Making Room by Gather
Hospitality. What do you think of when you hear that word?
For some it's old school 'stuffy' entertaining for others it's something to do with the hotel industry. One thing is for sure, as a culture we're not talking about it much.
Food * Design * Relationships have seemed to have taken a back seat to what our culture focuses on and values yet...we find ourselves in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. Something has to change, it's time to get back to our tables, and we're making room for it!
Making Room by Gather invites you into a new conversation on everyday hospitality. One that rewrites the way we approach opening your doors and filling your tables. Shifting the narrative from 'how does this make me look' to 'how does this make you feel' these buildable conversations aspire to inspire connection through everyday gathering.
Kayty's chic and a little quirky interview style will make you feel like you're sitting with a friend talking about how to grow in confidence as an everyday host. You can expect conversations from navigating challenging relationship dynamics to foundational cooking techniques and everything in between.
Whether you are a seasoned host or looking to develop new friendships and grow in your skills for the first time, there is a seat at the table. Join us weekly for new conversations with expert guests and with Kayty in her beloved Date with Kayt episodes. Continue the conversation @gatheritentionalliving
Making Room by Gather
Fancy Can be Fun, Simple Can Always Be Special w/ NYC Event Curator Mary Giuliani
I don't know friends, I know you're not supposed to have favorites- but there was something REALLY special about this conversation. Stop what you're doing and tune in, TRUST me.
Mary Giuliani, a celebrated author and expert in NYC hospitality, shares her journey through the world of event planning and personal storytelling. From aspiring to be on SNL to hosting events for NYC ballet. To encouragement to those walking through infertility and conversation about gourmet mozzarella sticks, this is not a conversation you'll want to miss.
Mary shares her story authentically and will make anyone listening feel deeply seen, inspired and a sense of belonging even through the screen. With a glimpse into life in NYC, and with a few new books to add to your reading list this year, I am ecstatic to bring you this conversation.
Hey everyone, welcome back to Making Room. I am so glad you're here. If you are watching this video, I stepped straight on my ring light right before we started this conversation, but we're going for it. We're going for it. Today's conversation is going to be a really fun one. I love talking to people in the hospitality industry, in the event space, especially those with experience that I don't personally have, and our guest today, mary Giuliani, is an author, an event planner, and she has had some incredible experience that I'm very excited to learn more about and to share with you guys. You guys know that I love aesthetic, I love beauty, I love intentional design, I love food, I love all of it, and she just encompasses all of that so well, and so I'm excited to bring her platform to you. Well, if you do not know who Mary is, here's a little bit more about her Three-time author of all of these titles are perfection, but the Cocktail Party Eat, drink, play, recover, Tiny Hot Dogs, a Memoir in Small Bites and I love this one. I have to get myself a copy. How to lose friends and influence no one. That sounds like such a powerful, powerful message. She is a party lifestyle expert.
Speaker 1:Mary Giuliani, founded Mary Giuliani Catering and Events in 2020. Oh my gosh, why is 2025 in my head? 2005,? Based on a love for entertaining, storytelling, food and hospitality, for 20 years, mary and her team have created events for the brightest names in art, fashion and entertainment sets. In addition to founding MGCE, mary has appeared on Billions, the Barefoot Contessa, the Today Show, good Morning America and was a featured lifestyle expert on the Rachel Ray Show for over 10 years. All such fun names that we all know and love.
Speaker 1:Well, we are going to dive into this and talk about what's coming for her in just a few minutes, but before we do, you guys have heard about Feast and Fettle, if you've listened to the show at all over the last few months, and, my goodness, as we're entering this weird season of like in between winter spring, we don't want to spend time over the stove. We've been spending the holiday season cooking. We want to get ready for the spring and all that's ahead. Right, lives are busy and Feast and Fettle wants to come alongside you and make your life easier and more delicious. It is private, chef-like meals, delivered straight to your door. You're not cooking anything, you're not opening packages, no weird textures, whether you need help with the kids' lunches or just want a healthy snack for you? That's where I'm at currently. I'm a little hungry. They want to have your pantry and your fridge stocked with things that you can feel good about. So head on over to Feast and Fettle F-E-T-T-L-E dot com and use Head on over to Feast and Fettle F-E-T-T-L-Ecom and use code gather with the numbers 25, gather 25 for $25 off your first week and, trust me, they do flavor super, super well. And take the break. You deserve it.
Speaker 1:Hi, I'm Katie, a hospitality educator and the host of Making Room by Gather podcast. I am set to see our communities get back to the table through hospitality, but it wasn't always this way. My husband and I moved to Thailand and through it I experienced some loneliness and with it I was given a choice to sit back and accept it or to do something about it. And for me that meant two things that I needed the healing to learn how to accept an invitation and the confidence to know how to extend one. Through this process, I developed some of the richest and deepest relationships of my life. Through Making Room by Gather, you will hear conversations from myself and experts in the areas of food, design and relationships. You see there are countless things trying to keep us from the table, but can I tell you something? Take a seat because you are ready, you are capable, you are a good host. Okay, this is going to be a fun one. Welcome. Oh, you're muted, sorry.
Speaker 2:There you go. I love all of that. Oh my gosh, katie, I want to sit at your table with you.
Speaker 1:I know there are some conversations well, all of them really but then I'm like I wish we could just be in person. I wish we could You're in New York, right, yeah, where are you? I'm in person. I wish we could You're in New York, right, yeah, where are you? I'm in Connecticut.
Speaker 2:We're not far.
