Weekend Plans is our exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
***
This weekend, current Miss Israel and 2025 Miss Universe contestant <a href="https://www.instagram.com/melanieshiraz/?hl=en">Melanie Shiraz</a> sits down with The Daily Wire to dish on her viral run-in with Zohran Mamdani’s wife, where she really gets her “chutzpah,” and why this data scientist and self-described metal head is just trying to bake a decent loaf of challah and change the world. 
***
We settle in for our chat as Melanie Shiraz pulls her long dark hair into a slick pony. She recently returned to her digs on Israel’s Mediterranean coast, where she serves “off duty” in an oversized <a href="https://humble-club.com/">Humble Club</a> tee from the Tel Aviv gym launched by former IDF combat instructors and wears a bold silver pendant boasting the Hebrew “<a href="https://unpacked.media/the-chai-is-the-new-statement-piece-and-a-declaration-of-jewish-life/?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=13691711031&amp;gbraid=0AAAAADp4jqvNmnIlzEfXwbtrbSDY5_vYf&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw857RBhAgEiwAI-1yKHIHzSxNKqc8eEGEKZskN2vEKvF1IB2HNtYN734U7rc-5a0PgBUvMBoCdzsQAvD_BwE">chai</a>” symbol for “life.”
I give up trying to adjust my laptop for a semi-flattering selfie angle. Melanie’s one of those people who could totally rely on her looks. But after going viral for bumping into socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/05/us-news/miss-israel-says-she-randomly-bumped-into-nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdanis-wife-in-cafe-and-it-all-went-horribly-wrong/">Rama Duwaji,</a> at a Brooklyn café in May, she has clearly found her voice.
“What are the odds that a very vocal representative of Israel and a very vocal representative of the other side, even though she&#8217;s not Palestinian, would be sitting right next to one another?” Melanie wonders.
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Rama, who had previously <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/nyc-first-lady-liked-post-oct-7-rape-hoax">liked social media posts</a> supporting the October 7 terror attacks, had no idea what she was in for when she sat down next to Melanie, who was just grabbing a coffee. 
“Haters want to say that I came all the way to New York to stalk her, but I was actually in New York for 24 hours because I was hosting the State of Israel,” she recalls. “It&#8217;s not on brand for me to be harassing anyone in public, no matter what their views are. So I didn&#8217;t just open my camera … I said, ‘Hi, I&#8217;m Melanie. I’d love to take a picture with you.’”
Once Melanie identified herself as Miss Israel, Rama’s amicable demeanor changed. Melanie switched off the camera, hoping to engage in a conversation. “I told her, ‘As an Israeli, I was quite disappointed by seeing the rhetoric that you are promoting online … Have you heard from a lot of Israelis?’”
Melanie says Rama brushed her off with, “‘Yeah, I know a lot of Israelis,’” and left.
“She communicated exactly where she stands and who she is,” Melanie says.
I ask Melanie where she gets her fearless spirit. “It&#8217;s the Israeli chutzpah that I&#8217;ve been endowed with generationally,” she says with a smile. “Israeli women are known to be very fierce, very strong, and very strong-minded. They can be engineers or combat soldiers and be Miss Israel. It&#8217;s just such a normal thing.”
Melanie was born in Israel, and she spent most of her childhood in the U.S. before returning to Tel Aviv. The <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/miss-israel-says-this-years-contest-will-be-bogus-sparking-break-with-organizers/">outspoken pageant champ</a> and data scientist who launched her own fintech company assures me, “I have always been a critical thinker.” 
Here’s what she’s up to when she’s not fighting for the truth. 
Off-the-clock reigning queen
“Nobody ever asks me about my personal life,” Melanie laughs. “Being Miss Israel is like an alter ego for me. Before, I never had anything colorful in my closet, I didn&#8217;t have any fancy dresses, I didn&#8217;t have heels, jewelry — literally none of that.” 
Claiming she had to learn to walk in sky-high heels and accessorize with glimmering jewelry, she describes her true personality as more rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll. “I like rock music. I have a motorcycle, which is my favorite means of transportation.”
“I&#8217;m an adrenaline junkie kind of person,” she shares, noting her love of scuba diving. “Nowadays, I wouldn&#8217;t say that those things contradict being a beauty queen. I think a woman can be anything, and beautiful, and there&#8217;s nothing wrong with that.”
<div id="attachment_1114089" style="width: 270px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1114089" class="size-medium wp-image-1114089" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7384-260x300.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="300" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7384-260x300.jpg 260w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7384-499x576.jpg 499w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7384-768x886.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7384-1332x1536.jpg 1332w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7384-1776x2048.jpg 1776w" sizes=" (max-width: 260px) 100vw, 260px" />Melanie Shiraz</div>
