a tolerance for risk. In “Built on Purpose,” released late last year, founder and investor Betsy Fore argues that what most founders overlook is far less visible and far more consequential. The real work, she insists, begins inward. Fore has built and exited multiple companies, including Tiny Organics, which reached more than $13 million in revenue within its first two...

Arts + Culture

What We Carry

Brendan Hunt on family, loss and making it better Article by Cat Rolfes The last time I saw Brendan Hunt, we were doing what you do in Amsterdam when the night refuses to end. Riding bikes. No destination. Just a loose caravan of old friends pedaling through quiet streets after too much dancing and not enough sleep, celebrating Boom Chicago’s 30th anniversary with past and present cast members who all somehow still feel like family. It was nearly three decades after that theater first shaped...