Gotham Gal

Rana Sobhany, iPad DJ and Entrepreneur

 

 

I was at a party in Soho this past December where I had the pleasure of meeting Rana Sobhany who is known as the iPad DJ.  She has some serious energy and I was delighted that she reads my blog and had made my chocolate chip cookies.  We planned to meet for breakfast.  One thing turned into another as life gets in the way and we finally had our breakfast this past week. 

We sat down for breakfast in the raging snowstorm.  She had just come in from New Jersey where she is recording.  Her energy is not only incredible so is her story.  Clocking in at a mere 24 years old, she has had quite a interesting life.

Growing up in Fairfax, VA with Steve Case of AOL as her neighbor.  Her elementary school was used as a test case so she began playing with computers at 4.  Would have loved to see someone track all the kids that went to that school.

Rana was always into music playing; viola, violin and voice including competitive tennis to one her activities.  It was those two activities including the tech world as the third that got Rana to where she is today. 

A super smart girl who found herself in her early teens having to pull out of tennis and needing serious surgery on her foot which now has 9 screws in it.  She was frustrated, had enough of High School and had taken plenty of AP classes and begged her Mom to let her go to college.  She applied to George Mason and entered college at 16. 

She had always envisioned herself being a Senator or at least doing something in politics.  The first two years at George Mason she worked for a company to do grassroots lobbying.  Two years of seeing a different side of politics she opted out; not for her.  A friend of hers recommended she take some Communications classes because it might be something she’d be interested in and she was spot on.  Once Rana graduated she went to work for a company where AOL was one of their biggest clients.  She was hired to work in the marketing department.  Found herself being able to do her job in so little time that she spent the rest of the day hanging out in the tech division and looking how to write code.  At home, she was playing guitar and at work she was playing with computers. 

Rana’s best pals were computer engineers.  There were a lot of layoffs around that time taking place at AOL.  She had an idea that she would create a company that would outbound all the communications for the variety of start-ups that were cropping up around the DC area at that time quickly signing up a bunch of companies.  Five weeks into that business and an investment company gave her some money to buy her out and incorporate her business into theirs.  This particular company owned a variety of domains names that they wanted Rana to develop.  Between managing the communications for over 13 companies she was created companies around the domain names. 

In 2007, life changed when the iPhone came to market.  Rana and the person she was working with decided that they should create an advertising agency around the iPhone.  They moved to NYC and in 41 days from the launch of the App store their business started tracking behavioral recognition to measure the data offline on apps.  Sharing their information with Apple.  Sounds like a big whatever but at that time this was cutting edge stuff. 

Rana was finding herself bored and pining for another start-up as the business wasn’t moving the needle anymore.  She thought about writing a book about the first 500 days of the app.  She did and it was eventually published the book is called Mobilize: Strategies for Success from the Frontlines of the App Revolution. 

After finishing the book, she went out and bought about $4k of music equipment feeling that music was really missing in her life and she’d jump back into it to find herself.  The day the iPad came out, she was one of those crazy people who stood in line all night to get the first one.  She started downloading a bunch of apps and putting them together to create music.  She put a video up on YouTube of what she created.  The video went viral and she had found her career.

Playing over 70 concerts in five countries in seven months.  She considers herself the new paradigm of music.  Touch input and expressive music through tech.  Rana is not only analytical she is creative and she is a businesswoman.  She wants to be a roll model for young women.  She is the person representing the early adapters of this generation. 

As Rana enters the music arena, I believe she will figure out how to do it her way.  Always thinking out of the box, always looking for the latest and greatest and always wanting to be original.  She is quite amazing…and she also has a big heart. 

I’m a fan.  

 

 

Wrapping up on the Womens Entrepreneur Festival

Yesterday was the Womens Entrepreneur Festival.  Hopefully video will be up in a few days and I will post it so anyone can watch at their leisure. 

