Listen: Introducing Proper Talk by Tonje

‘Introducing Proper Talk by Tonje, a new podcast collaboration with Her Platform founder Tonje Kristiansen. In each episode, she will be gathering notable, interesting and innovative individuals for meaningful, long-form conversations on the connections that come from travel, discovery, and learning from others. The series represents a platform for creative, playful, and intimate conversations, inviting listeners to be part of  all the elements Proper Hotel represents.’ 

Every episode is recorded on Zoom at Proper Hotel Santa Monica and will be available to stream or download on YouTube, IGTV, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Play.

LISTEN HERE

Proper Talk is hosted by Tonje Kristiansen, the founder of Her Platform, a speaker series featuring inspirational women sharing new perspectives, stories, tools, and ideas that foster growth and connection in both their personal and professional lives. Originally from Norway and currently based in Venice, Tonje worked as a fashion model in Paris and New York and was educated as an actor at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute before going on to study film and television in Oslo. She has worked as a journalist for publications including ELLE and ACNE Paper, and is an award-winning documentary director. 

Our Schedule of Upcoming Episodes:

Shelley Kleyn Armistead

Partner & Chief Operating Officer of The Gjelina Group

 Born in South Africa, Shelley made her way to California via London, where food sourcing, food politics, and the social justice aspect of her love of hospitality formed deep roots while working with Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers of The River Cafe. Additionally, Shelley worked for Terrance Conran, and also Soho House for 12 years. These experiences shaped Shelley’s passion for space, product design, and the care of humans, as it all relates to hospitality, food, and beverage.

Ben Taylor, MSC, PhD

Vice President, Aetion, Inc.

Dr. Ben Taylor is a Pharmacoepidemiologist and healthcare executive with over 15 years of experience. He is the VP at Aetion, Inc, a NY-based health technology company that delivers real-world evidence for life sciences companies, payers, providers, and regulatory agencies (answering three big questions –  which drugs work, for whom, and how much they should cost). His work at Aetion has been instrumental in the fight against COVID-19, from understanding the effectiveness of early drug combinations in hospitalized patients, to now designing long-term safety studies in the US as vaccines roll out to our population. Prior to Aetion, he led teams of researchers within the biopharmaceutical industry, and enjoyed an active academic career in epidemiology and health policy at the University of Toronto.

Kay Montano

Make up artist and curator

Kay began work as a fashion make-up artist at 16, got a record deal at 19, sang until 23, then went back to makeup, and spending the next 15 years between London and New York.

While seeking more of her personal voice, Kay started her own blog, then joined Thandie Newton to form an online platform centering brown women and girls- called thandiekay,  

which used beauty as a trojan horse to represent, encourage, celebrate and explore themes around diversity.

Kay now jokes that she is a ‘semi retired make-up artist, as she prefers to only work for a select group of actresses for the red carpet and for Chanel, who she has a contract with.

Sean Knibb

Creative director Knibb design – Flowerboy project Venice

Designer Sean Knibb has a quiet, open approach to design that begins with a sensitivity and awareness of what a space needs and ends with the skill of knowing how to provide it. From his native Montego Bay, Jamaica, Sean’s informal training began at the age of five while cultivating anthuriums in the garden behind his grandparent’s flower shop. The interplay between the nature of the tropics and the colonial formality of his childhood home have cultivated a refined understanding of the juxtaposition of the wild, organic beauty of nature and the restrained geometry of the man-made. As the fearless leader behind Knibb Design Corp., one of Los Angeles’ most prominent and progressive design studios, Sean Knibb’s projects range from restaurants, to bars, corporate and commercial interiors, residential estates, resort grounds, furniture, gardens, and art. throughout his career Sean has remained true to his roots –

“I want to feel natural, I want to feel purposeful, I want to feel comfortable and I want to feel that I’m not destroying my environment, that I’m mindful as much as I possibly can be… I want to remember that the earth is my home and reach for the innovative, the remarkable, and the astonishing at the same time.”

Erin Falconer

Author & Digital Entrepreneur

 Since 2008, Erin has been the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Owner of Pick the Brain, a popular motivation and self-improvement community blog named to Forbes Magazine’s “Top 100 Most Influential Sites for Women.” Erin was also the Co-Founder of LEAFtv, a video lifestyle brand for the millennial woman. In 2015, LEAFtv was sold to publicly-traded Demand Media. In 2017, Erin launched the Pick the Brain Podcast, which ranks consistently in the top 20 in the heath and self-Improvement titles on iTunes. In 2018, she authored the critically acclaimed self-improvement and female empowerment book, How to Get Shit Done: Why Women Need To Stop Doing Everything So They Can Achieve Anything. Most recently, Erin co-founded We the People – a new political creative agency.

 Erin has been heralded as one of the most influential female voices online, designated one of the Top Digital Entrepreneurs in Los Angeles by LA Confidential Magazine, as well as being honored by Cadillac & Refinery 29 as one of “Top 7 Women Changing the Digital Landscape for Good.” In 2014, The Wall Street Journal included Erin in their prestigious “Women of Note.” In 2018 she was recognized as an “Architect of Change” by Maria Shriver.

