After years of working in high-end fashion in New York, Min Lee transferred her design expertise (and her life) to L.A. to start a family — and her own business. Finery, her design company, reimagines work uniforms, translating them into fashion statements for elite hotels, restaurants and other properties around the world (she counts the Viceroy in Dubai and the famed Parker Palm Springs among her esteemed, unequivocally cool clients). Here's how she manages it all, from manufacturing to motherhood.

Pilar Solchaga's job — working as a model for designers like Marc Jacobs and Vera Wang — may sound glamorous, but it's not all flashbulbs and fancy dresses. For this busy go-getter, a typical day means long hours on set, sometimes changing into as many as 120 different outfits (we're tired just thinking about that!) before heading out to hunt down one-of-a-kind pieces of art and furniture with friends who look to her unique design sensibilities to help enliven their homes. Here's how she fits it all into her day,...