Van Go: Movers and Shakers Celebrate Year End at Fab Party

by Linda Solomon
The location is the Watermark Restaurant on Kits Beach. The hosts are: Richards & Chan, Communicopia,Give Meaning, Stratcom, Tides Canada, and Renewal Partners.

The Watermark has been transformed into the hottest club in Vangrila.

“Private Event,” reads the sign on the front door. The dress is fabulous, the people are fabulous, and if you are reading this article, you are fabulous.

“It’s my favourite party,” http://sci.hollyhockleadership.org/deena-chochinov/[therapist and business consultant] Deena Chochinov told me, on a break from dancing. Deena wore a sleeveless, hip hugging dress, and dusted sparkling gold make up onto her chest. She then offered some to my sister-in-law, Hollyhock CEO Dana Bass Solomon, and, after Dana had used it, to me. We all felt a little more celebratory, as if being at a private holiday party at the Watermark Restaurant on Kits Beach wasn’t wonderful enough, even without the gold dust.

Now that I had my glitter going, I said hello to a few people I knew, and set out to meet a few I didn’t know. I started by saying hello to Carol Newell, who founded Renewal Partners and was one of the party’s hosts. She was welcoming guests with her trademark smile and full-bodied laughter. Carol, who cuts an elegant figure, was recently inducted into the Order of Canada.

“Carol Newell's generosity is extraordinary and inspiring,” the Order of Canada’s website says. “At 21, she received a vast inheritance and decided to keep only a modest portion for herself, vowing to give the rest away during her lifetime. Philanthropy has become a full-time job since the creation of the Endswell Foundation and the establishment of the Renewal Partners Company, which provides venture capital to socially responsible and environmentally sustainable companies. For years, she carried out these activities anonymously but then decided to go public, launching a campaign to convince others to give. A formidable role model, she encourages others to share both their wealth and vision for a better world.”

Moving along from Carol, I chatted with Patricia and Rudy North. I knew a little about Rudy. I knew he was an important figure in Vancouver investment management world and a dedicated conservationist and community leader. When I got a chance to google him, I found out that he was President and founder of North Growth Management Ltd. According to the North Growth Management website, Rudy started the company in 1998 with one Fund, the USA Equity Fund, and the desire to manage money according to his “growth at a reasonable price” a philosophy that he had been using and developing for over three decades. Ross McMillan, the new President of Tides Canada Foundation, joined us. The conversation turned to Ross’s recent move to Vancouver from the Tofino area and the adjustments he and his family were making.

I went to get a glass of wine and on the way back met Ron Williams, who told me about his interesting new online green venture, happyfrog.ca and what it does (“designed to leverage the collective knowledge of our community to create an indispensable new resource for bringing about change”). I then set to trading stories with his partner, Rebecca Ephraim, who runs Shared Vision Magazine. We did a little journalistic shop talk, and I got a chance to tell Rebecca how beautiful her covers have been looking. I mean it, folks. Have you checked out the magazine’s green parenting cover this month or those http://www.jaimekowal.com/[gorgeous portraits photographer Jamie Kowal does in the magazine?]

I looked around and realized there were about fifty people I wanted to talk to. Ron and Rebecca went to get drinks and I turned towards the door to see if my boyfriend was there yet. No sign of him, so on I went.


I’d never met Alexandra Samuel, but we said hello and I got to hear a little about what she does. I’d heard of her before in relation to Web 2.0 circles and Web of Change conference, which I knew had been developed by one of the party’s hosts, Jason Mogus, of Communicopia.com and Jodie Tonita, who is the BC Program Manager of One/Northwest. Alexandra’d co-facilitated this year’s conference, I knew, but I sensed there was a lot more to know about this cool-looking woman. When I googled her, here’s what I found out. Alexandra got her Ph.D. at Harvard with a dissertation on “the phenomenon of hacktivism, or politically motivated computer hacking.” Alexandra is CEO of Social Signal, a Vancouver-based company that builds online communities for nonprofit, government and business clients. Alexandra guides the online strategy for Vancity’s Change Everything program and for netsquared, which is “remixing the web for social change.” There’s more to Alexandra Samuel, I promise you.

But it was hard to sustain a conversation because the music had amped up. I headed over to the dance floor, passing my brother, Joel Solomon, of Renewal Partners, who looked better than ever, a month after getting a new kidney from Victoria’s Gettin Higher Choir founder Shivon Robinsong. Nicole Rycroft, of Markets Initiative, was on the dance floor with her partner, Valerie Langer. I felt like I knew Nicole and Valerie pretty well, because I’d seen them year after year at this party and I also got to visit them once when they lived in Tofino. But, after googling both of them, I discovered, I didn’t know the half of it. The question is, did I even have a clue?

