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Pull up a seat at our table, where badass women from all walks of life—fashion, beauty, design, music, philanthropy, art, and more—come together to share honest stories, serve truths, and dig into the realities of modern womanhood.
Johanna Almstead:
Hello, everyone. I am menu planning for my next guest and I'm going to keep the starters kind of light because the main meal is going to be a bit heavy. I'm going to do just some beautiful radishes and butter with sea salt. And I'm going to do a gorgeous little crostini with artichoke, like marinated artichoke hearts and mascarpone cheese with a little lemon zest and fresh herbs. Then I'm just going to keep little snackies. I'm going to do a little few olives, a few little delicious crunchy potato chips, a little dish of Marcona almonds, and I'm going to serve some bubbles with that. The first time I met this woman, we drank bubbles together and it was just lovely. So I'm feeling springy. I'm feeling ready for some effervescence and fun. So I'm going to pour some Prosecco tonight with those.
And then moving on to dinner, I am going to try to perfect a duck ragu over pappardelle. So homemade pappardelle noodles, which are a little bit like long ribbon noodles and a long simmering, stewing duck ragu sauce that I'm going to serve over top of it. With that, I'm going to serve a big old Barolo, just a nice hearty red wine and a really simple salad on the side. I think I'm going to do spinach salad, not a lot in the salad, just a bright lemony dressing to kind of cut through sort of the heaviness of the ragu.
And then for dessert, I'm going to go light again. I'm going to serve a Frutti di Bosco tart. So Frutti di Bosco is just like mixed berries. I think it actually translates to like fruits of the woods, berries of the woods. But in Italian pastry shops or if you're in Italy, you can find like a mixture. It's usually strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, sliced over gorgeous kind of custardy cream in a pastry shell. And it's just delicious and kind of a crowd pleaser. So I'm going to do that.
And for music, so I just went to this extraordinary show the other night with Robert Plant that was at St. John the Divine in New York City, which was so insane. So I'm going to play a little Robert Plant from his new album. And I'm going to go like Fiona Apple. I'm going to go like Kate Bush. I'm going to go a little Portishead and I'm going to go a little Joni Mitchell with my Robert Plant. So this would be a good vibe. My next guest is wise. She is kind. She is chic. She is beautiful. She is smart. She is thoughtful. And I can't wait for you guys to meet her. So let's dig in.
Hello everyone and welcome to Eat My Words. My guest today is someone who I had been hearing about for like a very long time from a couple of very beloved and trusted friends. But I finally got to meet recently and I have to say I kind of fell head over heels like right away. I love when that happens. She is kind, she is chic, she is creative, and she is thoughtful. She is the founder of Flora Vintage and Gather, two brands rooted in nostalgia, community, and a deep appreciation for beauty and creativity. I mean, that is speaking my language.
Founded in 2024, Flora is a curated vintage retailer shaped by years of traveling, collecting, and working alongside some of the most inspiring creative minds and fashion, design and art. It's her response to throw away culture, a celebration of timeless style, thoughtful curation, and a more mindful way of consuming. Also, speaking my language, Gather followed as the experiential extension of that work, hosting events that bring people together to create art and make things with their hands through the series, crafts and cocktails. I'm down for the cocktails. I'm not always down for the crafts, which we've talked about. We'll talk about again.
With a background in fashion, including time working with Raf Simmons as his right hand at Calvin Klein and in Milan at Prada, she developed a strong foundation in design, storytelling, and the emotional power of clothing. She decided to use that well-honed experience to curate and care for what already exists. In addition to all of this, she is also a daughter. She has a sister, she has a friend, she is a partner, she is a lifelong horse girl, a very fun auntie and a new friend to me. Brooke Savona, welcome to Eat My Words.
Brooke Savona:
Thank you. And thank you for having me. I'm honored to be here. I'm part of such a great podcast that you've created.
Johanna Almstead:
Thank you. Thank you for sharing your precious time. It's all precious, I know. So I really appreciate you taking the time to sit with me, even though the last time we tried to do this, we had major technical difficulties, so we're hoping again. We're hoping we can get through this. We got this. So I want to talk to you today about your work, but I also really love to start kind of back. I like to know how you got to where you are today. So my first question is, where would you say your journey began?
Brooke Savona:
Gosh, I think one of my first core memories was around the age of three. And I think that really is where it began, or at least where I developed a curiosity and an appreciation for beauty and for clothes and even nostalgia and memory. Because I remember around this time, my mom holding me and I would look at her earrings or I would look at the buttons on her shirt and even the feeling of the sweater she was wearing. And I remember that. I remember the sweater is magenta and it had little pearls on it. And so I think that that really shaped a lot for me.
And I became interested and kind of obsessed with like going through her and all of my aunt's closets and like trying on their shoes and walking around in them. I think every little girl does this, but I remember that the shoes were swayed and that they were from Italy, like from a really young age. So I think that-
Johanna Almstead:
I mean, it's good to have the good references early on.
Brooke Savona:
And I still think about those pieces too. I'm like, damn, that was a perfect color gray. But I really do think that that shaped me quite a bit. And I was always interested even as I grew. I mean, at like six and seven, I of course started to get interested in horses right around then. And that obsession also began. So they kind of went parallel with each other with clothes and feeling. But I always liked the way, even from a very young age, how clothes made me feel. And the appearance was almost secondary, but it was really how I felt when I put on a pair of shoes or tied a bow. And so that became really important. And then around seven or eight, I took my first riding lesson and my parents were not horse people. My family was not a horse family. So I don't think my parents knew where it came from, but I was obsessed, like full on.
I remember the name of the first horse I rode in my lessons and it was just, it became a love story. And I was a working student at a barn. And so I just kind of like went full on into the horse world and that very much shaped also how my teenage years went. And I think from that point, I knew that I wanted to be either in fashion or I think I thought I could be an Olympic equestrian. I don't know how I thought that would have been possible.
Johanna Almstead:
I mean, I have one in my house who also thinks that she's going to be an Olympic equestrian. So, obvs. It's like, yeah, you have to dream.
Brooke Savona:
You have to dream. So I had like these three passions. So it was clothing and beauty, horses and nature. And I was kind of always out. I was a very independent kid and I was always out kind of like picking flowers or creating things, make believe. And so there was a lot of creativity. My parents really fostered that. I felt really lucky to have parents that if I wanted to take a pottery class, they were like, "Do it. Try pottery. If I wanted to take ballets." So they really pushed me in a direction of creativity and doing things that I found passion in. And I was really lucky with the horses too, because as you know, it's not a cheap sport. I didn't come from a family of money either, but they really pushed me to find ways creatively to be able to continue to do that.
Johanna Almstead:
Amazing.
Brooke Savona:
And then I discovered New York. I grew up in Connecticut and we were about an hour outside of New York City. And I think from the moment I discovered New York, I just knew I was going to live there also. That was something that I'm very decisive. When I know that something is going to happen, I feel like I just go full force towards it. So there's a tenacity there that I've always had. And yeah, I kind of, from visiting New York and going to museums, I've always loved art. I think for me, art, music, all of the things were based on feelings. And I think that I've always been someone that has felt very deeply. And so discovering these things at a young age, I still love the things that I loved when I was younger, and I think a lot of it is going back to childhood.
We go through life, we grow, we learn, we have these experiences, and I think part of the journey is going back to our childhood and rediscovering the things that made us feel alive then. So that's kind of what took me to all of those different paths, to New York, to fashion, and how horses always kind of stayed in the background in a way. And now they're very much on the forefront again.
Johanna Almstead:
I just learned recently that the Savannah College of Art and Design has like a huge equestrian program. And I think it's so interesting to me that like, and it's weird because it's my two passions too, and I sort of thought I was unique. There's so many people that are like horse people and fashion/design people. I want to do like a scientific study, find out what the part of the brain is that reacts to those same things.
Brooke Savona:
Totally. And I think it's emotional. I think because horses bring out such emotion in people and especially creatives, there have been studies done around the energy that horses give off and how it affects us emotionally and people that are attracted to that. There are certain people that are attracted to that. And I don't know if it's also like, because a lot of creative people or artists, and maybe this is just like a thought that I have, but are also pretty independent people and independent thinkers. And for me, being with horses, especially at a young age, felt more comfortable and natural sometimes than being in big groups of friends or big groups of people. I really loved that connection. So I think people that are creative or just attracted to horses, there's something about them that is just magical.
Johanna Almstead:
So you got yourself to New York. Well, how did you get yourself to New York? What did you do?
