Astronauts and cosmonauts from 20 countries have been on board, according to NASA. It's a floating lab where researchers conduct experiments related to space travel. Astronauts typically stay for six months to a year.

Almost everything they do revolves around discovering more about life in space, and they keep meticulous track of how their bodies respond to the weightless environment. Some of what they've learned has led to developments in drugs and medical technology that benefit humans on Earth, too.

It's more like a not-a-lot-of-space station. It's a six-bedroom house packed into an area that's shorter than a football field, according to NASA. Five agencies share the station, which has six sleeping quarters, a gym, and two bathrooms.

Astronaut Frank Rubio described it as a building made of hallways, with no large space like a living room to gather.

"You almost have to block the fact that it is so small," he told "Houston: We Have a Podcast" in 2024.

Space food needs to meet a few requirements. It can't crumble to bits and clog up machinery, it has to be able to stay fresh for months, and it should taste good.

Several newer methods for preserving food for long-distance travel have given astronauts more meal options, and ISS astronauts can make everything from spicy shrimp to chocolate pudding cake.

"A lot of it was really tasty," retired astronaut Leland Melvin told Business Insider in 2023.

Lots of astronauts like spicier options because the lack of gravity makes fluid float into their sinuses, making them stuffed up and affecting how food tastes.

Astronauts and cosmonauts will often bring snacks that remind them of home. For example, one of Rubio's crewmates brought items for a charcuterie board.

Early on in space travel, doctors realized astronauts were losing bone density after spending long periods of time in a weightless environment. Now, ISS residents do a couple of hours of exercise every day to help prevent that.

It's a mix of cardio and load-bearing workouts, Rubio said. They do so many squats that "every day is leg day in space," he added.

In 2013, retired astronaut Chris Hadfield demonstrated how he brushed his teeth in space on the Canadian Space Agency's YouTube channel.

First, he used a resealable water container to wet the toothbrush. Then he slurped the water off the brush and applied regular toothpaste. When he was done, he swallowed the toothpaste and filled his mouth with water to clean the toothbrush.

Showers are actually sponge baths with washcloths, per NASA. Astronauts use shampoo that they don't have to rinse out. Suction takes care of extra water, which then goes to a waste tank.

Hoses, funnels, and suction are all crucial components when it's time to go in space. In 2020, NASA redesigned its toilets for more comfort and durability.

Astronauts get rid of toilet paper in water-tight bags, and the solid waste is shipped off to burn up on reentry through Earth's atmosphere. Urine is another story.

Water is a precious and heavy commodity. Humans generate a lot of it, including through sweat, urine, and the droplets in their breath. Most of it doesn't go to waste on the ISS.

"We have hardware on station that helps take that output and turn it back into clean, drinkable water," NASA aerospace engineer Brendan Lutes told "Houston: We Have a Podcast" in 2024.

The agency reported in 2023 that it is working on recycling 98% of the water the astronauts expel.

Astronauts only get to bring a small amount of clothes with them, and they have to make them last. They might wear the same outfit for a week, according to NASA. Washing clothes would be too water-intensive, so their well-worn garments get burned up like other waste.

That doesn't mean there are no chores on the ISS. Astronauts have to use vacuums — like the one pictured above — to make sure there are no crumbs or debris floating around that could damage instruments.

A typical workday on the space station is around 12 hours with some breaks for lunch and exercise, according to Rubio. During that time, astronauts and cosmonauts are conducting experiments and monitor their own health. They're often involved in ongoing medical experiments.

The ISS also needs a lot of maintenance. In recent years, the modules have started showing cracks and leaking air. A toilet breakdown and temperature fluctuations are a few of the other problems the station has faced.

In a recent report, the Office of Inspector General wrote the leaks are "a top safety risk" that NASA is investigating and monitoring.

Astronaut Rubio spent over a year on the ISS and said that "every day is different, and yet every day is the same." He woke up around 6:30 a.m., ate breakfast, and got ready for work, which started around an hour later.

He would take half an hour for lunch and get in his two-hour workout. The workday would end around 7 p.m., he said. The work he would do each day — experiments, maintenance, spacewalks — would vary.

When astronauts and cosmonauts are stationed at ISS for months at a time, they often miss events like birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations. Email is a reliable way to stay in touch.

"On Saturdays, we have meet-with-the-family time," astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson said in a 2013 NASA video. During these weekly video chats, they can catch up on everything that's been happening at home.

On December 25 last year, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore — the two astronauts who were unexpectedly stranded on the space station — wore Santa hats, decorated cookies, and contacted their families, The New York Times reported.

Holidays in space can be tough even for astronauts who expect to spend an entire year away from home. "Thanksgiving, where you're used to having it with loved ones, those kind of tend to hit home a little harder," Rubio said during the podcast.

There are also no Champagne toasts since NASA doesn't let its astronauts drink alcohol on the job.

Homesickness isn't just about missing family members. Astronauts often long for many comforts Earthlings take for granted.

Karen Adkins is a NASA psychological support coordinator who works on morale and well-being for people heading to ISS for lengthy missions. She and other team members start meeting with astronauts two years before their mission, and "we start developing what we call their in-flight support resource plan," she told "Houston: We Have a Podcast" in 2024.

It includes everything from figuring out how they'll contact their family to deciding what special items they might want to bring on board. They also set up a crew personal webpage, stocked with TV shows, movies, podcasts, music, and other entertainment.

In the late '90s, NASA figured out how to help astronauts participate in US elections. Before they leave Earth, they fill out a request for an absentee ballot. County officials then email the ballot for the astronaut to fill out and send back.

In the past, astronauts have created mini "voting booths" in the crew quarters. "The voting clerks love getting pictures of crew voting on board," Marta Durham, a former NASA flight operations Instructor, told "Houston: We Have a Podcast."

If humans are going to live on Mars, they must first perfect space gardening. Fresh produce is key to providing necessary nutrients.

The Vegetable Production System, or Veggie, is the space station's six-plant garden, per NASA. It's helping astronauts learn how to make food without gravity and sunlight. They've grown peppers and lettuce on board.

Long spaceflights change astronauts' bodies in a lot of ways. The lack of gravity affects their balance and ability to walk. The brain adapts to the lack of gravity, and some of these changes can become permanent, University of Florida researchers recently found.

Astronauts routinely track their own health, taking saliva samples and wearing monitors for heart rate, sleep, and temperature. Not only will such data be helpful for future missions, but some research could affect people on Earth, too, especially those who live in remote areas with less access to medical care.

Six months can be a long time to go without a haircut. Astronauts can get a trim, provided they have a vacuum on hand to capture the clippings.

As the ISS orbits the Earth, it experiences the sun rising and setting 16 times a day. That's just one reason astronauts may have trouble catching their z's.

Rubio described crew quarters as a phone booth. Inside, there's a sleeping bag attached to the wall to keep sleeping astronauts from floating and knocking into walls. He actually enjoyed the weightless sleep, but for some people, it takes some getting used to, he said.

When the ISS needs maintenance or repairs, astronauts get suited up for a spacewalk. There have been over 270 since 1998, per NASA. Some have been only a couple of hours, others have taken over eight hours.

The suits are equipped with oxygen and water. Before heading out into space, astronauts breathe pure oxygen to rid their bodies of nitrogen and avoid getting "the bends," which is a condition often associated with scuba diving.

Astronauts actually do a lot of training underwater on Earth before doing a real spacewalk. Nothing can quite prepare them for the real thing, though, astronaut Nick Hague told "Houston: We Have a Podcast."

"You just can't replicate that floating around in a spacesuit in the vacuum of space," he said. "The only place you do it real for the first time is in space."

One of the major perks of spending time on the ISS is its view of the Earth. Astronauts have seen hurricanes, lightning, and glittering cities.

They have incredible photos to prove it. Some astronauts, including Don Pettit, are known for their astrophotography. He brought a lot of equipment on board to help himself and his fellow crew members take even better pictures, he told "Houston: We Have a Podcast."

The ship's size, its famous passengers, the unfathomable loss of life, and the harrowing tales from survivors instantly made it headline news.

Interest in the disaster continued, especially in 1985 when Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel found the shipwreck during a secret US Navy mission.

It's far too fragile to raise. Artifacts and small pieces of the ship have been recovered, but the rusting remains will stay on the ocean floor.

It's risky and expensive to visit the shipwreck — five people died when a submersible visiting the Titanic imploded in June 2023 — and conditions are murky at that depth. The digital twin offers an ultra-clear view that's impossible to see from a submersible.

Two submersibles, Romeo and Juliet, spent three weeks photographing and measuring the ship and the debris surrounding the two halves. The digital model is made up of the images and scans to reveal areas of the ship that are hard to view from trips to the wreck.

Other techniques have been used to create photo mosaics of the Titanic, but this photogrammetry process captured every inch of the wreck — down to its rivets — and its surroundings without losing resolution or details.

"You can zoom right into an area of interest, right down to a floor tile on the ocean floor," Stephenson told BI. "It is amazing."

Stephenson, who appears in the documentary, has viewed the Titanic a few times from crewed and uncrewed submersibles. He said that in person, it's difficult to see much of the ship through a 7-inch viewport. That meant he was glimpsing the ship section by section instead of as a whole. "What you really need to make sense of all this evidence is context," he said.

"It's how it's all put together and presented as a whole that's the paradigm shift here," Stephenson said. "That's what's going to be the future of deep ocean exploration."

Crew member Frederick Fleet described hitting the iceberg as a narrow shave, thinking they'd avoided disaster. Many passengers didn't realize the ship had struck anything. Yet the collision was deadly.

The Titanic's builders designed the ship to withstand four of its 16 compartments flooding. Edward Wilding, a naval architect who worked on the design, speculated from the beginning that the iceberg scraping alongside the ship punctured more than four sections. Enough water flowed in to pull down the entire ship.

The portion of the ship that struck the iceberg slammed into the seafloor when it sank. It's now buried in mud. Even if it were visible, it would likely be difficult to tell the difference between the damage before and after sinking.

For the documentary, researchers from University College London and Newcastle University put together a simulation to find some potential answers. Using the ship's blueprints and estimated speed, they found that the iceberg may have torn open an 18-square-foot gash along six compartments, enough to take down the Titanic.

The simulation aligned very closely with Wilding's speculations from over 100 years ago.

"He really knew that ship," Anthony Geffen, the film's producer, told BI, which is perhaps why they match so well.

With much of the bow sunk in the mud, we may never know the full story of the iceberg's effect, Stephenson said.

In Cameron's movie, the ship basically cracks in half. Passenger Jack Thayer later wrote that part of the ship rose into the sky and seemed to hang there, and then, "with the deadened noise of the bursting of her last few gallant bulkheads, she slid quietly away from us into the sea."

"Even Jim Cameron, today, will say that the way he depicted it in the movie is not correct," Stephenson said. It was based on what was known in 1997, which was eyewitness testimony, like Thayer's.

The way it broke apart may have been far more explosive. The model shows large pieces of the hull scattered around the wreck that may be evidence of such an event.

"It was a giant, catastrophic fracture," metallurgist Jennifer Hooper said in the documentary, which caused a domino effect of compression and buckling that destroyed roughly 20% of the ship.

That might explain why the two large sections of the ship are a third of a mile apart, Geffen said. "Something massive must have happened," he said. "It didn't just float apart."

Before the ocean liner disappeared under the water, survivors recalled its lights still being on. The model gives a clear view of boiler room two. That's likely where the Titanic engineers stayed until the end, shoveling coal to keep the ship illuminated and the wireless transmitting calls for help.

Further away, a valve can be seen in the open position, indicating that steam continued flowing to generate electricity.

"These boilers tell us about a very personal story about the people" who stayed behind on the ship, Geffen said.

First-class passengers John Jacob Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim, two of the wealthiest men on the boat, both lost their lives — the documentary revealed that the crumbling ship may have come apart right where the first-class cabins were located.

The crew's and passengers' possessions are scattered for miles around the Titanic. Researchers have been able to identify the owners' of some of them from these new images, and Geffen said AI could help find more.

For example, there's a shark tooth that seems to have been attached to a pocket watch belonging to a first-class passenger, Colonel John Weir.

The Titanic site is a graveyard, where hundreds of people lost their lives. "I think sometimes that gets lost," Geffen said, but their belongings can help tell their stories.

The new scans have frozen the Titanic in time. It's already covered in rusticles, the pointy structures created by deep-sea bacteria. As it continues to deteriorate, more evidence will be lost.

As well as being dangerous and expensive, some also consider visiting the site via submersible disrespectful. Geffen said there are plans to put the digital twin in simulators so people can do virtual dives to the wreck, instead. Eventually, people will be able to put on a VR headset and walk around the site.

"With this digital twin, we can now bring the entire Titanic wreck site up to the surface and make it available to everyone," Stephenson said.

"Titanic: The Digital Resurrection" premiered on National Geographic on April 11 and is available on Disney+ and Hulu.

The first time the Bellagio fountains put on their famous light-and-water show, it was in front of what was then the most expensive hotel in the world.

Steve Wynn developed the hotel to appeal to an upscale crowd, stocking it with designer stores, exclusive restaurants, and paintings by Van Gogh and Monet. Spending $40 million on the fountains and $300 million on art, Wynn eventually dropped the equivalent of $3.2 billion in today's dollars.

It has 3,900 rooms, over a dozen restaurants, and enough casino space to nearly fit three football fields.

The Bellagio has changed hands a few times. Most recently, Blackstone acquired the property for over $4 billion, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in 2019. It was the city's highest price for a resort casino ever.

In general, casinos have a lot of moving pieces that inflate the cost, Barr said, including hotels, restaurants, and gambling spaces. "So they're just vast," he said.

Hospitals are huge buildings that run for 24 hours and operate special equipment, all of which use a lot of energy.

That's one reason the Royal Adelaide Hospital was built to be as efficient as possible, with rooftop gardens to protect it from the sun and the ability to use waste heat to power some systems. Sensors and sophisticated software also help automate heating and cooling, The Guardian reported in 2017.

Packed with cutting-edge tech, the project was already pricey, but costs swelled and work stalled due to a soil contamination problem, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported in 2015.

Since opening, the 800-bed hospital has faced struggles and scrutiny, including when it was operating above capacity in 2023, per ABC. During that time, patients were left waiting in ambulances due to overcrowding.

Many luxury homes have their own movie theaters, but few have built-in salons and private ice cream parlors.

Built for billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his family, the 27-story Antillia is often described as one of the world's most expensive residences, ranking up there with Buckingham Palace. Ambanii is head of the conglomerate Reliance Industries and is India's richest man.

Architectural Digest India estimated the cost of the palatial 400,000-square-foot building at between $1 and $2 billion. The residence is named after a phantom island that cartographers included in 15th-century maps but which explorers couldn't find.

Antillia's design followed principles of Vastu shastra, traditional Indian architecture principles relating to how energy flows, Forbes reported in 2008. The home has modern touches, too, including nine elevators, a six-story garage, and helipads.

One of the tallest buildings in the world at over 2,000 feet high, the 128-story Shanghai Tower stands out even amongst its neighbors in the city's Lujiazui financial district. Its sleek facade twists up toward the clouds.

It holds dozens of floors of office space, a hotel, and numerous observation spaces. There's a sky-high swimming pool on the 84th floor. Dizzying views stretch for 30 miles, according to NPR.

Elevators race up and down the building at 67 feet per second, CNN reported in 2017. At that time, they were the world's fastest.

Shops and restaurants are found on the building's lower floors, and there are "vertical gardens" scattered throughout the building to bring more green space to the urban structure, according to the architects.

