North Shore, IL May 2026

The Ladies Issue

LIFE + CULTURE

ERIN COUPE ON LIVING WITH INTENTION AND LEADING WITH PURPOSE

WELCOME TO WILD MOON COLLECTIVE

WHERE WELLNESS MEETS LUXURIOUS CARE

There are moments when life calls for a pause - a chance to slow down, check in, and return to the practices that truly support you. Radiance begins when care becomes intentional and consistent, rather than occasional or rushed. At Wild Moon Collective, we believe self-care is a ritual - one that nurtures your skin, body, and overall well-being over time.

5 STEPS TO RADIANCE

A Simple, Intentional Guide to Caring for Yourself

Here are five simple steps to support your skin, body, and well-being and cultivate lasting radiance.

1. Make Time for Yourself - Intentionally

Caring for yourself doesn’t require grand gestures or perfection. Sometimes it’s as simple as creating space - space to breathe, to reset, and to focus inward. When time for yourself becomes intentional and protected, it shifts how you show up everywhere else. Self-care isn’t something to fit in when life slows down, it’s something that supports you through it.

2. Commit to a Monthly Facial Ritual

Healthy, radiant skin is built through consistency. Monthly facial services support skin renewal, improve texture and tone, and help maintain long-term skin health. When facials become a ritual rather than an occasional indulgence, the results are deeper, longer-lasting, and more meaningful. Our Monthly Radiant Ritual Membership was created to support this consistency - combining customized facial treatments that evolve with your skin’s changing needs, month after month.

3. Support Your Skin at Home

In-office treatments are powerful, but what you do at home plays an equally important role. A medical-grade skincare regimen tailored to your skin helps maintain results, protect the skin barrier, and keep your complexion balanced and resilient between visits. Simplicity and consistency are key - thoughtful products used well will always outperform complicated routines.

4. Move Your Body in Ways That Feel Good

Movement is essential - not for perfection, but for vitality. Whether it’s walking outdoors, strength training, yoga, Pilates, or something entirely your own, movement supports circulation, hormone balance, stress reduction, and overall well-being. Choose movement that brings you joy and fits naturally into your life. Your body (and skin) will thank you.

5. Set Boundaries & Protect Your Energy

Radiance is influenced by more than skincare alone. Learning to protect your time, energy, and peace is one of the most powerful forms of self-care. It’s okay to say no. It’s okay to create space. Boundaries allow you to prioritize what truly supports you and that balance shows from the inside out.

Celebrating Extraordinary Ladies This Month

Dear North Shore City Lifestyle Readers,

May arrives with a sense of momentum, cre ative, communal and distinctly alive, and this issue reflects that energy across every page.

We open with Erin Coupe , whose work reminds us that leadership isn't performative; it's practiced daily, in families, workplaces and the quiet decisions that shape a life. Her story sets the tone for an issue grounded in intention and integrity. That spirit of voice and point of view con tinues with Candace Jordan , a cultural mainstay whose perspective has long helped define how Chicago sees itself, and Laura Hendricks , whose feature brings nuance, clarity and lived experience to the page.

Food, as always, is another form of storytelling. At Elyon, cuisine becomes memory, migration and modern expression under the guidance of Chef Ozz . The result is not just a meal, but a point of connection. One that feels especially right for spring, when gathering feels essential again.

Music carries that same connective power. Mali Wilson is in a season of cre ative expansion, and our conversation traces how sound, place and partnership are shaping her next chapter. It's an intimate look at an artist in motion, balancing ambition with authenticity.

Visually, this issue is anchored by the work of three artists whose practices invite us to slow down and look closer: Erin Kaya , Karen Ross, and Patricia M. Dolan . Each approaches form and material differently, yet together they create a conversation about process, patience and presence, an apt reflection of the season.

May is about emergence. New ideas, new voices, new light. We're proud to share this issue with you and grateful, as always, to the readers who make this community possible.

Warmly,

May 2026

PUBLISHER

Keely Conrey | keely.conrey@citylifestyle.com

EDITOR

Cat Rolfes | cat.rolfes@citylifestyle.com

PUBLICATION DIRECTOR

Katie Bode | katie.bode@citylifestyle.com

ACCOUNT MANAGER

Peter Heisinger | peter.heisinger@citylifestyle.com

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Amee McCaughan | amee@ameemccaughan.com

SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR

Juliann Brown | juliann.brown@citylifestyle.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Cat Rolfes

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Chloe Camille, Maggie Rife Ponce, Cat Rolfes, Brett Simison, Jenny May Stringer, Jael Torres, Katrina Wittkamp

Corporate Team

CEO Steven Schowengerdt

President Matthew Perry

COO David Stetler

CRO Jamie Pentz

CoS Janeane Thompson

AD DESIGNER Rachel Kolich

LAYOUT DESIGNER Lillian Gibbs

QUALITY CONTROL SPECIALIST Marina Campbell

KEELY CONREY, PUBLISHER @NORTHSHORECITYLIFESTYLE

city scene

1: Participants at Travel 100’s wellness night featuring Miraval Resorts & Spas enjoy guided relaxation, an immersive sound bath and curated stations from local wellness partners. 2: Stephanie Widman, Julie Goldberg, Alisa Bay, Amy Rosenfeld and Lisa Schulkin at North Shore Breakfast Club’s “Women Who Rock,” Galentine’s Happy Hour. 3-5: Women business owners from across Downtown Highland Park gather for a photo and video shoot celebrating the 140+ women led businesses shaping the community in recognition of International Women’s Day. 6-7: Après Ski Mixology Class + Champagne Fondue, hosted by Broker Marilee Moyer of @properties Winnetka, brought a winter warm evening of cocktails, cozy company and a little après magic.

