Monocycle with Leandra Medine

Latest Episodes:

Ep 62: A Conversation With Bozoma Saint John Dec 08, 2017

Show notes

Bozoma Saint John wears her flair on her sleeve: beads, rhinestones, gold accents; you name it, she's got it. As for the clothes, there is no color too bold, print too loud or silhouette too challenging for Uber's Chief Brand Officer to try. On traditional executive uniforms, she asks with genuine wonder in her voice, "Who made these rules, and why do we listen to them?" But there's more to Bozoma Saint John than the impressive way in which she carries herself, the seemingly effortless confidence that she holds and espouses, the degree to which she believes in herself and wants to be the best, do the best and perpetuate the best: She is also incredibly empathetic. You almost get the sense that she's lived multiple lives, and this is why, for whatever reason, when she speaks to you, it is almost like she is speaking directly to your soul. Please enjoy a very candid conversation in this week's episode of Monocycle. There's a bit of everything: advice for the grieving, a sound way to reconcile hardship, how she has become such an unflinching cheerleader for herself (and how, too, we can learn from this), and a little something about the persistence, reliance and beauty in the way the sun rises, day in and out. Just like, you know, we do.

Ep 61: An Interview With Karla Welch Dec 02, 2017

Show notes

In this week’s episode of Monocycle, unofficially called Bicycle every time I have an interview subject, Karla Welch — celebrity stylist to the likes of Ruth Negga, Karlie Kloss, Justin Bieber, Olivia Wilde, Tracee Ellis Ross and so on and so forth — shares a number of important facts that are as revealing as they are sentimental. At one point, when I try to prod on how she manages burn out, she rejects my assertion that everyone experiences burn out, proclaims perennial gratefulness for her role in Hollywood (she is originally from Canada, and moved to L.A. not for work, but for love) and suggests that perhaps those who burn out don’t yet quite have strong enough relationships with themselves manufactured to perfection. “I never have FOMO because I like my own company,” she said. Enjoy a listen and should you feel so inclined, do too, buy a t-shirt from her remarkably successful collaboration with Hanes. Amelia gushed about them earlier this fall. I’m just going to say co-sign.

Ep 60: A Conversation With Lena Dunham Nov 17, 2017

Show notes

This week's episode of Monocycle is more like an episode of Bicycle because there are two stakeholders (wheels?) present in the conversation: myself and Lena Dunham. When I set out to interview her, I had a fairly strong sense of what we might talk about, like the evolution of Lenny Letter, life after Girls, New York vs. Los Angeles. What unfolded was a genuinely organic conversation about life, failing and succeeding and how similar they are, self esteem, family and love. While listening back to this episode, I realized it sounds less like a podcast recording and more like an intimate conversation, which, to me, is really the goal of an interview. I very much hope you enjoy the structure as we plan to continue rolling out various interviews over the course of the next couple of months. As always, any and all feedback is welcome, so sock it to me in the comment depository below. Happy birthday, btw!!! (What? It could be...)

Ep 58: Finding Your Purpose Oct 27, 2017

Show notes

Welcome back to Fridays with Monocycle. Today's episode is about purpose. I've talked about purpose before, but this time it's different. This time it's about how to identify it, why it's important, how you know when you've lost it and how to nurture it when it's back. I tried something different for this episode and wrote it out before I spoke it, so if I sound like I'm reading off a teleprompter, that's because I am. Can't wait to hear what you think!

Ep 56: Back With a Vengeance Aug 25, 2017

Show notes

Helloooooooooo ladies and gentlemen of the jury! How are you doing? How has your week been? Your month? Your quarter? Your whole damn year? Mine has been weird, which doesn't say much because I have concluded that weird is the least effective adjective one can use as an illuminating descriptor in the entire dictionary. It can mean anything, good or bad. How does this ice cream taste? "Weird." How are you feeling? "Weird." Do you see how by answering these questions I'm not answering them at all? If you are wondering whether I have lost it, the jig is up, I probably have. But I'm digressing. Man, I feel like a kid of 21, blogging into a computer with reckless abandon. Will THEY edit me? Will they not? It's been like, three days since I hit my finger tips to this keyboard and let the words flow out of my brain. It's also been like, days, since the words flowing out of my brain have sounded like anything more than BLOO BLEEP BLA BLING KRING TING LING SHANTI. (In case you didn't pick up on that, those words don't actually mean anything, at least not in my native Language of the Hidden Temple.) What? Nothing. Never mind. Let's stop beating around the bush -- the point is that Monocycle is back and so long as I don't accidentally fuck up my life or it doesn't accidentally fuck me up (see: December 2016), my anticipation is that we (Monocycle, Malcolm Gladwell and me) are back for the long haul. The long haul! So sit back, relax, grab a coffee and enjoy the next 11 minutes.

Ep 55: What It's Like to Work With Your BFF Jun 16, 2017

Show notes

You're probably wondering about what my ideal outfit is, right? But you would only know why I'm asking this question if you have started listening to the episode already. Before I continue forward with this intro, let me just explain said outfit: this kimono, these shorts, these shoes. Dress like a lady of leisure, but don't actually be one. That's my mantra for the summer of 2017. Glad that's out of the way! Now that we are engaged to be married, let me continue on topic: this week's episode of Monocycle is part of the theme of the month in that it's about what it's like to work with your best pal. When you think best pal, often you think of the women (or men!) you've known since they were girls (or boys!). The people you grew up with, or who you met in a social environment. While Amelia and I met in a work setting (we were interns together at the same start up in 2009), we became fast, personal friends. This process of burgeoning friendship was accelerated when she creepily booked a ticket to Paris and came to visit me when I was abroad just two months after we met, but you can hear more about that act of a true serial killer in the episode. Between then and the time she started at Man Repeller, there were about 4 years of unadulterated friendship colored by love and heartbreak and pillow talk and one very strange blog idea (it was called Pony Tales and Broken Nails) which frankly, made me want to work with her more. A lot of people warned us about what could happen to a friendship when soiled by the transactional nature of a business partnership, but so far, we're doing okay.

