Breakfast Clubbing #18
ON this week: Portland OR, London, Edinburgh, Brooklyn, Miami, Mexico City, Manhattan, Cincinnati, Vegas and Vancouver. ON DECK: Portland, ME and Milan.
Hi all,
As I noted today, I didn’t have Edinburgh on my Breakfast Club bingo card for this week, and yet …. we’ll have an edition in the Scots Capital on Wednesday, along with new instances in Miami and Vancouver, a second round in Cincinnati and most of the regulars too.
I love what Rachael Higgins posted: “There is so much power in human connection. This year alone, I’ve pushed myself out my comfort zone to meet more people, host my first event to 110 guests, network, be part of communities and try new things that I find joy in. Last week I met Lauren Wallett twice in Edinburgh. She attended Because of Marketing’s event last month … We met for coffee, chatted for hours about business and marketing, Edinburgh, New York and so much more. She told me about the Breakfast Club … We discussed continuing and growing the community to Edinburgh because this is exactly what Scotland needs. I’m very excited that this Wednesday, we’re making it happen for the first time!”
On a similar note, my Culture Club Show partner Jeff Carvalho emailed his Miami-area neighbors: “A few years ago, our good friend, Ben Dietz, started Breakfast Club, a weekly morning meetup in Brooklyn that brings together creative people from a wide range of worlds to grab coffee, eat something and have pure conversation - all before the work day starts. And now, with the help of my friend and music guru, Jesse Kirshbaum, we're bringing Breakfast Club to Miami. We’re hoping to do it every Wednesday so let’s give it a shot this week! We hope to see you there.”
It’s exciting to see these two far-flung towns adopt the BC model. But even if it’s not an every-week thing, the spirit of Breakfast Club can flourish. As Amy wrote about this week’s Vancouver edition: “I'm in town for an unexpected trip back home = the silver lining: curious conversations + + coffee..Join me and my wonderfully curious co-host, Sabrina Meherally. As always, “Everyone is invited, especially you.”
Too true. And likewise: if you get an itch to convene over morning coffee in your city, let us know. We’ll help! Read on.
Breakfast Club’s Esprit de Corps:
Everyone’s invited - especially you. And you can join the group here, too.
Feel free to share, bring friends, colleagues, family, anyone.
No agenda, no required buy-in, no RSVP. And no pitches.
Everyone pays their own way.
You’re welcome to subscribe:
Breakfast Club Events Week of August 12th, 2024:
Tuesday, August 13th
Portland, OR
Co-hosted by Scott Crane and Nina Sers
9a @ Proud Mary
Wednesday, August 14th
Edinburgh
Co-Hosted by Rachael Higgins and Lauren Wallett
8:30 @ One Square, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, 1 Festival Square, Edinburgh
London
Co-Hosted by Victoria Gates-Fleming
8a @ Breakfast Club Charing Cross
Brooklyn (Williamsburg)
Hosted by me, Ben Dietz and a host of regulars
8:30a @ Le Crocodile at The Wythe Hotel
Mexico City
Co-Hosted by Steve Bryant
8am @ Lardo
Miami
Co-Hosted by Jeff Carvalho and Jesse Kirshbaum
8:30a @ Arlo Cafe Wynwood
Thursday, August 15th:
Manhattan
Co-Hosted by Radhika Malhan and Heidi Hartwig
8:30am @ Eva’s Kitchen on Grand
Cincinnati
Co-Hosted by Theo Erasmus
8:30a @ Mom n Em Coffee
Las Vegas
Co-Hosted by Steph Balzer
8a @PublicUs
Friday, August 16th:
Vancouver
Co-Hosted by Amy Daroukakis and Sabrina Meherally.
8:30am @ Nemesis Coffee (near Emily Carr University)
Breakfast Club Events Upcoming:
* August 21: London, Edinburgh, Williamsburg, Miami Mexico City
* August 22: Manhattan, Las Vegas, Cincinnati
* September 25: Milan
* October 14-17: Camp Cultivate: Mammoth, CA
Last Week Briefly:
Breakfast Club London Report: 8.7.24
Per Victoria’s Email:
This week was great! We were 6 total! ✨
Convo was buzzing and a good range of people in the creative and strat worlds but also tech, operations and PR sprinkled in. Topics ranged from crypto banking and personal finance substacks to why Portugal’s water is so freezing and Ezra Collective.
