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!

Tuesday 🍬 3.11

11:00am (Tribeca): Fabrik Presents: Built By Builders Series: The SUGARY Community - Built by Builders is Fabrik’s signature event series designed to celebrate and spotlight the inspiring individuals building and nurturing communities. Each session features an intimate, interview-style fireside chat with a leading community builder, offering insights into their journey, successes, and challenges.

Sugary & DK will be the guests on the show so come out and support us!

RSVP HERE  

NOTABLE NYC EVENTS FROM FRIENDS

Monday 🍬 3.3

6:00pm (Chelsea): Art Noir Presents: Tyler Mitchell, Ghost Images - Please join ARTNOIR x Gagosian for an artist-led tour of Ghost Images, by Tyler Mitchell; a new body of work rooted in his Southern upbringing and explores the psychological space of memory. 

RSVP HERE

6:00pm (Columbus Circle): Yorkseed Presents: SXSW Pre-Game Mixer - Join Us for the Yorkseed NYC Founders & Investors Mixer + SXSW Pre-Game!

​Get ready to connect, collaborate, and kick off SXSW in style! Join Yorkseed for an exclusive evening bringing together NYC’s brightest founders, savvy investors, and startup enthusiasts. Whether you’re preparing for Austin or looking to spark new opportunities right here in the city, this is your chance to build meaningful connections in a relaxed and vibrant setting.

RSVP HERE    

7:00pm (LES): Freedom Visions Presents: Harriet Clark, Molly Crabapple, and Amitava Kumar - First Mondays invites our communities to experience readings of unpublished works and works in progress by an intergenerational group of vanguard writers. This season we continue to gather over free drinks in our theaters to hear writers discuss what’s on their mind and get a glimpse of the future of literature. 

RSVP HERE

Tuesday 🍬 3.4

5:00pm (LES): Music Managers Forum Presents: New Colossus Festival x MMF-US NY Mixer - New Colossus Festival and Music Managers Forum-US (MMF-US) are teaming up to celebrate the festival's opening night with a mixer. Join us for an evening of music, networking, and fun as we kick off the festival!

RSVP HERE  

6:30pm (Williamsburg): Art Gurl Presents: BAD ART Night! - Join us for a night of playful, pressure-free art-making with silly prompts, accessible materials, and an open invitation to embrace imperfection and enjoy the creative act- no matter what your art looks like :)

RSVP HERE  

Wednesday 🍬 3.5

6:30pm (Tribeca): SWAY Presents: Toast to Trends, An E-Commerce & CPG Mixer - A networking event for E-commerce & CPG leaders who are ready to make meaningful connections with other Founders, Leaders, Marketers, Visionaries & Product Innovators in a crowed market.

RSVP HERE  

6:30pm (Tribeca): Independent Presents: Downtown Dealers - Downtown Dealers, the live conversation series founded by Bill Cournoyer uniting New York art dealers across generations, returns in 2025 with a series of live events and podcasts. The series, acquired by Independent, invites dealers to share their approaches and experiences in conversation with Elizabeth Dee. 

RSVP HERE  

Thursday 🍬 3.6

6:00pm (Noho): Longevity NYC Presents: 2025 Kickoff Happy Hour - Let's kickoff 2025 by getting together and discussing what we're all working on in the longevity space (or interested in working on/helping with), and our goals here.

​We'll also discuss some of the upcoming 2025 Longevity Global events in NYC, and your ideas for other events we can organize.

RSVP HERE 

6:30pm (Midtown East): Waave Foundation Presents: NY Women’s Art Month Awards Night - Join us for Waave's NYWAM Awards Night, celebrating (Sur)real—our 2025 juried exhibition, curated by Hall W. Rockefeller and Irene A. Wang, spotlighting women artists

RSVP HERE 

8:30pm (LES): Macy Kwok Presents: Women Uninterrupted! Comedy Show - Women have long shattered barriers in every field, and comedy is no exception. The Women Uninterrupted Comedy Show, part of the Knock Out Comedy Festival, is here to create more stage time for women and showcase the incredible diversity we bring to the mic.

Use Code, “SUGARY” for a discount.

RSVP HERE 

Friday 🍬 3.7

7:00pm (Gramercy): CFDA Presents: FashionSpeak Fridays, An Evening w/ Rebecca Moses - The National Arts Club and its Fashion Committee, in partnership with  the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) present Rebecca Moses in conversation with Marc Karimzadeh for an exploration of her illustrious career.  

RSVP HERE 

7:45pm (Union Square): Aziz Al-Hamza Presents: Rules Breaks Screening - Join us for the premiere of The Rule Breakers, a film inspired by the true story of an all-girls robotics team from Afghanistan, led by sisters Roya and Elaha Mahboob. These incredible women are not only pioneers but also dear friends, and they will be there for the screening. You’ll have the chance to meet them, and we’ll hang out afterward!