Las Vegas is known for making its own version of touristy sights — the Eiffel Tower, an Egyptian pyramid — and Macau's casinos replicate those on the Strip, Stefan Al told BI. He's the author of "Supertall: How the World's Tallest Buildings Are Reshaping Our Cities and Our Lives" and "The Strip: Las Vegas and the Architecture of the American Dream."

The Venetian is one example. "That was more or less copied one for one," he said. From its Grand Canal to duped Renaissance art, it's a little slice of Venice in China.

Macau tends to focus more on gambling than Vegas, which also emphasizes its entertainment, Al said. To that end, the Venetian is awash in slot machines and poker tables. It's 550,000-square-foot casino is one of the biggest in the world.

Those looking for more to do could stay in one of the hotel's 3,000 suites or spend hours exploring the restaurants and stores. The resort has a million square feet of shopping options, according to Condé Nast Traveler. That's nearly enough space to fit seven Costcos.

A few years after building the Bellagio, Wynn put his own name on a Vegas casino. The curved structure held over 2,700 rooms, more than 1,800 slot machines, and a Michelin-star restaurant.

Interior designer Roger Thomas evoked a surrealist atmosphere with brightly patterned carpets and hanging parasols. "Brandscents" — Wynn-patented scents — wafted through the building, designed to evoke an emotional response in customers, according to "The Strip."

Instead of spurting fountains, it had a bubbling lake that changed colors and burbled along with music every 30 minutes. In the casino's early days, visitors were able to gaze at Picasso's "La Rêve" painting, which was on display in the gallery. Guests could also play a round of golf at the 18-hole course.

The rebuilt World Trade Center complex was a controversial undertaking as people debated how to replace the Twin Towers destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Most of the new structures have been built, including the One World Trade Center, which opened in 2014. Its height is a symbolic 1,776 feet, in honor of the year the country's founders signed the Declaration of Independence. It's also the tallest skyscraper in the US.

Architect David Childs wanted its angular shape to be as memorable as the Washington Monument, he told Time Magazine in 2014.

Visitors can take in views from the sky lobby or play table tennis to take a free yoga class, according to The New York Times.

Barr said part of the building's enormous cost likely came from security measures. "That probably is one of the most expensive buildings in the world on a per-square-foot basis, simply because of all the extras that were associated with that," he said.

It didn't just cost billions of dollars to construct one of the world's heaviest buildings. Workers demolished about a fifth of the city, displacing 40,000 residents, to create the mammoth palace and its lengthy road, deliberately created to be larger than the Champs-Élysee, according to The Guardian.

Over 700 architects worked on its design, and 20,000 laborers toiled night and day to complete the building. The interior contains tons of marble and crystal and gold-leaf ceilings.

Construction started in 1984 at the behest of Nicolae Ceaușescu, who was Romania's communist dictator at the time. Five years later, he and his wife were executed in the Romanian Revolution. The Palace was completed in 1994 and now houses the Romanian government, though 70% of the building remains vacant, CNN reported in 2014.

There are guided tours for those who are curious to explore some of its more than 1,000 rooms.

Emirates Palace was built for tourists instead of as a residence for royalty. The hotel is over 2 million square feet but has only 394 guest rooms, including several suites. Domes line the roof, and visitors have access to a private beach.

Ornate ceilings are covered in gold-leaf that needs replacing every few years, CNN reported in 2018. They're also dripping in Swarovski crystal chandeliers.

Coldplay, Rihanna, and Christina Aguilera have all performed at the Palace. The hotel also appeared in "The Fast and the Furious 7."

Consisting of two 50-story towers, the Cosmopolitan marketed itself as sophisticated, hoping to distinguish itself from the Las Vegas Strip's bright, buzzing competition.

"There's probably an element of these developers competing against each other by adding more bells and whistles to their respective casinos, which is going to dramatically increase the cost," Barr said.

If the energy in the Cosmopolitan's casino feels different, it might be because it has something many others lack: windows. "I think people will enjoy knowing what time of day it is," the Cosmopolitan's chief executive told The Los Angeles Times in 2010.

One of its most iconic sights is the three-story Chandelier Bar, which is covered in 2 million crystals.

A spaceship. A glass donut. However you describe it, Apple's building at its headquarters in Cupertino is distinctive.

Before his death, Steve Jobs announced Apple had "a shot at building the best office building in the world." Initially, he envisioned a clover leaf-like structure that would facilitate employees running into each other and casually discussing their projects, Wired reported in 2017. Eventually, the idea morphed into a single large ring.

In 2013, Bloomberg Businessweek reported the building's cost had skyrocketed from $3 billion to $5 billion. Making it a "net-zero energy" structure with miles of curved glass contributed to the high price.

The ring building has a capacity of 12,000 people, distributed across four floors and covering 2.8 million square feet in total. The curved glass gives views of thousands of drought-­tolerant trees. Four miles of trails wind over the campus.

Employees can also visit the on-site medical clinic or work out at the fitness center, according to The Sacramento Bee.

Two LA teams, the Rams and Chargers, call SoFi Stadium home. Rams owner Stan Kroenke built the 3.1-million-square-foot facility, which seats over 70,000 fans.

Rising costs, the death of two construction workers, bad weather, and COVID all delayed the project, which took four years to complete, The Los Angeles Times reported in 2020.

There's a curved roof, part of which is transparent, but the open sides let the air flow in.

One of the stadium's defining features is its double-sided videoboard. It's 70,000 square feet and weighs 2.2 million pounds, USA Today reported in 2020.

There's also space for cultural events. The venue doubles as a 6,000-capacity performing arts space. Documents, artwork, and other items from the Kinsey African American Art & History Collection are on display at the stadium.

You could spend a weekend in Singapore's Marina Bay Sands and not see everything. A museum, 270 stores and restaurants, a convention center, a skating rink, a luxury hotel, and a casino fill the trio of towers, which are each 55 stories.

A skyway connects the towers at 653 feet in the air. On the 57th floor, a huge infinity pool measuring 450 feet long offers dazzling views. The most luxurious suites cost more than $26,000 a night.

Star architect Moshe Safdie designed the project, which is part of Las Vegas Sands.

In 2011, "The Lion King" musical made its debut in Southeast Asia at one of the Marina Bay Sands' theaters, according to Playbill. Shots of the resort were shown in "Crazy Rich Asians."

"It's really become an icon for Singapore," Al said.

The Saudi government built the Abraj Al Bait complex to help accommodate the millions of Muslims who visit Mecca each year, according to Sotheby's. It's hard to tease out how much each building costs individually, but together the seven skyscrapers are estimated at $15 billion total.

The Clock Tower is the tallest of the seven, with its crescent spire topping out at 1,972 feet. It houses the Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel, which has 1,650 rooms and views of the Masjid al-Haram, the largest mosque in the world.

An astronomy center and observation deck a both located at the top of the building, according to the Skyscraper Museum.

During daily prayers, the tower's clock, the largest in the world, illuminates 21,000 green and white LED lights, per Architectural Digest.

Another complex of buildings, Hudson Yards boasts some expensive real estate. The team behind the massive project secured $5 billion in financing for 30 Hudson Yards alone in 2015.

Several office buildings, a residential tower, an arts center, and a shopping mall make up the completed structures. Eventually, 16 buildings will be clustered in the area, creating space for 4,000 apartments and 55,000 workers, The New York Times reported in 2019.

The scope of the project is what makes it stand out, Al said. "Very often, that is compared to the Rockefeller Center — built a hundred years ago — in terms of magnitude," he said. That added to the cost, but there were other factors as well, like creating a platform above a rail yard.

"In terms of the scale, the cost of the land, the complexity of the building above an operating rail yard, all of that adds to the costs," he said.

Though she only traveled to the pyramids once, Amelia Edwards had an enormous impact on the study of Ancient Egypt, especially for other British women.

Inspired by Lucie Duff-Gordon, an English writer who lived and wrote about Egypt in the 1860s, Edwards traveled to the Giza pyramids, Dendera temple, and other sites for several months between 1873 and 1874.

While Duff-Gordon's "Letters from Egypt" were focused on modern Egypt and her experiences there, Edwards was fascinated by the country's ancient monuments and history. In 1877, she published "A Thousand Miles up the Nile," describing her travels up the river and the sights along the way. It was an instant hit, going through several editions and reprints.

She described crawling into tombs and temples, occasionally worried about being buried alive in a cave-in. Her lush descriptions of the glittering desert, pink mountains, and misty chasms captured readers' imaginations and spurred many to make their own journeys.

With its vivid imagery and rich historical detail, Edwards' book served as a kind of template for Western women travelers, Sheppard said. She told them where to go and the significance of the monuments they would visit.

In 1882, Edwards founded the Egypt Exploration Fund, which still exists today as the Egypt Exploration Society. Subscribers would help pay for expeditions and receive detailed reports in exchange. Edwards put women in charge of running the fund, while men did the excavation.

When she died in 1892, she left money to the University College London for a department of Egyptology, but there were several stipulations. Some were about who would chair the department — no man above 40 who was affiliated with the British Museum was eligible — while another ensured that women would benefit from her bequest, too. Classes, scholarships, and exhibitions had to be "open to students of both sexes," according to Edwards' will.

There was a specific reason UCL received the money, too. "They were the only ones in 1892 who were allowing women to take degrees on equal terms as men," Sheppard said.

Egyptologist Flinders Petrie spent years excavating important sites in Egypt. For a while, he brought Margaret Murray along to record his findings.

"He specifically would bring Margaret Murray out to sites because his handwriting was so horrible," Sheppard said. "So if he tried to catalog anything, no one could read it."

Murray would go on to have her own successes in the field.

"She had this amazing 70-year-long career because she started in Egyptology when she was 30, and she lived till she was 100, and she was still working when she died," Sheppard said.

For many of those years, Murray was training future Egyptologists. She'd been the one to develop the two-year program at University College London and served as the instructor, drawing on her experiences in Egypt. Students learned about geology, mineralogy, history, religion, languages, and more.

Some of the students became famous in their own right. "They're known to history, to everybody else as Petrie's pups because Petri trained them in the field," Sheppard said. Yet many acknowledge Murray's influence as well.

In 1908, Murray performed Britain's last public unwrapping of mummified remains. It was controversial, even at the time.

Letters in the newspaper suggested Khnum-Nakht, the man who Murray was going to unwrap, should be left in peace. Yet 500 people came to watch her at Manchester University as she peeled off layers of linen, which were then given out as souvenirs.

For her own research, Murray published an influential report about a structure she said was used for worshiping the god Osiris. Her discredited folklore work on witchcraft has overshadowed her work in Egyptology.

Still, her legacy remains thanks to her many students and their followers. "People who are still alive today can trace their academic genealogy back to Margaret Murray in the 1930s," Sheppard said.

In 1894, Margaret "Maggie" Benson went to Egypt, hoping to ease her rheumatism, which affected her joints and lungs. Like many of the other women Egyptologists, the 28-year-old fell in love with the country, Sheppard said."They go home, and they keep wanting to go back."

During her first trip, she went with one of the popular Thomas Cook & Son tours, which took thousands of tourists up the Nile each year, per The BBC. They traveled in comfort and style, with daily excursions to see tombs at Saqqara or Beni Hasan's cliffs.

Benson decided she wanted to kickstart her own excavation. There were granite statues sticking out of the earth at the dilapidated Temple of Mut in Luxor.

Though Benson had no formal training in archaeology, neither did many of the men who were excavating tombs and temples. It wasn't yet the careful, scientific discipline it would become in the next century.

Money was the workaround. "If these women had enough money and if they had enough time, they could go be archeologists too, because that's all that the men had at that point," Sheppard said.

Using her connections and supplying her own funding, Benson got permission to excavate the temple, making her the first woman who was officially allowed to do so. Nearly two dozen Egyptian men and boys did the digging and the hauling and sifting of dirt. Benson's brother Fred lent his expertise, having worked on excavations in Athens before.

By the end of the first season in 1895, the excavators had dug up dozens of statues, coins, and other artifacts. The next year, they found over a dozen lion-headed statues and countless fragments of others.

One of Benson's most important collaborators at the site was Janet "Nettie" Gourlay, with whom she had an intense, long-lasting relationship. Together, they published "The Temple of Mut in Asher" in 1899, "which became a groundbreaking report, revealing the temple as it had never been seen before," according to "Women in the Valley of the Kings."

Today, archaeologists meticulously track the locations of artifacts when they find them, but this wasn't always the case.

"In British Egyptology, you have these stories of people going in and using explosives to get through a wall so they can pull out the big statue, and you don't need to record what was on that wall," Sheppard said.

Luckily for Theodore Davis, he had Emma Andrews by his side. The two wealthy Americans were in a relationship, though Davis also had a wife. By 1900, they'd been traveling to Egypt for over a decade, often with a copy of Edwards' "A Thousand Miles" in their luggage. Together, they helped fund or excavate 24 tombs.

In 1902, Davis received the coveted permission to excavate the Valley of the Kings, where many rulers were buried. It soon paid off, with his team rediscovering tomb 46, which belonged to Yuya and Thuya, Tutankhamun's great-grandparents. Unlike many looted tombs, it still had many of its treasures inside.

While Davis marveled over an exquisite chariot or gilded chair, Andrews documented artifacts, drew maps, and kept a list of visitors to the site. These records were crucial because Davis could be slipshod in his own accounts. "Her diaries are the most accurate record historians and archaeologists have for over a dozen tombs," Sheppard wrote.

Andrews also wrote about the work the Egyptian men did at the tomb, including much of the physical labor, something often omitted in official reports.

In 1908, Davis started excavating a different tomb, KV55. He believed the mummified remains belonged to Queen Tiye and wrote his report based on that incorrect assumption. Archaeologists are still unsure whose tomb it was, though they've learned the body belonged to an adult male.

Both Davis and Edwards left money and hundreds of Egyptian artifacts to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Two of Margaret Murray's students were Guy and Winifred Brunton. The UCL students were married and spent their lives working at archaeological sites.

Together, they worked at Lahun, a site in Faiyum, Egypt, in 1914, alongside Petrie. They found a tomb belonging to an unknown princess from around 1897 to 1878 BCE. Though people had plundered the tomb during antiquity, they left behind several items of jewelry, including a gold diadem adorned with gems.

Winifred Brunton was an artist and painted portraits and scenes from the excavations. Some of her best-known works were her Kings and Queens of Ancient Egypt. She published books of portraits of Tiye, Nefertiti, Ramesses II, and other rulers.

Construction began on the Temple of Seti I, now known as the Great Temple of Abydos, in the 13th century BCE. Ramesses II, Seti I's son, completed the temple to honor the deceased pharaoh.

Scenes of the king making offerings to the gods and receiving the symbols of life decorate the walls of the temple's seven chapels. In the late 1920s, it was difficult for photographs to accurately reflect all the nuances of the artwork or inscriptions.

To preserve these scenes, Egyptologist James Breasted created a laborious process for creating detailed copies that evolved over the years. Using a lighted tracing board, an artist would trace the lines of the enlarged photograph to pick up as many details as possible. An on-site expert would then compare the drawings to the original to make sure everything was identical.

"It's neck cramping," Sheppard said. "It's backbreaking." Amice Calverley was one artist who was very skilled at it.

In the late 1920s, she became field director for the Abydos temple project, doing much of the work herself along with help from an Egyptian staff. Fortunes literally changed when John D. Rockefeller Jr. visited and donated the equivalent of over $1 million to the project, Sheppard said. It "was a huge coup in Egyptology at the time," she said, because one of the requirements was that Calverley continue to lead the project.

Due to the funding, Myrtle Broome, one of Margaret Murray's first students, joined the team. Together, they eventually published four volumes of "The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos," with their intricate recreations of the scenes. With the onset of World War II, several volumes were left unpublished.

