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<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="2955026" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Teyana-Taylor">Teyana Taylor</keyword> is the first Black woman to be named '<keyword id="67550" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sexiest-Woman-Alive">Sexiest Woman Alive</keyword>' by <keyword id="29461" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Maxim">Maxim</keyword>.</li><li>Taylor told <keyword id="79969" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="insider">Insider</keyword> that sexiness is about your charisma and how someone chooses to carry themself.</li></ul>History was made on June 7, when Maxim announced Teyana Taylor as the first Black "Sexiest Woman Alive" since the magazine's launch in 1995. A red carpet celebration of the star's new title occurred in Hollywood on July 13."I'm just honored to be the sexiest woman alive in some cargo pants and a wife-beater," Taylor, 30, told Insider of the accolade. "But as far as being the first Black sexiest woman? That should have been done a long time ago."Harlem-born Taylor is known for her roles as a dancer-choreographer, singer-songwriter, actor-director, and fashion designer. She has worked behind the scenes and in front of the camera - crossing paths with industry giants such as Pharrell Williams and Kanye West.The artist announced a new chapter in her career after dropping her most recent album in 2020 (enigmatically titled "The Album") saying that she'd be temporarily retiring from <keyword id="6354530" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="music">music</keyword>. However, fans of the artist can look forward to seeing more of her in her upcoming series, "We Got Love Teyana and Iman," <a href="https://www.eonline.com/shows/we_got_love_teyana_and_iman">premiering on E!</a> on August 18.On Tuesday night, dressed in an all-black fishnet dress with a back cut-out, Taylor was celebrated for her latest honorific: "Sexiest Woman Alive" as the top of Maxim's "Hot 100" list.The event was hosted by <a href="http://www.madenightlife.com/about">MADE Nightlife</a> at The Highlight Room located on the 10th floor of the Dream Hotel. Chris Brown, Offset, the Clermont Twins, Jordan Clarkson, Stephen Jackson, Miles O'Neil, Kay Thompson, Quincy Combs, King Combs, JR Smith, Jordan Jackson, Shantel Jackson, Kaash Paige, Joseph "JoJo" Diaz, and more made appearances throughout the night.<div type="image" title="Photography: Gilles Bensimon, Styling: Teyana Taylor and Julian Mack, Producer: Jessica Athanasiou, Makeup: Haley Love, Hair: Ky Johnson and Billions Wimberley, Nails: Tiffany Everett" height="1200" width="918" msid="84460645" hostid="261"></div>Maxim, a nearly three-decade-old men's magazine, has been criticized in the past for both a glaring lack of diversity and for overt <keyword id="6390075" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sexism">sexism</keyword>. The HuffPost reported in 2013 that Maxim had the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cover-girl-diversity_n_3696327">least diverse covers</a> in comparison to other mainstream magazines. A 2003 Maxim feature detailed "How To Cure A Feminist" to their male audience, as discussed in a post written by <a href="https://www.bitchmedia.org/post/maxims-cure-a-feminist-sexism-magazine-feminism-sexuality">Bitch Media</a>. Insider asked Taylor what other Black women deserved the title in previous years. Taylor went on to name Halle Berry and Nia Long. She said that prominent Black women in the nineties alone would have called for "the Sexiest Woman of the Day.""All Black is beautiful," she added, "it wouldn't have mattered who else they put on that cover.""I am, however, grateful that the time is here," she continued. "The girls are getting readjusted, you know? They know that this is going to be the new normal and that's the part that's exciting for me.""<keyword id="6363262" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sexy">Sexy</keyword>" was the word of the evening: 20-year-old singer Kaash Paige defined sexiness as "walking in a room, having star power, and knowing how to talk. It's the aura that you give off."Similarly, actress Shantel Jackson said that she "can't even explain" the litmus test for sexy: "It's just the aura that a woman can give off that can just exude 'sexy,' and it's not a race thing. It's not a hair thing. It's not a makeup thing. If you're sexy, you're sexy." On the topic of sex appeal, Taylor said, "I think people hear 'sexy' and think that it's like just body and looks. And I kind of see that debate all the time. And for me, I think it's how you carry yourself. I think is your charisma - your strength. I think that a girl can have a pretty face and, and have a nasty heart. And I think that having an amazing heart is sexy. I think being strong is sexy."

Teyana Taylor tells us what it means to be the first Black woman Maxim named 'Sexiest Woman Alive'

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Vincent Peters for Esquire</div></div></div>What <keyword id="6376613" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Scarlett-Johansson">Scarlett Johansson</keyword> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/scarlett-johansson-reveals-sat-scores-2013-10" target="_blank">self-admittedly lacks in brains</a>, she apparently makes up for in beauty.
The 28-year-old actress was just crowned <a href="http://www.esquire.com/women/the-sexiest-woman-alive/scarlett-johansson-2013-sexiest-woman-alive-photos?ha=1#slide-1" target="_blank">Esquire's "Sexiest Woman Alive"</a> for the second time in seven years - making her the only woman who has ever won the title twice.
Johansson joked to the magazine about the honor:
"I'm the only woman to win twice right? You know, I gotta hustle. I'm a 28-year-old woman in the movie business, right? Pretty soon the roles you're offered all become mothers. Then they just sort of stop. I have to hedge against that with work-theater, producing; this thing with Esquire."
Johansson, who was <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2013/04/scarlett-johansson-my-divorce-from-ryan-reynolds-wasnt-that-long-ago/" target="_blank">previously married to Ryan Reynolds</a>, also opened up about her <a href="http://www.gossipcop.com/scarlett-johansson-engaged-romain-dauriac/" target="_blank">recent engagement</a> to Romain Dauriac.
"I didn't think I was a jealous person until I started dating my current, my one-and-only," the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/under-the-skin-new-trailer-2013-9" target="_blank">"Under The Skin" star</a> reveals. "I think maybe in the past I didn't have the same kind of investment. Not that I liked my partner less, I just wasn't capable of it or caring that much."
The November issue of Esquire hits newsstands Oct. 15.

