🍬 Sugary Scoop: Membership Update + Events

Welcome to the Sugary Scoop, my free biweekly newsletter where we help you see and experience the magic of NYC that I love so much through curated events, experiences, artists, and community stories.

Let’s get to this week’s Scoop!

🍬The Scoop 🍬

• WHAT’S NEW?

• THE SUGARY EFFECT

• PAST EVENTS

• UPCOMING EVENTS

• AND DON’T SAY I DIDN’T TELL YOU ABOUT…

• ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

• EMPATHY PROJECT

• NOTABLE NYC HAPPENINGS THIS WEEK & BEYOND

WHAT’S NEW?

So last week we launched the official membership program for our community.

I gotta admit I was a bit apprehensive at first…well hell I was actually a lot apprehensive throughout.

The idea of finally charging something small for my work (or at least providing the option to participate) was a pretty nerve-wracking prospect.

Would people join? Do people even care? Maybe this is a bad idea?

But I had to trust the process. I had to believe that all the years dedicated to creating great events and nurturing relationships throughout would warrant this next logical step in the evolution of the Sugary community.

And so the day arrived, and with the launch, we set a target goal to have 100 founding members by the middle of May.

As of today, I’m proud to say that we have over 80 members and optimistic about exceeding our initial goal 🥳

For me, this is huge. Not because this new membership program is expected to yield any real windfall for either DK or myself…because it won’t.

In fact, our immediate plan is to reinvest every cent garnered from this initial launch back into the events and experiences themselves.

And that’s why this moment is HUGE.

It’s because our membership program is more a PARTNERSHIP with our collective community to build something beautiful…

…TOGETHER.

We’re starting small, but we have a big vision for the potential of this initiative.

And so I invite you all to join us and make a modest investment in a community that truly cares about YOUR experience.

After May 15th, we will be raising our membership pricing so there is real incentive to join now.

It’s a privilege to build this community with you and I thank you sincerely for all the love and support!

Use this link below and hope to see you on the other side!

Plus, if you sign-up today, you get a complimentary invite to our exclusive private wellness soiree event hosted by a new wellness center on 5/27. (RSVP below under Upcoming Events)

THE SUGARY EFFECT

A Small Salute for A Bold Move

Recently, one of the many organizations I work with and advise on took a chance to accelerate their own growth with a daring collaboration.

This ambitious move had the potential to yield great returns…

…it didn’t go as planned.

The collaboration never fully lived up to its vision in the way everyone hoped.

This was obviously a very traumatic thing to experience and immediately after the collaboration, I started receiving private DM‘s from a variety of people expressing their bewilderment and disappointment with what transpired.

Now, at this moment, it would have been all too easy to succumb to the will of the “mob”. I mean, hindsight is always 20/20 and now that you have consensus on your side, there’s really no fear in letting your opinions fly forth with reckless abandon…you’ve got nothing to lose.

However, beyond the safe critique of the masses contained a far more profound reflection on what it means for organization and artists for that matter to take risks.

And so I responded to exactly none of the critique and instead decided to pen a letter of encouragement instead and support the wherewithal to make such a bold choice which I will share with you now without the personal details.

Dear Friend,

Allow me to offer a moment to congratulate you on the X collaboration.

I am specifically taking the time to do this because I think it’s important for you to feel encouraged and inspired to continue making bold choices.

While I think we can all agree that the effort yielded a presentation that was sub-optimal to the standards of X and through no fault of your own, I think if we were to focus on that alone it would actually miss the most important point.

X is growing but it is not an autonomous process. It takes effort, vision and above all an appetite to take measured risks….oftentimes in divergent fashion.

This is and has always been the precarious cornerstone of tastemaking, the dangers of which dissuade most from ever embarking on a path of true influence.

Yet it is the only way to advance…that is…to make waves through leading by example. Because equally important to knowing what to do is knowing what NOT to do…and that only comes from taking chances.

Some efforts will yield success beyond your wildest dreams, others less so.

But the point is you did it and you have my respect for daring to peer beyond the boundaries of expectations and precedence in the name of innovation and growth. It is rare to begin with and even rarer these days.

So I now say to you…

Bravo!

May you never lose your intrepid spirit as part of the equation as to what shapes X to come.

With Gratitude,

Sugary

Take chances and bet on your vision. Don’t lose heart if things don’t go your way despite the naysayers.

Those who truly support you will weather the storm WITH you.

Have heart, remain stalwart and never lose faith in the brilliance of what you are building.

PAST EVENTS

April 21st: Amadeus Movie Screening - About 20 of you joined us for this intimate screening of an epic masterpiece. It marked the understated launch of our growing cinema society and will be the first in a series of films we look forward to sharing with you all.

April 25th: Sugary Community Membership Launch Event - About 100 of you came out to support and celebrate the launch of our membership community which included in attendance many of our first 50 founding members! It was a festive occasion that also featured a special unforgettable performance from the incomparable artist Zeshan Bagewadi to memorialize this momentous occasion.

April 28th: Great Spring Picnic - About 700 of you came out for this bit of casual chaos to officially kick off picnic season in NYC! We teamed up w/ Hello Friends NYC + Sequoia for a melding of communities and picked the PERFECT day to celebrate good company and nature at its finest.

