The Recommender: Alexa Jaccarino, Pretty Much Oprah’s BFF

Name: Alexa Jaccarino
Role at Fast Company: I’m the associate events editor, which means I help curate the content of our live events. Like this one.
Twitter: @AlexaJaccarino
Titillating Fact: During college, my friend and I wrote a column on dating for the school’s magazine. Our senior year, Oprah Winfrey and Gloria Steinem came to campus to film an episode of “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” and word of the column reached the producers (okay, through their very direct call for stories of interest) so Oprah asked us a question about it during the filming! Unfortunately I was so nervous in answering that I completely blacked out and can’t remember what I said. Needless to say—and thankfully—that part never aired.

Things she’s loving:

1. Mural Festival 2015. Because public art matters! I’m really itching to attend Mural Festival in June. It’s the third year for this art/film/music block party in Montreal and there are only a few days left in their Kickstarter campaign to make it bigger and better than ever!

2. Nat Geo Photo Camp. I recently finished Lynsey Addario’s book It’s What I Do, which gave me a new curiosity about photojournalism and led me to discover National Geographic’s Photo Camp project, where they put cameras in the hands of at-risk and refugee youth and help teach them how to tell their own stories through photography. The resilience and earnestness of kids is both humbling and inspiring.

3. Crazy-Ass Shoes. All I want for summer is a crazy-ass pair of Sophia Webster shoes like these 🙂