Chef Irie is a Caribbean fusion chef meaning his food is layered with touches of Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern and African flavors; all in true Jamaican style.

Chef Irie left Jamaica when he was 19 years old in pursuit of becoming an architect. However, it was while he was in college that he decided to quit his full-time job and dedicate himself to a career in food. In essence, he wanted to become a culinary architect.

He studied at Johnson and Wales University in North Miami and worked his way up to owning his own catering business.

His advice for young chefs is to pay their dues: You’ll have to wash dishes and peel potatoes – there’s no easy road. Working in every part of the kitchen will help give you a better feel for what it takes to be a chef.

Whether you’re looking for a personal chef, a dinner for two or catering for a reception, Chef Irie can add a unique spice to your cuisine that will make it a memorable event.

Interview: Chef Irie Spice 5.22.11 from Agustina Prigoshin on Vimeo.

Connect with Chef Irie via:

Twitter: @ChefIrie

Facebook: Chef Irie (personal) and Chef Irie Spice (professional)

Website: www.IrieSpice.com

Blog: www.ChefIrie.blogspot.com (he writes about food and it’s representation throughout his childhood)

Kaufman, Rossin & Co.‘s tagline is “See beyond the numbers” and that’s exactly what their mission is with Social Media. KRCO is very much involved in the community and they want you to see their human side, that they’re more than just accountants and bookeepers. Afterall, there’s got to be a reason they’ve been named “Best Place to Work” by the South Florida Business Journal for five years and received Florida Trends’ “Florida’s Best Companies to Work For 2010″ award. And while we’re mentioning awards, let’s not forget their Accounting Todays’ “Best Accounting Firm to Work For 2010″ award. They deserve a round of applause! *clap* *clap* *clap*

Aubrey studied Accounting as well as International Finance and Marketing at the University of Miami and earned her position at KRCO by proving herself as an intern first. Aubrey is as social in real life as she is online and if you’ve ever had the opportunity to meet her, you’d know that she’s very eager to learn and expand her expertise across several platforms.

Aubrey has used different Social Media channels to establish the KRCO brand into the community and build/strengthen relationships with their followers. Her latest campaign was a Facebook photo contest in which she asked KRCO fans to submit a photo of themselves being involved in the community. The winner, Lesley Lyons, received a $500 donation prize to the charity of her choice: the Humane Society of Greater Miami.

Another one of Aubrey’s campaigns includes Social Media outreach for the Trial Pad, an app that allows attorneys to present evidence electronically in court rooms. KRCO has teamed up with a litigation firm to provide attorneys with this cost-effective courtroom tool.

KRCO is more than an accounting firm, they’re community leaders and innovators – they’re a company worth following. Learn more from Aubrey herself in the following video.

Interview: Kaufman, Rossin & Co. 5.8.11 from Agustina Prigoshin on Vimeo.

Want to follow Kaufman, Rossin & Co.? You can find them on almost every major Social Media network:

Twitter: @KaufmanRossin

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

Flickr

Dr. Patty soon became an avid networker, attending events like the National Association for Women Business Owners. She met a woman who invited her to a Femfessionals lunch. Dr. Patty found so much value in attending her very first Femfessionals Miami lunch that she immediately started brainstorming how to bring a Femfessionals group to Fort Lauderdale.

Femfessionals is a ladies-only group that meets once a month for what Dr. Patty calls a “connection luncheon.”

Dr. Patty became the president the Fort Lauderdale Femfessionals group and named it FemCityFtLaudy. She describes the group as a way to connect professional women with other professional women. It’s not your typical professional networking group; women are encouraged to get to know their fellow Femfessionals on a more personal level rather than starting a conversation with a sales pitch.

Other FemCityFtLaudy board members include Carolina Schwartz (PR) and Vanessa Montes (Social Media outreach).

Interview: FemCityFtLaudy 5.1.11 from Agustina Prigoshin on Vimeo.

Check out what FemCityFtLaudy is all about and keep up to date with future events on their site.

Follow FemCityFtLaudy on Twitter and Like them on Facebook.

If you’d like to host, sponsor or speak at the next FemCityFtLaudy connection luncheon, you can contact Dr. Patty via email: DrPatty@femfessionals.com.

Chef Jorge started his own business in late 2008, a catering company called Chef George Catering. Aside from catering weddings and corporate events, Chef Jorge takes time to give back to the community and cater for local charities such as the March of Dimes and the United Way.

He also uses his culinary skills to interact with the community with a side business called Homemade Chefs. Homemade Chefs is an interactive cooking class that’s held between two to three times a week; he even hosts private classes.