Caroline Ransom Williams earned her PhD in 1905 from the University of Chicago, becoming the first woman in the US with an advanced degree in Egyptology. Nearly 30 years had passed since Amelia Edwards published "A Thousand Miles up the Nile." Sheppard said Ransom WIlliams followed her and other female Egyptologists' examples.

"All of these women who came before Caroline set up these steps that she could follow along," she said.

In 1910, she began working in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian Art Department. By then, she'd already been a professor in art history and archaeology at Bryn Mawr and spent months traveling in Egypt.

One of her most influential projects at the Met was her reconstruction of Perneb's tomb. British Egyptologist Edward Quibell had uncovered it a few years earlier, and Edward Harkness bought it for the museum. Ransom Williams went through over 600 boxes of limestone.

She preserved both the stone and its artwork by sealing everything in a varnish-like coating. Prepping and rebuilding the tomb indoors took about three years, and Ransom Williams and her team completed the work in 1916. Visitors can still see the tomb on display today.

In the accompanying booklet, Williams explained that the tomb's hieroglyphs said that Perneb's family visited him regularly, helping to personalize the life of someone who had lived over 4,000 years earlier.

Drawing on her expertise in art history, Ransom Williams said the artists' use of the Egyptian blue pigment was significant and part of "a sophisticated color scheme."

Over a decade after finishing Perneb's tomb, Ransom Williams helped refine Breasted's epigraphic process for capturing scenes and reliefs on tomb and temple walls, which Myrtle Broome and Amice Calverley would use soon after.

The combination of the way Ransom Williams' presented Ancient Egypt to the public as a museum curator and her work with the University of Chicago's Epigraphic Survey made her career one of the most significant in Egyptology at the time.

"If she had been a man, we would be talking about her way more than we talk about even James Breasted or Howard Carter because she was so impactful with the work that she did," Sheppard said.

The country is a little bigger than Mexico. It's also much colder. About 80% of Greenland's 836,330 square miles are buried in snow and ice. An enormous national park, the world's largest, covers much of the northeast.

The island has long made it of interest to many other countries for military purposes and as a source of natural resources, from rare minerals to natural gas and oil.

But to Greenlanders, it's simply home.

Pre-Inuit groups, including members of the Saqqaq culture, came to the island around 2,500 BCE via Canada. They settled in northern, western, and southeastern Greenland. Today's Greenland Inuit population is descended from the Thule people, who moved into the country's north from Alaska through Canada around 1,000 years ago.

Between 985 and roughly 1450 CE, Vikings lived and then died out in Western Greenland. Erik the Red was the one who called the icy island Greenland. In Greenlandic, its name is Kalaallit Nunaat.

Danish-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede established a settlement in what's now Nuuk, Greenland's capital, in 1721. Over the centuries, Denmark's culture profoundly changed the country.

Greenland remained a Danish colony until 1953 and became an autonomous territory in 1979. It has its own parliament, known as the Inatsisartut.

While the country self-governs its domestic matters, Denmark retains jurisdiction over defense and foreign affairs.

Around 56,000 people make Greenland their home.

Just under 90% are Inuit, though most also have some European ancestry, according to genetic testing published by the American Society of Human Genetics in 2015. Danish people make up the rest of the population. Most live in coastal cities or communities.

Kalaallisut, also known as Greenlandic, is an Inuit language and is the official language of the country. It's widely spoken, though some groups in the east speak Tunumiit, according to the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs.

Most residents also speak Danish, which is taught as a second language in schools.

The population has long depended on fishing for their livelihoods. However, it's not enough to support the entire country. Denmark heavily supplements its budget with about $511 million annually, according to The BBC.

"The economy has been difficult," Stenbaek said. Tourism and the country's natural resources may be its future.

Whether they're hoping to spot narwhals or want to glimpse glaciers, nature-loving tourists are drawn to Greenland.

For a long time, it was difficult to get to the island by plane. Nuuk only opened its international airport in November 2024. Before that, only a few airports had runways long enough to land large jets.

Ilulissat, which has an ice fjord on UNESCO's World Heritage list, and Qaqortoq are also getting international airports, Reuters reported. Later this year, Americans will be able to hop on a direct flight from New York to Nuuk for the first time.

To get ready for the surge of tourists, some residents are buying snowmobiles to rent out, The New York Times reported. New hotels are opening, too.

Greenland has a history of mining cryolite, which is used in aluminum smelting. A recent documentary, "The White Gold of Greenland," claimed that for over 100 years, Danish mining companies extracted billions worth of the mineral, and Greenland reaped very little of the benefit, Variety reported.

That's not a history it would want to repeat if it taps its deposits of uranium, gold, natural gas, lithium, and other resources. While some see mining as an opportunity to enrich the country, others have concerns.

"Greenlanders are very hesitant about many aspects of mining because it impacts the nature so much," Stenbaek said.

There are also worries about how it could affect the fishing industry, while residents in Narsaq are concerned about their health if a company moves forward with mining radioactive uranium at a nearby proposed site, The Guardian reported.

Danish culture is visible in Greenland's healthcare system, educational institutions, and government. "To that extent, it has had a huge impact," Stenbaek said. At the same time, authorities contributed to the loss of many aspects of the Inuits' way of life.

Between the 1950s and '70s, the Danish government forced Inuit populations to relocate from smaller settlements and communities to cities, Reuters reported. During this time, doctors implanted IUDs in thousands of Inuit girls and women, sometimes without their consent, The BBC reported. Denmark is investigating the matter and has offered counseling to those affected, AP reported last year.

Members of the Inuit community were also pressured to give up their culture and language.

"We were told to act more Danish, to speak Danish, if we wanted to be something," Nadja Arnaaraq Kreutzmann, a Nuuk resident, recently told Reuters.

From sewing national costumes to making jewelry to carving animal tusks, Inuit people in Greenland are finding ways to continue traditional practices.

"I'm concerned if we do not give the old traditions to younger people, it'll die out within 35 years," Greenlander Vera Mølgaard told National Geographic.

Qupanuk Olsen, a new member of Greenland's Parliament, has spent over five years gaining more than 300,000 Instagram followers by highlighting the country's food and traditions.

Some estimates put Greenland's Lutheran population at 90%, heavily influenced by Hans Egede, the missionary who came to the island in 1721. His statue stands in Nuuk, and some want it removed, saying it's a symbol of the start of colonization, the AP reported.

Many Greenlanders incorporate traditional religious practices into their services, Stenbaek said. They also sing hymns in Greenlandic, she said.

The city's architecture is Scandinavian, but its artwork incorporates Inuit tales, according to Lonely Planet. That duality is Nuuk in a nutshell.

"It's very much, in many ways, like a modern Scandinavian city," Stenbaek said. "And at the same time, the Greenlandic culture, the traditional culture, is still there."

There are plenty of cafés, restaurants, and shopping for residents and tourists to visit.

Small settlements remain along the west and east coasts, Stenbaek said. Some have fewer than 100 people.

"They live very much like they would have lived 100 years ago," Stenbaek said. That means relying on fishing and other traditional knowledge to survive.

In the more remote areas of the country, it's not always easy to get from place to place.

"If you have to go from settlement to settlement, it's either by boat or dog sleigh or skiing," Stenbaek said.

If the water is too icy for boats, Greenlanders might have to jump in a helicopter. There are dog sled races in Uummannaq, but it's also a practical mode of transportation in the snowy weather. The same goes for snowmobiles.

Far north regions experience polar nights in the winter, when the sun doesn't rise above the horizon. The opposite happens in the summer, when Greenland gets nonstop daylight for a couple of months.

Both are significant to Greenlanders.

Since the sun is not visible in the winter, when spring comes it brings life back," photographer Inuuteq Storch told The Guardian in 2024. "That time of total darkness is very spiritual."

Greenland is a maritime culture, according to Stenbaek. "Everything depends on ice and water," she said.

In some parts of the country, winters can last through April. The temperatures can be frigid, with some regions getting down to -30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Summers in northern towns are still chilly, averaging around 41 degrees Fahrenheit, per The Guardian. Temperatures are getting warmer, though.

Greenland has a very literary culture, Stenbaek said. "It's an old tradition that goes back 100 years," she said. It's long been a good way to pass a polar night. Local authors are published in both Greenlandic and Danish.

There are plenty of other types of Greenlandic art, too, including theater, sculpture, and music.

"Greenlanders are very artistic," Stenbaek said.

Plenty of Greenlanders' pastimes involve braving the cold.

"Many of them are connected directly to nature, like fishing, hunting, skiing," Stenbaek said.

The snowy landscape and arctic waters surrounding the island are habitats for musk ox, reindeer, seals, polar bears, whales, and dozens of bird species.

Berries, flowers, and cottongrass also grow in some parts of the country.

Sled dogs aren't just companions. They're often working animals, and have a long history of surviving alongside humans. Greenland's first dogs arrived with the Thule people hundreds of years ago.

The husky-like dogs have thick coats, muscular bodies for pulling sleds, and a digestive system suited to high-fat diets, as reported by Newsweek.

Some dog sled races ban the use of other breeds, according to the Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation.

Long before there were grocery stores in Greenland, locals survived by hunting and fishing. Since the island doesn't have a lot of plant life, they got their vitamin C from whale skin, The New York Times reported.

Even today, there isn't much farming in Greenland, though people do raise sheep in the south.

While supermarkets sell imported food, like milk and vegetables, they'll also stock local fare, including fish, seal, and whale. Some Greenlanders also supplement their shopping by hunting reindeer, ox, and other animals.

"In Greenland, we have the world's wildest kitchen," chef Inunnguaq Hegelund recently told NPR.

As the planet heats up, Greenland has started to melt. Its glaciers are shrinking, and the permafrost is disappearing. In 2016, researchers found that the Greenland ice sheet was losing the equivalent of 110 million Olympic-sized swimming pools of water each year.

"It had an influence on roads and airports and houses when all of a sudden the earth starts to unfreeze," Stenbaek said.

It's started to change animals' migration patterns, and polar bears have had to adapt to a new way of hunting without sea ice.

The US National Science Foundation has been studying Greenland's ice sheet for decades.

The country's location also makes it the perfect location to obtain ice cores, test cold-weather engineering, monitor climate change, and study the elusive Greenland shark.

Over the years, Greenland has become increasingly independent from Denmark. In 2008, it voted for a referendum granting them more autonomy. Many want to go even further and become completely independent from the Danish kingdom.

About 80% of Greenlanders support the move, according to recent polling. Yet one longtime backer of the movement has recently become a bit more hesitant.

Aqqaluk Lynge is the former president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, a nongovernmental organization representing Inuit people in several countries. He recently told NPR that he now supports Greenland staying tied to Denmark because "if Greenland secedes from Denmark, it will be taken by United States."

"This is surprising because Aqqaluk used to be head of much of the independence movement," Stenbaek said.

Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to buy Greenland. In a recent speech to the US Congress, he said that if Greenland chose to join, "we welcome you into the United States of America."

It may be one of the reasons the Democratic party, which advocates for a slow approach to independence, won in recent elections, Stenbaek said. The majority of Greenlanders, 85%, according to a recent opinion poll, don't want to become part of the US.

"Greenlanders want to remain Greenlandic," Stenbaek said.

She said she thought it was important for Greenland to strengthen connections with other countries, Canada in particular. They have a lot in common in terms of environmental concerns and large Inuit populations, she said.

"Both are Arctic countries," she said. "They would be quite strong."

In 1948, Kim Il Sung came to power and served as the country's ruler until his death in 1994.

Japan colonized the Korean peninsula between 1910 and 1945. Kim Il Sung was born in 1912, and his father was later jailed for his activism for independence. Visiting his beaten and bruised father in prison sparked an anti-Japanese zeal in Kim Il Sung, according to his memoir, quoted in "Becoming King Jung Un."

Both of his parents died young, his father at 31 and his mother at 40.

In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria, a region of China. Kim Il Sung led Chinese and Korean guerilla fighters in killing Japanese police and soldiers. He and his group then made their way to the Soviet Union in 1940 as pressure from the Japanese troops increased.

There, he received military training and became captain of a Red Army brigade.

Kim Jong Suk was in her late teens when she met up with Kim Il Sung in Manchuria in 1935. First helping in the kitchens, she became a fighter, and Kim Il Sung credited her with saving his life in his memoir. The two married in the early 1940s.

Much about their lives together at this point is unknown. "The records are sort of foggy," Madden said.

The couple was still in the Soviet Union at the time. Later, officials would alter Kim Jong Il's birth to a year later, to match more closely with his father's, 1912.

The Soviet Union and the US divided the Korean peninsula in two in 1945. Despite fierce competition for the role, Kim Il Sung became the leader of the northern portion with the help of the Soviet Union.

Three years later, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was established.

The cause was an ectopic pregnancy, according to Kim Il Sung's memoir.

Kim Il Sung's memoir contributed to some of the myth-making around Kim Jong Suk. Not only did she save his life, she sacrificed her hair to use as insulation for his boots.

It was important that she also be seen as nurturing, Pak said: "She supported her husband, the revolutionary."

In 1950, North Korea invaded its neighbor, quickly capturing Seoul. The war lasted three years, during which the US heavily bombed the northern part of the peninsula. It ended with an armistice but no peace treaty.

Though the peninsula remained split, Kim Il Sung declared it a victory for North Korea.

Two of Kim Il Sung's children, Kim Jong Il and Kyong Hui, moved to China during the Korean War, away from the fighting. A third child, Kim Man Il, drowned in 1947.

During the war, Kim Il Sung married Kim Song Ae, whom he began an affair with during his first marriage. The couple eventually had at least two sons.

"It's got to be devastating trauma" for the siblings to return after the war ends to find a new family, Madden said.

As Kim Il Sung continued his rule in the 1950s, he pushed his idea of juche, an ideology of Korean socialism that explained away difficult living conditions as necessary for creating a great nation.

He became part paternal authority figure, part Santa Claus, with the power to both punish and reward.

"After all, without Kim Il Sung, they as a nation and as a people would not exist, which schoolchildren learned in their textbooks and through lectures about their 'father's' heroic deeds and adventures," according to "Becoming Kim Jong Un."

Given his mythological status, it was unclear who would rule the country next.

Initially, Kim Il Sung's younger brother, Kim Yong Ju, seemed a potential candidate for succession in the late 1960s. His children from his second marriage may have also had a claim to the position.

By the late 1970s, though, Kim Il Sung had chosen his son Kim Jong Il as the country's next leader. While Kim Jong Il lacked his father's military background and force of personality, he had already secured leadership positions by that time.

"Kim Jong Il's very ambitious," Madden said. "He's got axes to grind." That included conflict with his stepmother and half-siblings. He used his clout to have his half-brother Pyong Il sent to a distant post.

With his storied history as a guerilla fighter and decades to build up his deified image, Kim Il Sung was a tough act to follow. "Kim Jong Il did not have those credentials, and they had to make things up for him," Pak said.

According to legend, a shining star appeared in the sky on the day Kim Jong Il was born. He could walk and talk by the time he was 2 months old. As a kindergartener, he understood military tactics.

One of Jong Il's earliest posts was cultural arts director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department. A fan of James Bond and Elizabeth Taylor, he parlayed his interest in filmmaking into a way to feed the mystique around his father and his legacy.

He was also known as a partier and womanizer, according to "Becoming Kim Jong Un."

North Korea spent years isolated from other countries, with a declining economy and a cowed population. "Their tools were coercion, violence, repression, and propaganda to create a culture of fear," Pak wrote of the Kim family.

By 1994, the Soviet Union had recently collapsed, so Kim Jong Il had also lost his father's biggest ally. He saw nuclear weapons as the key to holding onto power. In 2006, the country announced its first nuclear test.

