Resist, Rave, Repeat

November 04, 2018

On any given night in New York City, you'll probably spot DJs Pauli Cakes or She Marley Marl behind the decks, spinning Todd Terry or the perfect Vogue beat; clad in some kind of sexy space age number, a pink wig, or even jeans and a plain white tee. The Bushwick-based best friends-turned-DJ duo have taken over Clubland with their intoxicating mixes and genuine desire to create authentic spaces for the queer, trans and POC communities—oh, and their to die for looks.

With curatorial projects and parties, like Marley's Dis Trick and Pauli's Club Cakes, as well as their latest join venture, Dis Trick x Club Cakes, the New York-natives are bringing a much needed dose of resistance and radical self-acceptance into the worlds of fashion, music and nightlife, while experimenting with bold, new beauty looks.

Interview by Alexandra Weiss
Photos by Simon Heger

Whether they're in pigtails, pasties and covered in glitter, or rockin' their natural hair and product-free mugs, Pauli Cakes and She Marley Marl are always celebrating the beauty in imperfection, and promoting unapologetic self-love.

"When you treat yourself and put yourself first, your beauty will shine from the inside out," says Pauli.

"We are both attracted to the idea of doing and being things that people don’t usually think of or wouldn’t willfully try," adds Marley.

—both in the club and IRL.

Below, the DJs tell office their go-to club bangers, and why being beautiful really means being yourself.

What do you guys do?

She Marley Marl: I’m a DJ, painter, curator, organizer, entrepreneur and model. I have an organization called Dis Trick, which is a platform for underground artists to communicate, collaborate and politically resist.

Pauli Cakes: That's always an open ended questions for me—I do a lot. I consider myself a multi-faceted creative energy and experience. I’m a DJ, curator, performer, nightlife personality and stylist. I have a curatorial platform called Club Cakes, I pull looks, make music, curate events, paint, draw, do healing work and dance. Within all of those realms, I ultimately do the lord's work hehehe.

How did you start DJing and working together?

She Marley Marl: Music is always been a huge passion of mine. Growing up, I was always passed the aux cord, and I loved making playlists for my friends or for random moments—I’m extremely hyper-aware of how music influences people's mood and experience. I started DJing when I invested into equipment and taught myself when I was about 13 or 14. I also met Pauli around that age, who I instantly loved and connected with, so it just made sense that we join forces. I think the first official time we worked together was when we threw a event and pop-up shop at some random person’s house on 14th st, aka selling our old clothes and small paintings for cash. I DJed and Pauli handled the vending—I think the owner came home later and kicked everyone out. We actually made a good amount of money, though, so it was success.

Now, years later, we live together in Bushwick, and recently launched a party series called Dis Trick x Club Cakes that emerged from us feeling like we needed to create our own spaces where we belong. There are so many mass market ‘queer safe space’ parties that are just the opposite—they use those words because it’s become a buzzword and term. We were tired of going to proclaimed queer spaces that are just rich, white, cis masc for masc men taking up space. We wanted to create a space for young underground Queer Trans GNC POC to kick back and feel safe and not tokenized. Through launching this, we began curating together as well as going b2b [business-to-business], since a lot of the time, we still don’t have budgets to book other DJs. Sometimes, after paying people and covering expenses we’d make only like, $10 each. It didn’t matter, though, because the feeling of knowing my community felt like they could belong overweighs everything.

Pauli Cakes: I’ve always had a passion for music—I’d always mix two songs together in my head and envision background music for any sequence of my life. I grew up in the city around a lot of loud sounds and music playing around me 24/7. I’ve always been fixated with the way music and art controls energy and spaces, so I naturally gravitated towards becoming a DJ. I wouldn’t let go of my iPod classic as a kid and downloaded virtual DJ when I was 15 and started fucking around. I actually had no idea what I was doing when I got booked for my first gig—I just knew I loved what effect good music had on people.

As for Marley and me, we met when we were kids—Marley was 14 and I was 16—and we both had urges to work on creative projects and use our art to amplify our voices. That's what bonded us together instantly. Our first gig was set up out of this random guys house—we just wanted to create a creative space where our friends could sell their art, we could play music and curate a unifying platform. So, we did, and it worked, and we kept doing it.

