The 2025 Root 100 Gala delivered a powerful and reimagined celebration of Black excellence, bringing together influential voices from across arts, activism, business, politics, faith, media, and culture.
Walking into the International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton on December 15, it was immediately clear this was not a typical ballet setting. American Ballet Theatre’s annual Holiday Benefit placed the audience unusually close to the dancers, creating a beautiful and intimate environment. Dancers, artists, longtime supporters, and guests including Sterling K. Brown and Ryan Michelle Bathé filled the room alongside ABT leadership and principal dancers, blurring the line between performance and gathering.
This season in New York City CUUP hosted an early holiday bash that showcased the divine luxury and groundbreaking craftsmanship of the line.
Brightland’s Holiday House this weekend in Brooklyn was a merry affair with toasts by the wonderful Tanqueray Gin.
Your ultimate holiday pampering is here thanks to Chloe Wine Collection and Drybar.
Check out our last-minute holiday gift guide for the perfect gifts for friends and family!
On Wednesday night, GoingDry.co celebrated the close of 2025 with a Nordic-inspired recalibration. Inside NRTHRN Strong’s Flatiron studio, guests gathered for a low-impact, full-body workout rooted in Nordic movement principles, followed by nonalcoholic cocktails and herbal-forward bites that extended the experience beyond fitness.
NRTHRN Strong is a studio that highlights restraint: clean lines, reflective surfaces, soft blue lighting, and a deliberate focus on breath-led strength. The atmosphere felt transporting without tipping into discomfort. The room glowed cool and calm, a stark contrast to the red-lit intensity that defines so many boutique studios in the city. The workout alternated between time on the studio’s custom ski machines and functional work off the platform, targeting the abs, glutes, and lower body with resistance bands and dumbbells through seamless transitions.
Coach Tyler, who led the class, embodied that same sensibility. A steady guide, he moved easily between instruction and encouragement. The class opened with long, grounding inhales and simple coordination drills that gradually built into a series of movements inspired by cross-country skiing. Instead of sprints or circuits, we moved in rhythmic glides that mimicked ski strides, switching between balance holds, diagonal reaches, and sliding lunges. It looked calm at first, but by halfway through the workout, everyone’s pulse had clearly quickened, and the room glistened with sweat.
One moment we were driving through a controlled ski interval; the next, we were grounded on the floor, working through slow, deliberate core sequences or banded leg work designed to stabilize the hips and protect the joints. Low-impact movements didn’t feel like low effort, but rather a shift toward efficiency. Each movement recruited multiple muscle groups while minimizing unnecessary strain, particularly on the knees and lower back. The rhythm and retraction of the ski poles kept you focused, with breath acting as the anchor. Ultimately, the class felt disciplined and balanced, immersive and energizing, built for endurance rather than aesthetics.
After class, the experience shifted naturally into recovery and connection. Tables were laid with healthy bites like roasted eggplant and tomato crostini, cauliflower bites, and other warm, plant-forward snacks provided from Breads Bakery. Alongside them, nonalcoholic cocktails were poured featuring herbal tinctures from WishGarden Herbs, a leading liquid herbal supplement brand of plant-powered formulas.
The mocktails were customized with tinctures tailored to specific needs. Fruity spritzes were paired with immune-support herbs. A ginger-forward tonic offered warmth and balance, while a softer botanical blend leaned calming and aromatic. We opted for an immune activator with respiratory and immune supporting herbs like Elderflower, Baptisia Root, and Yerba Santa leaf. The drinks were functional and well-balanced, designed to complement the physical work while supporting recovery and a lifestyle built for endurance in New York City.
The Nordic influence carried through to the locker rooms, which featured Dyson hair dryers and a Swedish skincare line rooted in organic botanicals and minimalist formulations. The experience felt holistic in movement, nourishment, and recovery.
The event marked the final GoingDry.co gathering of the year, curated by founder and author Hilary Sheinbaum, whose work has reframed sobriety and mindful consumption as lifestyle choices rather than restrictions. Through her books The Dry Challenge and Going Dry: A Workbook, she has built a community that values balance, presence, and sustainability. Together, the workout and the herbal cocktails explored what a healthier lifestyle can look like in New York, prioritizing social rituals that leave you clear-headed rather than depleted.
The Giving A Smile Foundation marked a major milestone with its Inaugural Gala at the Beverly Hilton—an evening that fused purpose with celebration while laying the groundwork for lasting change in children’s oral health across Los Angeles.
