We started YOU SHOULD MEET to bring together rooms of ambitious, creative, and socially curious people in Los Angeles. A kind of environment where conversations happen naturally, and something meaningful can come from simply being in the right place at the right time.

This is a digital extension of that physical space. Each month, we’ll invite someone from our world — tastemakers, friends, creatives, and people we’re excited about — to share what they’re into, where they’re going, what they’re watching and reading, what they’re doing, and who they’re paying attention to.

For the first issue, we’re starting with us.

We’re Angela and Taylor, co-founders of YOU SHOULD MEET. We both grew up in LA and met at our first job in entertainment. While we started as coworkers (a moniker that still makes Angela roll her eyes whenever Taylor brings it up), we quickly became best friends and collaborators.

We bonded over a shared instinct to get to know everyone around us, stay tapped into culture, and always have a sense of what’s next. We also just genuinely have the best time together. We text each other all day, send an alarming number of recommendations back and forth, and frequently joke that we share a single brain cell.

WHAT WE’RE INTO RIGHT NOW

Restaurants:

• TJR’S Pick - Companion

  • I went to Companion recently for the first time and I was struck by how simple, yet delicious their menu is and how effective that was. I really enjoyed the large open windows that let the night beach-adjacent breeze into the space, and the large wooden tables at the front made everything feel so communal.

• Angela’s Pick - Vandell

  • A writer friend and I stopped by Vandell in Los Feliz for a drink and ended up staying much longer than planned for a burger, fries, and one more olive martini. Their martini is made with an olive brine crafted from olives cold-smoked over hickory for six hours, giving it a taste unlike any other martini I’ve had. As the founders Vay Su and Shawn Lickliter have said, Vandell isn’t just a neighborhood bar—it truly is a bar for the neighborhood.

Events:

• TJR’s Pick - Point Break Night Market (Mar Vista)

  • Hosted by Saba Surf, one of the cutest, most communal coffee shops in LA right now, their monthly Point Break Market is on my list of to-dos this summer. Saba takes over the entire block with their neighbors to host a fun night full of food, drinks, crafts and friends. The next installment is on July 2nd, the perfect activity to kick off your Fourth of July holiday weekend! (also, check out their vendor application if you want to pop up your business there.)

• Angela’s Pick - Good Boy and Friends (Arts District)

  • Good Boy & Friends, a new-school wine and food fest, has cemented its place on my summer bucket list. Wine, music, art, what else can you ask for? What I love most about the festival is that it makes wine culture feel fun for people like me who can only tell the difference between a wine based on its color. GB&F is a genuinely fun way to spend a summer evening in LA. See you there on June 27th! :)

Books:

• TJR’s Pick - Famesick by Lena Dunham

  • I’m certainly not the first or only person to recommend Lena Dunham’s honest and incredible new memoir, but I’d like to add my recommendation into the piles of others. Dunham’s exemplary writing style and the true rawness across every page simply imbues me with a desire to be more open in my own thinking and recollections of the past. Her stories are hilarious and dark and singular, and I especially love the nod to her favorite hotel in LA, the Sunset Tower.

• Angela’s Pick - Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara

  • Guidara’s philosophy that the most meaningful experiences come from making people feel seen and special inspired so much of what You Should Meet is. In his book, Guidara shares his journey transforming restaurant Eleven Madison Park into a world-renowned institution, showing how intentional acts of thoughtfulness can turn an ordinary experience into a truly unforgettable one.

Music:

• TJR’s Pick(s) - the feeling by Steve Lacy, The Bells by Jane Kristiansen, Fine by After Louise

• Angela’s Pick(s) - Don’t Speak by Loaded Honey, wouldn’t you like to know? by Reign Judge, 23 by Cleo Sol

PEOPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW

The people below are exactly why we started YSK. Some are longtime friends. Some are new collaborators. All are people we think you should know.

Parker Fenady | Filmmaker

Taylor: Parker and I have been friends since fifth grade, which means I’ve had a front-row seat to her artistic journey for most of my life. What I admire most about Parker is her ability to see something clearly before it exists. Whether she’s writing, directing, producing, or acting, she approaches every project with an unusual level of conviction and care. She’s ambitious, deeply collaborative, and the kind of person who leaves you feeling more excited about your own creative work after spending time with her.

Parker is a filmmaker and honors graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Her directorial debut, I Didn’t Like You, premiered as the Opening Centerpiece at NFFTY and has since screened at the American Cinematheque’s PROOF Festival, 50/50 Comedy, and has since been featured by Antigravity Academy, Cinegogue, and CAPE, and selected for Tasting Menu, a curated indie pilot platform. Alongside directing her own work, she’s produced multiple award-winning short films and currently serves as an Associate Producer on a comedy series for Paramount+.