A rejuvenating daily routine
We already know Melanie likes her coffee. But as for her favorite way to start the day, she says, “I just like to get moving. When I&#8217;m in Israel, it&#8217;s really easy because it&#8217;s so beautiful outside that I&#8217;ll just go out for a walk and see where the day takes me.”
“Something that I used to do pretty regularly is singing, painting, and drawing,” she adds. When she’s hoping to refresh her spirit, she jumps on her motorcycle, or gets back on the horse. Literally. “I&#8217;m not a horseback rider of any caliber, but I do really like to be outside with animals … just in nature in general.”
“There&#8217;s just not enough time in a day to do all of the things that I like to do,” she admits. “But I&#8217;m trying to carve out more time for my own mental health.”
Invoking the smell of fresh-baked bread
“I can cook,” Melanie tells me. “I wouldn&#8217;t say I have time to cook most days.” That checks out since she’s battling jet lag as we speak.
“I started baking challah every Friday, believe it or not,” she shares. “It&#8217;s like the only thing I do every week.” With its sweet, chewy braids, challah is God’s greatest gift to bread lovers, Jewish or not. “It&#8217;s like a ritual that allows me to decompress and focus on something else for a few hours every Shabbat.”
I ask for her recipe, but she laughs and says, “It&#8217;s still a work in progress … it didn&#8217;t come out bad the last couple of times.” (I guess I’m sticking with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FcR1PDzC94">Claire Saffitz</a>’s version for now.)
A safe space to be herself
While a packed schedule is par for the course, Melanie snags any chance to chill with the right people. “It&#8217;s really nice to just sit down and speak candidly with friends and hear about things that are not related to the conflict all the time,” she says. “I think it&#8217;s become somewhat of a luxury for me lately.”
Grateful for a close circle of longtime pals, she adds, “If it&#8217;s up to me, we&#8217;ll go out in Tel Aviv, go to the beach, or listen to live music.” 
She also looks forward to downtime with her family. “I feel like Shabbat is the one day a week that I actually force myself to rest,” she explains. “I don&#8217;t turn off my electronics, but it&#8217;s nice to just not work.” 
I ask how she feels about a one-day weekend, having lived in the U.S. and Israel. “I think that&#8217;s something Americans can learn from Israelis,” she confirms. “No one in Israel will ever assign you work on Shabbat. It&#8217;s unheard of. You could laugh at them if they do that. Our weekend is shorter by a whole day, yet I find it so much more rejuvenating.”
Turning it up to an eleven
“Do I want to come out as a metal head right now?” Melanie jokes, attempting to nail down her varied musical tastes to a specific genre. “I&#8217;m listening to Bring Me the Horizon and Spiritbox.” (If you get a chance to see either the <a href="https://youtu.be/23-8TLCyuEk?t=241">British rock band</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEOctaHwmbc">Canadian metal band</a> in concert, wear eyeliner.) 
Offering what she calls a more “normative” response, Melanie reveals another track she’s playing on repeat. “The song stuck in my head right now is definitely Israel&#8217;s Eurovision song ‘Michelle.’” The emotional ballad by Israeli singer-songwriter Noam Bettan that ultimately earned second place in the contest is decidedly not metal. And partly in French. “I don&#8217;t know French, so it’s just me saying the word ‘Michelle’ and singing the rest of the melody for the last three weeks.”
When she’s not listening to music, she’s reading — or thinking about it. “I&#8217;ve been really, really wanting to pick up a book,” she says. She’s got Yuval Noah Harari’s “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-21st-Century-Yuval-Harari/dp/0525512179">21 Lessons for the 21st Century</a>” on her list next.
A meditation on the moment
After the October 7 attacks, Melanie realized her greatest impact would be in advocating for Israel rather than working in fintech. But the decision still weighs heavily on her heart.
“I had a six-figure job before this. I had a company that raised money when I was 23. I was really doing everything right,” she says. “I think a lot of people struggle to understand why I would give that all up for something that&#8217;s uncertain. When I look back, even with all the challenges I have faced for doing this, it has also been priceless to me.”
“We all have to work as a collective to better the world, both as Jews, as Israelis, as people standing for women, as people standing for justice in the Middle East and beyond,&#8221; she adds. &#8220;I think that we all have to amplify one another and support one another, rather than comparing what we have that others don&#8217;t, or what others have that we don&#8217;t.”
Describing a clarity and hopefulness about the future, she says, “I am where I need to be. I&#8217;m serving and advocating for my people. It has been the most fulfilling thing I&#8217;ve ever done in my life.”

