Presented by Luke Lintz
They say that living in a small town makes people happier. And we’ve all heard the stories and seen the statistics. In the past few years, there has been an exodus of people from the vast and hectic metro areas to small and peaceful rural towns.
U.S. Census Bureau data shows that since 2014, around 30,000 U.S. residents aged between 25 and 39 are leaving big cities each year to find a better, cheaper, and happier life in the countryside.
For some, living in a place where time flows slower might be a perfect life. But as Tayler Mercier points out, living a slow and monotonous life is a death row for people who dream big and want to achieve even greater things.
Content creator by day and serial entrepreneur 24/7, Tayler Mercier is also a professional swimsuit model, a Playboy model, and an influencer who has been featured on numerous distinguished magazine covers, including FHM and Playboy. With over 310,000 followers on Instagram, Mercier has built a robust online platform where she regularly shares her passion for beauty and lavish lifestyle.
This beautiful, seductive, vibrant persona appeared seemingly out of nowhere a few years ago, only to enchant all eyes and minds across the globe. But before she started making her way to the top, Mercier was a young girl living in a small town and feeling like an alien in her skin.
“I grew up in a small town having these big dreams about success, and I had to move somewhere else to reach them,” she says. “Life there seems idyllic, but it’s just not a place where you chase dreams. They are not compatible with dreamers. I always felt like I didn’t belong, like an outsider, just because I wanted more.”
Mercier always knew that she would find happiness somewhere else. She realized that if she stayed in that small town, her dreams would forever be just dreams, so she made a brave decision; she moved out of her parents’ home to live in Houston.
It was a difficult pill to swallow. As Mercier points out, leaving the security blanket of having a stable roof over your head and support from your mom, dad, and the rest of the family is never easy. “It wasn’t an easy decision. You are leaving your whole life after all,” she says. “But I just knew there was no way I could get anywhere in life and turn my dreams into reality if I stayed in Victoria. So, I packed my things and moved to Houston with a blank slate.”
Tayler Mercier has been living and working in Houston for the past ten years, but she recently started splitting her time between her new hometown and Los Angeles. Apart from her modeling career and content creation, Mercier founded a digital marketing agency in L.A. with a mission to help aspiring models turn their dreams into reality.
As Mercier explains, she needed support and a helping hand to make her first step and dive into the unknown, and now she wants to offer the same to others.
“Before I left my hometown, a photographer approached me for a photoshoot. I agreed at first because that was my dream. Still, on the day of the photoshoot, I was so afraid that I almost canceled it,” she says. “I called him to cancel, but he said, ‘Tayler, get in the car and come here. It’s going to be fine. It’s going to be perfect!’ So I got in the car, and the rest was history. I will be forever grateful for that.”
While she came a long way from her small hometown and made quite a name for herself—model, content creator, influencer, and real estate agent—Tayler Mercier explains that she believes success is relative. As she explains, people are often afraid of their dreams because they think that they have to get somewhere to be able to say that they have achieved something or turned their dreams into reality.
“I have always defined success as how far a person has progressed, not how far they have gotten. If you build something out of nothing with your two hands, that is already a major success,” says Tayler Mercier. “And always compare yourself only to yourself, not to others. It’s okay to feel like you don’t belong, but you must leave the doubt behind and go for your dreams. Work hard for them, and they will come.”
Presented by Ascend Agency
All businesses are the result of an enterprising business idea. If you want to put your idea into practicality, you should be ready to invest time and resources in learning the business world and gather various business strategies you can leverage to become a successful firm. You must generate as many business techniques as possible at this initial stage.
Leila Hormozi believes that making your business a success can also be difficult, and you must respond to unpredictable times and situations while planning your way forward. There are various things you can do to assist your company’s revenue growth. At times, you might feel like you’re juggling 100 tasks, as managing a business demands that you wear many hats. This includes ensuring that each aspect of your firm receives attention and that little details stay within the plan.
Leila Hormozi is a first-generation Iranian-American entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. She is the founder and CEO of Acquisition, a monetary and intellectual capital investing platform. Leila leverages Acquisition as an investment-making company through which she makes her investments. The portfolio is based on Hormozi’s investment thesis, which focuses on asset-light, high cash flow, and sales-focused digital products companies, primarily software and e-learning.
