Persona: Michelle Leshem

June 20, 2008 10:57 AM
by chipi [email]

There's no mistaking a Miami native. We sway to a certain rhythm and pace that transplants and snowbirds have trouble keeping time with. But every once and again, we find a dance partner worth adopting. Working her way from VIP Director at the late Crobar to all-purpose full-service creative marketing, managing and designing at large - Michelle Leshem hasn't only paid her dues, she's got a pretty lofty down-payment on her future.

Steeped in knowledge of Design, Art and Architecture, Leshem balances the cool and commercial and marries the artsy and the Fi-Fi with a disarming smile you can't turn down. When she's not pushing the envelope in the business world and acting as #1 cheerleader for her husband - local designer and DJ Sean Drake, Leshem can be found hopping around the Design District and MiMo with natives and locals, seeking out new and exciting venues and artists and keeping things simple at her favorite back-to-basics hang outs.

Name: Michelle Lee Leshem.

Age: 32.

Occupation: Supermarket-er.

Where do you come from? Toronto, Canada.

What’s your favorite place in Miami? My House.

What do you wish Miami had more of? Cool Music.

Less of? Bar Mitzvah-style open format music.

Name a good place to eat in Miami: Domo, I love Domo.

Where do you go to get a drink? I like The News, it's a cool place if you haven't been. It's very chill and very edgy.

Where do you run away to? London.

What’s your favorite party right now? I love Back Door Bamby at the Vagabond and Poplife at the White Room on Saturdays. They're definitely different vibes but they also have that similarity - both are very back-to-basics, which I like. I think at the end of the day, even though their crowds are different - Saturday goes a bit more fetish if it's Bamby and if it's Poplife it's got more of that indie feel. But I think both of them all together have really good music, cool crowd - it's simple, no frills.

What party do you miss? Barroom circa '97 - '98. Oh my god, Crobar, 2000-2003 - all of Crobar. Definitely my gay night at Crobar, so much fun, the gay boys back then. Anthem when it first opened up because I guess that was sort of my day off from working. That was the only night I had off, that and Bamby. That time is such a blur, I don't even remember (laughs), I'm joking.

Name a goal of yours you've achieved recently: Owning a business and doing it the exact way that I want to do it, with no regrets and still having a lot of fun. I don't stress myself out anymore, it's not worth it.

Why did you name your Creative Marketing company Supermarket? Well, it's literally a one-stop shop and it took all of my experiences and made me able to focus on a bunch of different things. People always say that you should focus on what you do best, but I really can handle everything from marketing to operations to logistics to production to trend-spotting, creative direction - completely. You could hire me to find, manage and train a bottle service staff or you could also find me in a big sponsorship meeting with the CEO of a company, easily. It gives me the opportunity to create a product from start to finish and on the other hand if a client doesn't want to use me from start to finish then they can pick and choose what they want - I'm able to handle a little to a lot.

Who do you love to work with? Sean Drake.

Did you ever ice skate or play hockey in Canada? Absolutely not. I used to ice skate though and I don't like hockey. But I don't mind ice skating which is why I'm good at roller skating.

Name a favorite local fashion designer: I'll do three - Krel, my girl. Also, let's do Naz (Nazly Villamizar) and Cindy B (Cindy Borjas of Rella Jewelry). And Creative Mafia T-Shirts (smiles).

Who is your favorite Miami DJ? Sean Drake, I swear to god he is.

How do you see Miami changing over the next few years? I definitely think it's going to become more of the "Metropolitan" type of city. I've always described Miami as the little country outside of the United States. It kind of has that Bahamas, Tropical, Key West feel even though it's Miami. I think you'll get that with any place that has a beach, sunny weather and palm trees. Coming from a city like Toronto and also loving my muse - London, I still need to be around this weather and know that the beach is there, even though I never go. I totally see Miami being able to finally marry into the positives that a city has when it comes to modern culture and art.

Do you see that happening musically? I think music-wise the Last of the Mohican's have really been keeping up with the underground music scene, I think they're just going to get a little bit stronger. I don't think that there are a lot of those groups out there but after 10 years they're getting all the notoriety that they've needed. You won't see a lot of it but you'll see more of it in about two or three years. I think the same will happen with restaurants.

Is that something you see happening now in your neighborhood? I'm a resident by the Design District, I've seen it totally transform in the last five years - five years ago I already thought it was amazing! So, I can't imagine how it'll be now with the Mimo District, I definitely see that coming together.

Who was your favorite door person at Pawn Shop? Alan T (smiles).

What was the craziest request you heard as VIP Director at Crobar? Oh my god, off the wall things. One of them was for a girl to try and get inside of the VIP to make sure her boyfriend wasn't cheating on her. I felt really bad and obviously I thought I might get a little bit of drama if she did find him cheating on her, so it was kind of crazy. Another one was the whole like 'get on my yacht' thing which I really hated those requests, really cheesy requests. Another thing was basically how much they would pay to get in, which I thought was just absurd. But I always used to use the line "If Benjamin Franklin's not on my list, then..." just because you have a $100 bill doesn't mean you're coming in.