Scarlett Johansson First Ever To Be Crowned Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive - Twice

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="Twitter" title_caption="Amy Vale, Spotify's head of global B2B marketing, took home last year's crown." class="zoomin" href="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/527173ceecad04dc4196e338-960/amy-vale-of-spotify.jpeg"></a><a href="https://twitter.com/AmyVale">Twitter</a>Amy Vale, Spotify's head of global B2B marketing, took home last year's crown.</div></div>It's starting to get cold outside, so Business Insider <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">Advertising</keyword> is putting together a hot list to warm up our loyal readers the only way we know how.
That's right, it's time for our <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-50-sexiest-advertising-executives-alive-2012-8">annual list of the Sexiest Advertising Executives Alive</a>. Like last year, we'll be making our judgments based on looks, age, power, and reputation.
Older executives will get leeway for keeping their manly and womanly charms as they've aged, and high-level executives will get hotness points for their lofty positions on the corporate ladder. This isn't to say we're excluding the young and the beautiful: we just want a nice mix of youthful vigor and gracefully aged veterans. 
While we're certainly looking forward to combing through photos of the advertising industry's sexiest executives, the fact is that there are just too many of them for us to keep track of all by ourselves. 
That's where you come in. In order to nominate someone you know, send us an e-mail at ataube@businessinsider.com with the name and job description of the person or people you think belong on the list, and of course make sure to include a photo (at least 600 x 400 in size, please). Though some of the nominees will invariably include people we've met in person, we'll be making our judgments based on photographs in order to keep an even playing field.
All nominations will be kept confidential, and we're not opposed to readers nominating themselves (indeed, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/people-excluded-from-the-50-sexiest-ad-execs-list-2012-9">several of you wrote us last year</a> to argue for your inclusion).
Thanks for your help, we can't wait to share the results with you.

Tell Us Who You Think Are The Sexiest Advertising Executives Alive

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A California man was sentenced to 10 years for embezzling millions from his employer. </li><li>The most eye-catching way he spent his gains was $1 million on mobile game "Game of War."</li></ul>A California businessman was sentenced on Thursday for crimes including embezzling around $4.8 million from his former employer — $1 million of which he spent on the mobile app "Game of War."Kevin Lee Co, 51, who pleaded guilty in 2016, was given 10 years in prison for wire fraud, money laundering and submitting false statements to a financial institution, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/rocklin-business-owner-sentenced-10-years-prison-embezzling-his-employer-and-while">according to the Department of Justice</a>. As an employee of California-based Caterpillar dealer Holt of California, Co misused company credit cards between 2006 and 2015, sending money to his account in hundreds of transactions, according to court documents seen by Insider. He spent much of the cash on luxury cars, home furniture, and NFL and NBA season tickets, per the DOJ. But by far one of his biggest outlays was the $1 million he spent on the mobile game "Game of War: Fire Age," the DOJ said.Released in 2013, "Game of War: Fire Age" is a resource-gathering game that by 2018 was <a href="https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/game-of-war-revenue-1202915706/">one of the highest-grossing mobile games in the world</a>. <div type="image" title="A screenshot from a 2014 advert for Game of War, showing a yelling Kate Upton on horseback with soldiers behind her." height="1000" width="2000" msid="93661771" hostid="261" sizebytes="37142"></div>It became particularly well-known for its advertising campaign featuring the model Kate Upton which ran in 2014, the same year Upton was <a href="https://www.latimes.com/fashion/alltherage/la-ar-kate-upton-peoples-sexiest-20141218-story.html">named The Sexiest Woman Alive by People magazine</a>.It has also come under criticism, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/game-of-war-is-bad-2015-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">including by Insider</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kate-upton-game-of-war-not-really-free-mobile-2015-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">for being a potential money pit</a>. The game is free to download, but players can speed up their progress through buying in-game credits. Co later became owner of a solar panel and generator company, and while awaiting sentencing on the above charges, between 2020 and 2021 he committed fraud connected to the Paycheck Protection Program, per the DOJ. He misled banks about his criminal history while applying for PPP loans, and fraudulently received $530,552, according to the DOJ. Co is not the only person to commit fraud to fund their "Game of War" play — in 2018, former librarian Adam Winger pleaded guilty to spending $89,000 of public cash on it, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/16/a-former-librarian-spent-89000-in-public-money-on-a-mobile-game.html">CNBC reported</a>.

A man embezzled $4.8 million from his employer and spent $1 million of it on the mobile app 'Game of War'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>When my spouse and I got married in October, we broke with some wedding traditions.</li><li>We chose to say we'll be married not until death separates us but until we decide it should end.</li></ul>On October 1, I married my best friend, my intellectual equal, and the sexiest person alive, Atlas Akeem Ali.We decided to get married to represent our commitment to each other, formalize our partnership, access the legal protections that marriage provides in the United States, and bring our families together over the course of an absolutely splendorous <a href="https://www.insider.com/things-to-never-do-when-planning-wedding-according-to-planner-2022-5">wedding ceremony</a> and reception.As we negotiated our discomfort with certain aspects of weddings and marriage, we found ourselves realizing — with the help of our <a href="https://www.insider.com/wedding-planning-cost-things-forget-about-2022-8">wedding planner</a> — that if the only people involved in our marriage are Akeem and me, there was no reason to fulfill anyone's expectations but our own.<h2>We planned a wedding that fit who we are</h2>From white dresses to diet culture, blood diamonds, and exorbitant — and near extortionate — markups that wedding vendors can get away with, it's all, as the Gen Zers say, a bit cringe.Fortunately, I was raised by a practical and frank feminist; I was never made to feel as though my wedding day was compulsory or the highlight of my life — matched only by giving birth and fulfilling my patriarchy-dictated purpose as a woman, of course.Unfortunately, the lack of wedding-centric socialization and my inherent desire to be a social contrarian meant that by the time I was planning a wedding I had no "dream wedding vision" or Pinterest board to draw from.Fortunately, I married an artist who graduated with a degree in performance studies, so manifesting an eco-friendly, pro-Black, art-deco-themed ceremony and reception was a breeze.Akeem wore a corduroy suit, I wore a rose-gold custom haute couture gown, and our officiant, Stephen C. Finley, seamlessly incorporated the political history of marriage and the anti-Black history of the United States into our ceremony. One part wedding, one part TED Talk.<h2>Our family found out we were dating when we got arrested during a protest</h2>All of this was to be expected — especially from Akeem and me. Most of our family learned we were dating as our arrests during protests in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were broadcast as B-roll during the July 2016 coverage of America's spate of racial uprisings.If you ask my parents, Akeem and I do things just to push the envelope and make everything just a little more complex than it needs to be. And I'll admit it's true.As we joined hands in the decked-out lobby of an iconic St. Louis opera house, I felt fulfilled and relieved. We had made our wedding — and, by extension, our marriage — our own.We married not "until death do us part" but "until or unless we determine that our flourishing would be more greatly enhanced through dissolution."Each year in the US, hundreds of thousands of marriages end with divorce. Instead of accepting this fact as an indication that not all relationships are meant to last until death, we continue to organize society in a manner that demeans and stigmatizes. We cover our ears and scream to cover the fact that unconditional love between individuals means loving each other enough to recognize that we will become many people over the course of our lives and that not all iterations of ourselves will be compatible.Our revolutionary marriage is built on a foundation of wisdom, justice, and love — not possessiveness or fatalism. So whether you choose tradition, modernity, spiritualism, or nothing at all, I hope it's because you and your beloved made that decision, not because it was expected of you.

