Adriana de Moura: High-Flying Housewife

On a very steamy summer day, a photo shoot in the heart of the Magic City is being prepared. Stylists are steaming racks of couture ensembles, makeup artists are cleaning their brushes, and hairstylists are ensuring curling irons are ready. All is in place, except the cover girl, Adriana de…

Ruben Ubiera: King of the Walls

Look at Ruben Ubiera’s Wynwood murals and you’ll feel like you’re in an urban jungle — literally. The 36-year-old artist’s signature subject is a giant gorilla appearing in many forms: enraged, contemplative in a pair of eyeglasses, and even dainty, extending a delicate flower between thumb and forefinger. “The gorillas…

Belkys Nerey: Anchoring Miami

We always hear it’s best to “be yourself,” but what does that actually mean? In the case of WSVN weeknight anchor Belkys Nerey, it means ditching the format’s usual puffed-up hair and grim banter to be one of the most memorable people on local TV. The Cuban-born 46-year-old has a…

Julian Consuegra: Punk Rock by Design

Miami’s underground fashion scene may be small, but it has proven more than capable of producing world-class creatives. Take 24-year-old Julian Consuegra, a Miami Lakes native who has found success by paying homage to South Florida through clothes that sample the 305’s youth culture. His label, Stray Rats, uses strong…

Joseph Adler: Stage Maestro

Before GableStage’s renaissance, Miami’s theater scene was often derided as a clichéd assortment of Fiddler on the Roof fans and blue-haired condo dwellers. But when Joseph Adler took over the Biltmore Hotel’s intimate venue 15 years ago, he helped the city’s performing arts landscape inch its way toward creative evolution…

Emi Guerra: Gift of Gab

These days, Miami’s party scene is a contender for top spot worldwide. From Ultra Music Festival to Winter Music Conference and from the Electric Pickle to Treehouse, there are impressive events and venues in the 305. Right in the thick of things is Emilio “Emi” Guerra. At the tender age…

LaTrice Royale: Drag Royalty

With a full wig and high heels, she towers close to seven feet tall. She unapologetically flaunts her buxom frame, often draped in bright, curve-hugging outfits. Yet by far the biggest thing about LaTrice Royale is her spirit. On the most recent season of RuPaul’s Drag Race — the Logo…

Afrobeta: Perfect Pair

Afrobeta’s magnetic force and upbeat songs dare you not to dance. The duo has a look, feel, and sound that captures the energy of a midsummer Miami rave on the sand. Cuci Amador belts out tropical lyrics while Tony Smurphio mixes dance tracks behind her. Miami-bred, they attended Catholic school…

Rosie Herrera: Dancing Queen

Donning bright-blue frames, a loose-fitting dress, and not a stitch of makeup, Rosie Herrera glides into Starbucks like a beam of light. Once seated, she fidgets in her cushy chair, stretching her legs and moving her limbs. When emphasizing a point, she leans in over the armrest. It’s obvious she’s…

Henry Stone: Legendary Soul

Overtown, 1950. Henry Stone sits in the lobby of the Mary Elizabeth Hotel, a classy joint with a lounge, several bars, and a concert hall. He’s chopping it up with his buddy Sam Cooke, whom he’s known since his gospel days with the Soul Stirrers. They’re sitting at the bar…

Aholsniffsglue: Eyes of Genius

The car that changed Aholsniffsglue’s life came out of nowhere on a rainy night in midtown Miami. It sent him flying off his moped and onto the wet pavement, and then it sped away. The hit-and-run in June taught the maverick artist two things: First, it showed he had better…

Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Liberal Warrior

At some point in the past six months, Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been smack dab in the middle of your living room. It might have been on CNN, her irrepressible blond curls shaking as she sparred with Anderson Cooper. Or maybe you’re lucky enough to have hosted the Democratic National…

Brook Dorsch: Father Wynwood

Kids crunch food-truck tacos; long-haired, barefoot musicians strum and sing; and overdressed hipsters with mixed expressions watch performance art. Gallerist Brook Dorsch remembers a time before scenes like these dominated Wynwood. “It was a lot quieter,” he says of the days when he first purchased a place in the area…

Naomi Wilzig: Ms. Come Hither

It doesn’t have to have penetration for it to be erotic,” explains 77-year-old Naomi Wilzig. She’s standing next to an illuminated glass container that covers a white statue of Adam rising from the dust of the earth. “The expression on his face, the come-hitherness, is what makes it erotic.” Wilzig,…

Mitch Glazer: Magic City Muse

In the 1960s and ’70s, Mitch Glazer was just your average Miami Beach kid: going to Beach High, where his mother worked as an English teacher, skateboarding along Ocean Drive, and hanging out in the lobbies of the fancy hotels where his father worked. “As kids, we were the only…

Lauren “Lolo” Reskin: Blood, Sweat, and Tunes

“Music is my lifeline,” says Sweat Records owner Lauren “Lolo” Reskin. And why shouldn’t it be? Music courses through the veins of the Reskin family. Her father is a trumpet player and composer, and her grandmother and grandfather were musicians as well. Her late grandfather also opened the Allegro Music…

Brad Knoefler: Urban Revivalist

Will Miami ever become a metropolis on par with New York, Chicago, Paris, or London? Brad Knoefler hopes so. But he isn’t a condo developer planning to take the city sky-high or a politician hoping to score points. Instead, he’s an activist who firmly believes that a great city has…

The Jills: Dynamic Duo

For the average workaday joe, a $20 million home is like Cosette’s castle on a cloud in Les Misérables: something relegated to the land of dreams. But for those who can afford marble countertops, cathedral ceilings, gold-plated fixtures, and infinity pools, real estate mavens “the Jills” are the go-to team…

Rydel Deed: Speed Demon

When Rydel Deed began biking around Miami in 2006, drivers stared as if he’d wandered off the nude beach in Haul­over. When he invited others to join him later that year in Miami’s first Critical Mass ride, fewer than a dozen took him up on the offer. Flash forward to…