NY WICI Matrix Award Highlights

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending New York Women in Communication’s Matrix Awards for the first time. Some highlights:

- Brian Williams – hubba hubba! Not only is he charming, intelligent and soothing, but he’s quite the looker as well. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. His honoree, Campbell Brown, wasn’t too shabby either.

- S. Epatha Merkerson – so that is how you pronounce her name. After 15 years of watching “Law & Order” religiously, I finally had an answer. She seemed genuinely humbled to be introduced by Jeff Zucker of NBC, going in for a professional handshake but instead being engulfed in a hug.

- Donny Deutsch – I am not usually a fan but I thought his introduction of Linda Sawyer was really genuine, leaving me feeling like I would love to have her as a boss.

- Monica Langley – I wasn’t familiar with her work at the Wall Street Journal but I thought her speech was really interesting, discussing how she used her intuition and people skills to go beyond the headline to get the story.

- Leslee Dart – I interviewed her for the Matrix Journal so was really interested in what she had to say. But first Jessica Lange and Tom Hanks raved about her endlessly. Their publicist. I was shocked that they would show up, let alone sing her praises like they did. Publicity is such a thankless job but certainly not for Leslee yesterday. Tom Hanks was charming but did anyone expect anything less.

- Sherri Rollins Westin - serenaded by Elmo, what more can I say? And she apparently has a really funny daughter.

So glad I went and have become a part in the past year of such a powerful and rewarding organization. Who knows, maybe one day I will be the PR recipient.