Watch: I DIDN’T LIKE YOU
Follow: @parkerfenady

Kaya Stewart | Musician + Co-Founder, Penny Productions

Angela: I’ve known Kaya for over a decade, and she’s one of the most creatively fearless people I know. Over the years I’ve watched her move between music, performance, production, and entrepreneurship without ever losing her sense of curiosity or play. Whether she’s fronting a band, building a production company, or dreaming up a new project, she brings people into her orbit in a way that feels effortless.

Kaya recently launched Penny Productions, a full-scale production company with a mission to highlight and uplift female artists with her co-founder Ruby. She is also currently performing and releasing music as a member of Kiss Bang, with her partner/producer/guitarist Max Mercier.

Explore: Penny Productions
Follow: @kayastewart

Nikki Musighi | Founder, Asal Archive

Angela: Nikki is one of those people who has an incredible eye and an even stronger point of view. Her love of fashion comes from a deeply personal place, and everything she touches feels intentional, thoughtful, and uniquely her own. She’s also someone who constantly pushes herself to try new things, and that’s a quality I’ve always admired.

Through her curated vintage company Asal Archive, she’s built a world around vintage clothing, jewelry, and storytelling that reflects her taste and curiosity. Named after Nikki’s middle name, asal—the Persian word for “honey”—Asal Archive is rooted in the belief that clothing carries stories, memories, and energy from one life into the next. You can find Nikki popping up in person on both the east and west sides of LA, so look out for her next IRL shopping experience!

Explore: Asal Archive
Shop: Depop
Follow: @nikkimusighi

Robby Wong | Founder, Bar Kopitiam

Taylor & Angela: Robby is a newer friend, but he’s quickly become one of our favorite people to collaborate with. What we love most about Robby is that he approaches hospitality as both a scientific, precise craft and an art form. He sees the cocktail development process as his own form of storytelling through a tangible form. And we agree — every drink we’ve tasted feels thoughtful, intentional, and deeply personal. His generosity, creativity, and willingness to help bring ideas to life made him an essential part of THE MATCH, and we’re very glad to know him.

Robby is the founder of Bar Kopitiam, his pop-up cocktail experience. He’s been in the restaurant industry for seven years, and has been bartending for the last two. You can also find Robby running the cocktail program at Bar Etoile. Go visit him and tell him the YSM gals sent you!

Explore: Bar Kopitiam
Follow: @shehatesrhude

FROM THE ROOM: THE MATCH

We shaped a room full of people we thought should know each other — and then watched it come to life.

The idea behind THE MATCH was simple: bring together ambitious, creative, and curious people, make a few introductions, and let the rest happen naturally. We call it designed serendipity. Everyone in the room was there intentionally. What happened from there was completely up to them.

Over the course of the night, strangers became friends, introductions turned into conversations, and conversations turned into plans, ideas, and real connection.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped shape the experience.

Thank you to Estephanie Barrera, who brought the visual identity of YOU SHOULD MEET to life through our branding, logo, and designs, and to MATCHAHADME aka Nadia Fallahi, who built our website and invite experience, creating the first touchpoint for everyone who joined the room.

Robby Wong and his pop-up cocktail experience, Bar Kopitiam, brought the bar to life with a menu created specifically for the evening, giving people one more reason to linger a little longer and start one more conversation.

We’re also incredibly grateful to our beverage partners — De Soi, Sake High, Wonderwerk, and SipMARGS — for helping create a room that felt welcoming, social, and generous from the moment guests arrived.

As a thank you to the YSM community, Wonderwerk has shared a discount code for readers of YOU SHOULD KNOW (how cool!).

Use code THEMATCH20 for 20% off your first order.

Thank you to our artists, Vivian Geilim, Naima Rasheed, and Nino Collias, for sharing their work and helping transform our lounge space into something guests could experience, explore, and talk about throughout the night.

And thank you to Ari Dyrek for setting the soundtrack for the evening and helping shape the energy of the room from start to finish.

We’ve included the playlist we shared with Ari while building the sonic direction for the night at the end of this newsletter. Take a listen.

Finally, thank you to everyone who showed up with curiosity, openness, and a willingness to meet someone new.

Whether you left with a new friend, collaborator, creative partner, or simply a memorable conversation, we hope THE MATCH was the beginning of something meaningful.

In the few days since the event, we’ve already heard from guests who are collaborating on creative projects, attending one another’s events, making professional introductions, and continuing relationships that sparked in the room.

That’s exactly why we started YOU SHOULD MEET.

We’re still thinking about the energy, generosity, and unexpected connections that filled the room and we couldn’t be more excited to see what grows from them.

More soon. And next month, we’ll be introducing YSK’s first official guest editor!

— Taylor & Angela