Putting all humility aside, the Festival was just absolutely fantastic.  There was a buzz in the air that was, as Andy Weissman said, infectious.  I guarantee we plan on having this event again next year and figuring out ways that we can keep the networking among all of us going through the year. 

I would love to hear from people on what you thought made this event so successful.  Here are my thoughts.  The event was not huge so there was an intimacy in the room that you don't always find at conferences.  Having multiple generations of women there that wanted to connect and hear about each other regardless of age is very powerful.  Every attendee came considering themselves on an equal playing field, everyone was wowed by each other.  The bios of each attendee on the site was a great tool so that when we all came together we were each intrigued by each other.  Everyone had their guard down.  Everyone wanted to connect, listen, hear, learn and network.  It was casual.  Nobody wore a suit. 

One interesting observation were the four men panelists.  Each of them told intimate stories about themselves to the audience as the day progressed.  One of them actually said to me that they never tell personal stories about themselves at a conference but here they felt comfortable doing it.  To me, that is one of the most powerful components of being a woman.  That personal link and the willingness to divulge our real feelings and stories is why every business will be so much more successful with women involved.  That personal piece changes the game. 

Wow.  It was just an incredible day. 

 

The Whipping Man at MTC

I have written many times that Manhattan Theater Club consistently puts on good theater.  Last night's performance of The Whipping Man might have been one of the best things I have seen there or at least at the top of the list. 

A cast of three particularly good actors; Andre Holland, Jay Wilkison and Andre Braugher who are all veterans and award winners in theater. The play is incredibly well written by Matthew Lopez.

The play takes place in 1865 in a burnt out house at the end of the civil war.  Three men find themsevles back in this house looking for shelter.  One is the son of the home owner and the other two are slaves that he grew up with.  The house master (chef and chief bottle washer) and one of the children that grew up there that did chores but was basically the playmate of the son.  All of them were raised Jewish in this household including the slaves.

Over the course of the play secrets are revealed and over the Passover seder everything comes to a head.  The Passover segment is so powerful and the connections to slavery and Judasim left everyone in the theater just praising the play and the performances as the curtain went down. 

Go see it!

Short Ribs

The snow is pounding down.  I leave a meeting around 1pm and find out that not only is my board meeting scheduled to be a call instead of a face to face that our dinner plans are cancelled too.  What to do?  Go to Citarella and pick up four pounds of short ribs, trudge home, and begin a stick to your ribs kind of meal.

Four lbs of short ribs

1 cup flour

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. kosher salt

In a dutch oven ( preferably your Le Cruset pot ) coat the bottom with olive oil.  Take the flour, cinnamon and salt and mix together in a bowl.  Dip each short rib into this mixture and coat.  Then put in the pot until really browned on both sides.  Once they are browned, take out and set aside and pour out the oil. 

3 large carrots peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

2 turnips peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

2 parsnips peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

3 leeks chopped

Put the dutch oven back on the stove.  The old oil should be gone but don't wipe the pot down and pour oil in again and cover the bottom of the pot.  Heat up and add the vegetables and saute for about 5 minutes or so until the leeks begin to brown. 

1 large can of tomato puree

1/2 bottle of red wine

In a spice bag (or wrapped up in cheesecloth) put 3 stems of thyme, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 caradmon pod, a bay leaf and 1/2 tsp black peppercorns.

Add the tomato puree to the pot and stir over a medium heat.  Let this really coat the vegetables and toss in a little salt for added measure.  Now add the short ribs back into the pot.  Cover with the red wine and add the spice bag.  You might need a little more than 1/2 a bottle.  Bring to a boil and then down to simmer, cover and let sit for about four hours or until the meat slides off the bone.

When the beef is done take out all the bones and beef and put in a bowl.  Then drain the sauce into a bowl and put the vegetables on the side.  Toss the spice bag.  Use one of those containers that separate the fat from the sauce and pour the sauce back into the pot, obviously get rid of the fat.  Add the vegetables and the meat ( no bones ) and put back in the pot. 

