Chamber of Commerce Celebrates Women's Council
About Town covers Hoboken events. Send an invitation to alanskontra@hotmail.com
Hoboken Chamber of Commerce President Mike Novak speaks at a recent Chamber luncheon.
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The Hoboken Chamber of Commerce held a barbecue on Thursday to celebrate the formation of its new Women in Business Council.
About Town went of course, since we try to attend any social function that involves putting meat on fire. We go to all the Chamber events anyway, and we wanted to attend this one especially because we feel its important to recognize the accomplishments of ceiling-shattering women entrepreneurs. Also, we've wildcatted for chicks everywhere else, so why not for look for a Lady About Town with a good job.
As we've said before about previous Chamber events, this ain't your daddy's Chamber of Commerce. The majority of the 120 plus attendees to the barbecue at the Hoboken Business Center were women, and of those we reckon the majority were younger than 40.
We saw several female pillars of the community, including restauranteur Joyce Flinn, attorneys Kim Glatt, Corinne Mullen and Marie Stinson, doctors Laura Brayton and Kathia Roberts, marketing maven Elizabeth Barry, Republicans of Hoboken Chair Diana Davis, Project Play organizers Zabrina Stoffel and Peta Moran, Vanessa Falco of the Jubilee Center's teen program, Hop Bus logo designer Susan Newman and Patch's own parenting columnist and (co-founder of the upcoming Metro Mom Expo) Kathy Zucker.
A few gents were there too, including Councilman Ravi Bhalla, Freeholder Anthony Romano, developer Frank Raia, Reverend Geoff Curtiss, Hoboken Tech Meetup founder Aaron Price and Billy Noonan, who was still shining from running a great Memorial Day parade.
The guests ate courtesy of Chamber member Ellen Savastano, who owns a catering company called the Secret Chef. Savastano slapped a propane tank to a long grill on wheels and smoked beef all afternoon. It was awesome. People kept coming back for third and fourth servings.
While eating guests listened to Hoboken singer and guitarist Ray Greiche, who serenaded the crowd with an especially nice rendition of Buddy Holly's “Everyday.”
After the meal Chamber president Michael Novak addressed the audience. According to Chamber vice-president Greg Dell'Aquila, the women's council was Novak's idea.
"This is an amazing group that will bring significant and substantial value to the Chamber," Novak said about the new women's council.
Novak then introduced Mayor Dawn Zimmer and thanked her for attending.
“It's great when the Mayor comes,” he said. “She comes to everything.” Just weeks before Zimmer had accompanied several Hoboken Chamber members to a luncheon with the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce.
Zimmer, Hudson County's first female mayor, first mentioned the presence of Audra Carter and Maria Diaz, Hoboken's first female fire captains. She then applauded the formation of the new women's council and also promoted her administration's plans to bolster local business, including the Shop Hoboken initiative and a redesign of the city signage and community bulletin boards (the ones with withering flyers advertising the upcoming Yo La Tengo show on July 19, 2006.)
Mayor Zimmer also saluted the Chamber president. “Who would have thought that it would take Mike Novak to unite all the business women in Hoboken,” she joked. She capped her remarks by announcing that she too would join the Chamber.
“I very much want to be a part of this,” she said.
Nineteen other women joined Mayor Zimmer in registering for the Chamber, making the group more inclusive, more diverse, and more likely to make a positive impact on the role the business community can play in Hoboken.
“We're bringing life to the Chamber,” women's council member Elizabeth Barry said. “It's a unique way for the Chamber to grow.”
Bringing life - a telling phrase about a traditionally male civic group strengthened by adding women. Because just as this ain't your daddy's Chamber of Commerce anymore, it is quickly becoming more your mama's.
Alan Skontra was a big dork who never went anywhere. Then he started writing the About Town column for Patch, and now he's everywhere. Have a hot tip on an event in Hoboken? Send an invitation, questions and comments too, to alanskontra@hotmail.com. And if he gets enough followers he might actually post his first tweet @ twitter.com/alanskontra.
UptownGirl
12:25 pm on Monday, May 30, 2011
Elizabeth Barry's quote "We're bringing life to the chamber". You go girl, because Michael is not bringing anything to the Chamber or his members.
David A. Liebler
1:53 pm on Monday, May 30, 2011
#uptowngirl that could not be farther from the truth. Mike Novak and the rest of the board have completely transformed the Hoboken Chamber of Commerce from a "old man's" group to a New and Exciting group that hosts plenty of great events.
It is also exciting to see Mike Novak and our Mayor attending events together. Now that all the city council elections are over, hopefully all the different political sides can come together for the betterment of Hoboken and stop all the political trash talking and work together!
Hobbs
4:07 pm on Monday, May 30, 2011
It would be nice to think Novack was willing to put his trashy tweets and personal political agenda aside at least for a while.