My spouse and I didn't say 'until death do us part' in our wedding vows. Here's why.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I didn't masturbate until I was in my 20s and in college.</li><li>It wasn't a religious thing — it just didn't dawn on me or other girls I knew that we could do it.</li></ul>My social evolution in grades six through 12 went from eating lunch in the middle-school library to eating lunch in the high-<a href="https://www.insider.com/banned-books-schools-2018-11">school library</a>, I did a lot of homework instead of exploring my own pleasure or anyone else's.It wasn't a <a href="https://www.insider.com/virgin-age-54-love-hope-2022-9">religious vow</a>, or because in horror movies virgins never die, or even because women are taught that our reproductive parts are "gifts" that are to remain "wrapped," "or else." It was because masturbation never dawned on me or any girl I knew. One friend of mine thought "to masturbate" meant to scratch an itch, which made me afraid to scratch an itch. Perhaps men and some women can't find the <a href="https://www.insider.com/guides/health/sex-relationships/where-is-the-clitoris">clitoris</a> because it's been misconceived and misdescribed — and it's been <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227915724_Telling_it_straight_Dictionary_definitions_of_women's_genitals">misdescribed</a> because, well, guess who wrote the dictionary and forged the American lexicon? It was men: Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, the Merriam brothers, et al. <h2>I tried once in high school without success</h2>One time — just once — in high school, I tried it: I tried m-bating. I could not bring myself to use the full word, so I castrated it.In my childhood bedroom, I lit every scented candle I owned, and I played what was, in the year 2000, the sexiest music on the planet, John Mayer.With candles burning and the masturbation anthem "Your Body Is a Wonderland" blaring, I positioned myself horizontally on the inflatable clear-plastic loveseat at the foot of my bed. Thus arranged, I was ready to make some hand motions on/in/around my swimsuit area in order to awaken its potential.But nothing happened. And then the song ended, and then the CD ended. The candles burned out.I figured, meh, how important is masturbation anyway? Couldn't I just live without it?<h2>By college, I resented my body and tried again</h2>By the time I got to college, I hadn't jilled off, hadn't put my mouth on another person for longer than 10 seconds. I began to resent my body and its inoperability as a sexual beast; this bitterness, this slow rot, was why I bought a silver-bullet vibrator and a cylindrical mauve device that I never figured out how to work or where it went.In my college dorm single, I'd take the silver bullet, recline in a squeaky black scoop chair, and apply the buzzy bullet where applicable. This was boring, so I watched DVDs — my only DVDs, of "Family Guy." Because if the room were dark and my eyes were closed, then thoughts would rush in.Don't think about your mom right now. Don't think about her, right now, while you're doing this, shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue. Don't think about your dead dog. Don't think about your dead dog going down on your mom in the middle of Saks Fifth Avenue. Don't remember that in middle school you and your mom used to sing along in two-part harmony in her Honda Accord to Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love to You."Also, college-dorm walls are supermodel thin, and the TV muffled the vibrator's sound, which was not unlike a tornado of lawnmowers. I anticipated something magnificent, or anything at all.I went through episode after episode and packs and packs of batteries without feeling what I should feel.Until one day, I felt something. I almost cried out, "I FEEL A THING."There was a buildup and a release — I sneezed, but not with my mouth and nose. Then my whole body felt like one foot asleep. AndI didn't overuse the word "yes" or manically call for god. I didn't giggle or breathe in a vaporish way or make long, low sounds to broadcast unhinged gratification. I didn't undulate or writhe. Instead, I made what was most likely an ugly and distended face that I'd be afraid to see in the mirror. Gargoylian.To make sure that what happened to me actually happened, I looked up "orgasm" in my Women &amp; Sexuality studies textbook. I fact-checked my orgasm. And it checked out.<h2>I wondered if this is what I've been missing, and how much I missed out on</h2>A girl can get good at m-bating, like, 14-year-old boy good. A girl can go off the rails, go dark, and lose herself in herself. A girl can read Jane Austen's Emma for class and get off at the same time. A girl can go and go until her fingers resemble a petrified claw. A girl can be a machine that has just figured out it's also a woman and that never has to turn off.But reaching pleasure's extremity was also super sad. This is what I'd been missing? This heaven-on-earth euphoric spasm that's responsible for humanity and has made life worthwhile since time immemorial? This, my clit, had been here the whole time? And I wasn't supposed to know?<h2>I had ignored myself</h2>In my 30s, I took my niece and nephews for ice cream. Alone with them in the car, I told them, very seriously and with complete authority — also very normally and totally appropriately — that it was vitally important that they masturbate, that they get to know their bodies before anyone else does, especially my niece. I advised them to spend their youths wisely, by going to town on themselves.For two decades of my life I ignored myself. That's 20 years of missed masturbation, 20 years of lost orgasms during the years when my body belonged all to myself, before it learned to keep the score. If I could have had one orgasm per day for 20 years, that's 7,300 orgasms I never had. And if I'd had multiple orgasms per day, that number could be doubled, tripled, even octupled, to 58,400.Measuring how many kisses I missed is harder. Thousands of hours, probably. Let's say a make-out session is one hour, and to be conservative, maybe I would've made out every day of summer but never during the calendar school year. Five summers is 465 hours when instead of making out, I wasn't.Then there are the missed arm touches and missed shoulder brushes, the legs that never trembled, the heads that didn't spin, the hearts that didn't race. The unheld hands and the untouched, unexplored body parts. The lack of chemistry, electricity. And the smiles, oh, god, the smiles I didn't smile or see smiled at me.Then there's the sex I didn't have: at least five years of missed sex, of sex in cars and in fields, sex after school dances and before-class sex, sex in my twin bed, and sex wherever young people have sex.But if I factor in quality, did I miss anything worth missing? Did I miss only bad sex? How many regrets do I not have? How many nights did I not have that I wish I could forget? How torturous would it have been, thinking all day about someone and into the night and into dreams.Maybe I just need to stay alive a little longer than most people to make up for it, to fit in those 58,000 orgasms, those thousands of kissing hours, and five years' worth of sex in parking lots.Why not start the clock now?Elissa Bassist is the editor of the "Funny Women" column on The Rumpus and the author of the award-deserving memoir "<a href="https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/elissa-bassist/hysterical/9780306827372/">Hysterical</a>," available now from Hachette. She teaches humor writing at The New School, 92NY, Catapult, and elsewhere, and she is probably her therapist's favorite. Visit <a href="https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/OgAFCR6K56tyAjvqCE_wtc?domain=elissabassist.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">elissabassist.com</a> for classes, events, and gossip.

