Diner en Blanc NYC 2022

Last night I attended Diner en Blanc NYC right on the Hudson River outside of Brookfield Place. This year marked the 10th anniversary of Diner en Blanc in NYC!

Diner en Blanc NYC

At Diner en Blanc, thousands of attendees dress up in white, head to toe, and gather together for a large dinner celebration. What is unique and fun about this event, aside from everything being in all white, is:

  • you need to bring your own table, seats and picnic for dinner, however you can order a gourmet picnic basket

  • the location is a secret until just a few hours before the event

  • at the start of the event everyone waives their white napkins

Chef Todd English Elizabeth Tam Diner en Blanc NYC

Chef Todd English & I

The highlights of the night included delicious bites made by none other than Chef Todd English and featured champagne from Baron de Rothschild Champagne. I was lucky enough to had the opportunity to meet and chat with Todd in the media lounge, he was so down to earth and friendly!

Fun facts I learned about Todd English, despite using caviar for his high end clientele he is NOT a fan of caviar, but IS a fan of anchovies, in fact he likes to eat them straight!

Can’t wait to see where the Diner en Blanc will be held next year!

 
Diner en Blanc NYC Media Lounge

Cheers

Champagne Baron de Rothschild Diner en Blanc NYC

Baron de Rothschild Champagne

Corporate Challenge 2022

Tonight night was the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge! This is the first big company wide event since COVID. The Corporate Challenge is an annual 5K that I have participated in every year since I joined American Express, and am happy they brought back this tradition!

On the way there, I met up with my former Finance teammate Jonathan and a group of other finance friends I have not seen in a while. Sadly, due to my sprained foot, my foot hurt after starting to run for a few minutes and ended up walking most of the race, with a few spurs of run and jogging here and there.

When we got back to the AMEX tent for food and drinks after the race, I bumped into my old TLS teammates and caught up with them as well as our Risk partner from Kabbage.

I love all of my colleagues and am so happy to have been able to catch up with all my old & new AMEX colleagues!

Career Day at UAGateway

Career Day at United Assembly Gateway

Career Day at UAGateway

Today was career day at United Assembly Gateway School of Technology (UAG). I was invited to speak on a panel to a class of 9th graders. As a native New Yorker, I especially love speaking to students from NYC. I am a product NYC public schools and want the students know all of the opportunities that are available to them right at their fingertips! Coming from NYC, I think sometimes we take it for granted, but there truly is no place like NYC and encouraged them to take advantage of everything NY has to offer! Hopefully I was able to provide them with some guidance and helpful information as they start to think about colleges and potential careers.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Match - Big and Little

Me & my Little Eleena!

While I loved speaking to the 9th grade students, the most exciting part of the day was I finally meeting my Big Brothers Big Sisters little Eleena!!!

I have been volunteering with BBBS for 3.5 years, it will be 4 years at the end of this school year. My little Eleena and I were matched last year, but we were never able to meet due to the pandemic. However, when we were invited to speak at career day at UAG, I knew I had to go! It was so great to finally meet her after 1.5 years of virtual meetings! I know I get excited pretty easily, but we were both equally super excited to finally meet each other!

When I finally made my way there, Eleena came to meet me at the elevator and took me around the floor - she even took me to the Principal’s office… eek! 😲 As the COVID-19 restrictions begin to lighten up, I hope we get to see each other in person more and that the other matches who haven’t met yet get to do so!

Thank you UAG and BBBS for a wonderful day!

The Lion King on Broadway

I can’t believe it, I WON lottery tickets to see THE LION KING!!!

I have wanted to see The Lion King - The Musical on Broadway for YEARS, and was ecstatic when I found out I won tickets for the 5th row center! What are the chances?

Lion King the Musical on Broadway

The show did not disappoint, it was hands down the BEST Broadway play I have seen. I would definitely recommend going if you get a the chance!

You can enter to win Broadway lottery tickets to see the Lion King here: https://lottery.broadwaydirect.com/show/the-lion-king/

The lottery opens from 9 AM to 3 PM the night prior to the show, at 3 PM they draw the winner and you have 1 hour to claim and pay for your tickets.

Good Luck and please support the Broadway community!

International Women’s Day

Happy Intetnational Women’s Day!

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Happy International Women’s Day! 💜

Here’s to strong women.
May we know them.
May we be them.
May we raise them! 💪

Then and now (2020 celebrating together in person & 2021 celebrating together apart)

Then and now (2020 celebrating together in person & 2021 celebrating together apart)

Who knew this would be one of the last big events I’d celebrate with my coworkers and friends.

Giving Tuesday 2019

This year for GivingTuesday, I donated toys to Marine Toys for Tots Foundation to give to children during the holidays! 🎁

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Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 as a day to encourage people to do good, celebrated the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

Toys for Tots is a non profit organization run by the US Marines that collects and delivers toys to less fortunate children.

New York Edge Cocktail Benefit 2019

Thank you to everyone who came out to support the me and New York Edge at our 6th Annual Cocktail Benefit: Elegance with an Edge!

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Thank you to all those who came to support me, it really means a lot to me! Together we were able to raise over $6000 to benefit New York Edge in providing free afterschool programming to students across NYC.

