This week Ariel is joined by a designer with her infectious energy and tireless work ethic, Alessandra Branca. Born and raised in Rome, Alessandra has called Chicago home for 30+ years. She acquired her love of classical beauty from her Italian upbringing and those roots still speak to her soul today. Her designs are anchored by classical details, rich colors, patterns and textures, paired with antique and custom furnishings, modern and European art, and distinctive accessories.

As an Art History student, she started collecting architectural and natural history prints, and after attending College and then marrying an American, she opened a print business. Her shop, fashioned to look like a charming home, led to requests from customers to decorate for them. Gradually that evolved into her full-time business

Her work has been featured in countless magazines, including Architectural Digest, Town & Country, The New York Times, Veranda, and Elle Décor. She has been recognized within the industry with awards from House Beautiful Master Class and won designer of the year from the Merchandise Mart in 2016. Inspiration comes from all facets of Alessandra’s life including, design, art, nature, travel, and culture and she continually seeks knowledge and explores new ideals.

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Follow Alessandra on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abranca

Learn more about her work: https://branca.com/

This week Ariel’s guest Mandy Cheng cut her teeth on the fabulous sets of Hollywood, before transitioning her set design experience into a career as one of the most sought-after interior designers in Los Angeles. Mandy launched her solo design career first as a production and graphic designer in the film & television industry. You would recognize her design work from music videos for chart-topping names such as J.Cole, One Republic, and Dillon Francis & DJ Snake. And lent her talented hand as a graphic designer on projects ranging from 20th Century Women and Ladybird to Beyonce's Lemonade.

It was her design of the home of Emmy Raver-Lampman and Daveed Diggs, which landed the April 2021 cover of AD, and most recently, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Justin Mikita’s home, which was also featured in AD and their fan-favorite platform, Open Door. Since she founded Mandy Cheng Design, she has been named AD 100 for three years in a row, 2022 to 2024. And designed a wide range of properties including homes, retail stores and offices–all spanning the country.

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Learn more about Mandy Cheng’s Design Studio: https://www.mandychengdesign.com/

And follow Mandy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mandychengdesign/

For this week’s episode, it’s a Talk Shop first, as we welcome a duo–lifelong friends and now co-founders–the team behind In Kind…Hannah Weil McKinley and Leah Melby Clinton.

Printed twice yearly, and available digitally, In Kind is a thoughtfully curated to touch on the conversations modern women are having about motherhood, career, ambition, personal style, and more. As they say, In Kind is a conversation around the things that really matter. Focused on capturing, exploring, and supporting the questions and dreams that the women in our orbits are having with each other.

Hannah and Leah first met, over a decade ago, during their times at POPSUGAR–a pop culture site that covers all things from fashion to beauty to shopping. A self-prescribed shoe-obsessed, Hannah spent twelve years at POPSUGAR, landing after a childhood spent knowing she wanted to work in Editorial. In 2018, after the birth of her first daughter, she felt a seismic shift, and began to look for and share more candid stories around motherhood and womanhood. It was then during the pandemic that the beginnings of In Kind took route. Across the country, Leah started to kick around an idea of creating a place–first a zine–for a community of mothers were looking for. From there In Kind was born!

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Learn more about In Kind: https://inkindmagazine.com/

And follow Hannah and Leah on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/hannahmck20

https://www.instagram.com/leahmelbyclinton