As founders of fashion line MONSE and creative directors at Oscar de la Renta, Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia have transcended their industry with a partnership that’s more than the sum of its parts.
The pair, who are best friends, met while working at Oscar de la Renta on the label’s design team. They immediately bonded under the mentorship of Oscar and began to form their distinctive vision and point of view. Later in their careers they returned to Oscar de la Renta as creative directors, and in 2016 they launched their own fashion label, MONSE.
World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma has spent more than 60 years connecting people with music. Now, the Grammy Award–winning artist is sharing that experience with you. Whether you’re a performer, a music lover, or simply a curious person, learn how music offers a way to develop connections, imagine new possibilities, and create strong communities.
For the groundbreaking mathematician, logical thinking goes beyond theorems and solutions—it’s the key to changing minds and, in some cases, saving lives.
Terence Tao loves a tough problem—the kind that makes you sweat. His work in number theory ¹ and quantum mechanics has solidified his reputation as one of the most powerful minds on the planet, all while opening countless eyes to the beauty, artistry, and universal relevance of mathematical thinking.
An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field. – Niels Bohr
George Stephanopoulos, former White House communications director, and co-anchor of Good Morning America, teaches techniques for communicating under pressure. Learn how to leave your comfort zone to become a stronger, more confident communicator and have purposeful conversations with everyone.
Long-distance legend Joan Benoit Samuelson teaches her personal approach to running so you can go further in running and in life. The record-breaking, Olympic gold medal-winning runner’s career is a study in listening to your body, channeling your passion into goals, and overcoming setbacks with resilience. Winner of the very first women’s Olympic marathon, Joan Benoit Samuelson has spent her life breaking records and paving the way for female runners around the world. Now she’s teaching her personal philosophy and approach to running.
Born in 1946, President Clinton spent his earliest years at the home of his grandparents, Edith and Eldridge Cassidy, while his mother attended nursing school (his father had tragically died in a car accident several months before he was born). When he was four years old, his mother remarried, and the family moved to the lively resort town of Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Hillary Rodham Clinton was the first woman to be nominated for the presidency by a major political party in the U.S. and the first woman to win the popular vote. She was New York’s first female senator, and so far she is the only First Lady (the official title of a U.S. president’s wife) to serve in elected office.
The core of being resilient is to have strong values and a sense of mission.
After watching Lewis Hamilton’s Masterclass session on developing a winning mindset, I have a renewed sense of respect for Hamilton. In the video, Hamilton takes the viewers on a journey of his 28 years driving career: The false starts, failures, his training regimen, recovery, cross-training routine (Surf, Skydiving, Snowboarding, Rock climbing), role models (Lewis Father, Muhammed Alli, Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda), imperfections (anger),team building, leadership, having fun and trusting the process. One of the most impactful and inspiring masterclass session have seen and have seen quite a few of them.
Lewis Hamilton is considered one of the greatest Formula One driver of all times. He has driven more laps in first place than any other driver in history. He’s tallied more than one hundred race victories, an all-time record, and captured seven Formula 1 World Championship trophies, matching another all-time record.
Growing Up
Lewis was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England, in 1985; by the age of six, he was showing a preternatural gift for racing remote-control cars, routinely beating his teenage and adult opponents around the miniature courses. Impressed by his son’s hand-eye coordination and reaction speed, Lewis’s father bought him a go-kart, a definitive step on the path to becoming a professional racing driver. He proved a precocious talent behind the wheel, winning his first karting championship in 1995 at the age of ten—the youngest driver to do so at the time. At an awards ceremony in London that year, Lewis started mapping out his future.
Be Bold
“Ayrton Senna was my favorite driver…the team that he drove for [McLaren F1] was owned by a guy called Ron Dennis. And Ron Dennis was there,” Lewis recalls of the event. “So I went to Ron, and I said, ‘One day I wanna drive for you and be World Champion.’” And so it was: After notching two more karting championships, in 1996 and 1997, Lewis was recruited into the McLaren Young Driver Programme, securing his place in the Formula 1 pipeline.
Since signing with the powerhouse Mercedes-AMG Petronas team for 2013, Lewis has claimed the World Championship in six of the seven following seasons, tying the career record for Formula 1 titles—and breaking dozens of other records along the way. (His dominance has drawn comparisons to the likes of Michael Jordan.) He’s also become a formidable figure in pop culture, appearing on the cover of GQ magazine, releasing a clothing line with American fashion icon Tommy Hilfiger, voicing characters in Disney’s animated film franchise Cars and the bestselling video game Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and garnering a mass following on social media.
In 2020, having established himself as England’s most decorated Formula 1 driver, Lewis was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
Nothing can dim the light which shines from within. – Maya Angelou
Social Initiatives
Noting the demographics of his field (Lewis is the only Black driver in Formula 1, and he says similar disparities exist throughout the sport in design, engineering, and other technical roles), he launched the Hamilton Commission, a task force focused on increasing representation in motorsport. He’s also earmarked nearly $30 million to support initiatives benefiting math and science students of color through his charity organization, Mission 44. Having a sense of purpose hasn’t only rejuvenated Lewis personally— he says it’s actually boosted his performance on the racetrack
Elite Sport
The Real Price of Competing. Even for privileged drivers, racing can be prohibitively expensive. In a 2015 interview with the English business publication Raconteur, Toto Wolff, head of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team, revealed the costs of going pro: He estimates that between a junior karting career, four seasons in lower Formula series, and the expenses of transitioning into Formula 1, the total price amounts to more than $9 million.
