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Photo Credits: BRKLYN Green Drinks
For all of you who couldn't slip out of your offices for the mid-September BKLYN GreenDrinks gathering at DUMBO's ReBar, I cornered the regular host and hostess duo, Marco Carag and Isabella Wan to get the scoop on one of the City's most fun green networking events.
From Global to Local
BKLYN Green Drinks, like other Green Drinks initiatives happening in all 50 states and in over 50 countries, works as a social enabler. Staged a different Brooklyn bar each month, the organization brings together green-minded people to network and to meet other likeminded locals, who like having a cocktail. No one speaks or leads the affair, though you'll encounter a sign-up book, along withMarco and Isabella, at the front. It's a laidback social event, and everyone who comes jumps into the mix. And, BKLYN Green Drinks kindly provides nametags to help get conversations started.
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Host and Hostess extraordinaire
Isabella is a 20-something as hip and vibrant as the borough. She e-mailed me to say she hoped we could get together for "a cup of joe." As soon as I met her, I was taken by her friendly and engaging manner. It's easy to see why she and Marco take the time each month to pull together this green-minded group, and why they're so successful. Marco, like Isabella, is affable and stylish. He created and maintains the web presence for the Brooklyn branch of GreenDrinks. I wasn't surprised to learl that he is a web development manager for The Knot, the now ubiquitous and, for many modern couples, essential wedding website. I won't promise that you'ill meet your mate at a Brooklyn GreenDrinks function. Yet, it's a wonderful opportunity to meet new friends, business partnerships or love connections, all through a green filter.
Socializing with a Green Agenda
For the September event, I arrived at ReBar around 7:30 P.M., expecting to find less than a dozen people awkwardly mingling. Isn't that the definition of a meet-and-greet? But the back of the bar was already packed with forty green revelers and the drinks were flowing. After I signed in and stuck on my nametag, I scanned the crowd for the Green Drinks people — made easier by the nametags.
First, I met a guy who designs and tests bike routes for the Department of Transportation. He's only been in New York for a matter of weeks and has already discovered this networking Mecca. At the bar, a man tells me about his company, whose main business is making other businesses more energy efficient. And it's easy to see that his own energy was far from running out. I slipped away from the bar to mingle. Three women arrive together, and before they reached the bar, they were wrapped in lively conversation with a satellite group of GreenDrinkers.
Next to me, a pair of guys talked about nothing green at all, which was refreshing — no social network can survive if it relies only on one topic of discussion about the main topic. Soon they've pull me into a conversation and I find out that one of the guys works for Ice Stone, a Brooklyn-based company that makes countertops out of recycled glass and concrete, so beautiful they make me yearn for my own kitchen, and I'm hardly a cook. The other guy was a former environmental engineer, fresh out of business school, in search of a job. I guarantee you he made a few good contacts over a couple of beers.
BKLYN Green Drinks is certainly thriving. If you make it to the next event, look for Marco, Isabella and me — I'm planning to be a regular.
About the Author
Blakely Blackford is a writer who focuses on what people create, from high-rise buildings to low-priced menus. She believes that the challenge to go green, when tackled, invigorates any design.
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