Tuesday, December 8, 2009

City Lights Gala

Sunday night, I enjoyed my first post-PDA injury outing and headed over to History Starts Now’s City Lights Gala.

HSN founders Kristina Lee Grandstaff (left), Rachael Lechliter and me at the City Lights Gala

Held at the swanky and intimate Aspen Social Club near Times Square, the event drew about 100 guests supporting HSN’s mission -- to raise awareness for the fight against sex trafficking of minors in the U.S.

Smart and dedicated co-founders Rachael Lechliter and Kristina Lee Grandstaff gave a brief presentation that included the story of a young woman whose sister was trafficked in Queens. You can watch a video with her personal testimony at HSN’s website.

The crowd at Aspen Social Club

The gala featured open bar for the first hour and a yummy selection of hors d’oeuvres. While I was sampling a bite of cheese, email marketer Lak approached me.

“What are some of your favorite ‘cheesy’ events?“ he said, clearly amused by his food-inspired pun.

Lak sat down next to me, telling me about his recent divorce and move to NYC from Virginia and how difficult it is to meet people here.

Given the lopsided guy-girl ratio in Gotham, I was surprised by Lak’s complaint. And equally surprised when he said his taste is very specific, and that he prefers classy women. Since I practically trip over fabulous, single women every day, I’m skeptical of his claim that there’s a shortage of this type in the Big Apple.

“What are you doing for New Year’s?” he asked suddenly.

Though the invitation was a bit much after only five minutes of conversation, I appreciated Lak’s honesty about having to relearn the dating ropes after his eight-year marriage-induced sabbatical.

Equally candid about his single status – IT customer support rep Noah.

While chatting about the charms of the Pacific Northwest, Noah told me that his job requires being on the road 80% of the time, making it impossible to sustain a relationship. I nodded empathetically, newly grateful that most of my traveling is dictated by pleasure.

After taking a bite of the delicious cupcakes from Desserts by Tawny, I thanked the lovely hostesses and called it a night. The work that Kristina and Rachael are doing is truly inspiring. Visit History Starts Now's website to find out how you can be a part of it.

Coming up…being minus a plus one at another wedding and dinner with SingleEdition.com founder Sherri Langburt.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Great post :) Really makes me feel better about myself. Fantastic pic too!

I was in an Italian class awhile back and the professor was saying how women tend to do better in the class because the men were too stuck on doing everything perfectly (ego). So they tried less out of fear of failing. So I always give a big E for effort when I see it in action :)

Keane
http://twitter.com/thread

Melissa said...

Thanks, Keane. And you're right -- both men mentioned here get an A for effort, even if it was a little TMI for small talk. :-)