Leila is also known for her expertise in scaling businesses through flexible infrastructures and forming management systems that create wonderful places to work and performance to match. She also shares exceptional business management skills in scaling companies by creating rock-solid culture, talent acquisition, and customer success. This sets her aside as one of the top moguls helping other entrepreneurs learn how to build and exit a company before they turn 30.
In less than six years, Leila has established and grown a business from the bottom into a six-figure enterprise with zero experience. In partnership with her husband Alex Hormozi, Leila successfully managed to earn over $140 million in direct sales and now has divested their interest in those companies to focus full-time on their investment company. Acquisition has expanded into a profitable venture currently exceeding over $200 million in revenue across the companies.
A self-made entrepreneur, Leila wants to inspire other businessmen and women to face their fears and begin their entrepreneurial journey. She wants to leverage her experience and teach how to successfully start and run a business. This includes coaching others on how to run a business with your spouse, build a team with no experience, be successful in business and marriage, and build a company with 80-90 percent gross margins. Leila is also passionate about guiding others on how to turn a “guru” business into a sellable enterprise.
Having already established a solid business foundation, Leila envisions herself leading Acquisition into a multi-business empire housing over a hundred companies in the portfolio. Leila’s goal is to expand and see Acquisition grow into a $1 billion venture within the next five years. The mission is to dominate every sector they dive into and become a leader in the market for low- to mid-market companies that want to propel their growth without having to sell majority interest to a firm. According to Leila, this is just the beginning of what’s going to be a dominant brand in the business world.
Cillian Murphy’s J. Robert Oppenheimer is deeply conflicted about the atom bomb’s creation in the first trailer for director Christopher Nolan’s buzzed-about thriller Oppenheimer.
“We imagine a future and our imaginings horrify us,” narrates Murphy as the theoretical physicist credited with inventing world’s first nuclear weapon.
“They won’t fear it until they understand it. And they won’t understand it until they’ve used it.”
As the director of the laboratory that designed and assembled the first atomic bombs, Oppenheimer was instrumental in the success of the Manhattan Project, the government-backed venture tasked with creating nuclear weapons that was formed shortly after the United States entered WWII.
Oppenheimer’s bombs would ultimately be used in the field against the Japanese targets of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing tens of thousands but leading to the Empire of Japan’s surrender and the end of WWII.
“I don’t know if we can be trusted with such a weapon,” the narration continues. “But we have no choice.”
The movie, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographical novel American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin, was adapted for the screen by Nolan, who also serves as director and producer.
Nolan previously revealed that he and the production team recreated the pivotal nuclear explosion code-named “Trinity Test” without “computer graphics.”
In additional to these highly anticipated practical effects, moviegoers can also look forward to an A-List cast. Murphy is joined in Oppenheimer by Emily Blunt as his wife, biologist and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, Matt Damon as Manhattan Project director General Leslie Groves Jr., and Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
Oppenheimer premieres exclusively in theaters on July 21, 2023.
High West long ago established its place in American craft distilling lore. Pretty much shocking the world that quality whiskey could come from a teetotaling state like Utah, the upstart label even earned the Whisky Advocate’s prestigious “Distiller of the Year” award in 2016.
And of all High West’s most beloved and anticipated stock has to be their annual A Midwinter Night’s Dram—of which they just released Act 10.
To celebrate a full decade in crafting delicious versions of this rye-based expression, this year High West adds to their annual release by introducing a complementary bottle: A Midwinter Night’s Dram: The Encore.
Like Act 10 the tenth anniversary limited release The Encore blend also starts off with the excellent Rendezvous Rye partly made at their Wanship, Utah distillery (a blend of 95% rye / 5% barley malt from Indiana’s MGP with 80% rye / 20% malted rye from High West).
Instead of second finishing in Portuguese ruby and tawny port barrels, however, The Encore opts for wood that aged white port. The results are more subtle than with the bolder notes of Act 10, leaning towards white peach, meringue and mint chocolate.
“It goes without saying that A Midwinter Night’s Dram is our most anticipated launch each year,” explains High West Master Distiller Brendan Coyle.
