Who We Are
Meet your friendly NYC Salon organizers
Tarun Chitra
Founder, CEO, Gauntlet Networks
Mihir Kedia
Software Development Consultant
What's next for NYC Salon?
NYC Salon ran from 2015-2020, when the global pandemic rendered in-person gatherings untenable. Since then, the organizers have moved on to other projects.
However, a new speaker series has recently taken root, inspired by NYC Salon and attempting to carry on the traditions of lifelong learning, inclusivity, and friendship. It is called Dare to Fail Gloriously, and meets roughly once a month in NYC. Please join us there!
Connect with us
Got Salon feedback? Know an amazing speaker? Email us and let us know!
#86 | New Developments in Bone Marrow Transplants
January 7, 2019
Speaker: Dr. Ron Jacob
Every three minutes someone in the United States is diagnosed with a blood cancer like leukemia. For many, their only hope for a cure is a bone marrow transplant. Dr. Ron Jacob will talk about the science of bone marrow transplants – what they are and why they’re so effective – and on his personal involvement in the registry.
#87 | The Behavioral Science of Fear
January 21, 2019
Speaker: Helen Tsim
In this edition of NYC Salon, Helen will share the psychology behind fear and teach specific behavioral science techniques to tackle common fears. We’ll explore the stories behind our own conditioned fears, and how to address the cognitive dissonance between fear and desire. Through a series of facilitated exercises, we’ll learn how we can use fears to navigate our lives, and how overcoming them might be the most powerful thing we’ll ever do.
#88 | Debt & Sin on the Blockchain
February 4, 2019
Speaker: Will Doenlen
Technologist Will Doenlen will be telling the story behind Tetzelcoin, a blockchain project that lets people confess their sins, paying whatever amount they believe their sins to be worth, and the money gets routed toward medical debt relief.
#90 | Intelligent Design: Fashion + AI
February 19, 2019
Speaker: Leanne Luce
Leanne Luce explores the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and the fashion industry. Over the last few years, the fashion industry has redesigned its relationship with technology and AI spanning from product discovery to supply chain, workflows, runway shows, using neural networks to design clothing, robotic manufacturing, smart trackers, and more. Leanne will share some of her insights and thoughts about what she's learned from her explorations in the industry and questions about whether AI is capable of creativity, the future of jobs in fashion, and how to address bias in machine learning when dealing with design.
About Leanne
Leanne Luce is a Product Manager at Google in NYC. She has a degree in Apparel Design from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and previously worked on robotic exoskeletons and soft goods for the military at Harvard University's Wyss Institute and at Otherlab in San Francisco. Leanne is also editor of the blog The Fashion Robot, which has been recognized by publications such as Vogue and Glossy.
Leanne is on twitter and instagram as @leanne_luce.
You can find her blog here: http://thefashionrobot.com/
She recently published her book, Artificial Intelligence for Fashion - you can read more about her book here: https://www.apress.com/us/book/9781484239308#91 | Escape Rooms
March 5th, 2019
Speakers: David and Lisa Spira
Lisa and David have played and reviewed approximately 700 individual escape games over the past 5 years. Their journey from playing around with blogging to becoming “escape room famous” (a statement made with a snicker), has been a series of puzzles both in games and in real life. The act of playing brought them together. Exploring the rapid evolution this new form of entertainment has made them constantly challenge their own assumptions about how they live, create, and interact with the people around them. Join them in challenging your assumptions about work, play, and life.
