People Profiles

By Nick Moschella It’s less than a month to showtime, and Michael Goodman is experiencing a dose of diva-like anxiety. Do his pumped-up cheekbones need another shot of filler? Will Botox relax his furrowed forehead? Is he skinny enough to strut through a rack of skin-revealing outfits? Oh, how Michael Dean as Cher wishes he

By Nick Moschella Perhaps it was destiny that physician Jordan Steinberg would one day meet Yesenia and Rolando Aguiar and their 6-year-old son, Roy. The Aguiars figured a toothache was causing the pain Roy felt on the left side of his face last summer, but a trip to the dentist ruled out that possibility. When

Looking back, do you have any sense of why Rothstein turned himself in, instead of disappearing to a country, like Morocco, with no extradition to the U.S.? In God’s Ponzi, Gregory Portent speculates for about a half page as to why Rothstein did what he did—including this idea that, if you leave the U.S., you

Gregory Portent needs $42 million by the end of the week to exact his revenge and prove, among other things, that “lawyers aren’t heroes.” The elaborate Ponzi scheme he’s running, a seemingly foolproof enterprise driven by artificial intelligence, has been by blindsided by an unforeseen black swan event. “If I can’t fix this … bad

Though an African-American physician in Chicago, Daniel Hale Williams, is credited with performing an open-heart procedure in 1893 by closing a stab wound to the organ, it would be more than a half-century before a series of breakthroughs slowly shed light on all that was possible involving cardiac surgery. Developments during the mid-20th century, including

In interior design, a professional’s rise in the industry typically takes time. It can mean starting at the bottom of a company, gaining experience with clients, and finding and perfecting an aesthetic that resonates, all before even thinking about striking out on your own. Plus, in South Florida, where designers and firms abound, the competition

Back in the Game Lauren’s father had bought her brother tickets to a New York Rangers hockey game for his birthday. And she was not happy about the male-bonding thing. “I must have been 6, and I said to my dad, ‘Excuse me, do you think because I’m a girl that I don’t want to

Kelly Hyman can still hear the anguish and desperation in their voices. Feel the pain ravaging their bodies. Understand the anger and the determination to seek justice. Hyman was an attorney for hundreds of women suffering from the horrific complications connected to transvaginal mesh implants—devices used to repair weakened bladder and pelvic areas. Clients cited

The irony, Lauren Brill will tell you, is that English never revealed itself in school as an entrepreneurial path, let alone the life-altering off-ramp in her healing journey. As a youngster growing up in Rockland County, New York, math was her academic jam, a subject easily digested by her logical, incisive mind—although, given Lauren’s opinionated,

Devin Braddock Corporate pastry chef, Ariete Hospitality Group Back story: The prodigious talent that has made Braddock a household name in Miami pastry circles runs in the family. Her grandmother was an elaborate cake decorator in Tampa, where Braddock grew up; she cooked out of a baking kitchen inside her house. “I’d see her forming

Luis Vasquez Executive pastry chef, Miami Beach Edition Back story: The native of Caracas, Venezuela recalls cooking in the kitchen with his father and decorating cakes with his mother at a young age. But, early on, it was his love of painting and sculpting that fueled his creative energy. But the worlds of art and

Deborah Williams Owner, Chewy Suz Back story: Though Williams ultimately took the road likely never before traveled to achieve notoriety as a pastry chef, it didn’t start out that way. The South Florida native has loved baking since she was a youngster. In particular, she was immensely fond of the peanut butter cookies that her