Chapter two.
Erik Cargill:I'm Erik Cargill.
Rachel Elnar:And I'm Rachel Elnar. And this is Cheers and Tiers.
Erik Cargill:Design leadership tales retold.
Varick Rosete:Hi.
Karen Kurycki:How are you doing?
Erik Cargill:Good morning.
Karen Kurycki:Good morning. Good
Erik Cargill:it is morning still. Right?
Rachel Elnar:It's morning for us. We have two great guests to welcome to the podcast. Our first guest is a Jacksonville designer and illustrator known as CMY Karen, whose watercolor style has attracted clients like the Washington Post, Nike, and Reebok. As AIJ Jacksonville president in 2011 to 02/2013, she launched Discover Design, a mentorship program connecting students with professionals. Her socially engaged work spans civic projects like one hundred days of democracy and collaborations with nonprofits, Three Threaded and Jasmine.
Rachel Elnar:Named one of Graphic Design USA's Responsible Designers to Watch in 02/2018, she works from Jacksonville's Cork Arts District, creating visuals that drive community impact and social change. Her leadership retreat partner in crime is here with us too. This guest brings twenty five plus years of creative leadership to his role as chief design officer at Tiger Lily. He's worked with major brands like Capital One, the PGA Tour, and Oracle, while championing Jacksonville's creative community as AIJ Jacksonville president from 2009 to 02/2011, and through ventures like Wolf and Cub Boutique and the One Spark Festival. His work connects visual design with cultural resonance, building communities that inspire.
Rachel Elnar:Say hello to Karen Kurycki and Varick Rosete.
Erik Cargill:Welcome, you two. Thank you.
Karen Kurycki:Thank you. Good to be here.
Rachel Elnar:So happy to have you here.
Erik Cargill:So happy to have you.
Rachel Elnar:It's been a long while, and I just can't wait because for this for season two, we are having our leadership buddies. You guys are partners in crime. I mean, I remember seeing you two walking together everywhere. We will dig into it for sure and talk about some of the best room parties ever. Alright.
Rachel Elnar:So but before we jump into that, why don't I ask you to well, we'll start with Karen to tell us a story a little bit about how you got involved in AIGA leadership, the year, chapter, your roles, and etcetera.
Karen Kurycki:So I first learned about AIGA in college. I went to Kent State University in Ohio, and so we were part of the Cleveland chapter. I didn't really get too involved in the Cleveland chapter other than a portfolio review as a student, and then moved down to Jacksonville in 02/2004. And my boss, Curtis Loftus, at the time was involved with AIGA. And so he brought us out to events, and that's where I met Russell Quadros, who was president at the time.
Karen Kurycki:And he just kinda opened up our world to all things AIGA, all things local, all things local designers, and, we just became fast friends. And I met Varick during that time as well. So and then leadership, joined the board as volunteer chair, then community outreach chair, vice president, and then president. And then, after that, chapter advisory council, and I think that's it.
Rachel Elnar:Karen, I have a quick question. You volunteer to be on the board or did someone pick you out of the crowd and say, we really want you
Karen Kurycki:I think I think we had attended a couple of of events and wanted to have a larger role in planning those events and then became professional event planners, basically. That passes, as you all know, that's a requirement of AIGA. So, yeah, that was, just very eye opening on getting thrown into planning an event as a volunteer chair and not knowing where to start or who to reach out to for catering or any of the things that you need to plan an event. So that was really interesting and a fast learning path for that. So
Rachel Elnar:Amazing. All right. Barrick?
Varick Rosete:I joined up AIGA in AIGA around, like, 2004 coming out of college, getting more involved. I I remember the same people that Taryn had mentioned, Quadros, Ron Hubbard, actually, too. They were, like, presidents, co presidents, one after the other. And they had invited me to to be a part of the board, like, around 02/2007, 2008 or so. And they wanted me to do programming at first.
Varick Rosete:Then I was like, I don't wanna do programming. It's like, I I I wanna do my membership. Like, I love, like, talking to everyone and meeting everyone and, you know, getting more people involved. Like, is there, you know, a place for that? They're like, yeah, come on in and let let's do that.
Varick Rosete:So I did that and I can't remember if I did it for like one or two years because like I immediately like became vice president, I think. And then after vice president and this is a funny story we could say for later, but like after vice president, I immediately became president after a run after that. So it just all came in together and it's like that after presidency, I stayed on board during Karen's presidency because there's a couple things I wanted to get worked out through our chapter, and I stayed on as communications chair.
Erik Cargill:All right. So between the two of you, you both have attended quite a few leadership retreats. And so how many did you attend? And of all of those that you did attend, what were some of your favorites? What were some of the highlights of some of your favorites that you could think of?
Varick Rosete:Oh my. It's so important.
Karen Kurycki:That's like getting your favorite children.
Varick Rosete:Yeah, they're all favorites. Oh my gosh. Also unique.
Erik Cargill:What are some moments that stand out
Karen Kurycki:to you? Oh boy. You wanna go first?
Varick Rosete:Well, was gonna say, Karen, first retreat in Miami, the pool and getting everyone involved in trivia was very memorable.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. I think there were so someone else mentioned this. I think it was Josie mentioned how expensive Miami was and how all of us poor designers could not afford to go out in Miami. And so we ended up going to the liquor store, getting some beers, filling a cooler, and bringing it to the pool. And I think at the time, Pringles had, like, trivia questions on the backs of the chips, and we had just randomly bought them to eat.