Speaker 1:We could have made that happen, I know Okay.
Speaker 1:Yes, please Okay, I mean that I'm at that point where I'm like I need to be with people. So, okay, yeah, we'll schedule that. We'll make that happen. Get you out of that podcast booth. Well, I want to know more about you leading up to this incredible career we're going to be talking about. I often think about seventh grade. Katie had a science project where we had to make a cell out of food and I should have known that I loved it Like I. I enjoyed it too much, and my love of food was evident very, and creativity was evident early. So tell us about Mary and your.
Speaker 1:Young Mary let's go all the way back almost 50 years.
Speaker 2:So I'm turning 50 this year and I'm proudly saying it, and, um, my business turns 20,. My catering company turns 20 with the same year I turned 50. So I think, ooh, it's all, but I did. I grew up in a Italian-American home which was everything revolved around food, cooking for it, shopping for it, preparing it, making it in the kitchen, laughing, listening to music, crying and then sitting and sharing it. So I feel really fortunate that the family table was a big, big part of my upbringing. But I fought and I had a grandmother who was in the hospitality industry. She was a pioneer for her time. She also made a middle name. I named her for both my grandmothers, mary and Lucille. Mary was my traditional Italian sauce making, cooking grandmother and homemaker, and Lucille, my middle name, was my business maverick entrepreneur grandmother who, ahead of her time, went out to the town of Montauk in Long Island, at the east end tip of Long Island, and had a hotel, several hotel businesses, and so I like to say I'm like a mixed cocktail of both of these women. So I definitely have that like fire and that entrepreneurial spirit, but I also have that traditional grounding, comforty home kind of. So I think so. That's so. But young Mary did not want to go into food and hospitality because she saw how hard that business was.
Speaker 2:And I went to college. I went to Georgetown University and I studied English and theater. Claim to fame. I graduated the same year as Brother Cooper. Okay, english and theater Stories for another time, yeah.
Speaker 2:But when I graduated I came to New York City to pursue a comedic writing and performing career. I was, I wanted to go to SNL and you know, just trying to pound the pavement in New York. I took a job in a catering company located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, just temporary. Just this was going to be a temporary stop on my way to realizing my dreams. And I was there for all about a month until I like kind of came together.
Speaker 2:It's like sometimes you could dream your dreams could come true, but just not in the way you thought they would. And I was sitting in this office, I knew nothing about fine dining catering. But something clicked. Something was like okay, wait, it's theatrical, so it checks that box. It's ever-changing, it's exciting, it's bringing people together, it's gathering them. So I just traded one dream in for another very quickly and just devoted all my energy into catering and event planning and you know, making these experiences of escapism not so different than from the stage, but now on the table. So I always like to say, like world stage, my stage is your table.
Speaker 1:You are full. I love all of your like mottos and one-liners they are, so it makes sense that you have a background in. What was it like? What kind of writing Comedic writing, creative writing.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's really true love and passion.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow, so good. Okay, so I've lived in Connecticut most of my life. My husband and I went to the Hamptons for the first time, like two years ago, and we went to Montauk. Are her hotels still there, like? Are they still in the family?
Speaker 2:No, she sold them in the 80s. I often joke I wouldn't be selling pigs in a blanket for a living if she kept them. But no, I'm glad she didn't, because we all have had to find our own way, which has been amazing. But her, actually, her crowning achievement, her original hotel's no longer there, but it's called the Wavecrest in Montauk, new York, and it's the first oceanfront hotel. When you enter Montauk I always say it's like she's still like waving to everyone coming into Montauk because her home and the hotel in its original form is still there, but it's taken its new ownership. But I do, I have a small cottage, no-transcript, and she really built a beautiful success story around that.
Speaker 1:I feel like we probably have so many crossovers. Was she part of Jacques Pépin's story at all, because he spent a lot of time in the Hamptons?
Speaker 2:No, she was more of the. We've heard stories about Andy Warhol and Truman Capote attending her parties, because the late seventies were a really groovy time in Montauk specifically, and so Andy Warhol had a house at the furthest end of Montauk and the Rolling Stones stayed with him and Truman Capote and all these writers were there, and artists were there William de Kooning and so my grandmother got involved in a little bit of that. I've been told that they attended some of her parties. She became quite the hostess. I've been told that they attended some of her parties. She became quite the hostess. Wow, it was almost like you're probably too young for the love boat.
Speaker 1:I've heard it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a TV show the Love Boat, where everyone got on this cruise, and Captain Stubing, who was in charge of the love boat, every Saturday would invite you know, the esteemed guests of the cruise ship to his table. So we used to joke. My grandmother, on Saturday nights, would invite guests from the hotel up to her. She had a party every Saturday night and she loved to mix. That was where I sort of saw like parties of all the same people are really boring. Parties with all people from all walks of life with different opinions, with different views, with different. That's where she got her charge and so I've continued that to this day. But it's the best. Dinner parties are the ones that are all mix of all different types of people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, we speak the same language, my friend, I love that. That's not what hospitality culture tells us right now. Yeah, I don't think. I think we're wanting to get back there, but I think it's drifted from that.
Speaker 2:Right. Everyone feels like they have to define themselves so fully, like I'm just this and I have to stay in this box and I can't be. And I don't think. I think we're always evolving. I mean, in this 20-year career I, looking at my, I'm looking back a lot and we've changed so many times and we continue to change. So I think in hospitality it has to be. But I agree with you, I feel like people just get stuck in things.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I would have loved to know her Lucille.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she would, and she would love all of this. I wrote a story, um, in my book, tiny hot dogs called um well, about her. Her called Free HBO. But there's another story called Lady Lobsters, and again, this is a totally non-proven scientific fact. But I was watching a television show where I get most of my true education. Forget that Georgetown thing, it's all television.
