Job Goals

Leslie always loved pugs when she was younger. When she started posting photos of herself with her dog Doug, she quickly realized the pictures of Doug solo were getting crazy hits. Having worked as a music artist management assistant handling PR for record labels, she used her skills and started Doug The Pug IG account. Doug has become the “It” dog of Instagram with millions of followers.

Before becoming the person that creates Google's emojis, Jennifer Daniel always wanted to be a clown when she grew up. It was the first time she realized that making people laugh and sharing a collective experience could be an actual job. Following her philosophy that nothing in life is a straight path, she took her passion in art and found an outlet in a tech company that ended up having a global audience.

Lauren Ko comes from a family of eaters and cooks, but never knew how to bake a pie, so one day she decided to do it. One year later, she was able to quit her job as an executive assistant, was being covered by news outlets, and has 200K followers on IG. Her pies became popular for their beautiful geometric designs and have been featured in publications such as Vogue, O Magazine, and Buzzfeed.

Kae Burke and Anya Sapozhnikova started their careers by hosting circus-themed parties with a dark/sexy vibe in NYC venues. They soon realized they were a one-stop shop who understood building sets, costuming, choreographing aerial movement and producing/casting. They brought all of these elements together into one and created House of Yes, an experiential nightlife collective.

After going on a mediocre audition, Taylor Gordon was inspired to post videos of her drumming to songs she liked. Having been a touring drummer for several years, she had grown tired of chasing gigs which were taking away from her creativity. Suddenly, her fanbase grew and turned her videos into a career, reaching hundreds of thousands of people and a presence in the music community.

In college, Oliver white broke his back in a skiing accident. While recovering, he honed the craft of fly fishing, but soon enough abandoned it to pursue a career in finance invest in NYC. Despite being successful, he missed the outdoors. Realizing he could take what he learned in banking and apply it to fly fishing business, he bought a storm-damaged hotel in the Bahamas and rebuilt it into one of the premiere fishing lodges in the world.

When Jim Denevan launched Outstanding In The Field, an experiential dining events in collaboration with local farms, in 1999, they only had 123 guests. This year, they have sold over 17,000 tickets. They adapt their approach to conditions and location and decide menus within a week of the event, creating an “on the fly environment” that inspires chefs to challenge themselves all to the pleasure of their diners.

Originally from California, Krista spent years traveling and working with small winemakers. She knew she wanted to make organic wine, but because of financial reasons and not having access to land, it wasn’t going to happen in California. Through determination, she landed a job as a winemaker and assistant farmer at a La Garagista, a natural wine company. Under the mentorship of Deirdre Heekin, she helped redefine winemaking in New England by focusing on Biodynamics in the vineyard and natural vinification practices. Now the owner of her own wine company, Krista was named to Wine Enthusiast magazine’s 2018 list of the “Top 40 Under 40 Tastemakers.”

Kevin Alexander is Thrillist's National Writer-at-Large and burger authority. In 2017, he went on a Burger Quest across America in search of the best burger and ate 330 burgers, sacrificing mind, body and spirit in doing so. He even ate 9 burgers in one day and almost had a heart attack. His opinion resonates so strongly that his pick for best burger in America had their demand spike, causing crazy wait times - even for celebs.