Chef Jorge’s mission with Homemade Chefs is to make cooking approachable, to make it an experience. All his classes are themed, incorporating global cuisines. Each class ranges from $35 to $45 and registration is simple: just visit their Meetup.com page, select the class you’d like to attend and pay through PayPal.

In the interview below, Chef Jorge walks us through his businesses and even teaches us how to tend to an accidental burn (I wonder how many people know about his household remedy).

Interview: Chef George Catering 4.10.11 from Agustina Prigoshin on Vimeo.

Chef Jorge shows us how to make a quick and easy Heirloom Tomato and Apple Salad with Pistachio Vinaigrette.

Take a peek into an Indian Vegetarian cooking class:

Facebook:

Chef Goerge Catering

Homemade Chefs

Chef Jorge

Twitter:

@ChefSazon

@cookingflorida

For wine tastings, cooking classes and demos, visit the Homemade Chefs Meetup.com page.

If you’d like to get in touch with Chef Jorge for your catering needs, you can speak with him or his sister, Vanessa, to schedule a tasting: 954-200-2895. You can also visit his website: www.ChefGeorgeCatering.com for more information.

Jamila and her two business partners, Rochelle Mukiza-Gapere and Daniela Backer, have just launched empoWOMENt, a campaign that aims to help girls and women by empowering them in all aspects of life.

Social Esquire will host a Tweet-a-Thon on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. For every tweet that is sent using the #empoWOMENt hashtag, $1 will be donated to a local (Honey Shine Mentoring Program) and international (Global Fund for Women) charity.

Why March 8? As many of us know, March is Women’s History Month, but March 8 is the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day.

Make sure to visit their site often to view new profiles of empowering women. If you are or know an empowering woman who deserves recognition for all that she does, send Social Esquire an email to empowoment@socialesquire.com with the following information:

• A picture of the empowering woman
• A bio
• Please answer 3 questions:

1. What empowerment means to you
2. What empowers you
3. Why it’s important to be empowered and to empower other women

Social Esquire is looking for donations and sponsors for the Tweet-a-Thon, so if you or your company would like to get involved, please email Jamila, Rochelle or Daniela at empowoment@socialesquire.com.

Make an impact on women worldwide by including #empoWOMENt in your tweets on March 8 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Interview: empoWOMENt 2.7.11 from Agustina Prigoshin on Vimeo.

He and co-author of “Do It Yourself Online Reputation Management,” Herb Tabin, will be broadcasting out of West Palm Beach five nights a week shining light on new and emerging technologies that people of all ages will find useful.

Their mission is to help their audience save money, navigate places better and make life easier. People often miss out on things they may find useful or just take them for granted and need a new perspective – this is where the proTECHtors come in.

These two ”good looking” go-to guys will be on your TV for anywhere from a minute and 15 seconds to three minutes and you can help them choose the content by suggesting interesting apps via Twitter: @lapp and @voisherb.

Check out the interview: we talk about the new show, the meaning of community and even Craig’s new hair cut – please let him know how it looks, he needs to make sure it’s decent for TV.

Interview: proTECHtors 1.31.11 from Agustina Prigoshin on Vimeo.

What started as a regular day turned into a pretty adventure-packed one. I left in the morning to go about my usual business, stopped at Refresh Fort Lauderdale in the evening and then headed to the movies to catch the midnight screening of Iron Man 2. With all the tweeting, texting and checking in, my phone was down to one bar of battery so I turned it off in case I needed it for an emergency.

We got out of the movies around 2:30 a.m. to deal with a stressful situation: We locked the keys in the car and the lights were on. Luckily we had two cars. We took the available car and hit the road en route to pick up the spare key. Finally, with spare key in hand, we got to the car to find that the battery was dead. We then headed to my house to pick up my jumper cables and was greeted by my frantic mother. It was 4:30 a.m. and I forgot to text her to let her know I was alive and what’s worst, I had turned my phone off to conserve its battery. She had called me hundreds of times and even called to wake up my brother to see if he knew about my whereabouts. Knowing that I’m incredibly transparent in everything I do, she decided to check my Facebook page and voila!

She finally calmed down after seeing that I checked in to the movie theater at midnight to catch the movie.

This was a whole long story only to say that FourSquare saved her a call to the police, hospital, morgue and any other horrifying place a mother thinks of calling when their child isn’t responsive.

Then, I got to thinking: With so many news stories on how the police catch suspected crooks via Facebook and Twitter, FourSquare could be used as a great tool to start tracking people who have disappeared, for example.

