iF Magazine and The Foundation Room (House of Blues)

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We have imagination! – Left to Right Sheryll Jones, VP of Business Development and Sonia Guimbellot, Publisher of iF Magazine

Article by Andy Valadez, Marketing Director 

What an honor and fantastic night it was to attend the iF Magazine (International Focus Magazine) Mixer with our friend Sonia Guimbellot, Publisher, at The Foundation Room and Sheryll Jones, VP of Business Development for Rejoice Limousine Service (www.RejoiceLimo.com).

We arrived early via a Lincoln SUV and driver provided by Rejoice Limo, who arranged to pick up Sonia and our entourage. It was quite nice to be able to chat on the way to the event without having to focus on Houston traffic.  Our driver Jimmy Smith was excellent and got us to our destination safely and effortlessly.

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Left to right:  Sheryll Jones, Andy Valadez, and Sonia Guimbellot – Billy Jack Lives!

In honor of the livestock and rodeo, I decided to wear jeans, boots, my .223 bracelet, Prince t-shirt, black jacket and Billy Jack Medicine Man hat (was a hit with my peers or boomers and X Generation).

Scene from the movie “Billy Jack”

DSC01282The famous door to The Foundation Room was locked (we were early) and so, a manager came to receive us and walked us over to the bar for a complimentary drink on the house.

After a few photo-ops and continued conversation, we headed over The Foundation Room and passed through security. Once we are checked, we took the elevator to the room for some networking, food, beverages and wonderful jazz.

The mixers are held each month by invitation from iF Magazine and you never know who is going to attend from foreign dignitaries, local business leaders, photographers and videographers, technologists, venture makers, and more.

We left around 8:30 pm and were returned to our destinations safely by the limo company.  I have to tell you, it was very nice having a driver and being with friends who are imaginative and creative about business opportunity and growing initiatives for our city on an international scale.

Sheryll (Army Veteran) and myself (Marine Veteran) also serve on the board for a planned veterans museum to be built in Houston and were able to socialize with many veterans who attended as well. The museum will be a Class A structure, major tourist attraction, and mixed use facility – $1.8B budget so far.

VMIT Seal Clear 2018We are looking forward to attending the next mixer and following up with some of the people we met.  A few photos from the evening are below.

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