Susan MacTavish's guest appearances

Susan MacTavish

Take Out With Ashley and Robyn

The Food Startups Podcast

This is Your Life in Silicon Valley

Power & Impact 

Had I Known

POSTHOC Digital Salon With Susan MacTavish Best

Christina Stembel

Lisa Price

David Solomon

Tim Ryan

Kris Carr

Steven Lin

Neal Barnard

Aviva Romm

Mike Weeks

Christy Coleman

Patti Stanger

Laird Hamilton

Tonya Antle

Austen Allred

Jim Rogers

OwlTail

This week we learn about the path Susan MacTavish Best took to become the party planner every tech CEO wants to work with and how she’s evolved what she does during the pandemic. Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

This week we learn about the path Susan MacTavish Best took to become the party planner every tech CEO wants to work with and how she’s evolved what she does during the pandemic. <a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1118357" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!</a> Start for FREE Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Susan MacTavish Best, Entrepreneur/Salon Host

Dean Karnazes

Susan MacTavish Best speaks to ultra runner Dean Karnazes.    POSTHOC is a petri dish for ideas &amp; thought-leaders. We host invite-only salons that connect people and spread ideas. We create unique and intimate experiences that stir the senses—a forum for the cross-pollination of ideas and conversations.  Twitter: @PosthocSalons LinkedIn: Posthoc Facebook: @Posthocpictura

Susan MacTavish Best speaks to ultra runner Dean Karnazes.    POSTHOC is a petri dish for ideas &amp; thought-leaders. We host invite-only salons that connect people and spread ideas. We create unique and intimate experiences that stir the senses—a forum for the cross-pollination of ideas and conversations.  Twitter: @PosthocSalons LinkedIn: Posthoc Facebook: @Posthocpictura

Susan MacTavish Best Talks to Ultra Runner Dean Karnazes

Susan MacTavish Best, founder of Best Public Relations, Living MacTavish and Posthoc, joins Worth senior editor, special projects Benjamin Reeves on episode three of the Power &amp; Impact podcast to discuss the tension between digital and analog interaction, the power of gatherings and how she finds meaning in her work. Scroll down to listen to the third episode of the Power &amp; Impact podcast. Best grew up in unusual circumstances. She attended boarding school beginning at age 8, in Scotland, because she wanted to. She grew up with fountain pens and learned Latin. Then, as an adult, she moved to San Francisco during the early days of the dot-com boom. According to Best, she didn’t know how to use a computer at the time, but that didn’t stop her from returning to school with a plan to make computer games for girls. While Best didn’t find a future in video games, the tech industry did give her a start. She became one of the top PR people in San Francisco and represented companies ranging from Craigslist to Esurance. For many entrepreneurs, this sort of commercial success would have been enough. Yet Best saw that despite all of the wonders of the internet and digital communication, there was value in direct, person-to-person interaction. “No one is really going to do a business deal over 140 characters,” she now says. After suffering severe burns in a household accident, Best set out to realign her life and her business around direct human interaction. She launched Posthoc and now spends her time hosting a series of exclusive salons and dinner parties in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and abroad. And these gatherings are not your typical talks with passed appetizers. Best cooks an entire spread herself—no joke, it’s a feat to behold—and brings together a room of leading thinkers, innovators and creators to simply talk, socialize and listen. It’s not a radical idea, but it is a rare thing to see in practice. Through bringing people together over good food and drink, Best may be one of the most influential people alive today.  		Related		Episode 2: How Alexandre Mars is Building a Global Culture of Philanthropy			  On the Power &amp; Impact podcast, leading thinkers, investors and executives engage in deep conversations about power, money and the world we live in with Worth senior editor, special projects Benjamin Reeves. By exploring the personal stories and ideas of its guests, Power &amp; Impact aims to uncover how power, money and influence work in the world and how those in positions of influence create change in society and their communities.

