THE MOMS HOST MAMARAZZI @ ARTISANAL FROMAGERIE
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| Melissa Joan Hart |
THE MOMS, Denise Albert and Melissa Gerstein, hosted a Mother’s Day Mamarazzi® Brunch Event and Taping of The Moms SiriusXM Stars 109 Radio Show with Actress and Founder of King of Harts Melissa Joan Hart, Country Star Joe Dee Messina and Actress Alysia Reiner on Wednesday, April 29th, 2015 at Artisanal Fromagerie & Bistro. The event, which brought together influential moms and media, featured a panel discussion recorded for SiriusXM with influential mothers in media and business. The episode taped during the event will air Monday, May 4, 2015 at 8:00 PM Eastern, 7:00 PM Central and 5:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Other panelists included: Regina Calcatterra (Best-Selling Author, “Etched in Sand”), Cozy Friedman (Founder SoCozy Salon Formulas for Children and Cozy’s Cuts for Kids), Liliana Gil Valletta (Founder XLA Alliance), Amy Newmark (Author, Editor-In-Chief and Publisher, Chicken Soup For The Soul), Shelley Ross (President at The Cure Alliance/Former EP of Good Morning America), Amber Sabathia (Creator/Designer, CCandy), Lisa Sharkey (Senior Vice President, Harper Collins) and Maureen Sullivan (President, AOL.com & Lifestyle Brands).
Guests were treated to bites from French bistro Artisanal Fromagerie’s menu, which features enticing options such as Croque Monsieur Madame with ham, gruyere and egg and Lobster Roll with a butter brioche, fresh leaves and fries. This Mother’s Day, Artisanal Fromagerie Bistro will boast a special Mother’s Day pre-fixe including a gourmet gift basket specially curated for moms featuring cheeses, jelly, crackers and a bottle of wine valued at over $100.
Following brunch, the first panel discussion was moderated by Melissa Gerstein and included Cozy Friedman, Amy Newmark, Lisa Sharkey and Maureen Sullivan. For Friedman, motherhood has led to her taking SoCozy brand of child hair salons into a haircare product line, which recently became available nationally and soon on HSN. Amy Newmark discussed leaving Wall Street after purchasing the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” brand because she felt the need to pursue a passion, and one of her lifelong passions is books. In a similar vein, Lisa Sharkey became the SVP of Harper-Collins after decades in the broadcast journalism business. She wanted to be there for important milestones in her children’s’ lives, but instead was working late nights and early mornings in the newsroom. Maureen Sullivan, President of AOL, has two young sons of her own and took in all of the fellow panelists advice as she said, “no one has the perfect guidebook on doing this.”
Denise Albert led the second panel discussion featuring Amber Sabathia, Regina Calcatterra, Liliana Gil Valletta and Shelley Ross. After following her husband’s baseball career across the country, Sabathia said had wanted to follow her own path, which led to her founding the clothing line CCandy sharing, “Follow your dreams and do what makes you happy.” Regina Calcatterra, author of the book “Etched In Sand” shared her story of survival in an abusive home and in the foster care system alongside her four siblings. Liliana Gil Valetta, Founder of the XLA Alliance and mother of a young son and pregnant with her second, came to the United States from Colombia as a student when she was 17-years-old in pursuit of the American Dream and now runs a company with 50 employees. Shelley Ross, President of the Cure Alliance and Former EP of Good Morning America, believed in hiring mom’s for senior positions within the newsroom because they provide the most approachable way to deliver news to fellow mothers watching the broadcast.
The final part of the broadcast was a panel moderated by both Melissa Gerstein and Denise Albert featuring panelists Actress and King of Harts Founder Melissa Joan Hart, Orange Is The New Black Actress and Producer Alysia Reiner and Country Music Star Jo Dee Messina. Hart, a mother of three boys, shared that she started her clothing line after being unhappy with the selection of clothes available for boys and desire to do something outside acting, “I wanted to find something continuous. Something where I can go to the office 9 to 5 and then go home and be done,” she shared. Alysia Reiner recently started her own production company Broad Street Pictures, which begins filming its first movie, about women on Wall Street, in July. Reiner shared that when she told her two-year-old daughter about the long hours she was about to face, expecting her to say she was going to miss her mom and would want her home, and her daughter said she was proud of her. Joe Dee Messina shared that her family travels on tour together to ensure she spends a much time with them as possible and books all concerts around her kids’ school holidays. Following the conclusion of the panel, Dee Messina performed the song “Me” from her new album of the same title available now, which is about all of the aspects of life one has to juggle once they become a mother.
ABOUT THE MOMS
Denise Albert and Melissa Musen Gerstein, THE MOMS, are co-creators of a multi-platform lifestyle brand featured on TV, online, in print, in taxicabs and now on radio nationwide. The MOMS are hosts of the SiriusXM radio Stars program The MOMS with Denise & Melissa. Albert and Gerstein have turned motherhood into a platform that reaches millions of parents each year through a town hall event series that they moderate called Mamarazzi® where they provide influential moms and media with access to celebrities to discuss issues surrounding parenting. Recent Mamarazzi events have included celebrity guests Sarah Jessica Parker, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Garner, Kevin James, Elizabeth Banks, Tina Fey, Hugh Jackman and Pitbull. THE MOMS regularly partner with film distributors, book publishers and celebrity publicists to present engaging and informative conversations concerning topics important to parents. In addition, Albert and Musen Gerstein have presented their fashion show for moms during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week three times called Strut, The Fashionable Mom Show, which they co-founded and showcases a wide range of apparel for real moms where the models are all mothers –– featuring affordable and fashionable options for a diverse audience. From 2010-2011, The MOMS created and hosted a half-hour TV show with NBC called Moms & the City and A Dad Named David. Further, the MOMS are regular contributors to The Huffington Post Parents and Denise to Huffington Post Divorce and have appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America and Fox News Channel among many others. Albert is an "independent" mom (don't call her a "single mom") to two boys and Gerstein is happily married and a mom of three.
About Artisanal Fromagerie & Bistro
Decorated in Art Deco style by renowned architect Adam Tihany—with classic French bistro tables, timber paneling, brass rails and the smell of fondue and freshly baked bread wafting in the air—it feels like you’ve arrived in Paris when you walk in Artisanal Fromagerie Bistro’s door. Owned by veteran restaurateur Sarid Drory, Artisanal showcases upmarket French bistro cooking. A mural-sized painting, which hung in French restaurants since the 1930s, presides over the handsome 160-seat space, and vintage gilt mirrors hang from the walls. Artisanal has also recently added a 65-seat sidewalk café designed by Sarid Drory with handmade Parisian furniture from Maison Drucker and decorative flower boxes. Artisanal is open daily for breakfast at 6:45 am, weekend brunch, lunch, dinner, and late night bites.
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