Top Rank Magazine

Kimberly M. Jenkins is a leading expert on the intersections of race and the fashion industry. In the midst of Gucci's recent controversies, Kimberly has recently become the brand’s first in-house scholar, for which she will consult on responsible design practices that do not invoke racial stereotypes and iconography. We spoke with Kimberly on what the study of race and fashion means to her, and her plans for Gucci and beyond. Follow Kimberly here: http://kimberlymjenkins.com @kimberlymjenkins

On this episode of the Top Rank Podcast, we had the pleasure of speaking with Jonathan González — multidisciplinary performance artist, professor, farmer and dear friend of ours. We chatted about his NYC upbringing, his ever-evolving performance practice, and the politics of identity in the murky value systems of contemporary art. Follow Jonathan's work on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathangonzalezetc/ Follow the Top Rank Podcast @toprankmagazine

For our 20th episode, we did something we never have done before - we interviewed each other! After three years of making this show, we realized we never properly introduced ourselves. For this episode, we chat about the story of our friendship and the ways consumerism shaped our childhoods & informed our ongoing *critical* interest in globalization, branding, and identity. For more, follow us on IG: @toprankmagazine ; @isabelflower ; @marcelrosasalas

There is no biological experience more fundamental than birth. However, the ongoing conversation in the US between medical doctors, natural-birth practitioners, researchers, and mothers about what could and should be a safe and positive birth experience has remained extraordinarily controversial. For some, midwifery & doula care are complementary methods of maternal care that are being more frequently tapped into. To understand more about these forms of care, we’ve had conversations with several guests, to learn more about their experiences in the field, and their perspectives on the current state of birthing in the U.S. Check out the mini-episodes below to learn their perspectives.

There is no biological experience more fundamental than birth. However, the ongoing conversation in the US between medical doctors, natural-birth practitioners, researchers, and mothers about what could and should be a safe and positive birth experience has remained extraordinarily controversial. For some, midwifery & doula care are complementary methods of maternal care that are being more frequently tapped into. To understand more about these forms of care, we’ve had conversations with several guests, to learn more about their experiences in the field, and their perspectives on the current state of birthing in the U.S. Check out the mini-episodes below to learn their perspectives.

There is no biological experience more fundamental than birth. However, the ongoing conversation in the US between medical doctors, natural-birth practitioners, researchers, and mothers about what could and should be a safe and positive birth experience has remained extraordinarily controversial. For some, midwifery & doula care are complementary methods of maternal care that are being more frequently tapped into. To understand more about these forms of care, we’ve had conversations with several guests, to learn more about their experiences in the field, and their perspectives on the current state of birthing in the U.S. Check out the mini-episodes below to learn their perspectives.

There is no biological experience more fundamental than birth. However, the ongoing conversation in the US between medical doctors, natural-birth practitioners, researchers, and birthing people about what could and should be a safe and positive birth experience has remained extraordinarily controversial. For some, doula care are complementary methods of maternal care that are being more frequently tapped into. To understand more about these forms of care, we’ve had conversations with several guests, to learn more about their experiences in the field, and their perspectives on the current state of birthing in the U.S. Check out the mini-episodes below to learn their perspectives.

There is no biological experience more fundamental than birth. However, the ongoing conversation in the US between medical doctors, natural-birth practitioners, researchers, and mothers about what could and should be a safe and positive birth experience has remained extraordinarily controversial. For some, midwifery & doula care are complementary methods of maternal care that are being more frequently tapped into. To understand more about these forms of care, we’ve had conversations with several guests, to learn more about their experiences in the field, and their perspectives on the current state of birthing in the U.S. Check out the mini-episodes below to learn their perspectives.

