Publisher's Note ~ Endings and Beginnings

It's been a roller-coaster year for me, personally and professionally. Many highs and many lows. The important point to remember, I've learned, is to never let yourself feel defeated. Even if it seems like things aren't going your way, there's a reason for everything and usually Divine Inspiration has a master plan in store. I look at all "defeats" as opportunities to grow and learn something about myself, the way I work, the way the world and the people in it work and how to better interact with it (and them).

Thus, 2003 will be a "Year for Me," where I'll continue in a reflective, restorative and rejuvenating year. These publications will be scaled back and there will be fewer (and less public) "Cocktails with Courtney" events. I'm taking advantage of this slow time and "down time" to refocus my energies on where I'd really like to, as opposed to where people expect me to.

My wishes for the New Year include that each and every reader of this publication finds success in reaching towards their own personal goals.

Red Rum in Chelsea ~ by Gina M. Larson

A small but motley crowd gathered at the Bordello inspired bar, Ciel Rouge in Chelsea Thursday, December 20th. John Elder, owner of the Manhattan-based art gallery that shares his name, has been hosting the weekly event ever since the former host, Jim Sosnicky, moved to London, trading in his Broadway Jim persona to become Oxford James. Elder's hasn't ousted the old regime of revelers, though, which comes out regularly on Thursday nights to tour the city's various bars. Veterans of the Salon circuit who were out for some early Christmas cheer included David Shifren and Cliff Robertson, who were joined by newer guests Courtney Meyers, Jane Kim and Jason Nagi. While the Salon will take a break for the holidays next week, John says that the crew will regroup in the New Year.

Quoi d'autre?

Yes, yes. I know. You want to know about *all * the other holiday parties that were going on, right?! Well, yes, darling readers, there were a few. Some of the other antics that kept a few socializers busy were NYNMA's annual holiday party and toy drive "Toys for Tots" (also held at the popular Kanvas) and the German-American Filmmakers The Haus/Neue Sentimental AG's (sentimental.de) small fashion show at Very Up & Co.'s offices on Monday, December 17th. Tuesday, December 18th Upoc hosted its very trendy holiday party at the uber cool Art Club in Tribeca and the lovable Bernardo of Bernardo's List hosted his own Holiday party--just for all those special people on his list--at the voyeuristic delight Remote Lounge. Long-time Alleyite Troy Tyler's threw together a celebration at the 10th Street Lounge and Alleyite-citizen-through-the-years John McGann also held a banner bash for his "non-demon-eNational holiday party to celebrate the holidaze, the coming Gnu year, and the blessing of the Basement Space (new party space) on December 20th.

ADV ~ Verdant.com

Go Dine in TriBeCa!

Vergant.com's Wendy Dubit has compiled a list of restaurants that need support.

Moran's, Giovanni's Atrium, Dakota Roadhouse, Raccoon Lodge, City Hall Restaurant, Fire Battalion #1. See the full list at: http://www.vergant.com/dining.htm

Honoring a Nation of Preparedness via Cocktails

You probably haven't thought about the Boy Scout motto of being prepared or the slogan of doing a good turn every day since you were about 10 years old. And yet, for some citizens of the world, the Boy Scouts oath, motto and law are a part of their daily life. Since 1910 the Boy Scouts of America has been building character, developing personal fitness ideals and training youths to be responsible participating citizens. The Greater New York Councils Boy Scouts of America (GNYC-BSA) has been fulfilling this mission for over 130,000 NYC boys and girls and since 1993 the GNYC-BSA has been honoring a different country each year for its "International Good Turn" Award. Usually the Consul General of the honored country accepts the award. This year the honorary award recipient was the overwhelmingly ever-present, sharp-witted, intelligent and charitable Olle Wastberg, the Consul General of Sweden.

His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who is also honorary president of the World Scout Foundation, was to be present at the ceremony. However, due to the September 11th tragedy, it was decided it was not safe for him to come on the original date of the ceremony (September 21st) nor on the new date (December 18th). A big Scout himself, the King of Sweden will be present next October, when they felt it would be more appropriate for a celebration.

Among those who did make it was the honoree himself, Consul General Olle Wastberg and the master of ceremonies, Inside Edition's Debra Norville. Ms. Norville happens to be an active Scout herself--and in fact, she actively serves as Director of the New York City GIRL Scouting organization. So between this connection and her and her husband's Swedish background plus her ability to speak Swedish, she fit right in and was able to really connect with the fifty guests at the Plaza Hotel for the reception.

Other notable guests who came to honor Consul Wastberg and celebrate the power of Scouting were Mrs. Inger Claesson Wastberg, who has played a central role in Sweden's Disability policy-making efforts; Alzar Ohlsson; Philip Morris International EVP David E.R. Dangoor, West Glen Communications president Stan Zeitlin; Dr. Chris Kirka of the Bronx Borough President's Office and Scandinavian Airlines Systems' Lennart Johansson.