business monthly

Everblooming K Beauty Skincare Opens in Northfield

Everblooming K Beauty Skincare has opened at 495 Central Ave. in Northfield, bringing the art and science of Korean skincare to the North Shore. The spa offers head spa treatments and facials rooted in time‑honored Korean beauty traditions, blending holistic techniques with modern, results‑driven care. This marks the brand’s second location, expanding its mission to provide restor ative, intentional self‑care experiences. IG @everblooming_chicago

BODY20 Marks One-Year Anniversary in Glenview

BODY20 is celebrating its first year at 1350 Patriot Blvd., offering a tech driven approach to fitness through its FDA cleared electro muscle stimulation suit. The studio provides 20 minute, one on one sessions with certified coaches who guide members through customized strength and cardio programs, deliv ering significantly more muscle contractions than a conventional workout without traditional gym equipment. The milestone highlights BODY20’s rapid growth and its commitment to efficient, personalized training. body20.com

SCHEDULE SCHEDULE

QUIET LUXURY

Forward Focus Concierge Medicine Expands Physician Team

Forward Focus Concierge Medicine has expanded its personalized internal medicine services across the North Shore with the addition of three new physicians: Michael B. Kraft, M.D., Marissa Versalle, D.O., and Smriti Goel, M.D. The practice, with offices in Highland Park, Lake Forest and Northfield is known for its relationship‑based care, longer appointments and strong emphasis on preventive health. The growing team reflects rising demand for concierge medicine. Learn more at forwardfocusmed.com

Above: Dr. Daniel J Goldstein, Dr. Gary Schaffel, Dr. Michael B. Kraft, Dr. Steven Wolman, Dr. Steven Lasin, Dr. Alina Elperin, Dr. Marissa Versalle, Dr. Lane Phillips, Dr. Smriti Goel

Heirloom photographic art for your home. Because time flies & family is everything. Starting with an in-home design consultation to plan a unique portrait session or curate your existing images, we create artwork to celebrate the beauty of your most precious relationships.

TIMELESS AND TRUE

Mali Wilson has spent decades shaping the sound, careers and creative spaces of other artists with quiet intention. With her new album, Retro in Real Time: Where Love Feels Safe, the Grammy nominated producer and artist steps fully into her own light, offering a deeply personal body of work that reflects a life lived, lessons learned and love embraced.

Released March 20, the 10 song album unfolds as a narrative, tracing the emotional terrain of falling in love later in life. It’s a

record about what happens when fear loosens its grip, trust takes root and love feels grounded rather than fragile.

“At its heart, this album tells the story of what happens when you finally take a chance on love,” Wilson said. “It’s about arriving at a place in life where love feels grounded and real.”

Wilson co wrote most of the album with her husband and cre ative partner, Eric. Only after stepping back did they realize they had documented their own relationship in real time. Each track

ARTICLE BY CAT ROLFES

In a studio built on trust and intention, Mali Wilson channels the kind of music that arrives when fear loosens its grip and creativity feels like home.

reads like a chapter, moving from vulnerability to emotional security, shaped by spiritual grounding and lived experience.

Earlier in her career, Wilson often deferred to others in the stu dio, serving as a facilitator rather than a focal point. This time, she says, the process felt effortless.

“The music flowed like honey,” she said. “We prayed before every song and asked God, the angels and our ancestors to rain the music down from heaven. That set the tone for everything.”

Chicago has long shaped Wilson’s creative philosophy. She began her career interning at Moore Music in Winnetka before moving into production and engineering roles. Later, she opened Retnuh Studios in her Evanston apartment, creating a trusted environment for artists to work.

That same ethos carries through to StoneWood, her current studio and creative sanctuary. The space is intentionally selec tive, built on trust, warmth and shared purpose.

“Not everyone can go where you’re going,” Wilson said. “We’re very intentional about who enters the space.”

StoneWood has welcomed an eclectic mix of artists, from vet eran performers like Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters, to emerging voices, including the late Angie Stone and drummer Lil’ John Roberts. All drawn by the studio’s sense of safety and focus. The album itself reflects that intentionality, built on relation ships rather than trends.

A key creative force on Retro in Real Time is longtime collab orator Craig J. Snider, an Evanston native and award winning producer who helped reconnect Wilson to her artistic center. Together, they’re building a creative bridge between Chicago and Atlanta, blending Midwestern soul with Southern warmth. Snider produced several tracks, grounding the project in restraint, tex ture and emotional clarity.

Additional collaborators include producer Willy Rodriguez and Kenneth Whalum, whose Memphis rooted sound brought texture and soul. Longtime engineer Elliot Carter anchored the recordings, while Grammy winning producer Miguel “Maguever” Scott finalized the album.

