March 1, 2019

Albert Allaham on Reserve Cut Being New York City’s Largest Kosher Steakhouse, L.A. Expansion

Leave a Comment / Blogs / Darren Paltrowitz

New York City has its fair share of world-renowned steakhouses, but only a few notable kosher steakhouses. Reserve Cut manages to be both Downtown Manhattan’s only kosher steakhouse and Manhattan’s largest kosher steakhouse overall. Located in The Setai at 40 Broad Street, the restaurant seats well over 200 people in dining rooms filled with black leather chairs and grey banquettes.

Owner Albert Allaham came to New York from Damascus, Syria in 1999 at the age of 12. He comes from a long lineage of expert butchers dating back over 200 years from Syria, with The Prime Cut in Brooklyn being an example of his family’s meat expertise.

However, fans of Reserve Cut know to expect a modern approach to kosher fare, with plenty of interesting fusion fare blended into the menu. Its A5 Grade Kosher Kuro Wagyu is one of its more popular dishes, while The Volcano — combining spicy tuna, Asian pear and avocado — is one of its surprising menu options available. While being a popular “kosher steakhouse” may be the initial hook of Reserve Cut, Allaham aims to bring in “non-kosher guests to try its superior cuisine.”

Highlights of my Q&A with Albert Allaham about Reserve Cut’s past, present and future are below.

Jewish Journal: What came first: Your idea for a kosher steakhouse, or the idea of opening up a steakhouse?

Albert Allaham: The idea of opening a kosher steakhouse was what definitely piqued my interest rather than the latter. Being that my family had always been the purveyors of kosher meats, not only was it what made the most sense, I was following my heart’s desire.

JJ: Are you the one and only kosher steakhouse in the Financial District? In Manhattan?

AA: Reserve Cut is the largest kosher steakhouse in Manhattan, and the only kosher steakhouse in the Financial District. Although there are a number of kosher steakhouses located in Manhattan, this highly-competitive industry faces us with a challenge every day to be the very best. We continuously do this by offering an amazing quality, a variety of options, and being innovative in the way we prepare our cuisine.

JJ: For someone that isn’t concerned with food being kosher, how would you describe Reserve Cut?

AA: Reserve Cut is a contemporary steakhouse providing creative, high-quality cuisine and experiences to New Yorkers and international guests alike. Our restaurant has been described as high end, but also offering an inviting atmosphere with unique and delicious dishes that guests can’t get enough of.

Since opening in 2013, Reserve Cut remains at the helm of the fine dining scene in New York City, preparing specialties like an exclusive A5 Grade Kosher Kuro Wagyu steak, crafted signature sushi rolls, and one of the largest kosher-reserve wine menus in the country.

JJ: You were a butcher before opening up Reserve Cut. Is there anything you miss about being a butcher?

AA: You never lose the feel of being a butcher. It’s been engrained in the family for so long. You will find me many times in the back of the kitchen decked out in chef whites and working right alongside my team of butchers. It’s such a great sense of camaraderie that you never lose.

JJ: Did anyone in your family lineage wind up in a non-meat-oriented career? Any teachers?

AA: When my family first came to the United States in the 90’s, all we knew was the meat business and we’re all still heavily involved in it. My family still owns Prime Cut in Brooklyn, and the biggest venture away from our butcher shop was the creation of Reserve Cut in 2013.

JJ: What is your favorite item on the menu at Reserve Cut?

AA: Of course everyone thinks I should say steaks, but in reality, what I love most are the dishes that reveal technique. Whether it’s the crispy Mediterranean salad with a pistachio and olive hummus, or the veal tongue carpaccio and schnitzel duo, I’m happy to move freely through our menu at any given meal.

JJ: Do you have any plans to expand Reserve Cut to Los Angeles?

AA: Brand expansion is definitely on our horizon. We’d love to expand to L.A. in the near-future to bring the West Coast elevated kosher dining that the east coast loves so much. Los Angeles is the third most popular city in the world for Jewish residents, after New York City and Jerusalem, so we’ve definitely identified a need for our brand in L.A. and look forward to serving a new region.

JJ: Anything else you love about L.A. that you can share?

AA: I love to travel to L.A. to enjoy a peaceful retreat from New York City. The culture is so relaxed, and it’s a great change in pace from my normal day-to-day. When I’m in L.A., I love to go to all of the gorgeous beaches, jog on the boardwalk, and catch a Lakers game when I can.