“We really started to notice it taking off in the past five or six years, and the line that now forms at the Distillery bright and early on release day speaks for itself. Blending, discovering, and innovating is in High West’s DNA, as exhibited this year by both Act 10 and the debut of The Encore, and we’re constantly looking for unique expressions to bring consumers.”
A Midwinter Night’s Dram: Act 10 (98.6 Proof) can be found in highly allocated shops across the US, while The Encore (101.6 Proof) is only available at the Distillery in Wanship or the High West General Store in Park City. Act 10: $330, The Encore: $500
Follow Contributing Spirits Editor Nicolas Stecher on Instagram at @nickstecher and @boozeoftheday.
Presented by Tom White
Fans of Keeping up with the Kardashians will recognize Dr. Simon Ourian. The famous doctor has often appeared on the show as Kim and her sisters visit his Beverly Hills clinic, Epione. The mother of four has long introduced the cosmetic dermatologist to her Instagram fans.
In one of her visits to the Beverly Hills clinic, Kim shared a snippet of the session with her Instagram followers. In the video footage, Kim and Dr. Simon Ourian were heard talking as he measured the angles of her face.
“You’re getting really close,” Kim Kardashian said. “What is that?” she asked while Dr. Ourian assessed her facial symmetry. He explained he was just measuring the angles of her face. Kim continued to ask how her face looked as Dr. Ourian held the measuring tool to her face.
Dr. Ourian replied, “Wonderful and symmetrical.” Kim shared the moment on her Instagram with the caption, “This man is a necessity in my life.”
Previously, the mother of four revealed she had undergone Coolbeam laser treatments with Dr. Ourian, which, as we can all guess from her flawless and youthful skin, were a success. It is alleged that the Paw Patrol actress also had a non-surgical tummy tuck with Dr. Simon Ourian.
Dr. Ourian’s diverse experience and unique approach to cosmetic treatment have made him one of the world’s most sought-after A-list aesthetic specialists. Dr. Ourian’s clinic, Epione, performs more than 1,000 procedures per month. His clientele includes the Kardashians, renowned models, musicians, actors, and many of the world’s royalty.
The doctor to the stars loves clay sculpting–making him a master of creating works of art from non-surgical nose jobs to contouring the jawline and cheeks. Dr. Simon Ourian can do just about any aesthetic procedure without a scalpel.
He believes that art and cosmetic dermatology are inseparable. Combining them has helped him achieve natural, realistic results without surgery, with his work receiving lots of attention in and out of the US.
Dr. Simon Ourian offers various cosmetic services, including age spot removal, under-eye dark circles removal, acne scar removal, and laser skin resurfacing. His very own Coolaser technology is popular among beauty enthusiasts as an effective fix for uneven skin tone or texture, melasma even. An equally popular procedure that is only used in the said doctor’s office is Coolbeam–a machine that helps in reducing the appearance of stretch marks and cellulite.
Of course, the celebrity cosmetic dermatologist also has his own skincare lines available for his in-office clients and those who are unable to come to his sole Beverly Hills location yet–two, in fact. His original skin care venture is called the Epione Signature Series–a set of seven powerful serums that help with numerous skin concerns. Dr. Simon Ourian’s second line of skin care products is MDO, which appears to be extremely popular in Europe.
For more information about the man behind Kim Kardashian’s youthful complexion, visit Epione’s website at www.epionebh.com.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson may be making the jump from superhero to superspy if rumors that the Avengers actor will be the next James Bond turn out to be true.
Numerous internet reports have speculated that Taylor-Johnson will be Daniel Craig’s 007 successor, but the source of the rumor appears to be celebrity gossip outlet Deuxmoi, which on its own About page states, “[Deuxmoi publishes rumors & conjecture, not facts.”
“Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the next Bond. A mini trailer of him doing the famous bond shot is going to be released March/April 2023 to announce him as the new actor,” the source told Deuxmoi, presumably referring to the iconic “gun-barrel” sequence.
Taylor-Johnson is perhaps most famous for playing Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver in the Marvel Cinematic universe, as Fatherly notes. But his co-starring role in 2022’s Brad Pitt-led action comedy Bullet Train as a salty, slick-talking British assassin is certainly more Bond adjacent.
