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Daily Mail
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
How Meghan wormed her way into the Montecito fem-mafia - and relegated Harry to a life on the sidelines: JAN MOIR reveals Duchess's brazen tactics to break into elite sisterhood which includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and Oprah
Oh, to be in Montecito, now that spring is here. The bougainvillea is in lush bloom along the sun-dappled lanes of this jewel box of a town, the sunlight glints on the blue waves down at Butterfly Beach and word has spread that the strawberry gazpacho is back on the menu at the San Ysidro Ranch, praise be to the bountiful gods of organic produce and zero-calorie soups. Meanwhile, fashion shop The Other has just taken a fresh delivery of its unique, hand-stamped Birkenstocks (£260 for a pair of Boston clogs painted with flowers, so darling) and the Juice Ranch on Coast Village Road has stocked up on its popular Mermaid 'mylk' shots, power-packed with chlorella, spirulina and a promise to 'flush mucus out of the body'. I don't doubt it for a second. The air here is clean and fresh, the vibe is stealth wealth meets ultra-exclusive – and the Alpha Women of Montecito wouldn't have it any other way. What is remarkable about this glittering billionaire's bolthole on the Californian coast is not just that it boasts one of the highest concentrations of wealth in the whole of America, it is that it has become home to such a fantabulous conflux of rich, powerful and invariably famous women, all living in the same postal district and all of whose lives are becoming increasingly enmeshed as they bounce higher and higher together on this golden trampoline of cachet and privilege. Katy Perry Katy Perry has two properties in Montecito including a 1930s-era, 9,285-square-foot compound that sits among the Santa Ynez foothills and has eight bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms, a tennis court, two guesthouses and a pool. Business mogul Carl Westcott, who founded flower delivery company 1-800 Flowers, previously owned it. Perry fought and won a bitter legal battle against him when the 85-year-old tried to pull out of the deal. His family called her 'entitled and unforgivable'. Within a few miles of each other, you've got Oprah, Gwyneth, Meghan and Jen. As in Winfrey, Paltrow, Sussex-not-Markle and Aniston. Then you've got Cameron, Katy, Zoe, Ariana and Ellen. As in Diaz, Perry, Saldana, Grande and DeGeneres. The latter has temporarily moved out, taking refuge in the English countryside with her wife Portia de Rossi to escape what she sees as the 'dangerous' Trump regime. Yet with Ellen's deep roots in the area, along with her multiple properties and business interests, you can bet that she will be back. For who could resist the power and the glory that comes with being part of the new Montecito fem-mafia? The neighbourhood is heaving with the kind of girlboss women who either do not need a man or have husbands and partners who are happy to stay out of the limelight. Don't be fooled by the tradwife pantomimes of Gwyneth on Instagram making 'boyfriend breakfasts' or Meghan on Netflix making jam, the Alpha Women of Montecito (AWOM) are the ones who wear the trousers. Usually the Fran Jeans (£172) or the Saturday Sweatpants (£132) from the local cedar-scented Jenni Kayne shop – the California lifestyle brand that is a must-buy for every AWOM worth her pink Himalayan salt. Oprah She calls her main £75 million Montecito estate The Promised Land. Situated on 40 sprawling acres above the town, it features a neo-Georgian mansion with 23,000 square feet of living space, six bedrooms, 14 bathrooms and grounds with a pool, stables and pond. Oprah runs her life and her business from here. Gwyneth Paltrow lives in a custom-built Montecito mansion overlooking the ocean where she makes paleo snacks and sweet potato smoothies for husband Brad Falchuk in her dreamy kitchen. Yet as is the AWOM way, the Goop boss keeps him in the background, like a hunky pet. A recent Instagram post to her 8.7 million followers caught the mood. 'Hi guys, this is my husband Brad,' said Gwyneth, as the multi-award-winning television writer, producer and director meekly shuffled into shot behind her. 'Hi,' said Brad, waving a timid hand. 