IMG_4145

Weekend Plans with Miss Israel

melanie shiraz

miss israel

Upstream

weekend plans

Weekend Plans is our exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, evolutionary behavioral scientist and savage satirist <a href="https://www.gadsaad.com/">Gad Saad</a> lends his time to The Daily Wire to discuss his New York Times bestseller “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Suicidal-Empathy-Dying-Be-Kind/dp/0063446537">Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind</a>” and dish the details on the best barbecue, the comic genius behind a happy marriage, setting the tone with &#8217;70s soul, and why this Lebanese Canadian is America&#8217;s “ultimate family man.”
***
If the concept of “suicidal empathy” sounds familiar, you can thank Gad Saad. A frequent guest of “<a href="http://jrepodcast.com/guest/gad-saad/">The Joe Rogan Experience</a>,” <a href="https://www.prageru.com/presenters/gad-saad?gc_id=23574368327&amp;h_ga_id=&amp;h_ad_id=&amp;h_keyword_id=&amp;h_keyword=&amp;h_placement=&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=23569095981&amp;gbraid=0AAAAADviHxF_xebQoWC3mxpobAmxlsjUQ&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwof_QBhCgARIsADaMzOezao9xFCYHLrrtgv55CMJRkmUCYlSztz6gkETU30u88dRt0gK3yVUaAo98EALw_wcB">PragerU</a> collaborator, and wearer of the occasional purple <a href="https://youtu.be/f39nBhLZEiU?t=296">wig to prove a point</a>, the man known as “<a href="https://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/books/388547/the-gadfather-makes-an-offer-he-hopes-you-cant-refuse/">The Gadfather</a>” coined the term to describe compassion gone wild as he skillfully unpacked the personality trait that became society’s greatest threat. 
In tandem with Gad’s dizzyingly intellectual research on thought pathogens, he finds the sweet spot between academia and meme culture. My hard copy is now decorated with roughly 100 colorful page markers and dog-eared corners. I laughed out loud at “Geese for Foie Gras” as a mirror for civilizational seppuku and the mention of an actual university research grant to &#8220;decolonize light.” 
Gad brilliantly translates scholarly theories into phraseology anyone can understand. But you don’t have to be a genius to appreciate the professor’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r06A7A_vfKA&amp;t=155s">profound joy</a>, either. 
His story began in Lebanon. Gad&#8217;s family fled in 1975 at the start of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Lebanese-Civil-War">15-year civil war</a>, finding a new home in Montreal, Canada. Most recently, Gad secured an EB-1A green card, reserved for those of “<a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/gad-saad-joe-rogan-leaving-montreal-united-states/">extraordinary ability</a>,” to relocate his wife and children to the U.S. The idea that the Saad gang might one day become American citizens appears to be running unopposed. 
When I ask Gad what he hopes readers take away from his work, he confirms empathy’s virtue, in moderation. “Adaptive empathy, meaning well-calibrated empathy rooted in an evolutionarily rational calculus, is a noble and laudable virtue,” he says. “We are a social species that has evolved the capacity for empathy. But suicidal empathy, consisting of its hyperactive firing, in the wrong situations and toward the wrong targets, will destroy our civilization if it continues to go unchecked.” 
I quickly flip to my favorite page … there it is: “Be kind as a default value,” Gad writes. But when needed, he says, “Activate your inner honey badger in defending truth.”  
A morning coffee walk-and-talk
“My public life can be intense, hectic, and quite stressful,” Gad confirms. He presently works as a scholar at the University of Mississippi, hosts “<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-saad-truth-with-dr-saad/id1516343565">The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad</a>” podcast, and makes regular public appearances. Outspoken about his views, he’s vulnerable to antisemitic attacks and <a href="https://aristotlefoundation.org/book-reviews/the-road-to-hell-is-being-paved-with-suicidal-empathy/">death threats</a>. “My private life is the antithesis of that, namely, it is calm and serene. I need the protective sanctuary of my private life to be able to tackle all the stimuli that I face in the public arena.”
He’s dialed in a routine that makes getting out of bed totally worth it. “I wake up usually between 7:00 to 7:30 a.m.,” he explains. A steward of sunrises, he enjoys his first taste of caffeine with his number one lady. “On a typical day, I head off to the local café with my wife for our morning coffee cup. I then work on my laptop for three to four hours until I return home for lunch.” During outdoorsier seasons, this affords him the opportunity to get his steps, if he were ever in need of counting them. “If the weather is clement, my wife and I will walk to the café, 30 to 35 minutes each way.” 
The family man’s guide to quality time
I’m amazed that Gad ever has any free time. But he assures me he gets the most enjoyment from hanging out with his favorite people.
“I love to spend time with my wife and children,” Gad says. Maybe the fact that they rarely appear on his social media further clarifies how deeply they are cherished. “I am the ultimate family man.” 
As for the Saads’ favorite activities, the only requirement is that everyone get in on the fun. “We are always together as a family unit. We love to go to restaurants together, but our most frequent outing is to head off to a café to chat. We have wonderful conversations spanning countless topics.” When they’re craving connection with a refreshing change of scenery, they set out to explore the world. They&#8217;ve recently traveled to Portugal, Bermuda, and Israel.
On the chance that Gad finds himself with solo downtime, he nurtures a few passions he’s had since he was a kid. “I love to exercise, to play soccer, and to read and collect books,” he says. He’d beat anyone in a juggling contest (I have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YiGqoLilyHE">receipts</a>).  
The secret to wedded bliss
Even casual followers of Gad know he’s totally in love with his wife. I wasn’t going to miss the chance to uncover why they act like flirty friends who can’t wait to share each other’s company. 
“The choice of a spouse is arguably the decision that will impart the greatest amount of happiness or misery in your life,” he says. “The secret to my happy marriage is that my wife is truly my best friend.” It’s obvious in the way they laugh with each other, decades into their relationship. “We love to spend time together. We have open lines of communication. We never go to bed angry at one another. We are respectful of one another.”
They’ve also nailed down who takes the reins in the kitchen. “My wife is an exceptional cook,” Gad says. “As such, she does all the cooking, and I do a lot of eating!” Reporting that he looks forward to anytime she grills up a juicy ribeye, he adds, “I convinced her to start a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYX0etLWQEi-cpyrpgkOWFg">cooking channel</a>, but then she decided that she did not enjoy being in the limelight even though I never filmed her face.” 
The couple’s easy chemistry might also be attributed to Gad’s congenial vibe. “I am always joking around,” he says. “They say that women love funny men; well, I count myself as a very funny guy so presumably this makes my wife happy.”
Mind fuel from a prominent thought leader
I’m curious about which book from Gad’s massive library might currently live on his nightstand. “A biography on Konrad Lorenz, the pioneer of the field of ethology and co-winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize,” he notes of his page-turner du jour.
Gad’s curious nature inspires him to pursue all sorts of interests. “I am a huge fan of the Philly Sound, a genre of soul music from the 1960s and 1970s. On any given day, you are likely to find me listening to The Stylistics and The Delfonics.” He even developed a friendship with Russell Thompkins Jr., the original lead singer of The Stylistics, who then appeared on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aorkR10oP_s&amp;t=7s">Gad’s show</a>. 
Doling out a little out-of-office guidance to the greater wisdom-seeking collective, Gad taps into his 60-something years of experience. “Life is short and every moment is infinitely precious,” he says. “Do not waste time on silly matters and pursuits.”  
One last thing. “Three additional pieces of advice,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Read, read, and read.”