JJ: When you’re not busy with the restaurant, how do you like to spend your free time?

AA: I try to get in as much family time as I can get being that the restaurant business entails such long and grueling hours. My family means the world to me and I attribute my success to them. Without them in my life, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdBzUxkb-0U

JJ: Are there any neighbors of Reserve Cut that you enjoy visiting for fun?

AA: I love being located in the Financial District, partly due to the great shopping options. Not exactly our neighbors, but I love going to Brookfield Place and Westfield World Trade Center for shopping for fun. I’m typically in a suit every day at work, but I actually love wearing and shopping for new sportswear. In my free time, I also try to catch every [Brooklyn] Nets game and watch a ton of basketball and soccer.

JJ: Finally, Albert, any last words for the kids?

AA: No matter how tough the going gets, keep pursuing your passion. Don’t listen to the naysayers and always surround yourself with those who are smarter than you. In order to succeed, you need to have unrelenting faith and belief in yourself. Do the things that most people don’t want to do and most of all, be disciplined.

Reserve Cut can be experienced online at www.reservecut.com, while social media die-hards can follow it through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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French Rabbi: Anti-Semitism Caused Half My Members to Leave Grenoble

Leave a Comment / Online, Worldwide / Aaron Bandler

A French rabbi told a local radio station on Feb. 26 that half of his regular members have left his city due to anti-Semitism.

According to the Jewish Telegraphic agency, Rabbi Nissim Sultan, who lives in Grenoble, told the France Bleu Isère radio station, “It’s a troubling phenomenon that began about 15 years ago. The people who make up the core of our community have left, including young families with children and pensioners.”

Sultan added that France’s rising anti-Semitism has forced parents to “take measures.”

According to French government statistics, anti-Semitic incidents there have increased by 74 percent and anti-Semitic assaults have increased by 270 percent from 2017-2018. Around 20,000 Jews have left France since 2014.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Feb. 20 that the country is adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, which states that criticism of Israel that demonizes and de-legitimizes the Jewish state constitutes as anti-Semitism.

French Rabbi: Anti-Semitism Caused Half My Members to Leave Grenoble Read More »

Americans for Peace Now, Religious Zionists, Young Israel Synagogues Denounce Netanyahu

Leave a Comment / Online / Erin Ben-Moche

Americans for Peace Now (APN) and 22 Young Israel synagogues are denouncing Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, citing his suspected malfeasance after Israel’s attorney general on Feb. 28 announced his intention to indict Netanyahu on corruption charges, and also cited Netanyahu’s striking a political deal with a far-right party, Otzma Yehudit, on Feb. 24.

Netanyahu had helped make a deal in a bid to boost right-wing partners ahead of April elections. Otzma Yehudit’s leaders call themselves Kahanists, after American-born, anti-Arab activist Meir Kahane, whose Kach party was outlawed in Israel. Kahane was assassinated in 1990 in New York.

APN launched a petition Feb. 27, calling on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to “condemn and disinvite” Netanyahu from its conference in March.

“AIPAC’s condemnation of Otzma Yehudit was important — but equally notable for what it failed to say. If AIPAC wants to stand against Kahanists being mainstreamed into Israeli political life, it will need to repudiate the man responsible for bringing them in,” the petition said. “Don’t let Netanyahu use AIPAC’s podium to send a pre-election message to Israelis that pro-Israel Americans tolerate normalizing racists.”

The petition was sent out the day before Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced his intention to indict the prime minister for bribery, pending a hearing.

Although it doesn’t indicate the exact number of people who signed, the Jewish Press reported that more than 1,000 individuals had signed the petition as of Feb. 28.

APN wasn’t the only organization upset by Netanyahu’s actions. More than 20 synagogues belonging to the national Orthodox Young Israel movement have condemned the National Council of Young Israel’s (NCYI) defense of Netanyahu’s political deal.

“In recognition of the current, highly divisive political environment in the United States, Israel, and beyond, we … call upon NCYI leadership to immediately cease making all political pronouncements,” the synagogues’ statement said March 1. “… all past statements issued by NCYI leadership about political matters — including but not limited to its recent statement about Otzma Yehudit and the Israeli political process — do not represent the diverse views within our individual synagogue communities.”

Thirty-eight religious Zionist American rabbis also signed a statement March 1, condemning the condemning the deal between Otzma Yehudit and Netanyahu’s Likud party. “This violent, racist party has no place in the Religious Zionist movement,” the rabbis’ petition, organized by clergy at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York, read.

