I met Jon Gray at Art Basel. He is one of those kids you either never meet but you hear of or your meet in some spectacular fashion as I did.
We were at a party at the W. I had just finished dancing at a table where Nicky Hilton had a bottle of Grey Goose glued to her lips and he was sitting at a table with Calvin Klein. I introduced myself and was soon inducted into the world of Jon Gray.
Sophisticate Syndicate was like the Gossip Girl’s version of some overachieving secret society located in Manhattan. Had I been single, this would have been the perfect place to find a future husband, but because my boyfriend was tagging along behind me, I was relegated to just making business connections. This however proved valuable as everyone in Asellina owned some sort of business or had some sort of creative-related hustle. Each member of Sophisticate Syndicate served as an ambassador, making sure that each person was connected with someone they had something in common with.
Sophisticate Syndicate bills themselves as a Harlem-based collective that serves as a liaison providing social, cultural, and relationship building services to entrepreneurs and emerging captains of industry via curated events and web based forums. To brands, such as Don Julio who was present that night (and who I enjoyed much too much of)… this means a group of New York City taste makers. To women, it means mate-material as these men will most likely be the ones purchasing classic sixes on the Upper West Side in the near future. And to New Yorkers, it means the people who will most likely be making and spending dollars.