Karen Kurycki:Didn't realize they had questions on the back. And so we would ask people who would swim up to our little Jacksonville area just to meet new people and give them a beer, ask if they got the trivia question right, I think they got beer.
Varick Rosete:So Snacks, candy, or beer.
Erik Cargill:Yeah. I love it.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. And, I do remember in Miami too, I'm I was trying to, like, think about thoughts from each retreat, but Miami was the one where in the main session to kick things off, they they have a a saying or or an expression, like, reach out and touch your members. And I just remember everyone saying that
Varick Rosete:That was
Karen Kurycki:whole conference. Yeah. So that was definitely a highlight.
Varick Rosete:Yeah. I think that was, that was DC that that ran a a campaign for their chapter. Yeah. And when they did their presentation, they walked around.
Karen Kurycki:Yes.
Varick Rosete:They're like
Karen Kurycki:It's how
Varick Rosete:I remember. Remember.
Karen Kurycki:Yes. For sure.
Varick Rosete:Then we knew we were in the right place.
Karen Kurycki:And Wyoming was the original location of the first pyramid, technically. Not as, like, major groups, but Lauren Addy Langfitt, she she got up in the it was, like, the closing session or something. She got up and did a human pyramid with, like, two other people, like, on the main stage or something or in the main area, and that's just it just cut on, like, wow.
Erik Cargill:And this was in Miami.
Karen Kurycki:This was in Miami.
Erik Cargill:Okay. But
Karen Kurycki:she was the founder of the pyramid.
Varick Rosete:Yeah. Yeah.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. And then Omaha just took off with the the pyramids for sure.
Varick Rosete:Yeah. We got Oh. Very courageous. Okay.
Rachel Elnar:And we thought Omaha was the first place, but it sounds like you're breaking the myth and it's actually Miami.
Karen Kurycki:It was, yeah.
Varick Rosete:Omaha's where everyone started doing. Yes. Yes. And I think that's when Josie started to hate it. Oh, yeah.
Erik Cargill:Yeah. He was not a fan. Definitely.
Varick Rosete:He was not a he was not a fan.
Karen Kurycki:Someone did get injured very badly one time. Yeah. Yeah.
Varick Rosete:There was a was a rug burn.
Erik Cargill:Oh. Well, Rachel's had her share of bruises.
Rachel Elnar:Oh, yeah. I've had my Yeah.
Karen Kurycki:Back problem. We share a lot of back Yeah.
Varick Rosete:Bottom tiers.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. I think I had a Yeah. I think I had a year around, like, 2012.
Varick Rosete:The the middle tier is crazy.
Erik Cargill:Middle tier is kind of protected, know? You just kind of smoosh into everybody else. Yeah. You know?
Karen Kurycki:Right. Because only the really light people are falling on you. So
Varick Rosete:Yeah. Right. Did you did you do some? Do you Erik?
Erik Cargill:I did, but I'm six foot four and so you know I was always on the bottom, which was fine and don't remember getting hurt, but there's a lot of things I don't remember.
Varick Rosete:You were a strong base. Well, just going along with the whole pyramid thing, you know, top plan was to get a five tier because two tier, three tier was great, four tiers were getting there. And then it was like, I think five levels was ultimately where we want to get to. So I remember drawing on a napkin. Plans like, who's on the bottom?
Varick Rosete:Who's who's next? Who's next? Who's next? Like, we're planning this out to, like, make sure and we're, like, looking. It's like, okay.
Varick Rosete:Yeah. Yeah. We need to get lighter and lighter. Yeah. And I think that was, I wanna say, Portland?
Karen Kurycki:It was Portland. Yeah. It was called the Doug Fir, I believe.
Varick Rosete:Woah. We did it?
Karen Kurycki:I I have a picture of the diagram, and I might have submitted it to the pictures. But the Doug fir was our biggest public pyramid, and it definitely got broken up by the staff at the Doug firs Yeah. Bar Yes. In Portland.
Erik Cargill:It's it's a great bar, but yeah. Yeah. I could see how they would be.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. They were not happy. Yeah. But then we tried to do it in the hotel, and the ceilings were too low to do a five tier. I remember Carol and kittens.
Rachel Elnar:Are our problems, right? Our first world problems. It's like, the ceilings are too low. Correct.
Varick Rosete:Well, it's funny, like, you know, we're we're all trying to figure this like, around a piece of napkin, you know, before anyone gets hurt. I
Erik Cargill:love that it's turned into a design exercise. You know? It's like, let's let's sketch this out. Let's wireframe this, you know, for the UX designers out there, you know, we're gonna wireframe this and
Karen Kurycki:Right. Another post or party, like, retreat story was I remember wearing, Michael Jackson masks So Because we were Jacksonville, so we had to, like, represent our chapter and at the first opening party. And we were so it was so sweaty under there. And I remember we, like, wore them for most of the, like, meet and greet. Everyone was like, can you please take that off?
Karen Kurycki:It was, like, gone out. Pretty creepy. It was pretty Hold off. I remember Brian Singer specifically was like, oh my god. Please that off.
Varick Rosete:But you know what? We made an impact. You
Karen Kurycki:know? Yeah.
