Pets We Love

It’s hard to put into words what our pets mean to us. It doesn’t matter what species, breed or age, where we find them or how we find them—they become part of you, your family and your home. You love them hard, and they love you back even harder. Well, cats might be another matter, but as long as we feed them, right? From a number of dog rescues and a munchkin kitty to a vivacious parrot and farm-family donkey, it’s time to honor our furry and feathery friends for their endless adoration and entertainment. Give a warm welcome to SRQ’s 4th Annual Pets We Love Contest winners. We thoroughly enjoyed reading through all the heartwarming submissions—including purrfect personalities, funny quirks, naughty habits, impressive tricks and adorable traits. You’re all in for a real treat… 

SRQist

Jamie Ruetz of Triton Music Services provides instruments to students who would otherwise not be able to afford them. With a lime squeeze and a pinch of salt, Hiatus Tequila entices you to pause and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Bradenton manufacturer SeaSucker, designs vacuum seal technology for cycling and angling expeditions. Portrait photographer Susan Sidebottom brings focus to the affordable housing crisis in Sarasota.

Culture City

Daniel Lind-Ramos pays homage to his native Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria with an exhibition at Sarasota Art Museum. Kathryn Parks, an award-winning Sarasota film maker, chronicles the marriage and performing arts career of her parents, The Fabulous Ohs.

Cargo

Celebrate Mothers Day and Fathers Day with the perfect gift or moms, dads, and those special parental figures in your life. Surge Style boutique brings a new and youthful approach to clothing with an elevated vision of beachy-chic.

Forage

With an understated menu, in an understated restaurant, Meliora makes dishes worthy of a canvas.

Giving Coast

Visionary leader Nicole Murby looks for ways to increase happiness and decrease burdens for families affected by disabilities.

Here they are *drum roll please* the pets YOU love!

First Place: Shaker (of @floridafabfive)

Second Place: Moët (MoMo)

Third Place: Reo

Congratulations to all of the pets featured in this year’s completion. We don’t know about you, but we think it’s the cutest feature we’ve done to date!

SRQ Magazine recognizes women who have deeply contributed to our community through their business, philanthropic, health and wellness, entrepreneurial, cultural, science, technology and educational endeavors throughout the year through the Women Who Roar Initiative. We invite our readers to nominate an individual who best exemplifies the attributes of professional acumen, philanthropic passion, personal integrity and community leadership. 

We will publish the names of all nominees in the October 2022 She Roars magazine published by SRQ Magazine | Live Local. Love Local. Once a nomination has been made, the honoree has until Wednesday, November 2, 2022 to submit their formal application to be considered for the competition.

We welcome a panel of revered national judges to review the submitted applications to identify each year’s competition winners. Those winners are announced and inducted into the Women Who Roar Leadership Circle at the annual Together We Roar Leadership and Awards Luncheon each May.

Click here to nominate someone! The deadline for nominations is Friday, August 12 by midnight. Nominations are anonymous.

Sharing the stories of local treasures in the Bradenton Area, SRQTV in partnership with the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau invites the viewer to explore the authentic Cortez Fishing Village on the West Coast of Florida through the characters who know it best.

[Sarasota, FL]  SRQ MEDIA, powered by the Women Who Roar Initiative, hosted the 6th Annual Women Who Roar: Together We Roar Leadership and Awards Luncheon on Friday May 13, 2022 at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota. The Women Who Roar Initiative was formed nine years ago as a year-round program engaging the participants in the annual Women Who Roar Competition to create highly-dynamic personal networking that catalyzes positive community engagement through the science and art of mentorship among the generations of women who call our area home.

“We know how powerful personal relationships are in cultivating and empowering change,” says SRQ MEDIA CEO and President Lisl Liang. “The Women Who Roar Initiative serves to provide authentic, memorable mentorship experiences that create connective tissue within our community of passionate women and ultimately strengthen our mission to Live Local. Love Local.”

As women representing diverse professional industries in Sarasota and Manatee Counties reconnected with one another for the first time since the most recent pre-pandemic luncheon in 2019, Liang took the stage and welcomed the more than 260 guests and honorees who were nominated during the years of 2020, 2021 and 2022 and expressed gratitude for being able to gather in person once again after a two year hiatus. 

Steve Altier of Seaside National Bank & Trust, a champion partner/sponsor of the event spoke next and shared his thoughts about the importance of  mentorship before turning the stage over to Keynote Guest Speaker, Kathy Kristof, Editor/Founder and CEO of SideHusl.com. With a significant career in financial investigative journalism, Kristof has formed her company to navigate a safe financial space for freelancers by presenting ways to make money in the gig economy.

Trailblazer Award Recipient, Cyma Zarghami spoke next. Zarghami is the CEO/Founder of Mimo Studios, a female-owned and operated media company that specializes in kids and family content spanning live action, animation and preschool and former  president of the Nickelodeon franchise.

At the awards ceremony, the following 17 new ambassadors were inducted into the Women Who Roar Leadership Circle, resulting in many smiles and lots of hugs:

The Leadership Circle Ambassadors of the Women Who Roar Initiative engage in curated mentorship programming throughout the year including SkillSHARE: Mentorship at the Speed of Life and SMARTgirls: Futures and Mentorship Summit.

For more information, we invite you to visit SRQMAG.COM.