About David and Lisa
Created by an experience designer and a predictive data expert in 2014, Room Escape Artist publishes daily well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room reviews, design and players tips. Lisa and David’s mission is to share their love of exploring giant puzzles and to push the makers of those giant puzzles to create the best experiences they can. They strive to grow the community of amazing people who love solving the puzzles together. You can contact them or read their content at RoomEscapeArtist.com#92 | How to Write a Porn Parody
March 19th, 2019
Speaker: Allison Mcknight
Allison McKnight is a pornography ghostwriter and a general purveyor of dick jokes. She has written twelve porn parody screenplays, including "This Ain't the Smurfs XXX" (Hustler), "Barbarella XXX" (Wicked Pictures), and "This Ain't Game of Thrones XXX" (Hustler), and several non-parody screenplays, including "Snow White XXX" (Evil Angel) and "Cinderella XXX" (Wicked Pictures), as well as "The Possession of Mrs. Hyde" (Wicked Pictures), which was awarded Movie of the Year and Best Screenplay at the 2018 AVN Awards. Allison has a B.A. in Sociology, a M.A. in English Literature, and a massive collection of inappropriate memes.
She'll be walking us through the theory of parody, porn parody as a genre, and her experience in the industry. We'll then break up into groups for a workshop session in which we'll be creating parody scenes using prompts from Titanic. There may be a performance at the end. This is going to make a great story at your next party.#93 | Forgery, Art, and the Law
April 2nd, 2019
Speaker: Erin Thompson
In 2001, a Wall Street executive paid $2 million for a painting by Jackson Pollock... which turned out to be a forgery so questionable that the signature was misspelled ("Pollok"). In 2015, the forger Shaun Greenhalgh published a memoir describing his techniques for faking everything from Egyptian sculpture to Victorian watercolors to modernist ceramics; his range was so varied that the BBC dubbed his production "The Antiques Rogue Show." And while many hail the "Salvator Mundi" painting, which sold for $450 million at auction last year, as a rediscovered masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci, other experts dismiss it as the world's most successful fake. Come learn more about how art forgeries are made, sold, and uncovered - and what this all teaches us about what we want from art.
Erin Thompson, as Associate Professor at John Jay College (CUNY), is America’s only full-time professor of art crime. She has discussed art crime topics in The New York Times, CNN, NPR, and the Freakonomics podcast, among many other venues. Her book, Possession: The Curious History of Private Collectors (Yale) was named an NPR Best Book of 2016.#94 | Algorithms of Trust
April 16th, 2019
Speaker: Xiao Ma
From Airbnb to Facebook, algorithms increasingly mediate our social interactions. In this talk, Xiao will show how we can build algorithms to predict trust from language on Airbnb, images on eBay, and social networks on Facebook groups. Finally, Xiao will briefly discuss how traditional types of trust (i.e., trust in institutions) is on the decline, while "networked trust" emerges.
// About the Speaker //
Xiao Ma is a fifth-year PhD candidate in Information Science at Cornell Tech, the campus of Cornell University on Roosevelt Island. Xiao's research is mainly in the area of Computational Social Science, and in particular, she focuses on the computational understanding of interpersonal trust. Previously, Xiao has been an intern at Airbnb and Facebook Core Data Science. For more information, see maxiao.info or follow @infoxiao on Twitter.
#95 | Using Science Secrets to Solve Social Problems
April 30th, 2019
Speaker: Piyush Tantia
Popularized by best-selling books such as Nudge and Thinking Fast and Slow, and podcasts like Hidden Brain, behavioral science is a powerful tool being used by more and more governments, NGOs and corporations to drive innovation. In this talk, Piyush will give us a fun introduction to behavioral science, tell us why it is critical to designing for humans, and share some real-world examples.
// About the speaker //
Piyush is the Chief Innovation Officer and a board member at ideas42, the world's largest and first non-profit that uses insights from behavioral science to invent fresh solutions to tough social problems. As ideas42’s founding Executive Director until 2018, he transitioned the organization from a research initiative at Harvard University to an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit. Prior to joining ideas42, Piyush was a Partner at consulting firm Oliver Wyman. Piyush has been a visiting lecturer at the Princeton Woodrow Wilson School and frequently lectures at other top universities.#96 | Back to School: Opening a New Middle School in the Bronx
May 14, 2019
Speaker: Ben Samuels-Kalow
Ben Samuels-Kalow is the founder and Head of School at Creo College Prep (creoprep.org), a tuition-free public charter school opening up in the Bronx in fall 2019 with an inaugural class of 5th graders.
