“How I define my job is always the million-dollar question. My background is in landscape architecture, and now I have an artistic practice, Original Rose, that incorporates living elements, like flowers, in my work. That often looks like helping brands activate in the form of events or campaigns. I did an ad with Target where the goal was to show how different New York City modalities would be transformed if they were left alone. We had a subway set, and I brought in all of these native plants from my friend’s upstate property to show that nature will eventually reclaim that space.
When I’m not doing things that are plant-oriented, I’m a machinist and play with all sorts of tools. I have four laser-engraving machines, multiple embroidery ones… Ultimately, there’s an underlying theme of being able to take something and put my own fingerprint on it. I’ve laser-engraved boots for Ugg and hats for Fenty Beauty, but I especially love when I can do things that you’re not really supposed to do, like laser-engrave food. I did lemons for Target and Rosie Assoulin. And bananas for Nike.
I’ve always had a sense of play—and fashion and science. My father is a scientist and is perpetually experimenting, and my mother had a garment company and was a fashion designer. She had her own factory in the city, so she could sketch something and then make it a reality that same day. I’ve just always known that you can take an idea and figure out how to actually make it happen.
I’ve been working for myself for almost 10 years, but before Original Rose became my full-time job, I was working two part-time jobs in architecture and planning. On the side, I was playing and doing these small experiments. I did a pop-up, made an Instagram, and started posting stuff and putting a name to it.
Then I did a pop-up at the Hester Street Fair, and I got a DM from someone at Nike saying, ‘Saw you at the fair. We really like this. Would you want to host a one-week workshop with us for this project?’ No one asked, ‘What are your services?” or ‘What do you do?’ They just said, ‘You’re going to do this.’ After I got that first gig, I quit both of my other jobs almost immediately. Some things are too obvious, and it felt like more of a risk not to switch over.
It was interesting because I realized that it’s important to state who you are and what you do, but I think people can also see you from afar and intuitively pick up on your abilities and strengths without you having to tell them, too. That’s especially powerful and special in New York. You can see someone’s work and be like, ‘Yeah, you need to do this,’ even if they’re not for hire at that time.
SKINCARE
Some people are very anal and everything needs to be perfect. That’s not my thing. Perfection isn’t real, and more than that, not actually beautiful. I think beauty—real, deep beauty—comes from managing stress. When you’re calm and chill, your aura makes you look hot. Of course, hygiene is important, but I don’t get too caught up in the products that I use—or I try not to, anyway. Especially because I’ve found that the more that I do, the more my skin starts falling apart and gets really red or sensitive to the touch.
I do like using multiple cleansers at night. I start with coconut oil, move on to DHC’s Deep Cleansing oil, and finish with La Roche-Posay’s Toleriane cleanser. Some people don’t love coconut oil, but it works for me. These days, it’s so easy to be influenced and everything becomes a doctrine. Everyone’s like, ‘I found the secret sauce. So you’ll buy it, and then a month later someone else says, ‘No, this is the secret sauce.’ I stay the course.
I follow up my cleansers with Biologique Recherche’s P50 PIGM 400, but only if I feel like my skin has too many layers. [Laughs] My moisturizer depends on what room I’m in and what I find in there. I keep the bottles with pumps, like Vanicream, in the living room. In my bathroom, I have the products that aren’t as fun; they mean business, like if my skin is feeling dry or sensitive. That’s where Cortizone-10 lives for my eczema flare-ups. And then on my vanity I have Kose’s Tigeraid CICA cream. In the mornings, I use sunscreen. I pick up Bioré UV Aqua Rich Lavender SPF50 every time I’m in Japan. It’s everywhere and super cheap. It’s a little more watery than most gels, but it never changes the color of my face.
MAKEUP
I like to sit down with a cup of coffee when I do my makeup in the mornings. I start with either EltaMD’s tinted SPF or Merit’s Minimalist, their foundation and concealer stick. I found a bunch of bottles of Pat McGrath’s Skin Fetish foundation at T.J. Maxx for like $8 randomly, so every once in a while I’ll pull that out when I want more coverage.
I come from a very serious lip liner family. My mom literally gives them out to younger girls. And I do agree with her that a lot of people don’t need lip filler, just a really good liner. I think it’s the one product everyone should have—and it doesn’t have to be super expensive—because it has the power to make you look absolutely stunning. My favorites lately are Glossier’s Lip Line in Buff and Bare. They’re actually inspired by the idea that your best lip liner shade is the color of your nipples. Personally, I don’t know what color I have down there. [Laughs] But something unlocked when I realized I look better with a slight brown. I’m not kidding. The first time I used a shade like that, I thought, ‘Oh man, I’m really beautiful and hot.’ I didn’t know that playing with the color of my lips was a $10 million experience, but I’ll take it.
I love Pat McGrath’s MatteTrance lipstick in 1995, but I’m worried that they’re not bringing it back because I can’t find it easily. That’s always sad. I’m still upset about Ami Colé shutting down because they made the perfect lip oil. There are very few times when I buy something and the dopamine actually hits. But every time I bought that lip oil, it felt luxurious. Everyone I know liked it, too.
HAIR
I do a lot of events and collaborations in Japan, so I get a haircut every time I’m there because it’s an activity to fill up my schedule. I kind of like when people come for me a little bit. It’s so fun when they’re like, ‘Oh my God. Your hair looks so bad,’ or, ‘Your hair is fried.’’ It’s sort of like when you get your eyebrows tweezed or threaded and the person asks, ‘Mustache, too?’ I don’t know, it’s sort of fun. [Laughs] Like, yeah, give me 10 conditioners and fix me.
But I’m not very good at keeping up with my hair in general. I don’t do anything too crazy with it, so I don’t really care. I actually cut my own bangs most of the time. Sometimes I cut them too short—I don’t understand how people are out here paying $200 to re-cut their bangs. I will say I’m always the most inspired to cut them when it’s not the best time, like when I’m running out of the door. [Laughs]
You’re probably not surprised that I don’t have a regular cadence for washing either. I do hot yoga at ID, so I have to wash it every time. Sometimes I see videos where girls share styles to try when your hair is super greasy, but their hair is blown out and perfect. How? My hair never looks like that after I work out. But I’ve tried every shampoo and conditioner out there. I always try the most expensive products thinking this time my hair will be different, but it all ends up being the same. Funny enough I get the best results when I use Nizoral’s anti-dandruff shampoo. I don’t have dandruff, but it makes my hair feel so clean. Then I condition with the volumizing and moisturizing one from Living Proof. I have a lot of hair, but it’s very thin and always wants to be greasy, but it works for me.
I really tried to embrace the ‘clean girl’ slick-back, but that aesthetic feels very old now; this era is a little messier and sexier. I run BaBylissPRO’s Portofino dryer with Milbon’s Restorative blowout primer for fine hair—that’s important—and Humidity Blocking oil, and that’s about it.
FRAGRANCE
I normally wear Diptyque’s Do Son, but I thought I should try something more ‘feminine.’ Well, that and after a five-year committed relationship with Do Son, it held too many memories. For my new era, I picked up Le Labo’s Rose 31. But I go back and forth between loving it and hating it. I loved it when I had a small vial of it, but now that I have a big bottle, the jury’s out. I’m still wearing it, but I question it every day. [Laughs]”
—as told to Daise Bedolla
Photographed by Julia Kokernak in New York on November 17, 2025