When a mutual friend introduced Zach Iscol to fashion consultant Meredith Melling in 2012, he was smitten. Somehow, though, Iscol's many charms—the former Marine officer is dashing, well bred (his parents Jill and Ken Iscol are notable philanthropists), and Ivy educated—did not make an immediate impression on his future wife.
Then came Hurricane Sandy. Melling, worried that her six-year-old daughter was experiencing the disaster as a happy week of school closings and sleepovers with friends who had flocked from downtown to her fully powered Upper East Side apartment, asked the aforementioned mutual friend, interior designer Ariel Ashe, about volunteer opportunities for kids. Ashe suggested she call Iscol, who had dedicated his post-Marine life to veterans and was working with Team Rubicon in the wrecked Rockaway section of Queens. Soon Iscol had two more volunteers—and a brewing romance. "I was struck by his leadership, how he related to his team, including my six-year-old," Melling, co-founder of La Ligne and La Marque, says.
Most people who have the sort of resources and connections Iscol grew up with—his family spends holidays with the Clintons—don't use them the way he has: first, to start Hirepurpose, a job-matching platform for veterans, and, more recently, to launch the Headstrong Project, a nonprofit that provides free top-notch mental health care to former soldiers. "I was talking with two of my mentors from the finance world about how it would have played out if I had come home from Iraq with PTSD or depression," Iscol says. "I would have gone to see the world's foremost experts, and I would have gotten the best help imaginable. I said, 'I wish every veteran could have that access.' And they said, 'Why can't they?'"
Two years later more than 160 veterans have been treated at Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York City. The program recently expanded to Southern California, and it will add up to six more locations within the year. "His dedication is incredibly attractive," says Melling, who, being a branding expert, is his number one adviser. "His drive inspires mine."
Meredith Melling and Zach Iscol, photographed for T&C on the deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. Styled by MaryKate Boylan and Will Kahn. Hair and makeup by Alexaroduleo.com using Chanel Les Beiges and Oribe Hair. Men's grooming by Susan Phear using Kiehl's and R&C.
