2.18 Edition What I Did Last Week (and what I’m looking forward to)

February 16, 2024
Joya Dass

I’m a little obsessive about packing for my overseas trips. Even more so now as I do more of my client work abroad.

I need to look professional, but when wine tasting in Evora, Portugal, I don’t need to be my buttoned-up-New-York-Wall-Street self.

I made a digital whiteboard laying out all outfits, mapped to all the activities.

This digital whiteboard does a couple of things:

Gives me confidence. I can “set it and forget it” with my clothes, because I have mapped my outfits (and accessories) to the occasion, activity, and weather.
Reduces stress. Forgetting a strapless bra for a black tie wedding at a castle in Cork, Ireland, promptly jolted me out of “packing last minute” habit forever.
Helps me with Financial Management. All destinations for the entire year are entered into Going.com(formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights) and Google Flights for price tracking (a year in advance sometimes.) Daily, I get an email alert with updates on fares to all my destinations.
Aids in Cultural sensitivity. In Istanbul last August, I needed a headscarf for visiting the mosques and a dress that covered my knees. Planning ahead allows me to respect the culture of the country I’m visiting.
Aids my Health. While I was laissez-faire about taking vitamins in the past, I have to be much more vigilant now. Menopause. What’s the point of going all the way to Lisbon and being tired the whole time. Being prepared with all of my supplements (and energy) is key.
Eliminates Overpacking. A member of my platform followed my methodologyfor recent business trip to Paris and said she didn’t overpack for the first time. Another woman leader packed for a family of 5 for a weekend in New York. Two carry-ons only, thanks to my outfit system.
What if it rains? The worst is arriving in a location, with a bunch of cute sun bathing outfits only to find out that its rainy, wet and cold. Accounting for the weather ensures I’m both stylish, protected and ***warm**** on the trip.

This is what I am packing for my Strategic Solitude day with my client in Lisbon including some new tools I’m roadtesting on this trip.

What I Did Last Week

Thursday Feb 8th, I moderated a Design Trends panel and got this laurel

Friday. I had 2 Phony Negronis and french fries at the Warren Street Hotel, kitted out by British interior designer Kit Kemp, who made this very “non New York” place in New York.
The entire facade is the teal blue of my bedroom.
Inside, it’s all whimsy.
Mismatched Liberty fabric on the walls, huge art installations and tapestries in the foyer. Owned by a London based group Firmdale Hotels, ie. Kit’s husband, the Warren Street hotel is the third hotel imprint in New York City behind the Crosby and Whitby.
In honor of the night, I got my nails painted a rare and unusual forest green at Ren Nails across the street. By Tuesday, they were chipping off. Boo.

Sunday. I went to the Whitney Museum here in New York and was delighted to learn of AI that dates back to the 1970s. On exhibit now is the earliest artificial intelligence (AI) program for artmaking from a guy named Harold Cohen. He was a traditional painter at first, but conceived of the software in the late 1960s at the University of California, San Diego, and named it AARON in the early 1970s. He devoted his life to exploring the potential of AI to translate an artist’s knowledge and process into code.
This week, the news broke of a new technology called SOSA that can create Hollywood style videos from simple text prompts. Social media was abuzz with what this will do to eclipse the creator economy.
Harvard Business Review wrote an article in 2004 called Marketing Myopia. The gist: the railroad industry went bust because it was focused on being in the ‘railroad industry’ instead of the “transportation industry.” Hollywood went because it saw itself in the ‘movie industry’ versus the ‘entertainment industry’
I do wonder what industries will be eclipsed by SOSA. That being said, I went on the Sosa site this week and it looks like its not available to everyone (yet). The inventors are still sussing out the dangers of the tool.
Monday. Speaking of AI, I tinkered with Opus.pro and distilled a long clip into 3 short ones in minutes. Read here. My cheatsheet on how to use it here.
Tuesday. I went to a networking dinner and felt some imposter syndrome, seated at a table full of tech folks from Meta, Google, Amazon and Bloomberg. My cheatsheet on how to recover from imposter syndrome quickly here

What I’m looking forward to

Friday.I nearly fell over when I saw the billboard for this. I have followed actor Tobias Menzies, since he played M’s assistant in “Casino Royale,” a crooked politician in the “Night Manager,” despicable Edmure Tully in “Game of Thrones,” and Prince Phillip in Season 4 of “The Crown.”
He’s premiering on stage in THE HUNT, a mere stones throw from my home in Brooklyn. In the flesh! The play is an adaptation of a Nordic film from 2012 at St. Ann’s Warehouse. CAN’T WAIT.
Matt and I are doing our Life Dinner beforehand.
Wednesday Marvina Robinson, founder of Bedstuyvesant Champagne, and former speaker at the Women’s Leadership Lab, is pouring (and speaking ) at an event called “Pouring Into Community: Wine Tasting & Conversations” hosted at Shopify.
Friday. My friend Gino and I are trying a Burmese restaurant called Rangoon in Chelsea.
March 2nd. The opera! Madame Butterfly at the Met.

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