Ben will be talking about his journey from a student in the NYC public school system, to public school teacher, to opening a new school, and what he's learned along the way. He'll also be sharing context around the education system in NYC, opportunities available to middle schoolers in the Bronx, ideas about how to reframe the discussion around charter schools, challenges with existing ed tech, and the state of support for the teachers and administrators serving public school students.
After we hear from Ben about his journey, we will break up into groups to discuss ideas for quality of workplace improvements from industries outside of education that could be introduced into schools like Creo College Prep. All these ideas are potential fodder for innovations Ben and his team might introduce in the school in order to support teachers and students in achieving better educational outcomes.#97 | Lightning Talks
May 28, 2019
Speaker: You!
Every Memorial Day and Labor Day, we celebrate by inviting members of our NYC Salon community to come forward and share 5-minute lightning talks on the steps of Jane Carousel.
Bring yourself, bring a friend, and bring an idea or story worth sharing!
#98 | The Adventures of a Space Doctor
June 11, 2019
Speaker: Dana Levin
Dana Levin is an Assistant Professor of Emergency and Aerospace Medicine at Columbia University and the Systems Engineering and Integration Physician for NASA's Exploration Medicine Capabilities element. He has supported expeditions to some of the highest mountains on Earth, Antarctica, and the deserts of Southwest Utah. He teaches courses in wilderness and aerospace medicine, and works on the team designing medical systems for deep space flight, and as a scientific SCUBA diver supporting nautical archaeological expeditions. In his spare time he plays music, flies planes, and rock climbs.
// About the Talk //
How do we keep people healthy on a journey to Mars? Where do you start when no one has ever done anything like this in the history of our species? Imagine traveling over 140 million miles away from home, away from the protection of earth's magnetic field, through a vast nothingness without gravity, air, and water. A medium where there is no nighttime, where your only companions are those you bring with you because not even light is fast enough to keep you connected in real time? The answer involves a lot of teamwork, imagination, outside the box thinking, and a little risk. In this talk Dana will discuss the challenges faced by space travelers and what scientists, doctors, and engineers are doing to solve them as we prepare for flight. What if the sky were not the limit, but merely the doorstep...#99 | How to Run for President
June 25, 2019
Speaker: Akiva Leffert
Akiva Leffert set out to understand what’s involved in running for president in the simplest way possible - he became an official candidate! Come listen to him talk about what he’s learned so far, the over 600 long-shot presidential candidates currently running, his recent trip to Iowa, and more.
#100 | Political Campaign Songs and NYC Salon's 100th gathering!
July 9, 2019
Speaker: Ruthie Nachmany
We made it to our 100th salon! To celebrate, we’re throwing a party! Specifically, a political party.
Dress up as someone from your favorite era in American politics and if you’d like, bring food or drinks to share that remind you of either the past or the future.
Our very own co-organizer Ruthie Nachmany will be giving a talk about the history of American political campaign songs. We’ll have a listening party where we listen to songs about politicians like Henry Clay, Millard Fillmore, and Grover Cleveland, and then we’ll choose a political campaign, past or present, and write a campaign song for it.
Join us to celebrate 100 consecutive biweekly Tuesday nights of salon!
#101 | How to Social Engineer Your Way Into Anything
July 23, 2019
Speaker: Heather R Morgan
// About the Talk //
Social engineering is the act of manipulating someone into divulging information or taking a particular action. While it often has a negative connotation in cybersecurity, there are many less sinister instances where you can use it to improve your life—from dating and job hunting to journalism, sales, and entrepreneurship.
