Tartt is the vaguely reclusive author of The Secret History and The Little Friend.

Granger has been the editor-in-chief of Esquire, the men's magazine published by Hearst, since 1997.

Lo is the chef and co-owner of the critically lauded New American restaurant Annisa in the West Village. She's also one-time owner of Rickshaw, the gourmet dumpling chain.

One of the city's elite event planners, Bailey is known for planning some of the ritziest weddings in New York and beyond.

Until May 2008, Fuller was the editorial director at David Pecker's publishing conglomerate AMI, where she looked after tabloids like Star and the National Enquirer. She is now the editor of Hollywood Life.

Strossen is the former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, and the first woman to hold the position.

Gale Brewer is a member of the New York City Council. She represents the heart of the thoroughly liberal Upper West Side, from 55th to 96th Streets.

Frances Beinecke is president of the National Resources Defense Council, the nation's most vocal environmental action organization.

Minskoff is a developer with a taste for high-end commercial buildings and suspenders.

The woman New York parents should thank when they take their tykes to look at the dinosaurs, Ellen Futter is president of the American Museum of Natural History.

A 2001 Nobel Prize winner and economics professor at Columbia, Stiglitz is one of the country's leading economists and an outspoken critic of globalization. He's the author of a million books, such as The Roaring Nineties , Globalization and its Discontents and Making Globalization Work.

Weinshall—or Mrs. Chuck Schumer—is the former head of the New York City Department of Transportation, and the current vice chancellor of the City University of New York.

The widow of Bernie Cantor, the founder of the securities firm Cantor Fitzgerald, Iris Cantor heads up the foundation that bears the family name and supports arts, educational and medical causes.

The wife of billionaire cosmetics scion Leonard Lauder, Evelyn is a philanthropist and part of the reason why women pin those pink ribbons to their lapels.

The zaftig British actress and Oscar winner is one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed actresses of the last 20 years.

A professor of finance at NYU, Engle is perhaps the only man to win both a Nobel Prize for Economics and finish in the top three in a national ice dancing competition.

Gluck is co-chief of the literary department at uber-agency William Morris, along with Jennifer Rudolph Walsh.

Investigative reporter and gadfly Dominick Dunne was a columnist at Graydon Carter' Vanity Fair and the host of CourtTV's Power, Privilege and Justice. He was also an author (People Like Us, The Two Mrs. Grenvilles), erstwhile movie producer (1970's The Boys in the Band), and former addict. His son is actor/director Griffin Dunne. Dunne died on August 26, 2009.

Renowned for his expansive minimalist paintings, Marden is one of the most prominent members of the generation of artists that rose to fame in the 1960s.

The head of independent book publisher Grove/Atlantic, Entrekin has spent over 25 years editing and publishing books, and partying with people who write them.