I didn't really masturbate until I was in college. I feel like I lost thousands of orgasms.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>It's hard to take notice of every side character who wanders into a movie. It would ruin the experience if you did.So it's pretty easy to miss certain stars. But you never know, that random nurse in two minutes of a film could become the first black woman to win an Emmy for best lead actress.Or the random guy killed in a slasher movie could become the "Sexiest Man Alive."Or maybe they lucked out and landed a significant role in their first film and even scored an Oscar nomination, or, in another case, an Oscar win.From Kerry Washington to Jennifer Lawrence, George Clooney to Cuba Gooding Jr., see some of your favorite A-list actors in their first credited role in a feature film:

Here are the surprising first movie roles of 27 A-list actors

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Mychel "Snoop" Dillard is an entrepreneur famous in <keyword id="85701" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Atlanta">Atlanta</keyword> for her "flashy lifestyle" and for the lounge she co-owns with <keyword id="1613203" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="2-Chainz">2 Chainz</keyword>.</li><li>Business Insider spoke to Dillard about her journey from teen mother to one of the most high-profile Black <keyword id="53533" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="entrepreneurs">entrepreneurs</keyword> in Atlanta.</li><li>Dillard opened up about how being forced to temporarily give up custody of her daughter to foster care and losing her job as a financial advisor in the 2009 recession gave her the motivation to pursue her passion and succeed in entrepreneurship.</li><li>After a series of failures and several successes, Dillard opened up Escobar with 2 Chainz. Dillard told Business Insider that Escobar's association with 2 Chainz brings good and bad attention, and the lounge recently came under fire for not following social distancing guidelines.</li><li>"I'm very proud to be a Black business owner right now," Dillard said, saying she's felt very supported by her Black community, and she intends for her daughter to take over her business empire someday.</li></ul>In Atlanta, the most notable Snoop isn't Snoop Dogg. It's Mychel "Snoop" Dillard, a restaurateur and self-described "serial entrepreneur" who's famous for Escobar, the lounge that she co-owns with 2 Chainz.Part of the appeal of Dillard's establishments, in addition to the celebrity sheen of 2 Chainz's part ownership, is Dillard and her playboy persona.In July, Dillard plans to host a "Playboy Mansion Pool Party" as "Snoop Hefner" with topless bartenders and a swimsuit contest. The advertising for Escobar frequently features attractive women. And a recent <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBrEVStD9qG/">Instagram ad</a> for "Seductive Saturdays" at Escobar advertises "the sexiest ambiance in Atlanta." Dillard is often seen in luxurious satin blazers, Givenchy baseball tees, or a bright red Burberry tracksuit that she's particularly fond of. Her wrists and neck are always adorned with gold and diamonds. They're markers of the success she's achieved as an entrepreneur, and the aspirational lifestyle brand she's built up along the way. "A lot of people want to be like her," said Bea Lewis, an Atlanta-based chef and entrepreneur who considers Dillard a mentor. "All of her cars are over a hundred thousand. She wears a lot of expensive jewelry. If you follow her on Instagram, you will see she has a very flashy lifestyle. People know who she is."But life wasn't always gold and glitter for Dillard. Dillard's journey to success has been defined by hardship and adversity. At 15, Dillard gave birth to a daughter she was forced to give up to foster care for four years. She often ran into trouble with the law in her early twenties and was arrested several times. And as a gay black woman, she's faced discrimination at every turn. <h2>Becoming "Snoop"</h2><div type="image" title="Mychel Snoop Dillard" height="1667" width="2223" msid="76738070" hostid="261"></div>Dillard grew up in a single-parent household. She spent her childhood in Detroit, Michigan, before her mother moved the family to Nashville, Tennessee, to get away from her father. "My father was not really involved," Dillard told Business Insider in an interview. "He was a drug dealer, in and out of rehab."Dillard describes her childhood as sheltered. Her mother was determined to send Dillard to college and encouraged her to focus on her education instead of socializing. As a tomboy, her only social interaction was playing basketball in high school. "I only remember one or two times ever even doing something as simple as going to the movies with a bunch of friends," Dillard said.Then, at age 14, Dillard got pregnant, and at age 15, she gave birth to her daughter."It made me grow up rather quickly," Dillard said. Eventually, she had to give her daughter to foster care. "Once I was able to go to college, kind of be on my own, I really grew up and got to socialize more and learn more about life."At 16, she fulfilled her longtime dream of getting into Vanderbilt University, and at 20 she graduated with an economics degree. She credits her desire to regain custody of her daughter as motivation to obtain her degree. And one week after graduation, she did reunite with her daughter. "It was something that I had looked forward to and thought about for so many years," Dillard said.Following graduation, Dillard landed a job as a financial adviser for Ameriprise, which was then part of American Express. She said that the job taught her how to handle investments, real estate, and insurance — all business skills she'd later apply to her entrepreneurship career. But in the 2009 recession, Dillard was laid off.Finding herself unemployed, Dillard decided to dive headfirst into starting her own businesses. She started Wet Dymes, a sexy calendar business that eventually fizzled out. At the same time, she discovered her passion