Welcome to Unstyled.

I'm your host, Christine Barberick, co-founder and global editor-in-chief of Refinery 29.

Each week, I invite a notable person to come in and talk with us as we explore the funny, inspiring, sometimes heartbreaking tales of life, work, and love, as told through the things that we wear.

In 2014, a journalist asked Cynthia Rivo, what she wanted to do next.

Cynthia was 27 years old, just a few years out of drama school and already making waves in the London theater scene.

She'd starred in West End musicals, stolen the show in an all-female production of Henry IV and been named one of Britain's best classical actors under the age of 30.

So what did she want to do next?

Everything, Cynthia answered.

I genuinely want to do everything.

It's a pretty ambitious career goal, but guess what?

She's pulling it off.

Cynthia became a Broadway fenum in 2015,

when she played the iconic lead role of Seeley in the color purple.

Her performance and her voice astonished audiences and critics alike.

It was, quote, like leather lungs soaked in honey, as one reviewer wrote.

Cynthia won a Tony for the role, and a Grammy, and an Emmy.

It was an incredible feat, but then again, Cynthia is nothing short of an incredible artist.

She's not just uniquely gifted.

She is a palpable force of vitality and strength.

Here's a fun fact.

She once ran a half marathon right before going to the theater to do the matinee show.

Maybe that's what you have to do if you want to do everything.

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