ZOZI

Indulge @ ZOZI's Urban Interiors

October 25th 6:30-10:00pm 

I got a hold of this invitation that told me to "Indulge" so for this event crash I brought with me a crew to indulge too.  I made sure that we weren't recognizable though, so we all went incognito as the only people wearing masks that evening. With an open bar and a man who seemed to look like Santa Claus, it felt like Christmas came early this year as the venue was just filled with furniture to lounge on. We found ourselves on the most comfortable couch and with a few drinks in hand it started to feel like a scene from my living room -minus the lady coming around with shots, which is now an obvious element missing from my own house. Richard (the store owner) was in charge of running the show here and was just as fabulous as the furniture. As Zozi prides themselves on adding that contemporary touch, the staff also seemed to know trends as you could tell that this business was their passion. Zozi's loft is filled with stylish furniture and home decor and it's one of those stores that makes you want to walk out with everything -I'm just glad that I haven't been working out lately otherwise I may have tried. Instead, I stayed at this company event and crashed on Zozi's couch that night.

 

Johnnie Walker

House of Walker @ The Concordia-Argonaut Club

October 24th 7:30-10:30pm

I crashed this event to get closer with Johnnie Walker.  We shared some shots and a moment together as we tasted the differences between his black, red, gold and blue labels. I never was a scotch whisky drinker until this evening when I really had the chance to get to know him in this lovely venue called the Concordia. This premier private club was founded by Levi Strauss in 1864 and serves as a luxurious and comfortable "second home" to many of the Bay Area's most distinguished families. The Concordia contains a rich tradition and has turned into a symbol of professional and business integrity, so I blame this event crash on Johnnie and his new tag line, "Don't slow down. Don't look back. Keep Walking."- with that, I walked right into the Concordia to meet this Johnnie.

This is Me hanging out with Johnnie Walker... and Stephen Wilson (the U.S. Brand Ambassador).

Hipstamatic

The Preserved @ Haus of Hipstamatic

October 19th 8:00-11:55pm

 

 

 

I crashed this Hipstamatic house party and was welcomed in by a wall full of taxidermy. Throughout the evening I tried to understand the connection between the digital photography app and the dead animal theme, and as no one really seemed to know after a few drinks everyone embraced the stuffed animals anyhow. I particularly took notice of the baby leopard head who started to look a bit dehydrated so I decided to share my drink with it, when all of a sudden Ryan Dorshorst (the co-founder of Hipstamatic) and his wife jumped in with disguises and moustached me.  Throughout the evening multiple people were snapping photographs with their iphones and the moments were instantly being printed out hipstamatically -if that's actually a word. These photos would be instantly pinned up on display which made me feel like the night was literally happening through a hipstamatic lense, making everything look more beautiful and creative.

Whatever happens in the Hipstamatic house
stays preserved (forever) in Hipstamatic,
including this event crash.


 

Zendesk

Women in Tech @ Zendesk

October 18th 6:00-8:00pm

Lately these company parties have been dominated by men so I wanted to take a moment to recognize the women, by crashing one of their events. I would never consider myself to be a woman working in the technology field, but I joined this Women in Tech panel to see which women are. To all the men out there, this was an event you should regret missing. These are the power females in San Francisco, the ones that are learning to code and changing the game within the status quo of women at work. I was welcomed into Zendesk by the Buddha with appetizers and drinks to join these entrepreneurs and thought leaders in conversation. I left this discussion with a new found outlook on innovation as it being not just about technology, but a different way of thinking and approaching problems. This is me with two of the panel speakers, Sepi Nasiri (VP of Women 2.0) and Saroj Yadav (Sr. Software Engineer at Zendek) -and this is us, seizing opportunities and doing things differently.

An event crash dedicated to the women in SF -cheers to changing things.

Trulia

Trulia's After-Party @ Trulia

October 15th 6:00pm-9:00pm

I never attended the Html5 Developer Conference but I did check-in to the after party, to check-out Trulia. I got the inside scoop from the lead engineer that night as he popped open his computer at the event to show me some of the best features on the site  He turned out to be a great representation of this very grounded workplace that literally was built from the ground up, starting off with one guy who was just simply looking to move but couldn't find a good go-to real estate site. Now seven years after inception, they're estimated to have more than 22 million unique visitors to the site each month, and one even more unique visitor at their headquarters crashing this company event. This online residential real estate site is a fast-growing company that just recently went public, but what was even more impressive was that out of all the business events that I've crashed, Trulia truly had the most down-to-earth people to talk to. While other events served fancy hors d'oeuvres and champagne, they had the good ol' fashioned pizza and beer routine. Somewhere between the darts, ping pong, beer tap and outdoor balcony they managed to create a perfectly balanced workplace built on intelligence and fun.

They're also hiring, so if you consider yourself smart and you think you could beat me at ping-pong you may just want to apply (after a quick game that is).

Traackr

Traackr @ Press Club

October 15th 5:00-7:00pm  

I got social with the door guy doing nametags at Traackr. Simon Trigg is an Account Manager, although we joked around about him also being hired as "that person doing the nametags." The stickers were printed upside down though and I figured his stronger skills are in helping costumers get the most out of Traackr's platform. According to his company profile description of him, "Simon always finds ways to put a fun twist on his work" -right even down to the nametags. After I grabbed a drink they called me a social rockstar as I mingled at this event in an attempt to find the influencers that matter most. That's actually part of Traackr's mission statement, but I was also on that same mission because I know the power behind social media from an experiment I once conducted that involved creating a social media birthday (one that was different than my actual one). It turned out I received four times as many wishes on my virtual birthday compared to my real one. With this kind of proven power behind social media, it's no wonder Traackr focuses on the online influencer space to track everything.

I'm only left wondering though, if Traackr truly tracks, have they tracked this event crash yet?

Edelman

EdelUp With Edelman @ B Restaurant

5:30pm-8:30pm

Meet Mike... I'm about 99% sure this is Mike Kuczkowski, the General Manager of Edelman SF and one of the people that said a few words to the crowd at this private event that I just happened to be walking by (while on my way to a different event).  I crashed this gathering to enjoy a drink with Mike, and he asked if I was a felon before agreeing to take a photo with me. I assured him that I wasn't... but I'm just glad we got that question out of the way early. Edelman is the world's largest public relations firm with 65 offices and more than 4,500 employees world-wide. It's a top-ranked PR firm so if you love PR and Digital -Edelman is the way to go.

They're also hiring, but please no felons apply.

The other folks I took a photo with at this meet-n-greet event were these two Swedish men in red. Clad in bright colors with a giant brand logo across their back made me wonder who these classy men were, and why I felt like a little person standing next to them. It turns out they're from Mynewsdesk, and they admitted that they were just extraordinarily tall and that I wasn't in fact shrinking.

CRASHED IT... For the love of PR