'I was doing a special podcast on step-parenting,' continued Gwyneth, 'and I asked Brad to join me.' 'So I did,' he said, obligingly. Just up the road on the Riven Rock gated estate, where the Duke and Duchess have lived in rosy splendour since 2020, Harry is a furtive presence in Meghan's busy, busy life. He turned up clutching a glass at the party in the final episode of her With Love, Meghan Netflix series. He was once seen juggling balls though a window as she was making a broadcast from their home – a more apt metaphor for his post-royal life would be hard to find. Just like a sprinkle of edible flowers on an iced doughnut, Harry – like so many Montecito husbands – appears to be surplus to needs. Note that it is Meghan, not Harry, who was invited to speak at the influential Time 100 Summit in New York yesterday. 'I am so proud of everything she does,' he said recently. He better be. He doesn't have much choice. Duchess of Sussex The Duke and Duchess of Sussex purchased their home – the Chateau of Riven Rock – for £11 million in 2020. Featuring a main house, a guest cottage and a swimming pool. Due to the property boom in the area, it is now estimated to be worth more than £21 million. Alongside the glossy celebrities in this Montecito-based vector of uber vixens there is a sub-stratum of lesser-known but perhaps even richer and more formidable she-financiers, entrepreneurs, businesswomen and socialites. Women such as Victoria Jackson, a cosmetics specialist whose No Makeup Makeup company is one of the reasons she is worth £380 million. 'I'm an entrepreneur, cosmetics pioneer, medical research catalyst, author and philanthropist,' says Victoria. 'But above all, I'm a woman whose journey is proof that everything we experience, even in the mix of pain and debilitating fear, can be repurposed and harnessed to achieve our most impossible goals.' A very Montecito sentiment – even if her cosmetic range issues a more modest promise to make you 'feel good from the inside out' and charges £42 for a small compact. Then there is Whitney Wolfe Herd, the 35-year-old founder of dating app Bumble and co-founder of Tinder. Whitney is the youngest female self-made dollar billionaire in the US and will be played by Lily James in an upcoming biopic. She was the very first guest on the Duchess of Sussex's new podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, where the Bumble boss opined that businesswomen should 'cut through the noise and be vulnerable' and to 'bottle your essence' – whatever that might mean. Near neighbours in Montecito, Meghan and Whitney call each other 'beauty' and told of how they bonded very quickly, even though they only met a few years ago. 'She is one of my closest friends,' said Meghan. I bet she is! Zoe Saldana Oscar-winner Zoe Saldana The original period details include a library with a barrel-vaulted ceiling. Should we be surprised at the speed with which the Duchess has established herself within this elite citadel of sisterhood, strategically gifting her jars of jam to the great and the good? Perhaps not. As Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has pointed out; 'Meghan is underestimated in terms of her influence on culture.' He has also publicly noted that consumer goods associated with the duchess ' sell out all over the world '. Sarandos, who also has a weekend home in Montecito with his wife Nicole Avant, is well placed to understand that underneath the local glitz, everything is transactional. It is little wonder that Meghan is also tight with Victoria Jackson, who loaned the Duchess her opulent house for a magazine interview photoshoot in 2022 and also provided her home as the venue for Meghan's 41st birthday. In return, the grateful Duchess invites Victoria around for her girls' night games of mahjong – and recently listed her No Makeup Makeup foundation among her beauty recommendations on her ShopMy page. It's quid pro quo in this world – with the emphasis on the quid. And the girl bonding does not stop there. Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Aniston bought her lavish Mediterranean-style farmhouse from Oprah in September 2022. Her new weekend home, which was not publicly listed, changed hands for £11 million in an off-market deal. The Friends star also has a £15 million mansion in Bel Air. Victoria is also one of the founders of the Godmothers bookshop in nearby Summerland – three miles along the coast from Montecito. Prince Harry helped name the shop when he was promoting his embittered memoir Spare in 2023. He thanked Oprah, Victoria and literary agent Jennifer Rudolph Walsh (Oprah's agent and another member of Meghan's mahjong gang) for their support, calling them his trio of 'fairy godmothers'. Oprah remembered the tribute and said there could only be one name for the book shop. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex even attended the store launch last summer, along with Glee actress Jane Lynch, who moved to Montecito following the pandemic. 'This is the most community I've ever had in my life, Lynch told Town & Country magazine. 'We all know each other. We know each other's dogs!' And if that closeness is boosted by the kind of mutual benefits that only wealth and celebrity can bring, who is complaining? Just look at these girls go. They are on each other's podcasts, they are in each other's kitchens, they loan out their private jets to their pals like bicycles or cardigans. They are recommending each other's products, they are on each other's shows, name-checking pet causes alongside major projects with equal enthusiasm. Cameron Diaz Cameron Diaz and husband Benji Madden live on a £9.5 million estate in the Ennisbrook community of Montecito, California. The house has six en-suite bedrooms, seven full bathrooms, and ocean views. Cameron once contributed a recipe for popcorn to one of bestie Gwyneth's cookbooks. Of course, the reigning queen of the Montecito scene remains St Oprah of Winfrey. Oprah's got the biggest house. She's got the most money. She exudes the most power and her tentacles spread over the area like a great, munificent octopus. It is no secret that she helped Meghan and Harry relaunch themselves in America. Nor that her best friend Gayle King was recently on the Blue Origin space flight with her near Montecito neighbour Katy Perry, who lives in the area with husband Orlando Bloom and daughter Daisy. Oprah also just sold a Montecito property to Jennifer Aniston, who is busy renovating her new home and installing a swimming pool. Jen is just another famous face among the jet set flotsam that washes in and out of this glittering enclave. The actress Natalie Portman has just moved out of Montecito, relocating to Paris. Seinfeld and Veep actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus recently sold the £21 million beach house – complete with thermal chimney and retractable roof – where she spent holidays for over 20 years. Gwyneth Paltrow After her two children left home for university, Gwyneth sold her Los Angeles home for £17 million, then she had husband Brad moved full-time into her 'forever' house in Montecito. The original house was purchased in 2016 for £3.7 million. Construction and landscaping took seven years to create a hidden paradise complete with nine bedrooms, 16 bathrooms and a basement with full spa facilities including steam room, massage room, sauna, Jacuzzi, plunge pool, full bar, arcade and wine cellars. And fresh from her triumph at the Oscars this year – where she won Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film Emilia Perez – Zoe Saldana only recently moved into the Spanish Colonial-style Montecito mansion she bought for £13 million in 2023. She can expect a mahjong invite in the post any day now. Jam incoming. In 2020, Ariana Grande bought a house from arch local property flipper Ellen DeGeneres (Ellen has bought and sold over 20 properties in the area over the years), got married there, sold it in 2022, but apparently is moving back into Montecito. Fashion designer Tracy Robbins, who invited Harry and Meghan to Jamaica last year for the premiere of the Bob Marley biopic One Love – made by her CEO husband's company Paramount Pictures – is also part of the Montecito matrix, this powerful group of fem-allies who have bonded together so beautifully – and lucratively. Remarkable to think it all happens in a small town of only 8,400 inhabitants nestled between the ocean and the hills amid beautiful scenery. Situated only 70 miles north of the city, Montecito is to Los Angeles what the Cotswolds are to London; a zoom town currently enjoying a real estate boom but with the kind of property prices only the famous and the very, very rich can afford. And that is just how the Alpha Women of Montecito want it to stay.
