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Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss

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Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss
A portrait of Shoshanna Lonstein-Gruss at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
Lonstein Gruss at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
Born (1975-05-29) May 29, 1975 (age 49)[1][2]
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
EducationNightingale-Bamford School
Alma mater
OccupationFashion designer
Years active1998–present
Spouse
(m. 2003; div. 2014)
Children3
Websiteshoshanna.com

Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss (born May 29, 1975) is an American writer and fashion designer and the founder and creative director of the fashion label Shoshanna, which was launched in 1998.

Career

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With a loan from her father, Zach Lonstein, chief executive officer of Infocrossing, she started her clothing company in 1998 with the mission to design a clothing line that appealed to different body types.[3]

In 2013, Elizabeth Arden, Inc. named Gruss the brand's first-ever Style Director. In this new role, Gruss served as a spokesperson and adviser for the design label.[4]

Television

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Gruss has appeared in numerous television programs, webcasts, and interviews, including a 2008 episode of America's Next Top Model.[5]

Personal life

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As a 17-year-old high school student, she met then 38-year-old Jerry Seinfeld in a public park.[6] At that point, Seinfeld got her phone number.[7] Lonstein later came to public attention by dating Seinfeld, who was at the time starring in his eponymous sitcom. Early in their relationship, Spy magazine referred to her as "a legal voter", since she had turned 18 by then.[8] They dated for approximately four years, from 1993 to 1997. During the relationship, she transferred from George Mason University to UCLA, in part to be with Seinfeld; she cited constant press coverage and missing New York City as reasons for the relationship ending.[9]

Lonstein married Josh Gruss on May 10, 2003,[10][11] and they had three children.[3] They announced their plan to divorce in November 2014 [12] and divorced later that year.[13]

As of 2016, she was living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with their children.[13]

Philanthropy

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Gruss is a trustee of Reform synagogue Temple Emanu-El of New York,[14] and the Nightingale-Bamford School where she is also a member of its Alumnae Board Committee.[15] Gruss was Vice Chairman of the associate committee of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and its Children's Committee from 2012 to 2014.[16]

References

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  1. ^ "Shoshanna Lonstein | Movies and Filmography". AllMovie.
  2. ^ "What Happened in May 1975". OnThisDay.com. May 21, 1975.
  3. ^ a b "Shoshanna". Shoshanna Inc. Archived from the original on January 2, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2012.[non-primary source needed]
  4. ^ "Elizabeth Arden Appoints Shoshanna Gruss as Brand's First-Ever Style Director". Elizabeth Arden, Inc. Archived from the original on April 26, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  5. ^ "America's Next Top Model: If You Can't Make It Here, You Can't Make It Anywhere". Design Scene. April 8, 2008. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  6. ^ Nigro, Nicholas (June 2015). Seinfeld FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the Show About Nothing. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9781495035357. he met Shoshanna Lonstein in New York City's Central Park in May 1993, Jerry Seinfeld was thirty-eight and she was only seventeen
  7. ^ Schneider, Karen (March 28, 1994). "The Game of Love". Seinfeld, comedian, TV star and life observer, was strolling through Central Park one day in May 1993 when he spotted a stranger he now calls 'the most wonderful girl in the world.' Seinfeld, then 38, sallied over, made small talk and went away with the telephone number of Shoshanna Lonstein—then 17
  8. ^ "Party Poop". Spy. Vol. 8, no. 4. February 1994. p. 32.
  9. ^ "Shoshanna Lonstein." Biography in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2003. February 10, 2011.[full citation needed]
  10. ^ "WEDDINGS/CELEBRATIONS; Shoshanna Lonstein, Joshua Gruss". The New York Times. May 11, 2003.
  11. ^ Pace, Eric (July 5, 1993). "Joseph Gruss, 91, Philanthropist Who Supported Jewish Schools". The New York Times.
  12. ^ Siegler, Mara (November 17, 2014). "Power couple Joshua and Shoshanna Gruss to divorce". Page Six. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  13. ^ a b Mongelli, Lorena (July 20, 2016). "Seinfeld's ex-girlfriend says bandits made her feel 'beyond violated'". New York Post. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  14. ^ "About us". Temple Emanu-El of New York. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  15. ^ "Filling a Gap in the Market". Leaders Magazine Online. July 3, 2011. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  16. ^ "Associated Committee". The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014.
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