Wilson’s résumé spans genres and decades. Her credits include ties to J. Cole’s “Friday Night Lights,” Sprite’s Obey Your Verse campaign, studio time with Carly Simon and sessions with friends like Chance the Rapper, Taylor Swift and the late Whitney Houston. She has earned Grammy nominations for work with Usher and Chris Brown. Still, she says returning to her own voice feels peaceful not pressured.

“I’m not chasing anything,” Wilson said. “I’m sharing and becoming.”

That sense of ease defines the album’s structure. Instead of a conventional tracklist, the songs were sequenced as a lived story. When Eric finalized the order, Wilson says the flow felt right.

“It’s like a smooth ride,” she said.

More than a release, Retro in Real Time is a statement of arrival. A record shaped by heartache, faith, resilience and joy. Wilson hopes it resonates with women and emerging artists navigating their own timelines.

“It’s never too late,” she said. “Every lesson and every loss is shaping you. Protect your peace, surround yourself with good people and don’t be afraid to share your voice. The world may need it more than you realize.”

Holding

Space

ARTICLE BY CAT ROLFES

Erin Coupe on redefining success, building real capacity, and why leading yourself first may be the most radical leadership act of all.

On a recent evening, Erin Coupe had just landed back in Chicago from San Francisco. Another keynote delivered. Another room full of leaders. Another con versation about success, pressure, and what it actually costs to keep going at the pace modern leadership demands.

This is not a book tour, she is quick to clarify. It only looks like one.

Coupe has been a professional speaker and executive advisor for more than seven years, long before her bestselling debut, I Can Fit That In , entered the cul tural bloodstream. The book did not open doors so much as widen ones that were already there. Companies now call not only to order copies for their teams but to

ask her to stand in front of those teams and talk. To slow the room down. To articulate something many people feel but rarely name.

“Most people write a book to get into speaking,” she says. “Mine was the opposite. I couldn’t not talk about this work, and the book became an extension of that.”

SUCCESS, RECONSIDERED

The work, in Coupe’s telling, did not begin after she left corporate America. It began inside it.

For nearly two decades, she built businesses inside Fortune 140 companies, including Reuters, CBRE, and Goldman Sachs. She was client facing, revenue generating and fluent in the expectations that define high perfor mance environments. But somewhere along the way, the model she had inherited began to crack.

The story she tells now is not one of burn out followed by escape. It is about question ing a belief that had quietly governed her life. The idea that you grind until retirement, and then you live.

“I realized I didn’t actually believe that,” she says. “It was just something society put in my mind.”

Her skepticism was sharpened by experi ence. Her father became terminally ill at 45, paralyzed from the waist down, and died at 58. Thirteen years of survival, little quality of life. The math didn’t work for Coupe.

“So I asked myself, why am I not finding more joy every day?” she says. “Why am I not aligned with my values now?”

Rather than walking away from corporate life, Coupe began work ing on herself inside it. Meditation. Mindset shifts. The slow, often uncomfortable work of looking inward. She did it quietly at first, waking at 5 a.m. several days a week while raising young children and still working full time.

“It was hard,” she says, without romanticizing it. “Sleep is amazing. Not looking inward is easier.”

The changes were not theoretical. They showed up in her marriage. In her patience as a mother. In how she approached her work, not as a burden to endure but as a livelihood to engage with intention.

NO QUICK FIXES

That philosophy is now the backbone of I Can Fit That In , a book that resists the tidy formulas of influencer culture. Coupe is openly skeptical of quick fixes.

“I’m not going to tell you to take two of these and your life will change,” she says. “If you want change, you’re going to work hard. And if you don’t, then don’t expect anything to be different.”

The book opens with self awareness, what Coupe calls activat ing the ability to see what’s actually driving your behavior. Not by excavating the past endlessly, but by noticing what you believe right now. A belief, she reminds readers, is just a thought you repeat.

From there, she moves into ritual. Not performance. Not optimization. Meaning.

“You don’t need to go to Tibet and meditate for six months,” she says. “Let’s deal with reality and do what actually moves the needle in everyday life.”

Readers seem to recognize themselves in the pages. Coupe receives messages daily through LinkedIn, email and her web site. The book has sold thousands of copies across corporate orders and retail, a response she describes as both humbling and affirming.

“The book finds people exactly where they need it,” she says. “There isn’t one thing that resonates. It depends on where some one is stuck.”

Stuck is a word she hears often, particularly from women. Stuck until the next title. Stuck until the kids are older. Stuck until some future milestone arrives.

“That does not serve anyone,” she says. “We go through life half living it.”

What often surprises people, Coupe says, is how small the first shifts can be. “You don’t change your life by burning it down,” she says. “You change it by noticing what’s running in the background of your mind and choosing differently, over and over again.” That repetition, she adds, is where capacity quietly expands. And capacity, for Coupe, is the real currency of leadership.

RETHINKING CAPACITY

“High performers don’t actually need more time,” she says. “They need more internal space. When you have that, you’re more discerning, more present and ultimately more effective without constantly being in urgency.”

Her work is gender agnostic in principle, but Coupe acknowl edges the patterns that emerge when working with women in leadership. Many are deeply capable, deeply successful and quietly uneasy.

“They know something feels off, but they can’t name it,” she says. “So they point to one thing and blame it instead of doing the internal work first.”

