The hustle is real for Rachel Van Dolsen, founder of a boutique hospitality public relations and social media firm in Brooklyn. Her routine consists of walking her dog at the break of dawn, making homebrewed coffee, and then zipping across boroughs from meeting to meeting. She says one word that accurately describes her is “on-the-go.”
As she grabs brunch with business clients, coordinates press events, sets up fine dining experiences for restaurant owners and deals with unpredictable situations, she keeps one thing in mind: Don’t cry over spilt milk. That’s not her PR spiel. It’s her life mantra.
She said in everything she does, she tells herself to “find a way to make it work, and it’ll fall into place.” She takes this to heart. One time some of her clients were scheduled to meet a TV crew to do a live segment, but an emergency forced them to cancel at the last minute.
It could’ve been a moment to panic, but Van Dolsen took it in stride.
“At the end of the day, we’re doing PR and talking about delicious food and beverages,” Van Dolsen says. “It’s supposed to be fun, not taken too seriously. I work with people who understand that and enjoy bringing happiness and fun experiences to New Yorkers.”
Her clients vary from Jimmy’s No. 43, a cozy speakeasy-like subterranean beer bar in the East Village to UrbanSpace, which organizes the annual Union Square Holiday Market.
The WeWork Dumbo member, who sports a fedora hat almost daily, has lived in Brooklyn for six years. She loves her business because she’s a serious foodie. She has a list of local spots she frequents whether for a morning of solitude, an afternoon of client meetings or an evening enjoyed with friends or spent decorating spaces for press events.
Here is Rachel Van Dolsen’s ideal day spent in Brooklyn, schmoozing with clients and enjoying food prepared by some of the area’s best chefs.
On an ideal day, Van Dolsen orders an egg white omelet from Freehold in Williamsburg. The ambience feels like a mixture of a co-working and hotel lobby hangout space with comfy chairs and couches. In the daytime, it serves breakfast and coffee and at night, it turns into a bar. It’s here that Van Dolsen gets the jolt she needs to start her day. It helps that there’s a stream of activity going on from its outdoor ping-pong tables and corn hole.
For brunch, she says she would go to a seafood restaurant called Heyward in Williamsburg, where she raves about their “amazing French toast egg sandwich” and Porchside Smash cocktail. Nearby are a few of her favorite Brooklyn-based retail shops.
In the late afternoon, Van Dolsen says she probably can’t fit anything else in her stomach, but if she could, she would go for ice cream at Ample Hills Creamery in Prospect Heights. Her top picks are The Munchies and the classic Peppermint Pattie.
But it’s only a matter of hours before she gets guilt tripped into stopping by Juice Press.
For dinner, she enjoys the ambience and Mexican dining experience at Gran Electrica in Dumbo. She says the guacamole is “to die for” and the cocktails and fish taco are on point. It has a huge outdoor garden that juxtaposes with the dimly lit, rustic-chic interior.
For one last hurrah, Van Dolsen says she loves The Commodore in Williamsburg, which has “unique and well-crafted cocktails.” She enjoys the space because it’s “chill and relaxed.” She says the saloon is inviting whether you show up in a ball gown or pajamas.
Living in Brooklyn has shaped the way Van Dolsen goes about her startup business.
“What makes a person a Brooklynite is a sense of marching to the beat of your own drum and doing things your own way,” Van Dolsen says. “In Manhattan, the old order exists—you go to 9-to-5 job with health insurance; then you go home and watch Netflix. People in Brooklyn make it work in a more unconventional manner, but we’re still hustling.”
Photo credit: Lauren Kallen