Michael Goldberg 

Creative Director, Filmmaker, and TV Director

Michael Goldberg has over 15 years experience creating campaigns and developing retail experiences for global brands including Sony, Beats by Dre, PlayStation, and Hermès. In addition to his commercial creative work, Michael is a filmmaker and visual artist whose work was most recently exhibited at Art Basel Miami. Michael was born in Australia, and lives and works in Los Angeles.

Ahlem Manai-Platt

Founder, AHLEM Eyewear 

Born in Paris, Ahlem Manai-Platt is the daughter of Tunisian immigrants who came to Paris in the 1960s. Growing up on Rue Valadon in the 7th Arrondissement, from a young age Ahlem was guided by a profound respect for a merging of cultural backgrounds. She studied history at La Sorbonne University, and shortly after moved to Mexico to study photography at Beaux-Arts. In 2005, she returned to Paris, where she joined CAPA as a Video Journalist. Ahlem began her 13-year career in fashion as a buyer for Acne Studios, later moving to Prada Group/Miu Miu as their GMM before founding her consulting agency and namesake eyewear brand in 2014.

Nora Zehetner

Actress 

Raised in Texas, Nora Zehetner discovered a passion for acting and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18 to pursue her career. She shot to fame in Rian Johnson’s debut film “Brick” Her television career , includes  NBC “Heroes” “Mad Men” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” She will next be seen on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and is currently shooting the role of “Annie Glenn” in the National Geographic series “The Right Stuff.” The series focuses on NASA’s Mercury space mission based on the bestselling novel by Tom Wolfe.

Marissa Ribisi

Actress 

Marissa Ribisi performed in films such as Dazed and Confused, True Crime directed by Clint Eastwood, The Brady Bunch Movie, Pleasantville, Don’s Plum, Kicking a Screaming directed by Noah Baumbach and such television as Friends, Grace Under Fire, Watching Ellie, original mini series Tales of the City, regular roles on the Tracy Ullman Show, Grown Ups with Jaleel White and untitled HBO pilot starring Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, Hollywood Confidential Pilot with Charlize Theron as well as many other pilots.  She is twin sister of Giovanni Ribisi.  Marissa took time to raise her kids and upon returning to her acting career she was cast as the recurring role of Helen in Julie Delpy’s new Netflix series On The Verge starring Julie Delpy, Elizabeth Shue and Giovanni Ribisi.  This show is set to air in summer 2021.

Ondine Cohane

Author & Editor 

The author of Always Italy with co-writer Frances Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun), Ondine Cohane is a Contributing Editor at Conde Nast Traveler, a frequent writer for the New York Times travel section, as well as the London Telegraph newspaper and other international publications. In 2006 she moved to Pienza in Southern Tuscany and with her ex-husband designed and opened two boutique hotels, La Bandita Countryhouse and La Bandita Townhouse, which includes a destination restaurant. She has been on camera with the PBS Conde Nast Traveler’s Insider Guide and shows like Good Morning America and the Today Show, and is now working on a memoir as well as other book projects. She lives with her son Jacopo in the UNESCO protected Val d’ Orcia valley and travels all over the world for articles when Covid isn’t around. Always Italy won the Robert Lowell award for the best guidebook of 2020.

Sarah Treem

TV Writer, Producer, Playwright, Co Creator and Show Runner of THE AFFAIR

Sarah Treem is a television writer, producer and playwright. Treem is the co-creator and showrunner of the Golden Globe-winning Showtime drama THE AFFAIR. The series received four Golden Globe nominations during its run, including wins for Best Television Drama, Best Actress in a Television Drama, and Best Supporting Actress in a Television Drama. She recently developed a limited series based on the life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr for Apple. She is currently adapting Rodham, Curtis Sittenfeld’s best-selling novel, into a series with Hulu. Additionally, she is working with Pagan Kennedy and Claire Danes on a project centered around Kennedy’s celebrated NYT article about Marty Goddard and the invention of the rape kit.

She holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.F.A from the Yale School of Drama. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her fiancé and two children.

Mariel Hemingway

Advocate. Activist. Author. Actor. 

Mariel Hemingway is considered an expert in health—both mental and physical — and is a longtime advocate of personal power, life balance, authenticity, joy and finding peace of mind through a devoted practice of healthy living. She’s both a committed teacher and student in this holistic concentration. In 2014 Mariel co-executive produced the Emmy-nominated Running From Crazy, a rich and evocative documentary about the Hemingway family, a collaboration with Oprah Winfrey. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and documents her boundless advocacy for mental health awareness, the dignity and rights of people of all circumstance and ability.