Speaker 2:And I heard someone say on a show when male lobsters get thrown into a pot, they pull each other down to the bottom. I'm sorry, sorry. Male lobsters get thrown into a pot, they build a ladder to climb out of the pot together, but when female lobsters get put into a pot, they pull each other down so that they all could die together. Again, no idea if this is true or false probably not no experts in crustacean civilities to confirm or deny but it made me think about the relationships of my female friends in my pot, my proverbial pot, and how we build each other. So Lucille was a woman who built. She loved to see women succeed. She loved to see. So when I, when I sit here with you or I, attend like a women's event of entrepreneurs, it was just like gosh. If she had access to that sort of support back then. What could she have been capable of? And so she would have loved you.
Speaker 1:Lucille would have loved you. I have a Lucille in my life that I loved. She owned a restaurant on Worcester Street in New Haven. Did you ever come to Worcester Street? No, but let's go. Is it still there? Let's go, come. Are you kidding me? Come. Yeah, my guests are like you're talking about Worcester Street again. I talk about it a lot. Is that where the pizza place is?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've never been.
Speaker 1:No, I have been to the pizza place, so I have been with to Worcester street. Okay, which one? Okay, so which one is your loyalty? I'll tell you which one I went to. Okay, so there's two, three, depending on who you talk to. Sally's modern Peppies Peppies is yours. Okay, we get. We've gotten a lot of Sally's recently.
Speaker 2:Well, guess what?
Speaker 1:I've only been to that one, so I'm going to come and complete the other two with you and then we could form the opinion. Okay, please, let's I mean okay, no one takes me up on it, so we'll, we'll make our plan and we'll document the whole thing. There was a Tony and Lucille's on that road. It wasn't pizza, but it was really good Italian food and I grew up in that restaurant. Um, and they have since closed, but I loved Lucille. So anyone Lucille has my heart.
Speaker 1:My family also came up, came over on the boat from Italy and started business. Um and so, man, I just think I've learned how hard it was for Italian Americans to start a business, and it was a hard time for them. I think in culture, and it was a hard time for them. I think in culture and I never wanted to hear my grandpa's stories. And now I'm like man, I wish I had them.
Speaker 2:I was fortunate because I grew up that was my dad's mom, and father built the hotel too, but my grandmother really was the force behind it, and then my mom's parents lived in my home growing up, so that's where I learned to cook from. My grandfather taught me how to stuff artichokes, mushrooms. We were always stuffing things with Parmesan cheese and crumbs. That was all we did, every vegetable we stuffed. But I feel really fortunate with that. You know, that's a beautiful, like generational, like. I look back now, like they're like sadly, like getting they're, they're like it's sadly like getting towards the end of their life, as, as, as a little girl, I'm entering mine and I, there's this beautiful, there's a beautiful transition that occurs between grandparents and grandchildren that I think is not talked about enough, because I I am so I lost the two main ones that are most influential in my life when I was 10, but they are so much a part of me in everything that I do so that that that time is like really important, I think.
Speaker 1:Wow. That sounds like a that sounds like a book.
Speaker 2:Let's go, I'll write another. Another one I could be another, another one.
Speaker 1:Well, okay, has your website shifts, switched in like the last month, has it? Well, we cause, I feel like when you first, when I first learned about you, I visited and then I visited the other day, and I feel like it's a whole new level now, like it is gorgeous.
Speaker 2:Well, we change our um, we change our photos like season with our, so maybe the new, the new photo shoot was really good. So cause we we shoot our food in our events, uh, seasonally, and then we load them up onto the site. So maybe, um, maybe that's what you saw.
Speaker 1:So that's great to hear, yeah it is so gorgeous and I forgot to reference. When I first went to your Instagram, you have Mary, not mayor, on your bio. I, I like, laughed too hard.
Speaker 2:Like it's just, it's my everyday struggle. We all have our crosses, but I mean every. I? Um, when I introduced myself to someone and I say, hi, I'm Mary Giuliani, and they get confused, they look at me and go did you just say Mayor Giuliani? And so I was just sick of it. So I said it's Mary, not Mayor. So there we go.
Speaker 1:I love humor, and so I was like, oh, this is going to work out just fine, this is going to be a good conversation. You have to laugh otherwise you cry. I know I haven Katie Shrimp. Katie Shrimp, you were the first shrimp I've ever met, yeah, and so unfortunately there's some not so great connections with the family history, but it's yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, and this is my, this is my maiden name was Jarmaine, which no one knew it was. And so when I married my husband and I finally got an Italian last name, because we're so Italian I was like, see, I'm really Italian now. But Katie Shrimp, that's an interesting name. I have a friend. Her name is Sarah Hooker, and it was because her ancestors came off the Mayflower and she had a uncle, great, great, great, great great, who was always hanging out with a lot of women, and so they called him. I think his name was Thomas, thomas hookers women, and that's where the origin of that name came from. Sorry, poor girl, cut this. This is more PJ, but it's fine.
