11.04.09 9:00 AM
Award-Winning Washington Mixologist Offers Custom Cocktails and Classes
Derek M. Brown Photo: Jim Webb
Derek M. Brown is a font of bartending information. He can talk at length about how the Tom Collins got its name (from a joke, not a man), the first bartender (Jerry Thomas), or why, in his opinion, cocktails are one of America’s greatest contributions to the world, next to baseball and jazz. A certified sommelier who trained at the Beverage Alcohol Resource Program, Brown was named the 2009 Bartender of the Year by Washington City Paper for his work at the Gibson, where he still pours a few nights a week. Looking for a way to combine his love of cocktail history and his knowledge of spirits and wine, he started Better Drinking early this year, offering private classes and bartending services for events.
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09.09.09 9:00 AM
Custom, Made-in-America Gifts at All Price Points
After graduating from Florida State University with a degree in graphic design, Susan Turnock moved to the Washington area and took a job at an advertising firm, but the work didn’t spark her interest. “It wasn’t creative enough for me. Since childhood, I wanted to own my own business and be a decision maker,” she says. Ten years ago, she made the first move in that direction with a boutique soap company called What Fun, which she still runs. After hearing repeatedly about how her husband’s financial industry colleagues were tired of gifts of boxed fruit, Turnock saw a need for creative corporate gifts. In late 2007, she launched Gifts for the Good Life , selling artfully branded custom goods for swag bags, event accessories, and personal gifts. Turnock describes her look as “modern, fresh, sleek, and still a little campy when it needs to be.”
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04.29.09 9:00 AM
Pastry Chef Gears New Bakery Towards Corporate Clients
Long before she graduated with honors from the baking and pastry arts program at the Culinary Institute of America in 1992, Stephanie Baker had a career path in mind. “When I was a kid, I could make anything out of Play-Doh. I could make an elephant in five minutes,” she says. “I’m an artist. I’ve always liked to do little figures on cakes. And now, I’ve turned it into a marketable skill.” Early last year, Baker opened a Falls Church-based custom sculpture cake business called Stephanie the Baker .
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10.15.08 9:00 AM
Invitation Designer Uses Bold Colors, International Influences
Paper Trail: After graduating from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2002, Saima Khan put her degree in graphic design to work at advertising agencies in Washington and Baltimore. But Khan wanted to experiment with color, pattern, and texture in a way that wasn’t possible when working on real estate brochures. After she designed her brother’s wedding invites, family and friends started asking for their own invitations and stationery. Encouraged by the response, Khan founded Saima Says Designs in March 2006. In addition to work on personal events (including weddings for clients as far-flung as Hong Kong and London), Khan is now focusing on corporate events.
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06.18.08 10:30 AM
Chef Focuses on Local Foods for Catering and Classes
Chef Oliver Friendly at the Dupont Circle farmers market. Photo: Hector Emanuel for BizBash
Sustainable Shopping: When it comes to Washington area farmers markets, chef Oliver Friendly is the expert on what’s fresh now, and what’s on its way. That’s because he supplies his catering company, Eat & Smile Foods , with whatever’s in season, whenever possible. “Farmers markets for me are like candy stores,” says Friendly, who launched his business in February. PS 7’s for a 14-month stint. But it was his next position, at Georgetown’s Hook , where he found his purpose. “From [Hook chef] Barton [Seaver], I realized how good food can be if you start with the freshest ingredients you can get and then let the food speak for itself,” he says. Friendly left the restaurant world and got into catering to control his menus and, more importantly, his time. “I wanted to be able to go to the farmers market that morning and get whatever was fresh. When you are the chef of [a] restaurant, you work 20-hour days for years. That is, at least for now, something I won't do,” Friendly says.
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03.26.08 9:20 AM
After Eight Years in L.A., a Politically Minded Planner Returns to D.C.
Spellbound Creative Concepts' Adrienne Levey Photo: Eric Powell for BizBash
The Big Move: Last year held quite a bit of change for Adrienne Levey. In April 2007, she left a two-year stint as senior development officer for special events at AIDS Project Los Angeles and returned to Washington, relaunching her event management company, Spellbound Creative Concepts . Levey began her career in D.C., writing articles and assisting with events for Madeleine Albright at the Center for National Policy from 1989 to 1991, and had set her sights on coming back for some time.California Boom: Levey had started an early incarnation of Spellbound in L.A., in anticipation of the August 2000 Democratic National Convention. “We did something like 21 events in six days,” she says, including a private party for former President Bill Clinton at the Petersen Automotive Museum , hosted by the then U.A.W.-DaimlerChrysler automotive group. For a 2,500-person affair for Blue Dog Democrats at the Santa Monica Pier , she had the parking lot covered in blue AstroTurf and created a huge doghouse entrance.
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04.11.06 12:00 AM
Fresh Face: Walter Scheib
FROM NEW YORK
What He Does: In February 2005 Scheib launched the American Chef MORE >>