Brooke Savona:
So, well, okay. So backing up a little bit, high school was a little rough for me. My parents were going through a divorce and I was rebelling in any way that I could at that point. So it was like I wasn't the best student. I barely graduated high school. Really? Yeah. I was kind of going through it and trying to stick it at my parents in any way that I could. I mean, teenage years are rough in general. And then when you have all this other like crap going on. So I went to FIT. I got into FIT and I did a couple semesters there. I was much more interested in being in New York at that time. What's crazy to me is that I love being a student. So now at this point in my life, I'm like, gosh, if I could just go back to school and be a student full time, that would be like heaven to me.
So at that time I didn't appreciate it and I didn't want it and I wanted to really kind of have fun. And this was New York in the '90s and that was a really fun time in New York. There was a lot going on. I know every generation probably thinks that their time was the most fun time.
Johanna Almstead:
But ours was the best. I'm telling you, it was the best.
Brooke Savona:
It really was. There was just so many great places, the music that was happening at that time. Anyway, so I spent a couple semesters at FIT. I knew that I wanted to do something in fashion creatively, but at that time there was really a couple options. You could go to Pratt, you could go to Parsons, and that was really design based, or you could go to FIT and they had a business program there. And I didn't realize that there were so many facets in the fashion industry and that you really didn't have to be either a fashion merchandiser in the buying program or a designer, and that was it. But that was really what was offered to us. There was a program called FMM, and that was it.
So I started taking courses within the FMM degree, and I was like, "I don't think I want to be a buyer. I know I want to do something creative." So I just decided to join the workforce and see what that would be and what that meant. And I was really lucky. I joined a company, it's going to sound funny, but it was called Nat Nast Luxury Originals. And it was a company that was resurrected by two sisters. Their father had started the company right after he came back from World War II in 1947, and it was the original bowling shirt company. He created the bowling shirt.
Johanna Almstead:
That is amazing. Oh my gosh.
Brooke Savona:
It's so cool. So I joined this company, it was very small. It was maybe like six people at the time, so the two sisters that-
Johanna Almstead:
Wait, did you find the job in the back of Women's Wear Daily? How did you find the job?
Brooke Savona:
That's exactly how I found the job when you could open up ... And I was circling women's wear deal. I mean, it was exactly how I found it. And I started there as the receptionist. Like I said, it was a very small company, about six people. The two sisters, we had a designer, a production person, and a salesperson. And I wore every hat in that company that I could. I stayed there for six years. No way. And yeah, and it grew and I watched it grow and I thought it was so interesting. And I think what I really loved about that company was the storytelling around clothing. I mean, their father dressed Elvis and was in a store called Lansky's in Memphis. And there's a picture of Hal Lansky fitting Elvis in one of his shirts. And so it was just so cool to understand and learn.
And they were very much committed to really telling a story around what their father had created. The other thing I learned, other than wearing all the hats that I could, I was doing marketing, I was doing accounts receivable. I mean, really, I did it all there, and I just watched and learned. And what I also saw was how different these two sisters were as women in an industry that I think is difficult to be a leader in, or at least it was at that time, I watched one lead with kindness, with sincerity, authenticity, and I watched the other lead in a way where she felt like she had to be this domineering woman. And I kind of really took note of that and how I wanted to operate always within whatever it was that I did. And so I took the note of lead with kindness and compassion and understanding.
So that was also a really amazing lesson for me within that because I had to have that and carry that on as my journey continued in fashion.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. This is crazy. That is such a great first job.
Brooke Savona:
It really was. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
I mean, first job in fashion because it's like so nostalgic and it's so rare, especially now that you can find a brand that has real, true history and like real guts. It's so good. Oh, this is so good.
Brooke Savona:
I know. And it was funny because they were dressing like Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men. It wasn't glamorous. There was nothing glamorous about it, but I made friends there that I still have today. This is like going back 20 years now at this point. And so I are more than that and I still am friends with these people. It was such a good group of people. So the learnings were extraordinary.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So you stayed there for six years, seven years? What'd you say?
Brooke Savona:
Six years.
Johanna Almstead:
Six years.
Brooke Savona:
Maybe it was seven years. It was about seven years. I took a little bit of time kind of figuring out what was going to be next. And then I was like, "You know what? I've worked for a really small company. I want to work for like one of the biggest now." And it's funny because like everything that I've just decided I've kind of just done. I don't know if I've been lucky in that way or if like once I decide on a clear path, it like will open up a bit. And so I took a job at a company called PVH and nobody's really heard of PVH except that they own Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger. They had the licenses for like every major dress shirt brand, which is funny. But the pivotal part is that they own Calvin Klein and we'll kind of come back to that.
But I started working there and was very lucky to work next to an executive there. Again, I didn't know the direction that I should go in. Everyone was always pushing me into sales and I knew I didn't want to be in sales. It felt exhausting to me to be [inaudible 00:17:20] sales.
Johanna Almstead:
You were probably good. You were probably good at sales because you were so nice and charming, I bet. Yeah, I was too. And I hated it, but I was really good at it. It's tough. It was scary to me. It felt like too much pressure to me. I didn't like it.
Brooke Savona:
A lot of pressure because it's all numbers. So it's not like you can like ... I don't know. There was nothing about it that was appealing to me at all. But I started working next to this executive. His name is Mark Schneider. He was like a work dad to me. He pushed me in any direction I wanted to go in. Literally, I was like, "Hey, I think we should have environmental groups here. We're like in this industry where we're putting all this stuff out into the world that is not good for it. Can we do something even if it's internal to offset it? " And he would just let me do it. He's like, "Sure, start it up."
Johanna Almstead:
I love that.
Brooke Savona:
"Do you want to work with a nonprofit? Sure, bring them in." It was crazy what he let me do. And it was all for the good. And philanthropics became a very big part of also what I did in apparel and fashion and kind of starting up a bunch of things within that big, huge company. They were like a $4 billion company and I learned so much there. I actually gained a lot of confidence there working next to him because I was doing things I had never done before at a very high level, at a C-suite level.
Johanna Almstead:
I also think when someone has the confidence to just say yes to you, like I experienced that in one of my workplaces where I actually called it like a yes place. I would walk into the CEO's office and say the craziest things, like really crazy ideas and he would be like, "Okay, don't screw it up." And I'd be like, "Okay, I'm going to. " And there really is something about having someone just say yes to you and believe in you that there's no stronger confidence builder than that, like just someone giving you a long enough rope to hang yourself in a way, you know what I mean? And then succeeding and then letting you try something new again, like that is huge. And I try to remember that now as a leader, like I try to always just be like, it doesn't have to be my idea. Let people do it.
Brooke Savona:
Right.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
I know. That's a hard thing to let go of too, especially when you're an idea person, but I'm learning that very much as well with every project I work on. So collaboration, all of it.
Johanna Almstead:
And like sometimes the best things come from just saying yes to it, right? Just like, yeah, okay, let's try that.
Brooke Savona:
Sure. Exactly. I know and like the surprise that comes with it. Yeah, I know. That comes with like evolution and maturity, all those things too.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. Okay. So you have this wonderful executive leader/work dad who really helped you believe in yourself by believing in you, which is great.
Brooke Savona:
Totally. And I spent seven years with him as well. He ended up going to a company called Kenneth Cole that was big in the '90s also and it had kind of faded out and they were trying to resurrect it. And he went on to be the CEO there and brought me with him. And something he always said to me that still resonates, that I still think of it. I used to call them these little pearls that he would give to each of us. And he said to me, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there." And that stuck with me so much. And it actually started to like really make sense as soon as we went to Kenneth Cole because I was kind of like, "I don't know where I'm going here and I don't really want to do this anymore." And I felt a little complacent.
I was good at my job and anything, projects that he would give me that were creative projects, but I felt bored and WWD comes back in now and on the cover of WWD Imprint at that time and this wasn't that long ago, but they were still ... And I love WWD in print actually. I miss those days. It's like landing on your death. Totally. And on the cover was a rumor that Raf Simmons was coming to New York to join Calvin. And it hadn't been confirmed yet, but it was like everyone kind of knew. And I was calling all my people at Calvin. I was like, "Is this true?" Because I had seen the Dior and I documentary and had just totally fallen head over heels for Raf. I thought he was just brilliant and gosh, if I was ever going to work in that area of fashion, I wanted it to be for someone like that, for someone really creative and brilliant and not just a run-of-the-mill fashion designer.