for promoting clubs, sometimes even deejaying for them. Finally, she went all in and opened the G-Spot Lounge in Nashville in 2009. The G-Spot was what she calls a "teaching failure." She lost all $35,000 she had invested in it.After the G-Spot failed, she moved to Atlanta and started going by "Snoop," in part to distance herself from her past. In Atlanta, she started a party bus business, a lesbian dating app, a spa and hair salon, and a hookah lounge. Party Bus Kings was Dillard's first profitable business, and Dillard credits that success to keeping costs low by driving the buses herself."I always had this itch to get back into promoting and owning my own restaurant," Dillard said. So she opened The Hookah Hideaway. This time, she'd learned from the mistakes she'd made when opening The G Spot in Nashville, and The Hookah Hideaway became a financial success. "I became more by the book, and I had more experience from some of the failures and was able to turn them into success."Soon, Dillard started looking to open up a new venture. At the same time, 2 Chainz had told his realtor he was looking for a business partner to open a restaurant with. In 2016, Dillard's realtor and 2 Chainz's realtor connected the two, and Escobar was born. When Dillard and 2 Chainz first opened Escobar in Atlanta, Dillard said that people flocked to the place because of the celebrity association. "The good is the media attention that you can get from time to time," Dillard told Business Insider. "But then, you get a lot of flack because of the celebrity association."2 Chainz's fame can sometimes overshadow Dillard's work. "You have to be very humble because they're going to get a lot of the credit for the work that you do," Dillard said.And Dillard said that as a gay Black woman, she's had to overcome a lot of prejudice to establish each business."I've got businesses that are in several residential neighborhoods, and whenever I'm going for my liquor licenses or different licenses that the neighborhood is able to vote for, it's always a no for me. But another similar business will come up and it'll be owned by somebody that's white and they always pass theirs through," Dillard said. <h2>"Snoop Hefner"</h2><div type="image" title="Mychel Snoop Dillard at Escobar" height="1521" width="2029" msid="76738074" hostid="261"></div>Dillard and 2 Chainz recently came under fire for their decision to reopen Escobar in late April as soon as Georgia restaurants were allowed to reopen dining rooms, a decision they <a href="https://atlanta.eater.com/2020/4/27/21238313/escobar-not-reopening-castleberry-hill-atlanta-april27-covid10">quickly reversed</a> after public backlash. Then, when Escobar reopened again in May, Georgia State Patrol and the Department of Public Safety reportedly shut it down twice for <a href="https://atlanta.eater.com/2020/5/27/21271693/escobar-restaurant-atlanta-2chainz-castleberry-shut-down-violating-covid19-guidelines">violating capacity limits</a>. "When we first opened the first two weeks, it was super busy," Dillard said. "We had to turn a lot of people away so that we wouldn't be too overcrowded. And now business has just kind of leveled off, but it's still about double what we were doing before we closed."June Instagram videos of crowds at Escobar and Members Only, another lounge Dillard and 2 Chainz co-own, show <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBtsuRYBGDv/">packed spaces</a> with people <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBVCal1BTG0/">dancing</a> in close proximity, often without masks. In those videos, the party is very much alive — and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBDJzNoBbb9/">not very socially distanced</a>. Escobar is also facing a $10 million <a href="https://whatnowatlanta.com/pablo-escobars-brother-suing-escobar-restaurant-owners-for-10-mm/">trademark lawsuit</a> from Roberto Escobar, the brother of late Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. But, Dillard said, "the name of the restaurant is not why people are drawn to the restaurant." Instead, she said, people come for 2 Chainz — and for her.Bentley Didier, the director of operations at Dillard Hospitality Group, attributes Dillard's success to her community presence."She has her hands directly in the community," Didier, who first joined DHG as a publicist just over a year ago before transitioning into operations, told Business Insider. "We are a part of every neighborhood association that all of our businesses are located in. She knows about every issue. She knows every key stakeholder. She knows them by name, number, Instagram."Overall, Dillard said she thinks the Black community is going out of its way to support Black-owned businesses. "I'm very proud to be a Black business owner right now.""I'm a Black female, I have two younger African-American brothers, and I understand the frustration because these incidents have been happening for years. And a lot of times, these police officers are going unpunished," Dillard said about the ongoing protests against police brutality. But she said that in addition to protesting, people need to make sure they get out and vote. For other Black women with dreams of becoming an entrepreneur, Dillard advises repurposing the prejudice they face as fuel for their ambition. "We need more people in the position that I am in to be able to show other Black women that, hey, this is necessary."Next, Dillard plans to open a seafood takeout chain. She'd been planning to launch a seafood takeout concept since before the pandemic but has since sped up her plans. Dillard said that pivoting to a focus on takeout and delivery will make her better prepared in case of future pandemic-related shutdowns."The pandemic has changed how I look at things and changed some of my goals," Dillard said. "But I still plan on being a rockstar in the restaurant industry. People still want to go out. People still want to go out to eat."As for her daughter? "She works for the businesses," Dillard said. "She looks forward to running them and taking them over one day."

