Last Friday, I co-hosted a 28-person gallery tour and dinner in Soho with
@zcbaum and
@founderorg , and it was one of my favorite events to date.
Funny enough, the only date the venue had open was my birthday. I almost said no, but it ended up being the best way I could have spent the evening.
We started with champagne and a private tour of Rita Ackermann's The Chemical Alphabet at Hauser & Wirth Gallery.
Starting with the art was intentional. Walking into a room full of new faces is a lot easier when you have a glass of champagne in your hand and something to discuss besides what you do for work. By the time we sat down, everyone had already shared an experience together, and any initial awkwardness was gone.
After the gallery, we moved next door to Manuela for a seasonal dinner. The group was a mix of founders, investors, creators, and community builders, all creative leaders in their industries.
One of the worst parts about seated dinners is you spend two hours only getting to talk to the 3 people adjacent to you, and that's it. I wanted to be sure everyone had ample time to connect beyond just small talk, so one of my favorite things to do during my events is swap a few people's seats between courses.
Looking around that table, I saw people from so many different parts of my life and some wonderful new faces, all in one room. Some of them came in talking about startups and potential collabs, and by dessert they were just newfound besties. I couldn't have asked for a better event & birthday.
Thank you to Zack and the Founder(dot)org team for building this with me, to Hauser & Wirth and Manuela for such a special space and meal, and to everyone who came out. Definitely will be doing more events like this soon <3