A friend invited me to be her guest at the NFTE (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship). Gala event last night. Knowing how important this event was to her, me, the people pleaser said yes without knowing much about the organization or what kind of event I was agreeing to attend. Dressed and ready to leave my apartment to catch the bus for the 45 minute ride to the venue, I decided to look at the actual invitation sent in the morning via email.

Cocktail Attire! Ari, Melber Host! Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who is not only a Grammy & Emmy Award-winning rapper with too many impressive accomplishments to mention, but who also launched his own G-Unity Foundation to support underserved aspiring young entrepreneurs! Plus many more impressive speakers and awards. Impressive, but the dress code, ugh!

   I quickly changed into my version of the “cocktail attire”, of someone who- rides- the- bus, headed to the bus stop just as the bus pulled up and arrived at the very elegant Gustavinos Event Center in time for the champagne reception.

 What a surprising and wonderful evening!  I had the opportunity to see exhibits highlighting businesses started and run by high school and college students all of whom are mentored by NFTE’s corporate executives volunteers, both active and retired . I had a long fascinating conversation with the CEO, CFO and Marketing Director of Ireland’s NFTE chapter. They were in NYC specifically for this event and returning home today. Ireland has one of the NFTI’s largest chapters with 600 employees and an army of volunteers. I asked a lot of questions and learned a lot about their work. When I asked them to tell me about one of their success stories, they shared the story of a 14-year-old student living in poverty invented a new use for a Kanga glove for soccer players which turned into an international sensation.

  What were my takeaways from that experience?  1). read the invitation before getting dressed and just about to walk out the door, 2) enjoy the MTA bus ride. It deposited me safely with no traffic fuss because busses stay in their own restricted lane and allows me to arrive at the other end of the world (far East side of NYC) for only $1.29 ) 3) keep an open mind, sometimes when you do magic happens!