Meet the Mayor

Again, I am writing my “society” column, as Wendy calls it, instead of anything truly related to style. I can’t help it, but at least I am blogging, right? That’s the main thing. It’s all about the blog.

I went to the Meet the Mayor Young Professionals event Friday night at the Botanical Gardens. Kelly and her friend Brittany were in tow – literally, they followed me there and back from Lake County. It was kind of a jungle to find parking and make our way in, but the first people we saw were William and Jason from Calyx. (will refrain from usual comment, William - I believe we are finally past that!!) Once we got in, we first saw Mayor Frank Jackson and then ran into the Great Lakes Geek himself (and I must mention Mr. ClevelandWomen.com of course), Dan Hanson wearing his “geek” shirt in all its glory. (note from Kristen the image consultant: geek shirts are NOT recommended for most, but Dan pulls it off especially well)

My friend Peter the creative director found us and we all hung out for awhile. Saw bodybuilders and proprietors of Octane Cafe Valerie and Patti as well as Patrick Manfroni executive director of (i)Cleveland for just a second. Hanna Fritzman was running around and socializing. As part of the Civic Innovation Lab (love the new logo by the way), she was one of the parties responsible for the event.

Got drinks – an apple martini for me to start –

And then we met more people, including Matt Ziaja of BusinessWire and Brandon Sweeney. Matt is a lot of fun – I love people like him who never stop talking (but are always entertaining). A hilarious butterfly comment was made that he was trying to live down all evening. I was wearing a skirt with butterflies on it. That’s all I’m going to reveal.

Saw the Tech Czar and his evil twin. Still not sure what that is all about. The Tech Czar was planning to bug the Hatchery Chicks (ooh! I hope everyone is calling them that!!). I definitely thought it was imperative for Kel to meet the Chicks since she is moving back to NYC in the fall to return to FIT. She can help them in their campus marketing there if they want her to.

Michelle White-Grady from my gang and her husband arrived after a fight to find a parking space and almost leaving. Glad I convinced them to look harder for a spot. Love Michelle and her energy. Hard to believe she is a techie. She doesn’t fit the mold.

Mayor Jackson was on stage answering questions for some time. I couldn’t hear a thing he was saying except at one point when Kel, Brittany, Michelle, and I were in the butterfly garden looking at bugs and we all heard him say….as clear as a bell…..

“Holiday Inn”

?????????????

Later, I was ordering more drinks when Sandy Scott from Channel 3 found me. Sandy has been my connection to getting on the air there….so I totally love her, of course!!

We were taking a breather just before leaving when insurance agent and fellow fashionista Rhonda Nash came over and introduced herself. She’s a cool lady and I’m sure we’ll hang out sometime again. But it was late and I was getting eager to make the next stop on the party tour.

Which was…..The Fairmount in Cleveland Heights. I used to hang out in that area when I was at JCU, but I don’t remember that place.

Got to experience something purple and scary. Was it Barney? Or worse??

It was a purple velvet smoking jacket.

We ended up at the Map Room on W. 9^th, more drinks, more fun, etc, etc. Got to hear about the Cleveland Rat Pack idea: Sophisticated alcoholics go out and drink around town. Brilliant.

Then it got to be entirely too late and I was totally crabby.

Finally rolled in at 3am.

Ingenuity Party (okay, clearly not the most exciting title on the planet)

I seem to be writing about my social life a little more than my fashion life lately. I’ve had some interesting stuff going on – I guess it's hard to separate the social life from business right now. They seem to be one in the same.

I was so busy on Thursday that I only ate a box of raisins – all day. Then I drank a bunch of margaritas at the Ingenuity party – clearly not a good idea.

I had a three hour meeting which turned from doing some branding work into acting as a business consultant in negotiations with a billion-dollar comapny. More on that later, but suffice to say that it is a BIG deal and there are many doors that can be opened through this opportunity. Yay me.

I had to rush off to the Ingenuity kickoff party at Fat Fish Blue. Sorry, it was an Ingenuity/Tech Czar party. Gotta give credit to the Czar - the guy can attract a crowd.

It was a terrific event. I was able to meet a lot of tremendous people.

I met Dan and Katrina Lallo. Dan’s older sister Melanie and brother-in-law Dave went to John Carroll with me. I knew that Dan and Katrina were recently married because of the pictures I receive regularly of Dave & Mel’s daughter Rowan (who shares my August 7th b-day - she's going to be 1 in a couple of weeks. And I will be.....?). I got to see several pictures from the wedding with the Rowan pics so I recognized "Aunt" Katrina. How funny.

Dan has a new job and is new to the world of networking so I was glad to be able to introduce him to people. Hey, that’s my job and I do it well :)

I met Peter Chakerian from Cool Cleveland. Finally I could put a face with the name. We’ve been trying to connect for my CC interview for months - literally. Finally, maybe – just maybe – we’ll do that interview this coming Tuesday. Let’s hope.

Saw the Czar, looking bureaucratic and GQ as always. At least someone in this town has good taste....besides me!! I saw George from Brewed Fresh Daily (hey, George! I’m blogging...look!!!), I finally met the man himself, Thomas Mulready, founder of Cool Cleveland and co-founder of Ingenuity. I’ve been seeing a lot of Jeff Friedman of Webtego lately. Last night he was without his wife Joelle. She is a life coach and one of the coolest and most centered people I have ever met. The life coach thing fascinates me, but that is an entirely other blog. I saw Brad Kleinman, who happens to be one of my Monday meetings this week. Brad is fascinated by robots. Apparently I missed the robots walking down Prospect. I got to see the robot video recap on Brad’s phone. Yes, Brad, fascinating……

Got to hang with my friend Michelle White-Grady as well as Patrick Manfroni.

(L-R) Brad Kleinman, me, Patrick Manfroni

All in all, it was a fun time and I’m really looking forward to the festival this weekend.

I had to be in Midtown the next morning for a Midtown Mornings meeting at Nead Brand Partners. Once again, I saw Jeff Friedman, this time with Joelle. I was specifically there to meet with Mark Nead about ways we can work together. They have a lot going on and I do as well, so it will be beneficial to bring some of the things we’re doing together. I’m very excited to see what happens.