The second weekend in January is by far one of my most favorite
weekends of the entire year.
While
the brisk weather is always a big shock after spending time with the entire family
in Florida over the holidays, the slush and ice are barely a factor compared to
the pleasure of time spent with old friends and meeting wonderful new people!
The best and the brightest in the industry travel from all over
the world to be in New York City for the weekend. Starting on Friday morning, meetings are held throughout the
Waldorf Astoria hotel--”home base” for the weekend--where people have an
opportunity to meet face-to-face and talk shop. In the evening on Friday, everyone looked forward to
dressing up to attend the Jewelry Information Center’s annual Gem Awards at
Cipriani on 42nd Street, where Jennifer Hudson presented Neil Lane with the
design award. This year, Ira and I broke from tradition. I attended the cocktail reception for
the Gem Awards, which was fabulous, but then I left to join Ira to attend a
private house party at Roger Gesswein’s house. His chef cooked the most amazing food while a wonderful
pianist played romantic songs. The
fireplace burned bright while past and current leaders of the 24 Karat club
were welcomed. Then we headed back
to the Waldorf and up to Todd Wolleman, Michael Toback and Dick Greenwood’s suite
for a fabulous pasta buffet cooked by the Waldorf’s chefs. Great wine and jewelers from all over
the country were in attendance. Loved
talking to Woody Justice of Justice Jewelers in Springfield, Missouri.
On Saturday, we attended the annual Jewelers Security Alliance
luncheon at the Pierre. It’s
always a very elegant event and yet another great opportunity to see old
friends. I love the JSA organization and everything they do to protect jewelers
all over the country. Then back to the Waldorf (after a little bit of
shopping!), to get ready for the evening.
The hosted suite parties for the 24 Karat Club of the City of New York’s
annual banquet begin at 5:30pm.
Ira and I hit as many of them as possible before heading to the VIP
cocktail hour, where I got to see my good friend Russell Simmons and his
gorgeous girlfriend Heidi, met the new CEO of Kays Jewelers, Mike Barnes (very
nice guy) chatted with Sally Morrison of De Beers and then off to the official
cocktail party of the event, where Ira and I had a chance to talk to African
American Civil Rights Leader Dr. Benjamin Chavis. During dinner, since I am currently the chairperson of 24 Karat
Club, I sat on the dais before joining my table which included my dear friends
Huw Daniels and James Courage from Platinum Guild International, along with
Varda Shine of DeBeers Trading Co.and Rebecca Forrester of Rio Tinto Mines,
talk about a VIP table! Before the
evening’s performance, I headed back to the green room to meet with Gladys
Knight and present her with a beautiful champagne diamond pendant! Gladys and I
had met earlier in the day and I was delighted when she shouted “You again!”
and gave me a big hug when she saw me come into the room. How fabulous! After that, Gladys gave a stunning performance for over an
hour--the entire crowd LOVED it! We especially loved the one PIP she brought along, her
brother BUBBA! Everyone in the ballroom was so taken with the performance that
they stayed in the ballroom just talking (Or were they listening to the last
few minutes of the Jets game when they won!). The evening wrapped up with Ira
and I spending time with friends and dancing at the 24 Karat-hosted midnight
dance party into the wee hours of the morning! Up at 9:30 AM on Sunday morning
for another industry meeting with Russell Simmons and members of the Diamond
Empowerment Fund to plan an exciting dinner in Hong Kong. In bed at 8:30 PM
dreaming of my spectacular weekend!
Reading over this, I realize it sounds rather exhausting! I can assure you however, that the
energy of the industry was more than enough to make up for the short supply of
sleep!