Partying With Missy Elliott, Pharrell and More at the Yellow Ball
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Monday evening I attended the Yellow Ball, an event hosted by American Express and the issuer's Platinum Card Creative Director Pharrell Williams to raise awareness and support for Young Audiences Arts for Learning, the nation's largest arts-in-education network whose work strives to inspire young people and expand their learning through the arts. Amex also gifted $1M to the organization.
I was accompanied by others from Team TPG and four lucky TPG readers (and their guests) from our TPG Lounge Facebook group. We clean up pretty well, don't we?
The event took place at the Brooklyn Museum and featured performances by Missy Elliott, A$AP Ferg and DJ Stretch Armstrong, as well as art installations by Platinum Collective Member Daniel Arsham.
The performances were amazing. I was thrilled to see Missy Elliott get off the stage and continue her performance from the crowd — she was even dancing with some of the TPG team members.
In addition to her great interaction with the crowd, Missy Elliott gave a full performance, backup dancers and all. She was later seen with A$AP Ferg and Pharrell mingling with attendees and participating in Meet and Greet sessions.
Since I'm a big fan of modern art installations, I thought the large, 3-D sculptures by Daniel Arsham were really cool -- they were designed to give a sort of mirror effect as guests passed through each open space. The sculptures were showcased in one of the three rooms of the immersive art exhibit.
As the name of the event would suggest, the decor of the venue was heavy on the yellow, and event staff wore jackets that transitioned from white to yellow — it was all very true to theme. According to Elizabeth Rutledge, Amex's Chief Marketing Officer, "The color Yellow was selected and inspired by Pharrell, who views the color and event as helping to shine a light on the need for arts education and its ability to pave the way for a brighter future."
We were first greeted with hors d'oeuvres by Chef Jean Imbert and other snacks by American Express Global Dining Collection partner, Chef Dominique Crenn. I especially enjoyed the potato and caviar bites, which really made me feel like I was flying Emirates First again.
Dinner was an "artistic" multi-course experience, with more cuisine prepared by Chef Dominique Crenn. The food was delicious, especially the salmon. It was devilishly buttery, reminding me of salmon they serve in Iceland. Chef Crenn stayed on theme by incorporating touches of yellow in marigold flowers and yellow saffron sauce in her dishes.
I felt lucky to be seated next to the President of Enterprise Strategic Partnerships at Amex, Glenda McNeal and Mark Weinstein, who is the Senior Vice President of Customer Experience, Engagement, Loyalty & Partnerships at Hilton. We discussed the new Conrad Rangali Maldives Underwater Villa. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to convince him to open up standard Honors points availability so I could check it out. It was fun to be at a dinner party where I wasn't the only expert on loyalty programs and credit cards!
Platinum Card Members who purchased tickets to the event also had the opportunity to request a limited edition yellow Platinum card. The cards, which were designed by Pharrell Williams himself, will soon be sent in the mail, and I'm looking forward to receiving mine. It will replace my current Platinum Card® from American Express.
Obviously, being huge credit card geeks, my team and I were pretty much obsessed with the new yellow card, and spent most of dinner playing with it. I mean, when you put several credit card nerds together and give them a new toy, what do you expect?
Don't worry if you didn't attend the ball and couldn't get this special yellow card -- it's exactly the same as any Platinum card. There aren't any additions to the fantastic suite of perks that come with being a Card Member, such as access to Centurion Lounges, airline and Uber credits and, of course, the ability to earn an incredible 5x points on airfare when purchased directly from the airline or through Amex Travel.
For more Platinum-exclusive events, visit the By Invitation Only section when logged into your Platinum or Centurion account.