Coupe is precise about how she describes her role. She’s not an executive coach. She’s an executive advisor. The distinction matters to her. She doesn’t offer one to one sessions or certifica tions. Her energy, she says, is built for groups.

“I go into companies and work with teams,” she says. “I stay long enough to see real transformation.”

She also leads private cohorts for senior leaders and founders, and next spring, from March 4 to 7, 2027, she will bring a group of female executives to New York for an immersive experience designed to deepen alignment and capacity. The details will live elsewhere, but the intention is consistent with everything she teaches. Create space. Listen inward. Lead differently.

At home, Coupe lives on the North Shore of Chicago with her husband and two sons, now in fourth and fifth grade. The setting is not incidental. Life beyond work, she says, provides ritual and perspective. It’s where the ideas she teaches are practiced daily.

Her mornings are deliberately quiet. Coffee brewing. An intention set before the phone comes out. Meditation, a prac tice she has kept since 2011. Reading, ten pages at a time if that is all the day allows.

Her books live where she does. On the nightstand. On the coffee table. Often several at once. She moves between them based on what the moment calls for, including works on mindfulness, leader ship and resilience.

This grounding is not separate from her professional credibility. It’s the source of it.

What makes Coupe’s work resonate is not novelty but translation. She articu lates the invisible pressures shaping mod ern leadership and offers practical ways to respond without abandoning ambition or humanity. She understands the language of performance because she lived it. She understands the cost of ignoring the inner world because she felt it.

The result is not a rejection of success, but a redefinition of it.

“We don’t arrive at enlightenment,” she says. “The work is never done. But you can live awake to your life while you’re building it.”

In a culture that prizes urgency, that idea feels almost radical. And for many leaders, it’s exactly what they’ve been waiting to hear.

MARCH 2027 IMMERSION

From March 4 to 7, 2027, Erin Coupe will lead The Alignment Immersion at The Ranch Hudson Valley in Sloatsburg, New York. This four-day leadership experience for women executives blends strategic reflection, movement, restorative practices, nourishing cuisine and guided facilitation to deepen self-trust, expand capacity and strengthen internal alignment at the highest levels of leadership. erincoupe.com/immersion-march-2027

THE ART OF

Lifting Others

Redefining Visibility, Resilience and the Power of Community

ARTICLE BY CAT ROLFES

There are women who rise, and then there are women who lift. The distinction matters. Rising can be solitary. Lifting is relational. It assumes responsibility for who comes along. In this issue, our cover feature with Erin Coupe reflects on the power of living with intention. Here, we turn to two more women whose lives embody that ethos of purposeful uplift. Their paths are different, but their impact is unmistakable.

Candace Jordan and Laura Hendricks arrived here by very different routes. One built a career on being seen before learning how to see others. The other was forced, abruptly and brutally, into a reck oning that redefined what strength could look like. Together, their stories trace a larger truth about community, care, and the long arc of becoming.

CANDACE JORDAN, THE CONNECTOR

Candace Jordan has spent decades at the center of Chicago’s cultural and philanthropic life, using her voice to amplify the people and institutions that shape the city. She founded and maintains the lifestyle blog CandidCandace.com and is a colum nist for Crain’s Chicago Business, associate pub lisher at Chicago Star Media, a contributor to WGN Radio, and host of Candid Candace: The Podcast. Over the years, she has chronicled countless galas, fundraisers and openings.

Long before she became one of Chicago’s most recognizable civic storytellers, Jordan was visible in a different way. She began modeling at 13 in St. Louis, eventually becoming Chicago’s Playboy Bunny of the Year in 1976 and later a centerfold and cover model. That era, which included a close friendship with Hugh Hefner and residence at the Playboy Mansion, placed her inside a media world that prized image above all else. Today, she speaks about that chapter as formative, not defining.

“It taught me confidence,” she says. “It taught me how to walk into a room and hold my own. But more than that, it taught me how quickly people form stories about you. I think that’s why I’m so interested in telling the real stories now.”

Those instincts emerged early. As an only child, Jordan wrote letters and reflections to her mother after moving to Chicago, describing the city so vividly that her mother could experience it alongside her. Those dispatches became a blog. The blog became a platform. The platform became a career.

“The heart of it hasn’t changed,” Jordan says. “I wanted to share experiences with someone I loved. Now I get to do that with the city I love.”

Her writing style remains unmistakably her own. Conversational, warm, funny and deeply personal. “Readers can tell when something feels authentic,” she says. “My goal is always to sound like myself.”

Candace’s credibility comes not from proximity to power, but from how she uses it. She rarely positions herself at the center of a story, preferring instead to redirect attention to the mission behind the moment. That instinct has

earned her trust across Chicago’s philanthropic landscape, where organizers know she will show up prepared, present and invested.

Jordan is candid about the ways her definition of success has shifted. “At this point in my life,” she says, “I want to make things easier for people who are doing good work.” It feels less like social currency and more like service, shaped by decades of watching what lasts and what doesn’t.

Jordan has chaired or co chaired hundreds of charity events, a number she downplays even as she lights up talking about record breaking fundraisers. “I love being part of something good,” she says. “And I love seeing peo ple wrap their arms around causes they care about.”