While Jong Il didn't seem to mind the spotlight, he kept his private life under wraps. His wives and domestic partners were hidden in lavish homes around Pyongyang.

He had children with Song Hye Rim, Kim Young Sook, and Ko Young Hui.

"Having multiple wives and children would have undermined Kim Jong Il's own political leadership succession in North Korea," Madden said.

His mother, Song Hae Rim, was a North Korean actor who divorced a novelist before having a child with Kim Jong Il in 1971.

Jong Il was worried his father would disapprove of Song Hae Rim, who was born in South Korea, and his son. He kept them isolated but spoiled Jong Nam with foreign comics and TV shows, which were severely restricted to other North Korean residents.

In 1978, Jong Nam started going to school in Moscow and then Geneva. He spent a decade getting an education outside of North Korea.

Ko Yong Hui was an actress who was born in Japan in 1952. When she was a child, her family moved to Pyongyang as part of the country's program to bring back Koreans who lived and worked in Japan.

"Her connection to Japan is not something that's acknowledged" by the leadership, Pak said. "The Korean-Japanese history goes back to the colonial period, and it's a painful period for Korea."

In the 1970s, Ko Yong Hui was a dancer with the Mansudae Art Troupe when she met Kim Jong Il. They had their first child together in 1981, a son named Kim Jong Chol.

Soon after, his brother, Kim Jong Un, was born. (The exact year of his birth isn't clear.) Sister Kim Yo Jong followed in 1987.

In 2011, Kim Jong Chol was reportedly seen in Singapore at an Eric Clapton concert. Madden said he's more artistic and sensitive than Kim Jong Un. "He's younger than his brother, but his personality is so headstrong and charismatic," he said of Jong Un.

The siblings went to school in Switzerland and seemed to grow close during their time away from North Korea.

Ko Yong Suk, Kong Young Hui's sister, took care of Kim Jong Un during his time in Switzerland.

"We lived in a normal house and acted like a normal family," she told The Washington Post in 2016. During school holidays, they would go to the French Riviera or the Alps. Back home in North Korea, they stayed at their family's luxury homes or traveled to a private resort on the country's eastern coast.

In 1998, Ko Yong Suk and her husband defected to the US.

Kim Jong Nam and Kim Jong Chol were both older than Kim Jong Un, leading some analysts to speculate they were next in line for succession.

In some ways, Jong Nam lived a lifestyle similar to his father's, with a rowdy social life. However, Kim Jong Il may have worried that his son was too Westernized. In 2001, Jong Nam reportedly used a fake passport to try and go to Tokyo Disneyland.

"The first son had been outside North Korea for a long time, and so you can imagine that he would not have the networks or the connections" necessary to run the country, Pak said.

It's not clear if Jong Chol was passed over or took himself out of the running to be leader. "You need to have some strength and personality if you want to take that title," Madden said. "And Jong Chol didn't have that."

In contrast, Kim Jong Un seemed like his father in appearance and demeanor, Madden said.

"She was a very prominent North Korean elite," Madden said. She had several roles in the important Workers' Party of Korea and became a general in the Korean People's Army.

Though he was once seen as having a powerful role in the government and possibly mentoring Kim Jong Un, Jang Song Thaek was accused of corruption in 2013, according to The BBC.

A military tribunal ruled that Kim Jong Un's uncle had attempted to overthrow the state, and he was executed by an antiaircraft gun soon after.

In 2017, two women smeared a nerve agent, VX, on Jong Nam's face at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Jong Nam quickly died from exposure to the lethal substance. The woman said they thought it was part of a prank and were later released.

In 2018, the US State Department accused North Korea of being behind the attack. North Korea has denied any involvement.

What role the North Korean leader potentially had in his brother's death is unclear.

"There are definitely people in KJU's ear who would be stoking tension between his brother," Madden said.

Kim Han Sol spent most of his childhood in Macau, China.

He periodically gave interviews. In 2012, the teenager said, "I've always dreamed that one day I would go back and make things better, and make things easier for the people back there."

In the 2017 video, Han Sol said he was with his mother and sister. The video was edited but ended with Jung Nam's son saying, "We hope this gets better soon."

"Kim Yo Jong has unfettered access to her brother," Madden said.

Her role has expanded in recent years beyond promoting Kim Jong Un's image to include acting as a political advisor and becoming involved with the military.

"She's kind of an attack dog," Pak said. "She says nasty things about the South Korean president and South Korea and about the US."

Kim Yo Jong appears to have two young children, who may one day play a role in a future leader's cabinet.

"I would anticipate the sister's children being supporters," Pak said. "But their place in the inner circle is completely dependent on how much they show their loyalty to the leader," she added.

Ri Sol Ju was born in 1989. She's played a bit of a first-lady role, attending summits and delegations alongside her husband.

"He can present her as a vision of what North Korean motherhood or womanhood should be," Pak said. "She's supportive. She's pretty. She's dressed in a very modern way and in a non-threatening way."

More recently, she's been less in the public eye. Reports state that she has three children with Kim Jong Un. They were born in 2010, 2013 and 2017, according to reports.

When basketball player Dennis Rodman visited Pyongyang in 2013, he met one of Kim Jong Un's children, a daughter named Ju Ae. More recently, Ju Ae, now a teenager, has been photographed at events with her father.

"If we're looking at succession, you would want to craft that narrative of somebody who is devoted and committed to advancing and possessing a nuclear weapon program, that has the luster of revolution, that the revolutionary blood is coursing through her veins," Pak said.

She added that it's impossible to know if Kim Ju Ae really is being considered as the country's future leader.

"She's definitely had protocol lessons," Madden said, from comportment to how to shake hands with officials. "I'd say her mom and her aunt Kim Yo Jong would definitely be involved in that stuff."

Whether or not it's Ju Ae who inherits the title, her presence is meant to cement the notion that there will be a fourth-generation leader from the Kim family, Madden said.

Sitting between Iran and Pakistan, mountainous Afghanistan has rugged terrain and an arid climate.

"People perceive Afghanistan as just a desolate, mountain desert country with no attributes, no culture, which is wrong," Dramberger said. Decades of coups, civil wars, and invasions have made the country difficult for travelers to get to know, except via the news.

The US State Department lists civil unrest, terrorism, and kidnapping among the safety concerns when traveling to Afghanistan. In 2021, the US Embassy in Kabul closed.

Medical care may be more difficult to obtain in rural areas.

For those who travel to level-four countries, the State Department often offers routine advice, including staying aware of your surroundings, keeping your travel documents on hand, drafting a will before travel, creating a plan to leave the country without the aid of the US government, and monitoring local news for emergency situations.

For Afghanistan, the agency also recommends that American visitors keep a low profile while in Afghanistan.

Once a part of the Soviet Union, Belarus retains close ties to its neighbor Russia. From Gothic architecture to a refuge for the near-threatened European bison, Belarus has attractions for castle seekers and nature enthusiasts.

In recent years, Belarus has allowed Russia to use some of its territory to invade Ukraine. The risk of civil unrest and the past detention of US citizens makes visits to Belarus unwise, according to the State Department. The US Embassy suspended operations there in 2022.

Americans who go to Belarus should exercise the usual precautions for traveling to high-risk countries and also consider leaving phones, computers, and other electronic devices behind. The State Department also recommends not accessing social media accounts while in Belarus because they may be monitored.

Columns of sandstone, known as the Pics de Sindou, jut out from the ground, creating a unique landscape in the southwest of Burkina Faso. The West African country also has an incredible wildlife refuge, Réserve de Nazinga, near its border with Ghana.

The country's government has declared a state of emergency for several regions. Terrorism and other threats have displaced over 2 million residents, according to the United Nations. Since 2015, several Westerners have been kidnapped in Burkina Faso, according to the US' Overseas Security Advisory Council.

While the US Embassy still operates in Ouagadougou, the capital, government employees are unable to travel to many parts of the country due to safety concerns.

Recommendations for lowering risk while traveling in Burkina Faso include avoiding areas where Westerners typically travel and not resisting if someone attempts to rob you, the State Department says.

The Central African Republic touches several other level-four countries, including Sudan, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's home to incredibly rich biodiversity in its national parks, including Dzanga-Sangha National Park and Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park.

Many of the country's species are endangered, and its citizens have faced decades of instability, according to the United Nations. Recently, armed groups have targeted Muslims and refugees.

The US State Department also considers CAR a dangerous travel destination due to threats of crime, civil unrest, and kidnapping. US citizens can expect limited help from the government's embassy in Bangui, CAR's capital.

Due to the threat of kidnapping, the US' travel advisory website suggests travelers leave DNA samples with their doctor and establish proof-of-life protocols with family or friends so they can assist you if you're abducted.

Located south of the CAR, the Democratic Republic of Congo is enormous, encompassing savannas, grasslands, and the Congo rainforest.

While tourists may long to bask in the vibrancy of its capital, Kinshasa, or attempt to catch a glimpse of its various gorilla species, the US State Department advises against it. Conditions in the Eastern DRC are especially fraught due to armed conflict, according to the United Nations.

Locals are the ones most affected by the violence, but US citizens and other foreign visitors have been kidnapped, according to the OSAC. In January 2025, the US State Department pulled out its non-emergency employees.

The US' travel advisory site suggests carrying a copy of your passport and visa and keeping the originals in a safe location, except when crossing provincial borders by air.

The Caribbean country of Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Its Citadelle Laferrière remains a monument to Haitian independence, which it won from France in 1804.

More recently, the country has fallen under a state of emergency. In 2025, the US government extended a ban on flights to Port-au-Prince, its capital, due to gang violence. There's a curfew and prohibition on walking around the city in place.

The State Department has warned that armed robberies, sexual assaults, and kidnappings are among the reasons to reconsider travel to Haiti. Anyone who does go should avoid walking when possible, travel in groups, and keep vehicle doors and windows locked when driving, it advises.

One way to see over 800 miles of this Middle Eastern country is the Trans-Iranian Railway, which runs from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf. Tehran, the capital, lies along the route.

Some of the country's natural wonders include dormant volcanoes and the stunning limestone formations of Badab-e Surt. Right now, it's not safe for US citizens to make the trip, according to the State Department.

Following protests in 2022, thousands of people were arrested and tortured by Iranian authorities, according to Amnesty International. These were mostly locals, but the US government has cautioned that Iranian officials may detain or imprison US nationals and other foreigners.

The situation between Iran and Israel is volatile right now as well.

The US doesn't have a physical embassy in Iran. The American government's travel advisory site states that visitors should have a means of leaving Iran that doesn't depend on its assistance.

From the Tigris and Euphrates to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Iraq holds sites that many remember from their ancient history textbooks. Sadly, some of its artifacts were lost to looting during the 2003 Iraq invasion.

Since the US invasion and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iraq has faced threats from terrorist groups such as ISIS. Terrorism, kidnapping, and civil unrest are enough of a risk that the State Department considers Iraq a level-four country.

In 2024, ISIS was still active in parts of Iraq, according to OSAC. Armed conflict and terrorist threats are dangerous at the northern borders, per the State Department. It advises US travelers to consider making arrangements with a professional security organization for any visits.

At just over 4,000 square miles, Lebanon is just a bit bigger than Puerto Rico. It has snowy mountains that attract skiers every winter.

A lengthy civil war from 1975 to 1990 left scars in Beirut and beyond. In recent years, an economic crisis has taken a toll. Meanwhile, conflicts in neighboring Israel and Syria have affected Lebanon.

The US government has said that terrorist groups operating in Lebanon put travelers at risk. There have been suicide bombings, and a gunman opened fire at the embassy in Beirut in June 2024.

Visitors should take the advised security measures for high-risk countries and also be on the lookout for unexploded land mines near the Syrian border, per the State Department.

Situated between Egypt and Algeria, Libya has a coast that runs along the gorgeous Mediterranean Sea. Roman emperor Septimius Severus was born in Leptis Magna, and a UNESCO World Heritage site with striking ruins of large, impressive buildings.

Violence, including two recent civil wars, has marred the country. Armed groups have attacked hotels and airports in Tripoli, Sruman, and other cities, according to the State Department. The US Embassy hasn't been active in Tripoli since 2014.

The US warns of unexploded landmines and suggests consulting with a professional security organization.

Centuries-old mosques can be found in Mali's Timbuktu, symbols of its history as a seat of Islamic culture and learning. Its marketplace drew travelers and traders during the 15th and 16th centuries.

To the southwest of Timbuktu is Bamako, Mali's capital. Outside the city and in other parts of the country, terrorists and kidnappers target foreign visitors in the hopes of getting ransom, according to OSAC. US personnel aren't allowed to visit nightclubs or attend concerts for safety reasons.

Some of the advice for traveling in Mali includes avoiding walking around deserted streets at night, carrying minimal cash, not leaving valuables in your hotel, and looking for a well-lit area when stopped by police.

Located on the Bay of Bengal in Southeast Asia, Myanmar boasts a fascinating mix of architecture, from pagodas and palaces to colonial hotels and government offices. One stupa, or pagoda, the Shwedagon, is the country's most sacred Buddhist site.

A coup in 2021 sparked demonstrations. The military detained protestors and used force against them and bystanders, according to the State Department. The risk of continued civil unrest and arbitrary arrests makes it unwise to travel to the country, according to US travel advisories.

Some armed groups have used improvised explosive devices in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, while NGOs have reported land mines in Shan State, Chin State, and Kachin State.

One of the world's most mysterious and isolated countries, North Korea shares borders with South Korea, China, and Russia. Kim Jong-Un took over the presidency in 2011, continuing a family dynasty that's been in power since the 1950s.

In 2025, North Korea reopened to Western tourists for the first time since the pandemic. The State Department cautions that US nationals might be arrested and held for long periods of time. It warns that it's unable to provide emergency service for its citizens who are detained.

An American student, Otto Warmbier, was arrested in North Korea in 2016. While detained, he fell into a coma. He died six days after he was returned to his family in Ohio in 2017.

Russia's cities contain dazzling buildings, and its landscape is breathtaking. Siberia's Lake Baikal is the planet's oldest and deepest. The world's last woolly mammoths lived and died out on Wrangel Island, where polar bears, musk oxen, and walruses now congregate.

Due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the US State Department has declared it unsafe for US citizens, who may face harassment or detention. It said authorities might not inform the US if an American is arrested.

The US' travel advisory also cited drone attacks and explosions in Moscow, St. Petersburg, locations near the Ukrainian border, and other areas.

The State Department notes there may be risks for those with dual US-Russian nationality. Because the situation is volatile, travelers should stay aware of the latest local news when visiting.

Located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia's lengthy coastline borders the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Somali archaeologist Sada Mire has called the capital Mogadishu an "unbreakable pearl," tracing its history as a center for trade back to the first century CE.

During the 1990s, Somalia experienced famine and civil war. Instability continued in the form of terror attacks, including a suicide bombing on a popular beach in 2024. Due to the possibility of kidnapping and terrorism, the US has issued a do-not-travel advisory.

The State Department also advised against sailing near Somalia's coast due to piracy.

It was only during the 21st century that South Sudan declared its independence and was recognized as a sovereign state. Its neighbors include Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Its short history was dominated by a civil war, and a new conflict is brewing between the military and an opposition force, which clashed near the Ethiopian border. NGOs, the UN, and others have found it difficult to accurately assess crime levels, but firearms easily cross the border from Sudan, according to OSAC.

Due to recent political instability, the US pulled its non-emergency employees in March. Anyone traveling in South Sudan should avoid its border areas and adhere to restrictions around public photography and videography, the State Department says.

Khartoum, Sudan, is where the Blue and White Niles meet. Meroë is further north, where ancient Kushite rulers lived and were buried in pyramids. Some date back to the third century BCE; several have collapsed but others retain decorative carvings.