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Poll: Two-Thirds of Israelis Believe Netanyahu Should Resign

Leave a Comment / Israel, Online / Aaron Bandler

A new poll released by the Israeli media outlet Kan, revealed close to two-thirds of Israelis believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should resign if he is indicted.

The poll, conducted on March 1 showed that close to 36 percent of respondents said that Netanyahu should have resigned immediately after Attorney General Avichai Mandelbilt announced on Feb. 28 that he planned to indict Netanyahu.

Mandelbilt said he would bring charges of bribery, fraud and breach of public trust against Netanyahu over alleged quid pro quos with media outlets and benefactors.

Netanyahu has denied the allegations and accused Mandelbilt of attempting to sabotage his re-election efforts.

Other results of the poll show that 32 percent of people believe Netanyahu should resign only if Mandelbilt succeeds in procuring an indictment. An additional 23 percent said Netanyahu should remain prime minister whether he is indicted or not.

Both the Kan poll as well as a Channel 13 poll found that if the election were held on March 1, the right-wing bloc would be unable to form a majority coalition in the Knesset and Netanyahu would likely lose to Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz.

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UCLA SSI: Anti-Zionists Hijacked Intersectionality

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles, Online / Aaron Bandler

UCLA’s Students Supporting Israel (SSI) chapter says anti-Zionists have hijacked the intersectionality narrative.

Chapter President Justin Feldman told around 30 people at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Feb. 28 that intersectionality is defined as where “oppressed people” who face racism, sexism, and anti-Semitism, etc. “fight for their social justice separately as these forces interrelate and [create] ‘intersecting’ systems of oppression.”

Feldman argued that anti-Zionist organizations including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) have stolen seven narratives regarding Israel and intersectionality. Among them was SJP comparing police brutality toward blacks in America to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Feldman cited New York University’s SJP chapter’s July 2016 Facebook post following the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, which stated, “Many US police departments train with the #IsraeliDefense Forces” and that “Palestinian liberation and black liberation go together.”

“Only senior commanders and staff actually go to train [in Israel], not patrol officers that are going around black communities in the United States,” Feldman said. He added that none of the police officers involved in the unjustified shootings of blacks in America were trained in Israel and crowd control methods were never discussed.

Feldman also said the United States has similar law enforcement partnerships with other countries, “ranging from Australia [and] Asia to Europe. To say that Israel, one country, is responsible for training American officers to brutalize black Americans in United States isn’t backed by fact,” he said.

The second stolen narrative, Feldman said, is anti-Zionists attempting to co-opt the civil rights. Feldman gave as an example a sign at a 2013 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade that read, “Stop $30 billion to Israel.”

Feldman pointed to a 1967 quote from King about Israel during the Six Day War: ‘The whole world must see that Israel must exist and has a right to exist and is one of the great outposts of democracy in the world.’

“Since the assassination of MLK by a white supremacist, many anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist people have been using his legacy as a means to fuel hatred against Jewish people and against Zionists, but most importantly against Israel’s right to exist,” Feldman said.

The SJP crowd also attempts to exploit the U.S.-Mexico border crisis, Feldman said, saying anti-Zionists claim that Israel’s border fence is a symbol of racist oppression, just like President Donald Trump’s attempt to build a border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

But this is “a false comparison,” Feldman said, arguing that Mexicans coming across the border are “not opposing any threat to civilian life in the United States. But in the Middle East it’s a lot more tumultuous.”

Feldman pointed out that before the Second Intifada, which began in 2000, Israel didn’t have any form of “security barrier,” and they only built one to stem the tide of Palestinian suicide bombings. He also noted that 65 countries have border fences and walls, including Arab countries like Lebanon with a “full concrete barrier” to deal with Palestinian refugees, which SJP never talks about.

“It’s astounding, it’s hypocritical, and it just goes to show how little regard they [SJP] have for Palestinians’ lives,” Feldman said.

Another narrative co-opted, Feldman said, is the treatment of Native Americans by “white European” colonizers as equivalent to how Israelis treat Palestinians. Feldman called this comparison “offensive,” stating that European colonizers committed genocide and spread disease against Native Americans. Jews, on the other hand, were frequently forced out of Israel throughout history, only to return to the land. “Israel’s the only country in the world that speaks the same native tongue as the indigenous peoples did 3800 years ago,” he said.