UPCOMING EVENTS

May 8th @6:30pm (East Village): NBA/NHL Playoffs + Best Fried Rice Ever - The NBA/NHL playoffs (Go Knicks & Rangers!} are in full swing and so we’re gathering at Fish Market 2 to catch the games and eat some of the best Chinese food you’ll soon discover for yourself. Free shots may be present. _{(Social Battery Level: High Extrovert - Crowd Size 20-30)}

May 9th @7:00pm (Gowanus, BK): Zeshan Bagewadi Album In-Studio Listening Party - Join us for an intimate evening in the studio as artist Zeshan Bagewadi and his band preview his upcoming album, “O Say Can You See”. _{(Social Battery Level: Medium Ambivert - Crowd Size Under 10)
*Sugary Paid Member Exclusive}

May 18th @2:00pm (Washington Sq Park): Unsent Letter Project Launch Event- Our mailbox is going out! Tap into the unexplored zeitgeist of New York’s ecology of strangers. Read anonymous letters or send us your own. _{(Social Battery Level: Medium Ambivert - Crowd Size Under 15)}

Follow the project on IG for details as it unfolds. Drop by for some light refreshments and volunteer to help support this amazing project that I wrote about in the last newsletter HERE.

May 27th @7pm (Flatiron): Secret Wellness Soiree - We’ve set up an exclusive evening for our paid Sugary members to preview one of the hottest social wellness clubs set to open in NYC. Hint: It’s from Toronto. We’re keeping this one very secret, but think saunas, cold plunges, wellness programming to explore at your leisure while enjoying a full complement of light refreshments to savor the evening. _{(Social Battery Level: HIGH Ambivert - Crowd Size 70-90) *Sugary Paid Member Exclusive}

_{(Space is very limited for each of these events so if you’d like to attend to any of these events, please hit the RSVP button below sooner than later!)}

AND DON’T SAY I DIDN’T TELL YOU ABOUT…

Confetti Project

How fun could pounds of itty bits of paper be?.

Tons! 🎊 

The Confetti Project is the soul child of Jelena Aleksich who created this movement in order to reignite our connection with play and convert it into a form of “spiritual workout”.

The activations guide you through an emotional journey as a beautiful chaos rains down on you in Pantone perfection.

There are familiar devices utilized in the process such as journaling, intention sharing, paired discussion, free dancing and meditative practices. However, within the context of utilizing confetti as the universal icebreaker, I must say having experienced it all, it is quite a wonderfully disarming mechanism precisely because of the qualities of play that draw out honest expression and reflection.

Play ends up being one of the most profound tools that we lose when we reach adulthood. And this is tragic because we are in essence, “locked up” due to the societal morass of what is ”proper”.

We need more organizations, such as The Confetti Project to re-engage our senses and renew our relationship with the practice of play.

It is utterly essential and I am so thrilled that The Confetti Project makes it its goal to help people ignite the joy that is inherent within them in an explosive and unapologetic fashion while drawing out the inner child within all of us that yearns to be free.

So definitely check out The Confetti Project event below and get ready for some pure unabashed fun that will heal your soul and inspire a type of joy you never knew you had in you.

RSVP HERE for the next one on May 11th!

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Hillari

At just 19 years old, this Oslo based Filipina is currently taking the independent music world by storm.

A deeply soulful essence paired with an angelic tone that floats well above the clouds, Hillari has been on a rocket-ship towards new heights ever since the release of her debut single “Desperate Soul” in 2023.

Accolades and collaborations were naturally to follow topping the charts in the Philippines while securing high profile features in both Complex Philippines and Billboard US, plus two Norwegian Grammy nominations and receiving glowing praise from the likes of veteran producer Timbaland as well as touring with Masego on top of it all.

Pretty impressive for someone fresh out of high school.

Writing most of her own songs, Hillari’s latest single New Beginnings just released and is produced by multi Grammy winning producers Yakob (Sza’s “SOS”) and Ari PenSmith (Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” & Tyla’s “Water”)

I definitely suggest you keep Hillari on your radar as I don’t think it will be much longer until she becomes much more of a household name…she’s too good not to be.

Loyal (most popular song)

Desperate Souls (lesser known song)

New Beginnings (newest song)

EMPATHY PROJECT

Support the Empathy Project by purchasing any of the items from the collection. Be a part of a unique initiative that empowers seven diverse artists to create one-of-a-kind empathy-inspired t-shirts. These shirts serve as iconography tied to our identity, promoting compassion-driven societal impact. 

Each artist picked a 501(c)3 charity of their choice to donate a portion of the sales of their t-shirt design. Your purchase also empowers voices, amplifies the message of empathy, supports charities, and elevates storytelling within our communities, all while building a network for compassion-driven societal change. Join us in making a lasting impact through art and empathy.

You can check out and purchase the 7 different empathy tees HERE

NOTABLE NYC HAPPENINGS THIS WEEK & BEYOND

Wed 5/1 @10am-2pm - A\N/A A Non-Agency Cultural Experiences + Brand Closet Showrooms and Socials - RSVP HERE 

Fri. 5/3 @6:30pm - AAPI All-Star Basketball Game Hosted by TAAF at the Barclays Center. (Reply to this email if you want a ticket)

Mon/Wed/Fri: Peoplehood - 60-minute guided group conversations. Use promo SUGARY redeemable for a complimentary first Gather ($45 value) RSVP HERE

Wed 5/8 @6:30pm - The Feels NY ed 28: a mindful singles dating event - RSVP HERE (15% discount code: sugary)

Thank you for taking the time to read to the end!

I hope you found something inspiring and meaningful in my content and until next time, explore the possibilities of NYC.

-Sugary

🍰🍭🍩🍦🍫🍪🍨🧁

PS. Don’t be shy and hit reply and tell me how you’re doing!