Susan MacTavish Best, founder of <a href="http://www.bestpr.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Best Public Relations</a>, <a href="https://livingmactavish.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Living MacTavish</a> and <a href="https://posthoc.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Posthoc</a>, joins Worth senior editor, special projects Benjamin Reeves on episode three of the Power &amp; Impact podcast to discuss the tension between digital and analog interaction, the power of gatherings and how she finds meaning in her work. Scroll down to listen to the third episode of the Power &amp; Impact podcast. Best grew up in unusual circumstances. She attended boarding school beginning at age 8, in Scotland, because she wanted to. She grew up with fountain pens and learned Latin. Then, as an adult, she moved to San Francisco during the early days of the dot-com boom. According to Best, she didn’t know how to use a computer at the time, but that didn’t stop her from returning to school with a plan to make computer games for girls. While Best didn’t find a future in video games, the tech industry did give her a start. She became one of the top PR people in San Francisco and represented companies ranging from Craigslist to Esurance. For many entrepreneurs, this sort of commercial success would have been enough. Yet Best saw that despite all of the wonders of the internet and digital communication, there was value in direct, person-to-person interaction. “No one is really going to do a business deal over 140 characters,” she now says. After suffering severe burns in a household accident, Best set out to realign her life and her business around direct human interaction. She launched Posthoc and now spends her time hosting a series of exclusive salons and dinner parties in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and abroad. And these gatherings are not your typical talks with passed appetizers. Best cooks an entire spread herself—no joke, it’s a feat to behold—and brings together a room of leading thinkers, innovators and creators to simply talk, socialize and listen. It’s not a radical idea, but it is a rare thing to see in practice. Through bringing people together over good food and drink, Best may be one of the most influential people alive today. <a href="https://www.worth.com/episode-2-how-alexandre-mars-is-building-a-global-culture-of-philanthropy/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> 		Related 		Episode 2: How Alexandre Mars is Building a Global Culture of Philanthropy 		 	</a> On the <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/power-impact/id1467903202" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Power &amp; Impact</a> podcast, leading thinkers, investors and executives engage in deep conversations about power, money and the world we live in with Worth senior editor, special projects Benjamin Reeves. By exploring the personal stories and ideas of its guests, Power &amp; Impact aims to uncover how power, money and influence work in the world and how those in positions of influence create change in society and their communities.

Episode 3: How Susan MacTavish Best Is Changing the World One Dinner at a Time

Susan MacTavish Best is a San Francisco cultural icon. Originally from Scotland and Canada, MacTavish worked in the PR business and got to know some of technology's top executives since the 90s. MacTavish now splits time between San Francisco, New York and London, and has a starkly unique perspective on how life in the Bay Area has changed in recent decades. Susan talks about her time in San Francisco in the 90s, her move to India, and her view of life in San Francisco vs. New York vs. LA vs. London. Susan is famous for her dinner parties, but we learn that she is surprisingly an introvert. We ask Susan what it takes to become a cultural figure in San Francisco, and ask her to share some of the prominent guests she's hosted at her house (from Michael Pollan to the Founders of Yelp). 'Salons' are becoming trendy in part because of Susan's influence. We ask Susan how they became a thing, and about her upcoming book wherein Susan will be branded as the 'Marie Kondo' of salons. We talk to Susan about the growing rift between media and tech's elite, and ask her for her opinion on what it will take to fix San Francisco's PR crisis. Her answer will definitely surprise you, but is absolutely thought provoking. Enjoy this wide-ranging conversation from one of San Francisco's most beloved cultural figures. You'll listen to the episode and feel like being invited to Susan's house for a salon.

Susan MacTavish Best is a San Francisco cultural icon. Originally from Scotland and Canada, MacTavish worked in the PR business and got to know some of technology's top executives since the 90s. MacTavish now splits time between San Francisco, New York and London, and has a starkly unique perspective on how life in the Bay Area has changed in recent decades. Susan talks about her time in San Francisco in the 90s, her move to India, and her view of life in San Francisco vs. New York vs. LA vs. London. Susan is famous for her dinner parties, but we learn that she is surprisingly an introvert. We ask Susan what it takes to become a cultural figure in San Francisco, and ask her to share some of the prominent guests she's hosted at her house (from Michael Pollan to the Founders of Yelp). 'Salons' are becoming trendy in part because of Susan's influence. We ask Susan how they became a thing, and about her upcoming book wherein Susan will be branded as the 'Marie Kondo' of salons. We talk to Susan about the growing rift between media and tech's elite, and ask her for her opinion on what it will take to fix San Francisco's PR crisis. Her answer will definitely surprise you, but is absolutely thought provoking. Enjoy this wide-ranging conversation from one of San Francisco's most beloved cultural figures. You'll listen to the episode and feel like being invited to Susan's house for a salon.