Best of SRQ

You spoke up, and we listened. From vets and videographers to cocktails and chiropractors, BOSRQ Local is back with a brand new batch of the cities’ finest fare, favorite services, most sought-after places and beloved businesses—a grand tally thanks to all your voting (a record-breaking 78,000 votes to be exact!). And now we are happy to present you with the leading legends, the new voices and the rising nominees of this year’s competition. And this time around, we’ve themed the visuals of this feature around the iconic images of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe—a timely homage to the current exhibit showing at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, ‘Flowers, Poetry, and Light’. This vanguard artist of the late 20th century, combined with the entrepreneurs, designers, restaurateurs, physicians and specialists listed among the proceeding pages, continue to put Sarasota-Manatee Counties on the map—proving evolutionary and eclectic aren’t just for the big cities. Ready, set, celebrate! 

SRQist

Banyan Coffee Co. owner, Josh Schmitt, spills the beans on how this specialty coffee roaster came to be. Blaise Ryndes, creator of the Spheres Bubble Show, dazzled audiences at The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime.

Culture City

The Sarasota Film Festival returns for its 24th year this month with fresh programming and events. Dramaturg and Literary Manager at Asolo Repertory Theatre Adam Ashraf Elsayigh discusses how his unique background impacts his new role.

Cargo

April showers takes The Goods by storm. King of vintage designer, Cameron Silver, discusses his passion for fashion after a local visit at T.Georgiano’s boutique.

Forage

Capturing the ramen revival in its elevated art form from the menus of FushiPoke, Rokkin Ramen Pop-Up Kitchen at 99 Bottles, Motoneko Cafe & Izakaya and Goichi’s Sushi Cafe.

Giving Coast

A good hero to countless boys and girls, Lee DeLieto is a man who knows how to make good things happen.

Home of the Year

Home remains the most significant architectural place we experience throughout our lives. It represents safety, ownership, privacy, stability and personality. As we continue to investigate the role that homes play in our daily lives, the annual SRQ Magazine Home of the Year Competition invites local architects, builders, interior designers and landscape artists to present us with new notions of home environments by submitting their recent residential projects.

SRQist

Seventh generation circus bareback horse rider, Ermes Zamperla is Sarasota’s very own piece of living history. Alpine Steakhouse – a fixture in the Sarasota dining community for nearly a half-century – has emerged from an intensive revamping with a new look and outlook. New Crew SRQ, an inclusive rowing team pioneered by a student at New College of Florida, is racing into top-level rankings. Circus veteran sisters, Kay and Ellian Rosaire share their love for exotic animals at the Big Cat Habitat.

Culture City

Three years after her passing, Master Painter Eleanor Merritt makes her way to The Ringling Museum. The Herbarium at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, home to more than 117,000 collections of flora – is a wonderland of tropical beauty.

Forage

Southeast Asian cuisine goes contemporary casual at Stiks. A brew that calls itself “the drink of joy,” Boombacha Kombucha is a Sarasota-made staple that is, well…booming.

Giving Coast

Local Good Hero Jim Tollerton shares wisdom and lessons learned from a lifelong passion for helping people succeed.

SRQ MEDIA is thrilled to have Sabeen Perwaiz, President and CEO of Florida Nonprofit Alliance (FNA) and one of our Change Agent Judges, as our Keynote Speaker at the March 10th SB2 Luncheon.

As President and CEO of FNA, Perwaiz strengthens, promotes and advocates on behalf of Florida’s nonprofit sector. During her tenure, FNA has expanded on its research portfolio with Florida’s first nonprofit economic impact report, nonprofit compensation surveys and a state of the sector. Prior to joining the organization, Perwaiz was a researcher for Vital Voices Global Partnership, served as Special Projects Manager for Pace Center for Girls, implemented an Early Childhood Education program with Aide et Action in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and led the Earn Up initiative for the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce.

Since 2012, Perwaiz has led the all volunteer team for TEDxJacksonville. She serves on the board of directors of the National Council of Nonprofits and United Way of Northeast Florida and as Vice President of Women’s Giving Alliance. Perwaiz is a graduate of Leadership Jacksonville and Leadership Florida Connect. She has been named an Aspen Ideas Scholar, Woman of Influence, 40 under 40 and a National Business Journal Influencer. She has also received a One Jax Humanitarian award. Perwaiz served on Florida’s Commission on Community Service from 2018-2021.

Perwaiz earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and pre-medicine from City College of New York and her master’s in International Development from the University of Birmingham in the UK. An avid traveler, Perwaiz has visited over 42 countries and hopes to visit at least 100 in her lifetime. She and her husband, Asghar, are proud parents of Raza and Ayah.

The SB2 Transformation in Philanthropy Luncheon will explore how nonprofits ride the wave of change, particularly after a year of extreme change. In addition to hearing from Sabeen Perwaiz, we will speak to the Change Agent Award Catalysts to learn how their organizations embraced and catalyzed change in the past year. The luncheon will take place on Thursday, March 10, 2022 from 11:30 am to 1 pm at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota. Tickets are on sale now!

At the 6th Annual Together We Roar Leadership and Awards Luncheon, attendees will get the opportunity to hear from Cyma Zarghami, Founder and CEO of MiMO Studios and recipient of the Trailblazer Award. 

Cyma is a 33-year veteran of Viacom’s largest and most profitable divisions, Nickelodeon – the premiere kids’ entertainment brand that consists of 5 TV channels, a global consumer products business, digital apps and mobile content, feature films and location-based experiences. From the beginning of her career at Nickelodeon in 1985, to being named its President in 2006, Zarghami is credited with nurturing the explosive growth and expansion of what was initially a single cable channel into what is now a multi platform kids and family lifestyle brand. 

Cyma ensured that the company’s output and workplace culture remained true to the brand’s primary mission to serve and be inclusive to all kids. This led Nickelodeon being cited for decades as one of the most diverse and successful entertainment businesses, and the corporate culture was heralded as a model of teamwork, inclusivity and opportunity. 

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to hear from Cyma herself on May 13th, 2022 at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota. You can purchase tickets here!