Hopefully for Hoboken he will actually live up to the expectaions of his public relations . ;-)
Laurie Michelson
6:51 am on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
If you were truly involved you would know that it was
Mike Novak who started the WBC. As a boardmember for WBC and the Chamber, it's the first time in 23 years of owning a business in Hoboken I feel I have a voice. contrary to what is being said here, I have Mike Novak to thank for that. I also have no problem commenting on behalf of myself as opposed to some anonymous screen name that makes it impossible for a person to know who anyone is. Lastly if there is a political angle well so be it at least it's a different angle that's not me, me, me.
UptownGirl
8:01 am on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
I am happy you use your own name, would you like a brownie? A trophy perhaps?
khoboken
8:21 am on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
What, no reps from NOvak's favorite not for profit, Baby Mommas, Inc.?
Journey
9:28 am on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Face it folks anonymous screen names have been around longer than the World Wide Web. As someone who knows people that have been stalked online then offline by an unbalanced individual, there is good reason to protect yourself online. The people you are addressing your comments to are not the only ones reading them and there are nuts out there.
UptownGirl
10:09 am on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Journey is spot on. I know David Liebler personally and he is a good person yet he uses his real name online and people bash him left and right and create untrue rumors about him. People bash his business and step on his good name causing an unwanted buzz of unneeded attention. He chooses to be open and while I applaud him I think he is making a mistake. I will never tell David who I am and I appreciate my anonymity. In fact very few people use their real names and out of those few only a handful comment on a regular basis, as David does. Mike Novak uses an anonymous name on the blogs as does all the other heavy hitters, and while we try to guess who they are we are never really sure. When Patch says we have to use our real names, then we cross the bridge then.
Redrider765
10:14 am on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
He is a good minion who constantly repeats the talking points of the Mason/Russo crowd and gets bashed for that. And I as an individual do not patronize his site nor will I spend my money at businesses that hire him. That is my choice and I stand by it.
David A. Liebler
10:44 am on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Blogging under your real name is not required and not for everyone. Yes, there are crazies out there and yes I should be concerned for myself and my business. I choose to blog under my real name. I choose to let people know what I am thinking, for better or for worse. I stand by my convictions and am not afraid of the 15 or so Heavy Zimmer Bloggers that bash me. Honestly, the more they antagonize me, the MORE, I will get involved. I do not Hate Zimmer, contrary to belief. I think she is doing an OK job. I expect more and I expect faster results. Government is working to slow in Hoboken. Hopefully now with a council majority and a $20MM check book we can see the OPEN SPACE we are getting. Hoboken is a town that I LOVE and just because I do not agree with everything that “the other side” as you put it says does not make me a bad person and subject to such harsh comments. I believe if you are going to blog and say horrible things then you should own up to your comments and blog under your real name. OUR online blogging community can have heated debates but there is no reason to try and destroy people. We should have more civility in Hoboken and rise above the cyber bullying and attacking.
UptownGirl
11:38 am on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
15? You left off a zero and I feel thats more accurate and that # is both Zimmertinis and Mason nation
FAP
11:58 am on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
David the problem is that you're seen as being disingenuous. If improvements are moving too slow why didn't you call out any of the incumbent council people on this before the election? How about calling Mason or Russo out on trying to put the parking Authority in danger of defaulting on its obligations? What about frittering away the City's reserve fund that we KNOW for a fact we'll need in the next 12 months.
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Dave what damns you is the inconsistent positions you've taken and your inability to call out the Old Guard when they start playing Russian roulette with our futures. That's why people think you're a putz.
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The keys to changing peoples' mind on this are yours. Do you have the courage to stand up to Russo or Mason when they endanger our City’s fiscal health. Can you stand up to Ursa when they attack our quality of life with outsized developments?
Journey
12:09 pm on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Things that have happened to people I have known online.
Dead cat and bible verses on the door of their apartment building held up with a butchers knife.
Home broken into and beloved pet killed.
Stalked.
Granted I've been online since the early 80's. There are very sick people out there, consider that those three examples are 3 different people from different parts of the country.
UptownGirl
12:20 pm on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
"Granted I've been online since the early 80's" You means the 90's? There was no net in the early 80's. In Hoboken alone in the last few years there was an altercation between Lane and another blogger I believe? Many people who comment here have had bikes stolen or vandalized and have received crank calls at all hours of the night. A expect someone being killed in the next year.
Journey
1:32 pm on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
I started out on BBS's in about 1982. My childhood stomping grounds were among this list.
http://bbslist.textfiles.com/609/ 300 baud modem and anonymous ID and off you go... Then there was Prodigy and other things now long gone.
FAP
12:44 pm on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Believe it or not the Net, in one form or another, has been around since the early 70's. USENET alone has been around since the early 80's and don't forget the BBS systems that existed.
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I don't know if Journey has been online since the 70's but some people have been.