Curated playlist
Businesspeople from New York City
- MadonnaMadonna arrived in New York in 1978 with thirty-five dollars. It was her first plane ride and first taxi.
- Jay-ZNo major label would sign Jay-Z, so he sold burned CDs out of his car.
- Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Paltrow won the lead in Emma with a perfect Texas accent. The director said it sold him.
- Jennifer AnistonJennifer Aniston, the American actress, once approached a television executive at a Los Angeles gas station and asked him for reassurance. She was depressed. Four of her television shows had failed, and she wanted someone in the business…
- Kimbal MuskKimbal Musk sits on the boards of Tesla and SpaceX, yet the work he promotes most loudly happens in schoolyards. He was born on the 20th of September 1972. He is a businessman and restaurateur whose career runs from software to soil. His…
- Bob IgerBob Iger began on television sets earning $150 a week and later ran Disney twice.
- Thomas EdisonThomas Edison clamped his teeth into a piano to hear it. He was deaf in one ear and barely heard from the other.
- Adam SilverFour days after a racist recording leaked, Adam Silver banned Donald Sterling from the NBA for life.
- J. P. MorganA visit from J. P. Morgan, one man said, left him feeling "as if a gale had blown through the house." The American financier had that effect on people. He was physically large, with massive shoulders and piercing eyes. His nose was swollen…
- Alan GreenspanIn October 2008, Alan Greenspan told Congress his faith in free markets had a flaw.
- Gene SimmonsGene Simmons was born Chaim Witz in Haifa, Israel, on the 25th of August 1949. He grew up to become the bassist and co-lead singer of the hard rock band Kiss, where he plays a stage character called the Demon. Rock stardom has a reputation…
- Keith RaniereKeith Raniere was addressed by his followers as Vanguard, and for twenty years he led a company in Albany, New York, called NXIVM. The company sold personal development seminars. From 1998 to 2018 it drew 700 members at its height, among…
- Jennifer LopezJennifer Lopez wore a plunging green Versace silk chiffon dress to the Grammy Awards in February 2000, and a single outfit changed how people used the internet. The dress became the most popular search query in Google's history. That flood…
- Bobby FlayBobby Flay, born Robert William Flay, was eight years old when he asked for an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas. His father thought a G.I. Joe would be a better present for a boy. Flay ended up with both. Today he is an American celebrity…
- Jamie DimonIn November 1998, Sandy Weill asked Jamie Dimon to resign from Citigroup. Dimon was forty-two and had no plan.
- Robert DurstOn the 30th of November 2001, Robert Durst was caught inside a Wegmans supermarket in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He was trying to steal Band-Aids, a newspaper and a chicken salad sandwich. In his pocket he had $500 in cash. Durst, an…
- Jim SimonsJim Simons, born James Harris Simons, once explained his dislike of publicity by borrowing a line from Benjamin the Donkey in Animal Farm. "God gave me a tail to keep off the flies. But I'd rather have had no tail and no flies. That's kind…
- Brown MeggsBrown Meggs heard a Beatles demo in 1963 and signed the group at once.