Erik Cargill:For sure.
Varick Rosete:My only People wanted to know who were in those masks.
Karen Kurycki:Right. Never. Oh oh, and we also used to take when we were on the plane, the flight over to the retreat, for any retreats, we would print out the attendee list of, like, 250 people, close our eyes, and, like, trace through the book and pick our best friend of the retreat. And so you'd have to go and find them at the parties
Varick Rosete:and talk to them. Get involved.
Karen Kurycki:You're my best friend, and people are used to
Varick Rosete:creep down.
Erik Cargill:They'd be like, what do you mean? That's brilliant. Yeah. That is brilliant. That is really guess what?
Erik Cargill:We're best friends now.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. Yeah.
Varick Rosete:Exactly. That's awesome.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. So everyone would be, like, looking out for everyone else's best friend. Like, oh, I met your best friend. They're so nice. Like, gotta meet them.
Karen Kurycki:And, yeah, it was a good good icebreaker for sure.
Rachel Elnar:I'm looking at the list of leadership retreats that you attended there, and you list Minneapolis and Salt Lake City as crashed. What does that mean?
Varick Rosete:So I was not officially signed up to go to the retreat. Right? But the retreats are so fun. So I would go to the retreat, but I remember Josie not letting me in, which I totally understand because I didn't I wasn't signed up. So it's like, okay.
Varick Rosete:I'll I'll go check out the city, and then I'll come and join back in with, you know, all the night festivities, all the things that aren't, you know, run by having your badge. Mhmm. So and I I I'm hoping that there were people who crashed before me, But I I remember it became a thing where it's like, oh, Varek's crashing again. Like, let's let's let's get him in here. Let's let's get in for, like, a quick photo, then you can leave.
Rachel Elnar:Did Denise catch you?
Varick Rosete:She would I would get looks from Denise, from Ray. Everyone they're like, Derek's here. It's like, okay. One picture and you're out. Like, I get it because, like, I want I wanted, like, you know, the people who were there to, like, take it all in.
Varick Rosete:I've done it already. I just want to enjoy everyone's company because, you know, we've all been to them. It is fun to just hang out. And I feel like, you know, the Denver retreat, the alumni one happened because of all the people wanting to keep coming back, and we missed each other. It's a good time to catch back up.
Erik Cargill:The Denver one was my first and I remember the alumni being there and I just thought that was what you did. I thought, okay, well there's the leadership retreat and then there's the alumni piece after that. I thought that was like standard, but I guess it wasn't so.
Karen Kurycki:One and done.
Varick Rosete:Yeah. First time.
Rachel Elnar:First and last, yeah. Wow. I mean, that was a testament how close and how really supportive this whole community is. The fact that people would fly across the country just to crash horseshoe retreat.
Varick Rosete:Well, I did. You know, it's a whole new it's it's a city I hadn't been in as well. It's like, oh, I wanna like that. I'll I'll come along and crash. Did you guys ever crash?
Rachel Elnar:No? No. You did not.
Erik Cargill:No. No. I never did. But now I'm wishing I had.
Varick Rosete:To hang out more.
Erik Cargill:Right? Now now that now that you bring it up, it's like, oh, that was an option?
Varick Rosete:No. It was not an option. That's called that's called breaking the rules.
Rachel Elnar:So which are the retreats that you went together?
Karen Kurycki:Miami.
Varick Rosete:Miami. Omaha.
Karen Kurycki:Omaha. Portland.
Varick Rosete:Portland. Chattanooga. Minneapolis. I wasn't at that one, but I yeah. I was there.
Karen Kurycki:Salt
Varick Rosete:Lake City.
Karen Kurycki:Salt oh, no. Yeah. Salt Lake.
Varick Rosete:Salt Lake City. Because there was a there was a Salt Lake, it was a couple of us that crashed, and we went out to the Salt Lake Flats while everyone was booked for a treat. And when we were coming back, they would call us and be like, it's last call. What do you guys want? It's like, oh, we're we're, like, thirty minutes away.
Varick Rosete:Order us order us these drinks.
Karen Kurycki:But, like, Salt Lake, you it was, like, lower percentage of alcohol or something, so we were trying to, like, make up. Yeah. Just remember close it. It was very limited on what you could order. And, yeah, I I remember they had those, like, flag crosswalk things, like and Jim Ward, like, picking up one of those at the crosswalk and just, dancing.
Karen Kurycki:Safety. Right. Yeah. Safety. And then Andrew Twigg singing karaoke.
Karen Kurycki:I remember that as a after party thing in Salt Lake. And that was like Josie's last, like, retreat on the national whatever you call it. And so we made shirts with Josie.
Varick Rosete:Oh, yeah. That's right.
Karen Kurycki:That's right. Glued bottle, like, writing a Use the glue.
Varick Rosete:Use glue. What?
Erik Cargill:Oh, I haven't seen this.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. I'll try to find one. Okay. But, yeah, I know Jim Ward. Did she Did wanna illustrate that?
Varick Rosete:Yeah. I I I did an illustration of Okay. Caricature of Josie.
Erik Cargill:Okay.
Varick Rosete:And I think Jim put it together into a glue thing. Okay.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. It's nice. Yeah. We had a lot of merch. The Jacksonville chapter would carry, like, the biggest duffel bag of merch in every year.