The anti-Zionist crowd, he added, also likes to accuse Israel of being an apartheid state. Under South African apartheid, blacks were in segregated residential communities, excluded from representation in the central government, and treated as “separate but inferior” under the law, Feldman said, adding that Israel does not treat its minority citizens like that and that most Palestinians living in the West Bank are under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The real apartheid, Feldman argued, is the anti-Zionists’ notion that “Jews have no right to live in their ancestral land.”

Feldman then said that anti-Zionists tend to appropriate the Holocaust, going as far as claiming that Anne Frank would have been pro-Palestinian, a sentiment that her own family has denounced. “That is absolutely crossing the line,” Feldman said.

Feldman pointed out that Adolf Hitler allied with Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem during the Holocaust and that al-Husseini pledged to “provide SS troops from the Muslim world to Hitler’s militias.”

Ethnic cleaning and genocide can’t be applied to Israel, Feldman said, because “Israel is the only country in the Middle East where all the minority populations are going up and up.” The Palestinian populations in the West Bank and Gaza are also increasing.

The final “stolen narrative” discussed was the idea that Jesus was a Palestinian, which Feldman said is a talking point stemming from the PA’s attempt “to deny Israel’s right to exist by distorting Jewish history.” Feldman highlighted Matthew 2:1 in the Bible, which states: “Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea.”

Feldman concluded the presentation by saying, “We can defeat woke-washing [appropriating social justice] and its effects on grassroots activism.”

UCLA SSI: Anti-Zionists Hijacked Intersectionality Read More »

Amazon Nazi Hunter Series Casts Members of the Tribe

Leave a Comment / Entertainment / Gerri Miller

Amazon Prime’s upcoming series “The Hunt,” about a band of Nazi hunters in 1977 in New York City, has several Jewish actors in its cast.

Josh Radnor, Logan Lerman, Carol Kane, and Saul Rubinek star as members of an organization who discover that hundreds of high-ranking Nazi officials are secretly living in the U.S. and are conspiring to create a Fourth Reich.

Radnor (“How I Met Your Mother,” “Mercy Street”) will play Lonny Flash, a movie star who becomes involved in the organization, led by Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino). Lerman (“Fury”) will portray Jonah Heidelbaum, who seeks answers after his grandmother is murdered and joins the hunt. Kane (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) and Rubinek (“The Last Tycoon”) will play Mindy and Murray Markowitz.

The 10-episode series stems from the minds of creator/writer/producer David Weil and Jordan Peele (“Get Out”) who will executive produce.

“When David Weil first shared ‘The Hunt’ with me, I immediately knew that we had to be involved,” Peele said in a statement. “Its cathartic. It’s noir. It’s frighteningly relevant. It’s exactly what I want to see on television. I am thrilled to be working with Amazon in bringing this incredible vision to the world.”

Amazon has not announced a premiere date.

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The Many Faces of 21st-Century Anti-Semitism

Leave a Comment / First Person, Online / Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Harold Brackman

The ancient Greeks imagined shape-shifting monsters of myriad faces. Today’s anti-Semitism is chimeric or kaleidoscopic. Choose from these up-to-date manifestations of age-old Jew hatred:

Don ski masks and attack an aging rabbi in Buenos Aires in front of his terrified wife
Shame a French schoolgirl by ripping off jewelry identifying her as Jewish as she walks home from school
In the dead of night, use spray paint and black markers to deface New York public school playgrounds with anti-Semitic graffiti
Toss bricks through the window of a synagogue — then throw firebomb
Overturn tombstones in ancient Jewish cemeteries
As a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom, spout conspiracy theories that the Mossad is already plotting to steal the next national election
Parade missiles promising “Death to Israel” through the streets of Tehran
Pass a fetid stream of United Nations Human Rights Council resolutions ignoring real culprits while condemning Israel for imaginary crimes against human rights
If you are an American Democratic congresswoman who tweeted that evil Israel is “hypnotizing the world” — wait seven years to mumble an unconvincing apology
As a Latino muralist in Los Angeles, which has the second-largest Jewish population in the world, proudly paint a giant mural on a high-profile commercial space depicting Israelis as the devil incarnate murdering children. Then, after the company owning the space defends you against charges of anti-Semitism, explain how you visited Israel and saw the genocidal face of Jews murdering Palestinians
Write an op-ed in the prestigious New York Times implying that staunchly pro-Israel Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was instead the spiritual founder of the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement
Preach to African Americans that Jews that their traditional civil rights allies instead are members of “the Synagogue of Satan”
Turn Jewish summer camps into vehicles for anti-Israel indoctrination
As a college professor in Michigan, renege on a promise to write a letter of recommendation for a Jewish student who wants to study in Israel
Organize a whisper campaign to blackball students who visited Israel from running for campus office
Harass Jewish-American college students who voice support for Israel or wear yarmulkes on campus
Flood the internet with notorious anti-Semitic images dating from the Middle Ages that show hideous Jews as child murderers, shylocks and well poisoners
Falsify history by denying the Holocaust or the Jewish people’s 3,000-year link to Jerusalem and the Holy Land
Accuse Israel Defense Forces soldiers of murdering innocent Palestinians in order to sell their body parts on the international market
Deny Israel the rights to self-determination and self-defense while brushing off criticism with the lie that “anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism”

