The OEC came up as an idea after having a large amount of people ask me about what fun/cool/informative events are coming up. As the co-founder of Social Media Club South Florida, I’ve helped establish myself as a person who’s in-the-know of local happenings.

These event requests from friends became too much to handle and as a result, I decided to compile all of the events I know of in one easy-to-find place: the OEC.

Creating and managing a calendar of events is something that comes naturally to me. I spent two years as the Calendar Editor for the Miami SunPost and loved every second of it.

I’ve had a few people ask me about the name of my new project. “Why Orange Events Calendar?”

Simple. Primarily for SEO purposes.

I wanted a name that represented the state of Florida. “Sunshine” was the first word that popped up due to our being the Sunshine State, but “Sunshine Events Calendar” posed some problems. “SEC” is an acronym for two very well-known organizations: the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the Southeastern Conference (college football, for those that aren’t familiar with it).

My next choice was “Orange” for Florida’s popularity with these delectable citrus fruits and it stuck.

The types of events featured in the OEC started off as tech-related due to those being the most requested, but later evolved to include general business development events like seminars and panels. Fun events like TweetUps and MeetUps came along shortly after. And the latest category is charities and nonprofits.

If I had an endless amount of money, I’d be donating it to different charities all day long, but unfortunately, I don’t. So what’s the next big way of helping out and giving back? Promotions! If I can’t offer every charity money, I’ll offer what I can give – and that’s my voice. I decided to help local charities and nonprofits by sharing their fundraising events with my community.

And there, ladies and gentlemen is the Orange Events Calendar or OEC.

You can find the calendar and its updates on Twitter, Facebook and/or LinkedIn. And this isn’t done to saturate several social networks, but rather to give my community a choice in how they would like to connect with the OEC. I like to keep things simple and give people options.

The OEC is growing and Phase Two of the project will be announced very soon!

In the meantime, check out the awesome mention the OEC received in the Miami New Times by South Florida’s very own Social Media extraordinaire, Maria De Los Angeles.

If you have event coming up and would like the OEC to broadcast it, shoot me an email at oec@agustinaprigoshin.com with the name of the event, the date and time, the address, a few short sentences describing it and a link to send visitors to.

Natalie sent me an invite that read “Racing for a Cure. Her invites you to join Alex ‘Pink’ Lloyd for a very special screening of TIT FOR TAT, breast cancer awareness PSA, presented by Her.”

Once at the Mandarin Oriental, I was greeted by beautiful women wearing pink and white tank tops and hats that read “Her.”

Her Energy Drink was one of the hosts of an incredible weekend-long event that I had the honor of partaking in. IndyCar driver, Alex Lloyd, was the guest of honor – he made a quick appearance before going to rest up for his big race the next day.

Natalie introduced me to some of her colleagues from ID PR (based out of California), all of whom were great hosts (Her Energy Drink and Stand Up To Cancer are a few of their clients) and terrific people overall. She also introduced me to a friend who is the co-founder of Modern Mom. I always get a high from meeting brilliant and driven people like Natalie and her friends.

As the night was winding down, Natalie invited me to watch Alex Lloyd race the next day at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The only car races I’d ever been to were when my high school friends would drag race. So, excitedly, I accepted her offer.

We arrived at Homestead-Miami Speedway Saturday, received our VIP credentials and rode a tram through a tunnel and into the middle of the race track. We walked into a massive white tent and was greeted by more beautiful women with pink and white tank tops and hats that read “Her.” We were handed small Her pink lemonade cans with a straw; I used Her to keep me cool for the rest of the day.

The VIP treatment continued when we were taken on a tour of the pits. We learned all about the intricacies that go into racing. The drivers’ weight is equated to the weight of the car and slight alterations then need to be made the parts of the car to weigh in at a specific amount. We were also taken on a tour of the trucks that carry the cars and needed car parts around the world to each of the teams’ races.

The gang in the Her truck. Kathy (in white), the teams' publicist, explained how to pack the truck for each race. Alex Llyod (in the black shirt and hat), the Her driver, talked about his racing experiences.

Craig Rogoff, Ulises I. Orozco and Brian Prigoshin in front of the team trucks: McDonalds and Her.

After our tour, we headed back to the Her tent for a quick question and answer session with Alex Lloyd before his race.

Alex Lloyd

While he geared up to race, we were all given more credentials that allowed us into the pits during the race.

Standing next to the cars as they revved their engines and took off was an unbelievable feeling. I had goosebumps that refused to go away!

We were told that when the cars come into the pit, they get serviced in a matter of seconds. These guys worked so fast, you can barely tell that they just changed four tires!

Alex Lloyd finished the race in the top ten and everyone celebrated with cheers, high fives and hand shakes.

Standing in the pit while the crew worked and the cars zipped by was truly an amazing experience!

Aside from it being a terrific experience, it was all for a good cause. Stand Up To Cancer gave the Her IndyCar a number like no other. While all the other cars had single or double digit numbers, Her had #40202. If you didn’t guess it, 40202 is a text short code. Anyone who texted “Stand” to that number during the race would have $5 donated to Stand Up To Cancer in the texters’ name.

After the race ended, we hopped over the wall and took a stroll down Pit Lane in the direction of Danica Patrick’s spot. (We just had to!)

Her Energy Drink's teammate, McDonalds

Danica Patrick's car, sponsored by Boost Mobile and Go Daddy.

Danica Patrick talking to her teammate.

Thank you so much Natalie Lent for this experience and ID PR for a spectacular event!