Karen Kurycki:Like, we'd definitely go over our weight limit on the flight. Like, we're we have so many t shirts and pins and mugs and yeah. It was a good time. Embarrassing.
Erik Cargill:Yeah. Now was that duffle bag much lighter coming back, or did you pick up everybody else's merch and then
Varick Rosete:The duffle bag was lighter, but our suitcases were heavier.
Karen Kurycki:Well, because we get so much swag.
Varick Rosete:Yeah. Right.
Karen Kurycki:We're like, how am I gonna bring this back?
Varick Rosete:But yeah. That was always really cool. All the inspiration of the other chapters.
Erik Cargill:Yeah. So cool. So, you know, we've talked about some of the fun things, and then, you know, all of these all of these retreats had different programs and, you know, different things to get serious about. How much of that helped guide you in your careers after that? And does it still guide you today?
Erik Cargill:Okay. Done. Next question, Rachel.
Karen Kurycki:I was super inspired by all of the social design presentations and workshops. I know in Miami, attended a workshop on starting a mentoring program, and that's where I kind of got the idea to bring that to Jacksonville. And everyone was saying, it takes so long to do. You have to get all these approvals. And I was like, no.
Karen Kurycki:We're just gonna do it. And we came back, and we launched it within, like, four months maybe. And that was our high school mentoring program that lasted about ten or eleven years in Jacksonville. And then just designed for social good, hearing people like Maurice Woods from the Interact project, in San Francisco. And I remember we heard a speaker at Omaha who was really heavily into the design for community and, like, really building that up.
Karen Kurycki:It was either Omaha or Chattanooga. I don't know. They're all, like, mixing it together. Yeah. That was super inspiring to hear.
Karen Kurycki:Dawn Hancock from Chicago and Firebelly, her agency there, they do such great work there. I just remember being inspired by all of these people and wanting to, like, bring that back to Jacksonville and have have really tried to incorporate that into my own practice and and working with organizations within Jacksonville to lift them up and give them a voice in our community. So yeah. That's that's my biggest takeaway. And a lot of the programming from other chapters.
Erik Cargill:You did, you did come to Seattle for
Karen Kurycki:Yep. Into the Woods.
Erik Cargill:Into the Woods one time.
Karen Kurycki:Yep. Seth and I Yeah. Spoke there. Yeah. That was a that was a super fun time.
Karen Kurycki:I really love that conference. We had a great time.
Erik Cargill:I've heard great things. I never did I never did go to that. I wish I wish I had.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. I know there was a five tier moment at the Into the Woods I attended.
Varick Rosete:I think I could.
Karen Kurycki:I was not part of it. I had retired from the pier.
Erik Cargill:Was this the one where the mattresses got burned? And
Varick Rosete:No. Oh my gosh.
Karen Kurycki:That was not that I know of. There was
Varick Rosete:I wasn't at that one. No. I wasn't there.
Erik Cargill:No. I mean I mean, that just that just tells you, you know, how how far the rumors fly. It's not really a rumor.
Karen Kurycki:Okay. That was not the one. Yeah. That was not the one I was at. It was pretty low key.
Karen Kurycki:Wow. That pyramid or two. But, yeah, I don't remember any of that. We had, like there was, like, a casino night that they had created, but I think that was it wasn't it wasn't See, mean,
Erik Cargill:it rains a lot here, and we get bored. And and, you know, just lighting things on fire just sounds like a good idea. Moving on, what have you taken away from the retreats?
Varick Rosete:I think a big part is the interaction, the social interaction, because, like, business and just, you know, meeting new people and just getting comfortable quickly to, you know, to to make everyone feel alright. That you know, making friends fast, that was it. That was the thing. And making people belong, feel like they belong too. And then just carrying that through.
Varick Rosete:That that's definitely one, the the social interactions for AIGA, right? Because it, you know, there's a lot, a lot of us are extroverts, lot of us are introverts, but like at AIJ Leadership Retreat, it it like doesn't matter because like everyone mingles all together and it's along and it's great.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. I used to take road trips around The US and would stop at different in different cities and would always stop at my closest retreat buddy's places. They had their college for a spare bedroom. Liz Ah in DC, Diane Holton in DC, Seth Johnson in Minneapolis. Just there were so many along the way that I stayed in touch with, because of those retreats.
Karen Kurycki:So invaluable friendships were like
Varick Rosete:Yeah. And anytime you go to, like, another city, you're like, hey. Let's meet up. You know.
Rachel Elnar:I mean let's catch up it's been a
Karen Kurycki:while. Totally.
Rachel Elnar:That's exactly what happened when starting this podcast. I was in Seattle I called up Erik we had lunch and then this podcast was born.
Varick Rosete:It was fantastic. It's fantastic.
Erik Cargill:She just said we should have a podcast and I was like yeah okay And then she had to go to the airport and I sent her a text right after that and I said, hey, were you serious about that? Oh, nice. Were you serious about that? Yeah, here, How about this one? Oh.
Erik Cargill:Oh, nice. Oh, I haven't seen that one.
Rachel Elnar:It's a
Karen Kurycki:new one.
Erik Cargill:This is this is my favorite. This is very Seattle right here.
Karen Kurycki:Okay.
Erik Cargill:Anyway. And
Rachel Elnar:why were the Jacksonville parties so great?