Speaker 1:It's fine, that was mild, yeah, I mean. Oh my gosh, last names, it's such a yeah. It's crazy. And then when I got married, people were like, are you going to keep it? I'm like, am I going to keep it? I'm like no. And then there's always the like oh, I thought you were going to be short. It's like, oh, you're so original, oh man, so I love a, I love a good last name joke.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:Well, on your website, going back to that, I loved I don't know you call it a slogan, a motto Um, you say that fancy can be fun, simple can always be special and our clients happiness remains our ultimate joy. And such a good choice of words, and I think it really encompasses who you guys are, from what I know about you, and so I would love to talk about that a little bit more for everyday host, because I think that that's just like an approach to hospitality that everybody can adopt. Yes, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So when I first came to New York and worked for a caterer it was a really fancy, high-end white gloves, silver tray, french hors d'oeuvres that I couldn't pronounce catering company. And while I learned everything there and it was a wonderful experience, I realized that not everyone eats this way every day and it's a very rare it's rarefied air for those who can hire a caterer to begin with, and and so when I started my own business, I realized that my point of view needed to be the things that I loved, and food for me, is all about storytelling, it's all about nostalgia, it's about evoking, it's all about nostalgia, it's about evoking memories and really comforting feelings. So I went straight to the good stuff Like I went straight to the mini grilled cheese sandwiches and the pigs in a blanket and all the fun yummy comfort things, because I realized that that's really what people want at these parties anyway. And the home and I didn't want for me, like opening your home to someone and entertaining is the ultimate expression of love and sharing, like sharing your heart with others. And and I feel like I didn't want the home entertainer even with my first cookbook, the cocktail party everybody could make every single thing that's in there.
Speaker 2:It's so simple, because all you need I think in hospitality is the number one desire is to open your home to others. If you have that and you want to do that, I hate when people get jammed up that they're like, oh, it's not going to be great, my tablecloths have to match my hydrangeas and my, you know, I don't know how to make a, you know croquembouche, and it's like no stick to what you like. You got the number one ingredient you want to have people over, you want to share your home, you want to share your table with others. So, simplify the experience, and something really, really simple could be wildly special if you, you know, you don't get so crazed about it.
Speaker 1:Man, that's that's my heartbeat too. We share that, and that's what culture is craving right now, and I think hospitality insecurity is crippling us and that's why we're so lonely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I it's so funny. So the expectation, what cause I had this catering company and because these big clients I would entertain a lot at home at on the weekends. And first of all I was getting invited to no one's house because they were saying like, oh, what do we quickly possibly make for her, you know? And then like, and that was really lonely because I was like, hey, so then I started to really dumb it down in a good way.
Speaker 2:When people came to my home and one time one of my best parties was I did mounds of pigs in a blanket, um, and some of the I do, you know, veggie, veggie blankets too. It's like carrots, you marinate them, you wrap them in regular you know, you know. And I did like a, basically a pig in a blanket buffet, um, lots of dips and that to go with it, and, um, and martinis and and that was it did martinis and pigs in a blanket, and it was everybody like talked about that party Cause it was like I didn't. They thought they were going to come over to my house and I was going to have like 10 courses ready, and no, I want to be with them, I want to be with my guests when they're there, and so again, just finding those um, you know those simple and special ways to, to share your food and your point of view, and a couple laughs.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. I feel like there's so many directions I want to take that, but I guess my first one is how does that translate to your like? What does that look like in your business? Like, so, you're working with incredible clients, so how do you, how do you, encompass that feeling in what you guys do?
Speaker 2:We just it's, that's, it's like. We stick to it at all times. So, no matter what client calls, we always say, okay, you know, obviously it's simple, special, fancy, fancy can be fun. And then we do an eat drink play. So we apply eat, drink and play to whatever it is our clients are looking to um, to celebrate, uh. So how can we tell their food and beverage story in the most creative way through eat, drink and play? Well, eat is okay. What are we going to eat? That's the obvious. So we look at things that people have seen a million times and say, all right, let's not, you know, overthink it, but like, what do they really like about that meal? And we'll put our little spin on that Drink too.
Speaker 2:We always, you know, we have to be considerate of like who's coming, what to serve. Always, you know, we have to be considerate of like who's coming, what to serve, always, you know, even just throwing an edible flower into a cocktail. We do one thing I love, we do, we've been doing this, we did this last season and people were loving it. Instead of a floral arrangement, we would put a punch bowl in the middle of the table as the floral arrangement, with floating edible flowers and fruits and beautiful. And so people came in. It looked beautiful on the table as the floral arrangement with floating edible flowers and fruits, and beautiful. And so people came in. It looked beautiful on the table and then they were pouring their drinks. They were sitting at the table together, no one was getting up. So we really liked that and play as it applies to, like home.
Speaker 2:Entertaining for us is what are we doing when we're having these parties or having people over. That evokes something that is joyful and fun, whether it be a party game, whether it be just the way we serve things. We used our paper towel holders for our bagel buffet to hold the bagels. Just looking around your house, we have so many shelves with dust on them of like platters and things we never use, or it's like pull that down, reuse it in a different way. So that's our eat, drink, play motto, and so we do that with our you know our corporate clients. You know how we're going to tell their story through this wild world, and we were just talking about Fashion Week today, a lot this morning. It's Fashion Week coming up in New York and we get, you know, quite a lot of events around that time and so, um, we, we also love high, low. That's like our, that's our thing a lot.