RSVP HERE 

Saturday 🍬 3.8

9:30am (Chelsea): Teddy Curtis Presents: Speed Creating, Speed “Dating” for Creatives - Speed Creating is like speed dating, but instead of finding romantic partners, solo creatives connect through timed collaborative sessions.

In these timed rounds, you’ll meet fellow creatives, share ideas, and bring unique creations to life.

RSVP HERE  

2:30pm (Chelsea): Less Than Half Presents: Paper Trails (In partnership w/ Unsent Letter Mailbox) - Join us for our maker’s event, a very special women’s wellness workshop, open to all and led my artist Chelsea Bizub

RSVP HERE  

Sunday 🍬 3.9

11:00am (LIC): Dough For Good Presents: Pizza for LA - Join us for a special pizza fundraiser to support those affected by the devastating LA wildfires of January 2025! We’re teaming up with Slice Out Hunger Pizza Relief Fund to raise money that will benefit both the people of Los Angeles and the independent pizzerias in the community.

RSVP HERE  

Tuesday 🍬 3.11

11:00am (Tribeca): Fabrik Presents: Built By Builders Series The SUGARY Community - Built by Builders is Fabrik’s signature event series designed to celebrate and spotlight the inspiring individuals building and nurturing communities. Each session features an intimate, interview-style fireside chat with a leading community builder, offering insights into their journey, successes, and challenges.

RSVP HERE  

Wednesday 🍬 3.12

5:00pm (Noho): South Park Commons Presents: -1 To Bilt Rewards (Fireside Chat w/ Ankur Jain) - -1 to Now is a recurring speaker series at South Park Commons exploring how the world's best builders and thinkers took their ideas from -1 to 0 and beyond. Join us for the inside stories of their experiments, pivots, and breakthroughs on the way to where they are today. 

RSVP HERE  

Submit your event info HERE

So what’s new?

Maybe you’ve heard it from me, maybe you haven’t, but it’s always been my “intent” to take official pen to paper and write a book.

What might you ask?

Well see here’s where it gets a bit tricky.  

There’s been two major narratives that have emerged over the years in my brain:

1. A book that serves as a definitive “how-to” guide to build authentic connections, maintain rapport and relationships and develop a meaningful community at scale.

2. A book that explores the currency of confidence and how it ends up becoming probably the most crucial asset to have in the modern western world.

I’ve got a lot to say about both of these topics but have hemmed and hawed on the matter for years.

Ever since DK has come on board, he’s heard me chatting about these concepts at various points in time and so I guess at some point he got tired of hearing me running my mouth about it and without me knowing reached out to one of my friends who happened to be a very successful literary agent to actually explore the topics and get an expert opinion to see which one would be the most viable…if any at all.

Mind you this literary agent has a celebrated batting average of getting proposals to print that they got behind and so I guess this would be a moment of truth.

So as it turns out, the agent found BOTH ideas VERY viable and expressed interest in representing me should I manage to get the proposals written.

Sugary, published author…that has a nice ring to it.  

But which one first?

This is where DK and I differed.  From his point of view, it should be the “how to” book first. His thinking is that people already know me for this to an extent and so there is an association with my brand that makes it a seamless project to work into the mix of what I’m already doing.

From my point of view, I have actually made more tangible progress with the confidence angle and I think it’s a more fascinating topic and unique take that will inspire greater curiosity and discussion.

Now, I told DK that whichever direction we go in first, I’m on board. Though before we moved in any one direction, I wanted to collect some more feedback on the matter.

So…with that in mind, I figured we’d turn it over to our loyal readers and ask you all which book you think I should write first?

They’re both getting written to be clear, it’s just a question of order.

So if you’re seeing this, please do me a favor and vote for one or the other below:

THE SUGARY EFFECT

A Star is Born

This past week, I’ve had the privilege of setting up a blitz of showcases for European recording sensation HILLARI on behalf of her manager and my close friend Julian Alexander.

At just 20 years old, this was her first trip ever to NYC and it was going to be a very special moment I would have the privilege of realizing for her.

It’s been an intense whirlwind and it brought back pangs of nostalgia from my days running point with my artist Jon Batiste. 

In recognizing this nostalgia, I couldn’t help but notice some parallels that were starkly familiar.

It got me thinking…

What makes or breaks a star? 

I mean beyond their prodigious talent of course, which is par for the course and NEVER a guarantee for success in my experience.  

I actually know so many wildly talented artists that don’t make it and this is far more common than you may think. 

