EM: Occupation and Position.
BEE: I currently hold the titles of CEO of Grand Tactics (grandtactics.com) my brand marketing / influencer lifestyle agency and I am also a co-founder and partner in an apparel line called Hot Air Brand (hotairbrand.com) which we just launched in ‘07. And finally I am also a partner in a night life promotions / events company called The Collective (thecllctv.com).

EM: What neighborhood do you closely identify with? What makes your community so unique?
Well I have been living in LA all of my life, and the last decade has been within the Miracle Mile / Hancock Park Area which is really convenient. I am literally 10 to 15 minutes from everywhere. I really appreciate the diversity in my neighborhood, the proximity of the local museums around me as well as the great food spots, cause I’m definitely big on fine dining.

EM: What’s the greatest item that you found at your local garage/estate sale?
I can’t say that I am an avid garage/estate sale enthusiast so I don’t really have any “choice” items that are used. However I do really regret selling my entire collection of He-Man / Masters of the Universe action figures at a garage sale we once had at the ripe ‘ol age of 10 for twenty bucks!! LOL, I mean I gave away every single character; Battle Cat, Skeletor, etc… for a dub.

EM: If you could interview one unsung hero, who would it be? Why?
If I could interview anyone, it would have to be Ralph Lauren. His contribution to American fashion design has inspired so many designers in addition sparking legions of cult followers (i.e. Lo-Lifes) all while maintaining such high brand integrity and consumer demand. He has such great taste, his private car collection was just recently featured on display in Boston’s Museum of Fine Art. Now thats fresh!!!

EM: What’s your favorite youtube video.
I know this is fake, but its still dope!! Anything Bruce Lee is always an instant classic.

EM: Where are your favorite local spots to eat?
I try to make it over to Geisha House as often as I can, the sushi along with the japanese hot peppers there are the best, and my boys Lonnie and Mike always take good care of me there. I’m also a big fan of Cliff’s Edge in Silverlake, Absolutely Phobulous is really good for authentic Vietnamese food in LA, and you can often find wifey and I at Bloom on Pico, their apple salad and mac and cheese are incredible.

EM: What songs are at the top of your playlist at this very moment?
My musical tastes vary depending on my mood. I have been really into Stan Getz as of late while driving. There is a new artist signed to T.I. by the name of Yung LA that I think is gonna be big, he has a new joint called “Aint I” that gets it poppin’ in the clubs right now.

EM: What is your current bedside read?
I am currently re-reading “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert T. Kiyosaki as well as “Whole Brain Power” by Michael J. Lavery.

EM: What is your favorite city to visit when you travel abroad? And why?
I love going down to Los Cabos and Cancun, Mexico. The weather there is always great, food is amazing, crystal clear waters, and it its a fairly short flight from L.A.

EM: What new projects you are building on right now?
This is always a long winded answer as I like to keep my hands involved in soooo many different projects. So here is my attempt at a brief breakdown of my world:

Getting ready to do an official launch of my blog; beenguyen.com real soon, its currently on beenguyen.blogspot for now.

As far as Hot Air, I am working with my business partners on designing the future seasonal concepts and collections of Hot Air Brand, we have just debuted our Fall ‘09 collection at Capsule Show in NYC, gearing up for a web re-launch as well mentally preparing for the madness during MAGIC / S.L.A.T.E. and Capsule in Vegas.

On the Grand Tactics front; I am working on a few collaborative projects with my friends over at Promotions Group West (PGW) and their client roster. With the help and advice of some seasoned hedge fund managers, I am also actively looking into forming a hedge fund for a few of the start up brands that have come across my desk recently. Basically, we are going to form a brand incubation firm that will help financially launch these lifestyle brands while offering marketing and design services as well. I do have several other various projects being cultivated but are a bit too soon to be discussed; rest assured we will be making some big announcements soon!!

And finally, on the night life tip, we are continuing with the promotional efforts with a few weekly parties thrown by our team; The Collective (comprised of myself, Doug Wu, Arsen Salatinjants, Kenny Mac), our good friends Jesse Lee, Chris Garcia and Joy Claire, along with Javier Laval and Jerry Manuel of JL Productions.

We currently have:

Tuesday nights at MyHouse.
Wednesday nights at Winston’s
Thursday nights at Crown Bar.
Friday nights coming soon, location TBA in Feb.

***
www.grandtactics.com
www.hotairbrand.com
www.thecllctv.com

via EM Staff, 25 January 2009 11:34pm | 1 |