A Night in the Life of Hannah Bronfman

In order to really understand Hannah Bronfman, it's necessary to familiarize oneself with the delicate anthropology of "her girls." When we meet at the restaurant, Hotel Griffou, in the West Village (in which Ms. Bronfman invested at the tender age of 20!), she's at the center of a posse of them: four friends, most of whom she's known for a decade or more from growing up in New York City. I arrive around midnight -- dinner for Hannah is around 10:30 -- in the middle of a conversation about early-morning workouts. The girls cap it off with dessert, a single banana pudding and spoons to go around, before spilling into the street to smoke. When talk turns to a pair of Chloé jeans that somebody borrowed from somebody and hasn't returned, Hannah is the one to say, "Let's calm down." She's gentle but clearly in control, and our next stop -- the Blind Barber on East 10th -- is her suggestion.

Hannah knows how to navigate a room; she easily makes her way through the crush of people at the bar, greeting friends, grabbing a drink (gratis), and finding the one spot in the packed bar where she has room to dance. When "Paper Planes" comes on, she sweetly asks whether I know that her brother, Ben, is marrying M.I.A. (Ms. Bronfman works for his record company, Green Owl, that boasts acts like Ninjasonik and The Very Best on its roster.) She wishes they'd play a song by her own sweetheart, rapper Asher Roth.

When 3:15 rolls around, we're finishing the night off at a cozy, quiet bar near Hannah's Lower East Side apartment. She and her friend Cici tell me the story of Hannah and Asher's courtship, which involves Hannah buying a plane ticket, the day after meeting him, to surprise him in Chicago -- and Cici, good friend that she is, dropping everything to join her. This is the kind of loyalty Hannah Bronfman inspires; after seeing her in action, I can't say I'm surprised.