What's your collaborative process like?

Pauli Cakes: Our collaborative process is really special, loving and silly. I feel like we put a lot of intention and energy behind everything we do, which is what makes it special. Our creativity, love and passion for resistance are some qualities that make up our bond, so that makes collaborating come as a natural process. We work really hard and have a lot of fun, and it's really cute, and fun, and messy. We trust each other’s hard work and judgement, which is what makes our collaborations honest, beautiful and successful. Did I mention we have our own made up language with our own form of social cues? So, we’re pretty much great work partners.

She Marley Marl: It’s 55% serious work, 20% laughing ‘til I can’t breathe, 5% random noises, 10% artistic procrastination, 10% having multiple disasters but somehow making things work perfectly.

How does beauty play into your DJ performances and personas both individually, and as a duo?

Pauli Cakes: There are different layers of beauty and how it pertains to craft—an individual's physical body and one’s spiritual self. The vibrance that I put into my music transcends material—it’s a feeling and an energy, a spark that ignites an energy. I put that into everything because I feel secure and confident in my craft. Whether I’m on a stage in front of a crowd or hidden behind a booth, I’m still going to pull a look that reflects how I feel, because my beauty routine is my ritual. There's definitely something to say about the comparative beauty of good music with a fly artist, but music and physicality are two different entities. I feel bonded to the parts of myself that I find beautiful—my vulnerability, openness and fearlessness—and that shines through my music, performance and persona.

She Marley Marl: My style helps me reinforce my identity for the night. But sometimes, I throw on a white tee, jeans and sneakers and call it day.

What's one beauty product you can't live without?

Pauli Cakes: Got2B Hair Gel and lip gloss.

She Marley Marl: An eyebrow comb and clear gel.

What's one beauty trend you wish would just go away forever?

Pauli Cakes & She Marley Marl: I think we both agree Kardashian brows must go! Most beauty trends nowadays are a product of black fetishaztion. The beauty industry perpetuates a lot of toxic standards and we have to deconstruct all of them, and find beauty in our differences and amplify that. Also, enforced uniformity in fashion—yikes.

What does being beautiful mean to you?

She Marley Marl: I don’t really know. I like to think of the word ‘beautiful’ as a passionate adjective, and not a word that refers to beauty standards. But I think that someone is always extremely special and radiant if they understand self-love and are able to unplug from conditioning.

Pauli Cakes: ‘Being beautiful’ is a matter of self-love. People are so fixated with this idea of ‘being’ a ‘beautiful’ person, which entails torturing ourselves, not knowing that beauty is more tangible than it seems. Being beautiful is sharing, loving, giving and receiving, putting thought and intention into adorning yourself.

If you could give each other makeovers—and the person getting their glow up couldn't refuse or deny anything—give us the full scoop.

She Marley Marl: I can’t even imagine giving Pauli a makeover or vice versa, just because we both have such defined ways of expressing ourselves that we both respect a lot.

Pauli Cakes: I have no interest in giving Marley a makeover unless she wants me to. Our individuality and differences are what we love and respect about each other, and I wouldn’t want to make Marley over in any different way.

Do you feel naked or less beautiful without makeup? Or do you think makeup just enhances who you already are?

Pauli Cakes: Not at all—I feel more vulnerable and opaque without makeup, but I do not feel less beautiful or less enhanced. Honey, my energy and spirit is already enhanced! I love being naked, and I love being able to pick and choose who I share that with, but I also love being in 11 inch platforms and a three foot pink wig serving. Putting on makeup and clothing is a personal form of self-preservation, healing, protection and therapy for me. My looks feel like my armor and protective wear, but I don’t feel like not wearing makeup is a reduction of my character.

She Marley Marl: Never. I love not wearing makeup; I also love putting on makeup—I feel beautiful either way. And that doesn’t come from ego—I just usually have a lot on my mind and I don’t concern myself with validating my looks. I do love to experiment with makeup because I always wake up feeling different or inspired by something, and makeup allows to execute certain looks.

Dressing up is such an important part of nightlife and club culture. What's the getting ready and going out process like for you?