And I should say that when I was about, I guess like 12 or 13, and everyone else was reading like 17 magazine at that time was really big. I was reading Vogue and I was reading Elle and I was so interested in like Me too. I mean, I could tell you every model. I could tell you every campaign from that time, it was total obsession. And so that area of fashion, luxury and very like top of the line was my dream. I mean, that was really what I had always wanted to do and I just didn't know how to get there. And so when I saw that, I called up a friend that I still had over at PBH and at Calvin and I said, "Is he bringing an assistant with him?" And he was like, "No, he actually wants an American. He's Belgian. He's never lived in New York before. And so he wants an American to be his right hand here." And I was like, "All right, I'm sending you over my resume."
Johanna Almstead:
Put me in, coach. Put me in.
Brooke Savona:
Put me in, tag it in. And of course it hadn't been confirmed yet, but she put in a recommendation letter for me, which I'll always be grateful for. And HR at Calvin was like, "Sorry, no, you don't have the background. You don't have luxury. And why would you think that you're a good fit for this? " And I think I said something like, "Well, just give me 10 minutes with him and he can decide that."
Johanna Almstead:
I love this part of this story so much because like cajones, like good job, right? I think about some of the things that I asked for when I was like 20 that I now I just didn't even think not to. And I just think it's like such a testament to your own instinct and your just and tenacity and your sort of decisiveness and focus of just being like, "I'm just going to keep going after this." Even though I don't technically have the pedigree behind me, I don't have the resume necessarily at all. And so yeah, give me 10 minutes with him.
Brooke Savona:
That's it.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So how did the 10 minutes go? Tell us. He said yes.
Brooke Savona:
Agreed. And yeah, so what I didn't know at that point is that they had already interviewed about 50 people.
Johanna Almstead:
No way.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah. So my interview was three phases all in one day and it was, I had to meet with HR first because they had to make sure that I was like not a crazy person. I meet with HR, they're like, "Okay, come back in like three hours. He can see you in three hours." I come back and it's him and I step into an office that was Calvin's old office. So it's not even like it's just like some little like HR office. It's like-
Johanna Almstead:
No, it's like holy ground.
Brooke Savona:
Holy shit. Exactly. And I come in and it's Raf, it's HR and it's Raf's boyfriend just like behind a computer just like listening because I knew I was also being judged and like how that's going to go. And then Raf's dog Luca walks in and Luca comes to me, takes a sip of my water that was on the table and sits down and I could see Rap's face like, "She doesn't do that to anyone." And I was like, I just knew from that moment I knew and I was suddenly like put at ease and-
Johanna Almstead:
Wait, hold on. We need to back up. I need to know what you wore to this interview.
Brooke Savona:
Great question. I went really simple. I went very like helmet laying 90s. So I just did white shirt, had a really big arm opening. It was August, so it was hot out, black well tailored pants and an actual, always a Margiela bag. I had a Margiela bag. I think that helped too, Celine loafers.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. I just needed to know. Just needed to know. I feel like that would make me nervous. It would make me nervous.
Brooke Savona:
It was definitely nerve-wracking. I got up at like five that morning and went for a run, I remember, because I was like, I need to just like get out of my head about this. But I will say I wasn't like a fan girl about ... I appreciated him and I loved him and I think that there were some people ... It's funny, he's a magnetic person and I feel like there's a cult following around him. And I wasn't that. I wasn't like a Raf Simmons person. Yeah, exactly. Because there was tons of those, but I felt like I just loved his brain. I just loved the way he thought and the way that he created. And what was inspiring to me was that Raf was an industrial designer as a background. He wasn't a fashion designer. I found that incredibly inspiring and also that he didn't have the technical skills that other designers had.
So he couldn't draw or sketch or use CAD or computers. He just had an idea and would show the inspiration and it would be created based on that. I found that incredibly inspiring. So yeah, so I had this interview Okay,
Johanna Almstead:
So the dog sits down next to you?
Brooke Savona:
Yeah, the dog sits down, takes a drink of my water and he's like, "Luca." She literally lays down next to me. And then Raf starts talking to me, giving me background and he comes to me, he's like, "Okay, so now you tell me about you." And my mind went blank.
Johanna Almstead:
You're like, "Me? Who's me? I don't know who me is."
Brooke Savona:
Looking around like me and so I tell him what I've been doing and I'm like, "Oh, this is kind of like going downhill. There's like no energy." And he goes, "Let me ask you a question. If a million dollars fell out of the sky today, where would you go shopping?" And I kind of took a minute and I was like, "I think I'm going to need two million actually." And he started laughing and was like, "Okay." The conversation went from there and I left and an hour later I got a call that I had gotten the job. So it was just I knew-
Johanna Almstead:
I just got goosebumps.
Brooke Savona:
It was really exciting for me and I knew that my trajectory was going to change from that moment and I was really excited about that too. I didn't know what that meant quite yet, but I knew it would change and it was hard. I will say this, that I worked with Raf for seven years. That first three months was incredibly difficult. It was working next to a creative, which I had never done before at a level that I'd never operate at before, meaning with people and decisions and just, it was a whole different world to me. And then there was the internal dynamics as well that go on within a creative house that you don't know about from the outside until you're in it and it's relationships and dynamics. And I was used to like very straightforward and direct and this was very nuanced. So I had to learn quickly and I did.
And after those first three months, I became a trusted ally to Raf and I would have protected him and I still would with everything that I have because I think that he's incredible. He has a reputation for being difficult and he is because he knows what he likes. But man, he's a really good person and I really enjoyed learning next to him. I traveled all over the world with him and he took me anywhere he was going and literally into every meeting he was going into.
Johanna Almstead:
Wow.
Brooke Savona:
So I learned from the ground up.
Johanna Almstead:
I was going to say, but like talk about baptism by fire, but also like it's so amazing how much you can learn just by being in the room, right? Like just the exposure to the conversations and the level and being around someone's brain. I mean, also when you say he's difficult, find me a creative who's not difficult and they're not bad people at all. It's just their jobs are incredibly hard and they also need people around them who can like protect their creative space and their creative energy and all that stuff. So it becomes a really important role. I've played that role as a PR person to people often because you're their person. You're the person they're with all the time and you have to manage stuff around them to protect their energy and their space and their psyche.
Brooke Savona:
It's so much of it. It's like I say that the job can really be done by anyone, any person can do what goes into like the day to day, but in order to really have chemistry with someone that way and mesh and be trusted is a whole different territory and category. And like you said, protecting the space to be a creative because there's a lot of pressure at that level. There's so much pressure.
So yeah, I feel so incredibly lucky that I got to sit in on those conversations And see the evolution from very beginning of a brand being created because you had Calvin Klein before and then Calvin Klein after Raf came in. So that for me was like, okay, this is how it's done. And this is the only way I really know now of how to create something. And that once the idea is there, and something that he taught me, because I witnessed this in every meeting, was that if you have an idea, it will happen. It can happen. If the idea is there, it can be created always.
Johanna Almstead:
I love that. I love that. It's like the idea is the first step of the creation. And-
Brooke Savona:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. That's pretty cool.
Brooke Savona:
It may evolve and it may change, but the idea, like you said, it's the first step. It means it can happen. It's the first step.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. I think that too, I try to say this with my kids and it's such a simple concept, that your ideas matter. I think that's also part of even what you learned with your other boss of like, if you had an idea and then someone said yes to it, you could create some giant initiative, you could create some amazing campaign, you could do something crazy. It really is such a simple thing to honor and foster your own ideas. And that I don't know that I was raised necessarily to foster my ideas. I'm not sure people gave them the weight that they should have when I was growing up. And so I think that that's just an interesting concept. If you're raising kids or you're running a team or whatever, the idea matters. It's so simple.
Brooke Savona:
The idea really matters. Yeah. I think too, growing up, I think that our parents didn't really know how important that was too. I think now that we have this generation of very woke parents where it's like, yes, go chase the dream, do the thing. And for us, I'm sure every household was different, but for me it was kind of like, okay, sure, do the things creatively, but then have something practical that you'll fall back on or that you'll do that will make you a stable life type of thing. But yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Well, I think it's true too. I think people didn't, I didn't understand it even when I decided to go to fashion school also. I didn't understand that like just being a creative person, I could have a job doing that. That wasn't like a reality for me until many years into the fashion industry, I think. But that like somebody who just has great ideas and has great taste, that that can be a job.