Breakfast Club Classic (Williamsburg) Report: 8.7.24
Per my post: At my table we talked Pablo the Tailor, turning pants into Picassos, making the Mona Lisa, relocating from Kenya, the music business today, the intersection of production and management, making newish friends, missing out on Restaurant Week, raising a toddler, Jackpocket, states without lotteries, being prohibited from going to the bodega, serial startup joiners, whether business development includes sales, no more ‘ninjas’, out-marketing the competition with a very large team of lobbyists, the week's big financial wobbles, breathing the same air as gino iannucci, vegan sneakers, squeaky gazelles, the vamp vs the tongue, noodling on guitar, shared riffs, Princely grooves, Phish shows, Wheels of NYC car meet ups, traveling the world to F1 races, vintage aircooled #Porsches, #Radwood, Luftgekühlt, staging for Instagram optimization, Yoga Nidra, the Nickelback doc, the Imagine Dragons-ification of pop culture, Nilla wafers, making custard, the worldwide vanilla shortage, the Marvel Studios universe of snacks, Whatchamacalit bars, what gas is, musket balls, the start of the revolution, the World Government, the hobbit people of Flores, Willy Wonka, Deadpool Vs Wolverine, Wilford Brimley, middle aged Gandalf, what age middle age starts at, ‘Tommy’ Tim Walz, why crypto was down so much, how stock price is constituted, Pete Wells retiring, Axios layoffs, ProRata.ai, revenue sharing and micropayments for publishers among many other things.
The rainy morning crew was Elliot Aronow, Paul Greenberg, Zaira Stefani Vallejo, Gabe Brosbe, Jen Vitale, Joel Linkewer, David Gill, Nick Bodor, Eric Korsh, Zachary Mallard, Kalil Greenberg, Afamefuna Onyebadi, Michelle Wong, Rob Hubbert, Jeff Weiner, Rachitha Seneviratne and me.
BREAKFAST CLUB CINCY REPORT — 08.08.24
Per The Rare Beast’s Post: “Today's conversation included the need for more weird, ekphrastic poetry as art curation, the idea of the anti-website, thoughts around the creative industry beginning to feel the economic/financial burn ⛈ , music as experiential brand opportunity, the FotoFocus Cincinnati Biennial, collage, eating in Savannah, Chatham Artillery Punch (yum), Charles Gaines' art, the Stair House, a new art bar (please), The Welcome Project, meditation, summer, and trying to sleep when you have small children ( 🏋♀️ ).
Big thanks to all our inaugural guests: Stacy Sims, Todd Lipscomb, Michael Coppage, Calcagno Cullen, Ming Washington and hosts Theo Erasmus & B. Emmit Jones.
Breakfast Club Manhattan / 08.8.24 / Report
Per Radhika’s Post: At my table, we talked about the old-school, holistic brand marketing playbook, the magic of tangible brand collaterals, corporate friends (a.k.a. the free printer hookup), deck design scams, and car shows—plus, a secret society of folks who didn’t quite make the cut. We chatted magazine design, and one publication in particular that cannot be named, romance of business cards in Clare V. monogrammed card cases, the Breakfast Club trip, uncovering the root causes of health issues, the cool work coming out of eyewear brand Caddis and so much more!
And it was Ben Dietz, Allison Rutberg, Shmulik, Paul Greenberg, Heidi Hartwig, Cooper Cox, Rachitha Seneviratne, Eva McCloskey, Emilie Chanin, Nick Bodor, Manny Del Castillo, Matt Lenski, Shelby Meade and me.
We'll do this every Thursday–and you're invited <3
Breakfast Club Vegas 8.8.24 Report
Per Steph’s Post: Here we are breakfasting...Natalie Bruzda, Bryce Brady, D., Jesus Marquez, Jimmy Smith, and me.
Table topics included Florida v. California beaches, attending high school reunions, missing Pennsylvania, valuing diversity in a community, engineers who don't use cell phones, strategy v. tactics, the new engineering building at #UNLV, #Snapple commercials from the 90s, #ATT commercials with Carrot Top, Carrot Top's cameo in #Hacks, the smell of citrus trees, why Vegas doesn't have more citrus, #Phoenix real estate, the carnivore diet, waking up in the middle of the night to snack, using your environment as a gym, the benefits of long distance relationships, #karaoke bars with #reggaeton, what will happen to the old Vickie's Diner and White Cross Drug Stores building, the Luv-It Frozen Custard shack (and gratitude it still exists, and the difference between appreciating it and eating there), "riff raff," and the old tire shop behind the 7-11 off of Oakey and Las Vegas Blvd. that now is becoming a brewery.
That’s it for this week. See you at Breakfast! And if not this week, another one soon.
Ben