Forbes
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Othering In The Workplace: 3 Strategies For Inclusion
A Different Turquoise Colored Piece in Yellow Colored Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces on Gray Background ... More Directly Above View. Othering is a social phenomenon where individuals or groups are perceived and treated as fundamentally different from a dominant or in-group. This process often involves dividing people into "us" and "them" based on perceived differences like race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status. Left unchecked, othering can devalue non-dominant, historically marginalized groups or underrepresented groups by attributing negative characteristics or inferiority to the "them" group, while elevating the "us" group. Without allies or inclusion interventions, these othering practices can create a sense of separation and distance, leading to discrimination, prejudice and sometimes even violence. Othering poses a serious long-term threat to organizations with increased risk for discrimination lawsuits and damaged reputations. If an organization or its employees are perceived as engaging in othering practices, it can face significant public backlash, including boycotts, negative social media campaigns, and damage to its brand reputation. To push back on othering, allies and people with power need to proactively create inclusion vs. exclusion, leading proactively with psychological safety and inclusive leadership. Daniela Pierre-Bravo is the author of the book, The Other. As a former undocumented immigrant and on-air reporter for MSNBC'S Morning Joe, Pierre-Bravo knows othering firsthand. In our interview, she shared three key strategies for historically marginalized groups and their allies to navigate those othering in the workplace: Like many historically marginalized people, Pierre-Bravo felt pressure to succeed given her family's personal and financial hardships and sacrifices. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was young and she and her family worked multiple jobs to help her get through college financially. They were rooted in her personal why. When she had an opportunity to interview with Bad Boy Entertainment in college, she jumped on the opportunity. She purchased an overnight bus ticket and made it from the Midwest to New York City for the interview and got the job. That experience was the first steppingstone for her future career success. For historically marginalized groups and allies, it is critical to dial in on your personal why. Having a strong why keeps you centered and focused on your goals, especially when you face othering or headwinds to achieving your goals. According to Pierre-Bravo, 'Our why is our sense of purpose, mission, passion—that thing that at our core makes us feel like we're working toward something worthwhile and intentional. It can act as the foundation that holds us up when the going gets tough, when we get in our own way, or when uncontrollable outside factors play a role in pushing us off-balance.' Allies can be more helpful when you are intentional and consistent on your why. Pierre-Bravo's book chronicles the progression of allies in her career. From mentors to sponsors to advocates, allies help level the playing field for people to overcome the harmful effects of othering. Most notably sponsors because 'sponsors speak up in rooms where you are not.' As the first chief inclusion officer at Netflix, Verna Myers says, 'Sponsors talk about you, mentors talk to you.' The one to many dynamic of sponsorship is powerful. To push back on othering, take an inventory of your structural stakeholders. Reflect on: There is no one-size-fits-all ally. Sometimes allies come into our life for a season, sometimes they stay for our full careers. Allies can be a helpful antidote to othering in the workplace. In contentious times, historically marginalized people and allies have to be strategic about when to engage. We have to use our energy in spaces where it matters most. Spaces where change is possible. That means being more proactive when the right opportunities arise. While at MSNBC, Pierre-Bravo worked with on-air personality Mika Brzezinski. As production assistant, she was responsible for getting Brzezinki's coffee, in addition to other responsibilities. She knew that coffee was very important to Brzezinki, so she made sure it was prepared precisely the way she liked it. After months of working around Brzezinski, Pierre-Bravo seized a rare moment when they were alone travelling together, and pitched her an idea she had been thinking about for a long time. Historically marginalized people know that the windows for opportunities tend to be less frequent and less open. When the moment presents itself, seize it. As Pierre-Bravo shared, 'I had a rare moment alone with Mika and knew it would not happen often, so I seized that opportunity. The key is to make your pitch about what the other party will get out of it. I asked Mika for advice about an idea I had, knowing she also was interested in empowering women, and a few weeks later, she called me and told me she wanted to write a book together.' Othering is a social phenomenon that serves to divide us based on perceived differences, leading to discrimination and prejudice. To push back on othering, individuals and allies can dial in on their personal why, take inventory of their structural stakeholders, and seize opportunities to engage in meaningful dialogue.
