How D.C.'s Pink Tie Party Turned Guests Into Fashion Models For the Night

BizBash, March 2023

This week brought 2023's first day of spring, and what better way to mark the occasion than Washington D.C.'s National Cherry Blossom Festival? This iconic D.C. tradition—held from March 20-April 16 this year—draws more than a million people from around the world to our nation's capital for food, fun, art, and (of course) celebrating the city's famous cherry blossoms. The festival commemorates Japan’s gift of 3,000 cherry blossom trees to the city in 1912.

It all begins with the annual Pink Tie Party. This event is meant to "lay the groundwork for the celebratory nature" of the forthcoming four weeks, said Lillian Iversen, vice president for the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The attendees are often mostly local and regional audiences of the festival. "It brings them closer into the fold, so they really do feel a connection with the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which has such a broad reach," Iversen said.

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5 Places Where You Can Get Quesabirria Tacos in Baltimore

Baltimore magazine, February 2021

Currently, there’s no shortage of places where Baltimoreans can find quesabirria tacos—a dish that has seen a major boom in places like Los Angeles and New York City.

So what are they, exactly? It all starts with birria: a traditional Mexican dish of slow-cooked goat or mutton in a flavor-packed stew. Variations have abounded since its inception in Jalisco, Mexico, and now it’s popular to see birria made with beef or lamb.

“I grew up eating birria,” says Jimmy Longoria, owner of local food truck Mexican On the Run. “It’s a wedding kind of food. It’s also traditional for baptisms and quinceañeras.”

Tijuana-style birria—which typically stews beef in a chili adobo sauce to give it that reddish, dark brown color—has been famously served there in the form of tacos. Los Angelenos of Mexican descent, Longoria says, added cheese to create quesabirria tacos. Tortillas are either dipped or drizzled with the birria’s broth (or consomé), then loaded with cheese, birria, cilantro, and onion before frying. Any remaining consomé can be served on the side like an au jus for dipping.

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Selena Gomez's Beauty Brand Blossomed in the Big Apple Thanks to This Experiential Agency

BizBash, May 2023

Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty went pretty in pink last month. With the help of experiential agency Sunset/Studios, the beauty brand transformed white-box venue Lavan 541 in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood into a dreamy respite, decked out in pink hues similar to the ones found in its new Soft Pinch Tinted Lip Oil collection.

The goal was to create an experiential identity for this new advertising campaign, "Alive with Color." The launch event featured a glam station photo moment, a DJ set, and color-coordinated menu offerings. And, in true superstar fashion, Gomez stopped by to interact with the 150 attendees.

"We drew inspiration from the overall campaign, which was created in-house by Rare Beauty, and the uniquely distinctive shape of the physical product itself," said Jonny Szymanski, VP of accounts for Sunset/Studios. "We wanted to translate the feeling and intention behind the campaign and the amazing imagery the client created into the overall mood of the event."

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Addressing Mental Health and Wellness in the Meetings Industry—and Why It’s Important

Meetings Today, September cover 2021

Rachael Riggs was working an event in Dallas for a software company when she was told there was a “911.” “They said ‘Rachael, you need to come to this spot,’ so I did, and that’s when I saw the FBI, the Dallas police and hotel security,” she said.

A credible threat had been made against the event’s keynote speaker: Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of the U.K.

“I went through that ‘oh my god’ phase, and then I went into tactical mode,” said Riggs, who is currently wellbeing leader for Maritz Global Events. “And the person who got me through that was one of the other event staff that was with me—it was actually Tonya Almond at PCMA. She was my go-to person that day for mental stress relief. She knew, and she could read my body language…It was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done.”

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Artificial Intelligence and Robots Can Make Your Next Cocktail. But Should They?

Popular Mechanics, February 2020

We’ve seen artificial intelligence take over many tasks in the everyday world—from stocking grocery store aisles to parking cars. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that AI has found its way into the creation of alcoholic beverages, which often involves a host of different ingredients, flavor notes, and precise recipes.

A Swedish distillery and a Philadelphia brewery are among the increasing number of manufacturers that have incorporated AI and other out-of-the-ordinary technology in their production. Why involve machines in these venerated crafts? Both companies saw it as a thrilling learning experiment, but more importantly, they recognized technology’s ability to develop flavor profiles at lightning speed and standardize production.

Just outside Gävle, Sweden, Mackmyra Whisky partnered with Microsoft and Finnish tech company Fourkind to create the world’s first AI-generated whiskey. The distillery used machine learning models on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and AI cognitive services and fed them Mackmyra’s existing recipes, cask types, sales data, customer reviews, and tasting notes.

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Pariah Brewing Co.’s New Hampden Space is a Homecoming for its Founder

Baltimore magazine, July 2021

More suds are headed to Hampden.

Pariah Brewing Co. plans to debut this fall inside 1700 Union Avenue, the former home of Union Craft Brewing before it expanded to its current facility at Union Collective in Medfield. The new-to-Baltimore brewery hails from San Diego and opened there in 2017. Last year, it hit a production capacity at its California digs, meaning the time for expansion had arrived.

But why Maryland? Pariah founder, co-owner, and brewmaster Brian Mitchell grew up in Prince George’s County, and, along with that connection, the brewery was looking to strengthen its bi-coastal operations, as it already distributes in Maryland and Delaware, in addition to California and Arizona.

“We’d been looking for a larger facility for some years now and had looked at a couple of different states, but nothing really panned out,” says Christa Mitchell, Pariah’s chief operations officer and Brian’s wife. “We want to make sure we’re able to service distribution opportunities on the East Coast that we either currently have or want to have.”

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