Every chapter of her career sharpened her sense of connection. Modeling taught presence. Acting taught empathy. Producing and hosting taught her how to step back and help others shine. Writing brought it all together. She was lifted by mentors who encouraged her to trust her voice, and for nearly four decades, buoyed by her husband, Chuck Jordan. “We’re a package deal,” she says, smiling. Community, for Jordan, is not an event. It is a network of relationships built on trust and consistency. “It’s people showing up again and again,” she says. “That’s how real impact happens.”

LAURA HENDRICKS, THE SURVIVOR WHO BUILDS

On January 31, 2018, Laura Hendricks took her three young children to a routine pediatrician’s appointment. A pause. A question. Blood work. Thirty six hours later, on February 2, the day that would forever change her family’s lives, she was in an emergency room hearing the words no one is prepared for: you have leukemia. She was 40 years old.

Within days, Hendricks, who lives in Northfield, was trans ferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she would spend much of the next six months undergoing intensive chemotherapy, radiation and a stem cell transplant. Five days into treatment, doctors told her the subtype of AML she had affected fewer than 3 percent of patients, with long term survival rates often cited in the single digits.

“If I lived anywhere else, I don’t think I’d be here,” she says. “Cancer doesn’t discriminate. Access to care does.”

At the time, Hendricks was a VP of global sales at Oracle Data Cloud, accustomed to control and measurable out comes. Cancer stripped that away. After treatment ended, the recovery was lonelier than expected. She took two years off work. Her body felt unfamiliar. Her household, supported by her family and a tight knit community, no longer felt like her own.

“Some days I felt like I was living in someone else’s house,” she says. “My only job was to get better. That cre ates an identity crisis.”

What surprised Hendricks most was not the physical toll of cancer, but the emotional disorientation after remis sion. Survival came with gratitude, but also with guilt, fear and a quiet isolation that no one prepares you for.

“People expect relief,” she says. “But there’s grief, too. You’re grieving the version of yourself who didn’t have to think this way.” Naming that experience became the first step toward understanding how deeply unsupported sur vivors often feel once treatment ends.

Eighteen months into survivorship, Hendricks realized something that changed everything. Many survivors did not have what she had. No comprehensive survivorship clinics. No roadmap for rebuilding life after treatment.

Luminaries was born not from a business plan, but from gratitude and responsibility. Hendricks and her husband researched wellness practices that helped her heal, focusing on sleep, hydration, gratitude, movement, breath, focus and fuel, translating those ideas into practical, science informed steps designed specifically for cancer survivors. (luminaries.life)

“When you’ve lost control, big goals feel paralyzing,” she says. “Small habits help you rebuild.”

Those practices are delivered in multiple ways: through bright orange tangible kits filled with journals, eye masks, water bottles and letters written survivor to survivor; through digital text and audio; and through a personalized survivorship app currently in development. More than 2,000 survivors have engaged with the program. Recognition has followed, including national media attention and participa tion in accelerator programs focused on cancer innovation. Hendricks remains most proud of the quiet moments.

“I’m proud when someone feels seen,” she says. “Especially if they live somewhere without resources.”

One survivor in Minnesota started a support group after completing the program, gathering others every six weeks to talk through each wellness practice. “That’s exactly what we hoped for,” Hendricks says. “Support delivered wherever you live.”

Cancer taught her to accept help, to let go of control, and to be present. A planned relocation to London for work never happened. If it had, she says, “I would have woken up ten years later and said I wasn’t the mom I wanted to be.” Her children, now teenagers, are growing up watching their mother turn survival into service.

She calls her diagnosis a gift, with a pause. “I wish it came in different wrapping paper,” she says. “But it taught me how I want to live.”

In different ways, Candace Jordan and Laura Hendricks remind us that lifting is not a moment. It is a practice. A way of moving through the world with attention and care. As we celebrate women this month, we are reminded that the highest form of influence is not how brightly you shine, but how many others you help see their way forward.

A PLACE FOR US

A CHEF’S FINAL STATION FINDS ITS AUDIENCE

ARTICLE AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY

CAT ROLFES

Halfway through our meal at Elyon, Chef Özgür “Ozzy” Özkan said some thing that stopped me mid sip. “This is your restaurant.” Not a pleasantry. A declaration.

He built this place for us. All of us. Because English isn’t his first language, the words arrive without ornament or excess, and land with exactly the weight he intends.

Which makes what’s happening on Vernon Avenue feel less like a restau rant opening and more like a gift.

Özkan has cooked across Turkey, Europe, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Miami. He once hosted a television show in Turkey, trained in Japanese technique and Peruvian kitchens, and understands that the culinary traditions of the eastern Mediterranean were shaped by many hands, including Armenian communities in cities like Urfa and Antep. He carries that history with him. And he chose Glencoe to put it down.

“I guess it’s my last station,” he told me, with the certainty of a man who has earned the right to stop moving.

His life here is deliberately local. His kids are in school nearby. His mid dle daughter works the dish station at Elyon, learning from the bottom. His wife, Tugce Özkan, runs the kitchen alongside him. In the morning, he walks to Hometown Coffee, where he knows the owners. He shops the village, then prepares for the evening.

“I love Glencoe,” he says. “The people are beautiful.”

