sweetriot blog - cacao | culture | cool!

Cypress Gardens, Bok Gardens, and more!

Before New Year's, I had a great visit to Florida visiting my dad and sister, who are about an hour away from Orlando in Winter Haven.

Per tradition, we visited the holiday lights at Cypress Gardens (the first ever amusement park in Florida, which is famous for it's water ski shows!)   They had performers through out the park until 10 pm at night!

We also visited Bok Sanctuary which is the highest point in the peninsula of Florida.   Bok holds great concerts during the year and has the Pinewood Mansion which is fully decorated for the holiday season.  Take a look at the photo of poinsettias at Bok! 

As it's hard to avoid shopping in December, I also helped my sister purchase a new laptop -- she got the coolest Red Sony Vaio!!

 

I love New York!

Since I was running around to stores on Xmas Eve, I had a chance to see some of the most beautiful scenes of NYC.  Sometimes when you work A LOT (did I mention A LOT?), you don't always have a chance to take in the sights of your city. Well, with NYC's fast pace, this is especially true.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from December 23 and 24.  (Washington Square Park Arch, Times Square, Bryant Park Skating Rink with Empire State Building in the Background, The NYC Public Library Lion, Plus A Bonus - Secret Village Neighborhoods) I am so lucky to live in this amazing city!!!

sweetriot in the NY Times!

The New York Times put this great piece on blogging in today, and sweetriot was mentioned!  After just over two years of operating in with a NYC HQ, it's exciting to have some coverage from our favorite hometown newspaper. ( I receive the NY Times at home AND have my homepage set there.)  Thanks to Marci who is an amazing small business and entrepreneurship writer!  NYT even included a picture from Ruby, one of their excellent staff photographers.  Truth be told - Ruby came to visit us at The Riot Room (sweetriot headquarters) to snap some photos and after a bit of sampling, she ended up buying sweetriot Santa Bags for her holiday gifts too!  Thanks, Ruby!  :)

Sundance in NYC...

The Sundance Film Festival is just around the corner - sweetriot will be there again this year supporting independent artists with our independent cacao.  (Have you seen our short film from Sundance on YouTube?)

I had a chance to meet Robert Redford recently.  The Sundance Institute held their annual event in New York City, which featured lemonade served by volunteer waiters - Glenn Close, Stanley Tucci, Parker Posey, Lili Taylor, Oliver Platt, Aidan Quinn, and John Leguizamo.

I stopped by Robert Redford's table with Sally Fields to drop off some sweetriot.   (Robert founded the Sundance Institute in 1981!)  When I told Robert we were an independent candy company, he right away said, "independent is the key word, I like that."

Even the cast of the musical Spring Awakening was present as the Sundance Institute supported their development!   We're getting excited for Sundance already!  (Thanks to Linda, an old Yahoo! friend, who came into town for the event!)

The Riot Elves out and about!

Geneve and I spent Xmas Eve spreading holiday cheer through out our NYC stores.   We even stopped by a few that don't have the riot yet (Citarella and Gourmet Garage).   You'll see us pictured here at Zabar's, Whole Foods, Garden of Eden, and Balduccis.  Wonderful places for the holidays...   Our customers were happy to see rioters -- or should we say riot elves?  Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!  (You'll see our Rioting Reindeer pictured here.)  Thank you for all of your support and rioting wishes this past year.   sweetriot turned 2 years old in October and we're very much looking forward to 2008!

Today, Geneve and I are visiting our local NYC stores to spread the holiday cheer.  I'm not sure what holiday you and your family are celebrating, but I hope you have a chance to connect with those you care about!  I'll be heading to Florida for a break to see my dad and sister and then to San Juan, Puerto Rico for New Year's -- I'm so excited!!!   

Fast Company's Fast 50 - comment today!

Very exciting news – sweetriot has been nominated for the Fast 50!!!   This would be a HUGE honor to receive from Fast Company, and we need your support.  Comment here on sweetriot!

Fast 50:  “The Fast 50 is Fast Company magazine's annual readers' challenge, a worldwide search for ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Our goal is to remind the world of all the good that's created when passionate people with big ideas and strong convictions are determined to make a difference.”

Thank you in advance, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!

'Your Business' tomorrow on MSNBC!

Exciting news – on Thursday I went to 30 Rock (seriously) where I filmed an elevator pitch with JJ Ramberg and the great team from 'Your Business' on MSNBC. 

They invited me to do an elevator pitch for sweetriot, and I was actually in an elevator with experts for a few minutes on the show.   Here are some behind the scenes shots in the studio and with JJ, the lovely host.   

We're on MSNBC tomorrow, Sunday, December 23, at 7:30 a.m. EST.  Check it out!  (Video clip here)

GOOD Magazine's December Space in NYC

At sweetriot we LOVE Good Magazine!  The team there is so committed to their social mission and doing things in a new and creative way -- do you know they give all subscription fees to charity?  (I bought my sister a subscription for the holidays - shhh, don't tell her.)

For December, they created "GOOD December" - a collaborative pop-up community center and gallery store run by my friend Ryan at the Openhouse Gallery.   You can even see the making of the space here.  Luckily, this is also just down the street from sweetriot's offices, so I went several times.  You should too before December 23!  We are also happy to have sweetriot featured there in their curated display on natural food products AND as a yummy sample at their parties!  :)

Echoing Green - creating social entrepreneurs.

sweetriot tries to support a select group of non profits that are doing great things to change the world.  Cheryl and her team at Echoing Green are among this group.   They hosted their holiday event 'Be Bold Cockails' and we were happy to supply them with joyous cacao for the crowd.   Echoing Green is an example of a non profit, which creates other sustainable organizations who are working to change the world.

Here is a note from their website - "Since 1987, Echoing Green has provided seed funding and support to nearly 450 social entrepreneurs with bold ideas for social change in order to launch groundbreaking organizations around the world."   Congrats to the EG team for their great work and we wish them great success in 2008!