Candid Conversations With Successful Women

It's rare to be given a window into the daily life of a successful person that isn't tinted rose-colored. A window that allows you to see the harships and struggles and complexities that came before (and with) success, and the minutiae of everyday life that sustains a lifelong practice. 

In a special series accompanying the podcast "The Cut on Tuesdays"—a collaboration between The Cut and Gimlet Media—host Stella Bugbee has "a conversation with a woman we admire about how she gets it done." The most candid of these may be her dialogue with Amy Sherald, the painter who rocketed to fame after being commissioned to paint Michelle Obama's portrait early in 2018.

Bugbee does ask Sherald about the bigger issues in her life: her longterm health issues (she was the recipient of a heart transplant), her love life and how it has affected her artistic practice, and what it was like to be a struggling artist who suddenly found notoriety. But she also asks what Sherald wears to the studio every day, how long it currently takes her to make a painting, what it's like to work with assistants, and when she has lunch. This amounts to a portrait of a life that is more well-rounded than the typical glorifying interview, and perhaps even more endearing.