After receiving the award, Consul Wastberg responded with comments that reinforced the King's reputation of being very involved in scouting and the historical close link between Swedes and Americans. There was so much affinity for the US from Swedes that in the last part of the 19th century that almost 2 million, or 20%, of their population immigrated to the US. Of course, instead of going somewhere warm like Florida, they went to Minnesota where the weather is worse and the soil is rockier. Hence, actually, quite a few Swedes ended up going back to Sweden. But when they did, they brought back with them a few key-American features like the ideas of democracy. Although Sweden is a true kingdom, the government is a Constitutional Monarchy.

Event coordinator for the GNYC-BSA John Tuthill told me this is just one of fifty events he plans for the GNYC-BSA. Each one focuses on a different industry and helps raise much-needed money for the operating budget. Since this chapter buys uniforms and sends the kids to camps so they can have the same experiences as children in other chapters and towns, the funds from these benefits are much needed. Mr. Tuthill said, in an interview after the event, that they would especially appreciate any tax-deductible contributions to their "Tribute to Sweden" reception and all contributions we receive will be noted in their final report to Mr. Wastberg.

No ice sculptures, but plenty of Vodka @ RLM

When the folks at RLM Public Relations looked around this holiday season, they didn't see a lot of parties going on. Not ones to follow the pack, and wanting to give at least a little something back to those they care about and work with, they hosted their holiday celebration in RLM PR president and COO Brian Flynn's loft on Monday, December 17th. The delightful little soiree was so enticing that the sixty clients, soon-to-be-clients and friends of the agency didn't want to leave. Host Brian commented, "people were in the mood to let loose," which they apparently did because he'd also "never seen so much Vodka drunk." As you can imagine, the clients were appreciative and a few even made some deals together.

Brian also wrote in..."Although it was a tough year for everyone, there are signs of light in high-tech and new media. Our holiday party was not only to celebrate the holidays and surviving 2001, but more importantly, to welcome some of RLM's new clients, including E*TRADE, Barnes & Noble, Bitflip Interactive, Reed Exhibitions, and others. In direct contrast to the excess of 1999, the party was held at my loft rather than some over-the-top venue. Although re-enforcements had to replace the flowing vodka at around 9PM, [editor's note: see? They really did drink a lot!] the ice sculptures were noticeably absent. Perhaps 2002 will bring more parties, but with a touch of humility."

Amen to that!

It's Gypsy Night, Russian Style

When you hop from one corporate office party to technology panel to same-ol-bar scene-event to another, things can get a bit tedious. But thank goodness for my Russian friends. Among the most creative people I've ever met, I was thrilled to receive entrepreneur and rich media artist Vica Vinogradova (v2), artist and designer Alyona Makeeva and honorary Russian and photographer Fred George's invitation for the Ochi Chernye (Black Eyes) Party on Saturday, December 15th. And what, pray tell, is a "Black Eyes" party, you ask? Well fabulous, it's one where you blacken your eyes with as much Kohl as you can, done a big gold hoop earring, fluff up your white peasant shirt and toss a few more necklaces around your thin neck and hips over your patterned, multi-colored skirt (or pantaloons for the gents). Yes, that's right, it was Gypsy Time! A party meant for all those out of work for a long time and who needed to be true to their Gypsy nature and circumstances. The hosts had even devised an elaborate programme where by 10:3O PM the "cocktails would have your heart racing and eyes sparkling" and by 11:00 PM the "cocktails would get you to wherever you wanted to be." There was a performance by a "real, live" old belly dancer, gallons of red wines drunk and much loud laughter and good karma throughout the evening. Hotel Fred George, the classic arty loft, was outfitted with hundreds of black and white photography prints and posters--all for sale. The many nude shots kept the guests (male and female) aroused and entertained.

Of course, one of the other highlights of the evening was seeing and hearing v2 read her original poetry while she played one of her video installations.

And who were these gypsy friends who were so coveted and coquettish to come mingle and celebrate? Well, UN department of general assembly affairs and conference services representatives Irina Zinovieva and Alexander Toubolets were two. Milosh (of Trostsky and Sanders gallery); Vlado (a favorite Yugoslavian artist and inspiration); Valerie Zolotova, an art historian and gallery manager who out danced the belly dancer; Boudnik Associates architect Jiri Boudnik and dancer extraordinaire and Socketnet.com's Andrew Wint, whose web development boutique (similar to v2's Moscow-based ladno.com) creates interactive presentations and CD business cards and is hiring!

