10 Years and Running

After going 23 floors up in the freight elevator and checking in through a textile company next door, I entered the slick offices of SJI Associates on Thursday, March 29, where I was greeted with banners on the walls with their logo and opaque clear plastic corrugated and steel cubicles filled with colorful and creative edgy design-work for their impressive list of clients including BBC Worldwide, A&E Televison, Time Warner Cable, Snowball.com and ESPN. Founded in 1991 this design and advertising firm with offices in NY and Boulder has background in corporate identity, websites, packaging and baseball cards. SJI Associates production and technical manager Jay Weiser introduced me to Suzy Jurist. Standing in another hallway I met SJIA designer/webmaster Anthony Cinturati, Karen Lemcke, Laura LaMorta and Ilene Block. Design director of the Boulder office Rich Bacher and David Roth, also of the Boulder camp, gave me some pointers on venues for our Cocktails with Courtney event there on April 11th. I swung by the Mashed Potato Martini Bar for a dollop of the soothing starchy stuff with some pesto before sampling a tasty mini-cheeseburger. Views of the Empire State Building, a block away, wowed clients and guests. Before leaving I got to meet The Segal Company actuarial associate Bob Ressegue and AF Pharma's Andy Faulkner told me they were there to support their hockey-buddy, marketing and sales VP Dan O'Shea. Martinis, cosmos and conversations among friends continued as the nice rainy night wore on, and I headed out to the next soiree.