Hello Beautiful People,
For the past few days, we’ve been meeting the founders of The Lunch Read.
For those of you who missed the articles, lets recap…
The Lunch Read began as a social experiment between two friends looking for good reads for their lunch breaks. New to their desk jobs, they found that when it became lunchtime, there was hardly ever anything good to read. The group quickly expanded to 9 and so The Lunch Read began. Six months into the project, the group thought others might find interest in a curated list of lunch reads so they started sending the weekly edition. Now, just over a month in, The Lunch Read delivers a weekly Wednesday edition and tweets out interesting finds, or “leftovers” for people to read during the week on their breaks. Get your daily dose of The Lunch Read by signing up here.
While the nine founding members Michele Kory, Jori Bell, Sutton Kauss, Mathew Lasky, Adam London, Sam Goodman, Michael Hoffman, Alexa Rosenbloom, and Eric Stupnitsky, are all GEMS, this next founder I’m introducing to all of you has special place in my heart. Mathew Lasky is someone who has a heart of gold. Who has passion. Who has vision. Mathew Lasky is the type of guy who carries a Polaroid camera around New York City, and doesn’t blink twice when people ask him to take their pictures – he just does it. He. Is. Awesome. A Mover & Shaker.
So, without further ado, meet Mathew Lasky…
MM: What’s your day job?
ML: I work for the international online social community, ASMALLWORLD, doing events and public relations.
MM: What role do you play in the structure of TLR (The Lunch Read)?
ML: I am the point of contact for all press. I coordinate interviews (like this one!), maintain a press strategy, and more. For a subscriber based platform like TLR, it’s important to get our brand out there as much as possible so that we keep a steady flow of new Lunch Readers.
MM: If you were stranded on a desert island, what movies, albums, and television shows would you want to have with you?
ML: Could I just have my HBOGo account?
MM: If we were to walk into your home/apartment, what books would be on your bookshelf?
ML: I’m a sucker for classics. I’m working my way down the Time Magazine All-Time 100 Best novels list (however, spliced in between the Hemingway and Kafka you’ll find some guilty pleasures: Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, The Hunger Games…)
MM: In today’s economy, arts programs are being cut in schools. What reasons would you give to a politician/school board for preserving the arts?
ML: I believe that now more so than ever, we are seeing a trend towards entrepreneurship. Students and young professionals alike are experiencing this push towards out-of-the-box thinking and creative problem-solving. We can see this in today’s new industries and the rise of the start-up culture. The arts promote this kind of left-brain thinking. As arts programs are being cut, this importance for creativity is rising which seems incredibly counter-intuitive. Don’t you think?
MM: What’s the best piece of advice that you would offer to college graduates entering the job market?
ML: TAKE A CLASS ON MICROSOFT EXCEL.
MM: We believe that art can be a tool for social change, that it can transform lives. How would you disagree or agree with this statement?
ML: Those who are able to truly enact social change must be fully rounded. The arts allow students to flex their creative muscles and is pivotal in one’s individual growth. Social change is driven by humans, after all.
MM: Who is/was your greatest teacher?
ML: My grandmother taught me the most important lesson in life: to learn by experience and to lead by example.
Thank you, Mathew!
Live, Love, Learn,