ISSUE 17

Finding the Frequency

Paley Park sits on 53rd Street like a secret that Midtown hasn't managed to ruin yet. It’s surrounded on three sides by ivy-covered walls and anchored by a waterfall loud enough to drown out the cacophony of the city. Jane Kate Wong, co-founder of the cognitive wellness brand NOON, comes here to think. This is where she finds her frequency.

"It feels intimate and inward," she says. "A space that allows you to really focus on your thoughts."

Noon’s product lineup reflects that. Functional mushroom gummies and chocolate delights formulated by neuroscientists and rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine, each one targeting a specific state of mind.

Jane noted that building a new category means most people won't understand the vision until they can see it fully realized, and the timeline for that is longer than most founders expect. "It takes years to build a brand and a concept to a level of maturity that the wider world can accept." Without the instant external validation she was used to from design work, it was easy to get discouraged. What she landed on was something harder to shortcut: patience for the long-term payoff, and trust in herself. "It's a lived experience that every founder needs to go through to understand how incredible earned success actually is."

NOON has found its way into publications like Vogue, Vanity Fair, Elle, and Wallpaper, and the patience is starting to pay off. What excites Jane most isn't where the brand has landed. It's where the whole space is headed. "We're shaping a future that is very undefined and full of opportunity and play," she says. "I cannot wait to connect our product ecosystem in a more experiential way so it becomes truly sensorial and felt."

Until then, there is always Paley Park, where for her, the city goes quiet.