Hear firsthand how Heather R Morgan social engineered her way into exclusive parties and expensive political fundraisers, infiltrated black markets around the world, and built relationships with celebrities and billionaire CEOs. You'll learn actionable tactics for event crashing, how to cold email even the most reclusive and high-level people and get a response, and what to do to get yourself out of a jam.
// About the Speaker //
Heather R Morgan is a serial entrepreneur, writer, rapper, and former economist who worked in emerging markets including post-revolutionary Egypt. As an economist, she specialized in game theory and imperfect information, but Morgan has always had a talent for social engineering. While she's most known as an expert on cold email, in her previous career she used social engineering to navigate and infiltrate black markets and shadow economies. When she's not rapping under her alter ego, "Razzlekhan," Morgan is busy writing for her Inc Magazine and Forbes columns about persuasion, sales best practices, and entrepreneurship.#102 | How to creatively market your way into your next job
August 6th, 2019
Speaker: Dan Friedman
// About the Talk //
How far would you go to get a job at your favorite company? Boosted is the company that makes those iconic motorized skateboards you see zipping through the streets each day. When Boosted had just finished shipping their Kickstarter orders, Dan Friedman was an early pre-order customer, but he quickly noticed that their $2000 price tag was a huge hurdle for first-time buyers. So within a week, Dan threw together a website to allow for signups, collected $10 reservations, and then met up with 55+ people to try out his newly purchased Boosted Board. He then leveraged all the free marketing and product insights he gleaned in order to get in touch with the Boosted team, and subsequently landed a job there! In this talk, Dan will dive into the world of guerrilla marketing and his journey from pre-ordering a company's product to getting hired by that company.
// About the Speaker //
Dan Friedman loves solving problems for himself and others and building products and services that make people happier. Dan works as a Data Scientist at WeWork in NY and previously worked in marketing and operations.#103 | From Celibate to Celi-bae: Exploring sex and dating in NYC after five years of celibacy
August 20th, 2019
Speaker: Olive B. Persimmon
// About the Talk //
Meet Olive Persimmon. Growing up, she looked exactly like Danny DeVito, except she was thirteen and a girl. By some miracle, she grew into a relatively normal, well-adjusted thirty-something woman living in New York City—with one notable exception: she hasn’t had sex in five years, one month, three days, two-point-five hours . . . and counting.
Faced with a bona fide sex rut, she decides it is time to save her love life and get her mojo back. Challenged by a friend to “say yes” to experiences she might normally avoid, Olive embarks on a series of adventures and explores everything from BDSM classes to cuddlers-for-hire, from foot fetishes to lessons with a top-ranked pickup artist, and more! Each awkward and sometimes downright embarrassing encounter brings Olive closer to discovering the power of saying yes—to herself, others, and life itself.
// About Olive //
Olive Persimmon is an author, speaker and public speaking coach. She's the author of Unintentionally Celibate and her new novel, The Coitus Chronicles about her quest to get her mojo back after a five-year dry spell. In her free time, she writes letters to people for fun and loves to return home to the great state of Ohio.
#104 | Lightning Talks
Speaker: NYC Salon Community Members
Date: Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019
Time: 7:30pm
Location: The High Line Elevated Park, tiered seating area above 22nd street// About Lightning Talks //
Every Labor Day, we celebrate by inviting members of our NYC Salon community to come forward and share 5-minute lightning talks on whatever topic they're excited about. Bring yourself, bring a friend, and bring an idea or story worth sharing!
#105 | How to Care for Our Human Suits
Speaker: Dennis E. Sarkozy
Date: Tuesday, September 17th, 2019
Time: 7:30pm-10pm
Location: TBA// About the Talk //
Our concept of purpose and intention often binds our days to success metrics. We deem activities not seen as "productive" as a waste of time. Over a very short period, our trendlines reach levels of overwork, stress, fatigue, and burnout.
In this talk, Dennis will cover self-care and intentionality, mindfulness & movement, and identify the aspects of legacy we're proud to work toward.