1 head of Swiss chard

1 head of kale

Chop up both heads, leaves only.  Heat up the sauce and add the chopped kale and chard.  Stir just until the leaves turn a darker green.  Now the dish is ready to serve.  I turned this off for a few hours while I had my board call and just warmed it up again before dinner.

Separately I sauteed a bunch of mushrooms with olive oil and a little bit of truffle salt.  Not necessary on the truffle salt but it is a nice touch.

Make polenta.  I used chicken broth instead of water for the polenta. 

1 cup corn meal mixed together with 1 cup chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Add two more cups of boiling chicken broth and whisk.  Add about 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese.  I used a little truffle salt in here too.  Serve immediately.

The dish has polenta on the bottom, the short ribs on top, then the mushrooms and a few pieces of shaved Parmesean.  Seriously delicious. 

 

The Decemberists

I have always been a fan of the Decemberists and their lastest record, the King Is Dead, is fantastic.  Serious air time at the Wilsons house.  We were invited to see them last night, last minute, at The Beacon.  Not a huge fan of the Beacon. 

The music was great, his voice is spectactular...and he is funny which makes for an engaging concert.  Although we had great seats, here is what happens when huge people stand in front of me.  For a shorty, it is really difficult to see.  This drives me insane. 

 

iMentor event at Google

Unfortunately I didn't get to stay through the entire event last night but I was there for awhile.  iMentor had a panel to talk about volunteerism. 

There are a few things about panels, they must have amazing moderators in order to make the conversations flow between all the people on stage or it ends up people just talking about themselves. We are having panels are the Womens Entrepreneur Festival this weekend and we are hoping our format will work.  We will see.

I went to the event because both Rachael Chang from Catchafire.org and Jessamyn Waldman Rodriquez from Hot Bread Kitchen were on the panel.  Two companies I am involved with and two women I highly respect. 

The conversation began asking each panelist why they got into a career of social good and then an addition to that a few other things which was way too long but that is another story.  What we found out after time is how few people volunteer in NYC and NY State and certainly the question is how do we get more people to volunteer their time.

When my Mom moved to NYC she wanted so desperately to volunteer somewhere that she was interested in.  In the end, she did a lot of work for the Obama campaign but never found anything else fulfilling in NYC and btw, it wasn't so easy to find.  That is why I so like what Catchafire is doing.  Taking people who want to give back their time, their time means not photo copying paper for the office but using their professional skills sets.  Catchafire matches professionals with a non-profit that could use their skills for a short focused project.  I really believe she is on to something.  I know she is by the growth of ther business. 

Hot Bread Kitchen is essentialy changing the world one person at a time.  A different take on social good.  What is interesting is Jessamyn came up with the concept of Hot Bread Kitchen over 10 years ago and slowly retooled the idea in her mind until the time came.  I like that.  Perry Chen did the same thing with Kickstarter.  He came up with the idea 10 years ago. 

There are so many ways all of us can give back to our communities.  It is worth checking out each of the sites above.  I will say the only downfall of last nights event was how it was organized.  I was invited to go and had no idea there was a suggested donation.  They literally held Fred and I hostage downstairs and called us out on the table before letting us in if we didn't get $20 a piece.  It wasn't a big deal but the way they did it was completely unprofessional and aggressive.  Didn't win any points in my book...just for the record. 

Investors are happening everywhere

Either there is something in the air or I am on the investment radar.  Today I had the pleasure of having conversations with two different groups about investing and then this morning I heard from the Womens Leadership Summit in SF and of course the Womens Entrepreneur Festival that I am involved with is happening this weekend. 

What is interesting about the first group is that is just started but they have hit upon something in the women’s community.  A group of super smart influential women in Silicon Valley got together and created an event called Alley to the Valley thinking that perhaps both coasts could benefit from getting together.  The participants would discuss mentoring and investing in women entrepreneurs.  The concept was to bring together entrepreneurs and power brokers who come out of mostly the Venture Capital and Private Equity area. 