Punch 5-5 – Fly Me to the Moon-1-1

Weekend Plans with Gad Saad

gad saad

suicidal empathy

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/weekend-plans">Weekend Plans</a> is Upstream’s exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, 27-year-old country singer and political commentator Alexis Wilkins stops by Daily Wire HQ to talk about splitting time between Nashville and D.C., her strategy for flying above the fray, and why dating FBI Director Kash Patel might be the most normal (and perfectly aligned) chapter of her story.
***
Alexis Wilkins arrives wearing a relaxed button-down and silver jewelry, offset by her dark hair, which she tucks behind her ear. She offers me a warm smile and a big hug. I’ll bet you $1,000 no one would ever peg her as an NRA board member. “Hiiiii!” she trills. I immediately get why those who know her love her. 
I’m not going to be that girl who asks when Kash is finally gonna put a ring on it (yet), or whether the relentless stream of rage-bait headlines and credible death threats freaks her out. Instead, I go with, “How does it feel to be hot enough that people think you&#8217;re a spy?”
Alexis laughs. “I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s ever been framed that way, and I love it.”
She grew up Orthodox Christian, mostly in Arkansas, raised by her Armenian mother who was a financial consultant and her father who was top brass at Gillette. 
Still, some allege she’s a “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kash-patel-girlfriend-alexis-wilkins-conspiracy-israel-mossad-b2945596.html">Mossad honeypot</a>.” Alexis essentially rolls her eyes. “My poor mom&#8217;s digging in our basement for my baptism certificate, like, ‘Wait, but this doesn&#8217;t make any sense.’ I&#8217;m like, ‘Mom, they don&#8217;t do common sense.’” 
“If I wasn’t doing a good job, nobody would attack me,” she adds. “So I will continue to do my work.”
Alexis doesn’t come off as anything close to a flash-in-the-pan opportunist. Hey, New York Times, she built a career of her own long before Kash. 
Alexis wrote her first song when she was seven years old and recorded it in Nashville at the ripe old age of nine. “I started writing when I was really young because I read an article in a Smithsonian magazine about <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/fire-in-the-hole-77895126/">coal fires</a> in Pennsylvania,” she says. (Wait, she was reading Smithsonian at seven?) “It was just one of those ‘bored is not allowed’ things,” Alexis confirms. 
“I asked my mom if we could donate all of our money, and she was like, ‘No, that&#8217;s not how that works.’” Instead, her mother suggested she use her talents to fundraise for the cause. “I went on my American Girl doll tape recorder, and I recorded a song. And I&#8217;m like, I&#8217;m gonna put it on the new iTunes thing that’s out, and we&#8217;re gonna raise money with this song.”
She later took on Christ-focused <a href="https://www.independentwomen.com/people/alexis-wilkins/">Belmont University</a> when an activist professor gave her an F in comparative politics because he didn’t jive with her conservative values. His mistake was messing with a straight-A student who doesn’t take kindly to being silenced.
She also describes leaving the American flag icon on her social media and continuing to work with veterans despite pressure from the music industry to tame her patriotism. Pointing to her parents and a close circle of friends, Alexis says, “My support system is really great. That&#8217;s why I started speaking up.” 
About her music, tracks like “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm8fSgu6Wgc&amp;list=RDvm8fSgu6Wgc&amp;start_radio=1">Grit</a>” and “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7BQayn516w&amp;list=RDA7BQayn516w&amp;start_radio=1">Country Back</a>” are as fire as her favorite <a href="https://www.sigsauer.com/p365-380-rose.html">Sig Sauer P365-Rose</a> and as country as cowboy boots. Luckily, Alexis is still following her gut and staying true to herself.
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<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTbrrIHEX3s/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Alexis Wilkins (@alexiswilkins)</a>
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The rare off-duty day
Alexis hits the stage most weekends, but on the occasion that she’s in D.C. with a little downtime, she says she and Kash prefer “no plans” plans. “We just hang out, honestly,” she says. The U.S Intelligence life involves constantly being on-call, but the couple unplugs when they can. “We settle into the house, see people, cook, ask, ‘What do you want to do today?’ Things that we don&#8217;t always have the luxury of doing. It&#8217;s such a blessing.”
Back in Nashville, a free schedule features the same emphasis on living in the moment with the people she cares about most. “I would go to breakfast with my mom, and go antiquing or something … find an estate sale. I just love old things.” 
A curated place to call home
Architectural Digest’s “<a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/video/series/open-door">Open Door</a>” home tour series is missing out on a brilliant gem. Alexis describes the interior of her Nashville home as “old Roy Rogers,” AKA the cowboy decor of any Western fan’s dreams, which her mom helped her DIY.
Part of the vintage curioscape involves a mid-century RCA turn-dial TV they rigged to stream nonstop Westerns, and a gorgeous bannister they built from salvaged wood and rugged rebar. “I collect old books,” she explains of her museum library-like collection of secondhand treasures. “I am literate, contrary to popular reporting.” 
