FEMININOMENON

Joanna Coles’ Power 100 Luncheon Returns to New York

With flair, just like the Daily Beast CCO herself.

Picture this: A group of trailblazing female journalists, artists, and businesswomen walk into a bar.

It isn’t the opening of a joke, but rather the scene of Thursday’s Power 100 lunch in midtown Manhattan, the latest installment of the elite, twice-yearly event hosted by The Daily Beast’s Chief Creative and Content Officer, Joanna Coles, and Uber.

“We’ve got CEOs, we’ve got COOs, we’ve got CMOs, we’ve got so many C-words here,” Coles quipped from behind a podium at The Modern, a Michelin-starred restaurant.

“When I started this, I had taken over at Cosmo, I didn’t know enough people,” she said. “I wanted to meet interesting, lively women. And then when I met them, if they didn’t know each other, I wanted them to connect with each other.”

She then issued a simple mandate for the afternoon: “Exchange numbers, plot something, preferably, that will make the patriarchy very uncomfortable.”

The guest of honor at Coles’ latest installment of the event was Lesley Stahl, a 14-time Emmy winner and longtime correspondent for CBS News’ storied 60 Minutes.

Tech journalist and podcaster Kara Swisher introduced Stahl, praising the 84-year-old for “blazing trails for all of us.”

“Especially in this post-truth age….it’s critically important for people to have a consistency about reporting facts,” Swisher said. “And as Christiane Amanpour says, ‘truthful, not neutral.’”

Swisher then pointed to Stahl’s detailed report on violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank, which aired last month on 60 Minutes, calling it “astonishing.”

“I was just astonished at how you handled that,” she said, calling Stahl an “inspiration.”

“And I don’t have that many inspirations, to be honest with you,” she quipped. “Right now, pretty much just the pope—I’m like the worst Catholic, too.”

Stahl, for her part, accepted the Tiffany & Co.-designed trophy and was met with a standing ovation.

“You know, it doesn’t matter how old you are,” said Stahl. “You can still have the best day of your life. Here I am, having the best day of my life.”

“What I have learned is that we need our we need women friends,” Stahl said. “I think it goes back to the cave when the men went out to hunt, and we stayed home in a circle and just talked to each other. And so we need that.”

Coles’ latest installment of the event offered a much-needed reprieve for some media attendees who had spent the week reporting relentlessly on the big blue tsunami that flipped the House and Senate back to Democratic control on Tuesday night.

In addition to Stahl and Swisher, journalists and media figures in attendance Thursday included CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King, MS NOW anchor Stephanie Ruhle, legendary PBS NewsHour host Judy Woodruff, NBC News correspondent Laura Jarrett, the novelist and journalist Holly Petersen, and Meredith Kopit Levien, CEO of The New York Times.

Also among the guests were actresses Cynthia Nixon, Melora Hardin, and Bellamy Young, and WNBA star Napheesa Collier. Political figures including author Mary Trump, and Huma Abedin, the high-profile aide to Hillary Clinton who is married to Alexander Soros, the youngest son of the billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, also made an appearance. And the pioneering lawyer Robbie Kaplan, the banker Anne Finucane, as well as Annie Duvnjak, Uber’s global head of autonomous mobility operations, and make-up artist and entrepreneur Bobbi Brown.

The guests feasted on blood-orange spritzes and bone-dry French martinis, paired with hors d’oeuvres including crispy tempura Mission figs with basil, peekytoe crab salad with Meyer lemon and crispy rice, and smoked trout rillette with fine herbs on toasted brioche.

For their main course, attendees were served heaping portions of branzino with crispy potatoes and Green Circle heritage chicken.

By the event’s conclusion, Coles’ mandate to meet and connect with one another appeared to have been a smashing success.

The room buzzed with animated conversation long after guests received their parting gifts, which included a custom-branded “Ladies Who Lunch” tote and a pair of Sonos Ace Ultra Headphones.

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Earlier in the day, Stahl said she had always followed her late mother’s advice, with one exception.

“She told me, ‘Never trust other women,’” she recounted. “It was really the only thing I defy her on, because I do trust other women, and my girlfriends are important to me.”

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Laura EspositoBreaking News Reporter

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