May 13, 2022- The Colleagues Helpers in Philanthropic Service ("C.H.I.P.S.") held their annual Spring Luncheon and fundraiser on behalf of Children's Institute (CII) at The Draycott in the Pacific Palisades. Benefit Co-Chairs, Justine Carroll, Mary Connolly, and Lisa Baker Morgan, hosted the event which featured the Summer/Fall 2022 stylings of fashion retailer Elyse Walker, introduced by Elyse Walker herself.
“Food kind of brought us together,” says chef and financier Gene Straub of meeting his wife Janneke.
To be fair, music and the City of Lights also played a role in the Larchmont Village couple’s romance.
While Janneke lived in the French capital, Gene’s route to Paris was a circuitous one, starting on the East Coast of the U.S.
“In 1987 I was on Wall Street. I worked at E.F. Hutton for three wonderful months,” Gene recalls. His dream of being a commodities trader was cut short when the stock market crashed.
He moved to Chicago and worked in finance at both PBS and at Hyatt for seven years, when he decided it was time to pursue his other dream the one he put on hold to appease his father.