Speaker 2:So we just did, um, everyone loves mozzarella sticks but like, oh my gosh, mozzarella sticks, we're not going to TGI Fridays, we're going to a fashion week party. So we doing, we started to do these little mini mozzarella sticks and then we took balsamic caviar so it looks like caviar. It's not fish caviar, it's little balsamic balls that look like caviar and you could look up very easily on YouTube, like how to make that. Um, and we dot the mozzarella sticks with the balsamic caviar and instead of tomato sauce we do a tomato powder, and it's just. I wish I'll send you a picture. So maybe with this it's the most delicious bite ever, but yet it's so simple and fun and comforting. And so we test those. We test those boundaries, like we know you know it has to be dainty, we know it has to be fashiony, we know it has to be cool, but we could still take the things that everyone loves and put our fun spin on it. That's the stuff that makes us like that's what we want.
Speaker 1:What a dream job, mary. Oh my God. Kind of Also very stressful. I shouldn't have assumed that is stressful. Well, that's true, because you're taking the I don't know if the word encompasses, like the heart behind it and turning it into a business, but you have these high-end clients with probably high expectations, right, yes, and you're almost educating the market on a new approach, right, are you, would you?
Speaker 2:say that, yeah, a little bit. Yeah, I think a lot of other caterers have caught on too, but for sure, like it's taking a risk, it's taking a risk within something that you normally draw color inside the lines. We kind of like to step out of it a little bit.
Speaker 1:Oh, me too. I like that Presses my husband out. But yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking the same tenants, right, like you could still like. You know there's, there's etiquette, right, so there's no.
Speaker 1:You know there's certain things that must check the boxes, but then you could still throw that play in on top of it so good so I was looking at one of the pictures I think it was a recent event of yours on your website. There had to be a hundred tables 50 maybe. And Mary, I looked at that and I was like starting to count chairs. I'm like that is a big event so you must have a huge staff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have a wonderful when I say like it's stressful and all these things I could never do what I do. This is not a solo show here at all. This is I have two business partners. I have a chef, executive chef we have, you know, 12 in our planning office, and then we have hundreds of freelance waiters, bartenders you know 12 in our planning office, and then we have hundreds of freelance waiters, bartenders, you know, servers and that specific party is that's the one you're referring to is the New York City Ballet. It's they do an annual lunch and there's so much magic in that event. I'm happy you brought that event up, because we're actually in two weeks doing it again. And that specific event which has been going on, it's their annual luncheon for the New York City Ballet. It's one of their biggest fundraisers.
Speaker 2:That was the very, very first event when I was a baby caterer, when I came to New York City with so many other dreams. That was the first event I worked on with the catering company I was working for and I knew nothing and I had to call my mother this is how old I am from a pay phone in the basement of the New York City Ballet to ask her what a samovar was, and I called her. I was like, hey, mom, what's a samovar she's like? I think it's a very fancy coffee urn. I was like, thanks, hung up, ran upstairs. But this is the magic of New York, or just anything you. I had no idea that 20 years later I'd be catering that event with my own company. I'm on the committee as well, and also the servers, the wait staff that are, because we I think there's 65 people working that event with our team and, like when I was the baby caterer, all those folks were teaching me this is how you set the table, this is where the fork goes, this is where, and so it's been a real honor and privilege to for 20 years.
Speaker 2:You know, guess the fancy clients are great, the whole good party stories I have but that our doors have been open for this rotation of people to come to New York with their New York dream, no matter what it may be, and we give them employment immediately. They could still pursue their arts, their dreams. And we give them employment immediately. They could still pursue their arts, their dreams, and I'm really grateful that we can still be a place for that. And that ballet event is really the best articulation of the whole New York thing the whole magic. I think a lot of people come here with big dreams and it's like you have to have that. You have to believe there's magic. You've got to work really hard.
Speaker 1:And sometimes it could fall into place. Your humility, mary, as you're talking about all of that, you're so humble with your background. Yeah, it's the most refreshing thing to experience, as you're sharing that.
Speaker 2:Really really lucky. I practice gratitude every single day. I do, I wake up and I do a whole like thank you for this day, Thank you for my bed, Thank you for my, because without it it's hard to go through this.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, I was going to ask, with that picture in mind, how do you maybe hire for or teach your staff, your model, you know what I mean, like hire people that are just like intentional and just naturally hospitable. Or do you teach?
Speaker 2:this Like I think I think you either got it or you don't in terms of your way of um you either want it's a hard business, right?
Speaker 2:So it's like I think it's like us and um, there's like aviators, air traffic controller, like there's a lot of, and I always say, like we're not saving lives, like we are serving food, um. So I think you either either catch the bug, um, and cause hospitality is hard and you either like you're like okay, I'm in and you get it, and I think it's um, you know how you can interact with, with people, um, your people skills have to be really strong and I could tell immediately um meeting people, you know how they'll be with others and um, no, I mean, I think you know for me, as I, you know as as aging in my business joyfully and with, with pleasure and with an honor, as an honor, I think that the more I could share of my stories. To mentor, moving forward is like really the way to go. So it's not that I and I I don't know.
Speaker 2:I never assumed to know everything. I am, I love learning, I love hearing about new things, I love, and so that's another like very welcomed moment in our office is tell me what's going on. Like I go up, you know there's a lot of young people in our office and I'm like, what are the kids saying? Like you know, you know. So, um, I think, if I think you could stay really youthful by um knowing, like just continuing to want to learn. I don't know if that's really good, that's super good.
Speaker 1:That's super good, man, mary I could have you here all day. I just want to like hop on a train right now and be like I'll meet you for pizza.
Speaker 2:I just want to like hop on a train right now and be like I'll meet you for pizza.
