🍬 Sugary Scoop: Happy Birthdays

Welcome to the Sugary Newsletter by yours truly.  🎉 😊

🍬The Scoop 🍬

• WHAT’S NEW?

• THE SUGARY EFFECT

  • Past Events

• UPCOMING EVENTS

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

• ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

WHAT’S NEW?

Sweet Syncing: Get Sugary Events Right To Your Calendar

We know you enjoy our newsletters, but balancing life and remembering all our meetups can be a handful. Cue the drumroll for your newest perk - the Sugary Google Calendar subscription!

No more worrying about missing an event - all the RSVP details will sync directly to your google calendar, ready for you to join us.

Here's a quick guide to get you synced up!

On a desktop: 

1. Click on our Sugary Calendar LINK
2. Hit the "Add" button that pops up. 
3. And you're all set!

On mobile:

1. Click on our Sugary Calendar LINK
2. Open Google Cal app and go to settings
3. Select "Sugary Sweet Events"
4. You're all set!

Embrace this tool to stay connected and never miss out on the fun. Let's continue making memories together!

THE SUGARY EFFECT

Happy Birthdays 🎈🎂

We often underestimate the power of these three simple words, reserved for our closest friends and family. However, you'd be amazed at how much this small blessing means to people.

If you were to peek into my phone's calendar, you'd come across a sea of birthday notifications every single day (averaging 30-40 at the time). Naturally, questions arise:

• "How much time do you spend on this?"

• "Do people ever return the gesture?"

• "Why invest your time in this? Don't you have better things to do?"

Let me address these questions:

1. It takes about half an hour of my day to engage in this practice. I see it as a wellness activity, a way to express gratitude and set positive intentions—just like meditation or breathwork might be for others.

2. Yes, I must clarify that it's not about seeking reciprocity. My motivation lies in spreading good karma in a way that resonates with people.

3. I invest my time in this because I want to show gratitude to my friendships and stay in touch even if they are not here in NYC anymore. What's better than that? :-)

Allow me to share a story with you…

There's an old friend from my earlier days whom I wish a happy birthday to every year. He rarely responded to my well-wishes other than perhaps with an occasional emoji.

Until one day, out of the blue, I received a heartfelt DM from him. He apologized for never really acknowledging my outreach. The past few years of his life had been tremendously challenging, marked by severe personal and professional hardships and he lost many of his relationships because he couldn't cope with the overwhelming pressures.

Although our friendship had been more of acquaintanceship, he wanted me to know that receiving those birthday messages meant the world to him. 

Everyone deserves to be honored on their birthday.

It's an undeniable effort that strengthens relationships and manifests in something tangible. We don't celebrate birthdays for what they mean to us;

This kind of grace is invaluable. It’s a glimmer of hope, a reason to smile, and a profound sense that somewhere, someone genuinely cared enough to say hello and just wish you well.

My hope is to encourage you all to spread this type of honor and grace to your loved ones and celebrate each other's life more often :-)

Past Events

Sat, May 13th - Zombie Tag: The Second Rising - Forgot to include this recap in our last newsletter but couldn’t just leave it out. In short, yet another massive success with nearly 80 registrants. The Brooklyn Museum had no idea what was going on and we had an absolute blast!

Sun, May 21st -The Grand Potluck (AAPI Edition) - Over 30 of you came out to celebrate the cuisine of Asia that saw offerings from Kyrgyzstan all the way to the Philippines! The food was so good that at the end only 1 quarter size of cake remained!

Mon, May 22nd - Prosecco & Prose - Such a brilliant evening as nearly 25 of you gathered to play several rounds of SCRIBE and share in an intimate evening of written prose, undiscovered talent and endearing vulnerability. We laughed, we cried…we had all the feels. Pure magic.

Tues, May 23rd - The Khalo Dinner - Nearly 50 of you came out to share in discovering the wonders of Ayurvedic Indian cuisine through the lens of Khalo. Not only was it a chance for people to gain a deeper understanding of Ayurvedic cuisine, Khalo’s founder Ankita Sankla and her mother spent days preparing a sumptuous meal for everyone utilizing Khalo products. It was unforgettable and a good look towards what’s to come with this brilliant product.

Tues, May 30th - Horse Barbie Book Launch - Over 250 people came out to support trans icon Geena Rocero as she launched her incredible memoir to the world! The whole affair was sublime with as much glam, delicious food, dope music and amazing fierceness as one venue could possibly hold! In short, this moment was pure fiiiiiiiire! 🔥

UPCOMING EVENTS

Friday June 9th @5:00 PM - Join us for an industry sneak peak at author Grace Yoon’s upcoming book The Korean Herbal Apothecary: Ancient Wisdom for Wellness and Balance in the Modern World as Grace guides us on her writing journey while extolling the benefits of ancient Korean herbal medicine and healing techniques. ***VERY LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE, Industry Focused Event*** 

Sunday, June 11th @12:00pm - Picnic at Central Park - Embrace the summer bliss at Sugary's inaugural Central Park picnic! Adorn your finest Sunday picnic wear, bring your cherished picnic delicacies and cool beverages. Relax, connect and celebrate under the sunny canopy with delightful company!

Tuesday June 20th @6:00pm The Grand Potluck (Zero Cooking Edition) - Wait what?! Yes you read that right. This is gonna be a special one in which zero cooking is required!  All you need to do is to bring an offering that best represents your neighborhood. This means either a type of dish that your local neighborhood is known for or a specific dish or drink from a specific restaurant/lounge/bakery that has garnered sufficient acclaim to be a cultural happening!

_{(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…

Museum of Failure was a…

There's an incredible event series that has been making waves in the literary world, and it's time for you to discover its brilliance.

Remember when I said, “So I’m typically quite skeptical about these large installation pop-up exhibitions that come into town every now and again. The marketing is always sleek but the experience itself leaves much to be desired.”

Well, here's the flip side of this part of the newsletter. I recently visited one of these exhibitions, and I feel obligated to share my thoughts so you can save your precious time and hard-earned money. Consider it a favor from me to you.

So, when the ads for The Museum of Failure started flooding my social media, I couldn't contain my excitement. I immediately grabbed tickets because the concept seemed absolutely brilliant. I mean, who wouldn't be intrigued by a showcase of gloriously botched moments of human "ingenuity"? What insights would I gain about us as a species? Would it be a rollercoaster of laughter and tears?

However, the truth is, the exhibition felt somewhat lacking. It was essentially a spacious warehouse, divided into sections featuring a collection of innovative failures, marketing blunders, and social commentary. Don't get me wrong, there were a few remarkable and nostalgically amusing pieces, but overall, it felt like the production team at Fever Up (the same folks behind the Small is Beautiful exhibit, which I HIGHLY recommend) didn't fully capitalize on the concept, resulting in a missed opportunity.

While it's not a complete disaster, it definitely falls short, which is truly unfortunate considering the brilliance of the underlying concept. You can still go if you're interested, but just keep in mind the title of this section...

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Qiyah Abdul

Hailing from Chicago, this talented new artist has a wonderful flow paired with a bevy of poignant lyricism laced with themes surrounding women’s empowerment and spiritual connection.

In a hip hop landscape rife with an over reliance on base references to achieve effect, Qiyah’s youthful talent is applied instead through the lens of a more thoughtful kind of wordcraft both thematically and rhythmically with plenty of room to develop in the years to come. Whatever Qiyah’s got lined up, I’m here for it. This is the kind of talent I feel should be elevated…

Sacred Woman (popular track)
Crossing the Line (lesser known track)

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!