In May 2015, in alignment with National Mental Health Awareness month, Regan Arts Publishing released two new books including her memoir, “Out Came The Sun” and a young adult targeted diary form project about the journey from surviving to thriving, entitled “Invisible Girl.
In 2013, Mariel co-wrote the book, Running With Nature, wherein she and her life partner Bobby Williams share their insights about the import and impact of nutrition, meditation, mindfulness, movement, silence, the beauty of simple living, compassion for self and community, 

Mariel is a regular keynote speaker at conferences, conventions, and on academic panels where those of like mind and heart gather to educate, engage, entertain, and to enrich each other’s experiences.

Noah Walker

American Architect and the founder of Walker Workshop

Noah Walker is an American Architect and the founder of Walker Workshop, a design-build firm based in Los Angeles CA that is known for creating modern structures that are warmly minimal and deeply rooted in the context of their location. One of Walker’s first projects, the Oak Pass House went on to gain international acclaim including winning “Home of the Year” in 2016 as well as inclusion in the Arch Daily 100,a list of the 100 most important works of Architecture in the United States. Noah was a finalist for HGTV’s Fresh Faces of Design in 2017. Walker received his Master in Architecture from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in the Growth and Structure of Cities from Haverford College, in Philadelphia PA. He has over fifteen years of experience on both coasts with a specific focus on design-build methods of project delivery. Noah is both a Registered Architect and a licensed general contractor in the state of California. 

Marie-Louise Sciò

CEO and Creative Director of Pellicano Hotel Group

After the diploma at the famous Aiglon College, Marie Louise moved from Switzerland to the USA to attend the prestigiousRhode Island School of Design, where she got an Architecture degree.

She started her career as an architect in New York at Costas Group, before coming back to Italy, to work with a great master of modern architecture, Massimo Zompa who introduced her to the world of interior decoration before she started her interior design firm in Rome.

In 2005 she started working at Il Pellicano as an architect, restoring some rooms before getting fully envolved by renovating the whole place and the entire concept of Il Pellicano, from graphics, sales materials and all that is aesthetic.  Also the shopping for the trendy boutique and all ostrich choices are made by her.

Thanks to her creative vision, literally out of the box, she has successfully repositioned the family properties making Hotel Il Pellicano and La Posta Vecchia two of the most sought-after luxury hotels. Since January 2019 she is also taking care of the latest addition to Pellicano Hotels Group, the Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal Spa, that reopened in April 2019.

In June 2020, Marie Louise launched ISSIMO, a one-stop shop for everything Italian which includes the Latest in Italian fashion, culture and travel from designers, artisans and tastemakers, and a curated shop for style, design, home and gastronomy.

Keegan Gibbs

Visual Artist, Entrepreneur, and Surfer

In this episode Tonje talks to visual artist, entrepreneur and surfer Keegan Gibbs about finding purpose in something bigger than yourself, the balance in between looking after your family and your own creative endeavors, the ability to release your ego, the difficulties within making art, his work with VICE, fire prevention and raising awareness to reduce the risk of wild fires and how home owners in California can be more proactive and understand how to live responsibly to reduce the risk.

Born in Los Angeles, Keegan Gibbs’, introduction to visual arts was through photography, initially as photo journalism, which then parlayed into documentary films, then back into using photography as his medium for the exploration of conceptual art. His work does not only incorporate photography but also, shaping surfboards sculpture, mix media and painting. He owns and runs a beer company, House Beer. Keegan also works with fire prevention by raising awareness to reduce the risk of fires. He works to change the habits of home owners in California, and how we can better be proactive and understand how to live responsibly. Keegan lives and works in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.

Caroline Ingeborn

Founder and CEO of Leap

Swedish entrepreneur Caroline moved to San Francisco back in 2013 when she joined the kids app company Toca Boca (25mn Monthly Active Users). After 8 years as COO and later CEO, she flipped her focus to a different demographic with the launch of Leap, a social learning platform for people over 55. Driven by Caroline’s passion to unite people via meaningful experiences, Leap hosts small-scale conversations and classes, designed to connect and inspire users.

Jessie De Lowe

Manifestation Coach, Certified Yoga Instructor, Art Therapist and Co-Founder of How You Glow

Jessie De Lowe provides life-enhancing, enriching, and enlightening experiences to clients across the globe. Through one-on-one Manifestation Sessions, Relationship Coaching sessions, The Dream Catcher Online Course and group Manifestation Workshops that blend her background in therapeutic healing with spirituality, positive psychology and neuroscience, De Lowe inspires people to live the most vibrant life possible and step into alignment with their soul’s true calling.

With a Masters degree in Art Therapy from New York University, Jessie has always been intrigued by the power of alternative healing and passionate about helping others. As Co-Founder of How You Glow, an influential lifestyle + wellness platform, she has spent the last eight years as a highly coveted content creator with a mission to promote high-vibe brands while adding value and positive energy to the lives of many.

Jessie is the host of a podcast entitled Madly Forever, in which she explore the secrets to fulfilling relationships, everlasting vitality and passionate love. Jessie lives  in Montecito, California with her husband Brian and sweet daughters Amelie Sophia and Lucia Dove.