Speaker 1:We could chat about that, oh man, so good, wow. Well, here's what I would love to do. I think this could be a little bit fun. So you have three different books, all of which I would. I want to read all of which I highly recommend.
Speaker 2:Okay, I will read them.
Speaker 1:I will read them. I have this like weird fuzz like floating around my head. I have this like fuzzy blanket on my lap. I think it's from that. I would love for you to either share a tidbit from each book that you want people to know Okay, something in that direction, like either a lesson that you want people to learn, or like a takeaway Okay, something from each book, maybe, that you're proud of. We're just going to go through kind of like boom, boom, boom. I want you to share a quick fact or something like that. So the first one the Cocktail Party Eat, drink, play, recover yes.
Speaker 2:I wrote that in my 20s, which is when I was young and entertaining all the time and wanted everyone to love me, and I would say that book is really special to me because it really it's the heart of if you want to open your home to others, I'm going to be your best friend. Love Mary on every page. Um, I'm going to make you look like a rock star, uh, when you, when you do that. So, um, that book is is special. It was, I always say, like that books like the order, part of my life.
Speaker 1:Wow, you are so good with words. Okay, tiny hot dogs, mlm Small Bites.
Speaker 2:Tiny hot dogs is like the meatier part. It's like the first course of my life. So I get into stories in there about career dreams, you know either, in process shattered. I talk about my struggles to become a mother infertility. I suffer from endometriosis. I talk about glimpses into celebrities' lives that you know. I realized in that part of my life that we could all look at everyone's grass. It might appear greener, but unless we loved our lives first, then everyone's grass would appear greener. So there's a lot of messages in that. I get into like the meatier parts of life, that like what am I going to be? What should I do? So that's and I wrote that in my 30s, which was where exactly I was when I was writing that book. So it's a meatier first course. Tiny hot dogs it's a. It's a meteor first course um, tiny hot dogs.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, this is so sweet. I didn't know what to expect with this conversation. I knew it could have gone in a lot of different directions.
Speaker 2:I am just so, I'm just grateful.
Speaker 1:I'm just grateful, me too we all find Yep, yeah, okay, and last but not least, how to lose a friend and influence no one. Your cover picture for this book, mary.
Speaker 2:So, whoever the creative director was, was it you or was it Adrian broom and I who's done all of my photography with me? She's a dear friend and incredible photographer, adrian broomcom. I said I think I want to go underneath the table. She's like let's do it so and that's where I was in my life. It was the oh gosh that this is it. It was. I restarted it during COVID. I was dealing with some health issues I was dealing with you know who am I issues I was dealing with.
Speaker 2:I cannot go on people pleasing. I cannot go on putting everyone you know we choose this business for a living right. It's not go on putting everyone you know we choose this business for a living right. It's. There's a lot behind it, you know. Let's put everyone before me and I realized that I had to stop. I had to stop. Not everyone is going to love you. Not everyone is going to, but if you are the most authentic version of yourself, which is what that book really feels to me, a lot of those stories are the real me, um, then you know it's. It's a gift. And I also realized, re-emerging after COVID, I felt like we were all sent to our rooms like, universally like, and it was our job to come out better if we could Um, and, and so that's what I committed to in this book.
Speaker 1:Like how am I?
Speaker 2:going to, how am I going to enter the next phase of my life and so, yeah, so that's the dinner part and I'm hoping, you know, my fourth book, my fifth book, my sixth book if my readers will have me will be the dessert part, because I'm thinking 50 and on. I am so excited for it. I am like I feel I'm the most, like the truest version of myself right now, with so much still to grow into, and I'm ready. I'm excited, like I am not. You know, you know, someone told me this too and I think it's important to share. You know they were.
Speaker 2:As we age, some people get stuck in reliving the glory days and I certainly could do that. I could look at my 20s and be like every night we had a party and you should see who was there and it was wild and I was 20 pounds thinner and I was all these other things back then. And if you get stuck on that it's hard to kind of move forward. But if you look back on it with fond appreciation and you can move into your mentoring part of your life, where you're, I think that that's where the joyful magic almost in the way I was talking about the grandparents kind of passing on not grandparent age yet. But this beautiful exchange of saying like this is all the stuff I did, and if I could do it, you can too. I want to swim in that. I want to swim in all that stuff.
Speaker 1:Wow, mary, yay Wow.
Speaker 2:Yay, I love talking to you. I'm firing my therapist. We just talk once a week, I know.
Speaker 1:My wheels are spinning. I'm like what's going to happen through this conversation? I'm like what's going to happen through this conversation? Something that's wow, that's really I. I think what I appreciate is emotionally intelligent people and I, you could just tell that you've processed and done the work. Yep, still more to do. I mean always, always, though, right, always. And I think, yeah, that's what I appreciate and frankly, I think it's rare in this industry, right, and so you, just you offer a lot. You offer a lot, thank you, my goodness. Well, I feel like we have to talk about this a little bit. You are on the brink of a rebrand. That's what I've been told.
Speaker 2:Yes, maybe you could help me because we are so in 20 years. I thought it was time to sort of dust off the you know, just sort of you know, say we're here, we're committing to being here for at least another 20, if not more, and I really wanted to. When I started it, it was just me in terms of you know, it was me in my living room and, you know, with my dog and my support of my loving husband, and it has grown into so much more and it's it's about all of us, and I really do think that we're playing with some names for a new all-encompassing of kind of what we've done, and that is that it's about more than just one person. And so should I tell you what it is.
