Workspace: Inspirations All Around (and a Gym Downstairs)

WHERE SHE IS We’re at 895 Broadway in Manhattan, right above one of our Equinox clubs. My office is one floor above the top floor of the club. I can hear music pumping through underneath me during group fitness classes. I like it, actually. It’s inspiring.

WORLDLY VIEW You have to have a globe when you are a global citizen. I was born in New Zealand. I grew up in London. I moved to the United States in my 20s and became an American.

ATHLETIC INSPIRATIONS I have photos of Derek Jeter and Serena Williams that they signed. On a different wall, I also have one of my father, who was a rugby player.

DAILY BLOOMS It’s nice to have something fresh there on a daily basis. Maybe that’s the feminine side of me coming out. That is done by my assistant.

NEAT OR MESSY? Despite my best efforts to be tidy, I never am. I’ve gotten to the point in my life where I am comfortable with that, because it says something about me. I’m one of those people who have a lot on her their desks, and for me those are little pieces of inspiration.

DEVICE JUGGLING My workspace is really my phone, tablet and computer. I tend to navigate among them all day.

LAPTOP FRIENDLY My MacBook Air has to fit inside my handbag. It’s a Tory Burch bag.

FLATS, HEELS, SNEAKERS I come in every morning wearing flats, carrying a little bag with heels in it. Then I always have sneakers and workout gear in my office, because at any moment I like to know that I can pop down to the club.

FIRST-STRING SEAT I try to sit on the exercise ball on and off during the day. I find it hard to sit on one for long periods of time, but that forces me to get up and move around more, which is something I am really working hard on right now. I don’t want to remain seated all day.

SECOND-STRING SEAT That desk chair is something I inherited. I focus more on the exercise ball.

CARPET-FREE ZONE The building has hardwood floors. They have character. They are creaky.

PENCIL BOUQUET We have a bunch of pencils that have the Equinox logo and flags on them, which we made when we were celebrating our move to London. I love looking at them on the desk and remembering the day we had the meeting and celebrated.

Interview conducted by Edward Lewine. Comments have been edited and condensed.

Workspace: Inspirations All Around (and a Gym Downstairs)

WHERE SHE IS We’re at 895 Broadway in Manhattan, right above one of our Equinox clubs. My office is one floor above the top floor of the club. I can hear music pumping through underneath me during group fitness classes. I like it, actually. It’s inspiring.

WORLDLY VIEW You have to have a globe when you are a global citizen. I was born in New Zealand. I grew up in London. I moved to the United States in my 20s and became an American.

ATHLETIC INSPIRATIONS I have photos of Derek Jeter and Serena Williams that they signed. On a different wall, I also have one of my father, who was a rugby player.

DAILY BLOOMS It’s nice to have something fresh there on a daily basis. Maybe that’s the feminine side of me coming out. That is done by my assistant.

NEAT OR MESSY? Despite my best efforts to be tidy, I never am. I’ve gotten to the point in my life where I am comfortable with that, because it says something about me. I’m one of those people who have a lot on her their desks, and for me those are little pieces of inspiration.

DEVICE JUGGLING My workspace is really my phone, tablet and computer. I tend to navigate among them all day.

LAPTOP FRIENDLY My MacBook Air has to fit inside my handbag. It’s a Tory Burch bag.

FLATS, HEELS, SNEAKERS I come in every morning wearing flats, carrying a little bag with heels in it. Then I always have sneakers and workout gear in my office, because at any moment I like to know that I can pop down to the club.

FIRST-STRING SEAT I try to sit on the exercise ball on and off during the day. I find it hard to sit on one for long periods of time, but that forces me to get up and move around more, which is something I am really working hard on right now. I don’t want to remain seated all day.

SECOND-STRING SEAT That desk chair is something I inherited. I focus more on the exercise ball.

CARPET-FREE ZONE The building has hardwood floors. They have character. They are creaky.

PENCIL BOUQUET We have a bunch of pencils that have the Equinox logo and flags on them, which we made when we were celebrating our move to London. I love looking at them on the desk and remembering the day we had the meeting and celebrated.

Interview conducted by Edward Lewine. Comments have been edited and condensed.

DealBook: The Sun Valley Conference Rolls Around, With Deals in the Air

Rick Wilking/ReutersRupert Murdoch arrived on Tuesday for Allen & Company’s annual media and technology conference.

SUN VALLEY, Idaho – “Well, folks, we talked to dispatch, and we have to go to Boise,” said the pilot of the Alaska Airlines flight on Tuesday afternoon.

The reason? About 12 planes were ahead in the queue for the tiny airport in Sun Valley, Idaho. About eight of them were private jets.

“There’s apparently a business conference,” the pilot said.

It was a sign that Allen & Company’s annual media and technology conference here was kicking into high gear.

For about three decades, many of the biggest movers in the media and technology worlds have gathered here to schmooze, to hear from special guest speakers and, on occasion, to put together potentially big transactions.

