With savory hors d’oeuvres, wine courtesy of VOGA, and mini cupcakes from The Cupcake Stop, guests listened in as co-founding partners Corey Stanford, Nate Casey, and Ron Harrison presented a demo of the Blazetrak website to the crowd.

Blazetrak.com aims to connect aspiring hopefuls (aka: Users) with established celebrity talent (aka: Professionals), in exchange for GUARANTEED video feedback, in a guaranteed amount of time.  Users are able to search a huge database of highly sought-after (and until now, untouchable) professionals, sift through the types of “submissions” these pros are currently accepting, and select a relevant opportunity for which to submit.  Pros are able to scout and catalog talent for their upcoming projects and monetize their expertise by providing invaluable feedback to these users who would normally never get the chance to present to them, otherwise.

Guests at the Sneak Peek included: Kelly Samardak (MediaPost’s Just An Online Minute),  Matt Caldecutt (Paint the Town Red), Andrew Graham (Greentarget), Brett Petersel (Mashable), Nate Westheimer (organizer of the New York Tech Meetup),  Tiffany Winbush (Publicist), Dave Ford (Founder of Branded Evolution), Michael Gruen (Author of Twitter for Dummies), Yuli Ziv (Co-founder of My It Things & Fashion 2.0), Bob Bland (Founder of Brooklyn Royalty and The Arsenal), Delaina Dixon (TV reporter), Maegan Carberry (Truu Confessions / Media Personality), Charlie Oliver (Founder of ArtofTalk.tv), Brenda Dargan (Partnership Producer for MarthaStewart.com), Jessica Bailis (Digital Marketing at Universal Music Group), and Jenny Muller (writer for Sephora.com).

Blazetrak is set to launch on September 15th, 2009.  For more information on the launch you can contact me here.

[ALL PHOTOS BELOW courtesy of photo journalist extraordinaire, Kelly Samardak.  See all of her photos here].

*Part of the all-too-quickly consumed smorgasbord

*Co-founders of Blazetrak: Nate Casey, Corey Stanford, and Ron Harrison

*AMP3’s Sabina Ellahi, and My It Things’ Yuli Ziv

*Ron Harrison and Alyson Campbell (aka: me) chatting with the president of the New York Tech Meetup, Nate Westheimer about tech and impending root canals, among other things.

*Three peas in a pod: Andrew Graham, Brett Petersel, and Matthew Caldecutt, hanging out at my desk.

*The official sponsor of the wine for the evening: VOGA, available in both Pinot Grigio and Sparkling Pinot Grigio!

[Alyson Campbell for It's All Very PR]

The event featured a slew of impromptu fashion shows every 20 minutes throughout the evening, showcasing her new line, several customized shoes, and her bridal collection as well. The models were wearing dresses by Kathlin Argiro and jewelry by Lisa Linhardt, and the featured bridal gowns were by Lisa Krizner-George of Vanilla Pink. Live entertainment was provided by DJ Danny Ramirez and famed salsa pianist, “Pulpo,” and the hors d’oeuvres and mini desserts were courtesy of Las Chicas Bakery.

Guests were treated to discounted custom shoe ordering (20% of all shoes + Buy One, Get One for $40) in the private 2^nd floor Shoe Salon where event-goers could touch, feel, and try Burju on for themselves!

*Guests included: Christine Matava (Whom You Know), Michelle Madhok (Founder, SheFinds.com), Bryn Taylor (Managing Editor, SheFinds.com), Pamela Pekerman (Co-Founder, BagTrends.com), Martha Alburquerque (Founder, LelaLuxe.com), Wendy Toth (Blogger-in-Chief, ShoeTube.tv), Stacy Armand (Fashion Stylist), Alexi Panos (TV Host), Felicia Sullivan (Blogger/Author), Kim Weling (Fashion Stylist), Geraldine Laiz (WhatsWear.com), Qianna Smith (Fashion Editor, Essence Magazine), Brooke Johnston (Former Miss UK / Actress), Tinka Milinovic (European Popstar), Patty Hughes (Curvy Girl Style), Judy Dutton (Health Magazine), Carol Huang (MAXIM), Kiri Blakeley (Forbes Magazine), Erin Gell (Forbes Magazine), Andrew Graham (GreenTarget), Matt Caldecutt (Social Media Publicist and Event Goer Extraordinaire), Lisa Lacy (Freelancer Writer & Baker), Tiffany Winbush (Women Making Moves), and Dynelle Skinner (Borghese).