We will learn:
- Basic breathing, movement, and sleep focused exercises and ritualizing our actions
- Intentionality and how to realign when feeling out of alignment
- What alignment feels like
- Multi-faceted priorities - and how we can do it all, though not all at once.
"We are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it." - Seneca
// About the Speaker //
Dennis E. Sarkozy has helped launch multiple corporate wellness companies including BestMe & Journey Meditation. As a former professor and “Gather Geek,” his expertise lies within translating wellness wisdom into digestible, culture-first products and experiences. He coaches leaders and high-performing creatives who deal with the highest-degrees of uncertainty to design a life of joy & impact.
Dennis consults for a number of international companies & communities, designing thoughtful experiences for employees and public consumption. He previously spearheaded in-house client experience, training and development, and sales leadership in luxury retail.
#106 | NYC Salon Graduation Party
Date: Tuesday, October 1st, 2019
Time: 7:30pm-10pm// About this Event //
2019 has been a year full of exciting milestones for NYC Salon. We had our 100th salon in July and passed our 4 year anniversary a few weeks ago. As organizers, it’s so exciting to reflect on 4 years of connecting with new ideas and one another, and on the special community that’s created at each event and that forms the backbone of this community. Milestones also give you a chance to reflect and to think about where you go next. As organizers, we’re excited to share our vision for where salon goes over the next 4 years. Until now, we’ve drawn ideas for topics, speakers, and directions for salon from the community and the four of us (and all the organizers involved over the last 4 years) helped to organize the event by helping to prepare the speaker, find the venue partners, and host the event the night of.
4 years lends itself well to graduation metaphors, so today we’re excited to announce that salon is ready to graduate into its next form. Tarun, Mihir, Ruthie, and Steve are graduating into “emerita” roles, available to advise, support, and mentor new organizers as they think through where salon could go in the future.
This salon will be a “graduation” party from salon 1.0 to salon 2.0. Come to celebrate what’s next! After that, we’ll have one more salon 1.0 on 10/16, followed by a hiatus until 2020 (unless we get new organizers ramped up sooner).
In the meantime, if you’re interested in being involved in leading salon, please email us at nycsalonorganizers [at] gmail [dot] com. Feel free to message any of us asking what leading salon entails or to learn more. Over the last few years, every new organizer has brought new perspectives into what salon could be, and we’re looking forward to seeing what the new set of organizers imagine for the future of salon. Let us know if you have any questions. We’re can’t wait to see where salon goes next!
#107 | Running While Human
Speaker: Raj Hathimarani
Date: Wednesday, October 16th, 2019
Time: 7:30pm-10:30pm// About the Talk //
The ability to run has made us human, shaping our anatomy and psychology. Running is one of the most transforming events in history, and in the past decade, has become the fastest-growing physical activity in the world.
In this talk, we will learn:
-How we are all "born to run"
-Why the growth of the sport
-What can running do for you
This is not a talk for "runners" but rather for anyone who wants to be a better and more fulfilled human being, regardless of running interest, experience, or skill!
// About the Speaker //
Raj Hathiramani, also known as Coach Raj, has been running for over 20 years and fell in love with the sport growing up in the Bronx. A native New Yorker, Raj is a certified running coach through USA Track & Field and Road Runners Club of America. He has completed more than 60 marathons, winning several of them, and coaches at Mile High Run Club and Google in New York City as well as on the audio fitness app Aaptiv.
Raj is also a board member at Achilles International, guiding people with all types of abilities to in running events. He has served as an Achilles guide to visually impaired runners in the New York City Marathon for the past 8 years. While he might deny it, Raj is considered a "micro-influencer" with over 12k followers on Instagram where he shares running-related content @runwithraj.