I like how they want to build a “golf course” for women.  Their terminology which I love.  The thought is if you build it they will come.  If you build a community of smart powerful women who are interested in being mentors and investing in start-ups that the two will find each other.   Low and behold they have.  Their one event has turned into another this spring and another this fall.  They are on to something. 

Later in the day I went to an event for the Investors Circle.  I met the man who began this organization almost 20 years ago.  Over 20 years he has created a network of angel investors that come out of family foundations, venture capitalists, and angel investors.  They have put over $150 million dollars to work and have built a network of offices across the globe. 

Investors Circle has some amazing people behind the scenes from the Executive Director and Chairman to the founder.  They invest in Women, Energy, Health and Wellness, Education & Media, Community Development and Food & Organics. 

The event was a mixture of people who are already involved with Investors Circles through investing and others were invited with the hope of joining.  A very interesting mixed group of people who want to make an impact in our world by investing in entrepreneurs they believe are making a difference. 

Although IC has been around for 20 years, I get the feeling from the conversations that they are taking it to another level as they create a bigger network of investors.  That is what I am seeing as more and more people are interested in taking some of the wealth they have created and investing in others particularly when it comes to social or environmental issues. 

This morning I heard from the OpenSource Womens Summit who is having an event this week where they are honoring 30 emerging women in the tech community and then putting them in a room with already established leaders to see what happens.  Kind of like Alley to the Valley but different.  Regardless, all good. 

This weekend I am involved with the Womens Entrepreneur Festival which will highlight women entrepreneurs ( some men too ) and we hope that women will learn from each other, mentor each other, continue the conversations that we are having this weekend into their lives and think about all the different opportunities that technology has helped facilitate. 

From an outsider who invests in start-up companies, I am not sure if I will get involved with any of the above through investing in but I love what they are all doing.  A few are more capital available to entrepreneurs who are trying to create new economies.  Others are highlighting the success of women and how we can all learn from that. All said, that is a very good thing. 

Joan Hornig, Entrepreneur

Joan Hornig has not only had a variety of careers, she delved into each one of them with serious gusto.  She compiled each experience from work to marriage to motherhood as well as her artistic passion and philanthropic interests and created Joan Hornig Jewelry. 

Let’s start from the beginning.  She grew up modestly in Cleveland, Ohio where a teacher took an interest in her and pushed her to go to school in the East.  Started out Vassar and then transferred to Harvard where she studied art history.  Got married and walked down the aisle at 20 years old in the middle of college.  Pretty amazing considering that was definitely not the norm for her peers. 

After graduating, she wanted to give back to Harvard with the belief that getting an education is truly the American dream and she had just achieved it.  Joan decided to stay at Harvard and live in the dorms for another four years and took the job of raising money for the Development department in special gifts No surprises, she took the job seriously and was exposed to some of the most powerful men (yes men) in the country who went to Harvard.  She not only learned how to raise money but what it costs to have an infrastructure. 

Next stop was Columbia Business School to get her MBA spending her summers working for the Exxon Foundation.  At that point Exxon had 91 agencies in the five boroughs and she audited each of them to make sure they were following the rules.  In essence making sure they were legit.  She then became the Executive Director of Corporate Relations and Affairs raising money and doing strategic planning while deciding to go to school part-time.  During that process she had some ideas about programs for Wall Street firms.  Her idea was simple create a MBA program in the summers so that the employers would not be competing against people leaving for their MBA’s.  This way people could work while getting their MBA’s creating an interesting mixed environment at school.  Pushing Wall Street to create minority fellowships for this type of program too,  she found herself pitching this concept to Paine Webber because their company was more agile and not as structured as other organizations on Wall Street.  They loved it and she was hired. 

Her responsibilities at Paine Webber changed as she started running traders in the cash management area eventually starting her own Hedge Fund business which focused on distressed investing as well as private investing in the biotech Medical area. 

