It was one of those wonderful-webby kinds of weeks. All sorts of whimsical and wonderful things were working their way into my world and the weekend before the 10th Annual Webby Awards was such a weekend--like the "Cocktails with Courtney" on June 9th. My guests and I had a lovely time at MyBefana at 116 West Houston Street, sipping some refreshing juice seltzers and noshing on delicious, sumptuous hors d'oeuvres especially prepared by chef Daniele Baliani.
Testing his nifty new pedometer, Craig Newmark stopped by. No, he didn't walk from S.F., he was in town for Craiglist Foundations's first New York Bootcamp for Nonprofits on Saturday, June 10th. We discussed the advancements of these handy (or feety) little gadgets. Also in town from San Francisco were good friends Carter and Bill Ryan, who hosted the first "Cocktails with Courtney" ever in San Fran. And visiting us from beautiful Boca Raton was the dashing Marc Bell (founder of Globix), for the Tony Awards! Among his many technology and real estate deals, he is a producer of successful Broadway shows, including the award-winning Jersey Boys. My, my!
It wasn't all tourists though! Some of the locals who breezed in were The Women's Mosaic founder & excecutive director Kristina M. Leonardi, recruiter and actor Matthew Cummings, WellGood LLC's Robert Tolmach and Fotki.com's COO Igor Shoifot. I had a chance to catch up with Linda Gras, who was NYC's deputy commissioner for International Business. She, Bill and I regaled each other with our stories of our various trips to the Far East.
NYC TV sent a small crew to check out these "Cocktails" including NYC Media Group business development Associate Limei Wang, director of corporate affairs & strategic planning Timi Lewis and director of finance, budget & procurement Nripendra Singh. Some of my local neighbors and friends (outside new media--gasp! I know--It's hard to believe!) who came to say "hello" were Miriam Keith, Kristie Bogel, Rockefeller & Co's Josefina O'Farrill and fellow PREPARE classmate (and NYU law graduate!) Susan Shin.
In these slower summer days, this "Cocktails with Courtney" was the perfect crossroads for people from different coasts and areas in my life to gather and get to know each other. As the evening drew to a close, we each headed out to our busy respective weekends, and Craig was counting every step of the way!
A chronicle of the people and events in technology, internet and media since 1997, mixed in with snapshots of musings and observations.
