Parrish Art Musem Hosts Second Annual 'BizShine' in Water Mill

“We have a chef, retailer, fitness person, beauty expert, and someone on air locally so we have some wonderful speakers.”

That’s the Parrish Art Museum‘s Director of Membership Shariee Calderone talking about BizShine. It’s a group of six area business people getting five minutes to “shine.” In other words, describe what they do.

Think of BizShine events as edited-down TED Talks for Long Island. It all happened Friday, January 19 in the Parrish theater. Presenters got to send in six slides to help tell their tales.

“It’s about professional journey stories,” Calderone says. “They have just five minutes and the program was modeled after our popular PechaKucha event we have here four times a year. That’s an international program.”

Alex Bujoreanu is the Executive Chef at R.AIRE in Hampton Bays. Yes, that “R” period, “AIRE.” His five minutes are about introducing something called a “molecule-constructive menu.” Sounds as confusing as the name, but he assures the crowd it’s delicious.

“We are pretty new in the business, so this is a way to get people to know about us,” Bujoreanu tells me.

That’s a fairly common goal for the evening. Old and new businesses and individuals.

WLIW host Gianna Volpe arrives with an ‘entourage’ of husband and young daughter. Mom is talking about someone radio listeners have heard but maybe don’t really know. “I’ve been working since I was in elementary school,” Volpe cracks. “I was a serial entrepreneur,” she adds. “For me it’s a nice way for the community to get to know the person who’s always interviewing other people.”

Others getting in their ‘Fast Five’ (yes, there’s a timer) include Shannon Willey from Sea Green Designs and Randy King from Shinnecock Fitness, both in Southampton, and Carmindy Bowyer, an area expert on beauty.

Also telling the Golden Pear story, founder Keith Davis who opened the first one in 1987.

Calderon cites him as a perfect example of someone who has been on the East End for a long time. “We want to meet the leaders behind the business. People know The Golden Pear, but how well do they know Keith?”

A little better now. But will he save me a sesame seed bagel?

Find out about the next BizShine (in January 2025) and all the fun public Parrish Art Museum events at parrishart.org.

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