We See you: Alina Cho

Why we’re watching her: Cho, 53, recently received the Media Award from the CFDA for her pioneering work bringing the fashion world to the real world. The former host of CNN’s Fashion Backstage Pass., she is a contributor at CBS Sunday Morning and host of The Atelier with Alina Cho at The Metropolitan Museum, where she holds intimate chats with everyone from Anna Wintour to Donatella Versace. Oh, and in her spare time, she is also Editor at Large at Ballantine Bantam Dell and the producer on an upcoming Netflix doc on Martha Stewart.

Pedigree: Cho was born in Vancouver to Korean parents. She earned a B.A. in communications from Boston College and a Masters in journalism from Northwestern University. She honed her news chops as a national correspondent at CNN, where she covered such decidedly non-fashion topics as North Korea and Hurricane Katrina.

Breaking news: “An admitted fashion zealot since she first saw Olivia Newton John’s skin tight black pants in the film Grease,“ according to Elle Decor “Cho has been largely responsible for bringing fashion to mainstream news. When Michelle Obama walked into her first inaugural ball, Cho was the correspondent who revealed that a young upstart named Jason Wu had designed her gown.” (Okay, maybe not an interview with Kim Jong Un this time, but inquiring minds wanted to know.)

She’s not a Maria Kondo Fan: “Cho’s own closets are a veritable costume institute unto themselves,” Elle Decor reported. “She cuts through her pieces like an archivist (‘early Marc Jacobs Vuitton, old Alber [Elbaz] Lanvin, Manolo [Blahnik] Mary Janes from that Sex and the City era . . .’). To house it all, she reconfigured the two bedrooms in her Central Park South apartment with wall-to-wall closets.”

Learning from the (fashion) greats: “From Michael Kors I have learned the importance of staying humble and having a sense of humor. No one’s funnier than Michael Kors. From Tory Burch, I have learned the importance of leading with grace, and from Thom Browne, I have learned the importance of staying true to your vision,” Cho told the CFDA.

Party spirit animal: The peacock, known for its beauty, knowledge and endurance.

Prediction: With experts warning of “exceptionally high levels of storms this hurricane season,” we’ll look to Cho, the only woman we know with experience in high winds and high fashion, for how to weather it in style.