She Marley Marl: I’m late to everything. Recently, I’ve been a lot better at self-timing, but up until now, getting ready has been stressful. Usually, though, it’s easy for me to pull a look together because I’m always thinking about new looks to try, or different ways to express myself. I consider myself to be quite fluid, so I dress how I feel.

Pauli Cakes: Most of the time, messy boots—I’ll spend 3 hours cleaning my room and 30 minutes destroying everything while getting ready. I’Il get inspired sporadically by a thought, mood emotion, reaction or object. I usually do hair, makeup and then clothing—I’m known for being a little late, too, but I’m working on it.

Can hair and makeup be tools for activism? Or are they just about dressing up and having fun?

She Marley Marl: I think it’s different for everybody. I feel extremely liberated when dressing in crazy looks, while others might feel extremely degraded. Like everything I do, I’m always thinking about politics, especially as a Queer WOC, because I have to. I like to think the way I dress inspires others to not conform.

Pauli Cakes: I also think it's very different for everyone—but for me, personally, it is. I never had the courage to express myself the way I wanted to growing up, when I was in a place where I hated myself. In a world that tries to eradicate individuality, making the choice to pick and choose what feels true to you and your physicality is a radical form of activism.

Do you dress up for yourself or others? Or both? If for yourself, what's the best part of getting all dolled up? And if for others, what do you want them to take away from your looks?

Pauli Cakes: It honestly depends—for me, I would be lying if I said I always dress up exclusively for myself. I work a lot of different jobs which require me to role play and project different aspects of myself. Knowing that I could dress up as a million different people, things, spirits or entities and reverberate back to myself at the end of the day is so fulfilling. I hated my physical self for a long time and found it nearly impossible to acknowledge my beauty—in that way, I found it impossible to dress for myself. Acknowledging my self-worth and love makes every look, at the end of the day, for me. I don’t get to determine what I want people to take away from my looks, unless they are paying me for a specific looks. However, I feel a lot of my looks are charged with ideas of resistance. I like incorporating a lot of heavy metal, bold colors, chains and blood into my looks.

What's your favorite part about working together?

She Marley Marl: The laughs. Literally no one makes me laugh harder than Pauli—she's so ridiculously funny. We’ve had so many crazy experiences together that are just so random. Even at meetings, if I look at her in the eyes I’ll just die, because I feel like I instantly know what she’s thinking—it makes me feel like I’m 12 again, about to get separated from my friend because ya’ll being too loud.

Pauli Cakes: Everything. Marley is my favorite person in the world—she literally makes me pee myself laughing. I really trust her judgement and I can't say that for many people—we’re both confident in our ability to heal and change the world, which makes for a beautiful synergy.

What are your go-to tracks to play on a busy club night? A dead night to get the party going?

She Marley Marl: Go-to track is def something from Todd Terry or Ron Hardy, and a banger that will always make people crazy is usually some Baile Funk or Vogue beats. Modern music is something everyone usually loves.

What beauty advice would you have engraved on your tombstone?

Pauli Cakes: ‘You look beautiful when you resist beauty standards which are set to destroy you—and demon semen keeps the wrinkles away.’ I want to get cremated, though!

She Marley Marl: ‘You’re a reflection of what you put into your body. That’s not just food—it’s your relationships, your knowledge and the environment you choose for yourself.’

Follow @officebeautynyc for more of our favorite models, makeup artists and clubland looks.

Beauty

Kindred Black: Love for Our Mother

Throwing factory-produced recipes and excessive packaging to the wayside, the ethical beauty and scent brand collaborates with herbalists, farmers, and expert perfumers to create sustainable perfumes and cosmetics — while also marrying the worlds of art and beauty through their one-of-a-kind hand-blown glass vessels. Because beauty is truly an art, and we should decorate ourselves as worthy canvasses. office sat down with Kindred Black’s co-founders to discuss their unique process below.

What originally spurred you both to introduce a disruptive, apothecary-esque brand to the beauty scene?

Alice— I think it’s kind of age-old: I had this need in my own life and couldn’t figure out a way to fill that need in a way that aligned with my values. We’re both makeup and skincare lovers but with packaging being what it is, there was so much we didn’t feel right buying. We wanted an alternative where as much thought is put into the packaging as it is in the ingredients, where every single element of the line is considered.