But once she utters, “I have a taxidermy squirrel that has a cowboy hat and a holster,” <a href="https://woodlandcreekfurniture.com/gunslinger-squirrel-whimsical-taxidermy-mount-anr-sqbandit.html?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=20086237438&amp;gbraid=0AAAAAD_a_Z1yVuMnIduE_wQkkqjsbbsUH&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw8uTQBhAdEiwAVvtJyvC0Tx-TOfxA_lYxkrx09I-MdfQWSFKI1E6gBiBN0SHu1b5wbbyyBxoCS0oQAvD_BwE">I’m sold</a>. As for music? “I listen to Gene Autry, like very, very, very old Western country. It&#8217;s a theme in my house.”
Rejuvenating in the midst of chaos
For Alexis, the biggest difference between her public and private life is the way she’s portrayed in the headlines. “People would be surprised that I&#8217;m just not very serious,” she says. “I&#8217;m just kind of a normal person … God forbid.” 
She can often be found reading over policies, researching, and even teaching herself to code, so zoning out with a little beauty routine is her favorite way to unwind: “sitting in front of my red light, on my <a href="https://higherdose.com/products/higherdose-infrared-pemf-on-the-go-mat?variant=42731166498987">PEMF [pulsed electromagnetic field] mat</a> on the grounding setting, watching reality TV.” When we talked, she had just finished part one of the “Summer House” reunion. 
Also a fan of Pilates, light strength training, and a peaceful walk outdoors, she wants to form a regular hobby that doesn’t involve a screen. Still, we’re both low-key looking forward to “Love Is Blind” Season 11 this fall.
Cooking up a family connection
Keeping it simple in the kitchen, Alexis preps basics like chicken cutlets and <a href="https://www.goodles.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoq2xGaj7J-5ctFvNc5uSwlkqO9vZTvqx-eA7V1IyPOWi6ayampi">Goodles</a> mac and cheese for herself. “I am such a boring eater,” she jokes. “I&#8217;m making chicken Caesar wraps all the time.” But when Kash hits the jackpot during hunting season, she says, “We have a lot of wild game to work with. I&#8217;ve been cooking stuffed peppers with elk recently.”
Always down to learn something new, she also enjoys discovering a few tricks of the trade from the Gujarati Indian side of the family. “[Kash’s] mom teaches me how to cook,” she says, noting how the same dish might be seasoned differently depending on a family’s preference. “I&#8217;m in the kitchen with her, I&#8217;m asking her questions, I&#8217;m taking pictures of how much spice she uses. It&#8217;s such a fun privilege to get to learn these things.”
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<div id="attachment_1104731" style="width: 393px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1104731" class=" wp-image-1104731" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="383" height="216" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 383px) 100vw, 383px" />Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images</div>
A casual meet-cute 
Alexis and Kash met at a Truth Social party at country singer John Rich’s house, where Kash tried to hit on her by complimenting her jacket. But first things first, what the heck was that jacket? 
“You&#8217;re the first person to ask me that,” she smiles. “Fun fact. It&#8217;s actually a men’s jacket: the <a href="https://www.filson.com/products/mackinaw-wool-cruiser-jacket-red-black-plaid-1">Filson Mackinaw</a> wool plaid jacket, black and red.” She later bought one for Kash as an inside joke. Alexis proudly maintains “boring,” “straight-laced” professional boundaries, so it took a minute before she accepted an invitation to dinner at E3 Chophouse in Nashville with the then-adviser to Donald Trump. But this serendipitous connection almost didn’t happen.
“I wasn&#8217;t gonna go to that party because I had lost my dog like 10 days before,” she recalls. Deep in grief over her 16-year-old Bichon Frise, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CjKKj29OmDN/">Bizou</a>, Alexis reluctantly took her mom’s advice … sort of. “My mom literally kicked me out. She was like, ‘You have to get out of the house.’ I was like, I&#8217;m just wearing jeans. The joke is I wasn&#8217;t dressed up.”
Kash has <a href="https://youtu.be/QJZz4hI-KZE?t=696">spoken</a> publicly about an imminent proposal, but the dedicated couple remains intentional as they navigate uncharted territory. “We had no idea, obviously, what challenges lay in store for us,” Alexis says. “But everything is an adventure. I&#8217;m so proud of him.”
Advice for the next generation
Alexis offers front-line wisdom for those just beginning to find their voice. “I think that being who you are does turn into a superpower,” she says. Stepping out confident in your values requires some guts, but she confirms, “It&#8217;s the same thing as someone saying you have to go to these parties in high school and do drugs to be cool. We all look at that like, ‘Oh, that&#8217;s peer pressure.’ You don&#8217;t have to be in rooms that you don&#8217;t want to be in.”
This high-value apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. She says her grandpa — a first-generation Armenian who worked in an ice cream factory, sold newspapers, shined shoes at age five, and went on to become an aerospace engineer — often quoted historian Thomas Babington Macaulay: “The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.”
“My mom always said don&#8217;t settle,” she adds.
I tell her to waitlist me for a “Mossad honeypot” tee if she ever launches a line of satirical merch. But before we part ways, I invite her to share what most often occupies her thoughts.
“Am I making a good impact, and am I showing up for my friends and family, and am I being myself in all of this noise?” she says. “Is God proud of me? Is my mom proud of me? Okay, cool.”