Ep 52: An Extra-Special Monocycle with Drew Barrymore May 05, 2017

Show notes

Ask and ye shall receive! Following a special episode of The Chatroom with Drew Barrymore, which went live a few weeks ago after months and months of toiling with the expansive range of topics that were covered during our conversation in December, the longer-form podcast episode is here for your ear (plugs). If I'm being really honest, sitting down with Drew following a particularly tumultuous month was like Xanax for my soul -- there is an undeniable warmth about the way in which she looks at you (and into your soul, frankly), a true earnestness when she not just sympathizes but also empathizes with what you want to say, and you always get the sense, no matter what she's talking about, that it's coming from the heart. Have a listen and then nod in agreement as I say: We are all Josie Grossie. This episode of Monocycle was edited by Samara Breger. Logo illustration by Kelly Shami.

Ep 50: Be Delicate with Yourself Mar 10, 2017

Show notes

Holy candied nut! Can you believe we've approached the 50th episode of Monocycle? Some of them have been so stupid! Others have been regurgitations of articles that have gone up on Man Repeller (this was a test, which according to the last episode, is falling flat -- point noted!), but the majority, really, have been stream of consciousness monologues that I want to turn into dialogues because it can't be that all the thoughts I maintain are unique to just me, right? The thoughts I think, the feelings I feel...as different as we are, we're also the same. Joy is joy and grief is grief and as much as the latter sucks, it is also incredible that we have the capacity to show empathy or compassion to each other. This has nothing to do with the episode, by the way, which was recorded while I sat nearly-naked on a marble bathroom floor in Paris earlier this week. I was feeling SO BLUE and I'm not sure why (though honestly, my life has felt more like its on hold in a deep blue vacuum than anything else since pregnancy-gate 2016), so I called my husband, but he didn't pick up, and instead turned on my recorder and pretended that I was talking to frankly anyone who would listen and the result is episode 50. Lmk if it's extremely convoluted. And if you're unfamiliar with Monocycle, or just simply want to take a stroll down memory lane, here are some of my favorite episodes to date: Episode 1 -- On experiencing (and hopefully recovering from) burnout. Episode 6 -- About why I chose to take my husband's last name. Episode 14 -- About the thought process of getting dressed. Episode 38 -- A response to a response about cultural appropriation at Marc Jacobs' Spring 2017 show (the one that happened last September). Monocycle is edited by Nicholas Quazzy Alexander. Logo illustration by Kelly Shami; Photo by BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

Ep 47: The Pursuit of More Than Cool Jan 27, 2017

Show notes

You might remember a dramatic meditation that I wrote, which essentially made the case to abandon the pursuit of becoming cool in exchange for simply accepting who I am. I read it back to myself after it went live and felt like it came off somewhat kumbaya. Originally, I wanted to write the story for the simple reason that it seems like people are aspiring towards this weird umbrella word (cool) that doesn't actually mean anything because it's so subjective and mutable, but once I got to sitting and writing and simultaneously thinking, it came out as something else. So this week's episode of Monocycle is a new way to critique my own mind (if you thought I couldn't get more vain, surprise!). It appraises a story I have written, agrees with the clauses that still hold subjectively true, corrects the ones that could have been misunderstood or just articulated more clearly (my mind is a windy road, and I'm sorry you're so regularly subject to the ride), considers the comments under the story (so often best and smartest parts of these stories), and ultimately leaves you gasping for air and respite at the end of this tunnel I like to call love, but which you may refer to as damned. And that's that. Happy fourth Friday of 2017!!!! Related Stories: Show Me Your Swag Cool vs. Effortless How to Fake Cool Why I Stopped Caring About Being Cool Logo by Kelly Shami - legsny.com/ Edited by Nicholas Quazzy Alexander

Ep 46: Change Jan 20, 2017

Show notes

This week's episode of Monocycle is a real doozy. It's the first time in a long time that I stuck my head into that sound booth without a clear idea of what I would say once I was in there. Then words started pouring out, words I can't even recall having uttered. Did I listen to this episode several times over the course of the editing process? Yes. Obviously. Do I remember a single damn thing I said? No. I think my eyes have been staring a large computer screen too closely for so long that it is impacting my memory cells. Is that an unfounded excuse? Absolutely. Will I stop asking questions only to answer them immediately? Maybe. The bottom line is this: our theme of the month is Ch-Ch-Changes, but it's not a Man Repeller theme without a dash of irreverence (I can't believe I just wrote that in women's interest glossy type, but I'm not going to delete it because, you know, it happens to the best of us) so when we resolved we'd change, what we meant was exactly by staying the same. The point of this isn't to stump growth or improvement, to make you feel less like a good version of yourself. On the contrary, it's to cut yourself some slack! Just be, with a B. Let loose in that incredible mental way that doesn't require ordering an extra glass of wine. Tell yourself setbacks are okay, give yourself a high-ass fucking five when you do something you're proud of. Etc, etc. Or something like that. Just listen! Then meet me back here, I am literally waiting (I get comment alerts) and the last time I said that, I sat frozen for hours, EVEN DAYS!, waiting for you. So... Related Stories: Welcome to Ch-Ch-Changes Month on Man Repeller Monocycle: Episode 45, Resolutions Monocycle: Episode 37, Uterus Envy Logo by Kelly Shami - legsny.com/ Edited by Nicholas Quazzy Alexander

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