Varick Rosete:Oh, I don't know if we can claim the parties.
Rachel Elnar:We did. It was it was go to the Jacksonville room.
Karen Kurycki:No. Was never was always fun.
Varick Rosete:I think it was never that.
Erik Cargill:What was it what was it from your perspective?
Varick Rosete:It was So here's one of the things I would do. I'd be like, Okay, where are guys staying at?
Erik Cargill:Blah blah blah.
Varick Rosete:Was like, Okay, what room number are you in? It's like, Okay, is it just you? Okay, cool. And I get this intel because Karen knows us. We're not having a party in the Jacksonville room.
Varick Rosete:No. No. We're having it in other chapters rooms. What do mean? We're going to a different chapters room.
Karen Kurycki:Of the room.
Varick Rosete:My goodness. We are not doing that in our room.
Karen Kurycki:We were the planners, but we would not let people that's because we used to stay, like, four deep in a room. So there would be no Yeah. Anyone's I
Varick Rosete:got suitcases everywhere. The best were, like, if you had, like, a chapter with adjoining rooms. It's like, oh. Oh, yes. Okay.
Varick Rosete:4404 and 405? Got it.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. I remember yeah. In Portland, someone had a penthouse suite, and we are, like, in the hallway and doing pyramids there. And the the security guard would come up and he would come to the top and he would just shake his head and he came and he would go back down Yeah. To the Stop.
Varick Rosete:We were having parties all along the floors in Portland. And then when someone said oh yeah blah blah blah's got the you know the rooftop penthouse and I was like well shit let's go.
Karen Kurycki:Obviously.
Varick Rosete:Let's let's go up there we can just hang out in the lobby area like when the elevator is open we'll just stay right there in the hallway.
Karen Kurycki:The Sam Club ended in that hallway.
Varick Rosete:In that hallway. Yeah. But to Cara's point yes the security guard came up and it's like you guys were okay. Because, like, we weren't bothering anyone at that point.
Karen Kurycki:Right. Yeah. We had settled down.
Varick Rosete:It was, like, 5AM, and he was like, I give up. Yeah.
Erik Cargill:So maybe you didn't have the party in your room, but you brought the party. Is that safe to say?
Karen Kurycki:We were always just trying to connect people.
Varick Rosete:We're big on programming some things. So it's like one chapter can't do it all.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. Our slogan was have fun and get shit done. That was the AIGA Jacksonville slogan. So Yeah. It starts with have fun.
Karen Kurycki:Because you're not gonna get anything done if you're not interested in Yeah. Doing it. So, yeah, have fun, get shit done. We put that on a lot of merch. But just we
Varick Rosete:We are involved in the organization.
Karen Kurycki:The party, we just loved the party. So, yeah, it was a good time.
Rachel Elnar:Yeah. That's a good value to have.
Varick Rosete:You know, we we got other chapters involved. You know? It's like we need people to go get ice. We need people to go get drinks. And, like, we'll just all bring it together kind of thing.
Varick Rosete:Yeah. Want BYOB, but, you know, we gotta coordinate so that not one group is doing everything. You know? We're all here together. This is like another workshop.
Karen Kurycki:Investigate the party planning. I remember Saund Adams definitely left a bucket of beer outside someone
Erik Cargill:because we
Varick Rosete:we kept on I think we kept on having to moo.
Karen Kurycki:That was I don't know. Could see where the party was going. Because the issue
Varick Rosete:And I don't think we we got started till late, and I think he had to bow out, and he left us the beers. And we then will note.
Rachel Elnar:Yeah. In a in a little trash can.
Varick Rosete:Remember In a little
Rachel Elnar:trash can. Outside the store. Yeah. The MSC Suites was great because you could see where the party was moving to.
Varick Rosete:Yeah. Yeah. I think we did have like a beer room, a wine room.
Rachel Elnar:I'm laughing because, you know, we started this we started this podcast to talk a little bit about leadership and the value of AIJ, the value of leadership. And I think if any outsiders listen to this podcast, they will go, they drink a lot, they party a lot, there's pyramids. I mean, a lot of I mean, the fun times were there. There was definitely value, but I'm just saying from outsider point of view, it's hilarious.
Varick Rosete:Yeah. We're talking amongst ourselves now. Oh my god. For us.
Karen Kurycki:It's fine. Yeah. Is Brad Brooks. So many memories, like, listening to people.
Varick Rosete:For the up and coming members and and board.
Rachel Elnar:I think the exchange of information was probably the most valuable thing, right?
Erik Cargill:For sure. Absolutely. The exchange of information, ideas, programming. I signed on as the partnership director which I knew absolutely nothing about and one month into it I go to my first retreat One month in? One month in.
Varick Rosete:I'm sorry we didn't meet before.
Erik Cargill:Oh my God. I one went function as a volunteer, and then someone from the board said, Hey, we have an open board position.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah, that sounds about right.
Erik Cargill:Have you thought about asking strangers for money?
Varick Rosete:It's like,
Erik Cargill:No, no, haven't. No, but it was fun. So you mentioned the, what, it doesn't really have an official name, six am Club or six the six
Rachel Elnar:am
Erik Cargill:am Club. You mentioned that earlier. Can you say more about that?
