Television Critics Association Event

I went to Los Angeles this past week for the 2009 TCA Press Tour where TV networks showcase their new TV shows to the press. Food Network hosted a special evening event on Thursday.



We turned a suburban Pasadena home into a food oasis featuring two new shows, The Next Iron Chef America and What Would Brian Boitano make.




At 6pm things were pretty calm as the staff prepared for the guests.



and the when the sun went down the fun was in full swing.



Alton Brown addressed the crowd flanked by 1984 Olympic Skating Gold Medalist Brian Botano and the Next ICA chefs.



The Iron Chef contestants served up their best food.



and I hung out with guests and co-workers like William Wong, our Director of Affiliate Sales.



After it was over the staff was weary but happy.

Back to the Rockies Through Merle's Door

20 Summers ago when I was a young affiliate sales manager at CBS I worked along side a bright young TV executive named Kristen Jordan. My territory was the Rocky Mountain time zone and hers was the Midwest.


We both left CBS in the early nineties and in one of those "gee it's a small world" stories we ended up working together again nearly 10 years later at Scripps Networks (the parent company of Food Network.)

We're still both at Scripps after more than 10 additional years and she's still a good egg. She's a fellow dog owner and pet lover, and a few months ago she suggested a fantastic book - Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog.

I just finished the audiobook version after listening for three weeks of bike commutes to work.


The book is a wonderful biography of dog and his special relationship with his owner. The relationship story is mixed with plenty of rich biological and anthropological information on dogs on humans.

The story is set in Jackson Wyoming which took me back full circle to the Summer of 1989 when I spent weeks on the road in the Rockies as an Affiliate Sales Manager for CBS.



In the back of my mind I've always vowed to return to the Rockies to live for a while. It may not be fore a while, but at least I can go there in my mind thanks to books like Merle's Door.

Good Food Gardens DC

I've been on the road a lot recently. Mostly I've been making presentations for our sales team.



But this past week I went to Washington DC



to be part of the latest Good Food Garden which we donated to the SEED charter school. Aidia Mollenkamp, host of Ask Aida,


and Secretary of Agriculture Tom vilsack spoke to the kids about the value of learning about where food comes from


and how to grow it.

Food Bank Can-Do Dinner

Last week the New York City Food Bank had a fundraising dinner.


My company sponsored the dessert party


Former President Bill Clinton showed up, said a few words and rubbed shoulders with U2's Bono.

American Marketing Association Speech

Yesterday I went to Chicago to give the keynote address at the American Marketing Association's Leadership Conference.

Like most people, I get anxious about public speaking. But I've found the more you do something, the more comfortable you get with it. And at some point you actually start to get good at the thing that used to scare you, and being good at it actually makes it fun to do, and you end up enjoying the thing you used to hate. So this is why I try to say yes to as many speaking opportunities as possible.

For the AMA conference I gave an one hour talk to 300 people on my principles for success and


on the history of Food Network. The creative theme for their conference was the restaurant industry, so I built my success principles around the spice "pepper." They are:

Passion

Emotional intelligence

People Leadership

Prudence

Education and Learning

Relationships and Sharing

I shared many of my favorite leadership quotes like

The greatest leader forgets himself

And attends to the development of others.

Good leaders support excellent workers.

Great leaders support the bottom ten percent.

Great leaders know that

The diamond in the rough

Is always found “in the rough.”

- Lao Tzu

and

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. - Maya Angelou

The audience was really wonderful. They stayed engaged and gave me lots of positive non-verbal feedback during my talk.

another quote was

The only true gift is a portion of yourself - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I was so fortunate to be able to share a little of myself with the group.

Black Culinary Arts Dinner

Last night Marchette and I got all dressed up for the BCA annual fundraising dinner.



The BCA is a nationwide non-profit, educational and networking organization of hospitality and food service professionals. Its mission is to create exposure and provide educational and professional opportunities for culinary and hospitality professionals of color. They provide quality educational and employment resources, job coaching, mentoring and assistance with placement, and networking support. Additionally, the BCA exposes inner-city high school students to the culinary arts through a series of workshops that serve to introduce culinary arts as a viable career option.

Our company hosts BCA workshops and employs BCA interns.
























The students from various BCA member schools prepared the cocktail reception food, the main dinner, and dessert.





















We were joined by my coworkers Susan Stockton( with husband Rick), Patalia Tate (with her charming date Bernard).

March Update

I like to write something at least once a month, so here's an update on some random stuff that's been happening to me over the past 4-6 weeks.

Marchette has really been into modeling recently and has almost complete her own portfolio.


She was lucky enough to snag some tickets for the 2009 Mercedes Fashion Week events




We had bad snowstorm in February



And I was lucky enough to have some work to do in Miami Beach



where we entertained some of advertising clients, trying to get a greater share of their 2009 spending.



I also went to an awards dinner for our CEO where country star and 2008 Celebrity Apprentice runner-up Trace Adkins performed



The next week I attended a dinner for Diversity Inc magazine where Dr. Michael Eric Dyson gave the keynote speech.



and finally I spent one Sunday morning preparing Marty for the coming warmer temperatures by shaving all his hair.