#108 | Coronavirus & Pandemic Modeling
Speaker: Dr. Wan Yang
Date: Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020
Time: 7:00pm-10:00pm** drum roll **
Welcome to a new season of NYC Salon, with two new organizers: Hamdi Cavusoglu & Victoria Levchenko! 🎉
We're both excited to give back to this incredible, vibrant community. Cheers to exploring and learning together 🥂
// About the Talk //
A new year, a new decade, a new epidemic. The saga of the "Coronavirus", otherwise referred to as “COVID-19” or “SARS-CoV-2”, began on Western New Years Eve. In less than 60 days, entire cities in China have been quarantined, US supplies of face masks hit a critical low as Chinese factories close, and Italy canceled the famous Venice Carnival as detected cases surge to the hundreds. Bursts of coronavirus memes go viral, Chinatowns lose business, and more of us stay in to watch movies like Contagion. The virus is on the cusp of pandemic status, though it's already in the zeitgeist impacting our economy, society, and culture.
So what is the coronavirus? How does it spread? And how do experts in the field monitor and predict the spread of pandemics? Dr. Wan Yang will tackle these questions and more as she shares her pandemic modeling research and contextualizes the recent developments in the coronavirus epidemic.
// About the Speaker //
Dr. Wan Yang (she/her/hers) is trained as an environmental engineer and infectious disease modeler, with further expertise in statistics, epidemiology, and computer science. Broadly, Dr. Yang is interested in understanding how infectious diseases spread through the population, as well as methods to model and predict these epidemics. Her recent work applies mathematical modeling and Bayesian inference methods to study the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases such as influenza, Ebola, and measles. She is also developing forecast systems to predict outbreaks of infectious diseases. In addition, she studies how environmental factors influence the transmission of influenza, its seasonality, and the underlying mechanisms.#109 | The Bright Side to Viruses
Speaker: Victoria Levchenko
Date: Tuesday, March 24th, 2020
Time: 7:30pm-9:00pmThe pandemic is throwing curve balls for all of us, but it's also pushing us to get creative and change things up! Since NYC Salon is going virtual for the foreseeable future, we're offering a lecture or workshop every Tuesday night 🎉
NYC Salon's goal for the next few weeks is to lift spirits while reimagining what frightens us, how we nurture our social lives, and how we relate to our physical apartments.
// About the Talk //
Viruses are "public enemy no. 1" these days, and validly so. Yet history is riddled with moments where outbreaks result in positive vectors of change. And the study of viruses not only drives hard sciences forward, but also sheds unparalleled light on disciplines like early human history. Their presence is behind the beauty of several plants and animals, and they may be the answer to problems like antibiotic resistance -- there is a bright side to viruses. 💡☀️✨
// About the Speaker //
This week we're featuring one of our own organizers: Victoria Levchenko (she/her/hers)! Though not an expert on virology or other topics covered in this presentation, she's been coping with the pandemic by investigating scientific and sociological literature on viruses. It's major "know thy enemy" vibes, but she's a firm believer in reducing fear through understanding. When she's not panic reading on viruses, she is a machine learning engineer who has worked in the nonprofit world and progressive politics. Catch her slowly updating her website during quarantine: https://www.unconventionaldata.ai/
// Event Notes //
✔ Talk will start at 7:40, so we have a 10 minute buffer for everyone to come online 🎉
✔ Fo sho grab a drink - whether it's tea, juice, or something spiked - and dial in ☕🍹🍷🍺
✔ We're going to use Zoom: the link will be posted on Eventbrite (click "View Links" on the ticket)!
// How to invite your friends //
Add them to the NYC Salon facebook group (any member can add a new one) and invite them to our Facebook event.#110 | Data & the 2020 Election
Speaker: David Shor, Head of Political Data Science, Civis Analytics
Date: Tuesday, April 7th, 2020
Time: 7:30pm-9:00pm// About the Talk //
While the 2020 election season continues to have twists and turns on the surface, there are systematic trends driving political preferences and voting behavior. Reflecting on his research modeling the electorate using millions of interviews and a 300 million person voter file, David Shor will first contextualize today's presidential campaign race by explaining what has happened in the last 4 years and why these trends exist in the US and abroad. Building on this context, he will give us a preview of what to expect in November based on polling, what campaigns are doing, and more. Tune in for a spicy take from one of the wonkiest political data nerds in the field.