Jen— We always said we’re not going to be the “please recycle this plastic bag” type of company — that’s such BS! Companies need to invest in alternatives so the public isn’t left guessing how to make their products more environmentally friendly. We spend a lot more money than we would have to if we just mass-produced bottles overseas and bottled up some pretty skincare. But we’re super anti-greenwashing — we want our behind-the-scenes to be 100% true to the ethics and values that we put out there to our community.

Your packaging — artisan-crafted glass bottles — really takes thoughtful production and consumption to the next level.

Alice— When we initially set out to design the collection, we envisioned a vanity with beautiful vessels, no branding, just pure oils and scents in colorful shapes and silhouettes. Life is already so cluttered; we think of the beauty routine as a quiet time, a private, sacred space. The entire line is plastic-free and every single item in the collection comes in an individually handblown glass vessel. Behind each bottle is an artist blowing out the glass, one by one. They’re not producing mass quantities; everything is designed to be treasured.

Tell me about the Kindred Black community. Not only do you work closely and travel to meet farmers and herbalists, but you also partner with artists and artisans for your one-of-a-kind glass bottles. What does this community mean to you?

Jen— They’re everything for us and we couldn’t have such a special line without them. We’ve met such extraordinary people doing this — a chemist turned perfumer who only creates using ancient methods of extraction with the flowers and plants that she grows. An herbalist that specializes in Sonoran Desert flora. Glass blowers from all over the country who show their work in museums and create our bottles one by one like unique sculptures. Even a collective in Mexico that creates bottles using glass from residents and restaurants because there is no municipal recycling. They all have different specialties, but our community shares a set of values when it comes to our planet.

You also mentioned that the brand is historically rooted. How does the past inform every scent, cosmetic, or rich skin serum?

Alice— We’re both hugely into history and just curious people. When you start to look into it, some botanicals have been used for thousands of years to heal and scent the skin and as primitive cosmetics and ‘medicine,’ dating back to the earliest civilizations. People have always used what’s around them for beauty. Our formulas all start with who used this plant, what for, and whether or not there is a good reason to still use it on the skin. For example, our Aker Fassi lip and cheek pigment is a recipe that makes use of a dried poppy flower that North African Berber women have used as makeup for centuries. It’s a beautiful, flattering shade of berry red and we were just so taken by its place in history.

What is your favorite scent you have created to date?

Jen— This is hard — I love Earthly because it’s just so different from anything I’ve ever smelled. It’s like grassy damp moss and violet leaves but also has a lot of lilac enfleurage in it. Not many people use real lilac because it’s incredibly difficult and time-consuming to make and has a more subtle scent than say a jasmine or a rose. But real lilac is incredible and complex.

Alice— Delta Dawn is my current favorite. It's a classic floral rose but has real depth to it — an underbelly. The star ingredient is a night-blooming Damask rose that’s harvested before the sun rises. You can smell the cool night air, but also the warmth and muskiness of the jasmine oil, known as the perfume of love.

How does art play a role in Kindred Black? Many of the handmade bottles sold are antique or vintage-inspired. Where did that shared interest spur from?

Alice— We’re both big collectors, verging on hoarders, and have shelves and boxes full of trinkets and treasures we’ve picked up over the years — everything from piles of shells and rocks to antique Lalique perfume vessels, antiquarian snuff bottles, folk art liquor jugs, and on and on. We often find ourselves using an old glass piece as a jumping-off point — or a piece that we’re lusting after in an auction or Museum catalog. The halls of The Met are filled with incredibly beautiful glass perfumes and cosmetic tinctures that have survived millennia. Pre-plastic everything, in the early 20th century, many cosmetics were refillable and came in the most exquisite packaging — lipsticks in sterling silver canisters, blush in bejeweled compacts. They were practically pieces of jewelry. We like to think of our bottles as precious objects that people will hold on to and cherish as the years go by.

You just launched your refill program. How do you hope this sways the wider beauty industry?

Jen— We were really excited to start doing refills for our skincare — like I said, our bottles are like little, individually made sculptures. We chose aluminum for the refills because the necks are wide enough to clean the bottle out and aluminum is the most easily recyclable material. We’re hoping that if a tiny company like ours can spend the money and do it, more of these million and billion-dollar brands will start paying attention to their footprint. They have such power to create real change, it’s heartbreaking so many of them choose to sidestep the opportunity.