Long regarded as the birthplace of prominent mergers, the conference will play host to a number of industry giants who have made moves toward deals. Among them are Rupert Murdoch of the News Corporation, who recently cleaved his media empire in two and may be on the hunt for newspaper acquisitions; John C. Malone, the Liberty Media chairman and onetime cable tycoon who is weighing a potential takeover pursuit of Time Warner Cable (whose chief executive, Glenn A. Britt, is also on the guest list); and Michael White of DirecTV and Peter Chernin of Chernin Entertainment, who are both said to have bid for the online video service Hulu.

By Tuesday evening, many had arrived, attending a dinner hosted by Allen & Company’s Herb Allen. Spotted so far:

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, shaking hands and chatting with Eric Schmidt and Nikesh Arora of GoogleBrian Chesky of Airbnb, the home-sharing giant, and Ben Silbermann of Pinterest, the fast-growing social networkDick Costolo, the chief executive of Twitter, and his wife, LorinMarc Pincus of Zynga, not long after he gave up the chief executive role at the game companyJohn Donohoe of eBay, getting a bourbon at the Sun Valley InnJames Murdoch, walking back to the innMax Levchin, the serial entrepreneur and a Yahoo director, and his wife, NellieSebastian Thrun, the founder of the Google X Lab and now chief executive of Udacity, an online education providerHarvey WeinsteinWesley R. Edens of Fortress InvestmentDaniel L. Doctoroff of Bloomberg L.P.Brian C. Rogers of T. Rowe Price

DealBook is on hand at the conference to gather tips, gossip and possibly be tossed into the duck pond by an irate mogul. I’ll be posting both here and to my Twitter feed. Stay tuned.

Frequent Flier: M.J. Day Shepherds Swimsuit Models Around World

I NEVER stepped foot on a plane until I was a freshman in college. But once I took a trip to Chicago on a plane, I never wanted to stop flying. I’ve worked on the last 14 issues of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, and I’ve been very fortunate to see most of the world. I generally fly in business class, but occasionally coach. In my life outside of work, I seem to always fly coach. Nothing much bothers me, and that’s really helpful because flying with a crew and models can be an adventure.

Q. How often do you travel for business?

A. On average, four times a month, domestic and international, but mostly international.

Q. What’s your least favorite airport?

A. Miami International. Plow it over and start new. It’s difficult to navigate, flights are always messed up, and it just has bad juju.

Q. Of all the places you’ve been, what’s the best?

A. I often say home because I’m never there. But now, after recently seeing Antarctica, I have to say that’s my favorite place. I would go there every year for the rest of my life and stay for a month if I could.

Q. What’s your secret airport vice?

A. Manicures, pedicures and shopping for sunglasses. I can’t tell you how many sunglasses I own. I can’t tell you how many I’ve lost, either.

I swear when we go out on shoots, we look like a traveling band of Gypsies. There’s me, my assistant, hair stylists, a model or two, our photographer, two photo assistants and sometimes our own TV crew. It can be up to 12 or 15 people, and part of my job is to herd everyone and make sure we get where we’re going, which can include one location per trip, or sometimes two.

This year, we shot on all seven continents, and it was crazy. Obviously, we don’t just take carry-ons. We have a lot of luggage. I have the cell numbers of all of the skycaps at Kennedy Airport and La Guardia, and I’ll call ahead and they meet us outside. I can’t tell you the number of times people in airports have asked if we were in a band or something. It’s kind of funny.

But what’s really amusing is watching reactions to the models. One of my favorite airport pastimes is people-watching, and watching people watch the models walk through the airport is hysterical. The models are obviously tall and gorgeous, in a preternaturally perfect kind of way. People try to be cool and not stare at them, but they can’t help themselves. Men stare. Women stare. Children stare. Even babies stare.

If I have a problem traveling, it’s usually at customs. Even in English-speaking countries, it’s sometimes very difficult to convince an agent that we don’t plan on selling the hundreds of bathing suits and matching accessories we’re bringing in. If it’s tough in an English-speaking country, it’s even tougher if there is a language barrier. It’s not that people want a bribe or just want to be difficult, it’s just that agents have a hard time fathoming why we need all this stuff.

The longest trip I’ve taken was to a shoot in the Philippines. I took three flights, two car rides, two buses and a boat to the location. It took a total of 36 hours, door to door. With all of the luggage and crew, it was insane. I wanted to die by the time we got there. The crew and I were dragging. The models looked just fine, which doesn’t seem fair.

The scariest trip I’ve ever taken was on a helicopter. I had never been on one until about two years ago. We were shooting on the San Blas Islands of Panama and a helicopter was the only way to get there. I was in the helicopter with a model and we were talking a lot, and the pilot actually changed channels to get away from our chatter. All of a sudden, we started banking and the helicopter doors flew open. The model and I were screaming like crazy. The pilot turned around, and his eyes were bugging out because of our screams.

Of course, I found out that helicopters are made to fly with their doors open and we were never in any danger. I had to take about 25 helicopter rides on that particular shoot, and fortunately I didn’t scream on any except that one. I think the pilots were very happy about that.

By M. J. Day, as told to Joan Raymond. E-mail: joan.raymond@nytimes.com.