You are our first ONDA Inside couple! Such fun, and thank you for participating. We'd love to start off by having Matt describe Yolanda in a few sentences; then vice versa. Go!
Matt: Yolanda is beautiful, funny, always helpful, provides a critical eye (which some might think is a negative but in this case it's a positive) and all around terrific partner in crime. We just celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary which seems impossible as it feels like a couple of years ago.
Yolanda: Matt is much fun, the best cook, game for anything, an excellent nurse, a great dresser, excellent singer, and super handsome.
You're both creatives and each work on your own print publication (we love Wm Brown and YOLO Journal!). For those of our readers who may not be familiar with your work, can you give a brief description of your respective publications?
M: Wm Brown is a men's lifestyle magazine that comes out three times a year--with everything I love under one roof--a great selection of high and low in the car, watch, food, and style worlds.
Y: Yolo Journal is a travel lifestyle magazine that I launched three years ago after I lost my job at Condé Nast Traveler, where I was the creative director. I wanted to make a travel magazine that had the kind of info I wanted to see--not what was new, but what was good! The places we want to keep to ourselves, but we have to share so they end up staying around!!! Also, photography is so important to me, so Yolo is a place where you'll see big full pages of images, not junked up with sidebars with information that you can find easily on your phone.
You're the epitome of tastemakers. What are you each really into/loving right now? What about shared passions? This can be just about anything- food, drink, travel, fashion, home goods, shows...whatever strikes you.
M: I love obscure Italian cars, thick wool turtlenecks, anything black tie, the Jack Ryan series, and a cold martini.
Y: I would say we share the passion for obscure cars, turtlenecks, and cold martinis! Separately I'm very into vintage postcards (that I have to find in the wild--not online!), Friulane (the velvet Venetian slipper with a gazillion color combos and are the best packable shoe!), Bonpoint perfume, hunting in flea markets and junk shops, Menorca, hikes in the Marin Headlands, flower foraging and arranging, and my dog Prune.
How do you relax and unwind? Are there any rituals to your daily and/or weekly routines?
M: The kitchen is my therapy. And I need 8 hours of sleep every day. Oh, and a drink a day. And regular massages, pedicures, and facials help!
Y: Long walks and long baths definitely help me relax! I try to do a Melissa Wood Health workout daily, and Matt and I always run when we are on the road. We have a house in upstate NY so being there definitely helps me unwind--but really anywhere with big open space works!!!
Speaking of relaxation, you recently visited ONDA for facials; we hope you had an amazing experience. What are your go-to clean beauty products from the store?
M: My facial was intensely relaxing and I came out looking radiant (if I do say so myself!)--and my sun damaged skin never looked better!
Y: That was one of the best facials I've ever had. The way [the esthetician, Viktoria] massaged my face was just brilliant. Since then I've been faithfully doing the rose quartz beauty restorer after getting out of the shower. First I use the Answer serum, then I put on the Biography Golden Ray face oil. I'm not just saying this--it really is working! My neck (which nobody told me to take care of when I was young!!) is finally starting to look tighter!
Because we're featuring you during Valentine's month: what would be your number one piece of advice to happiness in a relationship?
M: Humor, honesty and thoughtfulness!
Y: Don't go to bed angry! Work it out!
Related: how was the past nearly two years in quarantine? A lot of us in couples found that spending endless hours with our significant others if both were working from home put a bit of a strain on the relationship at times. But you two seem to be #relationshipgoals, so we're curious as to how you got through it.
M: We like being around each other, and we work closely and well together! Also important to note--we were on a 130 acre farm so we were able to "create distance" if we needed to!
Y: Because we work together, the quarantine didn't really change much for us, except for not being able to get out and mix up our social life with other people! I definitely have a different style of working--Matt is able to bounce around and multitask, but I need to be super focused. Matt and our daughter Clara made me a cardboard sign to hang around my neck that said "WORKING" on one side and "ON INSTAGRAM" on the other. They found it hilarious--me, not so much. I ended up finding my way to alone time--on long walks, or working out of our little cabin.
Ending on a high note! Any exciting projects coming up? What about travel plans? People seem to be split between those who are still playing it super safe, and those who are ready and willing to just hop on a plane already. What is the first trip you each want to take post-COVID (assuming you haven't already!)
M: Beyond the initial March-May 2020 lockdown, we never stopped traveling! I just published two cocktail books (one on the Negroni, one on the martini), and I'm excited to be working on my first cookbook, a project that was born out of time in lockdown. I also just launched a newsletter called Wm Brown Weekly!
Y: Like Matt said, we started to travel as soon as things started to open up, beginning with little road trips in the summer of 2020. My first flight back was in Sept 2020 and I burst into tears as soon as the flight went up in the air. Since then we have been traveling a lot--my feeling is that we all just have to do what feels right for ourselves--and for us, travel gives us so much joy. As for exciting projects, I started my newsletter Yolo Intel (yolojournal.substack.com) last June, and this winter I'm planning on launching a podcast on it, as well as a series with different experts on subjects like packing, travel uniforms, wellness on the road...and I'm working on a wellness magazine that I'm hoping to launch next January!
*Editor's note: Matt and Yolanda have each so generously offered to give our readers a one-month free trial to their respective newsletters, Wm Brown Weekly and YOLO Intel. Sign up via the link for each!
"First I use The Answer serum, then I put on the Biography Golden Ray face oil. I'm not just saying this--it really is working! My neck (which nobody told me to take care of when I was young!!) is finally starting to look tighter!"