Tell me about one of the strangest ingredients you have worked with.

Jen— We made a light summer perfume and skin treatment once to benefit the Ocean Conservancy and infused the ingredients with sea salt from the Sea of Cortez. Not a strange ingredient but it definitely gave the scent a unique profile. We once gathered large sacks of rose petals from the world’s largest rose bush that sits inside the courtyard of an old hotel in Tombstone, AZ. We had a lot of grand ideas for it but the petals couldn’t be cleaned well enough to be made into anything marketable, so we had to give up on it. Sometimes these experiments fail!

Alice— Maybe the strangest right now is quite widely used for cosmetics by everyone from Chanel on down because it’s a safe alternative to chemical dyes. The rich berry red of Night Venom is from a pigment that is made from the cochineal beetle, an insect native to parts of North and South America. It’s actually a stain that has been used for centuries – Cleopatra is said to have ground up the beetle in beeswax to achieve her renowned red lips. The Aztecs also used the pigment for dyeing and painting, and it was then brought back to Europe with their Spanish colonizers.

You just celebrated eight years. What do you hope is in store for the next few and how do you hope to continue revolutionizing the beauty space?

Jen— We’re always looking to make things less wasteful in everything we do. There’s always room to improve. We’d like for our line to be 100% refillable and are working on bottle design tweaks that would make that achievable. We’d also love to expand the glass operation down the road and begin recycling our own glass. Our mantra is “love for our mother” and it informs everything that we do.

Beauty

It's Good, it's Weird, it's GoodWeird

December 04, 2023

It’s Silly Bandz, Japanese denim, Maui Punch Pixy Stix, the model "dressed as the giant fur ball at the Christian Cowan show,"; it’s the highest compliment. Founders Jon Wormser and Stephen Yaseen have coined the term “Good Weird” to celebrate the beauty found in being athentically and uniquely yourself, as out there as that may be.

From the “Back from Vacay” bronzer to the “Balmy Weather” stick, Good Weird understands that beauty can be defined by universal experiences rather than conventional standards. Creative direction by Maui-born skate icon Evan Mock ensures that the brand takes a genderless, inviting approach to cosmetics. In our conversation with the trio, we delved deeper into what makes something truly good and weird.

Interview by Soph Lucina
Photos courtesy of GoodWeird

Sophia Lucina— Hi, I’m so stoked to have you all here. I’ve been loving your brand for a minute now. So, give me the rundown.

Stephen Yaseen— Yeah, well I’ve always been super into skincare, and on the beauty side, one of my first favorite products was this tinted sunscreen. It kind of introduced me to the idea of having a beauty product that also acted as a skincare item, something with immediate payoff. That was my conduit into me realizing that beauty doesn’t need to be reserved for a subset of people.

Jon Wormser— I’ve always been one to experiment with beauty products, which meant stealing products from my mom’s makeup … I was always wearing things incorrectly [laughs]. But that led me into this world we’ve built where beauty doesn’t need to fit the heavily pigmented, complicated product … something that doesn’t require a bunch of tools to use. Good Weird was founded out of frustration with the current product offering.

Evan Mock— For me, my earliest memory of using beauty products has to be when I was growing up in Hawaii and applying Shiseido sunscreen before going surfing and being on the beach.

SL— I think one thing that immediately stands out to me about you guys is how you’ve infused pop culture into your brand approach. What’s that been like for you?

JW— Well, obviously when we’re serving consumers like Gen-Z, it would be remiss to leave out pop culture. I think some people might see our branding and ask, “Why are there skateboards and surfboards?” ... for me, that’s the antithesis of mainstream, we wanted to emphasize that Good Weird is all about embracing your own shit, not letting societal structures and norms set expectations for what you should do.

SL— For sure. I can tell you bring in a certain crowd of people, and it’s dope. If you could tell me, what was the first idea you had for Good Weird?

SY— Yeah, so we wanted to go forward with this idea of minimizing the footprint of a product by combining a bunch of steps together, so it’s the concept of infusing skincare and low-pigment beauty, for a “beauty routine in a bottle”. Operationally, that concept didn’t actually work at first, so we ended up focusing on the “white space” in the beauty world, for people who are curious about entering a world that might not feel so welcoming.

