The more HJMT COMMUNICATIONS, LLC (www.hjmt.com) grows, the more intense each weeks seems to be. This week in particular was very busy because we were interviewing new potential staff, we were being interviewed by new prospective clients and I attended some cool events!
Monday was a typical Monday. We held our staff meeting in the a.m. at our Westbury office. This was followed by people in and out of my office all day, coupled with me driving all around town meeting prospective clients.
On Tuesday, I drove to our City office. Lisa Gordon and I had an event at the NY Press Club, held at the Women’s Republican Club. When we walked up the steps and entered the luncheon, I noticed that on the table there were O’Dwyer’s Magazines. “Interesting,” I thought. “Why would there be O’Dwyer’s Magazines at a press event?” (O’Dwyer’s is a trade publication for the PR industry.)
Lisa and I sat down at a table with all young PR executives. “Lisa, this isn’t the NY Press Club is it?” I asked. She started to laugh. “I thought you knew it was the NY Publicity Club that we were going to? I was thinking that it was odd that you wanted to come here….” she said.
Immediately, I dialed my new media coordinator, Allie Herzog’s number. “Allie, I need to swap places with you…. Can you come down here?” I asked.
That evening, I met up with an old elementary school friend who I hadn’t seen in 16 years. Her brother was organizing the opening of this hot new club in NYC and she invited me to meet her there. At first I was skeptical about meeting her on 11th Avenue and 42nd Street in NYC. I envisioned the “old” NY when Mayor Koch had his administration and 42nd Street was lined with porn shops and ladies of the night walking the street. Lisa’s husband Gordon gave me a lift. As we pulled up to esSpace NY (www.espacenyc.com), we saw the red carpet with door men greeting guests, I knew it would be amazing. And it was! What a great venue — the perfect place to have a party in NYC!
The next night, Lisa, Allie and I attended the Catalyst Awards Dinner (www.catalystwomen.org/award/dinner.shtml) at the Waldorf Astoria (www.waldorfastoria1.hilton.com) in NYC. The Waldorf is everything that people say it is and more — elegant, old world and down right “fancy!”
The Catalyst Awards Dinner is held each year to honor the initiatives that promote women in business. I found that the speech Ilene Lang, President of Catalyst, gave was thought provoking and right on! Interestingly, the CEO’s of major corporations were seated on the dias on the stage. It felt like there were more men up there than in the audience, which was packed with 1500 people. (Once you were seated, you were seated!)
Thursday was hectic day too. Our client, Esquire Bank (www.esquirebank.com) held their grand opening in the new Garden City location. We helped them organize the opening by making sure that the people attended, the dignitaries were there and that food and coffee were plentiful. My PR staff, which included: Mike Kytoski, Lisa Gordon, Christina Heedles, and Rick Eberlie did an amazing job! BTW, the bank is technologically advanced. The coolest thing to me about Esquire Bank is that you don’t ever have to step foot into a branch. Everything can be done virtually! (Great concept for a hard working woman like myself….)
That night, my colleague, Kristie Galvani and I drove to the Garden City Hotel (www.gardencityhotel.com). The hotel is not too far from our Westbury office so it took no time to get there. We met one of our clients for drinks.
And the next morning, I had to be at the Long Island Forum for Technology (www.LIFT.org) Board Meeting at 8 am. LIFT, located in Bay Shore, is about an hour from my home in Long Beach. The day was filled with meeting after meeting, then I raced back to Long Beach to go to physical therapy (my knee is still bothering me!). After therapy, drove home to eat dinner and run out the door to the temple because my son had a part in the service.
People often say to me, you seem busy and I just grin and say, “what a week!”