// About the Speaker //
David Shor (he/him/his) is Head of Political Data Science at Civis Analytics, one of the top data science firms in progressive politics. At the core of his work is the research and development of tools for election forecasting, resource allocation for campaigns, message testing, and more. Though he started an election forecasting blog at age 15, his official start in politics was working on the Obama 2012 campaign in "The Cave" as an analyst building the election forecasting system, which famously predicted the election's results within 1 percentage point in all 50 states. He then honed his algorithm and polling skills working with Nate Silver before joining the founding team at Civis. Before the COVID-19 quarantine, David was commonly spotted dancing off election-related stress at Jupiter Disco or drinking Slivovitz at the Blue & Gold Bar at East Village. For more of his analyses and perspectives on politics around the world, follow him on Twitter @davidshor#111 | Making Bilingual Comics & Documenting the Quarantine
Speaker: Yao Xiao (she/her/hers), cartoonist & illustrator living in New York.
Date: Tuesday, April 14th, 2020
Time: 7:30pm-9:00pm// About the talk //
Everything is beautiful, and I’m not afraid. The title of Yao Xiao's recently published comic book has taken on added meaning since the start of the pandemic. While in shelter-in-place, Yao has been reflecting on the shifts in her life - and confronting fear, uncertainty, depression, and feelings of alienation in a time of rising racism and xenophobia - by creatively chronicling her day-to-day life. She’ll walk us through the process of making a comic, how to build and iterate on ideas, and share what it’s like to create bi-lingual and bi-cultural art. Then Yao will discuss a fun, flexible framework she's using to journal her time in quarantine. She’ll close by demonstrating how to leverage frameworks like this to explore and expand on your own approach to documenting quarantine life.
For the group activity, you will need:
📃 Paper
✍️ Writing utensils (pencil, marker, crayons, colored pencils, etc!)
So grab that notebook you bought and swore you would use one day, and join us for an evening of learning and making comics together!
// About the speaker //
Yao Xiao (she/her/hers) is a cartoonist and illustrator living in New York. She was born in China and emigrated to the United States in 2006. After graduation with a degree in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts, Yao sought a way to document her experiences as a queer immigrant in and developed a series of comics incorporating illustration and writing. Yao Xiao continues to seek opportunities as an artist, writer and illustrator and to connect to others through her work.
Her debut graphic novel, “Everything Is Beautiful, And I’m Not Afraid” was published by Andrews McMeel in 2020 and has received praise by Publishers Weekly and Ms. Magazine. Her debut children’s book "How To Solve A Problem," written by Ashima Shiraishi and published by Penguin Random House received a starred review on Kirkus. For more information on her recent book, “Everything Is Beautiful, And I’m Not Afraid”, visit: http://www.yao.nyc/everything-is-beautiful.
To view more of her work, check out her website www.yao.nyc or follow her on Instagram at @yaoxiaoart [https://www.instagram.com/yaoxiaoart/].
// Event notes //
✔ Talk will start at 7:50, so we have a 20 minute buffer for everyone to come online and answer the Salontroduction question 🎉
✔ Fo sho grab a drink - whether it's tea, juice, or something spiked - and dial in ☕🍹🍷🍺
✔ We're going to use Zoom: the link will be posted in the event discussion and on Eventbrite (click "View Links" on the ticket)! 🇿
// Supporting our community //
We're living through an unusual, tumultuous time as the pandemic impacts the economy and our usual ways of life. Though NYC Salon will always be free, we want to support our speakers and the great work they'll do over the next few months. Time spent on lifting our spirits and guiding us through new experiences is time they set aside from taking care of family, friends, and their own well being during this difficult time. Let's lift them as much as they lift us. 💗
If you are in a position to contribute, we encourage you to donate $1, $5, or more to our speaker of the week. And if you can't contribute financially, support the speaker's cause by following their Instagrams, purchasing their books, sending thank you notes, or simply sharing their work with friends. Every bit will be genuinely appreciated.