Joan has always loved props, sculpture and the analytical process of studying art from different cultures.  She started making jewelry, on the side, with her daughter.  Through a friend, she got in front of the buyer at Bergdoff Goodman who bought the line and her business was born.

She designs the jewelry and developed a cadre of people who would do the work.  She went back to her experiences of trading systems and the trust she had of people who were moving money around.  As long as people did their jobs, she trusted them.  She wanted to make all the jewelry in the states with different immigrants from different backgrounds.  What is the most amazing thing is how she gives all the profits away.  Through trusting people, she has created a platform for selling her jewelry where she absorbs all the costs only taking out the cost of goods sold and gives the rest away.  She doesn’t choose where the money goes, she lets the people who buy the jewelry decide where the profit goes by designating it to the charity of their choice. 

On the Joan Hornig Jewelry site there are over 700 of charities listed to date.   She won’t allow anyone give to organizations that are intolerant of others but anything else is up for grabs. Once the purchase is made she sends a letter to the charity letting them know that someone who purchased a piece of her jewelry has chosen their charity to give to.  It is another opportunity for nonprofits to do outreach.  Definitely forward thinking.  Engage customers to engage charities by making the consumer a philanthropist through their purchases.  It is all about leverage.

Her stuff is not inexpensive but she has recently added another line that is moderately priced.  Currently Joan is giving away more than a million dollars a year.   Needless to say, Joan has a serious amount of energy.  She began giving back to her college by helping them raise money, continued to help non-profits by making sure that they were running properly, and then created a variety of ways for Wall Street to engage minorities and people who wanted to work while continuing education, and then eventually created her own financial business which hit the jackpot allowing her to go back to her original roots of giving back.  Quite a story, quite a person.  Check out her site.  Get something beautiful and give back. A portable sculpture that is meant to be noticed while making a difference in the world, you really can’t beat that. 

Tracey Jackson

I was introduced to Tracey Jackson this past summer and bonded immediately.  She has a new book coming out called Stuck Between A Rock and a Hot Place, Why Fifty is Not the New Thirty which I started last night and am loving.  She is smart, funny and has jumped into begin 50 with a healthy attitude despite all her neurosis which what I love about her.  She interviewed me last week for her blog.  Check it out.

healthcare

Image via Wikipedia

There are a few things that can really me going and one of them is health care.  The other is education but I am going to stick to health care today. 

Everyone should be covered.  That is pretty much where it stands for me.  Totally black and white.  Why?  Because shit happens and if something ends up happening to you and you aren't covered, you will find yourself in serious financial trouble. 

This past week, the super in our building slipped on ice and broke his leg and fractured his ankle.  Although I really wanted our building to provide health care for all the employees, it wasn't in the budget.  Our building is relatively new and we have yet to even have a meeting of the minds to discuss adding something like health care to the annual costs.  It would increase all of our annual maintenance but personally I could care less because people who are working with us every day should be covered...bottom line.

Our super will be out for a month, needs surgery and also has two young twins at home.  I can't even imagine how he is going to pay the bills that are going to start pouring in.  The stress, the anxiety he must feel and he needs his health as we all do. We have reached out to him so we can help him financially.  I feel absolutely terrible about what has happened.

The latest headline in the past week was how the Republicans want to repeal the Health care bill.  Granted there is no way that we are all going to be happy with the actual bill but at the end of the day, shouldn't we all be covered?  Putting money into a reserve fund for the god forbid accident or unforeseen health problems.  If we don't have health care for all there are other financial costs that are hidden.  People go into bankruptcy because they can't afford their medical bills, people don't have annual check-ups which are the key to proactive care, etc. 

I could go on and on but after seeing what happened this past week to someone we see everyday drives the need for health care straight home.  I am lucky that I don't need to worry about paying for our medical costs and we all get annual check-ups but for those who have that worry hanging over their head every day because they aren't insured makes me very angry.