Anya (an amazing fashion designer) and Vanya (GE director of research) Iliashevich were decked out and looked smashing. Perhaps it's because their 10 year wedding anniversary is coming up! Hurrah! Katya Bochavar (and her sexy daughter Dasha) were there. Old SonicNetters Gary Greenblatt, David Friedensohn, Marc Scarpa and Nicolas Butterworth stopped by turning the evening into a mini Sonicnet reunion. And former Razorfish CCO Peter Seidler showed up to watch the wild dancing by Bulgarian Doichin.

Co-founder of LOT47 films (lot47.com) Mark Lipsky, UJC.org's Elizabeth Uspensky and Shai Hovav and magazine promoter-turned-Bronx-based teacher David Garvoille were also among the many much-loved guests who came. Although apparently many also forgot about the lovely vase on the windowsill facing the Empire State Building where they were supposed to make a contribution for all the efforts gone into the soiree. As the invite said, "ALL ART IS FOR SALE (CASH ONLY), ALL LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP IS NOT... THIS_IS_LIVING_!" Please contact v2 at vica at ladno dot com to make a donation and see the festivities.

NYCWIT'S 3RD EVENT! ~ by Danielle Cyr

I recently hosted NycWIT's (New York City Women in Technology; www.worldwit.org) 3rd event at beautiful, downtown hotspot, Chateau (some of you may know it as the former Moomba) which was packed to the rafters with our members. ZYR Vodka (www.zyrvodka.com), the high-end sipping vodka, which is starting to pop up all over town, sponsored the event, along with Vidal Sassoon (thank you Carol Cho! - www.vidalsassoon.co.uk) and Personal and Career Coach, Janine Schindler (http://www.jascoaching.com/). Our terrific party planner, Jackie Goldstein (jax@jaxcreations.com) was the first person I saw there and she was on the move - helping with gift bag stuffing tips, moving boxes, and generally making sure things were running smoothly.

In honor of our 3rd event, WorldWIT founder, businesswoman extraordinaire and new mom (for the 5th time!), Liz Ryan, flew in from Colorado just to attend the event, bringing along her sister, Janet Ryan (www.ryanwhiteman.com) and the newest member of the Ryan family, Darrien, decked out in a black t-shirt in honor of NYC nightlife. (Liz had to turn around at the crack of dawn to fly to Chicago for sister list, ChicWIT's event and an interview with Time Magazine.) Even though we had an address glitch (it's 7th Avenue SOUTH, not 7th Avenue), that didn't stop the slew of NycWIT-ters from descending upon the party. (NycWIT-ter, Marghretta McBean, displaying some fast thinking, posted a sign at the 7th Avenue address pointing our members 8 blocks South to Chateau.) Some of the other wonderful NycWIT-ters who volunteered their time to help me with set-up and stuffing gift bags were Virginia Mulvaney, Yelena Darsky, Lauren Dohr, Vineeta Arora, Carol McGee, Chun Hua Zheng, Jeanette Plante, Randi Urban, Carla Legendre, Lise Endro, Lisa Carley, and Stacey Rachels. Stacy, who works for videogame company, Infogrames, and I discussed the holiday season and what the predicted hit videogames would be. Vicky Moy, Phillipa Heyman, Torie Zinsmeister and Beverly Cooper greeted guests, helped with name badges and handed out gift bags at the end of the evening. "Old-timer," Deb London,and Mary Reagan, a geophysicist at Columbia University, were also at the event until the very end, helping out.

Chateau, which looks dull and a bit dive-y in the daylight, transforms itself into a atmospheric, comfortable, trendy lounge at night lit by candles. I reserved the 2nd floor and loft area for our event and the size seemed perfect for our event of approximately 100 people. "Rhino" of Chateau was our deejay for the evening and spun low-key, lounge-y music for the guests' pleasure. The event was 2 hours long and the members showed up at a fast clip. The crowd went from 15 volunteers and I, to about 100 people within the span of about 40 minutes. The energy level grew briskly as well, as new and old friends connected.

I was introduced to Mitchell Bain, of ZYR Vodka, who was amused when I told him how I had changed my name for the evening from Danielle Cyr to Danielle Zyr in honor of their sponsorship (worn proudly on my name badge). Faithful members, Nancy Schena and Bronwen Stine arrived and updated me on their professional lives. I almost did not recognize Bronwen who was sporting a new, short, attractive hairstyle. Later on, we found out that we live a block away from each other and decided to get together for coffee in the neighborhood. I spoke to Valeria Bueno (www.qoolmedia.com) and Emily McHugh (www.casauri.com) and greeted old friend, Peter Corrigan (www.mcguirewoods.com), who arrived late with his client, Peter Dugre of Sub-Media (www.sub-media.com). The "Peters" talked about Dugre's company which projects photo stills on the walls of subways so that when the train is moving, the stills become a 20-second, motion ad. It will probably depend on the entertainment quotient of this type of ad for me to not place this in the "no, do not put cell service in the subway cars - let me have some peace, please," category.