✨Yao Xiao's Venmo ✨: @Yao-Xiao-Art
#112 | Quarantine Couch Syndrome
Speaker: Sasha Sauer, Certified Personal Trainer & Life Coach
Date: Tuesday, April 21st, 2020
Time: 7:30pm-9:00pm// About the talk //
Quarantine couch syndrome is the "other pandemic" at large as more of us #stayhome. Thankfully, the solution is simple: move our whole bodies. But, how? And move what exactly? Sasha Sauer will walk us through common pain points caused by sitting all day, helping us identify the knots, tensions, and injuries throughout our quarantined bodies. And once we’ve built an awareness together of what hurts and why, Sasha will jump into preventions and solutions. Sasha will then demonstrate how our apartments are not only places to lounge: they hold everything we need to get a healing stretch or work out in during the gaps of our schedules. Together, we’ll reinvent our office/bedroom/living rooms as our very own mini-gyms, and learn how to make our spaces work best for our bodies.
// About the speaker //
Known by many names, Sasha (Alexander) Sauer (they/them/theirs/dude/he) is a certified Personal Trainer & Life Coach. For the past 7 years, they have overcome a variety of health challenges first hand and has worked with special populations ranging from Alzheimer's, osteo-prevention, post-physical therapy, corrective exercise, and lifestyle management. Sasha believes everyone can achieve their goals through play, functional movements, and by creating fun environments to explore and share in discovery. They're the real deal when it comes to knowing and listening to your body -- they've even been slouching these past few weeks in order to reacquaint themselves with the types of pain associated with bad posture or prolonged sitting, just so they can better speak to our aches and pains! 💛💪🌟
For 1:1 sessions, hit Sasha up on their Instagram, @MagicCondor [www.instagram.com/magiccondor], or on Discord at FishyFish#2598. We'll share their email during the event!
// Event notes //
✔ Talk will start at 7:50, so we have a 20 minute buffer for everyone to come online and answer the Salontroduction question 🎉
✔ Fo sho grab a drink - whether it's tea, juice, or something spiked - and dial in ☕🍹🍷🍺
✔ We're going to use Zoom: the link will be posted in the event discussion and on Eventbrite (click "View Links" on the ticket)! 🇿For the group activity, you will need:
🚰 Glass of water
✔️ Hand/kitchen towel
💻 An open space where you can set up your laptop (should have enough space to do a lunge or spread your arms out)
🧘 Yoga mat, if you want
🚪 Be prepared to move to a door frame or to a sturdy table for some of the exercises
Come in with questions and/or awareness of what hurts! If a pain point is not addressed, Sasha is free to talk privately, 1:1 after the event 🎉
// Supporting our community //
We're living through an unusual, tumultuous time as the pandemic impacts the economy and our usual ways of life. Though NYC Salon will always be free, we want to support our speakers and the great work they'll do over the next few months. Time spent on lifting our spirits and guiding us through new experiences is time they set aside from taking care of family, friends, and their own well being during this difficult time. Let's lift them as much as they lift us. 💗
If you are in a position to contribute, we encourage you to donate $1, $5, or more to our speaker of the week. And if you can't contribute financially, support the speaker's cause by following their Instagrams, purchasing their books, sending thank you notes, or simply sharing their work with friends. Every bit will be genuinely appreciated.
✨Sasha's Venmo ✨: @Alexander-Sauer
// How to invite your friends //
Add them to the NYC Salon facebook group (any member can add a new one) and invite them to our Facebook event.
~~ OR ~~
Share this Eventbrite link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/quarantine-couch-syndrome-nyc-salon-112-tickets-102937934132