With rumor mills being the only source of Bond info, anything’s possible. As recently as October 2022, veteran James Bond producer Michael G. Wilson told Deadline that casting had not started for the new 007, ”no matter what others tell you.”
At 32 years old, Taylor-Johnson is at least in age ballpark of what Wilson and his team are looking for.
”We’ve tried looking at younger people in the past. But trying to visualize it doesn’t work. Remember, Bond’s already a veteran. He’s had some experience. He’s a person who has been through the wars, so to speak. He’s probably been in the SAS or something. He isn’t some kid out of high school that you can bring in and start off. That’s why it works for a thirty-something.”
If the next Bond actor absolutely has to be in their 30s, that would rule out many popular frontrunners for the role, including 45-year-old Tom Hardy, 50-year-old Idris Elba and Henry Cavill, who turns 40 in May of 2023. That would also dash 50-year-old Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s seemingly less likely hopes of becoming Bond.
Twitter owner and Tesla boss Elon Musk briefly lost his title of world’s richest person on Wednesday after a plunge in the value of his stake in the electric carmaker and his controversial, $44 billion purchase of the social media site.
Bernard Arnault, the CEO of luxury brand Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH, briefly snatched the title of world’s richest person before falling back to No. 2 with a personal wealth of $185.3 billion, according to Forbes.
LVMH’s sales and profits have soared 500 percent under Arnault’s leadership, and the company now has over 70 fashion and beauty titles in its luxe portfolio. In January 2021, LVMH-acquired jeweler Tiffany & Co. for $15.8 billion, believed to be the biggest luxury brand acquisition ever.
Arnault controls about half of LVMH, and its fashion brands include Christian Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, Loewe, Loro Piana, Kenzo, Celine, Sephora, Princess Yachts, TAG Heuer watches, Bulgari and Tiffany & Co.
Musk, who has held the top spot on the Forbes list since September 2021, has an estimated net worth of $185.7 billion. Musk previously seized the world’s richest person title from Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos.
Tesla shares, which have lost more than 47 percent in value since Musk made his offer to buy Twitter earlier this year, were down 2.7 percent, according to Forbes.
Musk’s net worth dropped below $200 billion earlier on November 8 as investors dumped Tesla’s shares, reportedly after widespread worries that the boss and biggest shareholder of the world’s most valuable electric carmaker has recently been preoccupied with running Twitter.
Musk recently made headlines for suspending Kanye West’s Twitter account after the troubled rap mogul–now known as Ye–shared an anti-semitic tweet.
Tesla has reportedly lost nearly half its market value and Musk’s net worth has dropped by about $70 billion since he bid for Twitter in April.
Besides Tesla, Musk also runs rocket firm SpaceX and Neuralink, a startup that is developing futuristic brain-machine interfaces to connect the human brain to computers.
Despite the fact that it’s mid-July in Colorado, the predawn air way up here at 9,300 feet above sea level is crisp and alerting. All around us is pandemonium: quick chattering Italians dart around a humming tour bus in tight red pants and matching sneakers, puffy Lamborghini-embroidered vests keeping the cold at bay.
A fully camouflaged Urus Performante sits on blocks with its wheels removed, with cables and sensors spilling out of the hood in vivisection; engineers and mechanics tend to it diligently like a pre-runway supermodel. The sky above remains deep black, but a vibrant orange sliver on the horizon threatens to break over the inky valley.
In the center of the chaos calmly hovers Stephan Winkelmann, splitting the madness like Gandolf in an Orc war. Arguably the most dapper man in the automotive industry, he takes it all in with just a wisp of palpable excitement. The mere presence of the decorated CEO underscores what an important moment this is for Lamborghini—flying halfway across the world for less than 24 hours just to bear witness to the event, why we’re all here on this chilly hill: to notch the record for fastest production SUV up Pikes Peak.
This is, after all, Lamborghini’s best-selling vehicle ever, attempting to break the record of perhaps the most (in)famous, and dangerous, hill climb in the world. The Race To the Clouds, as it’s lovingly referred to. The fact that Pikes Peak happens to be in America, in Colorado, Lamborghini’s biggest and most important market? I’m sure that doesn’t hurt either.