Brooke Savona:
Right. Exactly. That can shape things. And it really always has. If we think about it, but we were only ever seeing it on a really high level, I think. And so yeah, there's so much out there. And now learning all that and like, "Gosh, I could have done that. I could have done this. " And I know I'm making it seem like my years and my trajectory were really just only focused on career. It was a big part of it. And I think part of it for me also was that I didn't have the education. And so I felt like I did have to work really hard at what I was doing to prove myself because I didn't have the pedigree, the education, all the other things. So it created this like very ... I mean, my work ethic was and has always been incredibly strong because of that.
There was a little bit of shame around it too, that I didn't go to this like amazing school. I didn't even finish college. And so it was like, I don't know, I just felt like I had to prove myself in a lot of ways.
Johanna Almstead:
Did you still feel like that even once you were working with Raf, you still felt that way?
Brooke Savona:
No. I think that he saw something in me that validated what I had inside creatively, but and as a person too. I think that would have never occurred to him that I couldn't do the job or that my ideas didn't count because I didn't have the schooling or education or any of that to do it. That didn't even occur to him. It was like, "No, I know your brain and I know who you are as a person and I trust what you do. I trust your thoughts."
Johanna Almstead:
And so you basically sort of became his right hand for everything, his sort of chief of staff kind of too? Like you were sort of like-
Brooke Savona:
Yeah, we called it director of creative operations was the name that we gave it. But it was, I was an emotional support human as well. So I hired his staff. I did everything for him. Creatively, everything that came out of his head or went back to him had to come through me except for design. He had two amazing creatives working on his team that he brought with him from Dior and from Europe. And that was Matthieu Blazy, who is now the creative director at Chanel and Pieter Mulier, who was at Alaya and now is going to Versace. So I got to work alongside-
Johanna Almstead:
Not a shabby line-up there.
Brooke Savona:
I mean, it was pretty great.
Johanna Almstead:
So they did everything product design, and anything else creative you did.
Brooke Savona:
Exactly. From the ready to wear and runway, they worked with Raf on that. And I really just stuck to all the other creative divisions, which was store design, marketing, PR, fragrance, you name it. Anything that creatively came from that company and from his brain had to go from me. And I feel so lucky. I got to work next to amazing artists. I got to work with George Condo and Sterling, Ruby and Collier. I think about it now and I'm like, was that a dream? Did this all happen?
Johanna Almstead:
Wast that a fever dream?
Brooke Savona:
It was like I couldn't have even dreamt it, like truly stepping into that. I couldn't have imagined what-
Johanna Almstead:
And you didn't really have an art background either. So that was all a massive immersion into incredible artists too.
Brooke Savona:
Totally. Also trial by fire.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
I had a deep love and appreciation. My love of art went back to really my own discovery of it of abstract expressionists, but I didn't have a very deep understanding of modern and contemporary art. I should say contemporary modern art, I did have a pretty deep understanding of, but not working alongside these artists.
Johanna Almstead:
Right. I mean, very few people get to do that.
Brooke Savona:
Cindy Sherman would come in and we would do a fitting with her and blah, blah, blah. And it was wild. But I learned about design. I mean, literally from day one, I remember he said to me, "Do you know who Corbusier is? " And he just taught me a whole ... It was like really having a teacher. He taught me all about Chandigarh in India and that the genre chairs came from there and that he collects them and it was incredible. That was my education. That was my schooling.
Johanna Almstead:
And he wasn't upset that you didn't know those things, that you didn't know who Courvoisier was at the time.
Brooke Savona:
No, I think he thought I was smart and interested and that I would learn. And I did. I have two John Royere chairs now.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, girl.
Brooke Savona:
But it was my education for sure, and the travel.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. I mean, just the exposure to everything.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah, I feel lucky.
Johanna Almstead:
So you guys stayed at Calvin together for how many years?
Brooke Savona:
It was a little over three years and then Calvin and Raf decided to part ways. And so they split and he said to me, "I don't know what you have planned after this, but there's something on the horizon." And so he already knew that Prada was happening and I-
Johanna Almstead:
But you did not?
Brooke Savona:
He told me, but I was supposed to not know. And so I just kind of was like, okay, well in this time, what am I going to do to ... I did take some time off. I traveled and spent some time kind of decompressing from that experience because it was an intense three and a half years. So I kind of thought about what was next and vintage has always been ... I mean, we started every collection with Vintage. For me, part of my youth and part of my rebellion in youth would be skipping school to go into New York and not to buy drugs or anything. It was to go vintage shopping.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
And so I would go to Antique Boutique on Broadway and buy the best vintage jeans around. So good. I still dream about a pair that I don't know what happened to them. So anyway, vintage was always a big part of just my own fashion interest. And a job came up, so the RealReal had been going strong for a couple years at this point. And there was a job, a friend of mine worked with them and I said, "You know, your vintage is like really, it's priced really strangely and there's not enough around it." Because there was good pieces on there. I mean, you were finding YSL from the '70s, from the Russian collection for like $100, which was kind of like this insider secret. So I didn't want to ruin it for everyone, but I was like, "You guys should be doing something better with the vintage." And so they created a position for me there.
I only stayed with them for six months, but I worked on helping to launch their vintage program there so that it was recognized and looked at in a way of, instead of just being thrown in with the rest of the things. And so that didn't last long.
Johanna Almstead:
So you kind of did ruin it for everybody.
Brooke Savona:
I kind of ruined it.
Johanna Almstead:
Kind of ruined it.
Brooke Savona:
I know. Now I look at like, because I would find Bonnie Cashin on there, they didn't know ... I also helped them bring in brands that wouldn't have been recognized by the RealReal as being important brands to take in. So it was an uphill battle there. I'll say that, but they started making Bonnie Cash and really expensive now, which I apologize to everyone for that. So I spent a few months there and that's when the call from Raf came in. He was like, "Hey, what are you doing? Do you want to come to Milan with me? I'm going to be co-creating with Mucha." And I didn't know that that was going to be the plan, that it was a co-creation. I thought that she was going to step down or step over to Mumu. I wasn't really sure.
And I was like, "Oh my God, also a dream." Mucha Prada for me was from, again, the time that I was like 12 years old, like Prada was it. That was like the epitome. I still remember those collections very, very well too. So I said yes without hesitation. I had other things in my life and commitments in my life and it was very supported all over that. I go to Italy and I take this job and it was my dream.
Johanna Almstead:
I mean, it's kind of like a once in a lifetime opportunity. You don't get that call very often like, "Hey, want to come work alongside Mucha Prada and Raf Simmons?" Sure. No, I think I'm going to just stay home and make vintage expensive.
Brooke Savona:
I don't need to do that.
Johanna Almstead:
No, I got to do my nails. I'm busy.
Brooke Savona:
I'll think about it. So yeah, I said yes, that was 2019, signed my contract in December of 2019 and February, gosh, February, whatever the day was that Milan was cleared out because of COVID was literally the day the announcement went out, February 20th or like something like that of 2020. I was like, "Oh wow, okay." And I remember I was in Joshua Tree with friends celebrating a birthday and I remember being like, "This is no big deal, you guys.This is not like whatever. Who cares? It's going to be fine." Because we were supposed to start in April and that just got totally railroaded, but I ended up going anyway in June. So we started, we were working remotely from April until June and then I moved to Milan by myself in a full Tyvek suit on a plane.
Johanna Almstead:
Wait, you have to tell the story. You were like flying on a plane back and forth to Milan from New York and it was like empty and you were in a Tyvek suit.
Brooke Savona:
There was literally like six people on an entire plane. I would have a whole row to myself. The airports were totally empty. It was so scary and strange. And I was doing this like every six weeks because my visa wasn't complete yet. And so you had to go back and forth even though it was like the most dangerous thing to do. So yeah, and then I would have to spend 10 days in this apartment by myself when I got back because you had to then go into quarantine as soon as you got back. It was like, that also seems like a dream. It's like, did that really all happen? It's so crazy.
Johanna Almstead:
So wild.
Brooke Savona:
So yeah. So I get to Milan and Prada puts me in this incredible apartment that Portaluppi had designed on the Sporza estate where Leonardo's vineyard is and no one could come visit me. I was in this incredible place and no one, I mean, not one person was able to like see that. And then I met Mrs. Prada and that all just kind of evolved over the next two years. I spent two years there. I gave Raf a year notice. So after the first year and COVID was, the end was not in sight, and I gave him a year's notice and I was like, "I can't much longer."
Johanna Almstead:
It's too much. Already picking up my life and moving to Milan would have been hard, but this is crazy town.
