LORENA JUSINO

TIKTOK’S FAVORITE BARISTA

BY ADAM KLUGER

Lorena, your Calla Lily character is so awesome, how did you create her?

Since moving to New York I’ve heard people talk about Bushwick somehow like it is in the Calla Lily skit. A few months ago, my friend Dalí was describing Bushwick that way and told me to watch the SNL Bushwick sketch which I thought was hilarious and pretty accurate to some parts of Bushwick I know. A few days before I did the first “Bushwick Coffee Shop” video I went to a really cool coffee shop and the barista was really kind and had a really soft soothing voice. A couple of days later I told Dalí about that coffee shop and that it was just like she had described places in Bushwick. And then she made a comment that inspired the line “Do you want a bit of CDB oil?”. After that, I decided to make the first video. At first, I thought about making it an LA coffee shop because I thought it would be too far-fetched to make a coffee shop in Brooklyn like that. But I’ve never been to LA so I decided to make it more specific to my experience. After posting the first video I received a lot of comments saying it was accurate. I started visiting more coffee shops in Bushwick and that inspired me to make more videos. The video where I say that we don’t have egg and cheese bagels was based on a recent experience I had where I was craving one and the barista told me they didn’t serve those there. I was shocked that a New York coffee shop didn’t have eggs and cheese bagels. One of the commenters asked me the character’s name and I googled flower names and I thought Calla Lily was fitting. I think this character resonates with people because they either had similar experiences at coffee shops they’ve been to or because I’m talking in a very calm soothing way that’s relaxing. I’ve received many comments that it’s like ASMR. And there’s also the outrageous comedic side of it.

What got you interested in comedy?

I’ve never thought of myself as funny. I loved doing funny videos as a kid but it has never been my intention to get into comedy. I always wanted to be an actress but I was too afraid to pursue it. I’m from Puerto Rico and when I was in college I came to NYC for a semester as part of a student exchange program. I took an acting class and fell so in love with it that I decided to pursue it as a career. After college, I officially moved to NYC to study acting at the William Esper Studio. It was during my second year there that I did a couple of comedic scenes and people were saying that I could be really funny. After graduating from the studio was cast in a comedy sketch show called “A Sketch of New York”. After that, I was in a couple of other short plays that were comedic. I joined TikTok during the lockdown in March. Since I’m not a dancer and it takes me days to learn a simple 15-second dance I thought that learning TikTok dances would be a good way to keep me distracted and entertained. Then I discovered that you can use different audios and create a situation out of them or make them like memes. And eventually, I started getting ideas to create my own characters. I’ve been handling this year by taking it day by day. I eat healthily and work out. That really helps ease anxiety. I’m introverted so I enjoy being home which helps. I’ve been reading and watching movies and series.

What do you think of TikTok?

I love TikTok. There’s something for everyone. There are health experts and teachers educating people in really fun ways. I also follow a couple of therapists that give great advice. There are activists using TikTok to bring awareness and get their message across. And you have actors like me using TikTok as a creative outlet. One of the things that makes me laugh the most is when people recreate famous movie scenes and they play all the roles. Two of them are @julianburzynski and @cocodevile. Other hilarious creators are @ flossybaby and @brodywellmaker. Then some of the ones that inspired the content I do are @kallmekris, @ jen_nicole33, @actressbecc, and @itscaitlinhello. My TikTok handle is @lorenazoejt and my Instagram is @ lorenazoe

Cool! If I were to pick out some other terrific/hilarious TikTok stars I would also add @michaelrapaport for his political rants, @shannonfiedler13 for her impressions, @leresatee for her stand-up, and @ ameliasanson for her take on dating... So Lorena, aside from serving up smiles and delicious coffee infused with the energy of moonbeams, any other with future plans?

My goal at the moment is to be a working actress. I want to get cast on a film or series and once the theaters are open again I want to do plays.

Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin

ROCKEFELLER CENTER AT CHRISTMASTIME

BY JADAN HORYN | PHOTOGRAPHED BY LILLY GABRIEL

Rockefeller Center at Christmastime - that quintessentially New York holiday spectacle. My Publisher warmly suggested I join the thronged sidewalks and walkways around Mr. Rockefeller’s famous tree for a photoshoot with a Vanderbilt and an eminent fashion designer.

I must admit, at first, I was less than amused. But Christmas in New York City can charm the Scrooge out of anyone. I donned my most outrageously ostentatious coat - metallic lilac - an item I’d first seen IG influencer Jay Gould wear, and set out on the town certain that I would be easy to find even amongst the holiday hubbub.

As I walked down the five blocks of Fifth Avenue from my apartment to the tree, I did my best to enjoy the Christmas carnival and try to get into the holiday spirit. It’s not every day that someone meets a Vanderbilt - that storied family of New York, Newport, and Palm Beach, - or a polymath fashion designer. Today I have the very rare opportunity of interviewing them both for a holiday song they did together.

A strange situation by anyone’s standards, even in 2020, but a highly intriguing one. I learned from my wife that you could not get close enough to the Rockerfeller Tree for a photo-op due to Covid-19 restrictions, so Lily, my photographer, and I scrambled to find a suitable change of venue.