*Burju Shoes (first couple shoes are from the Bridal Collection)

*Men’s Shoes (Andrew Graham is totally getting the red ones on the far left!)

*The SheFinds.com Ladies: Bryn Taylor (Managing Editor), Michelle Madhok (CEO), and Rebekah (Assoc. Editor)

*more Burju Shoes on display

*Christine Matava of Whom You Know showed up rocking her “Mary Jane Rocks” Burju Shoes

*Designer Burju Perez with BagTrends.com Co-Founder, Pamela Pekerman

*A fellow event goer wearing some Burju Shoes (Note to Self: love the yellow w/ Leopard Print)

*Model rocking out some Burju Shoes on the feature light boxes

*Pretty, frilly, Burju goodness

*Fashion Stylist, Stacy Armand, with Designer, Burju Perez

*Designer Burju Perez w/ TV Host, Alexi Panos

*More Burju Shoes

*Brooke Johnston (Former Miss UK / Actress) w/ friend Tinka Milinovic (European Popstar)

*Me in a pair of Silver Metalic flower-adorned Burju Shoes, and please allow me to be the Case Study of the evening: I wore these shoes from about 5pm – 11pm without sitting down once (these are 3″ heels) and I still felt like I was walking on water by the end of the night. And I have problem feet! I am Alyson Campbell, I have wide feet, and I endorse this message!

*Photos couresty of Belkis Carrasco

[Alyson Campbell for It's All Very PR]

The DL Society is a civilized league “offering culinary enthusiasts the opportunity to consort with like-minded individuals.”   The society invites and encourages other foodies to join in as they explore some of the most raved-about  or up & coming restaurants, bars, and lounges, with the chance to meet the city’s best chefs, sommeliers and in this case of this week’s event: mixologists.

At The Eldridge, the lovely Lauren Scala was on site filming footage for Time Out as she interviewed master mixologist “Charlotte Voisey,” who put together the delectable menu pictured below. I tried the Solerno Blood Orange Belini, and it was as tasty as it sounds.

Video from the night will be up shortly here.

[Alyson Campbell for It's All Very PR]

The line is designed by Burju Perez: a dancer, dance-studio owner, and established choreographer.  Burju found herself wearing her commercial and more fashionable shoes out for a night on the town of dancing instead of her tried & true professional dance shoes, because existing dance shoes didn’t make the signature statement that she likes to with her style.  For Burju, style often supersedes comfort, even if it’s at the expense of her feet.  Soon, she recognized a niche for women who wanted the comfort, engineering and athletic support of a professional dance shoe, with the current style of your average Nine West or Steve Madden design.   So, she merged the two, and her shoes as she describes them, “fit like a sock,” and allow for you to stand on them for hours.

Now, she is selling to not just dancers, but women everywhere who need to be on their feet all day and still want to look good.  Dancers, professional women, and brides-to-be, are all coming to her to custom design their dream shoe for their ‘big day’ or for their ‘every day’ foot apparel.

Burju currently inventories over 50 styles of shoes (for men, women, and children) which can all be custom ordered in terms of color combination, width, height of heel, trim, detailing, and beadwork and are available internationally via the online store and in select retail boutiques worldwide.

*This tri-level event will feature: two fashion shows, live entertainment, discounted custom shoe ordering, and the private 2nd floor Shoe Salon will allow event-goers to touch, feel, and try Burju on for themselves.

The Launch of Burju Shoes

Tuesday, April 21^st, 7pm-10pm

Nest Lounge & Nightclub

215 West 28^th Street (between 7^th & 8^th)

MUST RSVP directly to: BurjuShoes@AMP3pr.com

This year’s exhibit, “Heart Attack,” differs from last year’s portrait-style exhibit, “Call Me Crazy,” in that it is much more open to interpretation and varies in shapes, sizes, and price points.  Standing 55 pieces in full—Amanda has taken her 2009 audience into consideration, and priced out her pieces starting as low as $75/each (on up to $1200), so that all exhibit-going, art-lovers can fathom taking home a piece–if they like what they see!