Elyon is a chef’s tasting menu, full stop. No à la carte, no decisions required.

For $50 per person, including wine pairings chosen by head sommelier Ismet Ulger, you surrender the menu entirely and simply receive.

A procession begins with cold mezes, each set on ceramics the chef shaped himself: silky hummus, muhammara lifted with pomegranate molasses, baba ghanoush carrying a quiet, smoky depth. The warmth builds gradually: truf fle pide, kibbeh, dolma, arriving in rhythm rather than rush. Then the fire, chicken shish, Adana kebab and lamb over bulgur, before the meal resolves, as it should, with baklava and dessert wine. The table fills, then glows, the entire experience unfolding in amber light.

The lamb is the thing. Özkan calls it the test of a Turkish chef. Just meat, fat, salt and black pepper, with no bread to bind it. Nothing to hide behind. The ratio of fat to lamb, the precision of the chop, held together by nothing but technique and nerve.

“Looks like it’s easy,” he said.

It isn’t.

The room feels like him too. Warm, candlelit, cir cular chandeliers casting amber across wood tables. The murals are his own work, painted by hand in the quiet hours when he couldn’t sleep.

Near our table hangs Copper Genesis, a mixed me dia work of copper, acrylic and ceramic Özkan made himself. Hand forged petals bloom from a surface of pigment, oxide and earth. Above them, ceramic plates he also shaped by hand, the final step in his story of civilization. First people, then technology, then fine dining, suggesting creation is a shared act. Fitting in a room he built for you.

When I told him it was the best dining experience I’d had in a long time, he nodded. Not with pride exactly, but with the satisfaction of someone who already knew. Elyon, 667 Vernon Ave., Glencoe. Reservations at elyonrestaurant.com.

FORCE, FORM, FLOW

THREE ARTISTS REDEFINING FEMININE PERSPECTIVE

ARTICLE BY CAT ROLFES

May invites a closer look at women who create with intention and authority. On the North Shore, three artists are doing just that, each shaping distinct visual languages grounded in material, memory and self definition.

Karen Ross works in molten wax, building luminous surfaces that resist control. Erin Kaya constructs layered compositions where geometry gives way to emotion. Patricia M. Dolan turns to the Aegean, translating water, memory and movement into expansive abstraction.

Their practices diverge, but the throughline is clear. Each artist creates on her own terms.

KAREN ROSS: LUMINOUS

LAYERS

Karen Ross paints in a medium that resists certainty.

Working in encaustic, the Deerfield based mixed media artist fuses beeswax, resin and pigment into layered surfaces that are built, carved and reworked over time. Her paintings hold a quiet luminosity, light caught beneath the surface and shifting as the viewer moves.

“I want viewers to experience the depth, the texture, the lumi nosity,” Ross says. “And to have their own personal conversation with the work.”

In I Saw the Writing on the Wall , language emerges and dis solves across the canvas. Soft, diffused letterforms sit beneath gestural marks, fragments of text obscured by veils of color, line and texture. The composition feels both deliberate and dis rupted, as if meaning is present but just out of reach.

A second work, Pinky Swear, moves in a different direction. Expansive and atmospheric, the surface is punctuated by bursts of fluorescent pink, yellow and turquoise that seem to bloom from within the wax.

Ross approaches the process with a willingness to relin quish control, a perspective shaped in part by her background in psychotherapy.

“The perfection of the work is in its imperfection,” she says. “Sometimes the wax is in charge, and I follow where it takes me.”

That tension between intention and surrender defines the work. Layers are revealed, then concealed. Marks are preserved or erased. What begins as structure gives way to something more intuitive.

“There is so much to take in,” she says. “The eye moves around the painting and finds something new each time.”

Her paintings do not resolve immediately. They unfold, asking the viewer to slow down, look again and sit with what is not fully defined.

In that space, texture becomes language, and uncertainty becomes part of the experience itself.

ERIN KAYA: STRUCTURED INSTINCT

Erin Kaya builds her paintings from structure, then lets them unravel.

Working at scales of roughly four by five feet, the North Shore abstract artist constructs dense, grid like composi tions layered with acrylic, spray paint and charcoal. Lines intersect. Color accumulates. What begins as order gives way to something more instinctive, more alive.

“Lines and squares are calming for me,” Kaya says. “It helps me relax and let my mind wander.”

That tension between control and release defines her work. In Sky Full of Stars, a loose white lattice hovers over a dense field of color, where jewel toned blocks gather, fracture and disperse. The composition holds its structure, but only just.

Up close, the structure dissolves. Layers compete.

Edges blur. What reads as symmetry from a distance reveals itself as something far more dynamic.

“The more you look, the more you see,” she says. “There is real depth that comes from the inner soul of the painting.”

Her recent Egyptian Goddess series marks a moment of acceleration. The shift is not technical, but personal.

“As artists age, our life experiences and confidence grow,” she says. “What’s inside me is starting to explode on the canvas.”

The work reflects that expansion. Gold emerges against saturated, bohemian color. Charcoal lines cut through softer forms. Materials that resist one another are brought into cohesion.

The response has been immediate. Designers, galleries and collectors have taken notice.

“I think people are connecting because I’m sharing more of myself,” she says.

