How many screens have you glanced at today? Probably too many to count. They're in our walls, in our pockets, on our desks, in our living rooms and cars, at the gym and in full view of the checkout line at the grocery store. They're everywhere, and they're delivering messages through streaming newsfeeds, real-time alerts and even life-sized advertising experiences.

So how do we separate signal from noise?

Here's the secret: We do it with people. As the quantity of messages we receive goes up, we're turning to voices we trust to find the stories and things we care about. These people can be our friends, of course, but we're also turning to authentic, knowledgeable people online who create engaging content, drive conversation and shape opinion.

Nowhere is that more true than in the publications we consume to define our personal style. With this fall/winter issue of Say Quarterly, we explore how trendsetting media creators have been setting the agenda for what we crave and consume in the fashion and style world. In the cover story, The New Front Row, Lauren Streib of The Daily Beast explores how today's new tastemakers have built sizable media properties in record time simply by having a unique point of view, which is an evergreen form of currency in art and publishing. A similar story is unfolding in the beauty media category with a twist, which Streib also chronicles in The New Face of Beauty. Meanwhile, men's media is having its moment and Ben Bowers, co-founder of Gear Patrol, explores how men’s media differs substantively from what women consume — and charts the fast-changing landscape for us in The Evolution of Men's Media.

Also in this issue, we profile the people who are in the business (as we are) of inventing the future of media in 11 Fascinating Digital Media Pioneers. It’s written by another media pioneer, Stuart Miles, founder of the U.K.'s largest independent gadget and technology publication, Pocket-lint. And you’ll find great examples of media creators and advertisers working together in our brand case studies featuring content marketing campaigns from Ghirardelli, Canon, Glidden and HTC Canada, and our first Adaptive Ad campaign that launched this June.

Finally, because the holidays are coming and everyone loves a well-curated gift guide, we asked the editors of several of our Say Media portfolio sites to recommend the things they love including Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks, the teenage editors at Rookie, Emily Schuman of Cupcakes and Cashmere, Erin Boyle of Gardenista, Sarah Lonsdale of Remodelista and many, many more.

We hope you find this issue of Say Quarterly enlightening and entertaining — and we look forward to having a conversation with you about all of it.