Finding herself in a happy place personally, emotionally, and professionally—“Heart Attack” will reflect Amanda’s bright, colorful and fun energy.

The show will hang the full month of March at the Ward Nasse. To RSVP to this event, please email us at: AmandaDolan@AMP3pr.com.

*Plastic Fantastic by Amanda Dolan

[Alyson Campbell for It's All Very PR]

The topic at hand was the “State of the New York Blogosphere” and was moderated by Mashable’s Adam Hirsch. In true techie form, the venue offered a separate “Bloggers Lounge” where the talks were being live-streamed so that those covering the event had ample plug-in resources and could blog from the comfort of a poofy leather couch instead of the crowded, glass-clinking room where the actual event took place.

The Run Down:

First up was, Matt Buchanan, the Associate Editor of Gizmodo. A very charming speaker, Matt spoke literally on what defines the NY Blogosphere.

Next up, Alana Taylor, an NYU Journalism Student & Contributing Writer for Mashable. A blogger herself, Alana’s message was about putting yourself out there. Even if you don’t actively engage in all social networks, she recommended signing up and putting your name on there, so that people can find you and connect with you, if they’re looking. She also had an interesting perspective as a student, talking about how the professors at NYU are being forced to keep up with social media and the digital age so that they can teach their students about the changing landscape of journalism, instead of the other way around.

3rd up, Caroline McCarthy, a Staff Writer for CNET News / CBS Interactive. I loved Caroline’s speech. She has a story telling way about her that made what she had to say fun, interesting and relevant. She plugged that everything is moving towards video content right now. She finished with a tid bit on Obama; Obama recently took an interview with The Huffington Post (an online-only publication) and this was the first official “new media” interview a President has ever done. Her thought on this? “I’m surprised it took new media this long.”

4th up, Nicholas Carlson, Editor, The Business Insider (formerly known as The Silicon Alley Insider). Nick had lots of funny metaphors to illustrate his points. He urged us to “Use Explicit Headlines.” We are not limited by characters or title length as are journalists in traditional print, so get right to your point in your headline, you can be more risky. He also reminds us that sarcasm rarely works when it’s written. His advice to PR folks? Don’t call to follow-up 5 minutes after you send an email (are people really doing this!?).

Final up, Bryan Keefer, Director of Product for The Daily Beast. He opened with, “Bloggers are thirsty and broke,” and attempted to discuss online advertising and revenue models for the remainder of his time. Ultimately, he feels advertisers are greatly undervaluing the online space. Because it is so easy to measure online ads, via click through, conversions, etc, he feels that advertisers are neglecting to also count the brand exposure / brand recognition of those who don’t click through, an intangible result often considered the core value of advertising in traditional print.

My Twitter Feed:

I nod my hat to all of the speakers of the evening, it takes courage to get up and speak in front of a rowdy crowd, especially one as informed and as intelligent as the mashable crowd!

[Alyson Campbell for It's All Very PR]

Though there were a series of panels each day that intrigued me (including: Art & Social Media, The Social Media Communications Summit, Launching  a Media Brand from Scratch, and Digital Hip-Hop), a demanding week forced me to partake only in the post-work festivities.

On Tuesday Night, we went to the “I Heart PR Newser” pre-Valentine’s Day soiree at Aspen and cozied up by the fire with a few of our favorite PR friends.  Then, I strolled down to the Next New Networks’ “New Network Party” for the launch of their Barely Political sister brand, Barely Digital.   There, I ran into (client) Amber Lee Ettinger, AKA The Obama Girl (who is part of the Barely Political family); NY Tech Meetup Organizer (and friend), Nate Westheimer; Huffington Post turned Daily Beast reporter, the lovely (Canadian!) Rachel Sklar;  Art of Talk Founder, Miss Charlie Oliver; Gary Sharma of Gary’s Guide AKA “Guy With A Red Tie”; Blogger, Nichelle Stephens; Publicist and avid event-goer, Matthew Caldecutt, among others.

