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. On the surface, Stephanie Danler's story reads like the Hollywood version of overnight success.

Her debut novel, Sweet Bitter, hit the lit scene hard in 2016,

becoming the cultural fiendum of the summer, and perhaps the most beloved and recognizable book

cover in recent memory.

The novel quickly morphed into a television series on stars, and unlike other shows

spun from best-selling books where the authors

are relegated to venerable fact-checking roles, Stephanie was at the helm, calling the shots and

creating the sweet, bitter series of her dreams. And adding to the wave of good fortune, just as production

for the second season was underway, Stephanie gave birth to her first child.

Sounds pretty dreamy, but Stephanie's real-life story boasts considerably less sparkle.

Having been raised in L.A. by a single mother, Stephanie as a teenager, was sent to live with her routinely absent and drug-addicted father.

She eventually attended Kenyon College, becoming estranged from

her parents and moving to New York to write. But like most people, she had to pay the bills, too.

So Stephanie secured a job at the legendary Union Square Cafe, owned by the equally legendary Danny

Meyer, who cultivated a famously close-knit family-first atmosphere

among his even closer-knit staff.

Here, Stephanie may have found the familial tie she had long yearned for

and fell headlong into the intoxicating subculture of Manhattan's restaurant world.

But the calling to write never really went away.

Shortly before opening her own wine bar,

...