On Tuesday night, TAX Magazine took over Music For A While, the subterranean listening bar in Chelsea, to celebrate the release of its sixth issue, Diverge. The crowd was a mix of actors, designers, nightlife icons, and digital creators.
If TAX has a signature, it’s the ability to turn underground energy into something collectible. The Fall/Winter 2025 issue, spanning 370 pages, continues that idea. Designed in Paris, printed in Ghent, published in Los Angeles, and distributed in London, it’s an object that crosses borders but keeps an independent pulse. Diverge explores what happens when instinct takes over instruction and how queer culture, fashion, and intimacy create their own paths and rewrite the rules as they go.
The New York launch came first, followed by an L.A. event the next night. The pace felt right for TAX: fast, global, and slightly chaotic. Inside the warm wood-paneled space, the crowd filled out quickly. Peter Do and Amanda Lepore, both featured in the issue, anchored the night. Lepore arrived in a neon-lime latex dress and yellow gloves that shimmered under flashbulbs while Do kept it understated, moving through conversations with quiet focus, talking about the issue’s evolution and the publication’s widening reach.
The night’s soundtrack came from DJ Evan Kline and DJ P_A_T, who shifted seamlessly between glossy pop and hard electronic cuts. Cocktails flowed courtesy of Gay Water, Superbird Tequila, UME Plum Liqueur (our favorite), and Ten to One Rum, a lineup that matched the magazine’s mood: bright, independent, and a little indulgent.
Across the room, conversations blended fashion, film, TikTok and design. Among the guests were Haley Kalil, Ian Paget, and Peter Demas, alongside editors and reporters from Billboard, WWD, Page Six, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, and The Knockturnal. Photographer Anneliese Horowitz caught the details that mattered: Lepore commanding the room, Kalil in a red sweater mid-laugh, and a sea of phones lighting the space like a low-lit constellation.
TAX’s events always feel less like parties and more like moving editorials. The lighting was cinematic with streaks of red and violet reflecting off glasses and latex, creating pockets of motion that looked staged but weren’t. The energy was fluid, part club, part gallery, part social experiment.
Diverge marks a turning point for TAX. It’s their largest and most visually ambitious issue yet, built with the kind of design precision usually reserved for fashion houses, not independent magazines.
SirDavis American Whisky stopped by The Oculus bearing a gift of an experience on December 12th and 13th. The whiskey brand had Beyoncé fans and enthusiasts alike buzzing about A Signature Pour: The SirDavis Holiday Experience. Guests in NYC were invited to celebrate the brand with cocktail samplings, personalized bottle bands, a photo with the iconic robot from the Cowboy Carter Tour, and a bottle of SirDavis.
Superstar, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, joined Moët Hennessy to bring SirDavis to life in 2024. The singer-songwriter has since promoted her whiskey brand in her Cowboy Carter Tour.
Many have been curious about Beyoncé direction in business ventures, as she promotes her fairly new spirits brand. She told GQ in September 2024, “I’ll never forget the first day I had whiskey. It spoke to me nice. I remember thinking, Why have I never had this before? It was strong and warm, just the right amount of challenge. I loved the process, the ritual of it. Whiskey isn’t something you just shoot down. It’s a commitment. You gotta have patience. I like that.” The singer continued, “And I love the stories that come with it. Every bottle has a history. I also like introducing whiskey to people who don’t know they love it yet. I think a lot more women would love it if they tasted it, and if they were really spoken to by the whiskey world.”
With Beyoncé’s passion for the American award-winning SirDavis, there’s no doubt that her brand has gained the likes of many.
SirDavis’ Holiday Experience provided guests with a taste of their signature cocktails including Sleigh Bell, Espresso Martini, and Honey Bee. Participants also had the opportunity to purchase their very on SirDavis bottle to compliment their personalized band.
What’s a tastemaker event without capturing the moment? As a final touch, the iconic robot from the Cowboy Carter Tour made a special appearance, pouring classic SirDavis Whisky into guests’ glasses while adding an immersive, futuristic touch to the installation.
From personalized details to immersive moments, the SirDavis Holiday Experience embodied the brand’s bold, intentional spirit. In true Cowboy Carter fashion, SirDavis proved it knows how to leave a lasting impression…especially in New York City.
See SirDavis’ Signature Pour come to life in the reel linked here.