2016 American Made Speakers and Facebook LIVE
Our special fifth annual American Made Summit continues to inform and inspire small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs across the country.
Hundreds attended this year’s event. And, a large part of the American Made mission was to ensure visitors could learn from me, my editors, and some of today’s innovative business leaders. The 2016 Summit included panel discussions on topics ranging from how to financially support a business to stirring-up the industry to seeding the future. Our program provided information, inspiration, and humor to a very enthusiastic crowd.
I want to thank all our sponsors for helping to make this American Made Summit such a success: Handmade at Amazon, Milk-Bone, Bob's Red Mill, Toyota, Libman, 1 Hotel Central Park, Lyft, and MailChimp. I also want to thank all our speakers who participated and shared their expertise with our attendees. It was a great day. Enjoy more of our American Made photos.
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- This was our American Made Summit stage under the backdrop of a large United States banner printed by Spoonflower. http://www.spoonflower.com
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- Our doors opened before 9am, and the rows filled up very quickly. We expected hundreds of visitors to attend our Summit.
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- Paul Delmiche and Jim Brennan shot the entire speaker series.
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- I started the program by welcoming all our guests to our fifth annual American Made Summit. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- The first ones to take the stage were this year’s Honorees. They included Laura Lee Brown from 21C Museum Hotels, Robert Rising of NYCity Slab, Warren Brand of M&S Schmalberg Flowers, Dylan Knutson of Loki Fish Company, Molly Gean of Harry’s Berries, Trina DasGupta from Girls Who Code, Annie Novak from Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, Sarah Bellos of Stony Creek Colors, and Nicolas Jammet of Sweetgreen. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- All our entrepreneurial attendees were eager to learn how they could help their businesses grow and succeed. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- One of the biggest challenges of starting a business involves financing. The first interview was with my friend, and host of CNBC’s “Mad Money”, and co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”, Jim Cramer. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- The “American Fashion: Timeless Traditions in a Global Marketplace” was a very engaging discussion moderated by Deborah Needleman, editor-in-chief of T Magazine: The New York Times. Panelists included chief creative director of Tailored Brands Inc., Joseph Abboud, and Zac Posen, designer and founder of House of Z and creative director of Brooks Brothers Womenswear. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- Here I am with Zac. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- I also interviewed actress, and founder and chief creative officer of The Honest Company, Jessica Alba. (Photo by Mike Krautter) https://www.honest.com/
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- We talked about her company and how it has developed since it was founded in 2011. The Honest Company emphasizes non-toxic household products to supply the marketplace for ethical consumerism. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- After our appearance on stage, Jessica and I took a quick “selfie”. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- Our next panel was moderated by restaurateur, television personality and my friend, Chef Geoffrey Zakarian. It was a food panel discussion with founder and CEO of Marley Spoon, Fabian Siegel, co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen, Nicolas Jammet, farm director at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Jack Algiere, and actress and chief brand officer and co-founder of Foodstirs, Sarah Michelle Gellar.
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- Across the clerestory, attendees took photos and shared them on their own social media platforms. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- I posed with our food panel for a quick snapshot after their discussion. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- This space, off our clerestory, was set-up with several couches. Attendees were able to connect and network in this Toyota Networking lounge. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- Toyota provided a craft project for our attendees – a DIY leather cuff for drinks using leather from Oowee, a custom leather beverage accessory company. (Photo by Mike Krautter) https://www.ooweeproducts.com/
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- Participating attendees were given a piece of leather already punched with holes. Crafters simply laced up the drink holder from bottom to top.
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- This is the finished “cozy”. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- Here I am with Toyota’s National Sponsorship Manager, Danielle Benjamin. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- In another area of our Headquarters, I conducted several Facebook LIVE segments. In this one, Aviya Landesberg, New York City marketing lead from Lyft, spoke about the importance of setting a company apart from the rest. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- After lunch, co-founder and general partner at Tengram Capital Partners, and Chairman of our own Sequential Brands Group, Bill Sweedler, hosted a discussion entitled “Entrepreneurial War Stories”.
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- Bill sat down with Chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, Barry Sternlicht. They are friends and talked about how their careers began and developed. Do you know… one of Bill’s earliest jobs was washing my car?