Worst case scenario: I went missing that night. My mother or even investigators will know where I was at what time of the day (assuming my check ins are honest – which in my case, they are) and even know who was with me. People who checked in to that location with me can probably answer some questions that can help find me.

I’m very picky about who I allow to follow me on FourSquare because in reality, there are some crazy people out there and I don’t want them knowing my every move, but I rest a little better now knowing that my checking in could possibly save me if I were faced with my worst case scenario, which I hope I never have to test.

My mother also got a lesson on how FourSquare works just in case she ever needs to know where I am.

I sent in all my paper work and a huge check (almost $700!!) on January 24 and it’s now April 8, a little less than week away from being interviewed – one of the last steps to being fully transitioned. It seems like a long time between January and April, but believe me when I say it all went by really quick. Everything happened in two-week increments – this includes letters, updates and appointments.

So here I am, studying from a booklet I was given titled “Learn About the United States: Quick Civics Lessons for the New Naturalization Test” and I’m a little nervous because to my disbelief, I tried to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and I forgot it! Therefore, I MUST study.

I’m a firm believer in repetition and redundancy being a great tool to remember facts. What better way to repeat and remember my study questions than to tweet them and have my network answer them? Not only do I write the questions and answers, but I also see the answer pop up as my friends tweet them.

You might be surprised at how much you forgot from all those Civics classes and exams we took in school. Think you remember it all? Follow me on Twitter and test yourself! I’ll be periodically tweeting questions from today until Monday – Tuesday morning is my exam.

I bet whoever created this exam never thought we’d be using Social Media to study for it!

The event was, essentially, WorstPizza.com taking their famous Pizza TweetUps to the next level by teaming up with a local Chevy dealership. 20 people were selected to ride in five brand new Chevy’s to various pizza restaurants, eat pizza, drive the cars and critique both.

We all met up at Maroone Chevrolet to get our t-shirts, sign some waivers and dig through our Chevy Pizza Crawl Survival Kits, fully equipped with pizza cutters, floss, hand sanitizer, tissues, whoopee cushions, a compass, breath mints, gum, whistles and much more fun stuff!

Rachel (@PRDivaRach)

We then went outside to meet our escorts for the day: a Tahoe, a Malibu, an Equinox, a Corvette (convertible) and a Camaro.

Jarret, Alina, Leah and I piled into the Camaro and immediately named her Roxy. That car is just as sexy on the inside as it is on the outside. We had to test the OnStar feature on every car so we called OnStar, asked the operator for directions to our destination and the car was suddenly speaking to us, telling us where to go.

Jarret (@Jarret23) and Alina (@TheAlina)

Jarret showed off his driving skills as he quickly got us on the highway – naturally, everyone driving wanted to test the cars’ potential once we were on I-95. Here’s a tip: while the Camaro is an amazing car, even from the the backseat, tweeting, taking pictures and video taping everyone’s reactions can get a little nauseating. I had to put all the electronic devices down and breath for a little bit or I’d be the first person to throw up… even before eating all the pizza! Regardless of that little set back, I’m in love with the car.

We got to our first destination, Zuccarelli’s Italian Kitchen, where the pizza was ok. It good enough to gobble up, but not enough to ask for seconds. It had a thin crust and was crunchy – not my type, but still tasty.

Next adventure: I was up to drive the Equinox! Jarret, Stephanie, Alina and Angie came along with me.

Me (@AgustinaP)

I called OnStar to get directions and the operator told me that my car wasn’t equipped with their directions feature. I felt left out in the cold and driving blind! She asked if I wanted to upgrade to that feature for $9.95… uh, no thanks, but at least now I know that the feature is cheap! I had no choice but to follow the Camaro. Bad move. I floored that little sporty-looking SUV and still couldn’t keep up. Even Stephanie asked if I was flooring it. I think I made it up to 60 MPH – way too slow for my liking.

A really cool feature about the car though: when I put the car in reverse and looked in the rear view mirror, not only was I glancing behind me, but at a little video camera that turned on to show me what I was backing in to. I was torn! Do I believe my eyes in the mirror that said I was about to hit the car behind me, or the camera that showed I still had about two feet of space?!

We arrived at our second destination, Palm Springs Pizza & Restaurant, where everyone gave the pizza a thumbs down. I didn’t mind it because it took me back to my childhood – I thought it tasted the same as Chuck E Cheese pizza. My only flaw with it is that I can’t stand when pizza is cut into squares and not slices.

