Revelry, Camaraderie and Connection Bring in the SF Webgrrls Holidays!
12/03/2008
by Webgrrls Staff
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The festive Holiday spirit, revelry, camaraderie, and connections, together created the theme of the San Francisco Webgrrls Holiday Celebration December 3rd at the Etiquette Lounge in the heart of downtown San Francisco. With revelers reveling, the raffle drawings creating excitement, the great hors d'oeuvre soothing the palette, and drinks all around, everyone was ready for a great evening of fun and networking.

“This was my first Webgrrls networking event and it was a great experience” said Anna Anisin, Founder of Baseball Beauties, Inc “it was very easy to talk to people and Nelly was really welcoming and made me feel at home. I am looking forward to attending the next Webgrrls event!”

Kevin Kennedy, Webgrrls International CEO, kicked off the festivities by offering a toast to a “happy and prosperous 2009" and he introduced Calie Anderson, the SF Webgrrls Chapter Leader. He mentioned that she was stepping down as chapter leader as of December 11th and wanted to offer the opportunity to the Webgrrls community first. (For more information about the chapter leader position, read the chapter leader FAQ)

Kevin then introduced the hostess of the evening, Nelly Yusupova. Nelly is the CTO of Webgrrls International, the NYC Webgrrls Chapter Leader and the transitional chapter leader for SF Webgrrls supporting Calie through the leadership transition.

Donna Horne, President of ZoomPool, Inc. said “This was a really fun holiday party with great raffle prizes and excellent catered food! SF Webgrrls is a good way to make new connections.”

The event really got underway when Nelly grabbed the microphone with a raised glass for a great big “thank you to all of our sponsors” including NewTek, Trend Micro, & UltraDNS, and raffle sponsors Seagate, Matias, Casauri, Mimoco, Logitech and started the first of many raffle drawings of the evening.

And the Winners Are…
NewTek representative Chandi Johnson, after a few words about NewTek's latest offerings, drew the names of the first two winners of the  Mimoco designer flash drives to get the raffle off to the right start…and the winners were Bryce Anderson of theusbsuperstore.com and Shai Goldman from SVB Capital.

Warren Howells from UltraDNS was up next to draw the winners of two Logitech webcams and offer a toast…the webcam winner were Masha Bykin from AAA and Shai Thomas Hundt from Workstat Software Inc.

Calie and Nelly worked in tandem to give out the next prizes…and the winners were
Jennifer Kokko – Administaff
Eisuke Muroga – Wells Fargo
Veronica Bykin – HellerEhrman
MarkAnthony O’Neill - Cisco
Kate Davis – Earthenwear.net
Christine Martinez – Lamadesigns.com
Melissa Dodd – Brightidea.com

Although there were fewer in attendance that what we anticipated, there was an intimacy that allowed for real conversations and for deeper connections. SF Webgrrls had revelers mingling, enjoying food and drink, and getting into the holiday spirit. The room was buzzing with everyone meeting or reconnecting and exchanging ideas, business cards, and sharing a good story or two.

For all you SF Webgrrls who couldn't make this year's festivities, we hope to see you in 2009. Happy Networking and Happy Holidays.

Happy 2009!

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