A Few Things With Claire And Erica

Settle in for an extra-delicious week of a A Few Things, why don’t you? We’re picking the brains of Jill Donenfeld and Tiana Tenet, the food-plus-business badasses behind The Culinistas, a New York-based in-home cooking service that connects busy people with private chefs who can stock their fridges, prepare meals for new parents, and even help host a party. Plus, they’re work wives who knew it was right from basically the instant they met. A lot to chew on! P.S. These Xenia Taler Bamboo Dinner Plates and Side Plates also make throwing a shindig a breeze—they’re cute, practically weightless, and 10% off with the code AFEWTHINGS. P.P.S. Jill and Tiana cooked for the launch of Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses—and if you haven’t read it yet, you really should.

Two very important (and very different) topics coming at you hard this week: pelvic-floor strength and the power of putting women in charge of venture capital. Anu Duggal and Sutian Dong are the brilliant minds behind Female Founders Fund, an early-stage investment firm created to identify women-led companies that old-school (cough, male) venture capitalists often overlook. Clearly, you need to know more, right? P.S. This Binu Binu Seshin Korean Scrub Mitt will get you polished and smooth without leaving weird grit in the bottom of your shower. It’s also 10% off with the code AFEWTHINGS. P.P.S. Do you know about Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses? Because you should!

We’re back with a banner best of 10 things week, featuring the cream of Claire and Erica’s recent 10 Things newsletter picks. If you love Diane Keaton, planking, and cool new ways to mend your jeans, this is truly the episode for you. P.S. And if you love great books, then Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses is the buy for you! P.P.S. Are they culottes? Are they shorts? These dreamy Devlyn Van Loon Culotte Shorts have all the answers, and they’re 10% off with the code AFEWTHINGS.

If you’ve ever spent time in lifestyle-blog land, chances are you’ve stumbled across LaTonya Yvette—and that first encounter probably involved a gasp at how great her OOTD game is. But in addition to being a stellar stylist, she tackles weighty topics around parenting, illness, and identity. Listen in as she talks about the process of bringing her POV to her brand-new book, Woman of Color, that is, of course, as beautiful as it is compelling. P.S. You know who else wrote a great book recently? Claire and Erica! It’s called Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses, and it’s available now. P.P.S. Make our crinkly-soft Permanent Collection by Of a Kind Short-Sleeve Shirtdress your own—it’s 10% off with the code AFEWTHINGS.

If your sex ed was more than a little lacking, you’re not alone—but Erica Chidi Cohen and Quinn Lundberg are firm believers in a better-late-than-never mantra when it comes to learning more about their sexual and reproductive health. The pair runs Loom, a Los Angeles center that offers everything from doula services to period coaching, and just hearing them talk about that on this ep will make you feel like you know your body a little better. P.S. For even more empowering female duos, pick up a copy of Claire and Erica’s new book, Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses, out now! P.P.S. Scope out our Permanent Collection by Of a Kind Short-Sleeve Oxford Shirt, which is 10% off with the code AFEWTHINGS just in time for summer.

Today we’ve got a West Coast wellness dispatch from Elizabeth Kott and Stephanie Simbari, the hilarious work wives behind the podcast That’s So Retrograde (a.k.a. “the Ab Fab of new age”). It’s a crash course in the woo-woo—and in many cases, wonderful—new trends that’ll hit the rest of the country in, oh, about nine months. P.S. You know what other craze is sweeping the nation? Work wives! That’s the focus of Claire and Erica’s new book, Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses, out now! P.P.S. Spice up your scent life with Maison Louis Marie candles in No. 2 Le Long Fond and No. 4 Bois de Balincourt—both 10% off with the code AFEWTHINGS.

Today’s ep features our very first live taping, coming to you from sunny L.A.! Our guests kicked off their relationship on the job when Drybar co-founder Alli Webb hired Brittany Driscoll to work as the brand’s head of marketing. Fast forward to now, and the pair have co-created a whole new biz called Squeeze, a just-opened massage shop that aims to do for massages what Drybar did for blowouts. Listen in as they break down the evolution of their personal-professional bond. P.S. Alli and Brittany are all about that work-wife life—and so are the other amazing female partners featured in Claire and Erica’s new book, Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses, which you can buy now!

If ya haven’t already heard, Claire had a baby in December (welcome to the A Few Things family, Cam!). Today, she and Erica recap what having a baby and pop-up shop during the busiest month of the year looked like—and all the interesting, wonderful, and weird stuff that’s happened since. P.S. This brilliant Christophe Robin Temporary Color Gel is an easy way to cover grays, if you’re into that—plus it’s 10% off with the code AFEWTHINGS.