Upstream-Wilkins-2

Weekend Plans With Alexis Wilkins

Country Music

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/weekend-plans">Weekend Plans</a> is Upstream’s exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, NASA Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch sits down with The Daily Wire to chat about her 29-minute morning routine, family moments that are too sacred for Instagram, and how getting comfortable with failing — in surfing and rocket science — made her one of the most inspiring astronauts of our time.
***
Christina Koch settles in for our chat, wearing a royal blue NASA bomber jacket, decked out in official patches. Under that, I catch a glimpse of what looks like a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/F-1-Engine-Schematic-Graphic-Shirt/dp/B07PJQZJPH?customId=B0752XJYNL&amp;customizationToken=MC_Assembly_1%23B0752XJYNL&amp;th=1&amp;psc=1">concert tee</a>, but instead features the schematics for an <a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/rocket-engine-liquid-fuel-f-1/nasm_A19700271000">F-1 rocket engine</a> — you know, the kind that successfully powered six Apollo-era missions to the moon. 
I feel intellectually underdressed. But Christina’s laidback personality is refreshingly disarming. “I am here to underwhelm, trust me,” she says. I almost fall out of my chair. She’s so beloved, the internet spontaneously combusted with <a href="https://www.etsy.com/market/christina_koch_nasa_artemis_shirt">merch</a> featuring her quotes (“<a href="https://people.com/artemis-ii-astronaut-christina-koch-message-for-earth-after-historic-flight-11948205">Planet Earth: You are a crew</a>”), her likeness, and the Artemis II team. 
In light of all the hubbub around her latest mission, I wonder what she misses about Earth when she’s <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-artemis-ii-crew-eclipses-record-for-farthest-human-spaceflight/">252,756 miles</a> away. 
“I miss my family and my good friends. If they could come with me, I would probably never come back.” She doesn’t need creature comforts, but I immediately realize I’ve taken the “earthy things” she mentions for granted. Having lived on the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/people/christina-koch/">International Space Station</a> for 11 months, she recalls, “I was never thinking ‘A latte would be great right now,’ but I missed things like wind, the feeling of the breeze on your face, the smell of the ocean, the blue sky.”
When she isn’t exploring the galaxy, she misses that too. “I miss everything. I miss floating. I miss the teamwork; being a part of a crew where you are working towards the same mission the whole time and you&#8217;re spending your off hours together, you&#8217;re supporting each other in every possible way … selflessly, with intention.”
While the crew remains intact for post-flight engagements and tasks, Christina can feel the energy shifting. “We&#8217;re having to face the fact that it won&#8217;t last forever. We will move on and we will have different goals. A part of me already misses my Space Bros.” 
“The views are great,&#8221; she says, &#8220;but it&#8217;s the camaraderie and teamwork that would bring me back every time.”
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<div id="attachment_1100585" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1100585" class="size-full wp-image-1100585" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/9632739182_fce698f450_c.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="532" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/9632739182_fce698f450_c.jpg 800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/9632739182_fce698f450_c-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/9632739182_fce698f450_c-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Credit: NASA</div>
But first, coffee
So what’s Christina’s personal rocket booster? “I am a black coffee person,” she says. “One cup of black coffee in the morning. Even if it were decaf, it would just be the ritual of it for me.”
“We had coffee in space, thankfully, so we could all have that ritual. You can&#8217;t smell it, though, in space. It&#8217;s in a pouch.” I suddenly feel like we’re best friends planning NASA’s next manned mission. I suggest that they start pumping the smell of coffee into the cabin. “Yeah, we need some coffee essential oil.” (“Houston …”)
When she’s home in Galveston, Texas, Christina’s out the door before her husband, geographic information systems engineer Bob Koch, gets out of bed, thanks to her longer commute. Bob handles their pup Sadie’s breakfast, but Christina’s morning routine might be more streamlined than anyone’s. 
“My breakfast is a protein bar in the car on the way to work every day. The time from the alarm to the car is about 29 minutes for me, including a shower.” I suggest that she brand this bare-bones AM groove. She laughs. “It&#8217;s called ‘setting the bar very low.’”
Someone to come home to
Fans&#8217; hearts melted at Christina’s reunion with <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DXDONqmkceJ/?hl=en&amp;img_index=1">her dog Sadie</a> post-mission. (The couple’s “LBD,” or Little Brown Dog, was also ecstatic about <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8hMY8HJF6k/?hl=en">Christina’s return from the ISS</a> in February 2020.) But apparently, Sadie doesn’t hold back on the LBD affection. “She just loves people, so she probably would do that to you as well if you got down on the floor and let her lick you to death.” 
Despite the global interest in Christina’s every move, not every emotional moment makes it to social media. “To be honest, the real tearjerker was me saying goodbye to her. That will not be on Instagram because that was a lot.” Sadie has a sixth sense for when Christina’s heading out on a mission. “I travel a lot these days, so she knows when we pack that something&#8217;s up. Dogs know your vibe; they know when you&#8217;re sad. So she knew when I said goodbye that it was a serious one.”
For this family of scientists, the bond with their four-legged rescue is real. “I had a long, heartfelt goodbye with her this morning because she was just extra cute.”
The ultimate view of nature
Christina’s social media teems with jaw-dropping POVs from space, the kind of once-in-a-lifetime cosmoscapes that someone else might ironically tag “view from my office.” But I was curious as to whether these types of views might make nature on Earth feel a little lackluster. Luckily, that’s not even close to being the case.   
“For me, it helps me appreciate it and see it in a different light,” Christina assures me. I think of her shot of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B7RAMfDJql_/?hl=en">Raglan, New Zealand,</a> from the ISS; it reveals a sweeping aquamarine coastline that even the luckiest among us will only ever view from sea level. “I look at the ocean, or look up at the blue sky, or look at a forest and literally imagine how it looks from the universe, and it just makes it so rich. There&#8217;s just so much there.”
Hanging ten
There’s no better advocate for the great outdoors — whether it’s your backyard or the dark side of the moon — than Christina. But instead of strictly being a favorite way to decompress, her passion for catching a wave aligns with the physicality of her more high-profile ventures. 
“The one thing that is the same is having to take in a lot of inputs at once, process them, and then react. Especially when you&#8217;re first learning surfing, this idea of when do I pop up, when do I set my line, when have I caught the wave, when do I paddle harder, when do I paddle less … There&#8217;s so much happening all at once.”
“We have this saying in human spaceflight about growing your world,” Christina says. “At first, your situational awareness bubble is very small and you can maybe only take one input and have one output. But as you grow that bubble, you can take in multiple inputs and have multiple outputs. That&#8217;s what you&#8217;re working towards.”
Having surfed exactly once and barely stood up on my board, I ask if surfing offers a budget version of weightlessness. “It doesn&#8217;t really feel like floating, but there are those takeoff moments that are very beautiful.”
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<div id="attachment_1100589" style="width: 809px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1100589" class="size-full wp-image-1100589" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/46608515535_f59f1aa160_c.jpg" alt="" width="799" height="533" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/46608515535_f59f1aa160_c.jpg 799w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/46608515535_f59f1aa160_c-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/46608515535_f59f1aa160_c-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 799px) 100vw, 799px" />Credit: NASA</div>
Trusting the journey 
Looking at Christina Koch now, it might be hard to picture a time before she became a star of the U.S. space program. But when she first began her journey to become an astronaut in <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/people/christina-koch/">2013</a>, she says the energy was more like “I&#8217;m really bad at it and it&#8217;s really hard.” Still, she went full-send on that daunting learning curve. 
“When I was a baby astronaut, I used to say that my job was to show up at work and learn new things and be bad at them. And I truly was,” she explains. “You just have to accept that you&#8217;re bad at a lot of things when you first start, and you just have to keep trying and trust the process and know that you&#8217;ll get there.”

