I had a stellar week. One of the best in a long while. You’ll have to read on to find out why (although the pic above is a bit of a giveaway).

Scroll down for this week’s Top 10.

1. I got my covid shot! Finally!

this went down last Tuesday at Javits.

• Absolutely fantastic experience. Everything went smoothly, no waits, people were kind and so nice. Having the National Guard there kept it super-organized while also creating a very calming, reassuring vibe.
• No photos allowed at Javits but they did allow me to document my own vaccination experience (for the blog!). So big thanks to my vaccinator.
• I was also told that many of the greeters and information-takers are furloughed Broadway performers – hence the cheery, almost theatrical welcome throughout.
• Before I left I was given an appointment for my 2nd dose in mid-March.
• People have asked about side effects. Mine (from Pfizer shot) were negligible, my arm was a bit sore and swollen for one day.
• Friends around the country report similar experiences no matter their location – or whether it was walk-in or drive-thru.

Many, many thanks to our health care workers, to the men and women of the National Guard, and to the furloughed Broadway performers for making this happen.

2. Are you on clubhouse yet? Here are some Tips to make the most of the Experience

Lots of buzz about CH but whether you have a good experience or not is completely up to you. I happen to love it because it offers me daily MASTERCLASSES on topics of interest to me. I’m not on CH to socialize or chit-chat or be sold coaching services. I log on to listen and learn from some of the smartest, most forward-looking entrepreneurs, techies, and artists that I know (see below). NOTE: With over 8MM downloads of the app, getting a quality experience from CH requires more diligence than it did last year when there were only a few thousand people using the app.

Here’s what I recommend

• BE HIGHLY SELECTIVE WITH TOPICS, e.g., I’m primarily into crypto, NFTs, leadership, innovation, startups, and Covid. I am NOT into chatting with CH peeps about my life’s purpose, female empowerment, politics, or love/relationships.
• WHEN YOU DISCOVER GREAT SPEAKERS/MODERATORS, FOLLOW THEM. If someone is dropping knowledge that sparks your interest, follow them on CH, Twitter, IG, etc. Also, check any clubs they’re members of and follow relevant ones. Conversely, don’t waste your time in sessions with mediocre speakers/moderators. Don’t be afraid to leave rooms quickly. I also have a thing about voices – some grate on me so badly I have a physical reaction and have to leave. With all that in mind, here’s a list of some of my favorite speakers: Jesse Itzler, Lindsay Howard, Chris Messina, Jonathan Perkins, Greg Isenberg, Benny Giang, Kat Cole, Ryan Gill, Ben Parr, Justin Kan, Fvckrender, Roham, 3LAU (pronounced “Blau”), Mankind, Jorge Conde, xsullo, Ronin The Collector, Robert Nelsen, Naval, Harry Stebbings.
• AVOID SESSIONS WITH TOO MANY SPEAKERS ON THE STAGE. If there are over 12 speakers, I keep scrolling. The ideal number for a quality session, in my opinion, is 3-5.

NOTE: One thing that CH offers that I wish YouTube would adopt is to let users keep hearing the audio even when using the phone for other activities, e.g., with CH you can check your Instagram or do emails or text without losing the connection. That is extremely helpful. Google/YouTube are you listening?

3. Five Super-cool Things I’ve discovered on Clubhouse this week

It’s hard to believe how much valuable info is being casually passed along by speakers/moderators during CH sessions. For those of us in the trend biz, this is a major gift, an amazing resource.

1) Frames for NFT art

The two brands that are mentioned most often are Samsung’s Frames, e.g., HD Guru (above), and Netgear’s Meural Canvas !!. If crypto art continues to blow up, expect this category to boom. One speaker recently noted how he would love to have multiple frames around his house set to “shuffle mode” so he could be surprised by the display of his own digital art collection.

ii) Dispo Camera App

Dispo is an app founded by YouTuber, David Dobrik (18MM subscribers) in 2019 but it’s blown up recently with new funding from Andreessen Horowitz (Clubhouse backers). After you take a photo (and the app looks like a disposable camera), the photo isn’t available (it’s “developing) until 9 AM the following morning. Apparently this is something that Gen Z wants? Who knows???

iii) Jack Butcher of Visualize Value

Tech guys are RAVING about Jack Butcher and his Visualize Value collection of concepts and principles. This podcast with Bilal Zaidi is excellent if you’re interested in how to build audiences from scratch, transitioning from selling services (time) to products (value), and if you want to see how the famous Naval impacted Jack with his tweetstorms on building wealth.

iv) my german is getting way better

I was awakened at 4 AM on Wednesday (more on that below) and scrolled around CH where I stumbled upon this German breakfast session on the secrets of success.

What I’ve found in the few weeks since joining CH, is that just by listening to the German sessions for an hour or so a day (and sometimes falling asleep to it), my German has improved by at least 30%.

It’s also fascinating to experience how different the German social media experience is to the American. More on that later.

V) I had a strange wake up experience with Clubhouse. oddly intimate, like a sleepover or red eye flight

I had fallen asleep with a crypto session on and was jarred out of a deep sleep at 4 AM when I heard two guys quietly talking at my bedside. The CH room had been “live” all night even though everybody except for these two guys and me had left. Nobody had been talking – probably for hours. These two guys had pulled an all-nighter and probably dozed off mid-session. One was in NY, the other in LA. They had a quiet conversation about how much time they were spending on CH. For one, it was at the expense of TikTok. The other was seemingly always spending his nights doing his crypto art. After he logged off to get some sleep, a female artists from Canada got on and she and the LA guy spoke art and flirted and I decided it was time for me to “quietly leave.”

