sweetriot blog - cacao | culture | cool!

Hungry Girl and sweetriot live!

After following her awesome tips for so long, I finally had a chance to meet one of my favorite fellow Masterminds, Lisa, the Founder of Hungry Girl (Plus, Elizabeth, the great Producer too).   If you're looking for healthy eating tips, you really can't miss her blog!  http://www.hungry-girl.com/girls/biteoutdetails.php?isid=1114

American Express rioting!

Our friends at American Express posted a story on the project they recently did for us at sweetriot helping us to assess our online strategy.  Thanks, American Express OPEN team, for constantly supporting entrepreneurs! 

Dr. Weil keeping his unBar for himself? True or false?

It seems Dr. Weil was not sharing his new unBar - we love that.  Although we promote sharing, we do know that hoarding is sometimes absolutely necessary when it comes to yummy sweetriot products like the unBar.  :)  We heart Dr. Weil for his great work.

Stepping Out of Line.

Very excited to support Nell Merlino's new book, Stepping Out of Line.  Nell is the Founder of "Take Our Daughters to Work Day" and "Make Mine a Million."  She read a few excerpts tonight, and it is clearly inspirational and grounded in beautiful real stories about women.   It's easy to receive some new reading in time for the weekend!   Book trailer here.

2,700 minutes in Shanghai.

   

Some of you knew about my recent weekend adventure in Shanghai.   I promised a dear high school friend a visit before she moved back to the US and I needed to fulfill my promise even if only for a weekend.  What can I say - I'm good for my word.  What would you do if you had only 2,700 minutes (45 hours) in Shanghai?   (BTW, seems the NY Times had a similar idea - they spent 36 hours there - http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/travel/15hours.html?scp=1&sq=shanghai&st=cse )

Here is what I did (in a bit of order but every stop was amazing):

_Art_

M50 art district 

MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) art and rooftop view

 

_Dance_

Dancing at the Velvet Lounge topped off with warm chocolate cake 

_Food_

Appetizers at Shintori

Dinner at People 7

Dim sum at Jade in Xintiandi 

 

_Etc_

Kommune in Taikang Road district

Sasha's in the French concession 

Foot Massage at Green in Xintiandi

Glamour Bar on the Bund 

Stop for 'Hi panda' tshirts at M50 

And the good news in the end for an entrepreneur is that experiences like this keep your mind creative and open and flowing and always thinking of the next big thing for your business.  The best entrepreneurs I know always have their mind working wherever they go.   Shanghai was full of creative inspiration for me.  I've been to China several times but never stop learning there.

Visit to Twitter HQ!

 

I made a stop by the lovely Twitter HQ while in San Francisco.  In the heart of the city and full of good folks.  Despite the fact that Mayor Gavin Newsom was in the middle of a press filled visit, Evan, Biz, and team were instantly excited to see sweetriot - that warms my heart!  :)

Follow more adventures at www.twitter.com/sweetriot

Paula Abdul rioting?

We recently ran into Paula at Expo West.  To be honest, she's our favorite judge.  Someone has to be nice to the budding artists, and she's just the one.   Boy, was she excited to see sweetriot too!  It went straight into her purse.  :)

Expo West & Mrs. Gooch.

Some amazing scenes from California and Expo West.  Photos speak a thousand words... here are the rioters with Mrs. Gooch, one of the founders of the Natural Food Industry who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at Expo West.  Go, Sandy, Go!   Girl Power. 

The TED Conference

       

Sometimes when experiences are deep, they take some time to even put into words.  About a month ago, I attended the TED Conference - it wasn't my first time but it's still hard to describe.  TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and attracts an amazing set of Founders, CEOs, and uber creative types.  

I guess what I've learned over time is that everyone's TED experience is personal to them.  You interact with such a dizzying array of thinkers and leaders there that you craft your own learning in the end.  In fact, even favorite speakers of mine or some of my friends there, were not the favorites of others I have met since.  Personally, I especially loved Jose Altonio Abreu, the founder of El Sistema, Nalini Nadkani who spoke about tree canopies, and Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love, but there were so many, many more.   Speakers are certainly not the only experience at TED as you simply meet forward thinking, globally minded people from around the world who take your business and life thinking to another level.  

Don't miss the speakers at TED Talks.   You can create your own personal conference in the comfort of your office or home.  :)   And to get a sense of the amazing people like Morgan Spurlock of SuperSizeMe or Albert the COO of Zappos or Storyteller Rives, here are a few photos above.