Civil war threatens not only the archaeological history but locals and travelers. Officials at the US Embassy hastily evacuated Khartoum in 2023, soon after the conflict broke out. Various groups frequently engage in violent fighting, the State Department says.

The Darfur, Khartoum, and Kordofan regions have all been sites for kidnappings, according to OSAC. The Khartoum International Airport is closed.

The US' travel advisory suggests travelers be aware of their surroundings, especially in locations where Westerners typically visit.

Not only is Damascus the capital of Syria, it's the seat of cultural history. Established over 2,000 years ago, it's one of the oldest cities in the Middle East. Evidence of its Roman and Byzantine past exists alongside important Islamic monuments such as the Umayyad Mosque.

Despite the allure of these ancient sites, the US doesn't recommend travel to Syria. A lengthy civil war broke out in 2011, with efforts to oust Bashar Assad from power. Since Assad resigned at the end of 2024, violence has continued to erupt in parts of western Syria, Reuters reported in March.

The State Department has also warned terrorism, kidnapping and hostage-taking, and unjust detention are risks in Syria. It recommends visitors set up proof-of-life protocols with loved ones, among other precautions before and during travel.

Much like Istanbul's Hagia Sofia, for which it was named, the Saint Sophia Cathedral serves as an eye-catching landmark in Kyiv. It's just one of the Ukrainian capital's architectural treasures.

Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and years of fighting have ensued, mainly in the east, where the border lies. Belarusian troops are also present along its border with Ukraine.

The ongoing conflict is the principal reason the US government cautions against visiting. Areas that aren't on the frontline of fighting could still experience drone and missile attacks, the State Department notes.

Drafting a will, coordinating a security plan, and creating a communication protocol with loved ones are just a few of the steps suggested on the travel advisory website.

With its dizzying height of over 3,000 feet, the Salto Ángel waterfall has drawn tourists for decades, though it's notoriously tricky to access. It's found in the southeast of Venezuela, in the Canaima National Park near where the country borders Brazil and Guyana.

The country is in the midst of an economic and political crisis. Heavily reliant on oil for income, it suffered years of recession. In 2024, the US and several other countries refused to recognize the results of its presidential election, calling it fraudulent, BBC News reported at the time.

The US Embassy ceased operations in Caracas in 2019. The State Department has issued warnings about arbitrary detentions and unpredictable enforcement of local laws. In 2023 and 2025, Venezuela released several Americans, some of whom were "wrongfully detained," according to the US government.

Travelers may want to hire a professional security team during their stay, according to the US' travel advisory site.

Beautiful gypsum patterns adorn red fired-brick buildings in the Old City of Sana'a. People have lived in this area of Yemen for over 2,500 years. The country is located on the Arabian Peninsula next to Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Yemen's civil war started over a decade ago and continues today. The threat of armed conflict continues, according to OSAC. Detained US citizens have not been allowed to contact their families or the embassy, which isn't operating at the moment.

The State Department warns against visiting the Yemeni island of Socotra. Some travel companies have offered trips there with unofficial visas, which puts travelers at risk, according to the travel advisory website.

A significant milestone in Sephora's history starts with Dominique Mandonnaud, who opened a French perfumery in 1970 called Shop 8.

The retailer earned accolades for its unique "self-service shopping." Customers were encouraged to touch and sniff the perfumes and spritz themselves.

This was a stark contrast to department stores where assistants sprayed passersby, and buyers had to wait to open packages until they got home.

However, Mandonnaud didn't create the Sephora brand. French department store Nouvelles Galeries started Sephora in 1976, and UK retailer Boots bought it three years later, European Cosmetic Markets reported in 1993.

In 1993, Shop 8 acquired Sephora for $61 million. It took on the chain's name because it was better known in France and had "a more feminine connotation," Mandonnaud told Women's Wear Daily at the time. However, the layout and aesthetics of 38 Sephora shops would change to match Shop 8's 11 boutiques.

That meant a more sophisticated look without plastic baskets and discount signs, Mandonnaud said.

The origins of the name Sephora are a bit mysterious. One theory is that it has Biblical connotations, according to Bustle. Zipporah was the name of Moses' wife in the Book of Exodus, but the 1956 film "The Ten Commandments" changed her name to Sephora.

Located on the popular street, perfect for drawing in tourists, the 12,916-square-foot store was France's largest freestanding perfumery when it opened in 1996, WWD reported at the time. It was staffed with over 100 employees who worked between 10 a.m. and 1 a.m. on weekends.

By this time, Sephora had already started using its signature black-and-white color scheme. Make-up sections had special lighting options that mimicked daylight, giving browsers a better sense of how products looked in everyday situations.

The large store received 12 million visits a year and featured screens that activated when customers approached, and — because it was the '90s — beauty software on CDs in its Cybercosmetic area.

In 2023, the Paris flagship store underwent significant renovations. Sephora made the store more energy-efficient and added greenery, something that's missing from the chain's other branches, WWD reported at the time.

When LVMH purchased Sephora, it announced plans to expand with 50 additional stores throughout Europe and Asia in the next four years, WWD reported at the time.

LVMH is the French conglomerate behind luxury brands such as Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, Fendi, and Tiffany & Co.

It also owns several beauty and perfume brands that Sephora stocks, including Fresh, Benefit, Givenchy, and OleHenriksen.

Sephora opened a 9,000-square-foot shop in the SoHo neighborhood, stocked with thousands of products.

In the late '90s, about two-thirds of the US's cosmetics industry's $14.5 billion in sales came through department stores or drug stores. Shoppers sometimes had a hard time finding smaller brands like Urban Decay or MAC.

For many customers, shopping at Sephora was a new experience. They had options from dozens of brands at their fingertips, instead of having to move from counter to counter, talking to salespeople who wanted to sell them every eyeshadow, blush, and lipstick from a single line, The New York Times reported in 1998.

Industry experts weren't sure whether customers would buy as much without hovering sales staff. LVMH bet big, though, planning to open another 15 stores across the US the same year before expanding to malls. By 2000, it had 64 stores in the US.

"Consumers will want to come into Sephora for the freedom of choice and the shopping experience," Sephora executive Steve Bock told WWD in 1998.

By 1998, Sephora had a basic website, but it was revamped the following year into an e-commerce site so visitors could make purchases. Ads for the site promised customers could find ''virtually every'' product, whether they were looking for makeup, fragrance, or other beauty categories, The New York Times reported in 1999.

When the dot-com bubble burst, Sephora snapped up other beauty retail sites, like Eve.com, which it purchased in 2000.

A 2000 review of the site from Internet World noted that some major brands, including Chanel, Lancome, and Estée Lauder, were missing, but overall it was a fun experience, even if a number of products were sold out.

In the early days, Sephora attempted to recreate the sense of discovery provided at the in-person stores. A fragrance-finding feature used categories, including gender, blend, and notes, to help customers find a scent. There were over 230 herbs, spices, flowers, and other notes to choose from.

Sephora also started an online magazine in 1999 called Beauty Cyber-Space. One of its early features was an interactive celebrity makeup lesson from actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, WWD reported at the time.

Sephora's app followed in 2010.

The retailer has typically been quick to jump on new tech trends. It even implemented payment by mobile phones when it was still a novelty in 2013.

Before everyone carried smartphones, Sephora customers could access the web from the store's internet terminals, WWD reported in 1999. That was just the beginning of the retailer's tech savvy.

The stores' computers could also help people find the right lotion for their dry skin or a fragrance that matched their favorite scent, The New York Times reported in 1998.

By 2007, shoppers could scan their faces with Skincredible devices, which would deliver a breakdown of stats like moisture content, amount of lines, and pore size. Then they would get recommendations for serums or creams to treat crow's feet, sunspots, and other diagnoses. Some dermatologists worried this would scare people into buying unnecessary or ineffective products, The New York Times reported at the time.

Color IQ launched in 2012. Sephora partnered with Pantone Color Institute to create a device that scanned the skin and assigned a Pantone SkinTone number. Customers could then use that number to find concealers, foundation, and other makeup in the right shade.

In 2021, the retailer said it was incorporating AI technology to measure saturation and make the color matching more accurate. Still, some people have found the results to be less than perfect.

Sephora's Virtual Artist app, which debuted in 2017, uses augmented reality to show someone how they'll look with dark red lipstick or a new shade of eyeshadow. Its tutorials can also train you on contouring and other makeup techniques.

In Sephora's early days in the US, cosmetics giants like Estée Lauder were in exclusive deals with department stores and couldn't sell through the newcomer. Instead, Sephora focused on indie brands.

"When Sephora first entered the United States, a lot of established brands didn't want to work with us," CEO Artemis Patrick told Forbes in 2024. "For sheer survival, Sephora had to start incubating these baby brands."

Pairing with Sephora helped catapult some brands into the mainstream, like Tarte, Hard Candy, and Benefit.

In the 2010s and 2020s, Drunk Elephant, Sol de Janeiro, Milk Makeup, and Supergoop all found success with Sephora. Around this time, investors started pouring over $2 billion a year into beauty startups, according to Crunchbase.

Sephora sometimes inked exclusive deals with new brands. In exchange, up-and-coming companies were stocked in stores, received shout-outs on Sephora's Instagram page, and had access to data about shoppers, Fast Company reported in 2024.

The exclusive partnerships don't always work out, even for big-name stars. Sephora stopped carrying Jennifer Lopez's beauty line in its stores after three years, Beauty Independent reported in 2024.

Eventually, Sephora became such a juggernaut that it started carrying brands that were previously department-store exclusives, including Bobbi Brown and Nars. Even Glossier, once a direct-to-consumer darling, entered Sephora's stores in 2022.

Beauty trends come and go, and Sephora has been at the forefront of many of them in the past couple of decades. In 2005, a Plumping Station held an assortment of pencils and glosses for adding volume to lips, The New York Times reported.

In the years that followed, shoppers could get everything they needed for contouring, a smoky eye, the perfect blowout, or a face that looked makeup-free. Those curious about trying Korean skincare or men who were new to makeup also found plenty to choose from at Sephora.

As TikTok beauty trends happen at the speed of light, Sephora has helped customers navigate them with in-store and online sections dedicated to viral products.

"Sephora Squad" influencers also help the retailer generate buzz on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube by creating content around skincare, hair care, and beauty products.

Since customers often received a handful of samples at checkout (or in their delivery box), it made it easy to check out unfamiliar items.

When Sephora opened a new store in San Francisco in 2003, model Lauren Hutton and designer Anna Sui attended the celebration to promote their makeup lines.

A few years later, Jessica Simpson debuted her Dessert Beauty, lipgloss, body shimmer, and whipped body cream — supposedly edible — that made the wearer smell like a walking cupcake, according to InStyle. The Olsen twins had a fragrance at Sephora starting in 2013.

While many of these products are now defunct, more recent Sephora-partnered celebrity brands are still going strong. Fenty Beauty by Rihanna and Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty have helped make both stars billionaires, for example.

Sephora's Beauty Insider program dates back to 2007. It expanded over the years into a tiered rewards program that offered goodies to customers who spent a little or a lot.

Insider was free to join, and shoppers were bumped up to VIB status when they racked up purchases of $350 or more each year. The Rouge tier, launched in 2013, was reserved for those who spent $1,000 or more.

A few of the Beauty Insider perks included a birthday gift — typically a few sample products — plus exclusive sales and points that gave discounts on certain purchases. Members also got access to the online community forum and invites to in-store events.

Rouge members got more points for each dollar spent and could take advantage of certain sales before other customers. They also got bigger discounts for some sales, saving 20% compared to a basic Insider's 10%.

Sephora has tweaked its bonuses in recent years, to the ire of some customers. Rouge Insiders no longer get free makeovers, and members who want their birthday gifts need to go into a store or make a $25 purchase online.

The first Sephoria immersive beauty event took place in LA in 2018. Tickets for 2024's fest cost between $135 and $445, according to Fast Company.

Influencers, experts, and beauty fans came together to get a sneak peek at what Sephora predicted would be some of its biggest brands in the coming year. Attendees snagged samples from some of their favorites — Sol de Janeiro and Rare Beauty were both in attendance last year — and were introduced to up-and-comers.

Attendees could also check out "master classes" with stylists and brand founders.

In April 2019, SZA tweeted that a Sephora employee at a Calabasas, California store reported her to security to see if the R&B musician was stealing makeup.

A few months later, Sephora shut down its US stores for a day of training to address the incident of racial profiling. "This is an all-too-common experience for people of color," Abigail Jacobs, Sephora's then-vice president of marketing, said in 2020.

Following the training, Sephora was one of the first major retailers to commit to the 15% pledge in 2020, promising to boost its number of Black-owned brands

Though Sephora had championed Black-owned brands in the past, including Rihanna's Fenty Beauty and Carol's Daughter, it struggled with inclusivity.

In 2003, five employees of a Manhattan Sephora said their supervisors mocked and reprimanded them for speaking Spanish and sued the company for discrimination. The lawsuit was eventually settled by consent decree, in which Sephora did not admit fault.

Last year, a Sephora store drew criticism when shoppers said a group of teens and the adults accompanying them were allowed to make purchases after the kids had used makeup as blackface, according to The New York Times.

Sephora said its "top priority is to create a welcoming and inclusive shopping experience for all," in a statement at the time.

By the time Sephora opened a store on Chicago's Michigan Avenue in 2016, it had 399 stores around the US, according to WWD. Four years later, the retailer would gain access to new customers by opening small shops inside Kohl's department stores.

While Sephora had quickly moved into malls throughout the US in the early 2000s, the Kohl's partnership helped it reach a new demographic of slightly older customers with these strip mall destinations, according to Retail Dive.

In 2024, over 1,000 Kohl's stores had Sephoras, and sales were expected to reach $2 billion from those locations, Fast Company reported last year.

This wasn't the first time Sephora had tried this strategy. Between 2006 and 2022, the retailer could also be found in over 600 JCPenney stores.

In January 2024, a Sephora employee shared a story on TikTok about a girl, who seemed to be around 10, buying $500 worth of products. An uproar over "Sephora kids" ensued.

Tweens have been experimenting with makeup since long before Bonne Bell introduced Lip Smackers in the 1970s. However, Sephora offers a wonderland of products aimed at adults but offered in colorful, shiny packages that appeal to kids, too.

Some of these skincare products include antiaging ingredients or exfoliating acids. "Most young people do not need to use any of these products," Jamie Glick, a dermatologist with the New York Dermatology Group, told BI last year. "Their skin is young and does not have the photodamage of those in their 30s and 40s."

California lawmakers have proposed a ban on retailers selling products with vitamin A, retinol, and other ingredients to anyone under 18 years old. Some critics called the bill impractical, saying it would be difficult to enforce because some products, like sunscreens, have these ingredients.

"I think that we at Sephora have a huge responsibility to make sure — as do our brands — to make sure that we educate this future consumer on what's right for them," Sephora CEO Artemis Patrick said in 2024.

She added that the company trained sales staff to guide customers to products that are right for them. In 2025, she said young teens should only be using a cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen.

One 10-year-old compared tween skincare routines to Bratz dolls, which were popular but controversial in the early 2000s. "This is the new toy that we have," she told Teen Vogue in 2024.

In April of last year, Artemis Patrick added CEO of Sephora North America to her resumé. She had been with the company for 18 years and had taken on the role of president for the North American region a year earlier.

Patrick came to the US as a child in 1979, amid the Iranian Revolution. When her mother returned to Iran, her father was unable to care for her. At age 10, Patrick entered foster care. The family she lived with encouraged her to go to college and get a graduate degree, Fortune reported in 2024.