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- During another Facebook LIVE, I spoke with Jaclyn Lebre, category manager at Amazon Handmade. I am so proud about the vast number of entrepreneurs we have encouraged across the country. We talked about some of the special marketplace makers from this year’s Summit and on our American Made shop on the Amazon Handmade site. (Photo by Mike Krautter) https://www.amazon.com/b?node=12638265011
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- In one of our studios, we held a special “Meet the Editors” for Summit gold ticket holders. Elizabeth Graves, Melissa Goldstein, Melissa Ozawa, Dawn Sinkowski, Greg Lofts, and Sarah Carey talked about their jobs, what they loved most about them, and then took questions from the audience. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- Sarah Carey and Kevin Sharkey conducted another “Meet the Editors” later that day. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- The dynamic CMO of GE, Linda Boff, talked about “Big Business with a Start-Up Mentality”. She spoke with VP of manufacturing at Shinola, Jennifer Guarino, founder and CEO of MikMak, Rachel Tipograph, and co-founder and CEO of Knotch, Anda Gansca – leaders at companies that work with GE. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- Our own Chef Emeril Lagasse also held a cooking demo for VIP ticket buyers. He made a delicious gumbo. (Photo by Mike Krautter) http://emerils.com
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- Emeril also talked about his book, “Essential Emeril: Favorite Recipes and Hard-Won Wisdom from My Life in the Kitchen.” (Photo by Mike Krautter) https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Emeril-Favorite-Recipes-Hard-Won/dp/0848744780
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- This audience loved listening to Emeril’s stories and cooking tips. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- And at the end, everyone was given a sample of his mouthwatering gumbo. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- Co-owner of The Gym @Bodyfit, and my trainer, Mary Tedesco, participated in this year’s American Made Summit by leading our audience through an afternoon stretch.
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- The Libman Cleaning Crew was hard at work throughout the day keeping the event space nice and clean.
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- This is Brad Moore, MSL integrated account director, with marketing director, Emily Payton.
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- During the entire day, attendees met in the lounge to share business ideas. Taylor Creative Inc. supplied all the furniture. http://taylorcreativeinc.com
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- My dogs, GK, Peluche, Bete Noire, and Creme Brûlée, also attended American Made and participate in a Facebook LIVE with me and Danielle Barran from Milk-Bone. (Photo by Mike Krautter) https://www.milkbone.com/
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- Milk-Bone was one of our American Made Summit sponsors. We talked about their biscuits – Milk-Bone has been making dog snacks since 1908. Here I am showing the different sizes before giving them to my patient dogs. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- Afterwards, I posed with the Milk-Bone team – Cody Adams, Danielle Barran, Sonya Thomas, Crystal Adams, and Tina White. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- Here I am with Chef Geoffrey Zakarian on another Facebook Live segment. We made delicious Maple shortbread cookies with flour from Bob’s Red Mill. (Photo by Mike Krautter) http://www.bobsredmill.com/
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- Geoffrey has been on my television and radio shows – we always have such a fun time cooking together. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- Bob’s Red Mill is a brand produced by Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods of Milwaukie, Oregon. The company was established in 1978 and has been making natural, certified organic, and gluten-free milled grain products ever since. We love Bob’s Red Mill and often use it in our kitchens.
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- I was so excited to announce Bob’s red mill new campaign The Unites States of Cookies. Bloggers from all 50-states will be telling is their favorite recipe from their home state, so visit bobsredmill.com/cookies to see them all and to share your favorites!
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- Everyone in our audience got a cookie.
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- Editor-in-chief of Living, Elizabeth Graves, moderated the “Seeding the Future” discussion with co-founder and marketing director o S2G Ventures and Alejandro Velez, co-founder of Back to the Roots, a 2013 American Made Honoree.
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- Here I am with Alejandro. This cereal is one of newest ventures for Back to the Roots and Sodexo. The product will be included in 4300 schools nationwide. (Photo by Mike Krautter) https://backtotheroots.com
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- I also spoke with Megan Smith, United States Chief Technology Officer about how technology has changed the way everyone does business. (Photo by Mike Krautter)
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- At the end of the day, in Celebration of Toyota’s 5th anniversary of sponsoring American Made, they wanted to spotlight an up and coming business whose newly formed company is already driving innovation in their industry and community. Toyota’s Danielle Benjamin joined us for the presentation to their winner, Dena Molnar from WOVNS. (Photo by Mike Krautter) http://www.toyota.com
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- It was such an excellent American Made Summit – full of information and inspiration. Tomorrow, I will share all the different foods we enjoyed during the day long symposium.
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