Confronting Your Parents After Motherhood Julia was born in South Korea, but was adopted and raised by a white family. Now that she has her own child—the first biological relative she’s ever known—she’s rethinking her relationship with her own family, and on a search to find her birth mother.

Lennon Flowers and Carla Fernandez are here to discuss their work-wife partnership and their incredible non-profit The Dinner Party, which facilitates a series of potlucks around the country to support people in their twenties and thirties who have experienced a major loss. They’re also full of great advice for how to avoid clamming up when someone close to you is going through something hard. Really, we’re here for anything and everything they have to share. P.S. These colorful Wolfum trays are the cutest way to get organized—and they’re also now 10% off with the code AFEWTHINGS. ᐧ

Claire and Erica are back in the studio with a real great grab bag of an episode today, answering listener questions re: treadmill TV and supplying the red lentil content nobody asked for—but that we swear you’ll be grateful for! P.S. Cut down on your phone time with these colorful Wexler & Sons card and board games—all 10% off with the code AFEWTHINGS.

Even if you’re not up on your celebrity gossip, you’ve probably seen a post from @commentsbybelebs, the now famous in its own right Instagram account that highlights all the hilarious chatter between, say, J-Lo and Ellen in the comments section. Today, Claire and Erica sit down with Emma Diamond and Julie Kramer, the pop-culture queens behind this brilliance, who dish on judging the merits of online clapbacks, DMing celebrities, and how building a brand brought them closer as friends. P.S. Claire and Erica’s book Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses is here, and it’s a total must read. Get your hands on a copy ASAP!

When Maiko Kyogoku decided to open Bessou, a ridiculously satisfying Japanese comfort-food restaurant in Manhattan’s Noho neighborhood, her former Boulud Sud co-worker Emily Yuen asked if she might need an executive chef. The rest is (delicious) work-wife history, and we’re getting into all of it—from their mutual excitement over ingredients to their extreme-fitness bonding sessions—on this week’s ep. P.S. You can now get Claire and Erica’s book Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses in your hands. Trust us, it’s a real page-turner!

You may not know them by name, but Sue Conley and Peggy Smith are the dairy mavens who founded Cowgirl Creamery, the famous Bay Area maker of such delicious cheeses as Mt Tam and Red Hawk. On this ep, Claire and Erica had the pleasure of hearing the full story, which involves a Steinbeckian post-college road trip, a stint at Chez Panisse, and—you guessed it—a thriving work-wife relationship. P.S. Hey, have you grabbed a copy of Claire and Erica’s book Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses? And, if not, what are you waiting for?!

Are you listening to the Cool Moms podcast? Because you should be. It’s hosted by Elise Peterson, an artist and illustrator, and Lizzy Okpo, co-founder of the fashion line William Okpo, and they both joined Claire and Erica on this ep to break down how they tackle motherhood, maintain their identities, and resolve conflicts between the two of ‘em (keeping their astrological signs in mind, of course). P.S. Want a signed copy of Claire and Erica’s book, Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses? Pre-order it today, and your wish is granted!

Today on the pod, Claire and Erica chat with two extraordinary sisters, Leah and Bea Koch, founders of The Ripped Bodice, the only romance-novel bookstore in all of the United States. But they’re up to even more than that—from landing a deal with Sony, to writing a novel, to promoting racial diversity in romance publishing—and manage to make it all happen without ruining family Thanksgiving. P.S. Speaking of books, pre-order Claire and Erica’s, Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses, today for your very own signed copy!

What an ep! This week, Claire and Erica had the pleasure of chatting it up with Aminatou Sow, Ann Friedman, and Gina Delvac, the three long-distance work wives behind the gold standard in bestie podcasting, Call Your Girlfriend. They share their meet-cutes (Gossip Girl and poolside nail-painting were involved) as well as what makes their partnership work like it does. Hint: consistency, accountability, and having each other’s back. P.S. Claire and Erica’s book, Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses, is coming March 5! Pre-order your signed copy stat, huh?

Hey, there, we missed ya! To celebrate our return from hiatus, we’re bringing you a meet-cute, a pseudo-breakup, and the full story of a thriving bi-coastal relationship on the podcast today. Who are we chatting with? That would be Andrea Oliveri and Nicole Vecchiarelli, co-founders of Special Projects, all-around work-wife powerhouses with tons of advice on making their professional relationship hum and juggling the tough stuff in between. P.S. Pre-order a signed copy of Claire and Erica’s book, Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses, for so many great interviews and much intel.

This week on A Few Things, we’ve got Mary H.K. Choi, a.k.a. @choitotheworld, a.k.a. the brilliantly badass writer whose debut novel, Emergency Contact, is charming existing YA fans and converting new ones, both.