Brooke Savona:
Totally. It's like the juice wasn't worth the squeeze anymore.
Johanna Almstead:
So you gave him a year notice and was he so sad?
Brooke Savona:
So I mean, like every week it was like, "Are you sure?" I had an I love New York mug on my desk that I always would drink my coffee out of and he would take Post-its and put Milan over the New York part. So it was tough. And you developed such ... I mean, it was just us. We had Raf, myself, and then Emily, who also, she was his design director who had also come from Calvin, and it was just the three of us. It was a pretty lonely time, I have to say. It's like you create family in any way that you can.
And so, luckily I had friends that were in Milan also at Otega and other fashion houses, but it just wasn't, I didn't feel happy. And even though I was working this dream job, it just didn't feel good to me anymore. And so that's where the next steps kind of started to form.
Johanna Almstead:
So yeah, so you have this on paper dream job in real life, not so dream scenario, you're working alongside two legends and I have worked for the Prada family and I know how difficult it can also be. So we don't need to go down that road too much, but not an easy, warm and fuzzy place to be. And so you have to make this like heartbreaking decision, or was it heartbreaking? Maybe it wasn't heartbreaking. Was it so miserable that it was easy to make that decision?
Brooke Savona:
Yes and no. It was not difficult to make the decision to leave the company, to be quite honest, but it was very difficult to make the decision to leave RAF because it was like my brother and I knew I would miss it. I would miss the creativity, I would miss all of it. But at the same time, I think my body and my psyche and emotionally, I was ready for something else. Fashion also didn't feel so important to me anymore. It's funny, as the world was going through this like craziness and awfulness, I really started to reassess priorities and what was important to me and what I felt passionate about. And fashion just wasn't it, to be honest. So once that goes out of you, it's like, okay, well, let's start doing something that does feel right and that does feel good. Because again, I was looking at it as like, we are pumping all this out into the world that it doesn't need.
It's funny because I'd always had the desire to be in fashion, but anytime I was really in it or in these big parts of the industry, I felt like, "What are we doing? Why are we doing this? It's so much." So I started to really listen to that and listen to that inner knowing and that inner voice. And I was in Florence. I had taken the train to Florence and I was standing in front of the painting Primavera by Botticelli. And I remember just like standing there and looking at how beautiful it was and the goddess flora was in it and I just stood there and I was like, "Maybe I start something on my own." And I was very inspired by that painting and by what it represented and spring and abundance and all those things and beauty. And beauty has always been a big influence for me.
What can we surround ourselves that makes us feel beautiful or perceive beauty? And it's also different for everyone, but I thought it was important at this time also in the world.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
So that was pretty cool.
Johanna Almstead:
So you gave him a year's notice, you kept working, but did you start trying to like build this other idea while you were in that year? Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
I started ideating and I started thinking about what it meant and that I thought about how I'd always wanted a space of my own. And yes, that means a shop, but also just a space that kind of brings people together and also brings beautiful objects and travels from the world and like experiences that we can have together. I didn't know what that meant yet at that point, but I remember sitting around a table and kind of telling some people my idea and I was like, "I just want it to be a place to gather people." And she's like, "Well, I think you have your name. I think you have it there." And I was like, "Oh, that's interesting. Gather." And then I started thinking about, well, how do I want to start that? And so I didn't know yet. And in the year that I'd given him the notice, I was coming back and forth.
I was kind of going through this like life shakeup and didn't know where my future really was lying. And I'd been living in Brooklyn for 15 years at this point and anytime I came back, it just did not feel good anymore. I think after living in a city that is very beautiful and being in Europe, lots of people don't picture or think that Milan is beautiful, but I thought it was just incredibly beautiful and New York just didn't feel right to me anymore. So it was all these like, it was really hard because all these things that felt so important to me for so long, New York, fashion, the way that I was living my life, it just no longer felt important.
Johanna Almstead:
It's such a weird feeling too when that happens because it's like those are things that you strived for, right? As a kid, you wanted to get yourself to New York City. As a kid reading Vogue, you wanted to do that and then you did it and then it's so weird. I had a very similar experience where all of a sudden you're like, "Oh, what is this? I don't want this anymore. This doesn't feel good." Not only do I not want it, I don't like it. It's just a whole ... It's a very weird thing when you've built, you've spent many of your formative years having that become part of your identity also, right?
Brooke Savona:
I know, very much. But I think it does go back to having to start listening to the inner child again that's still there and saying to you like, "Okay, but what about this? Remember? Remember how much you loved horses? Remember how much you loved nature and that you've always wanted to be surrounded by nature." And so I started listening to that and I started just quieting everything else down, closed out my time with Raf, came back fully to New York and then decided to fully leave New York and started looking for what felt right.
And I found a house in Litchfield County in Connecticut. It's funny, I had this idea in my head of what I wanted and the house did not look like that, but when I stepped in, it had been like a big hug and the energy and I was just like, "This is it. This is the place that I'm going to spend my time for." I don't know how long, but I'm here now and I feel so lucky and I love it. And that's where Flora was really born. I decided to start something on my own and be brave again and have a little bit of tenacity again and figure it out.
Johanna Almstead:
And do you look back now that like you have these two brands, you have this beautiful home that you're in, again, you did the things you wanted to do and you're still doing them. Do you have moments where you look back and you're like, do you miss any of that other stuff? Do you miss the life in Milan? Do you miss the life in New York City? Do you miss being in those meetings and talking about all that amazing art and being surrounded with those artists and stuff?
Brooke Savona:
Sometimes. I wish that I could just like teleport for a little bit and like luckily I have the relationships with all of those people still, so I'm still able to like have it peripherally. I don't miss it though. I really don't. I don't miss the stress and the pressure of it. That to me was really, when you're in it, you're an autopilot and you're just going and you're running on adrenaline and I don't think I could go back to getting my body into that like level of stress again, to be honest. It was-
Johanna Almstead:
No, I mean, because it takes years to decompress from it, I think.
Brooke Savona:
Oh my God, I'm still decompressing. For sure, I'm still decompressing.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
But part of the catalyst of coming up here too was horses and that for me will like always be ... It's like my North Star or something. And so like the moment I started riding again when I came up here, that was it. I was like, okay, I'm home.
Johanna Almstead:
Had you ridden at all when you were living in Brooklyn and stuff? Were you going back and forth or no?
Brooke Savona:
I tried, honestly. I had some really depressing experiences.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. I mean, people have said, yes.
Brooke Savona:
I tried riding at the barn that's in Brooklyn and that was terrible. I did ride when I was like early days in New York. I rode at Claremont a little bit, which was, I feel like also depressing, but I didn't realize it at the time because it was just this like New York academy in the middle of New York. And any chance I got to ride, I would ride, but it wasn't anything serious. I wasn't doing it in any meaningful way. And then the minute I moved up here is when I started riding again. And I've been up here for three years now and my horse came into my life a year ago. So that just also sparked even more of-
Johanna Almstead:
Also, can we talk about that? People don't usually just say a horse came into my life a year ago.
Brooke Savona:
I wasn't looking and it was one of those things where this is a dream come true for me. I have to say, from the moment that I started riding, I was trying to figure out how to convince my parents that I needed a horse. I had to have a pony.
Johanna Almstead:
Of course. Yes. I'm on the end of that conversation on a daily basis. Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
Good luck.
Johanna Almstead:
It'll happen. It's fine.
Brooke Savona:
It'll totally happen.
Johanna Almstead:
Serious XM radio. Are you listening to give me a deal so I can buy my kid a horse, please?
Brooke Savona:
Please, this woman needs a horse.
Johanna Almstead:
Please.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah, I wasn't looking, but a friend of mine overheard a conversation at a dinner party, a woman saying that she didn't know what she was going to do because they were moving back to Ireland and she had to find a home for her daughter's horse. And my friend said, "I might have someone for you." And stars aligned and Carlo was living in Ocala, Florida, and I trailered him up here sight unseen because what I felt after spending two years at that point of being back in the equestrian world was a very different set of eyes than I had as a child on the horse world and how screwed up it was. And I wanted to give back in any way that I could to these horses that work so hard and then are discarded when they're no longer of use. And he was left in Florida for, I guess it was eight years.
And so I said, "Bring him up. I don't care what he needs." Health wise, I had a pre-purchase exam done, but only a wellness check. I didn't care. It was like, "Well, if he needs help, I'm going to help him." And so we brought him up and yeah, we've been a pair ever since. He's an incredible animal. He's teaching me so much. I almost have too much respect for him to ride him. It's like he's just incredible and resilient also. And so I think that he and I kind of have that for each other, that we have resilience and that we can overcome whatever adversity.