Meet Mychel 'Snoop' Dillard, who became a mom at 15, graduated from Vanderbilt at 20, opened a restaurant with 2 Chainz, and plans to build a seafood takeout empire

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div>Photo courtesy of <keyword id="1761813" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Lisa-Randall">Lisa Randall</keyword></div>
This is part of our series on the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/50-sexy-scientists-2013-2">Sexiest Scientists Alive</a>. 
It's refreshing to see one of the most highly-cited thinkers in theoretical <keyword id="55984" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="physics">physics</keyword> being a good sport about topping our selection of the "Sexiest Scientists Alive."
"I'm old enough now to agree to this list!" Randall wrote in an email when we first approached her with the idea.
Part of the apprehension had to do with not wanting to be seen this way, preferring to focus on (and have others focus on) <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword>.
So what changed her mind?
"Once you've achieved enough it's not worth worrying about," she told us. "When you're older, it's actually flattering."
Randall has certainly made waves both in school and in her field.
The New York-native didn't need the typical four years to complete her undergraduate work; <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/6/2/class-of-1984-lisa-randall-as/">she received her bachelor's in physics from Harvard University in just three</a>, and immediately followed that up with a physics Ph.d from the same school. 
She was the first tenured woman in the physics department at Princeton University and the first tenured woman physics theorist at MIT and Harvard, <a href="http://randall.physics.harvard.edu/RandallCV/Vogue_08_07l.pdf">according to a Vogue profile</a>. 
After returning to Harvard as a professor in 2001, Randall wrote three books between 2006 and 2012, starting with "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060531096/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0060531096&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thebusiinsi-20">Warped Passages</a>," and more recently, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061723738/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0061723738&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thebusiinsi-20">Knocking on Heaven's Door</a>," and "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1847922570/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1847922570&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thebusiinsi-20">Higgs Discovery</a>," all while managing an active research program.
In the past few years, she's appeared on Jon Stewart's "<a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-26-2011/lisa-randall">The Daily Show</a>," ranked alongside Hillary Clinton and Steve Jobs in "Time" magazine's "<a href="f%20Time%20magazine's%20most%20influential%20people%20in%20the%20world.%20%20Read%20more:%20Success%20Secrets%20from%20Female%20Executives%20-%20Lisa%20Randall,%20Meryl%20Poster,%20Shawn%20Holley%20Career%20Advice%20-%20Marie%20Claire%20">100 most influential people in the world</a>," and "Knocking on Heaven's Door" was named as one of "<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/12/2/randall-book-NYT-award/">The New York Times"' 100 notable books of the year.</a>
In summary: Lisa Randall is kind of a big deal. And she's got the good looks to go with it. 
A star is born 
Randall grew up in Queens, New York. She showed an early flair for <keyword id="6357038" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Math">math</keyword> and science while attending Stuyvesant High School, an elite magnet school in Manhattan. It was the certitude of problem solving that drew Randall to physics, she tells Business Insider.
Interestingly, as a theoretical physicist, Randall's work is hardly grounded in definitive answers. It revolves around uncertainties, assumptions, and hypotheses that may not be provable within her lifetime — a seeming contradiction that Randall recognizes herself.
Randall studies the existence of extra dimensions in <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">space</keyword>, or those dimensions beyond the three spacial ones that we experience. 
Her best-known theory, first published in 1999, attempts to answer one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in our understanding of the universe: Why is gravity — the force that binds all mass in the universe — so weak compared to the other fundamental forces in nature, like electromagnetism. 
Speaking to "The New York Times" in 2005, Randall provided the example of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/01/science/01prof.html?pagewanted=all">how a small magnet can pick up a paper clip even though it's being pulled down by the entire Earth's gravitational force</a>. 
As a solution, Randall, along with Dr. Raman Sundrum, theorized that our universe exists within a higher dimension. Gravity is weaker in the three spatial dimensions that we perceive. 
To test this theory, researchers used the world's most powerful particle smasher, located in Switzerland, called the Large Hadron Collider. The instrument, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/large-hadron-collider-shuts-down-for-two-year-2013-2">which recently shut down for long-term maintenance</a>, shoots beams of protons in opposite directions through a 17-mile long circular tunnel. The collision essentially recreates conditions after the Big Bang (which created the universe) by producing a huge amount of energy that recondenses as new particles. One of those particles is a heavier partner of the graviton, the particle responsible for transmitting the force of gravity. If Randall's theory were correct than scientists would expect to see that heavier particle decay in the detector, and would be able to measure its property. While there there's still no definitive evidence of this, it remains part of the big story related to why particles have mass and why those masses are what they are.
The Higgs boson
Last July, experiments at the Large Hadron Collider revealed what appeared to be a Higgs boson, the long-sought subatomic particle that scientists think gives elementary particles mass, and would help explain how the universe came into existence in the first place. 
The possible discovery was <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sciences-2012-breakthroughs-of-the-year-2012-12">hailed as a historic scientific breakthrough</a>, but the story is far from over, Randall points out. 
"Physicists have yet to understand why the Higgs boson's mass is what it is," she explains. "Quantum mechanics would have you think it was sixteen orders of magnitude heavier. Without something more, only a fudge or "fine-tuning" would yield the correct result. It's a challenging problem and the answers could yield some deep insight into the nature of matter or even space." 
The trouble with theory
For anyone seeking instant gratification, both experiments demonstrate the drawbacks of Randall's profession. 
One of the biggest challenges is "continuing to pursue ideas, even when we know they might not be tested for a while," she acknowledges. 
Her persistence comes from knowing that breakthroughs happen, even if they're long off: "You learn that the interest is in what you don't yet know and that theories evolve. But we nonetheless have progress and improved knowledge over time.
The future
In the next decade, Randall, who is currently single, still sees herself working and teaching students. 
When she's not buckled down to her work, Randall stays active by climbing, skiing or biking. 
Her prediction for the future, like the nature of her work, contains a dose of uncertainty coupled with the anticipation of new discoveries: "I don't know what will be my chief research focus and I don't know what other activities I might participate in. But it will be interesting to find out."

