Three Day Weekend = Three Cool Friends !
Posted on 28. May, 2010 by BrianSimpson in Community, Events, Hotel
We are lucky here at the roger smith hotel to have an inspiring, creative and passionate group of loyal friends that support us on many levels. As a small token of our appreciation and in an attempt to repay what these people bring to our community, we will be featuring three new people every Friday as our ‘follow Friday’ list. Follow Friday, a concept born from the creative mind of Micah Baldwin, has lost some of what we believe Micah started it for, purpose. Do not get us wrong, when @RSHotel shows up in any #FF or #FollowFriday lists it is an honor. What seems to have happened though is too many people are trying too hard to pay homage to their friends without truly letting us know: who, what or why these ‘lists’ of people are worth following.
Have you ever taken a road trip? Not a day trip. What I am talking about is a multi-day excursion encompassing different states, cultures and obstacles along the way. If you do this alone it can be fun, do it with a group of people and it becomes life changing. In March I was lucky to be a part of an initiative by Chevy in which eight groups from around the country were given the opportunity to drive to SXSW in Austin, TX. There were five of us: Me, two people I knew well, one I had just met and lastly one I didn’t meet until the morning of our departure. Three of these people live in NYC and they are my Follow Friday focus this week. Khayyam Wakil, one of the five will appear in a future post… for now he gets this brief cameo (luv ya buddy)
When you are in a car for four days with people the trials and tribulations can either make you want to kill them, hug them, laugh with them, cry with them and in this case all of the above 
Most importantly you get to ‘live’ with them. Not as acquaintances, not as someone you nod to at a cocktail party – you get to experience their idiosyncrasies – what really makes them click.
I was honored to travel with this group, they added value to my life and have the innate ability to be genuine, outspoken and stand behind their values. For this I applaud them, embrace them as friends and strongly encourage you to do the same.
Sarah Simmons: Hands-down the Matriarch of the Chevy Tahoe. The voice of reason, organizer of insanity and most of all – just one of the most wonderful people to have a conversation with.
Nick McGlynn: Opposite of Sarah – Creator of insanity, A.D.D. overload master and photographer extraordinaire. Nick also possessed a skill none of us could match… he, for some reason, was the ONLY person that could consistently communicate with the On-Star ‘voice’. Thank you N-I-C-K !.
Jessica Randazza: PR and networking genius. Jessica kept us laughing, kept us calm and most of all was the ‘smile’ of the group. Willing to do anything for the cause- dressing in tinfoil, arm-wrestling a diner cook and getting a Chevy tattoo (in Sharpie). Most of all a loyal friend.
As we head into this long holiday weekend remember this:
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. Memorial Day is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all. I strongly believe the three people I featured this week give there all every day and I am lucky to call them friends.
Have a Safe and enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend.
B
Sarah Simmons:
Sarah is Food and Wine magazine’s Home Cook Superstar. Sarah spends her days crafting new recipes and making instructional cooking videos in the hopes of helping others to become superstars in their own kitchens.
Tell her what you want to make!
Twitter: @SarahmcSimmons
Blog: homecooksuperstar
Nick McGlynn:
Nick currently does freelance event photography for various companies including his own site Random Night Out. Most recent full time job was at Gawker Media where Nick worked in their video department editing clips and managing interns. He also throw a monthly media event called Obliterati.
Twitter: @NMcglynn
Blog: nickmcglynn.com
Jessica Randazza:
A public relations and social media strategist for a global public relations agency with an extensive focus on nonprofit and consumer and currently resides in New York City.Its Jessica’s mission and desire to stay engaged in emerging technologies that enhance the way that consumers and individuals connect online. Which means she spends a lot of time on her iPhone — in fact she never puts it down.
She’s also is co-founder of ColdPavement, an exercise in meeting and talking with people you may or may not know in the communications field.
A graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, vegetarian cook extraordinaire, shoe enthusiast, struggling seamstress and yogini.
Twitter: @JessicaRandazza
Blog: jessicarandazza .com
Brian & NYC Team Take Chevy Roadtrip to SXSWi
Posted on 08. Mar, 2010 by AdamWallace in Community, Events, Hotel
Brian Simpson (@bsimi) of the Roger Smith Hotel (@RSHotel) left today as captain for the New York team (#NYChaos) for the Chevy Road Trip to South By South West (#ChevySXSW). The team will be driving to Austin, TX and have to complete a series of challenges along to way and they are competing against teams from all other areas of the country.
The New York team, NYChaos, has four other people in addition to Brian: Jessica Randazza, Sarah Simmons, Nick Mcglynn, and Khayyam Wakil.
Stay in touch with the teams trip and adventures here: http://nychaos.tumblr.com/
Also become a fan of our Facebook Fan Page NYChaos
…and to all of our NYC friends coming to SXSWi please support us and help us win! There are bragging rights at stake here and we know none of you want to lose to Detroit, Chicago,
North Carolina, Florida, Atlanta… need we say more
GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF THE SEVEN OTHER TEAMS !!!
- Team North Carolina: @jakrose @waynesutton @theRAB @nikisnotes
- Team Detroit: @balanon @bchesnutt @walkerau @davemurr
- Team Atlanta: @tessa @kimber_regator @linneamc @scott_regator @chris_regator
- Team Chicago: @timjahn@michaelcourier @pragerd @TheScottBishop
- Team Lansing: @betsyweber @callkathy @snagit @mulka
- Team San Diego: @brassfield @briandrandles @venesslynn @stolenumbrella @jessiemarcel
- Team Florida @tammycamp
