Every now and then there’s a moment when hard work and good fun become one and the same, and, even better, I’m actually mindful enough to enjoy it. It was like that when the four friends featured in this month’s cover story—Sara Haines, Amy Robach, Alicia Ybarbo, and Mary Ann Zoellner—gathered for their photo shoot in early December. As you can imagine, there are a lot of details to worry over when preparing for a cover shoot to land on the right recipe of concepts, setting, clothes, hair, make-up, photographer, and subject, or as in this case, four subjects. The concept for the shoot was to feature the women—three moms and one mom-to-be—as if they were going out for a nice dinner, perhaps to celebrate Haines’ pregnancy, which was at the five-month mark. I even brought a bottle of champagne to accentuate the spirit of celebration (blame me, America). But they didn’t really need it.
The four of them were having so much fun playing at dressing up, playing at going out, playing at just being there with each other, and hamming it up for the equally game photographer, Lindsay May of Classic Kids Photography, that I knew that the best thing I could do for the shoot and for myself was to sit down, shut up, relax my breathing, and just savor the silliness—and also to push off the group interview (scheduled for after the shoot) for another day and a more reflective mood.
Given how much has happened in their lives personally and professionally over the past decade, my colleagues and I at New York Family thought that Haines, Robach, Ybarbo, and Zoellner might be a wonderful friend group with whom to do something we’ve never done before: A cover story with close friends talking about work, family, and the rest of it; a cover story, in other words, about friendship. My guess is that a lot of you will not only enjoy our conversation with them but will deeply relate.
Happy January & February,
Eric Messinger
Editor, emessinger@manhattanmedia.com