Our quest led us into the crowds across from Saks Fifth Avenue, justling for a spot to take photos of the tree with my interviewees. Bah HumBug.

I missed a call as Lily and I tried to line up the new angle for the shoot. Lily bumps my arm. I look up and there is a woman- striding towards me like Carrie Bradshaw on the catwalk in a lustrous green chartreuse knee-length pleated dress with a matching feather-trimmed frock coat and bright coral scalloped stilettos. She was radiant and smiling ear to ear. I relaxed, you can’t fake that type of joy, she saw my coat and laughed.

“Aren’t you striking” she says to me, a statement, not a question. “I love that coat, you look absolutely stunning.” She looks up at me, towering over her despite her gleaming stilettos and says you look like a Californian - I laugh. A common mistake. It’s the Florida tan and curly surfer hair.

She smiles again this time even bigger, I turn and behind me is a man dressed head to toe in a beautiful shiny cobalt royal blue widelapeled suit brocaded with subtle palm trees and slightly upturned shoulders paired with bell-bottom trousers. He looks dashing with perfectly styled jet-black hair and a youthful face. He sees her and immediately starts beaming - a real smile - and suddenly I’m in the holiday mood.

Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin, or the rebel heiress as Page 6 as the society rags love to label her, is the 7th descendent of Cornelius Vanderbilt. She was named for Consuelo Vanderbilt - this part is important later, Consuelo has carved out a life for herself separate from her family’s heavy legacy as a singer and entrepreneur.

Malan Breton hails from Taiwan. He charged into the New York scene as a model, who then took up designing, then television, eventually starting his own fashion company, and lately he has branched out into music.

Their energy is palpable. They’re clearly dear friends, and real ones. The photoshoot progresses from Rockefellerto Saks and then on Malan’s suggestion up to the Plaza Hotel and Bergdorf’s.

As we set up to shoot in front of Bergdorf’s, a gentleman walks out holding a Bergdorf bag. He says to me “they are famous”, another statement not a question. I say yes it’s Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin and Malan Breton. He informs me has seen Malan on TV and as for Consuelo, “She is named no doubt for Consuelo Vanderbilt who was married off to some British royal who never loved her, she missed her family dearly and always longed for home.”

New Yorkers never cease to amaze. But his remark sticks with me, after all, the holiday single they recorded together is “I’ll be home for Christmas.”

We hail cabs and head down to our lunch reservation in RockefellerPlaza.

We walk into Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, one of the few remaining restaurants that take reservations for indoors and outdoors around the plaza. It’s cold out but not typical December weather. I check-in with the hostess and my subjects assure me they are comfortable with whatever I choose. I get us a private table in the back. I’ll need to hear this conversation.

We sit down, the service is Covid slow, but we hardly notice. I am a new friend amongst old friends. The vibe is congenial and direct, the engrossing kind of conversation one can only have in the company of those with whom one enjoys comfortable trust.

I dropped awkward formalities and jumped right in, “This year sucks, is that why you did this song to provide some hope?”. Consuelo

entertainment laughs and Malan does too, light and resounding. She says “well yes that is kind of the point right;” Malan dead eyes me and says “yes for others and ourselves.”

Consuelo shared with me that she “lived a very nomadic life while growing up and home was never really a place but an idea. An idea that gave such warmth and hope. It was this idea of home that drew me to I’ll be home for Christmas.”

I’ll be home for Christmas is one of those Christmas songs that can be overwrought, cliche, and sappy. To be sure, Consuelo and Malan’s rendition feels like it could go that way, yet it doesn’t. Opening with a warm brass instrumental, Malan’s voice punctuates it with an enunciation that is deep and resonates like a less jazzy Michael Bublé. Consuelo joins with a sultry timbre, and together, their voices provide rich yet contrasting brogues with distinct hints of their origins. The song hits the mark - but in 2020 it’s so much more than just holiday music.

It’s been some four odd years since Consuelo created an album. She was direct in admitting that she’d fallen out of love with music and found entrepreneurship more rewarding. Being a woman in business is daunting and Consuelo clearly enjoys a challenge. Her link to Malan is due to fashion; they were fast friends and became collaborators mostly in the business realm. Malan, ever the renaissance man, built his own multi-billion dollar company yet found he had to expand his passions. He is an accomplished pianist, one of the many talents this prodigious man has. 2020 happened, in all its destructive chaos, and both found themselves drawn back to music.

Christmas music.

We spoke for over four hours - Consuelo’s phone rang multiple times, Malan’s did likewise. Both stayed enraptured in the conversation as it moved from one subject to the next but maintained focus on the human aspects of their stories. It was a rare moment that I felt privileged to witness. In this most trying of years, two friends sought to provide comfort to themselves and to those around them. To use the authentic spark of love and friendship between them, combined with their skills as musical artists, to share something magical with a weary world.

Their kindness and their music are a gift to all those that hear it.

And a powerful reminder of what’s been lost in the many social distances of 2020.

I felt full of electric energy and Christmas cheer, and hoping that next year, we’ll all be a little closer together.