Breakfast Clubbing #59
Breakfast Club is ON this week in Burlington, PDX, Williamsburg, CDMX, SF, DTBK, Vienna, Manhattan, Cincy, Seattle, Amsterdam and SOMa
The Breakfast Club Esprit de Corps:
* Everyone’s invited - especially you.
* Feel free to share, bring friends, colleagues, family, anyone.
* No agenda, no required buy-in, no need to RSVP. And no pitches.
* Everyone pays their own way.
Hi all,
It’s late and I’m a bit sleepy, so forgive my brevity here. No reflection of enthusiasm. I spent the weekend living a dream come true, so I’m just exhausted. At breakfast time things will be different.
Listings are all below. Recaps from last week too. No specifics on BC Cannes, but if you’re going take a look at this and LMK if you want to join me and Not-A- Consultancy for coffee and a tour of key spots on the Croissette. OK?
Oh also, for NYC’ers: Our next Breakfast Club Happy Hour is this week June 12th @ Baker Falls. 5p onward. Come hang!
Breakfast Club This Week: Burlington,PDX, Williamsburg,CDMX, SF, DTBK, Vienna, Manhattan, Cincy, Seattle, Amsterdam and SOMa
Monday, June 9th
Burlington, VT
Co-hosted by Zach Pollakoff
9a @ Proud Mary
Tuesday, June 10th
Portland, OR
Co-hosted by Nina Sers
9a @ Proud Mary
Wednesday, June 11th
Brooklyn (Williamsburg)
Hosted by me and a gang of regulars
8:30a @ Le Crocodile at The Wythe Hotel
The Hamptons
Co-hosted by
8:30a @ Guild Hall
Mexico City
Co-Hosted by Steve Bryant
8:30am @ Mendl
San Francisco
Co-Hosted by Chris Gillespie & Eve Lewis
8:30am @ Tereene
Thursday, June 12th
Vienna
Co-Hosted by Carla Moss and Laura M. Pana
9am @ Cafe Francais
Downtown Brooklyn
Co-Hosted by Kat Popiel, Marina Garcia-Vasquez, and Lynn Juang
8:30am @ Ace Hotel Brooklyn (Lobby)
Manhattan
Co-Hosted by Heidi Hartwig
9am @ Eva’s Kitchen on Grand
Cincinnati
Co-Hosted by Theo Erasmus and Emmit Jones
8:30am @ Mom and Em Coffee
Seattle
Co-Hosted by Mike Burlin and David Rosenberg
8:00am @ Oddfellows
Friday, June 13th
Amsterdam
Co-Hosted by Sheila Guo
9:00a @ Karavaan
New Jersey (SOMa)
Co-Hosted by James Friedman
9:15a @ Arties
Breakfast Clubbing Last Week
BC was on in PDX, Boulder, Barcelona, Williamsburg, CDMX, SF, DTBK, DC, Manhattan, Cincy and SOMa
Breakfast Club Barcelona Report 6.4.25
Per Kevin’s WhatsApp: “We were 10 strong in Barcelona today. The vibes were immaculate”
Breakfast Club Williamsburg Report 6.4.25
Per my report: At my end we talked C2 Montréal, when the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity Lions is, anyway, graduating elementary school, CEOs doing everything by themselves, everybody doing everything in Marketing, icebreakers, Midwest people being nice AND genuine (Southern people just being polite), having a personal spittoon, the truths about Kentucky, working for the super-rich, there being 8 versions of "Below Deck," the lead from Vanderpump on B’Way (and the pull is crazy), moderating breakfast in Cannes, filling the room with friendlies, the Brand Innovators industrial complex, the alchemy of on-stage/off-stage interaction balance, Dazed Media’s beauty trend symposium, the power of moderation, snippet culture, the Arraye brand, women founder podcast, visiting BCBK from BCLA (west), growing up bouncing around Brooklyn, the AICP (Association of Independent Commercial Producers) conference and Ad Prom, Indie (music) Week, MIDEM, the spectre of AI, OG Philly music clubs, building to code, comedy and music open mics, writing for Roseanne Barr, adult kids, watching "Cheers" and "The Fresh Prince," Jasmine Takanikos and her BRAND HUMAN® events, ‘Sliding Doors’ moments, "Gattaca," DNA analysis, hedgerow design and topiary writing, growing up singing and dancing, the Matrix, creative strategists as executive producers, the artist Rex Detiger, business cards, dropping your fax out number, Julie getting a job, figuring out Le Crocodile Restaurant menu hacks, ‘salad’ as a bat mitzvah theme and lots more.