Welcome to the 21st-century’s horrible house of mirrors in which every reflection distorts the truth about the Jewish people and Israel. Our ultimate vindication against tormentors and traducers will be in the Lord. Until then, we will keep our powder dry.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper is the associate dean and director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Harold Brackman is a historian and consultant to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

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Is Bibi Running Out of Red Lines?

Leave a Comment / Editor's Note / David Suissa

It’s impossible to defend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest action to cut a deal with a racist, anti-Arab party in a desperate attempt to keep his seat on the Israeli throne. This is the tragedy of Bibi. He is a brilliant man who can do brilliant things, but he will do just about anything to save his job. His downfall is hubris: He believes no one can do for Israel what he can do for Israel, so in order to maintain power, the ends justify any means.

In this latest saga, in the words of The New York Times, “The embattled Mr. Netanyahu, grasping for every potential vote, has turned to the extremist party Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, whose leaders have a long history of expressing support for violence against Palestinians, expulsion of Arabs from Israel and the occupied territories, and a ban on intermarriage or sex between Jews and Arabs.”

Bibi’s embracing of this racist party is such a blatant violation of democratic norms and basic decency that it earned him a rare public rebuke from AIPAC, which called the ideas of Otzma Yehudit “racist” and “reprehensible.” Author Yossi Klein Halevi went even further, calling Bibi’s move a Hillul Hashem, a desecration of God’s name, arguably the most serious sin in Judaism. Halevi’s reasoning is that “Kahanism isn’t merely a political movement…in its essence [it is] a theology that sanctifies hatred and vengeance in an apocalyptic messianic vision. A theology of Hillul Hashem.”

“This is the tragedy of Bibi. He is a brilliant man who can do brilliant things, but he will do just about anything to save his job.”

Bibi’s critics in this latest episode are not limited to the usual voices from the left. Staunch Israel and Bibi supporter Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice president of the Conference of Major American Jewish Organizations, said the new deal was “very disturbing.”

As I’ve been following the rising chorus of criticism from across the political spectrum, I feel as if I’m watching a Greek tragedy unfold.

Part of what makes this a tragedy is that Bibi has done some very good things for Israel, and I don’t just mean economically, although that is significant. I mean specifically in terms of Israel’s relationships with Arab countries.

In fact, the very same week that he cozied up to an anti-Arab party, something extraordinary happened. The leader of the glorious Arab nation of Egypt announced that if the Jews ever return to his country, he would support them, defend them and even build new synagogues.

“Bibi’s inflated ego, however, must also take responsibility for his gross failure to show any vision in resolving the conflict with the Palestinians.”

What makes this extraordinary is not just the sentiment but the fact that it was expressed publicly. If there is one thing that has corroded Arab-Israeli peace prospects through the years, it is the public venom against Jews that permeates Arab and Muslim societies. So, when a 3,000-year-old Arab nation breaks the ice and publicizes something positive about Jews, that in itself is transformative.

Whether Bibi deserves all the credit for that budding transformation is immaterial. The fact is, it has happened under his watch. Of course, he knows that only too well. So well that it has inflated his ego to the point that he believes he is indispensable and invincible.

Bibi’s inflated ego, however, must also take responsibility for his gross failure to show any vision in resolving the conflict with the Palestinians. For years, his approach has been to continually buy time and muddle through, hoping he can downplay the conflict while focusing on bigger fish like Iran. That approach has an expiry date. It is wearing thin. At some point, he will have to stick his neck out and commit to a direction to resolve the conflict. Right now, his only direction seems to be political survival.

On that front, in our cover story this week, political editor Shmuel Rosner analyzes this latest Bibi drama of political survival from all sides, bringing in as many voices as possible. Some of these voices may surprise you, others won’t.

