Arianna Huffington photographed in her SoHo apartment. “How do I define being an American? For me, it’s just the optimism of the country. Right now, this very sort of tragic moment, is a departure from the American journey. But I think for me the optimism of the country is compounded by the fact that I’m Greek, and that’s another optimistic culture. Zorba the Greek!”
Huffington is the author of 15 books, including biographies of Maria Callas and Pablo Picasso and, most recently, the international best sellers The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time (2016) and Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder (2014). Does she write at home? “Oh, yes. I find that once I go to the office … meetings!”
AH: “One of the first things you realize as a foreigner and as an immigrant is that you sound different so the accent is a big deal because immediately it sets you apart. And I actually tried for a while to get rid of my accent…. I haven’t done a very good job as you can hear [Laughs]. And then I kind of embraced it. I realized that it was really complicated — changing your accent. In a sense, it’s now part of my identity.”
Following a morning photoshoot, Huffington — a genius of time management — heads from her home through the streets of SoHo to the New York offices of Thrive Global. Launched by Huffington in August 2016, this corporate and consumer well-being and productivity platform takes as its mission to change “the way we work and live by ending the collective delusion that burnout is the price we must pay for success.”
AH: “I love New York, and one reason (of many) is that it’s one of the world’s great walking cities. One of my favorite phrases is solvitur ambulando — ‘It is solved by walking.’ It refers to the fourth-century-BC Greek philosopher Diogenes’ response to the question of whether motion is real. To answer, he got up and walked. As it turns out, there are many problems for which walking is the solution. Many of the best ideas have come out of walking meetings! In our culture of overwork, burnout, and exhaustion, how do we tap into our creativity, our wisdom, our capacity for wonder? Solvitur ambulando.”
Arriving at the SoHo offices of Thrive Global, her new wellness company, Huffington prepares for a radio interview. She wants all of us to work smarter, not harder. AH: “For me, the biggest lesson, which, really, I owe to my mother, is to accept failure as part of the journey to success. That everybody who has succeeded has failed along the way, and failure is totally fine. My mother used to say, ‘Failure is not the opposite of success, it's a stepping stone to success.’”
Huffington and members of the Thrive Global team gather for a “device-free meeting.” (l–r): Zoe Foulkes, Community and Social Media Editor; Corinne Bain, Partnerships and Content Manager; Juliana Stone, Director of Partnerships; Danny Shea, Head of International; AH, Founder & CEO; and Dan Katz, Director of Business Development.
Three Carnegie Corporation of New York Great Immigrants — Tina Brown, Dara Khosrowshahi, and Arianna Huffington — come together at the ninth annual Women in the World Summit at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City, April 12, 2018.
AH: “Do not internalize all the negativity of this moment in our history. Because the collective environment, right now, can seem to be a very sort of tragic moment, a departure from the American journey. Am I optimistic? Yes. I think that — first of all, even in this environment — we have to remember that immigrants are at the foundation of this country. Keep remembering that fact — and do not lose sight of the importance of immigrants for the American dream. We must remind people of our history — our rich history — and of our foundation.”
1–3, 9: AH in her SoHo home in New York City
4–5: AH heading to the office through the streets of SoHo
6–7: AH at Thrive Global’s New York offices in SoHo
8: Tina Brown, Dara Khosrowshahi, and AH at Lincoln Center
www.thriveglobal.com | @ariannahuff
“One of the first things you realize as a foreigner": As told to Dreams Across America, 2007
“I love New York”: 15 Questions with … Arianna Huffington (CNNtech)
"For me, the biggest lesson": Interview with CNBC at World Economic Forum 2017
Related Links: The Secret of America | Great Immigrants | Sally Jewell | Art Acevedo | Kwame Anthony Appiah | John Leguizamo
Photographed by Jennifer S. Altman, New York City, April 12, 2018 | Produced by Kenneth Benson