Hayden and Blair Williams

📍 Soho, NYC | Blair is a fashion illustrator and Hayden works in early-stage venture capital, focusing on consumer businesses.

📝 Editor’s Note

Everyone knows about FOMO. But I recently heard about “JOMO” – the Joy of missing out.

It was in the context of a “new” Nokia phone that harkens back to its original phone and technology, or lack thereof. The concept is that by providing only the basics, talk and text, you avoid the FOMO that is ever present on social media. Don’t worry, the phone still has snake.

While I love my Google Maps and Spotify too much to buy the Nokia, I do appreciate the sentiment.

I don’t know if anyone needs to hear this (me, I do) but take this JOMO on as an opportunity to give yourself grace to go a day without Instagram/Linkedin/TikTok or stay home this weekend if you want to. I particularly need it to focus on being more present at home and take joy in the small moments that happen with my two little guys.

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Without further ado….

Why Hayden and Blair?

It has been a minute since the last couple profile and Blair and Hayden came highly recommended by Olivia Rafkin. Olivia shared that she recommended Blair and Hayden for Rambull because “they are hilarious, creative, smart and down to earth. They are a truly a dynamic duo…you’ve got an amateur stand up comedian that does VC investing combined with a talented illustrator, what’s more exciting than that?!” We have a lot of mutuals and are in similar stages of life as new parents.

Follow them on instagram: @blairz and @howillia

Self-Description

We found love in a hopeless place (Hinge, 2017). Blair is the personification of right-brained, and Hayden left-brained. With our one complete brain, we agree that an ideal day is a pastry walk where we see how many baked goods we can consume on one morning walk throughout NYC.

Hayden and Blair’s Recommendations

Written in their own words…

Content

Blair has been hate-watching Vanderpump Rules (for the record, following many hours of keen observation, Hayden disagrees with Blair's usage of "hate" as a prefix here).

Hayden is a fan of the NYT Audio app, as you get access to articles from longer-form publications like The New Yorker, NYT Mag, Wired, Vanity Fair, Outside, etc.

Brand or Product

Blair loves the below two products from Vegamour. "I've seen an actual difference in the length of my eye lashes and hair."

1) GRO Lash Serum
2) GRO Hair Serum

Hayden is excited about Our Place's new pan, which is the first nonstick pan without any coating.

Digital Tools

Eight Sleep Mattress

While expensive, the Eight Sleep mattress or mattress cover is incredible. We've had both. Living in an NYC apartment, where the building will jack up the heat without notice, being able to control the temperature of your mattress from your phone, and being able to only control the half of the bed you sleep on (assuming you didn't get a sleep divorce), is a game changer.

Watch

Ok, hear us out...Survivor. Yes, the Survivor that's been around since 2000. If you and your spouse are looking for shared programming that's somewhere in-between Bravo and WWII documentaries, Survivor is for you. Before you roll your eyes, go back and watch the first 3 episodes of any season and you'll be hooked. #OutwitOutplayOutlast

Gifts

You can never go wrong with a couples massage. Our favorite spot in NYC is Aire Ancient Baths, or if you're really looking to celebrate then go to Shibui Spa and get some pasta at Locanda Verde after!

Travel

One of the best days we've ever had was in Queenstown, New Zealand. It's an incredible city and one day we did a self-guided bike tour where we stopped by as many wineries as we could [quasi-safely] pack in, there was an impromptu bungee jump and we finished off the day at a place called Pedro's House of Lamb, where they serve a heaping pile of lamb in a pizza box on top of a mound of rosemary & garlic potatoes.

Plug

If you're in the market for art, Blair sells originals and prints on her website!

Want to get in touch with Hayden or Blair? “Instagram DMs open!”

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P.S. from Rambull — I’m impressed with my friend Dillon’s new company and product called Not Beer. I think he will freely admit that Not Beer, which is sparkling water, is taking a page out of the Liquid Death playbook. It is a fun brand with great marketing.