Will it Take a Natural Disaster for People to Like Silicon Valley Again? (Guest: Susan MacTavish Best)

Susan MacTavish Best is the founder &amp; CEO of Living MacTavish. She hosts salons around the world on a diverse range of topics bringing together an eclectic array of influencers she knows into one room. At these salons Susan mixes cocktails and cooks for all of her guests, then interviews an expert or two on a specific topic followed by a live music performance. In an era of always-on one’s phone, always connected to technology, Susan brings people together informally and imperfectly, and encourages them to look each other in the eye and have a spirited conversation all the while tickling their senses with tasty food, yummy smells, interesting debates and live music. Susan sits on the advisory board of the Berkeley Center for New Media at UC Berkeley and the Quantitative Biosciences Institute at UC San Francisco. Susan has been on the advisory board of a handful of startups, and has worked closely mentoring many entrepreneurs.When she was 24, Susan founded Best Public Relations, a firm that specialized in influencing the public, the media and the influencers themselves around the globe. She handled the public relations needs for dozens of companies including: Bankrate, craigslist, Esurance, Founders Fund, Hampton Creek, Klout, LaLa, LuLu, MainStreet.com, Olivia, Playfish, Quid, Smugmug, Spoonflower, VentureBeat and YouNoodle. Susan was an Executive Producer of craigslistTV, the TV series that originated out of craigslist. In the mid 90’s Susan went back to night school to learn how to code and, as a result, started Posthoc, one of the first online guides to San Francisco which she grew into a local resource managing over 100 volunteer editors and writers. Susan graduated from Hamilton College with a BA in History. During a one year stint at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford University, she was co-Editor of the UK’s longest running university magazine, The ISIS, following in the shoes of past editors Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, John Betjeman and Sylvia Plath. While a student at Oxford, Susan won an internship at The Sunday Times (London), where she sat on the Transportation Desk outside the office of editor Andrew Neil. Here, she lasted two weeks until she realized sitting behind a desk writing about transportation news was not her calling. She left one Friday lunchtime on a train to Europe abruptly ending her journalism career. Other early jobs included Soda Jerk during summers in Connecticut at a nuclear submarine shipyard and Pickle Packer at Emandal Farm in Mendocino County. Susan lives in Soho in NYC, SF, and on the Big Sur Coast. She is a long distance trail runner. Susan grew up in Scotland, and went to school at St. Leonards in St. Andrews. She was born on Prince Edward Island after her very pregnant mother, Laurie MacTavish, flew herself unexpectedly to Charlottetown in her Cesna to deliver her daughter. 

Susan MacTavish Best is the founder &amp; CEO of <a href="http://www.livingmactavish.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Living MacTavish</a>. She hosts salons around the world on a diverse range of topics bringing together an eclectic array of influencers she knows into one room. At these salons Susan mixes cocktails and cooks for all of her guests, then interviews an expert or two on a specific topic followed by a live music performance. In an era of always-on one’s phone, always connected to technology, Susan brings people together informally and imperfectly, and encourages them to look each other in the eye and have a spirited conversation all the while tickling their senses with tasty food, yummy smells, interesting debates and live music. Susan sits on the advisory board of the Berkeley Center for New Media at UC Berkeley and the Quantitative Biosciences Institute at UC San Francisco. Susan has been on the advisory board of a handful of startups, and has worked closely mentoring many entrepreneurs.When she was 24, Susan founded Best Public Relations, a firm that specialized in influencing the public, the media and the influencers themselves around the globe. She handled the public relations needs for dozens of companies including: Bankrate, craigslist, Esurance, Founders Fund, Hampton Creek, Klout, LaLa, LuLu, <a href="http://MainStreet.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">MainStreet.com</a>, Olivia, Playfish, Quid, Smugmug, Spoonflower, VentureBeat and YouNoodle. Susan was an Executive Producer of craigslistTV, the TV series that originated out of craigslist. In the mid 90’s Susan went back to night school to learn how to code and, as a result, started Posthoc, one of the first online guides to San Francisco which she grew into a local resource managing over 100 volunteer editors and writers. Susan graduated from Hamilton College with a BA in History. During a one year stint at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford University, she was co-Editor of the UK’s longest running university magazine, <a href="https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fisismagazine.org.uk%2Fabout%2F&amp;t=ZDJlY2I2ZDQ3YTgyNDg2ZmY3Y2VkZmRiNTc5NDA1MTk1MDQwN2VmMCx2QmZuMmtOYg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3A-wMVr2jz71PNpQXnbAPhtQ&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Flivingmactavish.com%2Fpost%2F170020667705%2Fabout-susan-mactavish-best&amp;m=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The ISIS</a>, following in the shoes of past editors Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, John Betjeman and Sylvia Plath. While a student at Oxford, Susan won an internship at The Sunday Times (London), where she sat on the Transportation Desk outside the office of editor Andrew Neil. Here, she lasted two weeks until she realized sitting behind a desk writing about transportation news was not her calling. She left one Friday lunchtime on a train to Europe abruptly ending her journalism career. Other early jobs included Soda Jerk during summers in Connecticut at a nuclear submarine shipyard and Pickle Packer at Emandal Farm in Mendocino County. Susan lives in Soho in NYC, SF, and on the Big Sur Coast. She is a long distance trail runner. Susan grew up in Scotland, and went to school at St. Leonards in St. Andrews. She was born on Prince Edward Island after her very pregnant mother, Laurie MacTavish, flew herself unexpectedly to Charlottetown in her Cesna to deliver her daughter.

