Lynn
Yeldell

Tell me a little about yourself, your career or former career, field of expertise, and the work or interests that have shaped you.

My background and education are in business and finance, but today I work as a strategist and marketer. I get to bring those two worlds together—understanding how businesses succeed, then helping them better tell the story of who they are and why they matter.

I love that I started with such specific training and have grown into being a generalist. It reminds me a little of the case-study work I did while earning my MBA at the University of Texas at Austin. Every business, every challenge, and every day is different. I’m always learning something new, and that still makes me excited to go to work.

What book has stayed with you, and why?

I’ve always been a big reader, and a few books that have stayed with me recently are Lessons in Chemistry, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books, and Under the Whispering Door.

I’m drawn to underdog stories and stories that elevate people who have felt like outsiders. I also love what reading asks of us. A book gives me enough of the story to enter another world, but it still leaves room for me to imagine the rest—the places, the people, the emotions, and the experiences. I think that act of imagining is part of why books stay with me for so long.

Where have you felt most connected? What place has stayed with you, and where would you still love to go?

We’re in a phase of life where we’re trying to take some of the farther-reaching, more difficult trips while we can—and I’m only now realizing how many of them involve water. Water seems to be our calm place. We recently returned from Iceland and Greenland, and the Galápagos is next.

But the place where I have felt most connected, and the place I would always return to, is probably Pass Christian, Mississippi. I started going there in early elementary school and continued through adulthood. It was one of those rare places my entire family could enjoy together.

Growing up, it meant weekends near the water and fishing with my dad. Today, connection can be something as simple as being in the pool with my wife, Elizabeth. The places change, but water seems to be the constant. There is something about being near it that settles me and reminds me where I am.

Pass Christian has so many layers of memory that it feels less like a destination and more like part of my history.

What should the rest of us know from your particular world?

I am perpetually curious, and I think there is always more to see, learn, and experience. I’m rarely disappointed when I try something new because even if it isn’t what I expected, I still got to experience it.

Right now, we’re playing tourist in our own hometown of Houston. We’ve lived here for three years, so it isn’t exactly new anymore, but lately we’ve been intentionally exploring it as if it were. Recently, we visited the Buffalo Bayou Cistern, this extraordinary piece of architecture hidden beneath the city. We also visited the Ismaili Center, where I learned so much about a faith and community I knew very little about.

I think my recommendation is simply to stay curious about where you already are. Sometimes discovery doesn’t require a plane ticket.

What’s next on your list—a book, television series, film, podcast, album, exhibition, bottle, destination, or anything else you’re curious about?

What’s next for me is less about something I want to consume and more about the life I want to create.

I’m working toward transitioning my company so that the day-to-day can run without needing me to be involved in all of it. I love what I do, especially the business-development side—meeting people, understanding what they’re trying to build, bringing in new clients, and helping begin those relationships. What I’d like to do less of is the daily management. I have people on my team who are better at much of that than I am, and part of my next chapter is trusting them with more of it.

Then I want to use some of that space to create community around the experiences I’ve had—running a small business, losing my business partner along the way, navigating breast cancer and the loss of my father, and figuring out what it means to be a middle-aged woman who is still building, changing, and becoming.

I don’t know exactly what form that community will take yet. That’s part of what I’m curious about. What I do know is that after everything that has happened, I’ve found my way to a life where I’m happier than I’ve ever been. I’d like to create a place where some of what I’ve learned along the way might help someone else find their way, too.

What’s your favorite beverage or bottle of wine?

I tend to like anything punchy, interesting, or a little unexpected.

If I’m having a beer, I usually want something craft and local. I gravitate toward IPAs, red ales, and stouts. With wine, I’m much less interested in following the traditional rules about what you’re supposed to drink with what. I’d rather choose based on flavor, mood, and what sounds good in the moment. Right now, in the middle of a very hot Houston summer, I’m definitely drinking more whites. I love Sancerre, Grüner Veltliner, and an unoaked Chardonnay.

We recently opened a Grand Cru Chablis that was absolutely beautiful, but what made it memorable was the reason we opened it. We were with a friend who had received wonderful news after a visit to MD Anderson, and we got to bring out this special bottle and celebrate with her. I love that about wine. A great bottle can become attached to a moment, and suddenly you’re remembering much more than what was in the glass.

I also really enjoy creating interesting nonalcoholic options at home. We keep a continuous brew of kombucha going and pair it with sparkling water, shrubs, herbs, or other flavors. I like having something thoughtful with dinner without feeling like every dinner needs to include alcohol.

What discovery would you pass along to a friend right now?

Selfishly, I’d say Houston’s food scene—because then I’d have another excuse to explore it with someone I like spending time with.

I’ve been blown away by the breadth of food here. You can find tiny, deeply personal restaurants telling the stories of particular cultures and communities, incredible sushi and Thai food, barbecue, taco trucks, and just about every cuisine you can imagine—all the way through to Michelin-starred dining.

What I love most is that the discovery never really ends. There is always another neighborhood, another restaurant, another dish, and another story behind the food. I’ve lived in several cities with strong food cultures, but Houston may have the best food scene of anywhere I’ve lived. And the best way I know to experience it is with someone else at the table.