SHOOTING STARS
We fell in love with Stephanie Liu Hjelmeseth’s serene style account Honey & Silk where she shares her angle on beauty, wellness, fashion, and motherhood. Together with husband Kyle Hjelmeseth, who is also her business partner, the two make a total LA power couple. They share their story.
KYLE IN NAWATE 3.1 AND STEPHANIE IN OH-14
STEPHANIE, YOU HAVE A LOVELY INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT AND BLOG HONEY & SILK. TELL ME ABOUT IT, HOW COME YOU STARTED IT?
Writing has always been my best form of self-expression, so it’s my outlet for creativity and I needed a creative hobby when I graduated from college. I also had a penchant for photography, so I created Honey & Silk as a humble foodie blog when I was living in San Francisco during the rise of the foodie culture. My blog quickly diverted to more fashion as I found so much more fun writing about style and the pieces I’d discover and my audience was growing in response to my fashion posts. Fast forward eight years and here I am sharing my lifestyle around beauty, wellness, fashion, and motherhood. I love being able to have a platform and community to connect with and that’s what has always kept me growing.
NATURE SEEMS TO BE A BIG SOURCE OF INSPIRATION, HOW COME?
I’m a romantic and a Cancer, so I think that it’s in my ethos to emotionally bond with the beauty of nature. I’m drawn to the water and the stars. The first time I have ever felt affected by nature was when Kyle and I travelled for the first time together to Sedona, Arizona. Sedona is a beautiful, small town surrounded by magical red rocks and untouched by light pollution in the evening. We were out until midnight and I just looked up and the black dome that surrounded us glittered with billions of stars and the majestic beauty of it hit me so hard. I’ll never forget that moment. It’s what inspired us to feverishly travel the world together.
Oh My Eyes is wearable art. I love that there are such unique frames, special materials, and techniques that celebrate heritage and craftsmanship. It’s easy to see that the eyewear is intentionally designed. The styles hearken the ethos of past decades while staying timeless.
STEPHANIE IN OH-14
KYLE, YOU RUN A TALENT MANAGEMENT COMPANY, GOD & BEAUTY. DESCRIBE WHAT YOU DO. WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE DO YOU REPRESENT?
G&B is a digital management company, meaning we manage digital talent such as my wife, and we manage digital influencer driven campaigns. We’re now one of the most well-known firms in the space, and to be 100 percent honest, it’s all because I followed my beautiful wife and what she was doing. Stephanie is the inspiration, and was my first ‘client’, haha!
Most of our talent are in the fashion/lifestyle category of influencer/bloggers, but we do represent beauty, travel, family and kids, and DIY mavens. I’m blessed to work with the most creative individuals in the nation, and I’m very proud of the unique ideas and identities each brings to our agency.
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO WORK AND LIVE IN LA?
Stephanie: I don’t think I’ll ever leave LA permanently. I love it here! It’s a great, creative city and it’s an epicentre of diverse cultures and minds. The experience of community is growing rapidly here with the rise of co-working spaces and collaborations, so I feel like ideas just flourish here and it helps me feel inspired.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF THE CITY?
Stephanie: Where we live in Hancock Park. It’s a slice of a beautiful, calm suburbia, right in the heart of the city, with lush trees and big houses. Larchmont Village is our local neighbourhood street full of mom and pop shops and cafes. It’s one of the only areas in LA where casual strolling isn’t strange!
Kyle: Agreed – I’ve been in love with Hancock Park for years now, as it’s perfectly an oasis in the middle of the city. We feel safe and secure with our family, and we are at Larchmont Village almost every single day. It gives you the feel of a small community for a split second.
WHERE DO YOU GO TO UNWIND?
Stephanie: Any number of art museums nearby – the Marciano Art Foundation or the MOCA.
Kyle: What is unwinding? Haha, ask Steph…I do not unwind except on Friday at our favourite dinner spots!
STEPHANIE IN OH-14 AND KYLE IN NAWATE 3.1
CAN YOU SHARE YOUR TOP DINNER SPOT?
Stephanie: Vernetti, a cosy Italian spot on Larchmont. The pastas are amazing and it’s a great spot to bring our baby and dine al fresco.
Kyle: Petty Cash! A favourite taqueria that Steph and I go to every Friday for Happy Hour. It’s a great place to bring Jacob, as it’s colourful and fun, and of course an excellent place for a mezcal margarita to end the week!
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS TRENDING IN LA AT THE MOMENT WHEN IT COMES TO BEAUTY AND HEALTH?
Stephanie: LA is absolutely the genesis of all wellness trends, but currently I love that clean and natural beauty is on the rise. I only use skincare and cosmetics that have clean, natural, and non-toxic ingredients and I’m happy that beautiful options are growing and coming about as people become more receiving of this beauty approach.
Kyle: Organic beauty, and non-toxic everything. All of the conventions of the past are really out the window in LA. LA’ites seem to exclusively drink oat milk now, and only go to ‘clean’ places that use products/sell products that have all natural ingredients. Of course that’s not true as a whole, but as far as what is buzzy…clean and natural!
YOU ALSO HAVE THE CUTEST SON, JACOB, WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST DREAMS AND HOPES FOR HIM GROWING UP?
Stephanie: Thank you! I just hope he grows up happy, positive, with a love for life and the world. Anything else can come and go wherever life leads him.
Kyle: I want my son to be happy and positive, as Steph would say, but for him I really hope that he has the freedom to travel to all areas of the planet, safely and securely. I want him to understand history by seeing the remains, and hope that helps shape what he wants for his future.
STEPHANIE IN OH-14
WHAT IS YOUR MOST VIVID MEMORY AS A MOTHER AND FATHER SO FAR?
Stephanie: My most vivid memory is the moment when the nurse placed Jacob on my chest face-to-face with me. Seeing his fluffy cheeks and his sweet little eyes looking at me just a couple of inches from my face gave me feelings I could never have conceived before. I tear up every time I think about that moment, like right now as I type this.
Kyle: So many…that’s a tough question! For me I really gravitate toward memories when he started interacting with me more as he got older in this first year. Naturally he didn’t seem to care about me at first, but moments like the first time he reached out for me to hold him are very much etched in my memory.
WHO SHOULD WE MEET NEXT AND WHY?
Stephanie: I think you should meet Tommy Lei of Mybelonging. He is one of my closest friends, a style aficionado, and quite the expert on all things Scandinavian.
Kyle: Remi Brixton, owner of the beauty brand, Freck. Remi is fun, friendly…a little whacky, and is just one of the most interesting characters we know!