Feminism has reached new levels of mass popularity. Such a shift in public discourse and top line awareness about the daily realities of gender inequality must be acknowledged and celebrated. Yet, it begs many questions: What are the feminist ideas that are becoming popularized, circulated, and, sold today? Who does pop culture feminism benefit? Who might it foreclose and even erase? How do we harness the potential of this shift to bring about lasting social change? To talk through this and more, we are thrilled to have Dr. Sarah Banet Weiser on the show, professor of media and communications at the London School of Economics, and author of the new book Empowered: Popular Feminism and Popular Misogyny.

Recorded live from Abrons Arts Center in New York City, this episode of the Top Rank Podcast features Desmond Napoles, aka "Desmond is Amazing," who at just 11 years old, has made an international name for himself as a drag performer, LGBT advocate, and social media influencer with over 100K followers on Instagram. Marcel & Isabel had a lively chat with Desmond on what it is like to have such a large platform in just the 6th grade, how he balances school & career, and how he thinks children can change the world. follow Desmond on Instagram @desmondisamazing

On this episode, Marcel & Isabel chat with Zenat Begum, the owner of Playground Coffee Shop - a multidisciplinary cafe, bookstore, event space and community non profit in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. In addition to learning about Zenat's life as young, New York native and business owner in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn, she also offers insight on the challenges and triumphs of being an entrepreneur as a woman of color, and shares advice for young people seeking to start their own business. Visit Playground Coffee Shop at 1114 Bedford Ave in Brooklyn, NY Learn more about Playground Coffee Shop https://www.instagram.com/playgroundcoffeeshop/ http://playgroundcoffeeshop.com/

On episode 15 of the Top Rank Podcast, “Resource Generation” co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas spoke with Holly Fetter and Dominique Tan, representatives from the nonprofit organization Resource Generation. For two decades, Resource Generation has been advising and enabling young people with wealth and class privilege in the United States to work towards the equitable distribution of wealth, land, and power. In the U.S. today, the top one percent of households own more wealth than the bottom ninety percent combined. On this episode, we spoke with Holly and Dominique about scrutinizing the idea of meritocracy, constructing comprehensible and productive definitions of wealth and class (and how these categories intersect and overlap with varying identity categories), as well as RG’s strategies for action.

On episode 14 of the Top Rank Podcast, “The New Racial Science” co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas spoke with Professor Dorothy Roberts about the politics of genetic ancestry tests. In 2017, over 12 million Americans had their DNA analyzed by genetic ancestry testing companies. This recent boom in popularity has turned “knowing your roots” into one of the biggest consumer products of the past decade. However, it is critical to the question how genetic ancestry tests are shaping societal understandings of race and ethnicity. Professor Dorothy Roberts is an acclaimed scholar of race, gender and the law, and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, with joint appointments in the Departments of Africana Studies, Sociology and the Law School. She is also founding director of the Penn Program on Race, Science & Society in the Center for Africana Studies. Her major books include Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century ; Shattered Bonds:

On episode 13 of the Top Rank Podcast, “Thick/er Black Lines,” co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas spoke with Rianna Jade Parker, Hudda Khaireh, and Aurella Yussuf founding members of the London based curatorial collective Thick/er Black Lines. Thick/er Black Lines is an interdisciplinary collective that brings together art criticism and, cultural studies, as well as archival, and activist practices to shed light on the creative production of the Black European diaspora. Their ongoing efforts to canonize Black British women and femme artistsun cluding their most recent residency at the Tate Modern— -- emerge from an urgency to highlight the multiplicities and convergences of Black identities across the globe.

