Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss - Biography

Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss (born Shoshanna Lonstein; May 29, 1975) is an American fashion designer and socialite.

1 Early life
2 Personal life
3 Career
4 Television
5 References
6 External links

Early life

Gruss was born in Manhattan, New York. She attended The Nightingale-Bamford School for girls in New York City on the Upper East Side, graduating in 1993. She began college at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. but, in 1994, transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1997, she graduated from UCLA with a double bachelors degree in history and art history.

Personal life

While still a 17-year-old high school student, she came to public attention dating Jerry Seinfeld, who was still starring in his sitcom. They dated for approximately 4 years (1993–1997) before the relationship ended. She transferred to UCLA in part to be with Seinfeld and cited missing New York City and constant press coverage as reasons for the relationship ending. In 2000, she dated Ben Affleck.

On May 10, 2003, Lonstein married Joshua Gruss, son of financier and philanthropist Martin Gruss. Joshua Gruss is an investment analyst at his father's firm and heir to his estimated $500 million fortune. They currently reside in New York City. They have one daughter, Sienna, who was born in 2005.

Gruss is a Trustee of the Nightingale-Bamford School and also a member of their Alumnae Board Committee. Gruss is a founding chair of the Sesame Workshop family leadership committee and a founding member of The Rockefeller University’s Parents and Science Steering Committee. She is a Vice President of the associate committee of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the MSKCC Children’s Committee.

Career

With a loan from her father, Zach Lonstein, chief executive officer of Infocrossing, she started her clothing company in 1998. Her mission was to design a clothing line that was more inclusive to different body types.

In 2005, after the birth of her daughter Gruss began designing and marketing children's swimwear.

After being the face of Judith Ripka's advertising campaign in 2009, Shoshanna paired with Judith Ripka to launch her own jewelry line through QVC in August 2010.

Gruss teamed up with longtime friend Charlotte Ronson to collaborate on a swimwear collection, "Made with Love," which was introduced in the spring of 2009.

Television

Gruss has appeared in numerous television programs, webcasts, and interviews, including a 2008 episode of America's Next Top Model.

In The Simpsons episode "Bart Sells His Soul", the character Snake Jailbird has a girlfriend named Shoshanna. According to the episode's DVD commentary, was a reference to Gruss.