But again, there was something so lovely about waking up with these people – felt like we had a sleepover at someone’s house after a great dinner and then some of us woke up on the living room couch and gathered our thoughts before heading to bed. Or, perhaps a red eye flight where people are dozing and then suddenly woken up by a random quiet conversation a few seats away.

Anyway, I don’t really understand why this affected me so much. Perhaps because of the pandemic and not having had people in my house for almost a year. What’s stayed with me these last few days is how intimate and cozy it felt.

4. Saturday in NYC – taking the pulse of retail

My friend, Sharon, was in town and wanted to check out the state of retail in different parts of the city. She let me tag along.

• In a nutshell: Times Square, absent of tourists, is dismal, although both the Disney Store and the M&M flagship were full of families happily shopping (outer borough tourism is keeping the area alive).
• Rockefeller Center, which is normally a hub of tourism, is undergoing a major renovation. No ice rink and no action at the usually packed Lego Store.
• Uptown it’s all about the Apple Store. It’s open 24/7 but you need an appointment to shop, no browsing. However, I did get a few photos. The store is GORGEOUS – love what they’ve done with plants and with the ceiling!!

• Another major store uptown is the newest BAPE location right by the Apple store. HUGE line to get in.

Downtown was a totally different story. It was hopping!

• Kith on Lafayette was jampacked (all 3 floors).
• Huge line at REI, Carhartt WIP, and at Supreme.
• Sadly, Daily Paper is getting absolutely no traction although it is a beautiful store and the merch looks good. Doubtful it will make it.

5. Artist x Retail Collaborations

Currently on my radar: Urs Fischer x Vuitton (he did the store exterior at 57th Street as well as an array of logo products). And just announced: Yoshitomo Nara x Stella McCartney doing a pop-up and in-store installation at Japan’s Isetan department store. EXPECT TO SEE LOTS MORE OF THIS – especially as more artists go the digital route with work that can easily, but radically, transform the look and feel of any retail location.

Urs Fischer x Vuitton

Yoshitomo Nara x Stella McCartney

• Unfortunately no images available yet on the Isetan pop-up and store design.

6. WOW! Look who I know from my humble Chinatown Y?

I’ve seen Cai Guo-Qiang working out at my gym for years. My trainer initially pointed him out as the artist who had designed the fireworks display for the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. I had no idea of the scope of his work and that he was such an amazing artist until this week when I saw this Artsy article on his current retrospective at Bejing’s Palace Museum. FOLLOW HIM on Instagram: caistudio

7. butterfly pea flower: hot new food trend from Thailand. Why? social media, of course.

• I know about butterfly pea flowers from the Butterfly Effect cocktail served at my favorite Thai restaurant (Fish Cheeks).
• Per ndtvfood, this ingredient is now showing up outside of Thailand because blue food looks so good on Instagram. Especially blue rice!

Blue rice is a common food item in South Asian nations, especially in Thailand. It is fondly called Nasi Kerabu there. The secret behind the famous blue colour is a particular kind of edible flower called butterfly pea flower. You may have seen this flower being used in cocktails and mocktails, and even tea, before. But in Asian food, its culinary benefit has always been taken advantage of. The butterfly pea flower is also known for its antioxidant properties that may help protect us from common illnesses and boost our immunity.

Neha Grover, NDTV Food

8. Manscaped: had never heard of it until I started listening to podcasts at the start of the pandemic

Almost every podcast hosted by a male comedian seems to be running host-read spots for MANSCAPED. I hadn’t fully comprehended how often I saw these ads until last weekend when I watched Paul Logan do the read with his co-host.

I was intrigued enough to do some googling and came across this case study by Midroll on how MANSCAPED and podcasting have grown together. Worth a read but here are the highlights:

• MANSCAPED, the premier brand dedicated to men’s grooming and hygiene below-the-waist, began advertising on podcasts in January 2019. 
• The host-read is a key factor to the growth of the company. Every host read is unique and the more personal the hosts get with it, the more memorable the products become.
• Comedy podcasts have turned out to be a particularly good fit because humor helps break down men’s initial resistance to discussions of their nether regions.
• More than 40 shows on the Midroll roster have run MANSCAPED™ campaigns.

9. Buc-ee’s (the world’s largest convenience store), opens a travel center in Florida

The Texas-based chain known for operating the world’s largest convenience store (in New Braunfels TX) opened its first travel center in Florida this week: 52,600 square feet, 104 fueling positions, a wall of Jerky!

• Stores are usually split into the gift side, featuring clothing, home décor, sporting goods and more — and the food service and convenience store side.
• They are renowned for their CLEAN BATHROOMS and CHEAP ICE. The fans of Buc-ee’s are known as BEAVER BELIEVERS.

RETAIL FRIENDS: We need to check this out!! The video below is a bit long but extremely informative.

10. It’s Looking good for my “Future of Everything” Nat Geo Trip!!!

Got a confirmation email yesterday that the August departure for this trip is highly probable. They’re confident enough to have included a “Suggested Packing List.” Fingers crossed!!! It’s been exactly a year since I was last on a plane. Back in February 2020, I was in Cartagena, Colombia. Cannot wait to take off on another adventure.

And that’s a wrap for this week, my friends.

Getting my COVID shot was a real “shot in the arm” for me (pun intended). Put a positive spin on everything. And then getting the update from NAT GEO was the icing on the cake. Made for a very happy Irma this week.

Can’t believe next week we’ll already be in March which means Daylight Saving Time is just around the corner (March 14) and I get my second shot of vaccine (March 16).

In the meantime, wishing everyone a wonderful weekend. Stay well, stay safe, have fun!