This morning it was me, Zaira Stefani Vallejo, Shawnté Salabert, Duncan T., Ben Jenkins, James Outlaw, Alexis Reiner, Carlos Chiossone, Eva McCloskey, Nick Cogan, Charles Bane III, Leann Abad, Sedef Onar, Ian Edgar, Michael Nieves, Eric Korsh, and Sundi Brewer-Griffin (with a Marc Weissman drop-by)
We do this every Wednesday - come hang sometime. No theme, no requirements, no cost except what you order for yourself. Everyone's invited, especially you!
Linkedin Group here: https://lnkd.in/eHAWrG6n
Newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/eZ5sg79Y
Breakfast Club CDMX Report 6.4.25
Per Steve’s Report:
“I used to manage workflows for CGI faces, for movies like Coraline.”
“How does that work, like, flow, exactly?”
“There’s one guy who does the repeated expressions, and then another who does the one-offs.”
“Like when the character screams?”
“Like when the character screams.”
“They don’t use motion capture for that?”
“It’s been a while, but they mostly did that for the body movements. Faces you had to do expression by expression.”
“So how’s the breakfast club in Portland? Who runs that?”
“Oh it’s great! Nina Sers?”
“Yes! With Adam Katz at Imprint!”
“So are you originally from Portland?”
“Further south, on the coast?”
“Like Goonies? Astoria? That coast is so beautiful. There are like gorgeous parts and methy parts.”
“So apparently I’m from one of the methy parts? Which I didn’t know…until I went overnight camping as a kid and there were methheads in the woods.”
“My parents live down in southern Oregon. Near some of the methy parts. There’s this one place, Cave Junction, that got rid of their sheriff department. No police. Then a bunch of veterans moved in. Cops from Josephine won’t go there. Libertarians as far as the eye can see. It’s wild.”
Today we were a very methy four, including Mark Holthusen, Kristen Zwicker, and Nicole Fitzhugh!
Visiting CDMX? Live here? Join us 8:30am Wednesdays @ Mendl :)
Breakfast Club San Francisco Report: 6.4.25
Per Chris’s Post: Overheard at this week's breakfast club 🍳
F*ck it let's just play. Pole dancing workshops. California sober. The practice of actually sharing regularly and, if needed, with reckless abandon. "I'm bored of the idea before I even share it." Vipassana retreats. Mini festivals. Bilingual children. Improv games—I am a tree. Company towns in red states. Job market. Merits of being a contractor. CIIS. Film screening—the joy of finishing and releasing work.
And a note to end on: "There is joy after dictatorship."
With Magali Charmot Heavenly Johnson Eve Lewis Abbi Jutkowitz Golbie Kamarei Graeme Lindsay via Ben Dietz, breakfaster in chief.
Breakfast Club London 6.4.25
Per Victoria’s Post: You know it’s a good Breakfast Club when the conversation goes on so long that Foyles tells you they need the table back (after 3 hours) or people go off to take meetings and then return…
As always, I left feeling energised, inspired, grateful for good humans and ever more sure about the importance of creating and nurturing spaces with no algorithm.
We talked: building better futures, the amazingness of RADAR, zines and ZINE, edible plants in playgrounds, rebranding God, the power of play, the labubu and lafufu debate, Marseille as a creative hub, all things Athens, moving to Bali, the state of data quality and truth, CAPTCHA bicycle pictures, outsmarting the robots, AI e-commerce, when a toddler hijacks the Amazon dash button (throwback!), girl mossing, setting boundaries, SXSW highlights, working at LEGO, creative agencies in 2025, how in-person feels in a remote world, ad-tech and the CMO as CRO. And that was just a fraction at my end of the table…
Thank you to my future-gazing co-host Agalia Tan and the marvellous June crew who braved the rain today: Phil Harvey Ramona Daniel Venice Asourmatzian Flic Theobald Sam Ramsden Audrey H. Mara Dettmann Grace Tankard Jessica Littlewood Alex Eley James Walters Robin Shaw
Breakfast Club Downtown Brooklyn 6.5.25
Per Marina’s Post: Breakfast Club 6.5.25 report: Today the conversations bubbled and the good vibrations were palpable. Most conversations started with "What are your summer plans?" Then jumped into topics from do public school Instagrams and if they have content strategies, exploring new niches as an independent consultant, how to integrate AI into your life if you just aren’t into it, the history of Bohemia, traveling to Cuba and how its changed over the last 10 years, are there adult summer camps?, where is the nearest R&B Sing-along parties?, day parties with ample seating and early hours, infrared saunas at Perspire Sauna Studio, and the epic-ness of Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter tour, how moving from California to NYC you miss the seasonality of fresh produce, exploring hiking trails outside of the city, the need to have access to a beach, and dreaming of investment realty for the future in new towns and countries. So what are you summer plans?