During the course of this week, I had a front row seat in witnessing some aspects of HILLARI’s character and mindset that I think make all the difference (and remarkably relevant to our own pursuits, whatever that may be): 

Work, Work, Work, Work, Work - People…I know I’m not the first to say it, and certainly I won’t be the last to say it, but HILLARI is a machine. She’s not waiting around for something to do, she’s out there doing it and the team follows lock step. I setup 4 showcase opportunities for her in the 7 days she was here in the city. Different, communities, different circumstances. Pretty intesne schedule right? Wrong. Girl also had a single release this past Friday that she was promoting like it was her religion (Breaking Hearts out now on ALL Platforms)…to the point that her co-writer on the song Tre was seeing new content on his feed every few hours and couldn’t believe how dedicated she was to the process of getting the word out (he would later drive out from Philly on her last night her int he city just to see her and express his appreciation before driving straight back home that same night). Together with her chief content creator Lydia Tefera, the girls just hit town as if they’d been living here for years shooting this and that without any prompting or coddling from management, they just did it. Oh yeah, there were also numerous, meetings with labels, industry execs and potential allies that she also made work while she was working out set lists and performance notes with her music director and band member Nicolay Hansen. Point is, while other artists wait for their team to produce something for them to work with, HILLARI is already on the move team or no team. Impressive.

Vibe Queen - Whether it was a room full of established entrepreneurs or a gathering of young influencers and creators, HILLARI had an innate sense of energy and how to adjust in real time to create the right vibe for the situation. If it was a yoga studio with an intimate feel, she knew instinctually to tone her set down. If it was a raucous party, she upped her energy to that level to match the occasion. She knew innately how to make people feel comfortable and when inspiring a following, it makes all the difference.

Evening Unscripted - Let’s face it, things don’t always pan out as you expect them to especially when they involve depending on other people. There was one particular showcase this week in which nothing that was discussed or prepared for went according to plan (despite having done the due dilligence beforehand). While Julian and I were somewhat stressed about it trying to triage the situation and prevent things from going all the way south, HILLARI reamined calm and collected and just saw it as a unique opportunity and went with the flow. We were most worried for her when honestly she was probably the one we had to worry least about. She would have been well within her right to just call it or be upset by the disorganized feel of it all, but she refused to let the moment phase her and ultimately, it all worked out in her favor. In front of a packed audience, HILLARI did her thing with the supporting cast of some notable musicians and won the regard of a ton of new fans that evening.

When Life Gives You Lemons - In the one showcase that I DIDN’T setup for her, HILLARI was faced with the reality of performing in front of an extremely under promoted showcase. To give you some context, the showcase took place in a space built to host 300 people…only 30 showed up.  Can you imagine what that must feel like looking out from the stage (especially when you’re used to sell out crowds in Europe)? This was so surprising given the showcase was promoted by a major entity we all know and this honestly should’ve been very light work for them yet ultimately, somehow they still failed to deliver on attendees.  Real head scratcher there. Rather than freak out or get into an irreversable funk, HILLARI chose humility instead and made it an intimate experience urging everyone to crowd towards the stage so she could make the evening about THEM and not focus on the fact that there was barely anyone there. Fans are earned one at a time and she certainly earned every last one of them that night.

Gratitude - Throughout it all, HILLARI maintained a profound sense of thankfulness. She would constantly thank me, Julian, her team and anyone that showed her even an ounce of grace. She’d often say that “the devil is always trying to take away our gratitude” and while I’m not religious, I can’t help but see the wisdom in those words. She never takes any of it for granted even if it is easy to get lost in the sauce with that. She made everyone feel appreciated and that is pretty rare.

In my experience, a talent that possesses the mental fortitude to pair with their talent will create the best possible scenario for their gifts to shine.

Where does HILLARI go from this point? Who knows…but if I were a betting man I’d say there’s a certain “Garden” in her future in 3-5 years time. And when she gets there…I won’t be the least bit surprised at the flowers that’ll be hers to collect.

Harvest season is coming…

Sugary 🍬

PAST EVENTS

Feb. 18th Love Unspoken - Just over 50 of you joined us for the one year anniversary of the Unsent Letter Mailbox.  It marked an incredible milestone.  What started as a simple wooden mailbox collecting anonymous letters has become an iconic beacon towards the power of anonymous storytelling.  I got a sense that this project has a real potential to change lives through perspective and prose.

Feb. 27th Rising Tide Collective - A super select group of no more than 8 of you joined us from the community to do a focused sprint on generating tangible results in helping each other.  This was our first one and largely an experiment, I’m pleased to say that everyone who participated felt like we advanced the ball forward on each of their projects in rapid succession. Now, DK and I are gonna tweek the format as we fine tune this series with each and every iteration.