Johanna Almstead:
How old is he? Do you know how old he is?
Brooke Savona:
He just turned 20. Yeah, 20. This last month in March, he turned 20. And there's been things, there's been certain issues and we're just working through him. It's just having patience and we're a team.
Johanna Almstead:
He's your little soulmate.
Brooke Savona:
I love him. Seriously. I said that. As soon as he got off the trailer, I was like, "I think I have a soul contract with this animal. I think that he was meant to be in my life."
Johanna Almstead:
And you can ride him now?
Brooke Savona:
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So I bare back him a lot.
Johanna Almstead:
And does he like jump or anything? Or is he just-
Brooke Savona:
He never jumps. Yeah, no, he likes being outside. So he likes when we go and do a little like cross country and go out on the trails, he likes popping over logs and so, and I could jump in. I mean, he was a hunter. He did all the big shows. He did Capital Challenge, he did Devin, he did all these shows. So yeah, he had a hard-working life before he came to me.
Johanna Almstead:
I'm glad he found you. That's so nice. Okay. So now you've launched your vintage business, you've launched Gather, you've got your horse, you've got your house, it's all happening.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah. Every day there's some kind of evolution of it and I feel very lucky. The community and the people that I've met from just launching these little brands has been exponential. And I think that for me has been, I mean, I got to meet you. I got to meet Alex and Emily, all these people that have come in from this very short period of time, I think that that is the greatest gift. I get to create, I get to do it the way that I want, the way that I see it with my own vision. I don't have to ask for permission or approval. And I think for me, it's kind of like that adage of like, if you think it, you can make it. And that's what I'm trying to do. And it's like any weird, crazy idea that I have, it's like, okay, let's try it. Let's do it.
Johanna Almstead:
It's interesting because your career has sort of been this balance also of like, I always like to get into the business side and the creative side because I find that they're often very different people. Sometimes there's just a person who is purely creative and sometimes there's people who are purely business, but you've sort of danced that dance like over and over again.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Which one is the most natural? Where do you lead from? Is there a balance? Does one need to be more cultivated than the other? Can we talk a little bit about how that lives in you?
Brooke Savona:
It's more balanced now. I think that growing up when I didn't think that I was as creative or didn't have the creative confidence, that I had really cultivated the business side and the organization side. My brain definitely, I'm very left, brain, right brain. And I think that because I'm so organized and I can think in a very systematic way that I'm able to do the creative now in a way that makes sense and it's not all over the place. So it's like I know the steps that need to happen in order to produce something, so I'm able to do it in a way that makes sense. But I had to cultivate the creative side actually, even though that was always in me, I had to like figure out a way to bring it up and out because the business side was like, boom, I know what has to get done, I know how to do it and I felt much more confident in that.
Johanna Almstead:
That's interesting.
Brooke Savona:
But it's true. Yeah. A lot of the time people can't do both your one or the other.
Johanna Almstead:
Well, and I also think like I sort of at a time when I decided to go to fashion school and kind of chose the business path over the design path because I didn't think I could be a designer. I just didn't have any experience. Why would I have had to experience when I was 17 years old really? But like I talked myself out of that and thought that I couldn't do it. And so I spent a lot of my early career not honoring the creative side, thinking I was purely just a business person. And so I think it took, it was actually one job that I had where I got to be very, very, very involved in creative and I was all of a sudden like, wait, your name is creative director or like your name is head of creative services, but like, we're executing on my idea.
Brooke Savona:
Exactly.
Johanna Almstead:
That was actually my idea that happened. And again, not like as a territorial thing, but as like a, "Hey, wait a minute." Going back to what we were talking about, the idea is the thing, right?
Brooke Savona:
Exactly.
Johanna Almstead:
So I had to cultivate that a little bit, like nurture that one and give it the attention it deserved, I think. Exactly. So that's interesting. I think you had kind of had to do the same. Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah, exactly.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. You've had lots of achievements. You've basically decided so many things and then done them. What is an achievement that you're most proud of?
Brooke Savona:
I think having nothing to do with career or accolades, I think an achievement I am most proud of is doing the work, like doing the inner work to heal and to be the person that I am right now. And that was hard. That was a lot of therapy, a lot of just work, meditation, and I mean, putting the time in. And I'm very proud of that. I'm proud of the person that I have become because I was very willing to self-awarely know where there was things that weren't so great and it's an ongoing process, but I'm proud of that. That's huge. That's an accomplishment.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, that is. That's huge. So is there anything that you once believed about yourself that now you've outgrown?
Brooke Savona:
I think that for a long time I thought, I mean, the creative we talked about, I didn't think I was a creative person, but I also don't think I thought I was very smart in a lot of ways. And I think it goes back to that shame around education because of, that's just how people's life paths are supposed to go. You go through primary school, high school, college onto whatever the next hire. And I didn't have Any of that really. So I think that I just thought I wasn't very smart and I don't believe that anymore.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. I have a friend who chose the go straight to work path after high school and she's an incredible business person, always has been, grew up in her parents' businesses. But I always felt like she had this insecurity around it and this feeling. And she never had a problem getting jobs, but she would always be afraid if the company she was working for was going to change ownership or she would have to interview again or something. She had this sort of fear that it was going to go back to that moment. And I always would say like, "You have a career now. You've done so many things, but she still carried it around as a 40-year-old person. Oh God, what if they want to see my resume? They want to know where I went to college and I did it." And I'm like, if for no other reason to like ... I have this conversation with like a niece of mine of like, if for no other reason, just go to college just to like remove that obstacle of your own psyche.
Brooke Savona:
I know. I would tell anyone that.
Johanna Almstead:
Again, not because just do the thing so that you don't have to worry about not doing the thing. And we can have a bigger conversation about that. But I just watched it feel like a debilitating thing for her, which was sad to me because she's brilliant and has an amazing work ethic and stuff.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, I get that.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah. Some people more than others, it's like something that sticks with you. And so I've learned to let that go. That's part of that healing journey.
Johanna Almstead:
Good job. I like it.
Brooke Savona:
Thank you.
Johanna Almstead:
Is there anything that you've said no to that you wish you had said yes to?
Brooke Savona:
I feel like I've said yes to so many ... I probably said yes to too many things.
Johanna Almstead:
You're not alone on this podcast. Many people are yes people on this podcast.
Brooke Savona:
There may have been nos that I was like trips that I didn't take, experiences that maybe I didn't take part in because I was working so hard. I think those are probably the nos that I do regret a little bit. I don't remember what those are now, so they couldn't have been too broken up about them. But I think just say yes to the trip. Say yes to the experience. Go to the concert. Those nos, I probably regret.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, I do too. I definitely, there's like a 15-year black hole where I feel like I just didn't do any of the things. I went to some of the weddings, but I didn't go to the bachelorette party in Miami and I didn't go to the concert. I didn't go to the ski weekend. I was so nose to the grindstone for so long. And that part makes me sad. I look back on that and I'm like, "Yeah, I wish I had just I should have said yes to that."
Brooke Savona:
Yeah, that's it. I know.
Johanna Almstead:
I mean, I have kids now, so I'm not going to really have those opportunities again. It's hard. You never know. You never know. I mean, like smoking pot on a weekend in Big Bear with some hot boys, maybe I should have done it then. Probably not appropriate to do now.
Brooke Savona:
That sounds so fun.
Johanna Almstead:
I think my husband might have some feelings about the hot boys. Just those kind of things. And again, I loved my career and I was so passionate about it and I wanted to learn it and do it. But not that I didn't have fun. I was having a different ... But I didn't really do things that were like frivolous, just for the sake of fun.
Brooke Savona:
Right. It was a different kind of fun.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah. Yeah. Same.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So you have dreamt of so many things and you have achieved so many of your dreams and you even got your dream horse like this is crazy. So what are you dreaming about now? What's next?
Brooke Savona:
I think that that space that I spoke about when I was first thinking about Flora, I really want a space to continue the creativity within. So an extension, an actual physical extension of everything I've been dreaming of. So kind of a space to combine, gather and flora in one and have beautiful vintage clothes, have really good wine and make things and also have art in there. And also bring people together, the creatives in my life that I think deserve to be highlighted and shown. And I want it to be a beautiful space. I'm like picturing it. It has like a back garden and it's light filled. And so I think that's next is creating that actual physical space.
