sweetriot blog - cacao | culture | cool!

Akasha's restaurant opening in LA.

I'm so excited for my friend, Akasha, in LA who is about to open her natural and organic restaurant, Akasha's, in an old historic building in Culver City.  I went to her preview party this week in LA, and it was full of foodie, visionary friends like Ryan and Jeremy from Sambazon, Steve from Silk, Peter from Whole Foods, Jonathan from Ethos Water, and Ben from GOOD Magazine.  I can't wait to go back to see the finished space and for a full meal!

Ladies Who Launch holiday cheer!

sweetriot loves supporting Ladies Who Launch (LWL), so we made sure to have cacao on hand at the LWL holiday party !   Teresa, our Sundance Filmmaker, was also there rioting and spreading good cheer.   Do you know LWL - check them out if you are a woman working on a new business idea!

Are you from Michigan?

The nice people in Michigan told me about this contest.  Here's a little plug for my home state!

SNAP - The Leadership Gathering

My friends and advisors, Peter Roy and Steve Demos, recently hosted an amazing conference in Austin called SNAP - Science, Nature, Art, People (aka, The Leadership Gathering).  The team of Peter, Steve, Drake, and Doug put together a cutting edge group of leaders spanning topics from magic to global warming and more. 

They also recognized some special people in the natural foods industry, my friend, Sara Snow, and Michael Funk, the founder of UNFI, our lead distributor.   Congrats to both of them and thanks to the team for an amazing few days!

Make Mine a Million!

sweetriot and I were truly honored to win the Make Mine a Million competition recently in NYC.   Make Mine a Million is organized by a wonderful organization called Count Me In, which is committed to women's economic independence.   

Can you imagine over 700 women applied for 10 awardee slots for this program -- we were honored to take one spot home to the sweetriot Riot Room!   Did I mention (gulp) it involved speaking in front of 700 folks in an auditorium - fun, fun!   Nell Merlino, the founder of Count Me In, is a great force for women, and Susan Sobbott, the President of American Express' Open Small Business initiative was also there supporting.

Greenwich Village Halloween Parade!

For the 3rd year in a row, sweetriot was thrilled to be a part of this fun event held each year in the village.    In fact, this year they put the riot in FRONT - seriously, they had us heading up the parade and passing out cacao!

Make sure you check out the fun photos - we dressed up as hippies in riot mode.  You will see Claire, Jack, Lauren, Leonard, Mary, Geneve, Hansen, Edna, Peter, Rob and me.  We were excited to have Jack with us making his first appearance in a parade at the ripe old age of seven!

Another part of the fun was the after dinner in the village at a great neighborhood bar, Live Bait, just watching all of the great costumes entering and exiting the bar.  We had Shrek and the Princess in the booth nearby!!

We hope you had a great Halloween -- remember you can riot with us next year at the parade!

Sex and the City in Soho!

OK, so I’m starting to think I should play the lottery this month!!!!   Coming off of an incredible day yesterday at Make Mine a Million (more on that later)…I couldn’t imagine what could happen next….

Well, needless to say one of my favorite Riot Stalkers, Geneve, tipped me off to the fact that our soon to be FAVORITE movie – Sex and the City - was filming at Mercer Kitchen tonight.  My sister and I rushed down and were told all actors were inside, downstairs, and basically there until 1 am.   So we left the 1st case with a production assistant who promised to deliver it to ‘Sarah’s people.’  We walked away and decided to wander the streets when the fateful meeting occurred.   Sarah meets Sarah.

I said….Sarah, I’m Sarah.  I’m from Michigan (she’s from Ohio). I saw you in Annie (I did in the 80s!)  I’m the owner of sweetriot…here is some sweetriot for you.   She said, “Oh, thank you so much…” and as she walked away, she said again, “Really - thank you - thank you.”  (notice sweetriot case in her hand below…)   

Shazam to Geneve for making it possible!!!  And to my sister for teaching me to walk the side street in quiet persistence….and being there to snap the photo!!!!  (My sister just arrived today - how lucky!)

And…shazam to all Riot Scouts out there – I had an extra case with me to make this exchange happen – ALWAYS BE PREPARED!!!!!

We're in Fortune Magazine!

Check out the November 2007 issue of Fortune Small Business.   You'll see sweetriot inside and the beautiful photos of Eric McNatt (above).  Very cool!  You can find a link online here too!

 

Docomodake!

Word on the street is that mushrooms are taking Japan by storm.  Check out the new art exhibit in NYC which takes you straight to the buzz of Tokyo.  Geneve and I checked out the scene last weekend, and there were mushrooms everywhere!

NY Enterprise Report Dinner

sweetriot recently went to the NY Enterprise Report Dinner where we were Finalists for a top small business award.  The best part of the night was that our great partners (pictured above) joined us - Eileen, Munbing, James, and Helen.  They make our company a better place due to their ongoing work to support our growth.  We also met Rob Walsh, the NYC Small Business Commissioner!