June 25, 2021 was a highly anticipated and long-awaited date for Team Social Studies because for the first time in well over a year, we would finally reunite. Together again! IN PERSON!! It was on this gorgeous summer Friday in our home sweet home of New York City that we all trickled into a waterfront office building in lower Manhattan for a daylong company offsite for the ages. For many of us, this was the first time meeting each other face-to-face, a welcome and delightful change after months of Zoom meetings and Slack conversations. Read on to see how we took the Social Studies Party offline and how you can, too. We hope it inspires!
1. Calm, Cool, & Collected
Before celebrating our achievements over the past year (including expanding to nationwide shipping, locking in exciting partnerships and appearing on GMA, to name a few) and getting down to business (setting goals and our strategy for how to meet said goals for the coming year), we took a minute to get ourselves in the right headspace. To do so, we gathered around in a circle on the floor for a moment of meditation courtesy of Taryn Toomey's The Class. There's nothing quite like a little mind-body-soul rejuvenation to kick-start a productive day... highly recommend!
2. Kindness is Key
After discussing and committing to our collective action plan for the coming year (which we can't wait to share with you!), things got competitive... in a good way. Next up on the day's agenda was our pay it forward scavenger hunt. We broke off into teams, rules in hand and superhero costumes on, and took to the streets of New York in hopes of bringing a smile to many faces through some random acts of kindness. Catch some feel-good moments below and if you would like to spread the love in similar fashion, download our scavenger hunt playbook linked here!
3. Island Hopping
Where to next? Governor's Island, our final stop of the day! We hopped on a ferry and soaked in the stellar views, sunshine and much appreciated breeze. Upon arrival (and after our fair share of "I'm On A Boat" references), we made our way to Collective Retreats for cocktails and more quality time together.
4. Cheers to This Team
After cocktails and plenty of sunset selfies, we gathered around a couple of Shibori Picnic tables for dinner and more quality together time. We were treated to a slideshow that included pictures and moments from the day in addition to some standout and hilarious answers some of us gave in our offsite "homework" questionnaire. Then came a toast by our fearless leader, Jess, who expressed her gratitude for each team member, one-by-one — there wasn't a dry eye in the house, as you could imagine. It was the perfect finale to an already perfect day — peep the gallery below for more from our trip down memory lane...