From my end, my guess is that Bibi will end up regretting his latest bare-knuckle political maneuver. For someone who is supposed to be media savvy, he should have anticipated the terrible optics his move created. But more importantly, he should have seen how this would tarnish his legacy. It is now forever ingrained in his record that he was willing to partner with a racist party for political ends. Instead of a great statesman, he will be remembered more as a ruthless politician.

That is not just a Greek tragedy, but a Jewish and an Israeli one.

Is Bibi Running Out of Red Lines? Read More »

Caitlyn Chase of Caviar & Cashmere Transformed Her Blog into an Empire

Leave a Comment / Community / Maria Valente

Blogging, once thought of as a nonviable medium overpopulated by “content creators,” has now become one of the most lucrative platforms in the digital media industry.

Caitlyn Chase, of the popular Caviar & Cashmere blog, can attest to why.

“In 2011, many people were not familiar with, or confident about where blogs were going,” Chase said. “I had to convince (and educate) a lot of older, more established [people] that this was the way of the future.”

Chase launched Caviar & Cashmere in 2011, when it was one of the first luxury lifestyle blogs out there. Chase writes about fashion, lifestyle, travel and beauty, and was published in nationally acclaimed publications by the age of 18.

Chase has most recently released the Caviar & Cashmere Skincare line. The collection consists of the Clarifying Cleanser, the Regenerating Serum and the Hydraluxe Creme.

“I am committed to streamlining the skincare process, making luxury skincare more approachable and more affordable,’ Chase said. “The main goal is to save women time and money, by only having to use three products every day instead of twenty.”

Her readers have swiftly become her customers. Chase said she’s heard feedback from women who have already seen the positive benefits from using the new products.

“There is no bigger reward for me than to hear that a customer has seen dramatic improvement in her skin after using my skincare products,” Chase said.

While she has seen much success since her blog’s launch, Chase said keeping up with the work hasn’t been easy.

“In a new industry such as blogging, there is no handbook,” Chase said. “There were many times I had to go with my gut, because no one had a clear answer. When I knew I wanted to capitalize and grow my brand after years of building and following, it was a challenge convincing people that I could transition seamlessly from blog to product.”

Quick to dispel any assumptions that working in social media is “easy,” Chase said that she wished someone had told her that there is no such thing as an overnight success. She said the “time, effort, and hard work” that she has put into her brand happened over the course of many nights.

She also couldn’t do this without her mentors. Chase has sought the intelligence of Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, co-founder of Gilt Groupe, GlamSquad and Fitz, as well as Ivka Adam, the founder of the first 3D ecommerce jewelry brand.

“[Wilson] helped me make important career decisions ever since we met,” Chase said. “I am particularly fortunate to have found several women that I look up to, who were open and willing to help me along the way.”

Caviar & Cashmere has also become a platform for Chase to empower other women. Chase started her quarterly event, Beaute for Breakfast, in 2014.

“[Beaute for Breakfast] brings together 20-40 like-minded women for a morning of networking, collaboration, and friendship,” Chase said. “The connections that have been made at these events are both deep and diverse, from doctors meeting new clients, to brands connecting with influencers, to women new to the city meeting new lifelong friends.”

For women who want to follow in her footsteps, Chase’s best piece of advice is to capitalize on your own confidence.

“Find your niche, stay authentic, and add value,” Chase said. “If you really hone your brand, your voice, and your message, people will follow. Go with your gut, even when the naysayers do not.”

Chase hopes to expand the distribution of the Caviar & Cashmere line to more retailers around the country in the next year. You can purchase it now on her website or at any Blushington location.

Caitlyn Chase of Caviar & Cashmere Transformed Her Blog into an Empire Read More »

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Albert Allaham on Reserve Cut Being New York City’s Largest Kosher Steakhouse, L.A. Expansion

French Rabbi: Anti-Semitism Caused Half My Members to Leave Grenoble

Americans for Peace Now, Religious Zionists, Young Israel Synagogues Denounce Netanyahu

Poll: Two-Thirds of Israelis Believe Netanyahu Should Resign

UCLA SSI: Anti-Zionists Hijacked Intersectionality

Amazon Nazi Hunter Series Casts Members of the Tribe

The Many Faces of 21st-Century Anti-Semitism

Is Bibi Running Out of Red Lines?

Caitlyn Chase of Caviar & Cashmere Transformed Her Blog into an Empire

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Leads by Example

Jewish Journal