New York Edge Moment

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​Thank you New York Edge for the thoughtful gift last night, acknowledging my time with the organization and as a founding member, president/co-chair and leader of the New York Edge Young Professionals Council! 🎉


I can’t believe it has been 6️⃣ years since I first came to know about the organization and soon after becoming a founding member of the Young Professionals Council! 💫

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While my term as president/co-chair has come to an end, I will continue to be involved & am excited to see lies ahead! ✨

New York International Auto Show 2019

The 2019 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS) has made it’s way to New York City at the Jacob Javits Center April 19 to April 28.

This year’s NYIAS will not let you down, featuring ton of new models and tons to see and do! Check out some of the upcoming models!

Some new models at the 2019 NYIAS include:

  • Jeep Gladiator

  • Toyota Supra

  • Jaguar XE

  • Audi Q8

  • Porsche 911

  • Mercedes-Benz GLD

  • Kia Telluride

My favorite new car of the show as the Karlmann King! This GINORMOUS SUV, looks like a high tech military vehicle on the outside, but a party bus on the inside!

With the Karlmann King

With the Karlmann King

Inside of the Karlmann King

Inside of the Karlmann King

I was able test drive the Jeep Rubicon (as a passenger) around a very rigorous course. Check out my video here: https://youtu.be/tj8uQizP09M

For more information about the NY International Auto Show, please visit: https://www.autoshowny.com/

Stepping Up & Judging

Perfect 10 for attire!

Perfect 10 for attire!

Today was the New York Edge's Annual Step Competition "Rhythmic Step," hosted at York College in Queens, NY. I had the honor of judging at this highly competitive step competition for the 5th year, one of my favorite events of the year to attend! For those of you who have never seen stepping in person, it is definitely something you must see in person - the energy and movement is simply amazing.

Stepping is a synchronized group movement, with lots of stomping and clapping. All of these students rocked the stage and impressed me, I definitely would not be coordinated enough to do what they do! One step team even stepped blindfolded!

While I am not a top notch stepper, I was able to judge on attire - right up my alley!

Check out some photo & videos from this year’s competition on my instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwHigQ3AV4o/ Can’t wait until next year!

These ladies were stepping BLINDFOLDED!

These ladies were stepping BLINDFOLDED!

Winners of the advanced competition

Winners of the advanced competition

Cycling for a Cause - Sweatfest 2019

Next week, March 23, I will be spinning to raise money for New York Edge, a cause near and dear to my heart.

New York Edge (formerly Sports & Arts in Schools Foundation) is the largest provider of free after school programming, serving over 30,000 students across 130 schools across the Greater NYC area!

Please consider making a donation here: https://newyorkedge.networkforgood.com/projects/69763-elizabeth-tam-s-fundraiser

 
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I have been involved with NY Edge since 2013 and am currently co-chair of the New York Edge Young Professionals Council! I love working with them and am proud of all the great opportunities they provide to students!

Girl Redesigned with New York Edge

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Today, I had the pleasure of volunteering with New York Edge at the annual Girl Redesigned, hosted at Adelphi University in Long Island. At this event, students designed, sewed and modeled their own designs! It was very impressive to see these K-12 students see their designs through from beginning to end.

The designs were very creative, as were the performances. Each school had a different theme, from what do you want to be when you grow up to athletic wear.

I am no designer, but I was able to assist the students with my runway experience and teach the students how to walk, pose and own the runway with confidence!

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In addition to volunteering with New York Edge, I also sit as co-chair of the New York Edge Young Professionals Council, which I also helped to co-found!

If you are interested in getting involved or learning more, feel free to reach out or visit: https://newyorkedge.org/

Global Summit in Florida

TLS Global Servicing Leaders

Group Shot of the TLS Senior Leadership Team & Market Heads

This week I was in Florida planning and hosting a Global Market Head Summit for the Travel & Lifestyle Services (TLS) Division of American Express. I had 28 colleagues from across the globe come together to speak about best practices and leadership about the global servicing for TLS.

The 3 day summit was one of my first big projects I have taken on as Manager of Strategy & Business Planning aka Chief of Staff of the entire global organization AND the first time a global event like this had been held. In fact, many of the team had not met one another in person, which added to the impact and influence this event could bring. This conference was very high stakes and high pressure as it overlapped and followed the senior leadership team conference of my company - however I thrive in pressure and was up for the challenge!

Menu from our joint team dinner I planned at Shooters!

The Summit was a lot of work, but it was worth it and we managed to accomplish and learn a lot from one another. It was great to meet everyone and eye opening for the team to have a true global perspective in person.

While I can’t say what we discussed some global takeaways I would like to share for global teams:

  • Meeting in person vs online can really unite a team

  • What may work in one country may differ in another, keeping a global perspective is key

  • You are not alone, a challenge you have may be shared globally

After many late nights and hours, I am happy to say the event was a success! A 9.3/10 according to my survey, I’ll take it for my first global event! If anyone needs an event planner, let me know!

Sunset in Sunrise, Florida - Not a bad way to end my time in Florida!

Sunset in Sunrise, Florida - Not a bad way to end my time in Florida!