Weekend Plans With Christina Koch

Artemis II

christina koch

Coffee

inspiration

NASA

Surfing

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/weekend-plans">Weekend Plans</a> is Upstream&#8217;s exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, “FOX &amp; Friends Weekend” host Rachel Campos-Duffy tells The Daily Wire about life with nine kids, her mom’s secret to getting dinner on the table, how to carve out family time everyone enjoys, and why her new book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/All-American-Patriotism-Celebrating-Greatness/dp/006351527X">All American Patriotism: Celebrating 250 Years of America&#8217;s Greatness,</a>” spotlights stars-and-stripes spirit at the perfect moment.
Let’s be honest, Rachel Campos-Duffy never really goes “off duty.” She sat down for our virtual chat at her home looking like relaxed luxury in a denim button-down and delicate jewelry. Admitting she threw on a little makeup (she looks stunning, of course) after dropping her daughter off at the bus, she says she’s usually fresh-faced and wearing leggings and a ponytail when she’s hanging out at her New Jersey home. 
I ask about the piano in the background. She laughs as she tells me it came with the house. “I had this fantasy that all the kids would take piano lessons, and of course that didn&#8217;t happen,” she says. “No one plays it other than Valentina who bangs on it.” 
As Campos-Duffy’s youngest daughter, six-year-old Valentina steals the show with her unfiltered joy. “You get to the last one, who ends up having Down syndrome, and she turns out to be the cherry on top, the family favorite. She brings us all together. It&#8217;s just awesome.”
Campos-Duffy hopes her kids grow up to love their country, something that&#8217;s not a given for kids today. Just in time for America’s big two-five-oh, Campos-Duffy hopes her latest FOX News Books release, “All American Patriotism: Celebrating 250 Years of America’s Greatness,” will inspire families to revel in Americana. 
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<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-1095671" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/All-American-Patriotism-Book-Cover-448x576.jpg" alt="" width="448" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/All-American-Patriotism-Book-Cover-448x576.jpg 448w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/All-American-Patriotism-Book-Cover-233x300.jpg 233w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/All-American-Patriotism-Book-Cover-768x987.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/All-American-Patriotism-Book-Cover.jpg 1167w" sizes=" (max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px" /></div>
Stacked with personal essays from Campos-Duffy and other FOX News hosts, it has photos and candid stories from all across our nation. It’s this tradition of storytelling that Campos-Duffy hopes will right the ship. “I think it&#8217;ll inspire moms and dads and grandparents and aunts and uncles to start telling their own American dream stories to their kids,” she says. “Sadly, our kids have been getting a message that they should be embarrassed of who we are as a country, that our founding was a bad thing. Our founding documents had <a href="https://fedsoc.org/commentary/fedsoc-blog/harmful-language-in-the-u-s-constitution">trigger warnings</a> on them at the archives at one point a few years ago.”
There’s a reason why American citizenship retains unprecedented demand. “It&#8217;s the lottery ticket that everyone in the world wants,” she says.
“America has been so good and generous to so many of us,” Campos-Duffy shares. “I dedicated the book to President Trump because I feel like he saved us from the woke nightmare we were in where statues of Washington and Lincoln were coming down and flags were being burned.” She attributes the president’s reelection to teaching us “to serve, love, and fight, fight, fight for America.”
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<div id="attachment_1095673" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1095673" class="size-large wp-image-1095673" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4979-864x576.jpeg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4979-864x576.jpeg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4979-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4979-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4979-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4979-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4979-1800x1200.jpeg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/IMG_4979-1200x800.jpeg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Rachel Campos-Duffy and her family visit President Trump. Photo courtesy Rachel Campos-Duffy</div>
On-camera versus off-duty