Lisa Randall Brings Theoretical Physics To The Masses

<div class="KonaFilter image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Tina Fineberg/AP/Business Insider" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542185736da811b644d1903d-960/toryburch-1.jpg"></a><a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Weiner-Women-Politicians/c74c2849285048efb7683bf4fdb3a1bf/74/0">Tina Fineberg/AP/Business Insider</a></div></div>
Business Insider recently published its list of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-sexiest-ceos-alive-2014-9">The Sexiest CEOs Alive</a>. As it turns out, these executives don't just have pretty faces and hot companies; they're also full of inspirational insights and fascinating outlooks on business, success, and getting ahead. 
Here are 26 quotes from the world's hottest CEOs:
1) "If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it." -Elon Musk
2) "The goal isn't how much money you make, but how much you help people." -Blake Mycoskie 
3) "Even if you're not yet an entrepreneur, you can be entrepreneurial in everything you do. If you view each stop as an opportunity to learn something, there is always something you will take away from that experience." -Tory Burch
4) "Success is never accidental." -Jack Dorsey
<div class="KonaFilter image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Getty / Bill Pugliano " title_caption="Jack Dorsey." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54218952eab8ea8e4a471653-960/twitter-cofounder-jack-dorsey-12.jpg"></a><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jack-dorsey-chairman-of-twitter-and-ceo-of-square-speaks-at-news-photo/151882476#">Getty / Bill Pugliano </a>Jack Dorsey.</div></div>5) "You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over." -Richard Branson
6) "What I've really learned over time is that optimism is a very, very important part of leadership." -Bob Iger
7) "You can't act like you've arrived when you're only just receiving the invitation." ?Sophia Amoruso 
8) "Starting a company, your success is going to be very dependent on how you adapt. You're going to make decisions, you're going to make bets; most of them are going to turn out to be wrong." -Jeremy Stoppelman
9) "What I always say is, 'Do every job you're in like you're going to do it for the rest of your life, and demonstrate that ownership of it."' -Mary Barra
10) "People don't do good work when they feel like losers and are second-class citizens within their own company." -Jonah Peretti 
11) "When everyone zigs, zag. Life is all about trying to get somewhere first." -Alexa Von Tobel
12) "The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur." ?-Elon Musk
13) "If you can find something that you're really passionate about, whether you're a man or a woman comes a lot less into play. Passion is a gender-neutralizing force." -Marissa Mayer
<div class="KonaFilter image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="AP Photo" title_caption="Marissa Mayer." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542188d46da811b852d19036-960/marissa-mayer-184.jpg"></a>AP PhotoMarissa Mayer.</div></div>14) "Today there are millions of people making stuff and putting it into the world: that's become part of our identity and it shouldn't be limited to people who fancy themselves writers, or who are particularly witty or talented." -David Karp
15) "As an entrepreneur, I try to push the limits. Pedal to the metal." -Travis Kalanick 
16) "I don't have a mentor in the strict definition. I take as much advice and inspiration as I can from the people I am close to." -Natalie Massenet
17) "Motivation, passion, and focus have to come from the top." -Kevin Plank
18) "If it doesn't scare you, you're probably not dreaming big enough." -Tory Burch
19) "In order to inspire people, that's going to have to come from somewhere deep inside of you." -Jeff Weiner 
20) "There are secret opportunities hidden inside every failure." -Sophia Amoruso
21) "Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."?-Elon Musk 
22) "Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again." -Richard Branson
23) "Learn as many mistakes and what not to do while your business or product is small. Don't be in such a hurry to grow your brand. Make sure that you and the market can sustain any bumps that may occur down the road." -Daymond John
<div class="KonaFilter image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Reuters/Gus Ruelas " title_caption="Daymond John." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5421886f6da8114e4fd1903b-960/robert-herjavec-lori-greiner-daymond-john-kevin-oleary-shark-tank-hosts-judges-1.jpg"></a>Reuters/Gus Ruelas Daymond John.</div></div>24) "Before you take the leap, before you jump, really make sure it's going to be something you want to get out of bed [to do] everyday, because it is so hard. So you want to make sure that you're really committed." -Alexa Von Tobel
25) "You don't have to start from scratch to do something interesting. You don't have to start from scratch to have a massive impact on the world. You have to have a good idea. You have to convince other people of those good ideas. And you have to push as quickly as possible." -Jack Dorsey
26) "Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like." -Brian Chesky

26 Quotes On Getting Ahead From The World's Hottest CEOs

<table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AditiShankardass.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>Symmetrical faces are more beautiful, like this one, of sexy neuroscientist Aditi Shankardass.</td></tr></table>
This is part of our series on the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/50-sexy-scientists-2013-2">Sexiest Scientists Alive</a>. 
People often think that sexiness is in the eyes of the beholder and is inextricably linked to cultural norms, but that isn't completely true.
When you dig into the human brain there are a few things that almost everyone uses to determine a person's attractiveness — at least, on the physical scale.
In general, we are attracted to the people who would make the best genetic match for us — those who are fertile, have good genes, and whose immune system complements ours. By mating with someone who is healthy and has good genes, we can pass those genes down to the kids we have with them.
<table class="image-container float_left" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div>Graeme MitchellThe beautiful clear skin of sexy engineer Nina Tandon is attractive. </td></tr></table>Our bodies and brains have been tuned to spot these genetic traits through physical features in the face and body. Upon first <keyword id="6419598" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="attraction">attraction</keyword>, these are what we all look for:
<ul>
<li>Clear, smooth skin shows that we are healthy, especially in the faces of women.</li>
<li>Symmetrical faces (which means the two sides of the face line up if you fold it down the middle) are beautiful, they also look younger and healthier. How symmetrical your face is is an indicator of your genetics, and even how good your environment was growing up. These both make for better mates. This is even evident in infants, who look longer at more symmetrical faces.</li>
<li>For females, when it comes to faces, men prefer higher forehead, fuller lips, an shorter jaw and a narrower chin.</li>
<li>The ideal face of an attractive woman has high cheek bones, big eyes and a thin jaw.</li>
<li>Clear eyes are important, since red and watery eyes are thought to be <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2011.01888.x/abstract;jsessionid=D3E39FC18AF637535F96087E886A7307.d04t03">"sad and unattractive."</a></li>
</ul>
Symmetry is also important when it comes to the body.
<ul>
<li>Men also prefer a waist-to-hips ratio of 7:10. Weight doesn't matter. Hip width and breast size are important factors in fertility, child birth, and rearing, so there's definitely an evolutionary connection there.</li>
<li>The ideal waist-to-hips ratio for men is 9:10.</li>
<li>The ideal male has a big jaw, a broad chin and an imposing brow. The angle between their eyes and mouth, cheekbone prominence, and facial length all play a role as well.</li>
<li>A youthful look is attractive because fertility drops as we age. Evolutionarily speaking you wouldn't want to mate with someone who can't bear you children.</li>
<li>A recent paper suggested that the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/body-fat-linked-to-male-attractiveness-and-immune-system-2012-11">best body fat percentage for a man</a> is 12 percent. Body fat percentage seems to be an indicator of how well your immune system works.</li>
<li>A BMI (Body Mass Index) of 20.85 has been determined as the most attractive weight for a woman.</li>
<li>Men are generally regarded as attractive if they are broader at the shoulder and narrower at the hips (the general "V" shape) women find a slim waist and a muscular chest attractive on men as well.</li>
</ul>
One other factor? <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200910/the-smell-love">Your smell</a>:
<ul>
<li>While humans don't have pheromones (chemical attractants secreted by animals to find mates) smell does play a role in how attracted we are to someone. Studies have found we can find our immune system match (whose genes complement ours, leading to healthier babies) by their smell.</li>
</ul>
<table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div>Photo courtesy of Deva RamananSexy computer scientist Deva Ramanan is handsome AND smart. </td></tr></table>Just as a parting comment, these are the physical features that evolutionarily determine sexual attractiveness. Everyone is attracted to different things and when it comes to actually having a relationship and emotional connection with someone, these factors play a much smaller role.
We all know an attractive face and body can quickly become unappealing if paired with an ugly personality. <a href="http://www.livescience.com/23998-physical-beauty-conformity.html">A recent study</a> actually suggested that beautiful women are more likely to have less attractive values, favoring conformity and self-promotion over independence and tolerance.
Knowing scientists, though, we doubt that our sexy female researchers fall under that category.
"I believe that each of us perceives each person they meet as beautiful or not because of a combination of physical and mental factors," Robert Tornabe, a plastic surgeon in New York City, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-tornambe-md/what-makes-a-person-ugly_b_843641.html">wrote in a blog post</a>. "It is my contention that certain negative characteristics of one's personality can actually make that person less attractive and less physically appealing."
One thing our <keyword id="1761153" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sexy-Scientists">sexy scientists</keyword> don't have to worry about? Being perceived as dumb. These men and ladies are whip smart and accomplished, a trait that many people find sexually desirable.

