@ouchmagazineny

Photo Credit: Getty for Popsugar

Mindy Kaling spoke with Elaine Welteroth on Why Smart Girls Win. When asked about crafting female characters, she responded “I wanted to write roles for FUNNY characters who weren’t necessarily a size zero white woman. No woman wants to just be the arm candy for a guy who has a much funnier better part...I love Yara (Shahidi) in Blackish, she is so beautiful and stylish yet also so authentic.”

Participating talent included: Mindy Kaling, Kate Hudson, Yara Shahidi, Tinashe, Kayla Itsines, Martha Hunt, Rebecca Minkoff, Erin + Sara Foster, Lisa Sugar, The Bold Type’s Katie Stevens, Charlotte Tilbury, Michelle Collins, Sasheer Zamata, Elaine Welteroth, Jamie Lee, Amanda Chantal Bacon, Ukonwa Ojo, Stephanie Mark, Sadie Lincoln, Sarah Robb O’Hagan, Carolyn DeWitt, Karen Cahn, Jess Morales Rocketto, Eden Grinshpan, Samantha Wasser, Melissa Ben-Ishay, Taylor Jenkins Reed, Georgia Clark, Kendare Blake, Sara Shepard, Tomi Adeyemi, Megan Abbot, Camille Perri and DJ Nikki Pennie.

 June 9th, the first ever POPSUGAR Play/Ground kicked off at Pier 94 in NYC with captivating panels from Mindy Kaling, Kate Hudson, Yara Shahidi and more. The two-day festival featured provocative panel conversations, energetic workout classes, brand activations, a large shopping bazaar, and eight rainbow colored slides leading into an adult size ball pit filled with 208,000 balls

 The morning kicked off with an energetic workout lead by world famous fitness influencer Kayla Itsines. It was a packed house with festival organizers having to pull additional yoga mats to accommodate everyone who wanted to participate. Later in the day, barre3 founder Sadie Lincoln had VIP guests clamoring to get a coveted spot in her class with a line wrapped around the corner. The main stage featured panel conversations with Kate Hudson who spoke to the crowd on Redefining the Pursuit of Happiness, Mindy Kaling who discussed Why Smart Girls Win, Kayla Itsines, Katie Stevens (The Bold Type), Martha Hunt (Model) who addressed the topic of how to Power Your Happy details, a conversation on The Power of Beauty with beauty mogul Charlotte Tilbury and POPSUGAR Founder Lisa Sugar and finally Passion to Action with Yara Shahidi and Essence’s Cori Murray. After a day of inspirational speeches and intense workouts, the day wrapped with a phenomenal performance from musical artist Tinashe.