Marlene Brill of Digitask (www.digitask.com), which provides system integration and management, came over to say, "Hello." Towards the end of the event, Denise Coultas (www.c-2-c.org) waited patiently to chat while I introduced attendees to each other, said, "hellos," and "goodbyes" to others. When I finally had a chance to catch my breath, Denise described to me how her company helps individuals and companies communicate more effectively. Dulce Estrada (www.paetec.com), Dimple Anand (love those names) and Jay Ranade (yes, NycWIT has members who are men, too!) all stopped by on their way out the door to briefly chat before departing.

I was very pleased with the event and the connections that were made and business cards that were exchanged. Judging from smiles on people's faces and the responses I have received, others were as well.

NYSIA's most excellent party

Bruce Bernstein has figured out the secret to a successful party: don't invite everyone and do not allow forwarding of the invitation. As a result, the New York Software Industry Association's (NYSIA) holiday party on Monday, December 10th was a smashing success. Held at the new trendy lounge of choice for new media organizations-in-the-know, Kanvas, the soiree drew about 100 of the top NYSIA brass. Among those shiny important people who showed up and beamed their brilliant smiles at each other were the NYSIA board chairman and CEO of Information Builders Gerry Cohen and his delightful wife Pam Zimmerman and NYSIA founding president and seasoned software industry guru Alan Kaufman and his charming wife. The lovely ladies of Metamorphnet Hsiaoping Jao and Clara Troncoso and @NY's brilliant managing editor Erin Joyce glittered in sparkling conversation.

Prolific SiliconAlleyStation stationmaster Bob Ponce and the omnipresent Mark Stahlman and Howard Greenstein were all enjoying some of the holiday cheer with the two drink tickets provided to each guest. CEO of ChangingOurWOrld.com Tom Watson was there as was legendary founder of Popkin Software Jan Popkin and CUNY Institute of Software Development and Design executive director and chair of the Graduate PhD program Dr. Ted Brown. NYSIA president Bruce Bernstein and the ever ebullient CEO of Vanguard Media Mike Pinto were chatting it up. Bruce, in his usual quick wit, said that they plan on doing these parties quarterly, which surely made NetLogic CEO Brett Schlussman, his lovely wife and Polytechnic University representative Dave Gillette pleased. CEO of PhoneHome Technology and Moderator of NYSIA Multicultural Leadership SIG Miles Matthews and KNOA Software CTO founder Philip Lui also enjoyed the holiday spirits as the party for the NYSIA family, board, SIG moderators, task force chairs, staff and CEOs of key member companies went on into the evening.

Cyberchicks Holiday Reunion

From the bustling Times Square area, I headed uptown to Hartnick Consulting president's delightfully traditional and old-style New York apartment. There Kate Hartnick Elliot had prepared a lovely little array of hors d'oeuvres for the thirty or so women who came to enjoy the Cyberchicks Holiday Reunion on December 9th. I was able to spend quite a bit of time chatting with Debbie Newman, who recounted her exciting tales of studying law and organizers Adele Morrissette and Elisabeth DeMarse. Grant Media's Gretchen Grant and I caught up and Quantum Media Associates principal Ava Seave and I also had a great heart-to-heart. Grove Street Capital president Elaine Gilde, DIVA Capital's Joanne Wenig and Miriam Eaves were all sharing stories of the past few months since our last gathering. As the red (and white!) wine flowed, the evening's stories became more colorful and the picture (for 2003) rosier. Cheers to the Cyberchicks!

Brobeck Holiday Party

Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison toasted the holidays in style at their offices on Broadway and 47th Street on December 9th. Brobeck marketing manager Justin Model was greeting guests as the wine began flowing. I met quite a few Brobeckers, including partner Ellen Corenswet; attorneys Brian Suffredini, Alexander Rosenstein and Bill Davis and associates Alexandre Simon, Shelley Geiler and Shari Dilloff. Creative Funding Group managing partner Bruce Haber and JP Morgan's Tim Noble were chatting with colleagues while I met Greenhill Ventures managing director Emanuel Martinez, BTG associate vice president Dennis Fortner, Grant Thornton's Margaret Sutula and Euclid SR Partners Graham Anderson. The holiday parties were in full swing this night, so after a few quick rounds, I gathered my things and headed out into the festive city to another soiree.

85th Anniversary of the Independence of Finland

Consul General Jukka Leino and Eva Leino were outfitted in their traditional Finnish finery as they greeted guests at the 85th anniversary celebration of the Independence of Finland on Friday, December 6th at the UN Plaza. While there were many Finns swimming around the sleek room, sampling vodkas and salmon appetizers, I met a few non-Finns too. If you'd like more information on this fascinating foreign land, check out: www.finland-tourism.com or virtual.finland.fi