Johanna Almstead:
Can you create it like very near me please?
Brooke Savona:
Sure. Absolutely. That's also the dream, because it's horse country.
Johanna Almstead:
Can it just be really close so I can come every day? Thanks.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah. Come hang out. Yeah. You don't have to craft. I know you don't like to craft. But you can drink wine.
Johanna Almstead:
I mean, I shouldn't make such a broad statement about the not crafting. I'm sure there are crafts that I would like to do. I just don't like crocheting.
Brooke Savona:
Oh no. No. I don't like crocheting. I don't want to crochet.
Johanna Almstead:
I'm going to open myself back up because I feel like maybe I shut things down.
Brooke Savona:
Okay. I kind of like this. It's a good challenge. We'll find the craft that you like to do and I'll create the next Gather event around that.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
Wouldn't that be fun? Okay.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. I can do that. I'm down for that. I'll be open to that challenge. Okay. So now we're at the very, very exciting point in this interview where we get the hardcore lightning round of silly questions.
Brooke Savona:
Okay.
Johanna Almstead:
Some of them are food related, but not all. What is your favorite comfort food?
Brooke Savona:
Oh, favorite comfort food would be mac and cheese.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God.
Brooke Savona:
Like on a cold day.
Johanna Almstead:
Take a number. So many people on this podcast.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot? That's popular?
Johanna Almstead:
Yep. I love it.
Brooke Savona:
Okay.
Johanna Almstead:
It's such a good one. What was your first paid job? First time you ever exchanged work for money?
Brooke Savona:
I was a paper girl.
Johanna Almstead:
You had a paper route?
Brooke Savona:
Yes, I did.
Johanna Almstead:
Did you do it on your bike or did you walk or drive?
Brooke Savona:
I walked it.
Johanna Almstead:
Did you have one of those big cross body satchels?
Brooke Savona:
I did. It had a neon sash and it was cream-colored. The bag was cream-colored. Yep.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, chic.
Brooke Savona:
It was chic. It was kind of chic. Had a flap.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, yeah. Do you remember how much you got paid?
Brooke Savona:
God. No, it was very minimal. I mean, I think I made like 35 a week or something like that.
Johanna Almstead:
Nice.
Brooke Savona:
That was with tips. That was with tips.
Johanna Almstead:
Wow. I don't think I knew paper ... Yeah, I guess paper people get tips. Okay. What is something you are really good at?
Brooke Savona:
Oh, I am really good at parallel parking. I can do it with my eyes closed basically. I freak everyone out in the car because I don't really have to look. I don't know where it came from. I'm really good at it.
Johanna Almstead:
Superpower. I like it. What's something you're really bad at?
Brooke Savona:
Remembering people's names. Time management and remembering people's names. It's like someone tells me their name and I literally go like this. I don't know what that is.
Johanna Almstead:
I know. Yeah. I am kind of bad at it. And then I get panicked. Then I actually second guess myself. And I know their name. I know it, but I'm too afraid to say it because I'm afraid I'm wrong. I don't have faith in my ability to do it.
Brooke Savona:
I know.
Johanna Almstead:
We need to come up with a game. You're supposed to make a rhyming thing or something.
Brooke Savona:
Right. How to remember, yes.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
I have to learn that too.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. I feel you. What is your favorite word?
Brooke Savona:
Reciprocity.
Johanna Almstead:
Ooh.
Brooke Savona:
I like that word a lot. I like saying it and I like what it means.
Johanna Almstead:
Yes. Reciprocity. I like that. That's a really good one. Okay. Least favorite food. So like deal breaker, not crossing your lips.
Brooke Savona:
So cilantro. And I wish it wasn't cilantro, but I'm one of those people that has the jean where it tastes like soap.
Johanna Almstead:
It tastes like soap.
Brooke Savona:
It's so messed up, yes. Because I love food with cilantro in it, but cilantro and me are just, no.
Johanna Almstead:
It's such a weird thing. I have several friends.
Brooke Savona:
It's so awful.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. So what do you do at a Mexican restaurant?
Brooke Savona:
I kind of have just forced myself to deal with it. I'll take it off if it's like garnished on and I will take it out little by little. But guacamole is one of my favorite foods, so I have to just deal with it in guacamole, but it's hard.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, it's so sad. It's really depressing.
Brooke Savona:
It's sad.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
I know.
Johanna Almstead:
I know. I mean, it's not like I love cilantro, but I just feel like it's adjacent to so many things that I do love.
Brooke Savona:
Totally.
Johanna Almstead:
Including guacamole and margaritas. And so you just have to like ... Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
I know.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Least favorite word.
Brooke Savona:
So it's not the words that I hate, it's the way that they're used. When the word yummy or delicious is used about anything other than food, I hate it. It's like when someone sees a bag and they're like, "Oh, that's so yummy." Or like, I don't know. It grosses me out or something.
Johanna Almstead:
Really?
Brooke Savona:
It's a weird thing. When someone's like-
Johanna Almstead:
I think I say that sometimes. I think I say it more about people though. I think I say it about animals and children.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Maybe not good. I don't think I would say it about a handbag.
Brooke Savona:
You know, that was just an example, but yeah, I don't know what it is. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay.
Brooke Savona:
But if you said that something that you ate was delicious, I'd be like, "Yeah, I get that."
Johanna Almstead:
What if you were talking about like a male specimen? Like a man. Could he be delicious?
Brooke Savona:
Still. I'd be like, "Oh, you called him yummy?"
Johanna Almstead:
I don't know if I'd say yummy. Yeah, I might. Yeah, I might. Oh God, I have to be careful now when I see you.
Brooke Savona:
Watch it, Jo.
Johanna Almstead:
I might. I might be like, "Ooh, he's yummy." Yeah, I might. Oh, okay. Now we know. There's a rift.
Brooke Savona:
It's one of my pet peeves. I don't know.
Johanna Almstead:
There's a rift in our love affair already. Oh, dear.
Brooke Savona:
It's going downhill.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Other than riding horses, do you have any other hobbies?
Brooke Savona:
I do yoga as much as I can. I like to paint. Also, I'm not good at it, but I love doing it. It's just one of those things that feels like a nice release to me. So yeah, painting and yoga and running. Not great at that either, but I still do it.
Johanna Almstead:
Best piece of advice you've ever received. You might have said it before. I don't know if it was that guy about the roads.
Brooke Savona:
Oh, well yeah, what Mark said is definitely, if you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there. But I think something else, and I don't remember who said this to me, but it stuck with me. And I think about it often is the way you do anything is the way you do everything. And for me, that's huge because it's true. The care that you put into just the simplest things translates into the largest things. And that's something I like a credo of mine for sure.
Johanna Almstead:
I love that. I feel like I was just having this conversation with, my aunt came to visit and she was like, "You're going crazy. What are you doing?" We were doing this spread for Easter and it was just like everything had to be the way I wanted it to be. And she was kind of like I feel that. It seems sort of over the top and it seems like it's stressful. And I was like, "It's not stressful for me. It actually would be stressful for me if I didn't do it the way I want to do it." And this is how I like to do things and it feels like just like you're not hosting a thousand people and it's not royalty. And I was like, "But it's my family and it makes me happy." And it's funny, it's sort of like my husband and I are very similar in that way.
One of our love languages is hosting people, but it's also like the way you do that is how you do everything, I think. Exactly. It's an interesting thing to think about.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah. You and I are in simpatico that way. I'm the same. I would be stressed if it wasn't like, I don't know, done in a way where there's care and love and sometimes that's over the top.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. And I have friends who I love dearly, like love them, but they're not great hosts. You go to their house and you're like, "I just wanted to ..."
Brooke Savona:
Okay.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. And again, it's not being ungrateful. It's just like a totally different brain. And they're wonderful people who do wonderful things for me and they're hilarious and kind and we always have a wonderful time and whatever, but it's like there's just a different mentality and they do other things better.
Brooke Savona:
Totally.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, it's interesting.
Brooke Savona:
Exactly.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So it's the way you do one thing is the way you do everything?
Brooke Savona:
Yeah. The way you do anything is the way you do everything.
Johanna Almstead:
Everything. Yeah, I love that. Okay. If your personality were a flavor, what would it be?
Brooke Savona:
Can it be like an ice cream flavor?
Johanna Almstead:
It can be anything you want. Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
Oh, I think I would be like olive oil gelato with a little salt on it. I think that would be me.
Johanna Almstead:
I like it. I like it. Okay. Last supper, what are you eating tonight?
