Aminatou Sow Does the Funniest Thing Whenever She Travels
Plus, the brilliant writer shares a skirt she wears on repeat, the best chicken recipe for entertaining, and her thoughts on turning 40.
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This week, we chatted with the brilliant Aminatou Sow, a writer and interviewer who speaks five languages (!) and has colorful, pattern-happy style that will stop your Instagram scroll. She was head of social impact marketing at Google and co-founder of Tech LadyMafia before launching the cult-favorite podcast Call Your Girlfriend with her friend Ann Friedman. Together, they also wrote the bestselling book Big Friendship. (Remember their week of outfits?)
“I’m all about, nothing is that serious,” Aminatou told me on the phone. “Live your own life. I’m turning 40 this year, and I’m like, okay, what’s going on, I don’t have any of the traditional markers of adulthood. But my vibe is always just, be yourself. I’m excited about getting older.”
Here, Aminatou shares 12 favorite things, including her surprising career advice, a new Irish TV series, and the skirt she’s seeing everywhere…
Eyewear: Sunglasses shapes are more fun than regular styles, so I buy sunglasses and then my optometrist makes them into reading glasses. I always wear the same round shape; my glasses are a big part of expressing myself.
Beauty: A multistick is fun because I don’t know how to do all that other makeup stuff, but I know how to dab some color on my cheeks. I use this multistick everywhere — lips, cheeks, eyelids — and that’s all I need.
Travel ritual: Everyone should care more about their obsessions. My obsession is the post office. I go to the post office in every country that I visit. When I travel, I want to bring souvenirs home in my suitcase, so I ship back my dirty clothes. In Italy, this ended up being an all-day adventure; you walk in, they’re like, do you want a coffee? Do you want a cigarette? I was like, I'm just here to send this box to America, and they didn’t know how to do that. It arrived like a month later.
Stamps: My other obsession is stamps. I keep up with the USPS magazine. Did you know there’s an Alex Trebek stamp right now? Also, Shaker furniture stamps. I use Disney villain stamps when I pay my bills. Jafar was on my electricity bill.