During her time with Sephora, Patrick helped bring on beloved brands like Milk Makeup and Supergoop, Fast Company reported in 2024. Unlike many women who get promoted to CEO, Patrick took over at a time when the retailer had double-digit growth in revenue and profit, according to LVMH's 2024 earnings report.

With that explosive growth came some backlash from employees. Some have complained about fewer hours and a loss of perks, like freebies, BI reported in 2024.

When the company hit $10 billion in revenue, some workers complained that all they received was a cookie.

A viral TikTok video from November 2024 claimed Sephora donated to Donald Trump's presidential campaign and called for a boycott.

"Sephora does not make corporate donations to political candidates," the retailer said in a statement to The Cut at the time.

Reuters reported that there was no evidence LVMH, Sephora's parent company donated money, either.

A few months later, LVMH's CEO, Bernard Arnault, and two of his children attended Trump's 2025 inauguration.

Since Sephora started its expansion into other countries in the 1990s, it has experienced explosive growth. There are now over 2,700 stores worldwide.

With Patrick at the helm in North America, some changes are coming to some of these stores. Many will get some tweaks while others will have major redesigns.

"One of the things that was really, really important to us was ensuring that no matter what, where you are, whether you are in our Soho store, you're in Boise, Idaho, or you're in Vancouver Island, that experience is the same no matter where you go," Patrick said at the National Retail Federation's Big Show in January.

Shoppers can expect the results of these makeovers in the next five years.

Sephora did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Before taking on the fast-talking, coffee-guzzling role of Lorelei in "Gilmore Girls," Graham started acting in commercials for Lean Cuisine, Cascade dishwasher detergent, and other products.

In the 1990s, she had bit parts on several popular TV shows, including NBC's "Law and Order" and "Seinfeld." The actor also had larger roles on ABC's "Townies" and NBC's "Conrad Bloom."

While starring on the show, Graham also appeared in films including "Bad Santa" (2001) and "Evan Almighty" (2007).

Graham's largest role after "Gilmore Girls" was Sarah Braverman on NBC's "Parenthood."

The actor also appeared as herself on Bravo's "Project Runway," worked on Disney Junior's "Vampirina," and was featured on NBC's "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist." A few of Graham's movies include "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" (2009) and "Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life" (2016).

In 2016, she reprised her role as Lorelai for Netflix's "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life" miniseries.

In addition to acting, Graham wrote four books in the span of a decade: "Someday, Someday, Maybe," "Talking as Fast as I Can," "In Conclusion, Don't Worry About It," and "Have I Told You This Already?"

More recently, she starred in the Tubi original series "The Z-Suite" and the 2024 movie "Twinless."

Book-loving, Yale-bound Rory Gilmore was Bledel's first major acting role. Before the show, she'd only had an uncredited role in "Rushmore" (1998).

While starring in "Gilmore Girls," Bledel also appeared in movies such as "Tuck Everlasting" (2002) and "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" (2005).

After "Gilmore Girls," Bledel went on to star in several movies, including "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" (2008), "Post Grad" (2009), "Violet and Daisy" (2011), and "Crypto" (2019).

In addition to playing an older (if not wiser) Rory in Netflix's "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life," Bledel appeared on other hit series, including AMC's "Mad Men" and Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale."

Bledel's work on "The Handmaid's Tale" earned her an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress on a Drama Series in 2017.

Before playing Lorelai's will-they, won't-they love interest, Luke, Patterson had a professional baseball career.

He got his start acting in movies like "Little Big League" (1994) and "Three Wishes" (1995). On NBC's "Seinfeld," he played Elaine's "sponge-worthy" boyfriend, and he portrayed Grace's high-school crush on "Will & Grace."

During his years playing Luke, Patterson also worked on Cartoon Network's "Justice League Unlimited" and "Her Best Move" (2007).

Patterson has played several leading characters since turning in his backward baseball cap on "Gilmore Girls."

He worked on three movies in the "Saw" franchise, as well as "Other People's Children" (2015), "Batman: Gotham by Gaslight" (2018), and "Con Man" (2018).

The actor has also continued to find success on TV shows like The CW's "Aliens in America," Fox's "90210," and NBC's "The Event."

Patterson found his way back to Stars Hollow for Netflix's "Gilmore Girls" reboot.

Most recently, he appeared on CTV's "Sullivan's Crossing" alongside fellow "Gilmore Girls" alum Chad Michael Murray.

In 2021, Patterson also started hosting a "Gilmore Girls" rewatch podcast, "I Am All in With Scott Patterson," which is still running.

As Emily Gilmore, Bishop wore a lot of skirt suits and delivered devastating insults to anyone who crossed her or her family.

In a 2018 "Q with Tom Power" interview, the actor said she based her interpretation of Emily on her own grandmother.

Before that iconic role, Bishop had a successful background in theater, film, and television.

In Hollywood, she was well known as Baby's mother in "Dirty Dancing" (1987) and also appeared in "Six Degrees of Separation" (1993) and "Wonder Boys" (2000).

Much of her success also came from theater, with roles in "On the Town" (1971), "Six Degrees of Separation" (1990), and "Bus Stop" (1996).

She won a Tony award in 1976 for playing Shelia in "A Chorus Line."

After playing Emily Gilmore, Bishop reunited with "Gilmore Girls" showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino to star on ABC Family's "Bunheads" and appeared on "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life."

The actor also continued her theater career, starring in the 2011 revival of "Anything Goes" alongside her future "Bunheads" costar Sutton Foster.

More recently, Bishop appeared in "The Salzburg Story" (2018), "Art of Falling in Love" (2019), and "The Watchful Eye" (2023). The actor also had a supporting role as matchmaker Benedetta on Amazon Prime's "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," another Sherman-Palladino show.

In 2024, she wrote about her storied career in her memoir, "The Third Gilmore Girl."

Herrmann acted in dozens of roles and narrated several documentary series, such as PBS' "Nova" before donning a bow tie and hiding behind a newspaper as Richard on "Gilmore Girls."

In 1976, Herrmann won a Tony the same year as Kelly Bishop for his role in "Mrs. Warren's Profession."

He also earned Emmy nominations for his portrayal of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the made-for-TV films "Eleanor and Franklin" (1976) and "Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years" (1977). In the 1982 movie adaptation of "Annie," he was again cast as the 32nd president.

Often, he was cast as wealthy characters, as in "Overboard" (1987), "Richie Rich" (1994), and "Nixon" (1995).

During his run on "Gilmore Girls," he also worked on ABC's "The Practice," "Oz," and several documentaries.

After "Gilmore Girls," Herrmann remained an actor and narrator.

He appeared on popular shows like ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," NBC's "30 Rock," and CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Good Wife." He also had a small voice role in "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013).

In addition to narrating films and series such as "Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies" and "The Roosevelts; An Intimate History," he lent his signature voice to many audiobooks, including Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken," Daniel James Brown's "The Boys in the Boat," and Doris Kearns Goodwin's "The Bully Pulpit."

In 2014, the actor died from brain cancer at the age of 71, leaving behind a wife and three children.

The "Gilmore Girls" reboot featured the death of his beloved character Richard. 

McCarthy had just started working in the entertainment industry as a comedian and actor before she joined the cast as bubbly chef Sookie St. James.

She appeared in a single episode of "Jenny," a 1997 NBC sitcom starring her cousin Jenny McCarthy. In 1999, she had a small part in the movie "Go."

While starring in "Gilmore Girls," she worked on movies like "The Kid" (2000), "Charlie's Angels" (2000), and "The Life of David Gale" (2003).

After "Gilmore Girls," McCarthy continued working on television, starring on ABC's "Samantha Who?" and CBS' "Mike and Molly."

She also returned with much of the rest of the cast for "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life."

While known for some of these earlier roles, the comedic actor became a breakout star thanks to 2011's "Bridesmaids."

She followed it up with a string of other funny roles in "Identity Thief" (2013), "The Heat" (2013), "Tammy" (2014), "Spy" (2015), "Ghostbusters" (2016), "Life of the Party" (2018), and "Thunder Force" (2021) — several of which she also produced.

McCarthy has also stepped into dramatic roles in "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" (2018), "The Kitchen" (2019), and Hulu's "Nine Perfect Strangers."

More recently, she appeared in "Thor: Love and Thunder" (2022), "The Little Mermaid" (2023), and "Unfrosted" (2024). In 2024, she played Doreen, Charles-Haden Savage's sister, in an episode of Hulu's "Only Murders in the Building."

Before picking up a pair of drumsticks as rocker Lane, Agena had a few roles in film and on television, including parts on ABC/The WB's "Sister, Sister," Fox's "Beverly Hills, 90210," NBC's "ER," and The WB's "Felicity."

When she wasn't playing Lane in the early '00s, Agena had roles on Lifetime's "Strong Medicine," Disney Channel's "Kim Possible," and CBS' "Without a Trace."

Since "Gilmore Girls," Agena has kept busy in her career.

She appeared in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" (2011) and showed up on ABC's "Castle" and "Scandal," Fox's "House," and Showtime's "Shameless" before reprising her role as Lane on "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life."

Agena also acted on Netflix's "13 Reasons Why," AMC's "Better Call Saul," Fox's "Prodigal Son," and Apple TV+'s "Central Park."

After hosting her own podcast, "Drunk Monk," a "Monk" rewatch show, she began appearing in fiction podcasts, including "Trap Street."

Padalecki was a relative newcomer to Hollywood when he was cast as Dean, the floppy-haired grocery store worker who struggled to get over Rory after their breakup.

While on "Gilmore Girls," he acted in movies such as "Cheaper by the Dozen" (2003) and "New York Minute" (2004).

While still on "Gilmore Girls," Padalecki landed one of the lead roles on The CW's "Supernatural," which ran for 15 years. The show aired its final episode in November 2020.

Padalecki also continued acting in films like "House of Wax" (2005) and "Friday the 13th" (2009), and he returned as Dean on "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life."

For four seasons, he had the titular role in The CW's "Walker." He also guested on CBS' "Fire Country" and will reunite with his "Supernatural" costars Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins in season five of Amazon Prime's "The Boys."

With small roles on NBC's "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," ABC/The WB's "Sabrina the Teenage Witch," and NBC's "Saved by the Bell: The New Class," Ventimiglia wasn't yet a big star when he appeared on "Gilmore Girls."

He played Jess, Luke's sarcastic, Jack Kerouac-loving nephew who fell for Rory. The character nearly got his own spinoff set in Venice, California, but it never materialized.

While playing Jess, Ventimiglia also appeared on NBC's "American Dreams."

Ventimiglia continued his successful acting career after playing Jess.

He's had starring roles on NBC's "Heroes," ABC's "The Whispers," and NBC's "This Is Us," which earned him three Emmy nominations.

He's also acted in "That's My Boy" (2012), "Grown Ups 2" (2013), "Creed II" (2018), and "The Art of Racing in the Rain" (2019).

In between, he appeared in "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life" to give some hope to "Team Jess" fans.

In more recent years, Ventimiglia joined season four of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," starred in ABC's "The Company You Keep," and appeared in "Land of Bad" (2024).

Czuchry had a handful of acting roles on his resumé before being cast as trust-fund troublemaker Logan Huntzberger.

Most notably, he'd appeared on other teen shows, such as Fox's "Freaks and Geeks," The WB's "Young Americans," and The WB/The CW's "7th Heaven."

In 2006, in the midst of his role on "Gilmore Girls," he appeared on an episode of UPN/The CW's "Veronica Mars."

In 2016, Czuchry returned as Logan to pursue a complicated relationship with Rory in "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life."

He also had recurring roles in TV shows such as NBC's "Friday Night Lights," CBS's "The Good Wife," and Fox's "The Resident."

On "The Resident," Czuchry worked alongside Tanc Sade, who played Logan's best friend, Finn, on "Gilmore Girls."

Most recently, the actor joined the cast of FX's "American Horror Story: Delicate."

Weil originally auditioned for the role of Rory. Instead, Sherman-Palladino wrote the part of studious, intense Paris specifically for her.

Prior to "Gilmore Girls," Weil had small parts in a few movies and on TV shows, including Nickelodeon's "The Adventures of Pete and Pete" and "Stir of Echoes," so she's only one degree of separation from Kevin Bacon.

Weil was one of the returning characters in "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life." Sherman-Palladino also brought her on for several episodes of ABC Family's "Bunheads."

But her largest roles since playing Paris were in Shonda Rhimes shows, as Amanda Tanner on "Scandal" and Bonnie Winterbottom on "How to Get Away With Murder."

Some of her more recent projects include "Women Is Losers" (2021), Fox's "The Cleaning Lady," and "The Passenger" (2023).

In the 1990s, Murray spent time modeling for brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Skechers. In 2000, he guested on MTV's "Undressed."

Not long after, he scored the role of Tristin Dugray, Chilton Academy's prankster who teased Rory. He left during the show's second season.

In 2003, "One Tree Hill" debuted on The WB with Murray as one of the leads, Lucas Scott.

By then, he'd already appeared in a dozen episodes of "Dawson's Creek" and in the "Freaky Friday" remake with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis.

After "One Tree Hill," Murray had roles in movies such as "Fruitville Station" (2013), "Left Behind" (2014), and "Outlaws and Angels" (2016). He found steady work on shows including ABC's "Agent Carter," CMT's "Sun Records," and the third season of The CW's "Riverdale."

Along with "Gilmore Girls" actor Scott Patterson, Murray has a main role in "Sullivan's Crossing" on The CW. The 2024 Netflix Christmas movie "The Merry Gentlemen" also featured a shirtless, dancing Murray.

Gunn is best known to "Gilmore Girls" fans as Kirk Gleason, a Stars Hollow resident who worked dozens of different jobs in town.

Before becoming a series regular, Gunn appeared in two other season-one episodes as Mick and "Swan Man."

Gunn acted in a few TV shows and movies before "Gilmore Girls," including episodes of The WB's "Angel" and Lifetime's "Any Day Now."

Following "Gilmore Girls," Gunn has appeared on ABC's "October Road," Fox's "Glee," and NBC's "Superstore." He also returned for the 2016 "Gilmore Girls" revival.

He's worked with his brother, director James Gunn, on "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (2017), "Avengers: Endgame" (2019), "The Suicide Squad" (2021), and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" (2023).

The actor reprised his MCU roles in "Thor: Love and Thunder" (2022).

He also paired up with Sherman-Palladino again for episodes of "Bunheads" and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel."

Variety recently reported that Gunn will star with Mckenna Grace, Fred Armisen, and Bobby Lee in "New Years Rev," a comedy inspired by the band Green Day.

During a March 2025 episode of "Celebrity Jeopardy!" Gunn recreated some dance moves from "a film by kirk."

Liz Torres may have pulled from her own lengthy career as an actor and dancer to add credibility to Miss Patty's star-studded tales of Hollywood.

Her easy banter with Sally Struthers' Babette was real too, the product of a decadeslong friendship that formed during their days on CBS' "All in the Family."

With roles dating back to the 1960s, she showed up in episodes of legendary shows such as CBS' "The Jeffersons" and "Murder, She Wrote," plus "Hill Street Blues" and "LA Law," both on NBC.

In addition, she was a main cast member on NBC's "The John Larroquette Show," which earned her two Emmy nominations.

Following her role on "Gilmore Girls," Torres guest starred in ABC's "Desperate Housewives," ABC's "Scandal," and Pop/Netflix's "One Day at a Time."

Additionally, she glided back into the role of Miss Patty for "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life."

The actor was also cast in the 2010 Off-Broadway play "It Must Be Him" and produced the 2012 original run of "Ghost the Musical."

More recently, she appeared on NBC's "Lopez vs. Lopez."

Before she played Lorelai's cat-loving neighbor, Struthers was already well-known for her television, film, and voice-acting performances.