Do you think that kind of "money works" mentality has changed now? Those were the ".com" days. That was the '$1000 and you were like "no"' days, whereas now it's totally changed. Now you read all the articles that talk about where even if you have a crazy request or offer all this money, they'll still let you in. It's totally changed, that integrity has completely gone out the window.

I like that you use the word integrity. It's so true though! Sometimes you think that in the short term you don't always get what you want when you stick with your integrity. It's true, that can mean you not getting the client that you wanted or the rate that you pitched for or the event you had planned, whatever it is. I think if you don't lose sight of what the long-term goal will be and the long-term could be a year from now or three years from now, I never lose sight of that ever. That's my reality. I live my life like that every day.

Tell me about J'adore Design. That's my baby (smiles). It actually started off at Crobar in 2003. I did it under the name of Beaux Arts. Basically, I've always been a big fan of Design and Architecture and furniture, ever since I was a kid. So, at Crobar I had the opportunity to create a really cool fashion and design event. My inspiration behind the concept was window shopping. I still wanted to target the goal of selling and marketing and the commercial aspect, but at the same time I wanted to create an amazing Lala-land type of fantasy that whatever you were selling it didn't feel like it was forced upon the customer.

Why Window-Shopping? We've all window-shopped, we've all seen things we can't afford but we still kind of picture ourselves having it. We still get that amazing feeling even though you know you can't afford it but, at the same time, who knows if down the road, maybe a year from now - you could get a rich boyfriend, you could get a new job, you never know. Point is, you might end up getting what you really wanted. So, I thought this was a perfect way to sell products through a window-shopping style production for emerging and established artists. It was very much in the direction of a David LaChapelle or Jeremy Scott type of vibe.

It sounds like you've put a lot of thought and effort into this. Well, don't get me started on design and furniture. No one ever puts such an emphasis on it unless it comes to Art Basel time. This is what Miami should be about, especially if it's all about design and Art Deco and you have people like Morris Lapidus and you have the Design District - how are these things not put in the forefront? Look at Urban Outfitters, if you really wanted to go mainstream. Look at the furniture that they put out there. They're exact copies and duplicates of the things you would find at Luminaire or Kartel. Obviously, I'd rather go a little more unique. I'm very much about the idea. It's not just about the design, it's also about the idea of what you made that design for. To me a lot of those pieces are genius. I don't look at furniture as furniture. I never have. Sometimes people say 'Oh, that looks so easy' those are usually the hardest ideas to come up with. Or 'Why didn't I think of that?' with an artist like Damian Hirst, it's so simple but - he thought of it first.

What's your favorite building in Miami? Well, I'll tell you my favorite kind of architecture is Mid-Century Modern - as space-age and as clean Florida-lines as you can get. I do love Domo's building, the Post-office. It's not a Mid-Century Modern building but I really love it. Also, this isn't Mid-Century Modern either but the Delano. I love that it was named after the middle name of a President. I like it from the outside, the angles of it and the pitch on the top, it's about as Deco as you can get.

Where does your fixation with teeth come from? (Laughs) It's the first thing I notice when I look at someone. It just screams to me if they're taking care of themselves or not.

What is your favorite word? Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Awesome. (Laughs).

What is a pet peeve of yours? It's so funny because you know them, when they happen you're just like AH! Now it's so hard to pick one thing. It would have to be rude people though, definitely.

What's something you don't like to hear? Well, I used to hate "Do you know who I am?" (laughs). That was just the worst thing you could say, if you did I officially didn't need to know who you were - because you just said that. It was done, it was just done from there. No resurrecting that one. Obviously now my door days are over, the new phrase I don't like to hear is "It's not in the budget" (laughs). It just hurts to hear that one.

Name a fashion trend you'd like to see die. That's an easy one! Screenprinted-80's-looking-raggedy, all of those Ed Hardy, Van Dutch - Von Dutch, whatever it is. Anything with rhinestones or skeletons or skulls or crosses or anything that is trying to look vintage or says vintage on it. Oh! and Damask fabric. It's done, let it go.

What's in your iPod? Definitely Booka Shade, Buckley - he's a DJ in Leeds. Of course Groove Armada...Feist...Goldfrapp. A lot of the stuff from that Italo-disco kind of vibe...The Rolling Stones and Neil Diamond (laughs), also Frank Sinatra. I'm a big Jazz fan.

In order what are you: Dreamer, Thinker, Feeler. Dreamer, Feeler, Thinker. But they all have to go together. I can't do one without the other. If I dream it and I feel it then I'm going for it but I'm gonna think to make sure that it's gonna happen. My former partner Jochy always used to say "You're the dreamer, I'm the reality" but I make my dreams into a reality.

Click here to read and see more of Michelle Leshem and Supermarket.