Upon googling, Nicole, what do I see but Nicole herself in a photograph presenting an award to JK Rowling. People, check it out. Here’s what the Markets Initiative website had to say about this photo op. “Before a rare public reading at the opening of YoungIFOA in Toronto today, JK Rowling accepted an award in recognition of the role she has played helping save Canada’s and the world’s forests. Markets Initiative presented Rowling with the Order of the Forest, citing Rowling’s direct hand in transforming the publishing industry. Previous recipients include writer Alice Munro and publisher McClelland and Stewart. Did Nicole say anything about having met the Queen of Children’s Literature in person? No. She just danced!

With Valerie Langer, a Senior Campaigner for ForestEthics. Valerie is a legend in her own time, I already knew that. She worked to save Clayquot Sound from logging and is now involved with the Great Bear Rainforest conservation plan moving forward. Don’t these people ever just sit around?

I guess not. There was Yonathan Gordis and the only sitting around he does is on airplanes. I tell “Yoni” (don’t blush, girlfriends) every time I see him that he has the life. He is the executive director of Center for Leadership Initiatives, Inc. which is dedicated to fulfil the Biblical imperative of tikkun olam, which in English means, “repairing the world.” Born in the United States, he lived in Israel for nearly twenty years, where he served as an officer in the Israeli Air Force, received rabbinic ordination and was engaged in the field of pluralistic Jewish education. He travels between Russia, Manhattan and Vancouver for work. He was leaving the next day to go to India to meet his partner, Robbie and their two young daughters.

By this time, I was feeling pretty distracted, because my boyfriend, photographer and social worker, Brian Powell hadn’t shown up. I kept looking longingly toward the door and Yoni asked me what was up. I told him that Brian had been planning on coming late, but that now he was really late. Yoni gave me some rabbinical wisdom. “Look,” he said, “Don’t worry about it. If you’re distracted, that’s God. If you’re not distracted, that’s also God. So, what’s the problem?”


Having no idea there was now an hour long wait at the door to get into the party, or that Brian was standing outside in the cold and rain, and temporarily soothed by Yoni’s wisdom, I danced for two fabulous dances with naturopathic doctor Eric Posen, who was generously given to me on loan by his partner, therapist and business consultant, Deena Chochinov. Eric is just one of those rare guys who really knows how to shake it. Glancing over my shoulder from time to time to locate Deena’s whereabouts, I teetered on my high heels, which I keep in my closet to take out once a year for this event, and wondered how much Eric’s bill would be for putting my feet and toes back into alignment after dancing on these elegant sticks.

After two dances, Deena gracefully reclaimed Eric and I danced with Nicole and Valerie for a while, and then sat outside under the heaters, talking with Shefa Siegel, When I goggled Shefa, I ended up on zoominfo and found out that he’d been an environmental journalist in Washington, DC and a contributor to The Tyee and Corpwatch. Shefa holds a bachelor's in religion from the University of Michigan and a master's in public policy from Tufts University in Boston.” We discussed journalistic issues and ethics and ate chocolate covered strawberries and Shefa told me he'd just got his Ph.D. from UBC.

By now, tons of people were dancing. There was Mike Magee, of Convergence, which offers a wide range of services for charitable foundations and non-governmental organizations in North America. Mike has been deeply involved with the Great Bear Rainforest campaign and is also co-chairman of Vision Vancouver. Beside him, was his son, Aiden, 13, who recently contemplated staging a race for a seat on the Vancouver School Board.

“Will he, or won’t he run for mayor?” MLA Gregor Robertson and his partner Amy Robertson were getting down on the dance floor along with the tall, blonde masseuse Lisa Edwards who has just moved to Vancouver to run a Coal Harbour spa, Charlie Murphy, cofounder of http://powerofhope.org/[The Power of Hope], a youth empowerment program, and his partner Eric. There was Vancouver City Councilor Peter Ladner talking with
Janice Abbott, executive director of Atira Women’s Resource Society. Karen Mahon, Executive Director of Hollyhock Leadership Institute wore a sequined top as she danced with Lou, whose last name I just don’t know yet, but who was looking very elegant with his hand on Karen’s waist.

The dancing picked up. Few were thinking of going home. But at 1:30 a.m., the restaurant staff began attempting to close down. No one seemed ready to let the evening go, however. About then, I met Michael Tippet, He's NowPublic's smart and tall founder. I'd only seen him in photographs and the real life incarnation was even better than the virtual one.

I got home at 2 a.m. all aglow. Brian was there!
After an hour of waiting in line at the door, he’d given up on getting into the party. Apparently, a lot of people hadn’t gotten in.

He was still a little drenched of spirit and I tried to cheer him up.

I told him how much I’d missed him and how many people had asked about him. I sure wished he’d been there, I said. I wished I could tell him it hadn't been that great.

"Tell the truth," he said.
"Well," I said, taking a good, long look at him and melting on the spot. "The party was fabulous... but not half as fabulous as you."

Editor's Note: This is the first of a regular VO
series designed to spotlight parties, fundraising events, and openings. Because throwing a great party or creating a great menu can be like painting a great painting, the column is named "Van Go," after the mad Dutch genius.