Acclaimed filmmaker, art advisor Alexandra Fairweather of Shelter Island and Eric Goodman, an M & A specialist with a premier international bank, the Millennial co-founders of Ivy Untapped and co- publishers of Fairweather Magazine, unveiled a new members-only web site, www.untapped.me, at a by-invitation-press-and-potential-members launch event at (appropriately) the Yale Club in Manhattan on Tuesday, November 19th during a reception sponsored by Kiss Mix Cocktails. Guest Hosts included Dana Prussian, Sarah Lebovitz and Ramon Torres. Over 150 guests from the Ivy League and Seven Sisters schools – as well as grads from Stanford, UCLA and Technion in Haifa, Israel and other top institutions – filled the elegant penthouse with its sweeping views of midtown Manhattan.
The website is intended to turn deflated Ivy League job seekers into confident entrepreneurs and is regarded by the pair as “social media with a purpose.” Ivy Untapped will give members the chance to “create profile pages, collaborate, brainstorm, and work together to untap potential and ultimately create opportunities from within,” says Goodman. Fairweather adds, “Our activity will not only exist online, but also offline through in-person events and consultations where Ivy League students and alumni can… meet successful entrepreneurs and eventually develop their own entrepreneurial opportunities in an environment that supports creative and out-of-the-box thinking.”
Referring to recent grads from all schools, the AP noted that “[they] are more likely to work as waiters, waitresses, bartenders and food-service helpers rather than engineers, physicists, chemists and mathematicians combined.”
And The Huffington Post explained that “53.6% of bachelor’s degree holders under the age of 25 in 2012 were jobless or underemployed…”
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Raphael Shapiro, George Hoffman, and Stephanie Gamble. (Photo: R. Cole/SocietyAllure.com) |
While guests sipped on all natural cocktails from Kiss Mix cocktails and nibbled on such delectables as tuna carpaccio, Fairweather and Goodman explained how their concept was already proving solid with two new companies. The pair along with a team of their fellow Ivy Leaguers launched this summer the first edition of Fairweather a glossy magazine with an online edition devoted to art, culture and travel. As well, with a group of their peers, they are preparing for the roll-out of a new beverage line out of California and creating meaningful jobs for their network.
The co-founders, both Columbia grads who are well connected in what is known as “the Ivy League community,” intend to visit all Ivy League campuses to both help garner membership and to consult with administration, educators and career advisors to solicit mentors, speakers and workshop facilitators for their members. They also plan to strongly advocate for the schools’ development of formal, on-campus courses and counseling protocols that teach students entrepreneurial skills and encourage such professional efforts.
“We know that not everyone can be the next Mark Zuckerberg,” says Goodman, referring to the young co-founder of Facebook. Fairweather adds, “And not everyone even wants to do that. But a lot of people want to have something of their own, something they love and believe in and can develop into a successful business, whether it’s small, medium or large.”
The duo also understand that it’s not just Ivy Leaguers who have talent or need help to succeed in the new marketplace. “We’re starting with the community we know best, and we’ll learn, from and with them, how to make the whole network work best,” says Fairweather. Once that’s achieved, they’ll expand their efforts to two more sites/operations: an all-inclusive College Untapped, as well as High School Untapped, believing it’s never too soon to prepare young people for a do-it-yourself route to success.
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Tiana Pidgeon, Brooke Abbot, Emily Pries, Phoebe Fairweather, Rhea Kothari, Christine Pries, and Alina Sodano. (Photo: R. Cole/SocietyAllure.com) |
Fairweather and Goodman are themselves already, individually, successful. Fairweather, the step-daughter of famed artist John Chamberlain, is a filmmaker (she started at age 14), former art gallery director, current self-employed art investment advisor (she sold her first Picasso before she was 20), and co-manager (with her mother) of the exhibition and sale of Chamberlain’s work.
She and Goodman are also the co-publishers of a new print and online culture and lifestyle quarterly magazine, Fairweather. Goodman’s background includes initial college study at NYU, working as a day-trader while at Columbia, and landing an investment banking job with a premier global investment bank right after graduation. He’s also had lifelong training as a classical pianist with stints as an accompanist to Julliard opera students as well as with the Julliard and Columbia orchestras. But working in finance was his true goal and he is now a notable hedge fund analyst with a prominent investment firm. In addition, Fairweather and Goodman have worked together on meaningful non-profit projects.
Scores of excited guests signed up for the new group before picking up their gift bags filled with Kiss mix’s unique cocktails in a can, fragrant candles courtesy of Level Naturals, Jewelry generously provided by Babi Knows Best, a new online jewelry retail company launching next month and a hot off the press copy of the latest Fairweather Magazine which features Fairweather and Goodman astride a blimp hovering over the Empire State Building.