On episode 12 of the Top Rank Podcast, co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas speak with Cecilia Palmeiro and Verónica Gago, founding members of Argentinian feminist movement and collective Ni Una Menos. Ni Una Menos (which translates to Not One Less) combats femicide—the intentional killing of women because they are female—as well as all gender based-violence. They are committed to changing a culture that castes women as objects to control, to consume, and to discard. To do so, Ni Una Menos examines the multiple forms of violence (economic, political, financial, state, social) that limit the autonomy of women and therefore generate the conditions that allow for physical violence, shedding light on the relationship between the most dramatic manifestations of violence against women and their structural roots. The movement’s affiliates now span numerous Latin American countries and even continents, and their work includes organizing marches, protests, strikes, and discussions to putting forward formal

On episode 11 of the Top Rank Podcast, “High Performance Hijabs,” co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas speak with Arshiya Kherani, founder and CEO Sukoon Active. Sukoon is a New York-based apparel company that designs inclusive activewear for women. Kherani, an active runner, launched Sukoon in 2016 after years of going without high-quality workout clothing that aligned with her Muslim faith. Sukoon offers fuller coverage and looser-fitting exercise apparel and high performance hijabs for women across backgrounds, who desire athletic wear that is not tight or revealing. From Nike to Dolce & Gabbana, global fashion brands have begun targeting the Islamic fashion consumer as their latest marketing opportunity, and some brands have started to offer modest clothing, head coverings, and special occasion wear for Muslim women. Yet, in a social climate that is rife with negative associations surrounding Islamic traditions, the recognition of Muslims as part of the American marketplace is as politically c

This summer, an exhibition opened at the Museum of Sex in New York City titled NSFW: Female Gaze . Organized in collaboration with Vice’s Creators platform, and on view through April 2018, this show includes the work of 25 young and/or emerging female artists. The show’s two part title invokes Laura Mulvey’s canonical 1975 feminist film theory about the masculine cinematic perspective, as well as the everyday politics of internet censorship and sexual respectability. However, this exhibition’s title presents an important and timely question: What is the “female gaze” and what about it is “unsafe”? A “female gaze”—or any gaze for that matter—is cultural and learned, not innate, not universal, but intensely subjective and situated by race, class, and history. On Episode 10, co-hosts Marcel

Few would dispute the immense social, cultural, and political significance of creative production in realizing our potential as human beings and in fostering both inventive and nurturing communities. Creative labor is a critical part of our social ecosystem. Yet, artists—especially in the US—are often unable to make a living wage from their physical and/or intellectual labor or its products. The trope of the “starving artist” still pervades pop cultural notions about the sacrosanct status—and corresponding fiscal value—of artistic labor. This romanticized image of an individual whose isolation, specifically from the market economy, is the very wellspring of their creative genius continues to have vital material implications for those who desire to be professional arts workers. In a culture of unpaid internships and “paying dues” via free work in exchange for prestige and exposure, carving out a career in the creative industries is immensely precarious. On Episode 9, co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flo

Over the past decade, abuse of prescription opioids such as Oxycontin and Percocet has come to affect over two million Americans, precipitating a quadrupling in overdose fatalities. The spike in opioid related deaths within White communities in particular has visibly shocked and alarmed the media, the public, and policy makers. The so-called “new epidemic” has been widely and consistently framed as affecting "blameless victims” and "good people"—ostensibly those individuals who, within American public consciousness, are not associated with drug abuse. Drug epidemics in this country have historically been addressed by using harshly putative legal measures, most notably exemplified by the War on Drugs in low income communities of color. The wake of the opioid spike leads us again to the question: Whose lives matter? And, how are the media narratives and concurrent policy efforts about this issue informed by intersecting race and class biases? For Episode 8, co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower invit

For Episode 7, co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower spoke with three guests—Khalila Douze (Social Media Editor at The Outline), Kimberly Drew (Social Media Manager at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Rawiya Kameir (Culture Editor at The Outline)—about the intersections of social media and identity politics in their professional and personal lives. Within the last 30 or so years, the phrase identity politics has become a critical mechanism for self-realization and expression, as well as for political and cultural alliance building. The internet, and social media in particular, has provided a public but also highly personal platform for anyone with access to a computer and a network to distill and perform their identity, and to have an audience. We have come to see that the implications of said access and exposure hold the potential of unravelling and restructuring the way information is disseminated, the way money is made, and the way power itself is manifested. Here, we reflect on how our generat