Karen Kurycki:Six AM club originated in Omaha the last night. Okay. The retreat in Omaha. I don't know if we had a early flight, and we were just gonna stay up. Yeah.
Karen Kurycki:We did. If we need this crazy, and we're gonna stay up anyway. But
Varick Rosete:She had a 09:00 flight.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. I remember I can't remember who was in it. I know there's a picture somewhere out there of the people in the original 6AM job. It was me, you. I think Patrick was there.
Karen Kurycki:Patrick Carter from Jacksonville. I know a bunch of the Omaha buds were there. Like, Nicole Blau was there. I remember that. Because I had met her on Behance, the network.
Karen Kurycki:We were friends on Behance. I had no idea it was her until, like, 5AM that morning. I was like, so and so. I can't believe you're so and so. Like, it was because she was, like, under a totally different name, but we had, like, connected through Behance, like, in 02/2007.
Karen Kurycki:And, yeah, that was just mind blowing. But, yeah, those are the connections you realize you have with people when you're, like, hanging out in the Embassy Suites at five in the morning.
Varick Rosete:Yeah. Know more about people. Yeah. And their endurance.
Rachel Elnar:And it's a tradition that continued.
Varick Rosete:That's wild. It still continued.
Karen Kurycki:It continued. Yeah. So it's continued. Yeah. We were part of this exam in Portland.
Varick Rosete:I did it all the
Karen Kurycki:time. Minneapolis, Salt Lake, Denver, I think. Yeah. Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids.
Karen Kurycki:I don't made it in Grand Rapids. I was too I was old. Did they have the same with the bathroom? They have to go. I'm pretty
Rachel Elnar:They got the gun.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. I know. I know they did it in Raleigh. I couldn't I couldn't make it. I got to, like, 3AM, and I was like, I gotta go to bed.
Karen Kurycki:I gotta go. And it was like, Jim Ward met the guy from the Chappelle show. I forget his name. Ashley Larry from the Chappelle show. That's cool.
Karen Kurycki:You know who I'm talking about?
Varick Rosete:Yeah. This was in Grand Rapids? Raleigh?
Karen Kurycki:In Raleigh. He had been doing a comedy show and was staying in the hotel. And so they were all hanging out in the lounge area, and he walked in. And Jim got a picture with him. I can find it.
Karen Kurycki:He's actually Larry. Yeah. Like He hung out with them. Like, ate pizza with them. Yeah.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. I was asleep. Yeah.
Varick Rosete:You know, I think in in Chattanooga, there was a good amount of us that were up. And as people were going to catch their flights, we gave them
Karen Kurycki:Oh yeah, we would give them a send off.
Varick Rosete:And they'd walk under.
Karen Kurycki:Yes, I forgot about that.
Erik Cargill:Rachel we have one of those photos, is that from Denver?
Rachel Elnar:No that was Denver coming into the the bar. Nothing to do with 6AM.
Karen Kurycki:Oh, Denver. Denver was such a crazy
Varick Rosete:Yeah. Denver was pretty crazy.
Karen Kurycki:Denver ended up in karaoke on that Sunday. Yeah.
Varick Rosete:I remember doing karaoke.
Karen Kurycki:I know I sang Lionel Richie all night long with Liz Ott from BC. There were a lot of good ones. There were a lot of good singers in AIGA, randomly.
Varick Rosete:Yeah. They just needed that extra push to get Yeah. They'd be like, you're okay. We're all here to support you. Yeah.
Karen Kurycki:And here's a drink.
Varick Rosete:Yeah. Here's a drink.
Karen Kurycki:Like Prestaleo on in Grand Rapids at that bowling alley, I sang I think we sang Bohemian Rhapsody or something like that.
Varick Rosete:Oh my god. In in Omaha, you and Lauren got on stage with the singer wherever whatever bar we were in. I did. There was a performer, and both of you got on and started singing with him. Yeah.
Varick Rosete:I have video of that somewhere.
Karen Kurycki:Sure did. Please send.
Varick Rosete:I think it was Journey song. Yeah. Don't don't stop leaving. Yeah. Yeah.
Varick Rosete:Which is why you would get up there.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. I mean, that would be the only song probably at that time that I get up there for. Yeah. That's hilarious. I remember she took the mic.
Karen Kurycki:We had a we had a bus ride. We put the mic on the bus and was, like, shouting like, telling jokes on the way
Varick Rosete:Jokes like a tour bus.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. God. She was the best. She is the best. I haven't talked
Varick Rosete:to You're very good off the cuff.
Karen Kurycki:Yes. She's, like, so good. She's an ethereal comedian, for sure. Yeah. You need to get her on here.
Karen Kurycki:She could tell some stories. I'm sure.
Erik Cargill:I you know, just out of curiosity, what was the flight back after the 6AM club?
Karen Kurycki:You know, one of the flights back was when Merrick became vice president. I remember they're, like, still planning on the flight back, and they're, like, Merrick became vice president. I was, like, that's a good idea.
Varick Rosete:Yeah. We're
Karen Kurycki:still, like yeah. I'm sure we were
Varick Rosete:That might have been after Omaha.
Karen Kurycki:I think it was.
Varick Rosete:Because so so this this alluded to like the beginning part where our president, our outgoing president Ron said or asked me to go to the president's lunch. Yeah. To which I was like okay I'll go do that. So I go there and then I think it was it was Bernard or somebody from like Hawaii or something that said you know what do you you know this is for presidents is like oh it's okay you you know my president couldn't make it. And he's like well, you know what's gonna happen now.