She rose to fame on CBS' "All in the Family," and she continued to appear on TV in CBS' "Murder, She Wrote" and "Gloria" and ABC's "Nine to Five."

Before "Gilmore Girls," Struthers also voiced Pebbles Flintstone on CBS' "The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show" and in "Fred Flintstone and Friends" (1977). She also lent her voice to The Disney Channel's "TaleSpin" as Rebecca and ABC's "Dinosaurs" as Charlene.

Outside Hollywood, the actor played Miss Hannigan during part of the 1998 US tour of "Annie" and Miss Lynch in the 1994 revival of "Grease."

Struthers' career after "Gilmore Girls" has included acting and voice work in movies such as "The Relationtrip" (2017), "You and Me" (2018), "Still Waiting in the Wings" (2018), and "Very Frightening Tales" (2023).

She also returned for the "Gilmore Girls" revival and voiced a character on Netflix's "Not Quite Narwhal."

Struther has continued her theatrical career in productions of "Steel Magnolias," "Legally Blonde," and "The Witches of Eastwick."

In Netflix's "A Man on the Inside," Struthers played the flirtatious, fun-loving Virginia.

To capture Michel Gerard, Truesdale put on a thick French accent and a bored expression, unless his character was talking about his Chow Chow dogs or Celine Dion.

Truesdale acted in a few different Canadian projects before landing the role of the concierge on "Gilmore Girls."

Some of his biggest parts were on the Canadian series "Les héritiers Duval" and "Majeurs et vaccinés."

Truesdale returned for "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life," which revealed more about Michel's personal life than the original series had.

Some of his recent roles include in "My Salinger Year" (2020) and "Love by Accident" (2020) and on Citytv's "The Wedding Planners" and Ici Radio-Canada Télé's "Les Mecs."

He also appeared on Netflix's "God's Favorite Idiot," where he acted again with Melissa McCarthy.

In addition to his acting career, Truesdale is the founder of the spin studio Spin Énergie in Montreal.

Mrs. Kim, played by Kuroda, was Stars Hollow's stern antique store owner who was slow to warm up to Lane's hobbies.

Kuroda has a background in theater and was part of East West Players, an Asian American theater organization.

In the 1980s and '90s, Kuroda portrayed characters on several popular shows, such as NBC's "ER" and CBS's "The Young and the Restless." She had a recurring role on NBC's "LA Law."

During her "Gilmore Girls" days, the actor also took roles on CBS' "The Agency" and HBO's "Six Feet Under."

Since "Gilmore Girls," Kuroda has had plenty of work, from ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" and "The Good Doctor" to CBS' "The Bold and the Beautiful." In MyNetworkTV's "Under One Roof," she acted alongside musician Flavor Flav.

She also landed a part on Fox's "The Resident," which starred fellow "Gilmore Girls" alum Matt Czuchry.

In 2016, she came back for "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life."

Kuroda recently worked on "Kimi" (2022) and "Strange World" (2022). The same year, she appeared onstage in "The Brothers Paranormal" and has continued to work in theater.

Her latest role is a nun on Amazon Prime's "The Power."

After a few heartbreaks, Lane later started crushing on Zack, her Hep Alien bandmate.

Todd Lowe's guitar-playing skills are real, and the actor was in what he described as a faux-German punk band when he was cast on the show.

Prior to joining "Gilmore Girls," Lowe appeared as two different characters on CBS's "Walker, Texas Ranger" and had a small role in "The Princess Diaries" (2001).

After "Gilmore Girls," Lowe went on to play mortal Terry Bellefleur on several seasons of HBO's "True Blood."

In addition to returning for "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life," the actor has also appeared on CBS' "NCIS," and USA's "Shooter."

Like many of his "Gilmore Girls" costars, he popped up on ABC Family's "Bunheads."

Lowe also kept up with his music, playing in bands including LA Hootenanny and TeeLo & Friends.

Equally at home strumming a guitar during bible study and rocking out with his band, Dave Rygalski, played by Brody, made an impression during his short time in Stars Hollow.

Brody had already done episodes of MTV's "Undressed," Nickelodeon's "The Amanda Show," The Comedy Network/MTV's "The Sausage Factory," and ABC's "Once and Again."

After "Gilmore Girls'" third season, Brody headed for a warmer climate to star in "The OC."

Playing Seth Cohen on Fox's "The OC" helped turn Brody into a TV star. While working on the teen drama, he also acted in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (2005), "Thank You for Smoking" (2005), and "In the Land of Women" (2007).

Other movie roles followed, including "Jennifer's Body" (2008), "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" (2012), "Lovelace" (2013), "Shazam!" (2019), and "My Father's Dragon" (2023).

Brody has also had recurring roles on several TV shows such as MTV's "Good Vibes," Yahoo! Screen's "Burning Love," FX's "The League," Hulu's "Fleishman Is in Trouble" and Sony Crackle's "StartUp."

In 2024, he played the charming Noah Roklov in Netflix's "Nobody Wants This," in which his character was dubbed the "hot rabbi."

This story was originally published on October 5, 2020, and most recently updated on March 7, 2025.

Born in 1930, Joe Coulombe fell into the retail business after attending Stanford University as an undergrad and then to get his MBA. He met his wife, Alice, there, and they would have three children together.

To make extra money as a graduate student, Coulombe sold vacuums door-to-door, according to his memoir, "Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys."

In the early 1960s, the San Diego native was running several Pronto Markets, what he called a "copy of 7-Eleven," which didn't yet exist in California. Yet he knew he wouldn't be able to compete with the convenience store chain when they did arrive.

With the specter of "the 800-pound gorilla" that was 7-Eleven looming, Coulombe had to try something different, he told The Los Angeles Times in 2011.

An avid reader of Scientific American, Coulombe learned in 1965 that more Americans were going to college.

"The demographics were changing in the United States because of the GI Bill of Rights, which was the largest experiment in mass higher education in the history of the human race," he said in a 2018 episode of the "Insider Trader Joe's" podcast. "And I thought that these people would want something different."

Analysts predicted that the upcoming Boeing 747 jumbo jets would dramatically drop the price of international travel, according to The Los Angeles Times. From his days at Pronto, Coulombe knew that people who liked to travel also liked trying new products.

Coulombe decided to cater to this group — the "overeducated and underpaid," as he described them — by offering something more niche than the same basics available in every grocery store or mini-mart.

In 1967, the experiment began with the first Trader Joe's in Pasadena, California. It sold everything from discounted paperbacks and records to pantyhose.

Coulombe wrote in his memoir that he was one of the many 30-somethings drinking mai tais at the tiki bar Trader Vic's in the 1960s. He wanted to capture a similar "fun-leisure-party-prosperity" atmosphere at his store. A trip on Disneyland's Jungle Cruise also influenced him.

At salvage companies near LA's harbor, he found oars, netting, and other marine paraphernalia to deck out the store.

Employees were called crew members and captains instead of cashiers and managers. They wore floral Hawaiian-style shirts. A limited selection of Hawaiian music poured out of the speakers until the workers complained about the lack of variety, according to Coulombe's memoir.

The tiki-inspired theme continues in stores today.

At first, Coulombe planned for Trader Joe's to be tiny, just 4,500 square feet. Yet the building that housed it was almost twice that size. So, he expanded the wine section, bringing in 17 brands of California wines, whereas a gourmet competitor only had seven.

California's Fair Trade laws meant that Trader Joe's couldn't offer discounts on prices, so it hoped to lure customers with sheer variety. The store stocked dozens of brands of Scotch, bourbon, rum, and other liquor.

Coulombe also brought in French wines and managed to import them for cheaper than his competitors.

"I wanted to make sure that every family could afford a bottle of decent wine on the table every night," he wrote in his memoir.

In 1969, Trader Joe's started publishing a precursor to its Fearless Flyer newsletter. Then called the Insider's Wine Report, it helped the underage employees explain the bottles to customers, since they couldn't taste them themselves. A version for the store's food products soon followed.

Today, the Fearless Flyer gives shoppers detailed descriptions of new or seasonal products such as butternut squash mac & cheese or heart-shaped jelly beans.

In 1970, Scientific American once again swayed the course of Trader Joe's history. An issue dedicated to threats to the environment stunned Coulombe.

Around the same time, the manager of the new Trader Joe's in Santa Ana was evangelizing for health foods. Coulombe was intrigued by the idea that a healthier diet might positively impact the environment, too.

In 1971, the company started introducing health foods alongside its many wines and other alcohol. Customers could get fresh orange juice from the stores' squeezing stations. They could also pick up wheat bran and almond butter, a rarity at the time.

The next year, Trader Joe's created its first private-label product, granola. Over the next few years, it added its branding to dried fruits, nuts, vitamins, and cheese.

In 1976, Trader Joe's was still relying on recognizable brands for most of its products, like coffee, bread, and other basics. The small size of its stores meant space was at a premium, and this was when the company shifted its focus.

It got rid of items like soap and light bulbs. It stopped carrying many national brands, like Folgers coffee. Instead, the stores stocked rare items, like unfermented zinfandel grape juice, and gourmet goodies, like handmade berry pie.

Many of the products were unbranded or came under the Trader Joe's label.

Coulombe aimed to give the products names that would amuse his educated, well-traveled customers. These included nods to historical, artistic, and scientific figures, including The Bagel Spinoza, The Peanut Pascal, and Heisenberg's Uncertain Blend of coffee beans.

Small stores and niche products meant that some items weren't always available. They might be seasonal, like its vintage dated canned corn. Coulombe called it "vinous thinking," treating food products like they were rare bottles of wine.

Customers still treat it like a treasure hunt, always on the lookout for an unfamiliar taste or the bargain version of a pricey cheese.

Today, about 85% of Trader Joe's products are private label, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're locally sourced. Some are supplied by brands like Coca-Cola, Taylor Farms, and Campbell's, Fast Company reported in January.

In 1979, Trader Joe's was bought by Theo Albrecht's family trust.

Theo Albrecht was brother to Karl Albrecht. The two expanded dozens of stores across Germany and then split the family business in 1961. Karl's business, Aldi Süd, would eventually lead to the Aldi stores in North America, while Theo's, Aldi Nord, became involved with Trader Joe's.

Coulombe remained with the company until 1989, The LA Times reported, and Aldi Nord allowed the day-to-day running of Trader Joe's to remain the same.

After stepping back from the company, Coulombe went on to serve as president and chief executive for several other retailers. He died in 2020 at the age of 89.

Trader Joe's continued to expand throughout the 1970s and '80s. Coulombe had targeted his ideal "unemployed PhD" customer by opening nearly 30 stores in Southern California, The New York Times reported in 2014.

The chain didn't move outside the state until 1993. By then, John Shields, Coulombe's Stanford fraternity brother, had become chief executive. Three years later, Trader Joe's headed to the East Coast, opening two stores in the Boston area.

When Shields retired in 2001, the company had 158 stores and its annual sales had exploded from $132 million to $2 billion.

Now, the store has over 500 locations in 42 states and Washington DC.

As Trader Joe's started focusing on its private label products, it did away with its vast selection of liquor. However, alcohol, and wine in particular, remained a core part of its identity.

In 2002, the stores began stocking a $1.99 bottle of wine. The secret of how they could sell a wine for so cheap involves its own saga.

Chuck Shaw started his Charles Shaw winery in 1974, making a respected gamay, Thrillist reported in 2017. After several mishaps, the winery went bankrupt in the 1990s, and Fred Franzia, owner of Bronco Wine Company, bought the trade name.

Bronco would take grapes grown in California's Central Valley and bottle the wine at a facility in Napa, where grapes are more expensive, Marketplace reported in 2017. That allowed the company to use the prestige associated with Napa at a fraction of the cost.

Though its price has risen over the years, the wine retains the nickname Two-Buck Chuck. Over a billion bottles have been sold, per The New York Times.

Though Shaw hasn't seen any of that money himself, he told Business Insider in 2018 that he's come to terms with that and is now thrilled to be associated with the wine.

Trader Joe's doesn't just have customers. It has fans who join Facebook pages and Reddit groups to enthuse about their favorite products.

Coulombe purposefully cultivated that response. "[W]e deliberately tried to make it a cult once we got a handle on what we were actually doing," he wrote in his memoir.

The excitement of discovering new products, the chance that your favorite item will be out of stock, and the excessively friendly staff all contribute to that feeling, the hosts of the "Sounds Like a Cult" podcast said in a 2022 episode.

Celebrities from Hillary Duff to Travis Kelce have raved about the chain or been spotted lugging shopping bags full of groceries.

For many people, its comparatively low prices are the biggest draw. Others love the ease of its wide selection of frozen meals.

Last year, Trader Joe's set off a frenzy when customers tried to snap up its $2.99 reusable mini canvas tote, an item that became as coveted as some Stanley cups.

Despite its early adoption of reusable totes and environmentally friendly reputation, groups like the Humane Society, the Climate-Friendly Supermarkets program, Green America, Friends of the Earth, and Toxic-Free Future have given the company low marks for some of its environmental practices or a lack of transparency around its animal welfare policies, for example, Fast Company reported in January.

Mike Hallatt, the founder of Pirate Joe's, once owned a small Vancouver shop with shelves lined with marina sauce, sweet potato chips, and almonds, all bought from Trader Joe's. The chain had no stores in Canada, so Hallatt would cross the border to Washington State to buy the snacks, sauces, and toiletry items.

Trader Joe's sued Hallatt and barred him from its stores. In 2017, he closed Pirate Joe's for good.

"Many times I've thought I've got to just give this up, this is ridiculous," he told The Guardian in 2017. "Then people would come up to me and thank me for doing it. That was the curse: We had so many people who love what we were up to, and yet it was just so devilishly hard to do."

Tourists from other Trader Joe's-less countries still bring back suitcases full of snacks home.

In 2024, a traveler who returned from the US with 20 bottles of Everything but the Bagel seasoning had to surrender them at the airport in South Korea, CNN reported. The mix contains poppy seeds, which the country doesn't allow anyone to bring in.

Crew members often talk with customers while they ring up their purchases. It's not flirting, just friendliness, a national director of public relations for Trader Joe's told Glamour in 2021.

In 2016, The New York Times reported that one employee said he was reprimanded for not smiling genuinely enough. "We do not fire crew members for trivial reasons," Trader Joe's said in a statement at the time. "We pride ourselves on operating our business with integrity and adhering to the law at all times."

In his memoir, Coulombe wrote that the average full-time employee at Trader Joe's made the median family income in California. This wasn't fully altruistic, he wrote, the "policy was grounded partly by the desire to stay un-organized by the Retail Clerks Union."

Concerns about workers' physical safety and the company's response to sexual harassment complaints led Hadley, Massachusetts employees to form the first Trader Joe's union in 2020, Fast Company reported in January.

In the years since, the National Labor Relations Board has filed dozens of unfair labor practice complaints against the company, saying it fired workers or closed stores in retaliation for organizing. In 2024, Trader Joe's joined SpaceX, Starbucks, and Amazon in arguing that the NLRB is unconstitutional.

Coulombe consciously cultivated Trader Joe's reputation for unique, worldwide products from early on. That included importing Brie from France and maple syrup from Quebec.

As the store started bringing in more international foods under the Trader Joe's branding, "we fell back on some useful naming devices," Coulombe wrote in his memoir. "All Mexican products were Trader Josés. All Japanese products, Trader Joe-San."

In 2020, customers circulated an online petition asking the company to remove the names.

Trader Joe's said it had "made the decision several years ago to use only the Trader Joe's name on our products moving forward," USA Today reported in 2020.

"We want to be clear: we disagree that any of these labels are racist. We do not make decisions based on petitions," Trader Joe's said in a statement at the time.

