What was I was thinking about so intensely while the other ladies are smiling and pleasantly engaged?!...
Readers,
Last week I was invited to this renowned Poker Gameby an entrepreneur and friend who also happens to have a very generous heart. The night benefits a terrifically worthy charity, helmed by another close acquaintance. Heidi, the entrepreneur, invites a select, fabulous group of women to play poker for Liz's charity, TapRoot Foundation. The charity deploys a network of volunteers and mentors who volunteer their services and expertise in marketing, strategy, PR, HR, and IT solutions to small and/or not-for-profit organizations who need that expertise to achieve their missions. What a great idea!
In the above picture you might see, amongst the invited ladies playing poker, a fellow leaning over the table, amongst us gals. You see, the women play cards and few lucky male friends and supporters of Heidi and Liz are invited to be the dealers.
As befits my life of eternal coincidences, I happened to know four of the seven dealers. Two from my film life; one from my television life; and one from my digital life. This guy, Doug, well I have known for quite some time now, because early in my career, I line-produced one of his films. No, not "The Bourne Identity," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," or "Swingers," which he also directed. No, not those. But his very first film, in fact! A masterpiece of the first-feature-under-your-belt college murder mystery genre, "Getting In." While you may not recognize many of the lead actors in our film, we somehow managed to cast Dave Chappelle, Calista Flockhart, Andrew McCarthy, and, in the year that "Friends" first hit the airwaves...Matthew Perry, all in very small roles.
My over-riding takeaway from the evening is that I have incredible friends and peers who commit themselves to lofty and sincere goals.
Also, that the entertainment industry is really weird, and is built to a large degree on coincidences and relationships. Frankly, it's a miracle that anyone ever gets to do anything of note or meaning, given the -- like poker -- concentric rings of odds, skill, difficulty, and luck. Oh, all that and extreme gender bias.
But right now, the question I'm sure you are all dying to hear the answer to is...DID I WIN THAT HAND?
And the answer is...YES!
The LZSundayPaper is definitely a crapshoot, because most of the time I can't keep a pokerface. Take a look at this week's news about and by women in business, politics, digital, media, film, tv, fashion, sports, and pop culture. Roughly in that order. Hand-picked. By me. For you.
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The LZ Sunday Paperâ„¢ (soon to be registered trademarked and copyrighted) launched at the dawn of 2014. We expose and recirculate interesting content that is about, and frequently by, women in business, with a dose of ultra-relevant culture. We think that culture comes in sizehigh, medium, and low. Our audience for this content is vast and not gender-driven. Every week we expect at least one good laugh. Send suggestions, clips, or names of people you think might enjoy this to LZSundayPaper@gmail.com.