Varick Rosete:Right? It's like, you're a president now. It's like
Karen Kurycki:Sure knew.
Varick Rosete:Oh. Oh. Okay. Okay. I see what happened here now.
Varick Rosete:And then I became has it been after that for sure?
Rachel Elnar:Bernard called it. That's funny. He really did. Oh my gosh wow they really do pull you in but that's good. Mean you're
Varick Rosete:Yeah it was great.
Rachel Elnar:I think the leadership retreat is really the Kool Aid that everyone drinks.
Karen Kurycki:Oh, for sure.
Rachel Elnar:It's just coming back the the reason why you keep volunteering. Yeah.
Erik Cargill:There's nothing nothing else like it, really.
Karen Kurycki:Mean We really sold a lot of it.
Erik Cargill:Pretty profound. Yeah.
Karen Kurycki:From other chapters. Or Yeah. Charlotte being a big one, they had a really good programming.
Varick Rosete:Charlotte, we hung out with a lot too. Yeah. Indeed. There was I had to put together a workshop, and I think I I told you a little bit about this, Rachel. But I I had to present that for a a membership workshop, and I was doing it with Sarah from Orlando.
Varick Rosete:And I think we had gone out the previous night, and we really much done. So going into the workshop, you know, it's one of those things where it's like, think on your feet. Think on your feet. It's like we're doing membership workshop. Let's go around the room.
Varick Rosete:Let's go around the room, everybody. What is one project you guys did during the year that is very impactful that was hear the ideas from everyone in the room? And at that point, we just moderated. Yeah. And we just wrote it we moderated.
Varick Rosete:I was like, that's great. He goes, like, you don't wanna hear just one perspective. Right? Let's hear from everyone's perspective. Exactly.
Erik Cargill:Brilliant. Yeah.
Rachel Elnar:Brilliant. GA improv. Yeah.
Erik Cargill:Oh, yeah.
Varick Rosete:Actually did a pro yes. We actually did a program like that.
Karen Kurycki:Oh, we did. Yeah. Did do an Did
Varick Rosete:you really?
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. Were with our programming, we would get all these ideas and we're like, we gotta well, we gotta do that. We gotta do that. And so I think as presidents, between twenty two thousand nine to 2013 when we were both presidents, we had to count up the events at the end of the year and submit them to Nashville. And I remember my record number of events was 76 events in one year.
Erik Cargill:What? Wow.
Karen Kurycki:We're insane. Jacksonville, we would have anywhere from, like, 60 to 70 events. Like, between those four years, we burned ourselves out so bad. But it was
Varick Rosete:But we always said, like, we need to do less. I was like, yeah. We need to do less. We need to do less. And then
Karen Kurycki:we're like, oh, we want we want the speaker to go. We want we want Oh, wow. Where our monthly events going. And so
Varick Rosete:Once you start, then it yeah.
Karen Kurycki:And and, I mean, we had such a great board too. It's like, deep in the board and made sure that, like people were coming.
Varick Rosete:Not one person was burdened.
Karen Kurycki:Like Jim Ward, Steph Ward, like there were just so many people who were like integral to that.
Rachel Elnar:It wasn't a testament to your leadership, I have to say. For sure. Yeah, definitely.
Karen Kurycki:And we owe it also the leadership retreats.
Erik Cargill:Did a lot of those events perpetuate after you guys moved out?
Varick Rosete:For the most part, yeah. One of the things I try to instill with like our our chapter, just like knowing the history, like there's reasons why we do these events. And like there's either like some kind of tactic that we're we're doing to like either draw the people in or why you do it besides the love of what you wanna do.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. And a lot of those events would evolve into other things. Like Yeah. We had the Always Summer Poster Show, which was everyone would pick their favorite summer song and design a poster based on that, which was started by Patrick Carter, who was our vice president at the time and or programming at the time. I'm not it.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. Programming. And then that turned into Dyna music. Like, yeah. We would invite local bands to play.
Karen Kurycki:They have a concert. Yeah. Alongside hanging the posters. And that was so cool. Like, we would just pack out the event space, and we get to support local musicians as well.
Karen Kurycki:And some people would design their posters based on a band, and that was that was
Erik Cargill:Was Limp Bizkit one of them?
Varick Rosete:Would've that would've been biscuit. I would I would've been happy if Paperfart.
Erik Cargill:Because it They're from Jacksonville, aren't they?
Karen Kurycki:From Jacksonville. Uh-huh. I have to take it to the Matthews Bridge.
Erik Cargill:Where are you at? Jacksonville? Yeah. Yep.
Rachel Elnar:Yeah. My last question to you is, are you both involved in the community now?
Karen Kurycki:I'm involved in community based stuff, but not as much in AIGA. Not that that can't change in the future. I just took a step back. I was on advisory for probably six or seven years after my board stint in chapter advisory council. And, yeah, just took a break, but always support AIJI with everything.
Varick Rosete:I'm involved in the community still, somewhat. I I now all I'm also part of, like, AdFed. So it's like I think I think after COVID hit, a lot of the chapters, you know, lost some of that physical interaction that they're they're just working themselves around to to get that all back together. So I think the biggest part is like helping them build community. You know, that was a big thing that I always said during my presidency was like, you know what?