Campos-Duffy’s upbeat personality shines from the FOX weekend curvy couch. But she’s just as genuinely kind without set lights and cameras in the room. When I ask about what contrast stands out to her most when it comes to her work-life balance, she doesn’t hesitate.
“At work, people get me coffee. At home, I&#8217;m getting everybody everything,” she jokes. Adding a little color to the picture, she says of domestic life, “I&#8217;m ordering people around to help me with all the pickup, the cleanup, and everything. I am the CEO here, but I&#8217;m also the person who&#8217;s serving everyone.” She sees the humor in the dueling mom roles. “I&#8217;m the intern and the CEO.”
Cooking for a crowd
Campos-Duffy says her husband, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, cooks family meals on days when she works: barbecue ribs or smashburgers. But this devoted mom happily takes the reins for the rest of the family’s meals.
“I love to cook, and my family loves when I make Mexican food. I make lamb, salmon, chicken, everything. My kids literally call me on the way home from school to ask me what I&#8217;m making for dinner that day.”
She welcomes her kids home from school with a neat house and a warm, satisfying meal instead of snacks. It’s a strategy she picked up from her mother, who once commented about the afternoon snack-before-dinner situation, “‘This is the dumbest thing ever. What are you doing? You&#8217;re making so much work for yourself.’”
Loving the efficiency of an afternoon dinner schedule, Campos-Duffy says, “You feed them as soon as they come home, you clean up or they clean up, and then you&#8217;re done, and they can move on. It changed my life.”
Getting the whole family together
The Duffy gang loves cooking together, but they share another kitchen-centered tradition that they could probably do in their pajamas. 
“When we&#8217;re all together on a Saturday, we love to just get up and have coffee together,” Campos-Duffy describes. “Everyone loves to just sit around, and the older kids come during vacation. At night they&#8217;ll go, ‘OK, meet you downstairs for coffee in the morning,’ and we all just like to sit around and hang out together. I mean, genuinely do nothing but sit around and talk.”
If this sounds too perfect to be true, she claims they’ve tried other, less successful attempts at family bonding: movie nights. (Totally relatable.) “What happens with a big family is we spend about an hour arguing about what movie to watch, and then someone&#8217;s always pissed off that their movie wasn&#8217;t chosen, and then they&#8217;re like, ‘I&#8217;m not watching.’” That’ll be a no on board games, too. She adds, “Monopoly and movies end in fights or isolation.”
Carving out time to relax
With her filming schedule locked into Saturdays and Sundays, Campos-Duffy’s “weekend” happens during the week. But she’s got a quick fix if she needs a little time to herself.
“I love a good bath. There&#8217;s nothing like a hot bath by yourself, you know, playing music or a podcast, no one bothering you,” she shares. “We have a sauna in our house, and that&#8217;s also a great way to relax. The only problem is the sauna shortens the life of the Botox.” 
Advice from a seasoned pro 
It’s no secret that Campos-Duffy’s life revolves around her kids. And while she acknowledges that she started her family “the Catholic way,” looking back, she has no regrets. 
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<div id="attachment_1095679" style="width: 853px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1095679" class="size-large wp-image-1095679" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/1-1-843x576.jpg" alt="" width="843" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/1-1-843x576.jpg 843w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/1-1-300x205.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/1-1-768x525.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/1-1.jpg 1280w" sizes=" (max-width: 843px) 100vw, 843px" />Photo courtesy Rachel Campos-Duffy</div>
“Somebody told me a long time ago: Don&#8217;t think about how many kids you want right now because you&#8217;re so busy or you don&#8217;t have enough money — Think about how many kids you want around the table 20 years from now.”
As their 27-year-old daughter, Evita, prepares to welcome her own baby girl, the Duffys’ holiday table will probably need a few more chairs. But even though the dynamics are ever-changing, this mother’s love only gets stronger with time.
“I love every single one of them,” Campos-Duffy says. “I love watching them bond with each other, and I love all the different ways that they contribute to the family with their personalities and their energy. It&#8217;s literally the one thing in life I don&#8217;t regret. I can&#8217;t imagine my life without them.”

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weekend plans

Weekend Plans with Miss Israel

Weekend Plans with Gad Saad

Weekend Plans With Alexis Wilkins

Weekend Plans With Christina Koch

Weekend Plans With Rachel Campos-Duffy