The Science Behind What Makes Someone Sexy

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div>Photo courtesy of Michelle Khine</div>
This is part of our series on the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/50-sexy-scientists-2013-2">Sexiest Scientists Alive</a>. 
Shrinky Dinks, the flexible plastic sheets that shrink dramatically when heated but maintain their shape and color, reached the peak of their popularity in the 1980s. 
Many children from that era grew up using the cheap art supply (which is actually just a sheet of special plastic) in craft projects. But now Dr. Michelle Khine, of the University of California, Irvine, is using the plastic sheets to make microfluidic devices which can help diagnose medical problems using small amounts of body fluids.
Khine is a <keyword id="74268" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Biomedical">biomedical</keyword> engineer who hopes her Shrinky Dinks could help improve substandard <keyword id="6354750" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> care in the developing world — a largely economic problem. She thinks the craft supply can produce medical testing devices at a fraction of the cost of comparable products.
Creating these products at such low cost will enable their widespread use, allowing for earlier detection of preventable and treatable illnesses that often go undiagnosed and untreated in the developing world.
Using Shrinky Dinks also allows her to cut down production time for these tests from weeks to minutes. This helps her develop a cheaper product faster, especially when she wants to make design changes.
<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tensafefrogs/4991188038/">Flickr</a>An example of a Shrinky Dink after being baked. </div>Using Shrink Dinks, she doesn't have to wait weeks for a new shipment of devices from a manufacturer. She can immediately make them herself by printing out designs and baking them in the oven in her lab.
The Shrinky Dink solution is just one way this analytical problem solver spurs innovation within the medical device field. She is also creating a graduate program at UC Irvine that will develop entrepreneurs.
We spoke to Khine about bioengineering, microfluidic devices, and how she juggles her time between the lab, academia, and her personal life.
Business Insider: How would you explain biomedical <keyword id="27859" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="engineering">engineering</keyword> to a non-scientist?
Michelle Khine: It's a relatively new field where we invent devices and technologies to improve human health.
BI: What specifically is a microfluidic device?
MK: It is analogous to a computer chip, except instead of it working with electronics, it uses fluids at very small scales. Using small samples of bodily fluids like blood and saliva, we can get a lot of different information about someone's health.
BI: You mentioned that the chips can be used to detect diseases in third world countries. What draws you to these applications? Have you been to these places?
MK: When I was a graduate student I heard a statistic that about 20 percent of the world lives on less than $1 per day. A lot of diseases that are killing babies and children in the developing world are completely preventable. They are just not diagnosed or not diagnosed in time. I recently got to go to Kenya which was an enlightening experience as well.
BI: What do you hope to accomplish with your work?
MK: My personal goal is to roll out low cost point-of-care devices for the developing world. It can't be about the business. It has to be about enough people being passionate about developing devices that are affordable. We have an economic problem in the developing world. The technology exists, but it cannot be produced inexpensively enough where it can be rolled out into these areas, and I want to fix that.
BI: Tell me about your new graduate program at UC Irvine.
<div class="image-container float_left" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><a href="http://www.uci.edu/features/2009/09/feature_khine_090909.php">University of California - Irvine</a>Inspired by Shrinky Dinks, Michelle Khine, a UCI biomedical engineering assistant professor, pioneered an easy, quick and cheap way to fabricate microfluidic chips.</div>
MK: I want to invent medical device inventors. We are trying to develop the framework and infrastructure to create entrepreneurs, and to give them the support they need through a graduate program.
BI: How did you get interested in biomedical engineering?
MK: I did a high school BME program at a local college and found it really interesting. But most schools didn't even have it as a major. I studied mechanical engineering in undergrad and always thought I would go to medical school, but then I fell in love with research. As a doctor you can treat and help one patient at a time, but if you invent a product or device, you can help thousands of people. 
BI: You told the MIT Technology Review that you are a "very impatient person." How has that impacted your life as a scientist considering that research is usually a time-consuming process?
MK: One of the reasons for coming up with the Shrinky Dinks idea is because I'm impatient. Normally you would have to wait weeks to get similar devices. Now we can make them in a couple of minutes. We can also quickly adapt and come up with a new design in minutes instead of starting a long process over from scratch. I also get impatient waiting on projects, so I end up running a bunch of projects at once.
BI: So what are those other projects? 
MK: We are making super-hydrophobic surfaces. They also have anti-bacterial applications. We're also interested in flexible electronics and hope to move into wearable electronics soon.
BI: You are also starting a new company. 
MK: Its called Novoheart and I'm working with collaborators from Mt. Sinai Medical School. We're developing drug toxicity screens. All the pharmaceutical compounds that are coming down a pipeline have to be tested for various adverse cardiac side effects. My lab has been working on differentiating stem cells into heart cells and we have created structures to do that. With our collaborators we have come up with a platform to perform efficient, high-content drug screens.
BI: You mentioned to Berkeley's Innovation Newsletter that you never thought you would go into academia. What made you change your mind?
MK: My PhD advisor was my mentor and he called me into his office one day right before I was going to graduate. He said, "I think you should be a professor." I didn't think I was smart enough to be a professor but he thought I would be good at it. He told me to try it out and if I didn't get any job offers, he would stop bugging me. So I basically did it to get him off my back. I'm really glad I listened to his advice. I tell my students that sometimes someone else sees something in you that you don't see yourself. 
BI: What challenges have you faced as a woman in the male dominated environment that is engineering?
MK: I think you have an added responsibility to be a good role model. I get a lot of emails from girls interested in going into <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> and engineering and you have to prove that you are getting there not because you are a woman or because you are riding anything else, but because you are just as good, if not better, than the guys in the field. You have to be uncompromising with the quality of your work.
BI: So aside from working with your lab, starting graduate programs and companies, and mentoring female science students, do you have any time left for non-science related hobbies?
MK: I play tennis and I like Acroyogo, which is two person yoga. I also enjoy spending time with my dog. We also do a lot of sports activities with my lab, like kickball and dodgeball tournaments.

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