Varick Rosete:Don't pay for membership yet, just come hang out. And then if you enjoy what's happening, then become a member at that point, you know.
Rachel Elnar:Well, wanted to thank you both so much. It was great talking to you and I mean, really digging into Omaha and Denver and some of the great ones. I wanted to I say thank remember
Karen Kurycki:I remember Rachel from I remember you from Omaha. Didn't you have like a pink streak in your hair or something? Yes. Okay. I remember Rachel clearly.
Karen Kurycki:Somebody got up on the microphone and asked Rick Rafay a question. And I was like, that girl is so cool. She has pink hair and just you were so confident asking your question. I was like, she's giving really good energy. I just remember you from that retreat and then hanging out with you, obviously, at the after parties.
Karen Kurycki:But, yeah, I wanna thank you both for viewing this. This has been such a good trip down memory lane for sure. I even reactivated my Facebook to pull those photos I sent you. So I'm here. A long, long time.
Erik Cargill:Thank you for taking time on your Sunday and and sharing some of these great stories with us.
Varick Rosete:I've got one more.
Erik Cargill:Yeah, let's hear it.
Varick Rosete:Rachel. Oh, no. Oh, no. No, no. This is actually the first.
Varick Rosete:So I think we're in Omaha, and it's opening session. And they do icebreakers, So this icebreaker had everyone when you first come in, everyone's sitting with their own chapter. And then you get a card, and the card splits you up, and you go sit at that table. So then I got my card, and I sat down at the table that Rachel was at. The thing was is that all the a a I g a Los Angeles chapter didn't move.
Varick Rosete:They stayed on the table, and they were like there. And I was like, hey. What's up? What chapter are you from? What chapter are you from?
Varick Rosete:What chapter it's like, okay. Okay. I'm here with LA.
Karen Kurycki:They don't follow directions.
Varick Rosete:And I thought he was like, this is awesome. Like Rachel, Roger
Rachel Elnar:Jillson, Michael. Michael and Jill. Yeah.
Varick Rosete:And Michael. Yeah. Like, you guys are having a good time at the end. I just came in and disrupted your your chapter table.
Rachel Elnar:What's like We were snobby. We were not going anywhere. We were not following directions.
Varick Rosete:But you know what? I think we broke you guys by the end of that that retreat because everyone's just hanging out.
Karen Kurycki:It was great. I do. Yeah. There's a couple of others that keep popping in my head. The going to the nest in Wyden and Kennedy in Portland.
Karen Kurycki:Remember they hosted the party there, and we got to go back there? The nest that is on Portlandia. Was, like, so excited to see it. And then the Rick Graffaces, those little stickers. I think I These ones?
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. I I Oh. Idea. We we came up with the game, at one of our, like, chapter advisory council meetings or something. Yeah, I was like, we need Rick Grafaces to put on everyone during this retreat to give him a good send off.
Karen Kurycki:So yeah. So you designed these? I did. Yes. Either designed them or it was my idea.
Karen Kurycki:I don't I don't remember. Oh,
Rachel Elnar:wow. Ricker faces. I love that.
Karen Kurycki:Yeah. It's great. That was I remember Lauren Dougherty from Philly had the most. I think I put that picture in the folder as well. I added a few more.
Rachel Elnar:I can't wait to dig into those. Awesome. Well, again, thank you so much. Really appreciate this. This is so much fun.
Rachel Elnar:We need to do this
Karen Kurycki:We do.
Rachel Elnar:More often. And I was talking to Nick, and Nick was like, I can't decide who I want to be my my leadership buddy. I said, you know what? It's much better if we have more people. I said, maybe we just get all 250 together on a whole
Varick Rosete:tripod. Oh my god.
Karen Kurycki:Oh my Please. We can make like a digital pyramid.
Varick Rosete:Goodness.
Karen Kurycki:We're here in Vegas.
Varick Rosete:Oh my god.
Rachel Elnar:Or we do watch parties, like all Jacksonville's in one room and all yeah. And all New York is in one room. That would be fun. Yeah.
Erik Cargill:And then Rachel and I would just sit back and
Karen Kurycki:just Stop doing
Varick Rosete:anything. What?
Erik Cargill:Nick. All the right.
Karen Kurycki:I feel like Nick has so many people he could ask to do.
Rachel Elnar:Well, again, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Karen Kurycki:You. Thank you.
Varick Rosete:You bet. Scroll down memory lane.
Erik Cargill:See. Thanks.
Rachel Elnar:Cheers and cheers. We'll be back next time with more design leadership tales retold.
Erik Cargill:Please subscribe, rate, review, and share this podcast with your creative community, design leaders, and friends.
Rachel Elnar:Cheers and Tiers Design Leadership Tales Retold is a production of chapter two and hosted by us, Rachel Elner and Erik Cargill. This episode was produced and edited by Rachel Elnar. Podcast graphics by Erik Cargill. Animation by Verso Design and Megatoe Design.
Erik Cargill:The theme music track is Loose Ends by Silver Ships Plastic Oceans. Follow Cheers and Tiers on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube podcasts, or wherever you get your audio and video podcasts. Subscribe to our email list at cheers and tears dot com so you don't miss an episode.