Brooke Savona:
I think I would want dishes that my grandmothers had made and my mother makes. And I would want like, this is going to sound strange, but my grandmother made this amazing beef stew. I would want that from her. None of it would go together, but they would all be really comforting for me.
Johanna Almstead:
It's going to be a smorgasbord.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So grandmother's beef stew.
Brooke Savona:
My grandmother's pasta. Oh, actually she makes this Italian wedding soup. These are all soup related or stew related. She made an Italian wedding soup that was amazing. And my mother's apple pie, that would be dinner, two soups and a pie.
Johanna Almstead:
Two soups and a pie. Are you drinking anything with that?
Brooke Savona:
Well, there has to be wine. So we would do some really, really good Italian wine to go with that stew, I think. Okay. Something nice and party. Yeah. I think we would start with a red for the first soup and then we would go to a white.
Johanna Almstead:
I like it.
Brooke Savona:
And then [inaudible 01:13:07].
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, like a Nomaro. Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Have you ever had a moment in your life where you've had to eat your words?
Brooke Savona:
Oh gosh. I think every breakup I've ever gone through, I wish I could probably take some of those words back, my teenage years towards my parents.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. Like a couple years of worth of words.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah. A couple years worth of words for sure. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Yes. I have one with my mom that I think about all the time like, "Oh, that was horrible. It was horrible."
Brooke Savona:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. If you could eat one food for the rest of your life, you don't have to worry about it nutritionally like sustaining you. It's just fun. You can eat it all day, every day. What would it be?
Brooke Savona:
Oh God, I'm trying to think of a food that wouldn't get sick of. I think watermelon. I love watermelon. I would eat watermelon every day if I could, like now. It's so good.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, that's good. Okay. Where is your happy place?
Brooke Savona:
Let's see. I have a couple. I think on the beach in Maine is definitely my happy place. Just being out in nature in general with my horse. My home. My home is my happy place for sure.
Johanna Almstead:
I love that. What did you have for dinner last night?
Brooke Savona:
Hold on.
Johanna Almstead:
This one trips people up so much. It's so funny.
Brooke Savona:
Okay. I had a turkey burger and some roasted broccoli and sweet potato fries.
Johanna Almstead:
Look at you. So balanced.
Brooke Savona:
And some red wine, because there's red wine with every dinner usually.
Johanna Almstead:
I love that. Okay. What do you wear when you feel like you need to take on the world? We already talked about what you wore when you got to take on the world in Raf Simmons' office. What do you do now when you have a hot date or you have a big meeting or something important where you have to feel powerful?
Brooke Savona:
I think I still would go to Prada. Actually, I would wear Prada still makes me feel very powerful. I have a beautiful dress from Prada that was from the 2023 collection that it's like an artist canvas and it's been painted on and it has like a flower painted on it. And I feel so good in that dress. So I think that, yeah, if I had to go do something really important or make an impression, I would wear that dress.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Most memorable meal you've ever had?
Brooke Savona:
Well, I can think of a recent one that was memorable. My mom and I traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland, and we went to a place called the Timberyard. And it was from start to finish, from the moment you walked in to the moment you left, like one of the most lovely, memorable meals. It was unfussy. It was beautiful. They had everything just done right from the music to, I mean, everything about it, the food and how it was brought out, the wines that it was paired with from all over the world, but unfussy. I think that for me is really important. And I think another one would be, my sister lived in Berkeley for a while. She was going to Cal Berkeley and I ate at Chez Panisse and that to me was also heaven and so simple.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. Dreamy. So dreamy.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah. Really wonderful.
Johanna Almstead:
What is your go to coping mechanism on a bad day? So things are going sideways, your website is down, the bad breakup happens. I don't know. What do you do to cope?
Brooke Savona:
Can I say that I smoke cigarettes? I mean, I have a cigarette if that's happening.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, girl. You definitely can say that.
Brooke Savona:
I have a cigarette. Or if it's the end of the day, I'll take a bath. I feel like a bath helps me. A hot bath is really nice. But usually in the moment it's like, okay, I'm going to go have a cigarette.
Johanna Almstead:
Go have a cigarette. Someone told me, I remember reading this piece of advice, this is not about cigarettes, which I could also talk about cigarettes for a very long time just because it's funny. But someone told me, it was actually parenting advice, but I use it now in life. It's like when they're crabby, put them in water. And so I always think of that. When my husband comes home and he's just like neat, I'm like, why don't you go take a bath? I'm not going to say you're crabby. But like this idea of just like, and even for myself, if I'm like, even if I just take a shower, I don't really have a lot of time for baths, but like just take a shower or jump in a pool or like do something. And it's very funny and it's like such a silly childhood thing, but it works.
Brooke Savona:
It's true.
Johanna Almstead:
So here you go.
Brooke Savona:
I know. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
When you're crabby, get in the bath.
Brooke Savona:
That's right.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Dream dinner party guest list, dead or alive. They're all going to say yes. They're going to come no matter what. Who's coming? Who are you inviting?
Brooke Savona:
So I have recently been upset, maybe not recently, but I've been obsessed for a while with all of the 9th Street women. I think it would be so fun to have a dinner party with like Lee Krasner and Joan Mitchell and just like all of them and sit down and kind of talk and like just I want to hear about all of it ins and outs, what it's like being married to all their crazy husbands and just, I think that'd be a fun dinner party.
Johanna Almstead:
I think so too. Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
Yeah. Elaine de Kooning, all of them.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh yeah. I mean, some stories they must have to tell.
Brooke Savona:
I know. 1950s, New York being a female artist of abstract expressionism, I think so. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
With mostly all crazy husbands.
Brooke Savona:
Yes. I mean, Jackson Pollock alone. I want to hear the stories.
Johanna Almstead:
I mean, yeah. Okay. Lastly, what is one thing you know for sure right now in this moment? You don't need to have known it yesterday. You don't need to know it tomorrow. What is something that feels true to you today?
Brooke Savona:
That it will all be okay. That it all works out the way it's supposed to.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. Can you tap into that when it's not working out? Are you able to get there? Like when you're still in the middle of the messy stuff?
Brooke Savona:
I can tell myself that, and that does help, but I don't think you realize it truly until you're out of it, but it helps to know it. It helps to say it because we've all overcome so many things in our lives and we've made it to the other side of it. And so I think just knowing that and having recognition that when you're going through it or when it's a little tougher than it feels like it should be, that it'll work out the way it's supposed to. What's already, what is the phrase? Whatever's meant to be is already yours.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, like what's meant for you is already happening or something like that.
Brooke Savona:
Is already yours. Yeah, something like that.
Johanna Almstead:
Is already yours. Yeah.
Brooke Savona:
But it's so true. And I think once we relinquish control, that is actually able to happen.
Johanna Almstead:
Beautiful. I love that. Can you please tell our lovely listeners where they can find you and where they can find Flora and Gather and all the things?
Brooke Savona:
Yeah. Until I have my own shop, you can find me on floravintage.co and on Instagram @floravintage, and gatherbyflora also on Instagram.
Johanna Almstead:
And everyone go check it out because she's not putting new things in the world. She's curating and taking care of old things and making them beautiful, even making them even more beautiful. And that's what we're trying to do in the world, right? So thank you, thank you, thank you for being here. This was delightful.
Brooke Savona:
Thank you. It was so fun. Thank you, Jo. This was great.
Johanna Almstead:
Such a nice conversation.
Brooke Savona:
Thank you, Jo.
Johanna Almstead:
I could talk to her literally all day. I feel like we had such parallel lives and we're probably hanging out in a lot of the same places, but I hope you all enjoyed that episode as much as I did. If you know somebody who you think might enjoy it, please share it with them. We are building this community bit by bit and all of your wonderful recommendations and your sharing really, really helps us. So please send it to someone. You can copy it in your media player just by saying share. It will give you an opportunity to copy the link. You can put it in your Instagram, you can DM it to somebody, you can text it to somebody, you can email it to somebody.
If you're not doing so already, please follow us on social media. We're on TikTok and Instagram @eatmywordsthepodcast. And we are now on YouTube. You can listen to us on YouTube as well on the Eat My Words YouTube channel. We do not have full length videos there yet. You can just listen there. Hopefully full length videos will be coming soon of the episodes. So thank you, thank you, thank you as always for tuning in and we'll catch you on the next one.
This Eat My Words podcast was created, produced, and directed by me, Joanna Almstead. Our sound editor is Isabel Robertson, and our social media manager is Isabella Boutros.