Last week, as all the various Oscars-related commentary was rolling out, an Instagram post caught my eye. It was a photograph taken at the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscars party of “Black Hollywood” that over the years has become a radical and beloved tradition. And it was started by one guest who knows how to rally the troops.
I’m sharing with you a voice memo — a debrief, if you will — on my take on who should get the very unofficial Most Valuable Guest of the Vanity Fair Oscars Party from me.
What is a Most Valuable Guest, you ask? I don’t mean “valuable” in the way that you might be thinking. I mean the guest who somehow just really enhances your party or meeting or wedding. The guest who, because of how they were there, made everything just, well, better.
Without further ado… the award goes to… (it’s in the voicememo.) 😉
Much love,
Priya
P.S. This Wednesday, March 25 at 12 PM ET, I’m hosting a GROUP HELP Learning Lab on Zoom on how to host a 15 Toasts dinner, a simple structure that can transform a room. I’ll walk through how to design it for different settings, from team dinners to families meeting for the first time, including how to choose a theme with real tension, frame prompts that invite story (not opinion), and how to adapt it so you can actually host your own. RSVP here. I’ll share the Zoom link with Group Lifers on Tuesday.
P.P.S. And on Friday, March 27 at 11 AM ET, I’m going live on Substack with Matt Goldstein, founder of Gaia Music Collective, to break down how they create those one-day pop-up choirs where 300 strangers come together to sing everything from Wicked to the Dixie Chicks. We’ll unpack the choices that make it work, from balancing freedom and control to inviting both expertise and beginners, choosing songs, keeping phones out of the room, and creating a coherent, transformative experience for a group of strangers. Join us here right on Substack.