Stephanie (@MidTownChica) and Angie (@AngieDi)

I called shotgun for the Malibu and had to listen to Alisha grill me for convincing her to drive that car when she wanted to drive the Corvette – oops Jarret, Angie and Joel came along for the slow, but fun ride. Alisha took advantage of an unhappy situation and asked the OnStar operator for some “rolls of hundreds.”

Alisha (@AlishaVera)

We drove, slowly, very slowly, to our third destination, Dom & Louie’s Pizza where the pizza was finger-licking good, but a little too hot. Their Godfather Pizza is huge!

Mike (@MikeLaMonica)

Filled to rim with pizza, I went back into the Camaro. Mike drove with Dori co-piloting and Angie and I held on for dear life in the back seat as Mike decided to race Johnny in his Equinox down I-95. I wonder what other drivers might have been thinking to see those two, oddly-paired cars race each other. I was in dire need of a barf bag and highly recommend Chevy to include one in their Survival Kit for the next time. While I managed to hold my food down, I decided to not eat anymore pizza for the day.

Johnny (@JohnnyBond86) and Willie (@MoreWillie)

I had to go back on my word as soon as we got to our fourth stop, Augy’s Italian Restaurant & Pizza. Their pizza was super doughy and loaded with cheese! I took one bite just to satisfy my taste buds and called it quits, but wow, was that one bite the best I had all day!

Michael (@TheWaffle), Joel (@JoelKodner), Seth (@BocaToyStore) and Robert (@Krow272)

I then jumped into the super sexy Corvette with Alina and zoomed towards our final stop. Our zooming was quickly slowed down when we realized that OnStar took us in the wrong direction and we had no idea how to get to where everyone else was. It was also impossible to hear OnStar’s directions while having the convertible top down.

Alina (@TheAlina)

Eventually, we made it to Tucci’s Fire N Coal where all I ingested was water.

We all survived the Chevy Pizza Crawl and were kicking back with some beer, water, a few more slices of pizza and recaps of the day.

Craig then gave out prizes for the day: Joel won funniest tweet, I won for honesty, Jarret won for funniest picture, Willie won the raffle and Johnny won for craziest driver.

Angie (@AngieDi), Joel (@JoelKodner), Craig (@Lapp), Stephanie (@MidTownChica), Me (@AgustinaP), Jarret (@Jarret23), Willie (@MoreWillie) and Johnny (JohnnyBond23)

It was a fun-filled day with friends, pizza and cars. What better way is there to spend your Saturday?

My review of the cars:

I didn’t go in the Tahoe because I’m just not SUV person and didn’t care to test it out.

The Malibu and Equinox are clearly family cars. Their inability to go over 60 MPH also makes me believe they’re perfect for a first time teenage driver and if my kids are anything like me as drivers, they’re definitely getting a Malibu or Equinox.

The Corvette is nice, but I don’t like two-seated cars or cars with long noses.

The Camaro is hands-down my favorite car. My VW lease is up in two months and I plan on checking out the Camaro soon

Thank you Chevy and Worst Pizza for a great day and experience!

As friends, we tend to listen to each other and support one another in times of need. Some of those needy times are when we’re stressed and need to vent. What if the venting is work-related? How would hearing so much negativity from someone on the “inside” affect our perception of their employer?

A company’s biggest asset is their employees.

After reading each comment from last weeks’ post, I tried to imagine the opposite effect:

“Employees are arguably the BEST brand ambassadors for any company,” wrote Cristina Sotolongo. Imagine if these brand ambassadors are unhappy and complaining about their boss, the company and the way things are run.

“This goes back to the need for ‘authenticity,’” wrote Brian Breslin. Being that our brand ambassadors are our friends, we’ll believe them and more than likely take their side and look down on the company that makes them so unhappy.

“Even if we aren’t altogether familiar with a company or how it works, I think we have a tendency to give it a chance if people we trust are working in its behalf,” wrote Eileen Spiegler. Again, if the people we trust aren’t happy, we’ll more than likely put the blame on the company.

“Thanks for wanting a front row seat to our new ventures!” wrote Mallory Colliflower. If our friends are happy and are excited to work at a company, we’ll get excited to hear about new developments and become loyal fans, but if they’re not happy, we probably won’t give that company any thought.

We’re always hearing about Word of Mouth and its power. In my opinion, negative Word of Mouth is much more powerful and spreads quicker because people find it juicy.

All in all, companies need to be very careful, more so nowadays with Social Media, to ensure their employees are happy. I know you can’t always please everyone, but employers need to make a conscious effort to listen to their employees. There are several cases where companies have noticed their employees complaining about their job via Social Media and fired them. Then there are the companies that see these complaints and take the necessary measures to make the disgruntled employee happy – those are the companies I admire.