Man, feels good to be back home in the OC!
I went back to DC for a few days last week to meet a new hire and hang out with the family. Gotta say, I am feeling good about our ability to attract good people. Our growing staff is intelligent, works hard and more importantly, they are a group of really friendly, good hearted people *group hug*
Anyway, I went to NYC last weekend for the 2007 National NAAP Conference (Network of Arab-American Professionals). The panel that I participated in was titled, “Love Actually: Personal Relationships in the Arab-American Cultural Context”. The room was packed and the energy was bubbling with enthusiasm. By show of hands, 100% of the attendees had heard of ArabLounge.com. However, when I asked how many of them would tell family or friends that they use ArabLounge.com, only a handful of folks raised their hand. Suffice it to say, we still have lots of work to do to get some of our ethnic brands accepted with open arms by the communities they serve . Overall the conference was absolutely amazing and I left there impressed at what the organizers/volunteers accomplished and by the number of inspired Arab-Americans that attended the conference. It was totally inspiring to meet so many young people who are proactive in empowering their community.
While in Maryland I swung by Freewebs.com headquarters to catch up with childhood friend Shervin Pishevar who is now the President of the company. The irony is that we are renting their old Silver Spring office that they ditched once they raised a cool $11 million. Shervin has been working with the 3 owners since Freewebs’ early days and played a key role in helping them raise money. I tell ya’, they sure have a kick ass new office — very Google-ish.
By the way, if you ever want to have the ultimate melting pot experience, trying flying on Turkey day as I did. Whoa, I can’t think of the last time that I was surrounded with so many immigrants from all over the world – very cool!
Life,
-S
