Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Cocktails with Courtney ~ New York!

My trip to New York City was a whirlwind in February. I was busy opening and pouring through over 30 boxes of my belongings, personal and professional, dating back to early childhood through 2006. As I was sorting, throwing out old papers, recycling, and organizing books to donate, I also had to decide what was "worthy" of paying shipping costs to France. A few boxes (3!) made it. I really scaled back and I can tell you when you have a finite time limit, and high shipping costs you really see what's truly valuable and what you can finally let go.

Between all this, I was busy heading into Manhattan to compile paperwork for French administrative work AND trying to enjoy the time with my husband, son and father. It was a busy time indeed.

However, I was able to carve out some precious hours to host a Cocktails with Courtney at Flute Midtown so I could see beloved old friends.

One of my favorite Russian designers Alyona Makeeva stopped by with a friend and Mary Tierney stopped by early before heading to a concert at Carnegie Hall. Cellist Kate Dillingham also stopped by before heading out to another event. Beth Zelds, friends with Alexandra Duran, is working on onboarding businesses and ended up talking a lot with Dara Tyson. Ruben Perez, who helped me find ways to track news on the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy,  told me about his new database project. Sending a tweet from the party, Howard Greenstein told me he is now, among many other projects, teaching at NYU with Tom Watson.

Recursion's Henry Bar-Levav (and Cocktails with Courtney - Paris sponsor), breezed in and chatted for a long time with long-time Cocktails with Courtney attendee Wall Street Journal's James Taranto, the Sabatier Group's Joni Nelson and Michael Covitt, and Asset Development Corporation's William Noe.

It was great to see one of my former employees, Janine Trusello (who's now working in events with Hip Vintage) my cousin Justin Pulitzer and good friend James Andrews of NBC Universal. Even my father and husband came by, with my son, who enjoyed his first Cocktails with Courtney drink--milk in a martini glass!

Near the end I chatted with Converseon's Joan Wyly and Mark Bloch. Author and University of Washington Associate Professor Gina Neff gave me a copy of her latest book, Venture Labor: Work and the Burden of Risk in Innovative Industries, of which she graciously acknowledged the influence of my newsletter and events.

Pics!