Springtime & The State of Becoming with Melissa Sol Lee

Welcome to the first installment of our interview series. Follow along as we spend the day with one of our Du Muses, a woman who inspires us and embodies what we're all about. For our first installment, influencer and tech visionary Melissa Sol Lee was the obvious choice. After all, she's been in our corner since the beginning.

Melissa is the kind of person who moves through the world with a steady curiosity, drawn to fashion, travel, and tech. She's thoughtful, introspective and continuously interested in personal growth. Melissa wants what she does to mean something, not just look good from the outside. It's an endless endeavor, the state of becoming, and one Melissa greets with open arms.

It's 11:30 am and Melissa shows up to our headquarters, prompt and with an air of elegance that stems from more than just her impeccable fashion sense. We catch up, curious about her trip to NYC so far. Social life vibrant and filled to the brim, Melissa's been making the rounds while balancing her demanding work life despite the tumultuous weather.

Winter has worn the city down: you know it, I know it, the pigeons on the street know it. For months, it felt like the thaw of spring might never come to melt the grey slush lining every block. But today, serendipitously, the weather is warm, with azure skies and brilliant sunlight above. We plan on making the most of it with Melissa.

Our itinerary takes shape between conversation and camera, starting with snapping a few photos at our HQ, gabbing and grabbing coffee at Bryant Park, and ending with a stroll through the New York Public Library before soaking up the sun on its front steps.

Melissa's Hot Takes:

Vintage or New?

New

Silk or Cashmere?

Silk

Heels or Flats?

Heels

Mini or Maxi?

Maxi

Uptown or Downtown?

Uptown

Coffee or Tea?

Coffee

As we guide Melissa up to our rooftop to snap another round of photos, I comment that she could be a modern-day Rapunzel, hair catching the light as she gazes across the city skyline.

How do you balance working in tech, influencing, and your personal life?

(Laughs) It's tough. The balance comes down to ruthless prioritization, especially in my personal life. I want to be able to care for my friends and family and that means finding people and investing in connections that feel aligned rather than having a broad network of acquaintances. It's been really helpful to learn how to prioritize myself and say no to things. Simultaneously working full-time in tech and influencing means constant context switching, so l've been learning how to slow down and give myself moments to reset. I started working out more so that's helped too.

What's your favorite place in NYC?

My favorite restaurant has been Torrisi. They have this prawn pasta that's 10/10. It's expensive but I sometimes like to treat myself, to just go there alone, sit at the bar and have pasta.

When looking for a new piece for your wardrobe, what are some qualities you search for?

I always look at the composition and quality. If I'm buying a sweater I look for wool or cashmere blends. You can really tell the quality of something by the way it's cut, how it's sewn. As I got to know my personal style more, I got a lot more picky. I ask myself questions like, "How does it fit into my wardrobe? Is it something that I would wear over time, will it last? I'm a lot more intentional about what clothing I buy now.

What Du & Berry piece is the most "Melissa"?

This one that I'm wearing now (points at our Moonlight Silk Halter Top). This top is 100% silk, and I love silk pieces. It's so feminine, elegant and easy to style. I like that it's simple but with enough detail to make it very special. That's very much my style. I find beauty in simplicity and the Moonlight Silk Halter Top is a testament to that.

How do you balance dressing when working from home versus going out?

I think it actually makes it a lot more fun. At home, I dress for comfort and since I work in tech, the dress code is very casual. I’m usually in hoodies or athleisure and don’t really get to wear actual “office wear”. So working from home makes me want to dress the best I can when I have the chance to go out with friends or to dinner.

At Bryant Park, we settle in and conversation flows easily, moving from relationships to ideologies to the meanings behind our last names: the kind of talk that makes time slip. We walk to the New York Public Library and pass through the marble arches, ornate ceilings and palpable history.

I ask her to describe her personal style. "Elegant, modern and feminine, although I do like unisex styles a lot, like blazers, contemporary pieces like that. I always leaned towards more mature styles, even when I was a teenager." She pauses for a moment, thoughtfully tracing the origins of her style. "I think part of that comes from my mom. She was a fashion model and her style was very much Burberry coat, blazers, button downs. I'll show you pictures later. She's always been very classy and elegant so I naturally gravitated towards those styles."

When she shows us photos of her mother, it makes perfect sense that she's such a natural at posing. It seems an ease in front of the camera has been passed down to her along with her mother's impeccable style.

What's something you wish people knew about you?

I think I'm very multidimensional and have a lot of interests outside of what I show on socials. My feed is very curated and about fashion, but a big part of my identity is tech, specifically Al and Al safety. I do a lot of research and attend a lot of Al conferences - things like that - which is hard to tell by my content alone.

If you could go back in time 5 years and tell your past self something, what would it be?

That everything you dreamed of will come true so keep working hard and stay focused. In moments of doubt or insecurity, train yourself and your mind to overcome those obstacles. It's okay to experience those feelings but it's important to learn to dismiss them too.

What advice would you give to women who are in a state of becoming?

Fully embrace your own desires and don't be shy to express them out loud. Ask for things that you want. I think a lot of people are filled with self-doubt and think, "I want this thing for myself but am I allowed to want that?" Believing in yourself and fully embracing your desires while also recognizing you're not fully there yet but will be one day is crucial.

We could not agree more. I ask her what she's up to the rest of the day. She tells us she's meeting up with a friend to learn Mahjong at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA). She's never played before, but I get the sense she's going to be an expert by the time our paths cross again.

As we bid her farewell, I can't help but feel like maybe springtime really is around the corner. Perhaps Melissa brought the good weather with her.