“I have to admit I’ve been in love with Pikes Peak since I was a child,” reveals Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini’s amicable and enthusiastic Chief Technical Officer. “When there were still dirt roads, the Group B rally cars were the heroes of my youth!” he continues enthusiastically. “Therefore for me Pikes Peak is magic. There are only a few places in the world that give so much input to car culture—for sure Nürburgring is one, and Pikes Peak is the second.”
As the so-called “super-SUV” now reaches its mid-lifecycle, Lambo has crafted this apex Urus: the Performante. It wouldn’t be officially unveiled for another month until The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering during Monterey Car Week in California, but before Mohr and designer Mitja Borkert pull back the silk sheets at the glittering event, the team is intent on notching this golden Pikes Peak ring, just to let everyone know which is the fastest, baddest, and most unstoppable high-performance SUV on the world’s most treacherous and challenging hill climb.
Just a day prior the new $260,676 Performante left the road on one of the last corners of this Hill, putting this entire endeavor in peril. It wasn’t driver Simone Faggioli’s fault, of course. “You have to adjust to the road every time you take a run,” explains Fred Veitch, Chairman of the Board for Pikes Peak, as we sit at the halfway point waiting for the Performante to make its first run of the day. “Conditions change: this year it was very hot during practice, and yet race day was foggy and cold…. As a driver you’ve only got two or three corners from the start to figure out what road conditions are, then you have to quickly adapt to go up the Hill.”
As we anxiously await for the Performante to blur past at 120 mph, he explains the altitude’s merciless wear on all aspects of the car: brakes, transmission, and of course engine. It’s not just brutal on the vehicle of course—the driver and crew suffer too. Veitch laughingly calls it “Formula One meets Woodstock” because of the sheer spectrum of competing teams: from deep pocketed OEMs to tiny cabals of friends wrenching kit cars at the bottom of the hill.
Just then we hear the first hints of the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 screaming through the titanium Akrapovic sports exhaust rising from deep in the valley. Under the duress of the Pikes Peak climb, aspects of the 666-hp Performante’s bonafides like its feral burst (0-62 mph in just 3.3 seconds) will be flogged, even if it will never quite approach its 190-mph top speed in these unforgiving twisties.
In the three seconds the super-SUV takes to blur past us on this long stretch we’re able to discern a few aesthetic qualities, like its newly-designed rear spoiler helping to increase overall downforce by 8%. Improvements like a carbon-fiber hood and roof help shave 104 pounds, but given this camo’d unit’s orange wrap that’s invisible to us.
The polished version of the lightweight material we’d see in Pebble Beach a month later may be the Performante’s most salient visual upgrade, along with its Aventador SVJ-inspired rear spoiler with carbon fiber fins. With the trimmed weight and 627 lb-ft of torque kicking in at only 2,300 rpm, the Performante’s best-in-class weight-to-power ratio and top-tier driving tech (e.g. torque vectoring, rear-wheel steering, active anti-roll bars, etc.) anoint it with unholy ability. At least in theory.
A couple minutes later that theoretical superiority is confirmed in reality. As Lambo execs pace anxiously the call comes crackling through the walkie-talkie: the Urus’ Pikes Peak time is in: a record breaking 10:40.68. The next day the Performante would shave eight more seconds off the clock, ending with the fastest-production SUV time ever of 10:32.064.
When we make it back down to the starting line there is jubilation among the Italians and Germans. Ceramic espresso cups are clinked in lieu of champagne flutes. “We just came for this, so we had great expectations and they were fulfilled, big time,” Winkelmann gushes with uncommon gusto.
“It was important to have an understanding of the performance of the car…. We were able to showcase that this is a real super sports car amongst the SUVs.” The beaming CEO goes on to express the significance of Pikes Peak, and how capturing the record before its Pebble Beach debut underlines the importance of the American market. Next to Winkelmann, his visibly-charged head engineer smiles broader than the Colorado Rockies.
“There is always an uncertainty that can destroy everything. It’s like motorsports—it’s stupid, but to finish first you have to finish first,” says Mohr, a look of satisfaction and relief carved onto his visage. “A lot of things can happen, you never know. So to have this spectacular time after the crash that happened yesterday, this is absolutely joy.”