Speaker 1:If you're allowed to. I think I am I don't know, I know, is that an Ori?
Speaker 2:question. Does Ori know the answer? No, it's not even an Ori question. It's just that we are like, yes, well, it's going to be called storied Catering in events, because definition of storied is like a legendary good time, it's all these storied event, a storied happening, and me as a storyteller and that's truly what I want to continue to do it kind of brings it all together and with the food storytelling and the beverage storytelling, so I think we're going to be turning into storied catering and events by MGC, so you'll have to come. We're having a big, big party in June, so you'll have to come to that.
Speaker 1:Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2:Yeah, incredible, you are there. You must be there.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. And whenever you meet Colby he's just incredible. Yeah, he's the best, it's so funny. So when Colby and I first met, he oh my, I'm like getting chills, mary, for all of this no, just this whole conversation. So when Colby and I first met, he was like my healthiest relationship and I was like, wow, I feel like everything about my life is going to change here. Like this is just like new for me, for us, and at that point I wasn't passionate necessarily about hospitality or community, but we met in a class called Created and Called for Community, ccc. Oh my gosh. And we didn't know like all the pieces were like coming together. But we actually we had that like that epiphany a few years ago. We were like, oh my gosh, that's the class we met in and from the start of our relationship, everything about our life was cultivating community, every job that we worked together, dating was like hospitality related.
Speaker 1:So, our story is just kind of getting started, but we've always.
Speaker 1:Tell me how you met Colby.
Speaker 1:You met him in school, yep. So Colby, colby's my awesome husband. We met in college and I don't know if I've told this story on the show before. It's kind of funny. So Colby's really reserved, I always say he's not shy, he's quiet, and I had my eyes on someone else. And my sisters came to campus for a little siblings weekend and my sister, mandy, who was 15 at the time, she said that's my husband and she pointed at Colby. Seen at the time, she said she said that's my husband and she pointed at Colby.
Speaker 1:And for the, I mean poor guy, for the first time I noticed his existence and it was a school of 3000 people, so not huge, and I was like who is this guy? Like where has he been? And she went on my Facebook and added him and he was praying for a sign to reach out and he was like. He was like this is it? She added me, she added me on Facebook and it was my. It was my sister, isn't it crazy? And so, anyways, then the you know, the silly college conversation started. What's the homework? Blah, blah, blah. And then we started dating. We've been together ever since, I think 15 years. Um, but it's so funny. My sister, who's now happily married and expecting um, she's like can you not tell that story? I'm like, oh no, I'm telling it.
Speaker 2:I picked my sister's husband for her. Um, yes, we were at a bar and I said that's the guy. Uh, I was like he's, he's got like a Clark Kent look. And she was like really, and she had been changed. And so, 18 years later, three kids, my nieces and my nephews the loves of my life. So sisters are good.
Speaker 1:Sisters are good Are you are, you, are you you have multiple siblings I have two younger sisters. I'm the oldest, yeah, and it's so funny, we're just entering that season. We're all married. My last, my last sisters got married, and so now kids and new traditions and you know how it goes, like people passing and family growing, and so we're kind of in this in-between season, as a family of figuring out, you, you know, new traditions and, yeah, that's good.
Speaker 2:It gets good when all the kids and the whole thing and all. Yeah, we go through different. Yeah, I struggle with infertility. I like to connect with this community as well. So I struggle with infertility because of endometriosis for 15 years. So it took me 15 years to have my miracle beautiful girl. Her name is Gala, no surprise, and through that, though, my sister was my rock and my nieces and nephews were born, and so again, with the holidays and things shifting and yeah, so I wish you all every blessing.
Speaker 1:Wow, well, I guess I was bringing all that up when you were saying Bringing Colby to the party.
Speaker 2:Yeah, bring Colby to the party. Bring your sister too, sisters Bring your sisters.
Speaker 1:I'm bringing everybody. I just want to celebrate you and that because, mary, I think it's going to. It's going to shift culture. I feel like it's going to change the landscape of the city. That's the feeling that I get from it, like the authenticity that you lead with and just hearing how you incorporate it in the details. That's what people are craving and, like when you were saying earlier, people are so like details do matter, right and they're important, but I think it's the intention that they're done with Right. That's definitely right and I think people are going to be deeply moved and inspired by by that. I hope so. Thank you, storied. How do you spell that? S-t-o-r-i-e-d Okay.
Speaker 2:And I think yeah, we looked up the definition, it's like a legendary tale and I was like, oh, this all makes sense. We struggled for so long what to rename it and this one just felt really right, do you have a logo? Yeah, I'm like, pick one. Yes, we're actually in the process of choosing it, so I'll send it to you when we figure it out.
Speaker 1:I'm a branding geek.
Speaker 2:It's really exciting Cause we haven't, like you know, we've just been us for a while and um, it's exciting, it's an exciting time.
Speaker 1:I'm going through a rebrand too, and so the whole logo thing I'm like yeah. I'm switching to I'm switching to personal brand and it just makes sense Like for a while business looked so, so different and I don't know. I love there's something, yeah, there's something really profound about branding Like, right, I don't know.
Speaker 2:And the good thing is, you could change it. You could. You know it's like, it's like it's life. You could change you could evolve, you could grow.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, where can people find you for now? Right now, I'm sitting in my, in my kitchen. No, I'm most active on Instagram. So just Mary underscore Giuliani, and I love. That's where I, that's where I have my most fun. Um, or my website, marygiulianicom.
