CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: With charming Simon Doonan at the W Washington DC’s book signing party for his recently released tome, Gay Men Don’t Get Fat; With Bipartisan Policy Center’s Eileen McMenamin at an event celebrating BPC’s work and the new year; Members of the ever-energetic and always stylish Capitol File team; George Vradenburg, chairman of The Phillips Collection’s board of trustees, poses with his wife, Trish, at a preview celebration for Snapshot: Painters and Photography, Bonnard to Vuillard, a new exhibition Capitol File is proud to sponsor

Each time I sit down to pen a publisher’s letter, I think about the heart, soul, and character of my native city. To be sure, Washington has changed in myriad ways over the past 40 years. But it’s still an intense, sophisticated, diverse, and lively place with countless and disparate spheres of influence.

Move through certain circles and you will find that the District’s intelligentsia—trendsetters, power brokers, and change makers from the worlds of technology, the arts, politics, philanthropy, and science—are constantly creating, innovating, and making their marks, which often leaves me with the difficult task of choosing what to write about.

This time, I have decided to turn my gaze inward, reflecting on Capitol File’s success over the past six years. While other print publications and online start-ups have come and gone, we have grown our magazine’s footprint by dedicating each issue, each page, each photo, each word to truly outstanding coverage. Not only that, but we eat, sleep, and breathe our mission. From dusk to dawn on most any day of the year, Capitol File team members can be found supporting our neighbors—whether we are attending a blacktie fundraiser, shopping a boutique’s designer preview, or running a 5K race on the Mall.

Success for us comes from tons (and tons!) of hard work, but also because doing all of the above doesn’t seem like work for us. It is a privilege to spend our days meeting fascinating people, savoring cultural richness, and in the end knowing that we are an essential part of the good life in Washington. Cheers to another great year ahead!

SARAH SCHAFFER

Follow me on Twitter at @sarischaff

P.S. Congratulations to The Phillips Collection on another truly fantastic exhibition. Capitol File is so
proud to sponsor Snapshot, and we’re honored to partner with the museum on its upcoming gala—
always one of the chicest affairs in the District. The fête takes place May 4; purchasing your tickets
today will help to ensure that the nation’s first museum of modern art will remain, for generations to
come, a jewel in Washington’s crown. phillipscollection.org

PHOTOGRAPHY BY NALTCHAYAN PHOTOGRAPHY (MCMENAMIN); PAUL MORIGI (DOONAN); TONY POWELL (TEAM); JAMES R. BRANTLEY (VRADENBURG)