*Jackie Brook (AMP3), Termeh Mazhari (AMP3) & Alyson Campbell (AMP3) @ “I heart PR Newser”
Photo Courtesy of Kelly Samardak of Media Post’s, “Just An Online Minute”

Wednesday night were the much anticipated Shorty Awards, a newly conceived awards show designed to commend the best creators of short content on Twitter, in a series of niche categories. After not securing a press pass to this event (the list was “full”), I watched the live streamed footage from home instead.  The show was hosted by none-other-than MC Hammer, and not-surprisingly, Hammer makes a killer MC!

Thursday night, me & The AMP3 Gang got dolled up for Twestival, yes that’s right, a Twitter Festival.  All proceeds went to a fantastic organization, Charity:Water, that delivers clean drinking water to underdeveloped countries.  In the end, we were collectively responsible for funding 3 more wells in Ethiopia.  All of the tweeps were out in full effect, including @UrbanAthlete, @Kibby, @socialmedium, @Andrew_Graham, @Brett, and about 600 more.  Eclectic Method finished out the night with an amazing set, mashing up classic TV and film moments (with help of several giant big screens) into the music.

*Jackie & I with two Mashable fans
Photo Courtesy of Kelly Samardak of Media Post’s, “Just An Online Minute”

Unfortunately, I was missing in action on closing night (Friday), but read via Twitter that the DJ was an awesome, interactive one, accepting song requests via SMS text message.  Oh the techieness of it all…

Though it’s starting to feel like every week is Social Media Week, I’m already looking forward to the next official one.

[Alyson Campbell for It's All Very PR]

[Alyson Campbell for It's All Very PR]

The evening’s book launch was celebrating the Top 10 New (and subsequently Best) Hotels in “The Americas”. Whether or not these are in any particular order, I’m not sure, but I’d be happy to win a 3 night stay (which they were raffling off, still waiting for the phone to ring…) at even just the NYC Location of Choice (the Lucky #7 pick and host of the evening’s soiree) for a luxurious quasi-escape from New York reality.

For all my travelers, here is the list:

1. La Purificadora (Puebla, Mexico)
2. Winvian (Litchfield Hills, CT, USA)
3. Fasano (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
4. The Huntley Hotel (Santa Monica, CA, USA)
5. Remota (Puerto Natales, Chile)
6. Amanyara (Providenciales, Turks and Caicos)
7. The Bowery Hotel (New York, NY USA)
8. La Suite (Rio de Janerio, Brazil)
9. Chambers (Minneapolis, MN, USA)**
10. Awasi (San Pedro de Atacama, Chile)

**Speaking of Minneapolis: did you know it ranked as 3rd (out of 10) for “Best City for Singles”, beating out NYC as 8th!? Minneapolis has been popping up everywhere lately, apparently its the new “black”.

The rest of the evening was thoroughly enjoyable, especially the passed hors d’oeuvres, which involved your traditional fare, but more importantly the ultra-mini-melt-in-your-mouth chocolate-chip-&-creme-cookie-dessert-sandwiches that followed behind them. The networking was good, too, I met “John,” an entrepreneur, who is soon to launch a city-guide of sorts that will “cater to a more chic crowd” (much like this one) of which he tells me I’m not allowed to mention on my blog just yet…

The night closed out with a stellar Gift Bag (which was perfectly branded to fit this event, with not too much and not too little, I might add), including:

• Beautiful coffee table book (which they were releasing) of these Top 10 hotel destinations
• $50 gift card to John Varvatos
• CD by Sagatiba “The Spirit of Brasil” with “cool suggestions of jazz, undulating rhythms, sensual urban grooves, and dozens of genres in the mix. Enjoy your taste: www.sagatiba.com”
• Sagatiba “the Spirit of Brasil” martini shaker (Sagatiba was on Open Bar for the night; quite tasty)
• A boxed up present wrapped in “Huntley” ribbons (reflecting the branding of the Santa Monica Huntley Hotel which made the list) with their match box and aromatheraputic candle (smelling of hotel soap) enclosed.
• Leather HSBC luggage tag with enclosed address slip
• AND best of all: White Terry Cloth SLIPPERS with a B engraved, which I will assume stands for The Bowery Hotel.

…of which I immediately put on my feet upon entry into my apartment and exit out of my new black 3-inch pumps, and because they were just so deliciously comfy, I actually wore them to bed! A perfect end to a pleasant evening.

(Alyson Campbell for Its All Very PR)