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TCQ&A: Amanda Culpepper
The rules: Answer as many of the 47 questions as you like (but a minimum of 15, and you must answer #1–4). Please limit most answers to the general geographic area.
1. How long have you lived in the area? Where did you move from? Where are you originally from? We’ve been in Tribeca for five years now, and we love it. We used to live on the Upper East Side, but uptown has no edge at all. I’m originally from King of Prussia, outside Philadelphia.
2. Married? Partnered? If so, what’s his/her name and occupation? Charles (everyone calls him Chaz) and I have been married since 2003. He’s CEO of Fort Knox—it’s a hedge fund, not the stockpile of gold.
3. Kids? Pets? A daughter, Tracy (eight years old), and a son, Chip (six).
4. Where do you live? A loft on west Franklin Street.
5. What do you do for a living? I’m the founder of Nanpower—we’re monetizing all those awesome nannies who have spare time when kids are at music lessons or playdates or whatever. Nanpower hooks them up with online work—filling out surveys, taking call-center calls, and so forth—so they can make extra money and feel more fulfilled.
7. Most-frequented restaurants: Locanda Verde, of course, and Sushi Azabu. We’re fortunate in that Tracy and Chip eat everything. Chip is always demanding that the sushi chefs serve him something new. For his seventh birthday. we’re taking him to Atera.
8. For special occasions, I go to: Paris.
10. Sweet-tooth satisfaction: Have you ever had the cupcakes at Mulberry & Vine? They’re made with puffed rice, so they’re 90 percent air!
11. Most delicious cocktail: Grey Goose and Kaffe 1668‘s green juice.
12. I usually order in from Chambers Street Wines, and I always order Sancerre.
15. When I walk into my apartment, the first thing I see that I bought around here is: The sculpture that Tracy made using recycled Blueprint Cleanse juice bottles. It was for her Church Street School class on eco-aware art.
16. I’m so glad Drybar is in the neighborhood, because without it I’d look normal.
17. How I stay fit: Tracy Anderson! We kind of named our daughter after her. Tracy has changed my life in so many ways. Both Tracys have!
22. A recent case of sticker shock: I was going to surprise Chaz with a Maserati, but I couldn’t decide whether he’d love it or hate me for spending so much. Or both?
23. When my kids are older, they’ll always remember shopping at Issey Miyake. They both love Frank Gehry’s work.
24. Rainy-day activity: See above.
25. Advice for other parents: It’s so important to give your kids time to decompress—it sounds absurd, but you have to actually schedule downtime. Once a week, we have a children’s life coach, Naomi Richards, come to the loft to make sure Tracy and Chip learn to exhale properly.
28. I’m sorry, Financial District, but I won’t be coming back.
30. I tend to take out-of-towners to: The Greenwich Hotel.
36. My most memorable celebrity sighting: A year or so ago, I passed Gwyneth—no last name necessary, right?—on my way to TenOverTen. I never do this, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tell her how much I admire her as an entrepreneur and as a woman who clearly knows how to nurture herself. She was very sweet. And then, when I turned to leave, she smacked me on the rear and said, “That’ll give you story you can really dine out on!”
37. A local celebrity I’d like to run into: Jim Smithers. I’d like to smack him, though.
38. The most romantic spot around: For our wedding anniversary, Chaz rented out a SoulCycle studio just for the two of us. And he persuaded Laurie Cole to lead us. Ever since, Soul has meant even more to me.
40. If I could change one thing about the neighborhood: I don’t see why the city won’t do more of its street construction when residents aren’t around, such as on summer weekends.
41. A business I’d like to have here: A temazcal sweat lodge.
44. Someone who lives here who I really think you should meet: My shaman, Leslie Bryan. She helped me through a rough period after Chip was born. Without her, I don’t know if I ever would have dropped those last three pounds of baby weight.
46. I wish you had asked me about… My favorite holiday. It’s April Fool’s Day, of course.
Previous posts in this series:
• In the News: Could W. Broadway Become a Pedestrian Mall?
UPDATE: Any resemblance between Amanda Culpepper and real persons is purely coincidental!
Update: Comments have been turned off due to spam. To have them turned back on, email tribecacitizen@gmail.com.
33 Comments
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Well done TC!
Bravo, sir!
LOL!!!!!
The REAL joke is that there are moms like this in Tribeca which would make this interview very believable.
Priceless
oh this is a good one…what line is the funniest?
‘sculpture made by daughter of recycled blueprint cleanse bottles’
that she named her daughter after Tracy Anderson
seesawing about buying the husband a maserati
her business helps nannies make extra money and feel good about themselves
taking sone to Atera for his birthday
lives in a loft on *west franklin (not to be confused by the other, bad part of Franklin)
Yes! Yes!
But sadly, it actually took a moment to realise this was a joke. Not far from the truth.
Bravo. You had me.
You so had me!
I just realized what day it is. sorry for being so dense..but thanks for the laugh ET
And I thought you had gotten all of the best jokes!
Wow. I forwarded this to my wife after reading half of it, along with some words of disgust, before realizing the gag. Brilliant.
This was great!
Excellent Erik. Sad thing for a few moments we believed it
I fell for it hook, line, and sinker!!!
Best. Post. Ever.
I’m embarrassed how far I had to read down before I was convinced this was a joke.
Wow. I take pride in my ability to always pick out the April Fool’s jokes but this one really had me until pretty much the very end.
Well done.
Fantastic! You got me till the end.
Bravo.
really… that was too real! I totally believed it!
Hysterical!
Spectacular. Bravo!
Too bad they’re not real people; I feel like I already unconsciously coupled with the Culpeppers.
“Once a week, we have a children’s life coach, Naomi Richards, come to the loft to make sure Tracy and Chip learn to exhale properly”
best line ever!.
I believed it – totally bought it. Scary!
You got me! That was awesome.
Completely had me!
I thought this was real until the very end of 44!
nicely done…
You got me.
Thank. God. Well done.
I was ready to bully this woman on twitter…haha
April Fools, hilarious! — good one1
Genius!