Rachel Rosenfelt, co-founder and editor of The New Inquiry has been running the online publication since 2009 "all without financial backing or institutional support." That is saying a lot, because she and her team, including Gawker's own Adrian Chen, have created a web platform and monthly digital magazine that has become a place where you will witness the most prominent young writers, artists, thinkers, movers, and shakers shape the future of cultural criticism. Regular alchemists.

The New Inquiry has found tremendous success in its low-barrier subscription strategy that balances revenue streams with wide circulation, foraging the way to sustainable independent online publishing. In an effort to expand the publication's reach and broaden its output, The New Inquiry hosted its first summer benefit. Malcolm Harris, Emily Cooke, and Maryam Monalisa Gharavi read excerpts from their pieces recently published in The New Inquiry Reader No.1, there was dancing on roof tops, lots of portraits, and bourbon. Fun time.