Write It Down.
When you encounter a situation with multiple stakeholders, or find yourself the center of an information-transmission scenario, keep detailed personal notes and copies of any reports or related materials. It may sound simple, but the ability to reference them later (and, thus, efficiently move between teams and sub-teams while collecting intel) can prove invaluable.
Coping With Failure.
Lewis spent more than a decade climbing the ladder to Formula 1, frequently joining new series. Sometimes, he won the championship in his rookie season; other times, he came in fifth or twentieth. One year, he crashed so much that he wondered whether he had what it took to race professionally. Enduring multiple failures—especially those that feel so profound, they make you question your path—is part of the process.
MasterClass is a streaming platform that makes it possible for anyone to learn from the very best. MasterClass is an online membership – accessible on your phone, web, Apple TV, Roku devices, and Amazon Fire TV – that offers classes on a wide variety of topics taught by 90+ world-class masters at the top of their fields.
Their immersive learning experiences combine incredible video content, downloadable materials, and social interaction with the MasterClass community, all of which users can explore at their own pace.
The annual membership is available for $180 USD, which allows unlimited access to ALL on demand MasterClass content for the year
For the first time ever on MasterClass, a diverse range of our instructors come together to talk about the power of empathy and how it can transform the way you view the world. Join Pharrell Williams, Robin Arzón, Roxane Gay, Walter Mosley, Robert Reffkin, Gloria Steinem, and Cornel West as they share their experiences with empathy and its importance in their lives and careers. Learn how to exercise, cultivate, and promote empathy to connect with others on a deeper, more human level.
From the landmark album “Illmatic” in 1994 to the Grammy-winning “King’s Disease,” Nas has been exposing truth through rhymes and vivid street poetry for more than 25 years. Now he’s sharing his journey, the evolution of Hip-Hop, and a brand-new song with you. Hip-Hop, lyricism, flow—learn how to tap into the power of your own voice and turn your experiences into music with one of rap’s all-time greatest artists.
Named one of Billboard’s Best Rappers of All Time, Nas emerged as one of the leaders of the 1990’s “golden age of Hip-Hop” with “Illmatic” in 1994, which is still widely regarded as one of the greatest Hip-Hop albums ever. Drawing from his experience growing up in New York City, his lyrics and rhymes gave voice to the voiceless and helped fuel a global musical revolution.
In less than 15 years,Elaine Welteroth has stepped into more career roles and garnered more professional accomplishments than many people do in a lifetime. She’s an award-winning editor and journalist, a New York Times – bestselling author and a television host – and she was tapped as the cultural ambassador for Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote initiative.
At 19, Elaine was appointed editor in chief of Teen Vogue (prior to that, she served as the American magazine’s beauty director, the first Black woman to hold that role). At the time, she was the youngest person to be named editor in chief in the 100-plus year history of publishing giant Condé Nast and she was only the second Black person to hold the position.
David Mamet, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, award-winning screenwriter, and renowned film director, teaches the art of dramatic writing in this Masterclass.
David Mamet was born in 1947 and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Goddard College in Vermont, graduating in 1969 with a degree in English literature but considers the Chicago Public Library his alma mater. A prolific dramatist, David won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1984 for Glengarry Glen Ross and earned a reputation for writing working-class characters and for his trademark dialogue. In 1985, David and actor William H. Macy founded the Atlantic Theater Company, an off-Broadway nonprofit theater. To date, he has written 36 plays, 29 screenplays, 17 books, and directed 11 films.
A pioneer of the Western mindfulness movement, Jon Kabat-Zinn has spent more than 40 years studying, teaching, and advocating the benefits of mindfulness. In his MasterClass, he teaches you how to cultivate a mindfulness practice, reduce your stress, and soothe your thoughts with meditation and movement.
In Asian languages, the word for ‘mind’ and the word for ‘heart’ are same. So if you’re not hearing mindfulness in some deep way as heartfulness, you’re not really understanding it. Compassion and kindness towards oneself are intrinsically woven into it. You could think of mindfulness as wise and affectionate attention. – Jon Kabat-Zinn
As the CEO and founder of Compass Real Estate, Robert Reffkin has used modern technology to revolutionize the real estate industry. Now he’s demystifying the ins and outs of the home-buying process and sharing tools that will help you buy or sell a home with confidence.
Robert earned his undergraduate degree from Columbia University in just over two years. At 25, he became a White House Fellow, serving for a year as special assistant to Treasury Secretary John Snow. When Robert returned to banking, he spent five years as a VP at Goldman Sachs and a year as now-president and COO Gary Cohn’s chief of staff.
Robert has always been passionate about helping people make their dreams a reality. In 2008 he raised $1.3 million to help the Success Charter Network open its first school in the Bronx. He is also the author of “No One Succeeds Alone” and the founder of America Needs You, a nonprofit that provides career development and mentorship to first-generation college students. No matter how big your dreams are, Robert proves that with the right strategy, you can achieve anything.