Egypt, for Kaya, is less a destination than a symbol, a convergence of history, mysticism and creative force.

“It’s the temples, the gods, the unknown,” she says. “It’s everything coming together.”

That sense of convergence is present in the work. Structure remains, but it no longer contains her. It sup ports something larger, a practice evolving in real time and expanding beyond its own framework.

PATRICIA M. DOLAN: PELAGOS

Patricia M. Dolan paints at a scale that invites immersion. Often spanning five to six feet, her canvases are not meant to be glanced at, but entered. The Winnetka based artist, a first generation American who spent formative time along the Aegean coast, returns to water as both memory and method, translating its rhythm into expan sive, atmospheric abstraction.

Her current collection, Pistevo (I Believe), unfolds as a more introspective chapter within her ongoing Pelagos series, a body of work rooted in inquiry, presence and the emotional weight of lived experience.

In Ypóschesi (Promise), the composition opens into a luminous field of soft whites and diffused gray, grounded yet unsettled. Above it, gestural strokes of teal and sea green move with a restless energy, as if something is surfacing or just beginning to take form. At 60 by 72 inches, the painting holds a physical pres ence that mirrors its emotional one, expansive yet quietly restrained.

A second work, Fysika (Naturally), shifts the experi ence into something more elemental. Spanning 60 by 96 inches, the canvas opens into a luminous field of soft neutrals, interrupted by bursts of color and movement. There is no fixed horizon, only atmosphere, where land, light and memory converge.

“It is more than water,” Dolan says. “It is a space of inquiry.”

She paints instinctively, allowing mark making and movement to guide the work as it develops. The result is not representation, but translation, an attempt to capture something felt rather than seen.

“The sea embodies a fusion of cultures and experiences that have shaped me,” says the Winnetka based artist.

That duality, between control and surrender, clarity and ambiguity, runs throughout “Pistevo.” Her paintings do not resolve quickly. They unfold over time, asking the viewer to slow down and stay present.

“Beyond color and texture, the work speaks to existence,” she says. “It offers a space to pause, listen and be vulnerable.”

In Dolan’s hands, the sea becomes more than a sub ject. It becomes a framework for understanding, a reflection of the shifting, often unseen currents that shape identity, memory and self.

ERIN KAYA | ARTBYERINKAYA.COM

Vivid Art Gallery, Winnetka (May 1–30); Park Sheridan, Highland Park; Bean Bar, Northbrook

KAREN ROSS | KARENROSSART.COM

The Gallery, Lake Forest (through June 1); River Bank Lofts, Chicago (through May 7); Park Sheridan, Highland Park

PATRICIA

M. DOLAN | PATRICIAMDOLAN.COM

Gallery 1871, Chicago; Vivid Art Gallery, Winnetka

Private studio viewings by appointment for all artists

Rebecca Makkai, Questions that Stay

Entrepreneurship has its myths. So does memory. In I Have Some Questions for You , Rebecca Makkai builds a narrative that sits squarely in that tension, part page turner: part excavation of how we remember, revise and sometimes misread our own past.

The novel grew out of a particular moment. “Being old enough to look back on that time from a very different era, being young enough to have teenage kids,” she says, created a natural pressure to revisit adolescence with sharper eyes. As the early days of the #MeToo movement unfolded, that instinct deepened.

It became, in her words, “an invitation … to look back on the things we once felt we had to tolerate, and to ques tion the power dynamics we lived under.”

Set around a boarding school revisited years later, the book is also shaped by Makkai’s unusual proximity to place. A graduate of Lake Forest Academy, she later returned when her husband, Jon Freeman, joined the faculty, giving her a long, continuous relationship with the same environment many only encounter in memory. That contrast informs her protagonist’s perspective and the novel’s quiet unease.

Makkai resists the idea that she consciously bal ances emotional and intellectual storytelling. “If I deeply understand my characters, that’s both an intel lectual process and an emotional process,” she says. “It’s hard to separate the two.” That instinct shows in a novel that asks not just what happened, but how we decide what is true.

Structurally, the story reinforces that uncertainty. Much of it is addressed to a single figure, creating an intimate, almost confessional tone. Interspersed chapters lay out competing theories of a decades old crime. The effect is cumulative rather than conclu sive, mirroring the way memory builds, fractures and resists easy resolution.

Makkai lives on the North Shore with her family, is the Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago, and teaches periodically at Northwestern University. Reading, she argues, remains one of the most reli able ways to stay open in a polarized world. It’s the one medium that “puts you inside someone’s head,” offering access to perspectives otherwise out of reach. The Midwest, she adds, instills a certain clar ity. Less performance, more substance.

In her work, that ethos holds. The questions, as the title suggests, tend to linger. More at rebeccamakkai.com.

Know a local author? Email cat.rolfes@citylifestyle.com

ARTICLE BY KALI KASORZYK

PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED

BECKY HILLYARD

From Side Hustle to Style Empire

The power of taste, trust, and the courage to “just start.”

She didn’t have a business plan, a media budget, or even a name anyone could pronounce. What Becky Hillyard had was taste, a young family, and the instinct to just start. Today, her lifestyle brand Cella Jane commands an audience the size of Vogue’s , she’s nine collections strong with Splendid, and she’s built it all while raising three kids — refusing to sacrifice one for the other. In an exclusive conversation for the Share the Lifestyle podcast, Becky shares what it really takes to build a brand, a career, and a life you love. Read the highlights below, then scan the QR code for the full conversation.