In 2024, Taste magazine spoke with several creators of small- and medium-sized food brands who said Trader Joe's solicited products from them and expressed interest in partnering up, only to come out with similar items soon after.

One founder said the company had created knockoffs of unique products from culturally diverse brands. "Ethnic foods are specialized items," the founder said. "There's so much history and culture and tradition that you can't do simple knockoffs like you do with everyday items like ketchup or mayo. You need brands like ours to educate you."

"Our common practice is to deal directly with producers or growers rather than purchasing through brokers, distributors, sales agents, or other middlemen," Trader Joe's told Business Insider at the time.

Over the course of a week in July 2023, Trader Joe's recalled cookies contaminated with rocks and broccoli cheddar soup containing insects, NBC News reported at the time. Just a few months earlier, the company removed its instant cold brew from the shelves over fears that the containers also held shards of glass, per The Takeout.

Several items in Trader Joe's lineup have been pulled for containing plastic, including its steamed chicken soup dumplings in 2024 and its organic acai bowls in February.

In general, food recalls increased by 15% between 2020 and 2024, according to TraceOne. These include outbreaks of listeria, salmonella, and hepatitis A, all of which have affected Trader Joe's.

Food-safety lawyer Bill Marler told Fast Company that Trader Joe's recalls may be linked to the way it sources its own private label. "If you buy from suppliers at low prices, but you don't ask how they could get the price so low and something goes sideways, that's on you," he said.

Trader Joe's did not respond to a request for comment by Business Insider.

During the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), snipers took up residence in a number of Beirut buildings in what became known as the "Battle of the Hotels."

Construction on the 40-story Beirut Trade Center, also known as Burj al-Murr or the "tower of bitterness," began in 1974, just a year before war broke out. At that point, the $15 million building was 70% complete, Executive Magazine reported in 2004.

In addition to office space, the Trade Center was designed to hold a movie theater and restaurant accessible by helicopter.

Architect Camillo Boano and urban planner Dalia Chabarek described it as a scarred artifact of war that's "difficult to topple" or renovate.

Several artists have incorporated the unfinished building into their work. In 2018, Jad El Khoury put up a temporary installation in the structure, adding colorful curtains to the windows to transform it into Burj El Hawa, the Tower of Air, according to Archinect.

One of New Orleans' tallest buildings has become a danger in the decades since it was erected in the 1960s.

While the $15.5 million building had a few residential units, it was mainly designed for offices. In 2002, building tenants, including the Orleans Parish district attorney's office, complained that toxic mold was making them sick. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the building was gutted due to both mold and asbestos, The Times-Picayune reported in 2014.

Since then, its problems have continued. A piece of paneling fell and hit a bicyclist in 2021. There was a fire in 2022, and a man died falling from one of the floors in 2023.

Despite attempts to salvage the Plaza Tower, "the city made their case that the buildings become a public safety hazard," Ursini said.

Now the city is preparing to demolish the building, though the current owner hopes to find a buyer instead, The Times-Picayune reported in January.

In 2022, Rosin Preservation wrote a report arguing that 909 Chestnut Street, also known as One AT&T Center, should be added to the National Register of Historic Places list.

Completed in 1985, the St. Louis building is one of the tallest in the state, has a "fortress-like base," and a "façade [that] appears to stretch beyond what is expected, seemingly indefinitely," according to the report.

AT&T didn't renew its lease in 2017, and the building has been empty since, according to Costar, which gathers information on commercial real estate. In 2024, the Goldman Group bought 909 Chestnut for $3.6 million, a fraction of its 2006 price of $205 million.

"At that price, I guess the building itself is a blank slate because you're picking it up for almost nothing," Ursini said.

The real estate firm hopes to put in 600 apartments, a pickleball court, and a movie theater, Fox2 reported in January.

Popularly known as Thailand's "Ghost Tower," this looming structure dates back to 1990. The 47-floor building was only 80% finished when the 1997 Asian financial crisis hit.

Its architect was also charged and then acquitted as part of a murder plot that was never carried out, Architectural Digest reported in 2023.

With the unfinished luxury condo in ruins, daredevil travelers risk trespassing and injury to explore the tower. Exposed wires and rusty metals are just a few of the building's hazards.

For years, this empty 45-story building, known as the Torre de David or Tower of David, was also described as the world's tallest slum.

Banker David Brillembourg hoped to create Venezuela's version of Wall Street with the tower, The New Yorker reported, but the country's financial crisis and Brillembourg's death put an end to construction in 1994, New York Magazine reported.

Some 3,000 people took up residence in the concrete shell of a building, transforming it into a community with electricity, grocery stores, and water, Slate reported in 2014. However, the structure was deemed unsafe and the occupants were evicted in 2014, per The BBC.

In 2018, a powerful earthquake did some damage to the upper levels of the Tower of David, Reuters reported.

At between $1.5 million and $20 million a pop, units in 1 Seaport came with the promised luxuries of an infinity pool, dazzling views, and 10-foot ceilings. Buyers snapped them up, putting down hundreds of thousands of dollars as deposits.

In 2017, a carpenter working on the $273 million building fell to his death, The New Yorker recently reported. When it emerged the building was sinking and leaning to the left, its contractors and developers started blaming each other, Curbed reported in 2021.

One lawyer involved in one of 1 Seaport's many lawsuits described the tilted structure as resembling a banana. While the building is unlikely to fall over, construction has been halted since 2020.

Consisting of three towers, the unfinished Oceanwide Plaza has become notorious for artists tagging its exterior. Last year, thrill-seekers even BASE jumped from the top.

The ambitious complex, expected to cost $1 billion, was meant to be home to luxury residential units and a five-star hotel, The Los Angeles Times reported. It's about 60% complete after construction halted in 2019. Oceanwide Holdings, the company behind the towers, filed for involuntary bankruptcy, Los Angeles Magazine reported last year.

Finishing the project would take around $800 million, per the Wall Street Journal.

Jutting high above its surrounding buildings, the pyramid-shaped Ryugyong earned the nickname "Hotel of Doom" when it sat empty and incomplete for over a decade in the middle of North Korea's biggest city.

Work on the 105-story building began in 1987 under the rule of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un's grandfather. In 1992, the economic depression following the Soviet Union's collapse halted construction before windows were installed and the concrete was covered.

Construction has stopped and started several times since, and it's unclear when the structure will open. In 2008, Reuters reported it would take an estimated $2 billion to complete the hotel.

"It was bare," tour operator Simon Cockerell told 9news.com.au of the concrete-filled interior after a visit in 2023.

On the outside, though, a new LED screen broadcasts propaganda.

This is one project that never got off the ground.

Originally, its developers hoped SkyCity would be the Philippines' tallest building. They planned for the 77-story skyscraper to hold a hotel, swanky condos, and a bar, Esquire Philippines reported.

Nearby homeowners complained when developers broke ground in 1997 for several reasons, including that the structure, planned at over 1,000 feet tall, would cast a giant shadow.

A lengthy legal battle ensued, and funding for the estimated $85 million project dried up. The location is just a large, mossy hole now.

Nothing in the vicinity comes close to the height of the rusting, unfinished Goldin Finance tower in Tianjin, a city in Northern China. It was meant to hold a hotel, condos, and offices.

Construction began on the structure in 2008. A diamond-shaped atrium was supposed to sit atop the building, reminiscent of a glittering gem on top of a walking stick.

From the atrium's observation deck and restaurant, guests would have had dizzying views of the city's downtown. Then, in the mid-2010s, Goldin Group, the skyscraper's developer, started having financial troubles.

At that point, it would have taken $10 billion to complete the project, Forbes reported in 2022.

"There's no cladding on the exterior, and the building is just there awaiting a restart of construction," Ursini said. It still remains empty today.

This story was originally published in August 2018 and most recently updated on February 16, 2025.

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DeVonta Smith, 26, has a lot going on right now. In December, he announced on Instagram that he and his fiancée, Mya Danielle, are expecting their second child. Just a few days later, the couple got engaged, according to Danielle's Instagram post.

At 34, Lane Johnson isn't ready to retire just yet, but he recently told CBS Sports that he might quit before he's 40.

Johnson is 6'6" and has to eat 5,500 calories a day, including plenty of protein, to perform at his peak, The Athletic reported in 2023.

Landon Dickerson sat out the second half of the Philadelphia Eagles' NFC Championship Game on January 26 because of a knee injury. However, he's prepped to play in the Super Bowl, telling the Philadelphia Inquirer that "getting carted off on a stretcher" would be the only way to get him off the field.

That actually happened to him in 2020 during the SEC Championship Game when he tore his ACL while playing for the Alabama Crimson Tide.

In 2023, BI asked several Eagles players to name the fittest member of the team. Time and time again, the answer came back as AJ Brown. The 27-year-old is a "freakish athlete," former defensive end Patrick Johnson said. "He's one of those guys who's just built different."

When he's not on the field, he's focused on his two children and longtime girlfriend Kelsey Riley. "When I go home, I'm a father. When I'm in the building, I'm working," he told reporter Josh Tolentino in 2022.

Two years ago, Jalen Hurts was one of the youngest quarterbacks to start in a Super Bowl game. Now 26, he'll face the Chiefs again on February 9 and is hoping to avoid repeating what happened in 2023 when the Eagles lost to the Chiefs 35 to 38.

Creed Humphrey's August 2024 deal made him the highest-paid center in the history of the NFL, making almost $4 million more per year than former Philadelphia Eagles player Jason Kelce.

Humphrey, 25, grew up in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and is a Citizen Potawatomi Nation tribal member.

Joe Thuney almost didn't have a football career at all. "I didn't have a ton of offers because I was pretty skinny and I wasn't that good," he told the Raleigh News & Observer. He ended up at North Carolina State and went on to play for the New England Patriots and then the Chiefs.

The 32-year-old might earn his fifth Super Bowl ring on February 9.

Born and raised in Florida, 27-year-old Jawaan Taylor spent most of his football career in the Sunshine State, playing at the University of Florida and then joining the Jacksonville Jaguars. He's now with the Chiefs.

In 2023, he surprised his mom with a Bentley for Mother's Day.

Chris Jones, 30, has been a member of the Chiefs team since 2016 and is a three-time Super Bowl champ. As a seasoned pro, he has some advice for his teammates.

"Don't play the game before the game," he said during a recent press conference. "Have fun, but also know why you're here."

In January, Patrick Mahomes, 29, welcomed his third child with his wife, Brittany Mahomes.

While famous for his skills on the football field, Mahomes also had the chance to become a professional baseball player. The Detroit Tigers drafted him in 2014, but he didn't accept and joined the Chiefs three years later.

Averion Hurts, Sr. is the head football coach at Channelview High School near Houston. All three of his children attended the school, and he coached his two sons, Averion Jr. and Jalen.

"I always talk about how impactful it was on my life, being a coach's kid," Jalen told GQ Sports in 2021. "Football is something that's deeply rooted into my family."

Meanwhile, his mother, Pamela, is a school counselor who said she knew her son would be a professional athlete from a young age.

She's especially proud of Hurts' all-woman management team. "They rock," she recently told Houston's Fox26. "Sometimes women don't get the opportunities that men get."

Jalen credited his mother and management team for inspiring him to wear cleats with the words "Women Empowerment" in 2021. The shoes were part of the NFL's "My Cause, My Cleats" initiative. Hurts also showed his support for women when he spotlighted Billie Jean King's Women's Sports Foundation, which invests in women's and girls' sports.

"My mom, she raised me with high character and to do things the right way," he told ESPN in 2021. "She's a counselor back home, and that's a perfect platform to impact the people around you, to impact kids around you."

Jalen's older brother, Averion Hurts, Jr., was also a quarterback at Channelview High School. Their father told Houston's Fox 26 in 2016 that the brothers played baseball, which helped develop their arms.

After his brother became a quarterback, "Jalen just kind of followed in that mold," Averion Hurts, Sr. said.

In 2016, both brothers were starting quarterbacks at the college level, Averion Jr. at Texas Southern University and Jalen at the University of Alabama.

According to his Instagram, Averion Jr. is now following in his father's footsteps and coaching at Lee High School in Baytown, Texas.

In 2021, Hurts told GQ Sports that his sister, who played high school volleyball then, might get a college scholarship. Still, he said he set aside $70,000 for her tuition just in case.

"I know she has dreams and aspirations to do special things in her life, whatever it is," he said of his sister in a 2021 ESPN interview. "And I want her to know that she can do anything she puts her mind to, and know that her brother has her back."

Hurts became a freshman quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2016. (During his senior year, he'd transfer to the University of Oklahoma.)

Meanwhile, his fiancée Burrows graduated from the same university in 2017 after studying Spanish and political science. She went on to work for IBM.

The couple dated on and off for several years, Essence reported in 2023.

Hurts told GQ Sports that seeing his family's reaction to the draft still gives him chills.

The two have mostly kept their relationship out of the spotlight, but Burrows watched the football star defeat the San Francisco 49ers at the 2023 NFC Championship Game.

In September 2024, Hurts and Burrows shared their engagement photos with Essence. The romantic scene was set near the water, complete with roses, candles, and a violinist.

A few days later, the newly engaged couple appeared together at Prime Video's "Evolution of the Black Quarterback premiere."

Congdon grew up in Forest City, Pennsylvania, while Barkley lived in the Bronx before moving to Pennsylvania as a child. He attended Whitehall High School and almost quit football as a sophomore.

"Barkley was frustrated, struggling with his self-confidence," his former coach told The New York Times. "Some kids had matured faster than him."

However, Barkley stayed on the team and, in 2015, became a running back at Penn State.

Meanwhile, Congdon became a freshman at the same university in 2016.

By December of that year, Congdon posted an Instagram picture of the two of them at a fraternity formal with the caption, "he's alright on the field but you should see him on the dance floor."

A month later, they became a couple, according to Parade magazine.

On April 24, 2018, Congdon posted, "when two became three…," on Instagram, along with a picture of the new parents holding their newborn.

"Words can't even describe how I feel right now," Barkley wrote in part in his own post. "You are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life."

After the Cleveland Browns, the New York Giants had the second overall draft pick in 2018. The team selected Barkley, who was 21 at the time.

In Barkley's first year on the team, the Giants had a rough start to the season.

"No one on the team can say that we're happy where we're at, but we're aware that it's a long season," Barkley told Business Insider then. "We have to continue to grind and continue to believe in each other."

"Everyone pushed me," he told Giants.com in 2022, referring to his parents and Congdon. "I'm happy I was able to accomplish something that was a goal of mine."

"He lights up the room," Barkley told Giants.com in 2022. "Amazing smile. Jada is being an amazing big sister…We've got a beautiful little family."

Now 2, Saquon Jr. is "all into toys and trucks and cars, and he's just a boy," Barkley told People, while 6-year-old Jada "knows it all already."

Last year, several teams were vying for the running back. The Giants wanted to keep Barkley, but not necessarily at the price he wanted.

Giants owner John Mara said he would have trouble sleeping if the team lost Barkley. "He's the most popular player we have by far," he said during an episode of HBO's "Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants."

Ultimately, Barkley signed a three-year contract with the Eagles for $37.75 million.

The Eagles defeated the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field on January 26, clinching their spot in Super Bowl LIX.

"If I could wrap my arms around this memory, I would…," Congdon wrote in a caption after posting the above picture on Instagram.

Coincidentally, Barkley's first Super Bowl is on February 9, his 28th birthday. His family will undoubtedly support him on his big day.

The couple, who lives in Philadelphia, didn't reveal many details about their engagement. However, Barkley did tell People that Congdon has always supported him on and off the field.

"I'd be naive to think that I've made it, and all the stuff that we are able to accomplish this year was all alone and by myself," he added.