Creative Director Lydia Pang on Eating Bitter, the Cost of Ambition, and Writing a Book Like No-One's Reading

Lydia Pang is the co-founder of creative agencies MØRNING and EVENING, and the author of Eat Bitter: A Story About Guts, and Food — a memoir in eight recipes about fertility loss, relationship struggles, and burnout induced by over a decade of working herself into the ground. She's also someone who has spent her career branding other people, which makes her examination of her own long-suppressed vulnerability especially compelling. We talked about the mythology of New York, the tension between creative purity and commercial survival, and what it means to write a book like no-one's reading. - Deep Reading lists can be found at phoebe.substack.com @phoebelovatt @deepread.phoebelovatt @lydia_pang_  

Deep Read #51 is with New York-based author Stephanie Wambugu. Her debut novel Lonely Crowds centres on the intense bond between two young women, Ruth and Maria, who meet at a Catholic girls’ school in Rhode Island and remain entangled in one another’s lives into adulthood. We spoke about the discomfort of ugly emotions, the dangers of ‘staying too long at the fair’, and the realities of navigating artistic ambition while trying to establish stability, intimacy, and a truly “adult” life. - @phoebelovatt @deepread.phoebelovatt @stephaniejeriwambugu

Zakia Sewell is a broadcaster, DJ and writer, and the author of a remarkable new book, Finding Albion: Myth, Folklore and the Quest for a Hidden Britain. In this conversation we talk about national identity, immigration, paganism, Notting Hill Carnival, radical histories, British humour, and what happens when love of place is ceded entirely to the right. - Deep Reading Lists are available at phoebe.substack.com @phoebelovatt @deepread.phoebelovatt @zzzakia

Find Deep Reading lists for each episode at phoebe.substack.com - Deep Read #49 is with Annie Kreighbaum, a creative director and beauty-world architect who helped shape Glossier in its defining era and is now building KRAUM, a brand that begins with five exquisitely small makeup brushes made to her exacting specifications in Japan — what she half-jokingly calls a “vanity project,” for reasons that become clear as we talk. We revisit the optimism and extravagant funding energy of 2016, and the skills she honed in that moment — instinct, language, taste, and the discipline of editing — before turning to the bigger thesis behind KRAUM: not just better tools, but a slower, more intentional approach to getting ready. We also discuss fast beauty, permanence, her resistance to AI as a shortcut in creative work, and the books that shape her thinking. - @phoebelovatt @deepread.phoebelovatt @annieokay @kraum.co  

Amil Niazi is the writer behind The Cut’s column 'The Hard Part' and author of a new book: Life After Ambition: A “Good Enough” Memoir.   You might’ve read Amil’s piece Losing My Ambition, which went viral back in 2022— partly because it named something that was already in the air post-pandemic: this creeping disillusionment, not just with our jobs, but with the whole story we were sold about work.   In this conversation we talk about the shift from ambition as aspiration to ambition as survival strategy, and what it means to work hard and still find that the doors don’t open. We also talk about motherhood vs. work. vs. meaning, the burgeoning Millennial mid-life crisis, and of course Amil shares her favourite books. - @phoebelovatt @deepread.phoebelovatt @amilniazi phoebe.substack.com  

Zoe Dubno is the author of Happiness and Love – a buzzy new novel set inside the decadent but spiritually empty downtown New York art world, where artists, collectors, and social climbers circle each other in pursuit of status and survival. Our chat that moves between New York and London, artists and patrons, boredom and desire. We also covered the performance of taste, the emotional cost of ambition, and what it means to live inside a culture that rewards image over substance. And, of course, Zoe shared some of her favourite books. I hope you enjoy the conversation. - @phoebelovatt @deepread.phoebelovatt @zoedubno phoebe.substack.com  

Deep Reading Lists can be found at phoebe.substack.com @phoebelovatt @deepread.phoebelovatt @sueperchan @careofchan - Today's guest is Sue Chan, founder of Care of Chan, the hospitality-driven creative agency behind some of the busiest events, dinners and cultural moments you've seen online (or maybe even been lucky enough to attend in person). Sue and I first met over a decade ago back when she was transitioning out of her role as brand director at iconic New York City restaurant Momofuku and beginning to build what would eventually become Care of Chan.   Since then, the world and the way we come together has completely transformed. We talk about that transformation, the loneliness epidemic, the rise of the event economy, and the way in-person experiences have become the new status symbol when so much of our culture is mediated through screens. From influencer trips that break the internet, to why a good dinner can feel more radical than ever, to the psychological barriers that stop so many people reaching out.  

Find Deep Reading lists for each episode at phoebe.substack.com Follow Phoebe and the podcast: @phoebelovatt @deepread.podcast - Today's episode was recorded live in London as part of our Deep Read Salon event series, with my longtime friend and returning guest, Sharmadean Reid (@sharmadeanreid).   We reunited for this live episode at Mason & Fifth in West London, where Sharma was hosting a pop-up for her new luxury bathing brand, 39BC (@39bc.world). As a master of what the internet loves to call “worldbuilding,” Sharma has created an entire universe around this brand — drawing on ancient bathing rituals from around the world to build something really special and unique.   It felt like the perfect moment to ask her more about her reading and research process, the evolution of her business philosophy, and the personal and professional transitions that have brought her into this new era of her life and career.   Sharma and I have loved talking to each other for over 15 years now, and I think you can hear that in this conversation. I hope you enjoy it.  

DEEP READING LISTS are available at phoebe.substack.com Sofie Pavitt is one of New York’s most in-demand facialists and the founder of Sofie Pavitt Face. If you’re considering a career pivot, this episode will hopefully inspire you. After fifteen years working in fashion for brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, River Island, Gap, and Michael Kors, Sofie left her corporate job, retrained as an esthetician, and built a business from scratch — one client and one facial at a time.   This is a fun, business-focussed interview that explores the nuts of bolds of launching a skincare brand from scratch. Sofie shares how she transitioned from designer to entrepreneur, the reality of building a brand in the age of social media, and why her mission is to make effective skincare accessible and uncomplicated. We also talk about work ethic, motherhood, beauty standards, and what it means to build something that lasts in a culture obsessed with the new. - @phoebelovatt @deepread.phoebelovatt @sofiepavitt  

Deep Reading lists for each episode can be found at phoebe.substack.com - Today's conversation is with Sophie Bishop, an associate professor at the University of Leeds, whose new book Influencer Creep: How Optimization, Authenticity and Self-Branding Transform Creative Culture is out now. Sophie shares how her early work on beauty bloggers led her to coin the phrase “influencer creep,” why artists now face the same anxieties as influencers about constant visibility, and how these dynamics connect to broader questions about labour rights, AI, and the future of cultural work. - @phoebelovatt @deepread.phoebelovatt