Q: WHEN DID YOU KNOW CELLA JANE WAS MORE THAN A HOBBY?

A: Two moments. Women started emailing me saying they bought something I recommended and felt amazing — asking me to help them find a dress for a wedding. That felt incredible. Then I looked at my affiliate numbers for one month and realized I could cover our mortgage. I thought, I can actually do this. I never set out to build a business. I started it because I genuinely loved it.

Q: WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST RISK YOU EVER TOOK WITH THE BRAND?

A: Designing my own collection. It’s easy to point at items on a website and say I love these. But to create something from scratch, put your name on it, and wait to see if people connect with it — that’s terrifying. I had an incredible partner in Splendid, and women loved the pieces. It was the biggest risk and the biggest accomplishment.

Q: HOW HAS INFLUENCER MARKETING CHANGED SINCE YOU STARTED?

A: When I started, brands didn’t know whether to take it seriously. Now it’s a legitimate line item in their marketing budgets — sometimes bigger than TV. Because what we’ve built is trust. People trust a real recommendation from someone they follow far more than a commercial. There’s no question about it now.

Q: YOU’RE A MOM OF THREE RUNNING A FULL BRAND. WHAT DOES YOUR DAY ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE?

A: I try to get up at five and not hit snooze — that first hour before the house wakes up is the most productive, most peaceful hour of my day. Then it’s all hands on deck with the kids and school drop-off. After that I work — planning content, connecting with my team, editing. After pickup, the day shifts completely and it’s all about them. I’ve learned to protect both halves fiercely, because both matter.

Q: WHAT WOULD YOU TELL SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO BUILD SOMETHING OF THEIR OWN BUT KEEPS WAITING?

A: Don’t wait. Don’t wait for the perfect camera, the right strategy, or enough followers. We find every excuse to stay comfortable. Just start, be consistent, and be authentically yourself. The right people will find you — and they’ll stay.

This conversation is just the beginning. Becky goes deeper on the risks that almost stopped her, the design process behind her latest Splendid collection, and what she’d tell her 2012 self today. Scan the QR code for the full, exclusive City Lifestyle interview on the Share the Lifestyle podcast.

“Trust is the only metric that actually compounds.”

— Becky Hillyard

MAY 2ND

Dog Man: The Musical — A TheaterWorksUSA Family Hit

North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie | 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM

The beloved, award‑winning musical based on Dav Pilkey’s bestselling Dog Man series brings George and Harold’s crime‑fighting, half‑dog/half‑cop hero to life in a fast, funny, family‑friendly adventure. Packed with humor, heart, and creativity, this hit production arrives in Skokie for a limited run. Use code PUPPY4 for a special discount. northshorecenter.org

MAY 5TH

Jake Shimabukuro Live in Concert

North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie | 7:30 PM

Experience world‑renowned ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro as he brings his genre‑defying artistry to the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie. Blending jazz, rock, classical, blues, folk and Hawaiian traditions, his electrifying performances showcase the full expressive power of the instrument and continue to captivate audiences worldwide. northshorecenter.org

MAY 5TH AND MAY 13TH

Josselyn Spring Luncheons Celebrate Community and Care

Evanston & Northmoor Golf Clubs | Times Vary

Josselyn hosts two Spring Luncheons celebrating community, connection and its mission to provide equitable mental health care—May 5 at Evanston Golf Club and May 13 at Northmoor Golf Club. Guests enjoy boutique shopping, lunch and impact stories. Proceeds sup port youth programs. Founded in 1951, Josselyn is a leader in accessible care. josselyn.org

MAY 7TH

Women-Owned Business Whistle Stop Trolley Tour — 2nd Annual Celebration

600 Central Ave., Highland Park | 4:00 PM

Celebrate Downtown Highland Park’s women‑owned businesses with a festive trolley tour just in time for Mother’s Day. Attendees can walk or hop on and off the trolley to visit 35+ shops offering demos, specials, giveaways, and complimentary sips and sweets. Guests collect prize ribbons along the way, culminating in an afterparty at Dayhouse Coworking with snacks, wine and giveaways.

MAY 7TH

Rosé Soirée Pairing at The Merchant

122 North Ave, Highwood | 6:00 PM

A spring celebration for rosé lovers, date‑night duos, and Mother’s Day outings. Enjoy four unique rosé varietals from around the world— far beyond France—paired with seasonal small plates. A festive evening to sip, savor and toast to rosé all day. Tickets are $40 per person. shopatthemerchant.com

MAY 8TH

Glencoe Under the Stars

Northmoor Country Club, 820 Edgewood Rd, Highland Park | 6:30 PM

Celebrate with Family Service of Glencoe at Glencoe Under the Stars, an elegant evening supporting mental health services for individu als and families in Glencoe and surrounding communities. Enjoy a night of connection and purpose while helping ensure access to care for all. Proceeds fund counseling, crisis response, senior services, youth outreach and therapeutic programs. Tickets, sponsorships and auction details: GlencoeUnderTheStars.org

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