Episode 118 with Guest Susan MacTavish Best

"I've made a lot of people wealthy, but what about me? What do l love to do?" Susan MacTavish Best creates interesting and engaging salons that have brought together some of the most creative minds of this century, from Tim Ferriss to Michael Pollan to food companies like Hampton Creek. The salons cover topics ranging from LSD to the future of death, and more. Susan also has an all-encompassing lifestyle brand, Living MacTavish. It is not unlike Martha Stewart, but well, more accessible. And not a perfectionist. Martha Stewart meets the Royal Tennenbaums. The art of casually bringing together our friends has been lost in this era of texting, social gaming, tweeting, IM’ing, and frenetic scheduling Understand: strategically executed events, dinners, and salons can be used to make contacts, promote your food brand, and get deals done. Add this to your skill set. We cover a wide array of topics in a fun interview:  How she "cold-emailed" Michael Pollan and got him to show up at a salon. Tips on putting together a guest list Getting over the fear of attending a party alone How to get people to show up to your event Social dynamics party tips Making a lasting, favorable impression How to foster introductions at a busy event or party Embracing imperfection Why Susan started Living MacTavish A common characteristic among elite performers like Tim Ferriss and Chris Sacca How to fit in when not drinking Using wigs and masks for events How to choose a topic for a salon How to create the right "vibe" for an event Why the back of a bar or restaurant is not the ideal location  Mentioned in this episode: Living MacTavish Best PR Living the Lab Expert advice for your best end-of-summer fete This entrepreneur wants you to eat, drink – and party! – just like her A high-tech high: Wearable gives you good vibes Quid Pundits Vs. Machine: Predicting Controversies In The Presidential Race

"I've made a lot of people wealthy, but what about me? What do l love to do?" Susan MacTavish Best creates interesting and engaging salons that have brought together some of the most creative minds of this century, from Tim Ferriss to Michael Pollan to food companies like Hampton Creek. The salons cover topics ranging from LSD to the future of death, and more. Susan also has an all-encompassing lifestyle brand, Living MacTavish. It is not unlike Martha Stewart, but well, more accessible. And not a perfectionist. Martha Stewart meets the Royal Tennenbaums. The art of casually bringing together our friends has been lost in this era of texting, social gaming, tweeting, IM’ing, and frenetic scheduling Understand: strategically executed events, dinners, and salons can be used to make contacts, promote your food brand, and get deals done. Add this to your skill set. We cover a wide array of topics in a fun interview: <ul> <li>How she "cold-emailed" Michael Pollan and got him to show up at a salon.</li> <li>Tips on putting together a guest list</li> <li>Getting over the fear of attending a party alone</li> <li>How to get people to show up to your event</li> <li>Social dynamics party tips</li> <li>Making a lasting, favorable impression</li> <li>How to foster introductions at a busy event or party</li> <li>Embracing imperfection</li> <li>Why Susan started Living MacTavish</li> <li>A common characteristic among elite performers like Tim Ferriss and Chris Sacca</li> <li>How to fit in when not drinking</li> <li>Using wigs and masks for events</li> <li>How to choose a topic for a salon</li> <li>How to create the right "vibe" for an event</li> <li>Why the back of a bar or restaurant is not the ideal location</li> </ul> Mentioned in this episode: <a href="http://livingmactavish.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Living MacTavish</a> <a href="http://www.bestpr.net/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Best PR</a> <a href="http://livingthelab.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Living the Lab</a> <a href="http://www.sfchronicle.com/style/article/Expert-advice-for-your-best-end-of-summer-fete-9185613.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Expert advice for your best end-of-summer fete</a> <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/03/28/this-entrepreneur-wants-you-to-eat-drink-and-party-just-like-her/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">This entrepreneur wants you to eat, drink – and party! – just like her</a> <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/shinal/2015/07/14/thync-hippie-culture/29774829/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A high-tech high: Wearable gives you good vibes</a> <a href="https://quid.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Quid</a> <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/09/19/494279204/pundits-vs-machine-predicting-controversies-in-the-presidential-race" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pundits Vs. Machine: Predicting Controversies In The Presidential Race</a>