Speaker 1:I love it, love it. Well, we end each of our conversations with the same three questions and I'd love to hear your answers as well. Okay, um, it got like super dark in here. Is it gloomy in New York right now? Gloomy, super gloomy. Yeah, it's kind of gross, but okay, let's have fun with these. Something you've eaten recently and loved.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh. Well, it's just because it's so fresh in my, because we just had it this morning at our tasting this mozzarella stick with balsamic caviar and a little bit of tomato powder. It's delicious. I love that. I need that.
Speaker 1:And then you also got the like Parmesan and breadcrumbs stuffed everything in my head and I'm like what do I have? I have a good parm.
Speaker 2:I might go make some Parm with the breadstick. Take the breadcrumbs and stuff any vegetable you have in your fridge. A little olive oil, salt pepper, throw it in the oven, let it melt.
Speaker 1:Sausage, maybe a little sausage. Oh, it's delicious, oh, okay. Anyways that sounds good. I know I didn't eat yet. That was a poor decision. Something you found to be beautiful lately.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, I live very close to Central Park and I was in there the other day and I just just it's the dead of winter, it's the ugliest time ever in New York city and I found so much beauty in it, so I'm finding Central Park really beautiful right now.
Speaker 1:I have never been to Central Park.
Speaker 2:Okay, of all the things we discussed, you're kind of taking a walk through Central Park. I am in there twice a day, I walk, I talk like a crazy person to myself, I get all my good ideas in there. Wow, there's a lot of magic in there, and I think, because it never changes. The change is obviously seasonally, with beautiful flowers and things, but everything is where I remember it, and so I'd love to take you through central park, but and you might have to have, um, a dirty water hotdog with me.
Speaker 1:I will have one.
Speaker 2:I will have one for you.
Speaker 1:We're going to have to give ourselves like four hours. I know, oh my God, that's so fun. Okay, last but not least, and then we'll keep chatting and then leave everyone else hanging. A gathering you attended that made you feel a strong sense of belonging and, if you could pinpoint it, what it was that made you feel that way?
Speaker 2:Yes, it was literally last week. We threw a fundraiser at this. Do you know the store Fish's Eddie? All home entertainers should know this store. It's on 19th street and Broadway in Manhattan. It's owned by Julie Gaines. She is a incredible dynamo of a human being and it's all tabletop. It's really cool Cookie tabletop, fun, incredible stuff. Fish's Eddie out.
Speaker 2:So every time something goes wrong in the world, julie is my first phone call. Julie, what should we do? How do we do it? So we put together a bingo night for Los Angeles for the wildfires. Last Thursday night we played and Murray Hill, who's on Bridget Everett's show Somebody Somewhere was the MC and did the bingo part. I served pigs in a blanket and drinks and we played bingo in this store owned by this incredible human, surrounded by all this gorgeous tabletop, and I really felt like, oh yeah, this is it. I am home, I am with my people, we are all doing good, we are sharing love, we're sharing our talents, we're sharing our gifts and there's such cute things in the store. I want to buy everything. So it was that event, and it's events like that that it all comes laser clear to me that I am doing what I'm supposed to be doing.
Speaker 1:Whoa, I interviewed um Stephanie Quayle. She's a up and coming country artist and she uses this phrase this is where I make sense. Oh, I love that, isn't that awesome? And so, as you were saying that, I'm like, yeah, that's where you make sense. Oh, my God, love that, yeah.
Speaker 2:Me too. I love that. Yeah, me too. I heard this week, Tina. I was at a luncheon, Tina. Fey was talking at and she said she tells her kids it's time to touch grass, to ground. Go outside and touch grass, yeah.
Speaker 1:But I love that?
Speaker 2:Wait, what did you say? I'm where I am.
Speaker 1:This is where I make sense. This is where I make sense, where I make sense. That's beautiful it is stephanie quayle. Um, I'm gonna listen to her right now. Yeah, she has a very uh gripping book um what's it called? She wore oh my gosh, she made such a statement. She wore the book cover as her dress to the CMAs. Good for her, I know. Look it up. If you look it up, it's escaping. I'm pulling her up right now.
Speaker 2:Cool, I love this. Okay, oh, she's beautiful she is beautiful. She's from Bozeman. I love Bozeman. Oh, I'm going gonna listen to her music stephanie quayle.
Speaker 1:Don't hate me, stephanie, I um book, book, book.
Speaker 2:Sorry listeners, we're just oh, what can we say? How my toxic relationship can um, oh why do we stay oh, why does?
Speaker 1:why do we stay? Yeah, so it was about, yeah, a very, very hard relationship part of her story, but it's a redemption story, so it's, and then, if you know anyone going through narcissistic relationships or things like that, it's a very great gift, um, and a resource as well. But, yeah, her music is killer. But yeah, this is where, like, yeah, she was saying that when she was first on this on a stage, she had like a gig and she she said, I felt like this is where I made sense. Yeah, oh, so fun, my goodness.
Speaker 2:Well.
Speaker 1:Mary, thank you for this.
Speaker 2:This is we've only just begun. This is the start of a new thing for us. I really I really enjoyed you. You have a beautiful energy and I really enjoy speaking with you. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Well, you too, what a sweet surprise. Thank you, or in the door, for organizing this happy Friday. This is my last interview, so I get to of the day, so I get to kind of breathe easy. It's me too I'm done for the weekend good, well, everyone, we get to leave you hanging, and thanks for hanging out with me again this week and I will see you next week.