Thank you all for coming and spreading your raucous laughter Peter Gaston, Jennifer Rusk, @Allison Roman, Jefferson Finch, Gavon O. Broomfield, Fiona Zeman, Lori Hamilton, Benjamin Meadows-Ingram, Danielle Fennoy, Thomas Murphy, Jaz G., Eric David Johnson, Shawnté Salabert, Donalee Curtis, Alia Aljunied, Ileana Lagares. Tag me if I missed anyone and let us know if you had boisterous conversations about different topics!
We, me, Lynn Juang, and Kat Popiel do this every Thursday at Ace Hotel / Atelier Ace Downtown BK. You don't even have to text us to confirm! We will be there come rain or shine from 8:30am-10am. Shout out to Ben Dietz for creating such a flexible blue print.
Come as yourself. No agenda. No name tags. Everyone's invited, especially you!
Linkedin Group here: https://lnkd.in/eHAWrG6n
Newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/eZ5sg79Y
Breakfast Club Manhattan 6.5.25
Per Heidi’s Post: We do the neighborhood thing every Thursday at Eva’s Kitchen (359 Grand st. LES) Always a good crew. I’m supposed to give you anecdotes but I’m more of a live-in-the-moment type. Come through. Thursdays 9AM. All are welcome—especially you. Kim Harris Ben Dietz Henry Lee Corey Bullough Julia Helbich Alex Corporan Michael Kilcoyne Aydan Sarikaya
Breakfast Club Washington DC Report 6.5.25
Per Michael’s Post: This morning we talked about Darth Vader and the Death Star canteen. Winning marathons and getting fired via text. Light whimsy vs dark whimsy. Commuting by floating down the Rhine in a drysuit. Vibe shifts and Legoland. Board game testing, Mao and CEOs on LI. Crying at the The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Taking pride in your work. Job interviews akin to dates. What it means to be a Democrat and animal poop. Open water swims and The Hill. Moving into an office like a hermit crab and the comfort of old wooden bleachers.
We do this every other Thursday at The Line Hotel in Adams Morgan.
The next one is June 19th @ 830am.
Everyone pays their own way, there's no agenda or RSVP necessary.
Everyone's invited, especially you!
The crew today was Ted Steyer, M.M.C. Rebecca Davis Eric Hollister Williams Michael Hastings-Black Jeannie Rose Barksdale Robyn Swirling Nate Barksdale Veronica Paz Soldan Devin McIntire Trés McMichael Maggie Winters Atin Moridian Michael Smith
🥐
Breakfast Club Cincy Report 6.5.25
Per Theo’s Post: We talked about electronic music, art and commerce, social good, deer, coyotes, rain, art salons, brunch, vinyl bars, rock operas, dogs, wine clubs, the Weimar Republic.
Art Hasinski, Emmit Jones, Jason Zwolinski, Theo Erasmus, Tina, Paul Krone
Breakfast Club SOMa Report 6.6.25 Report:
Per James’s Report: Well SOMa BC was wild today. I arrived late because my son’s fourth grade class had an “author’s brunch” and I found two different groups, one posse sitting outside in the sun and a second group who thought it was too hot and stayed inside. At least three new folks and a load of regulars. I had a great time but didn’t catch much of what was discussed beyond midlife tattoos, the funny looking folks you see at the town pool, and the trouble with booking great cultural events in the burbs
Weekly:
Portland, OR [Tuesday]
Mexico City [Wednesday]
Williamsburg Brooklyn [Wednesday]
Miami [Wednesday]
The Hamptons [Wednesday]
San Francisco [Wednesday]
Downtown Brooklyn [Thursdays]
Manhattan [Thursdays]
SOMa, NJ [Fridays] Bi-Weekly:
Washington, DC [Thursdays]
Melbourne [Fridays, alternating between Fitzroy and Richmond]
Amsterdam [Fridays, alternating between locations East and West)
Monthly:
Boulder [First Tuesdays]
Barcelona[First Wednesdays]
London[First Thursday]
Burlington, VT [Second Mondays]
LA (West) [Third Fridays]
Vienna
Paris
Milan
Lugano
Portland, Maine
Philadelphia
Boston
Panama City
Seattle
Denver
Brighton
Singapore
Sydney
Bassano del Grappa
Toronto
Atlanta
Berlin
Ibiza
Vegas
Breakfast Clubbing #59