JW— And that’s been the fun part for Stephen and I. We’ve gotten to experiment with how much pigment goes into a product, how much of a serum goes into a product. We’ll chat like “Well, I didn’t see much of [blank] at the store,” or “I like [blank] concealer, but it’s really intense,” and be able to share our ideas towards creating something new. We really jive when it comes to product development.

SL— Especially because you guys don’t have a precedent to go off of. You’re building something that we don’t see.

JW— Right, we’re trying to create a new lane. If we’re going off the beaten path, then it’s important that our products reflect that.

SL— How has the process of creating a “genderless” beauty product been? Why is that important to you guys?

EM— There really aren’t any other options for everyone that exists, until now with Good Weird. It's important that all aspects of life are inclusive to all, but also, who doesn’t want to look good?

SY— I think that the products that are super pigmented, part of “transformative” routines … don’t necessarily have to do with gender, even so we wanted to make products that anyone can feel comfortable using. With anyway you identify, from a gender perspective, everyone deserves to have beauty products that are accessible.

SL— I see. A less intimidating approach, so to speak.

SY— And of course, historically, the cohort demographic for the beauty industry is overwhelmingly female. So it’s really about giving everyone an intuitive, simple product with a low barrier to entry.

JW— A big barrier to entry for me growing up was having to use all these tools. If you look at our products, there are no tools required. Additionally, the way we’ve named our products — yes, “Back From Vacay” is a bronzer, but the name of the product is more emotive. It’s less intimidating to tell your friends, “I use this Good Weird product, called 'Back from Vacay’, instead of 'I use this bronzer.'"

... historically, the cohort demographic for the beauty industry is overwhelmingly female. So it’s really about giving everyone an intuitive, simple product with a low barrier to entry.

SL— For sure. These experiences “Balmy Weather”, “Back From Vacay”, aren’t gendered experiences. You’ll see other beauty products be labeled “Pure Seduction”, “Afterglow”, which evoke these sensual, intense, suggestively feminine experiences.

JW— And it’s not that we don’t like those words. But it’s all about making our products less intimidating. All of our stuff is buildable and sheer, so it can be another step in your routine, or it can be the main star.

SL— Evan, you’ve partnered with Jon and Stephen on creative direction. What's that been like?

EM— My job is to give the people what they want — do it with excellence and have fun doing it along the way. It’s been a great few months with Jon and Stephen, and the word is traveling fast.

JW— Evan was a muse to the brand before we even started working with him. He embodies the whole concept of “Good Weird”, he’s someone who can skate all day then wear a corset to a fashion show later that night. He also holds an amazing place in fashion and culture, and we wanted people in those spaces to feel open to trying the world of Good Weird.

SL— He’s someone that I can actually see reaching for these products, too. As the creative director, are you frustrated with any aspect of the current beauty climate?

EM— Yes, I think the general public’s view of what beauty is, needs to change. People need to realize that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes; it's also subjective.

SL— Subjective, yes. My last question for all of you — what’s something you’ve been recently thinking of as very “Good Weird”.

SY— Oh, yeah, let me think. Definitely what we’ve been posting on Instagram, the 90s vibes are very Good Weird, like those AI-generated yearbook photos.

JW— I’m trying to think of any moments from fashion week that stood out, even.

SL— The model dressed as the giant fur ball at the Christian Cowan show is very Good Weird, the smiley Collina Strada show — all of it.

JW— Exactly.

EM— Japanese denim, pickled mango … eating sunflower seeds with the shell still around it.

SL— Yes, heavy on Japanese denim. Even pickling your own vegetables?

JW— Any brands that feel like a nod to nostalgia. JNCO for sure.

SY— Anything that brings you back, anything that feels welcoming.

JW— Dippin’ Dots!

SL— Oh my gosh, and those spiky, jelly pens. I just saw a ring that was made out of that rubbery, jelly stuff. Well, you guys have created this great community, and I’m so excited to see where it goes. Thank you for taking this time.

SY— Thank you!

JW— Thank you.

EM— Thanks!