Feb. 28th 🍬¡Sugar Rush! 🍬 HILLARI Preview Showcase - Nearly 75 of you came out to witness European recording sensation HILLARI as she gave one of her first private performances in NYC ever.  It was a highly curated room of people comprising of industry leaders, influencers and of course Sugary community members who received priority access. It was thrilling to have the privilege to feature HILLARI and watch as the entire room was taken by her talent and charisma. It was a true win for independent music that evening and a rare moment to present an even rarer talent.

Are you a Sugary Member yet? Join the 175+ member community that gets you access to member-only events, special event perks, discounts and more

THE SWEET & SALTY

And the Award Goes To…(Those who actually deserve it)

In light of the Oscars which just transpired and the atrocity that was Emelia Perez becoming the 2nd most nominated film of all time (yes you heard correctly…ALL TIME), it brings up memories of a whole host of annual gripes that seem to come with award show season…

Why didn’t so and so win? 

Can you believe so and so got snubbed? 

I can’t believe so and so haven't ever won anything yet!

Sound familiar? Of course it does because Hollywood’s worst kept secret is that these award shows rarely live up to the “merit based” parameters that we’re sold on.

As long as humans are involved, there are always gonna be favorites, politics and shady third party interests afoot (usually and almost certainly related to $$$).

So how do you prevent that? Short answer is I don’t think you ever can…not fully anyway.  

However what you CAN do is design a system that makes it much harder to engage in shady practices.  

Here’s my solution for all award shows…

• Every year voting members cast their vote, only 50% of the total amount of votes will actually be counted and that 50% is only selected day of at random so as to reduce the threat of undue influence.

• Voting members that are accredited critics and industry experts will have their votes weighted just slightly more to acknowledge their years of experience, professional judgement and curatorial sense.

• To acknowledge the changing times and to allow for new incoming voices to contribute to the event, every year there will be X amount of new voting members inducted that automatically have their votes count however they will only be informed of their inclusion a few days prior to the event so there is just enough time to vote but not enough time for the powers that be to exert undue influence on them.

By following this blueprint it will ensure that influence cannot be exerted at scale, the experts get their acknowledgement, and the next generation have a say in who they find most deserving and speak to their generation.

What do you think?  Have I cracked the code?  Could the award show conundrum finally be solved?  

Let me know your thoughts.

Support for the Unsent Letter Project!

The Unsent Letter Mailbox is a grassroots storytelling movement creating anonymous spaces for vulnerability and radical honesty in New York City.

Over the past six months, we’ve hosted 18 park installations, 6 sold-out salons, we've seen countless people in public, and received over 700 unsent letters capturing the full spectrum of human emotion and has captured the attention of press outlets such as Secret NYC, NBC Nightly News and the Kelly Clarkson Show.

We’re thrilled to launch our pilot Curator Program, inviting like-minded folk to host anonymous gatherings in their communities. If you're keen, fill out this form!

Join The Unsent Letter Mailbox as a Social Media Intern!

We’re looking for a passionate Social Media Intern with a knack for visual storytelling to help us grow our community and bring our unsent letter archive to life. In this role, you’ll collaborate with Sofia to:

• Edit short-form videos using CapCut.

• Design compelling graphics with Canva.

• Manage and schedule 3 posts per week.

The ideal candidate loves storytelling, has a keen eye for visuals, and is excited to use social media to build meaningful connections.

Time Commitment: 3–4 hours weekly.

What You’ll Gain: Hands-on experience building a social media presence for a growing arts and storytelling platform, opportunities to refine your creative skills, and mentorship in crafting compelling narratives.

If this sounds like you, let’s create something impactful together! Reach out at [email protected] to apply.

Joust: The play-first social club.

From upscale game nights to immersive game shows to full-on retreats, we host all sorts of ways for fun-loving people to find their rivals. 

Start playing HERE

Connect IRL. Experience Fabrik.

Get in touch with NYC’s brightest communities and make new friends.

Fabrik is a home for communities and where everyone has a place to belong. With spaces designed to feel more like your living room than your office, Fabrik’s 'third spaces' are vibrant hubs where you can come together in real life, explore interests, forge meaningful connections, and enjoy a sense of community.

Sign-up here to experience a day pass at Fabrik.

Weekly events at Fabrik HERE

Othership offers immersive sauna and ice bath experiences that help human beings feel good now. A sanctuary for social self-care to move you from city buzz to inner calm.

Dive into the largest performance saunas in North America, experience otherworldly ice bath spaces and connect in an intimate amphitheater-style tea lounge surrounding a cozy fire place for socializing.

Expect towel-waving performances, aromatherapy, guided breathwork, visualizations, and somatic release to help you shift your state and regulate your emotions, in a world that can’t be regulated.

The founders of Othership have gifted us a New York 2 for 1 Deal. Get yours while they last!

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