Go behind the scenes of the Winter issue featuring Hope Farms’ Chris Katthage in laid back winter fashion and all the best places to eat now!
Top Attorney Lauren Varnado Says Networking Is Key: ‘Relationships Are Everything’
Al Torres
Jun. 25, 2022
How did you get to where you are today? It takes a village. I was fortunate enough to have great mentors and individuals who instilled confidence in me. I think that when you face a challenge or an obstacle, you are able to overcome and make things happen. You can continue moving forward, more resilient over time.
Growing with great mentors, such as Travis Torrence, Global Litigation Bankruptcy & Credit Team Lead at Shell, has enabled me to have more confidence in myself, foster meaningful relationships in the community, and sharpen my business acumen. He recruited me to my original firm, Fulbright, and has stuck with me on my journey. He has helped me keep in touch with former colleagues, contacts and friends, which has helped me translate those connections into working opportunities. We both mutually support each other.
And… let’s not forget hard work.
Whom do you credit? Mentors, business partners, my friends. I have a really close group of girlfriends who are in town. Women support women. We always lift each other up, provide contacts, share war stories, and encourage each other.
Also Judge Patricia Kerrigan, Texas State Judge of the Year, provided a lot of insight to me at a young stage in my career. She always encouraged me to stay the course and would continually affirm my natural skills in trial and in the courtroom.
What lessons have you learned that might enlighten and inspire others? Don’t listen to the haters! No one can tell you that you can’t do something. Where there is a will, there is a way; if you really want something, go for it! Don’t let people make you afraid of taking the next step.
Relationships are really everything! Making the effort, staying in touch with former clients, colleagues, introductions, connections are always valuable. Even if they don’t lead to business, you need network support in this industry. Even if that person can’t give you work, they can introduce you to someone who can, write a letter of recommendation, or just provide you with guidance or additional resources.
What’s new in your life or work that you’re excited about? Opening the Houston office of Michelman & Robinson is a huge honor, it is such an amazing opportunity. I have a vision; I am one of those people. You are always vested better in yourself. It’s not a risk because I have the support, and I am happy to charge the new generation of leaders as a “shaleinnelial.”
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The Freedom Over Texas display can be viewed from a number of Houston restaurants (photo courtesy of Visit Houston)
IF YOU DON’T have a view of the many fireworks displays around town on July 4, these spots are celebrating Independence Day with dinner, brunch, live music, deals, drinks and a seat to Houston’s spectacularly lit-up sky show.
POST Houston
After grabbing a nosh downstairs from the sprawling food market — try Lea Jane’s fried chicken, Soy Pinoy or Andes Café — celebrate the Fourth with the Houston Brass Band on the largest rooftop park in America. The POST's five-acre Skylawn is the ideal location to view the Downtown fireworks display and experience live patriotic music.
Patterson Park
Score prime views of Downtown from the third-level deck at this sprawling new patio bar to celebrate Independence Day starting July 1. The weekend bash includes a pop-up rooftop bar, games and a red-white-and blue Independence Day Lemonade cocktail. On July 4, the top level will be open for the Downtown Freedom Over Texas fireworks spectacular.
Max's Wine Dive
Photo by Becca Wright
Grab a poppin’ to-go special and post up elsewhere to catch the show! Both locations of Max’s Wine Dive will feature fried-chicken buckets for $45, July 1-6. Included: homemade jalapeno-buttermilk-marinated fried chicken (gluten-free also available) and sides of Texas toast, mashed potatoes, and collard greens. Add a bottle of prosecco ($15) or G.H Mumm Brut Champagne ($45).
CityCentre
On the west side, CityCentre’s beloved fireworks celebration returns. Leading up to the big 10-minute fireworks show at 9:30pm, there will be live music from country-pop group The After Party. Parking will be $10 (cash only) in all four CityCentre parking garages, and the district’s restaurants will offer a variety of to-go menu options for snacking and sipping under the stars.
B&B Butchers & Restaurant
Photo by Kirsten Gilliam
Expect the regular dinner menu on July 4, plus a Texas Wagyu hot dog special served with giant steak frites. After dinner, catch a view of Houston’s Freedom Over Texas fireworks from the parking lot — hot diggity dog!
Red, Hot & Blue Festival
Head north for a family-friendly entertainment spectacular on the Fourth. The Woodlands’ display will be one of the largest firework shows in the region. Plenty of children's activities and concessions will be spread out throughout Waterway Park, Hughes Landing and beyond. Live music begins at 6pm and the fireworks starts around 9:30pm.
Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co.
Accessible with a $20 ticket, this third-floor rooftop has prime views of Downtown’s Freedom Over Texas show. Pub food (awesome pizzas!), beers and frozens will be available to purchase a la carte.
B.B. Lemon
B.B. Lemon's Bloody Mary (photo by Jenn Duncan)
Rise and shine Monday, July 4,for a patriotic brunch featuring tunes courtesy of DJ Mohawk Steve. Guests can also choose dinner service (3-9PM) coupled with a great view of the Downtown firework display from the B&B Butchers parking lot across the street. It’s better than a drive-in movie!
Axelrad
…But speaking of movies, are you in search of a different kind of show? Meet in the beer garden on July 4 for a free screening of the classic The Sandlot — all ages welcome! Umbrella Fellas with be grilling burgers and hot dogs all evening, and Axelrad’s bar will be open.
Pier 6
Photo by Becca Wright
Head for the water in San Leon for Pier 6's Fourth of July bash (11am-9pm). It’s a family-friendly seaside celebration with nostalgic snacks — including a popcorn machine and cotton candy! — plus live music, face-painting, Lady Liberty on stilts and a local fire truck making daytime rounds through the marina, waving American flags.
Z23 at Le Meridien
Experience one of Houston’s highest open-air bars, perched on the 23rd floor of this hotel with sweeping city views and a view of the Freedom Over Texas fireworks display. Outdoor dining is available, and the bar will be open until 10pm on the Fourth.
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'A Beautiful Mind'
HERE’S AN ARTFUL way to stay cool this month. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston rolls out a six-film mini-series The Mathematician Moviegoer on Saturday, July 9, beginning with Giant (1953), George Stevens’ epic if somewhat shambolic celebration of the transformative power of black gold, starring three of 1950s Hollywood’s sexiest actors: Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. (At one point Dean, a dedicated “method” actor, manages to pull off an Oscar-worthy scene with his body completely covered in crude oil.)
All of the films were selected by artist Salle Werner Vaughn, widow of the late Texas philanthropist and oil heir James M. Vaughn, Jr., who was a longtime supporter of the MFAH film department. The series screens in the MFAH’s Brown Auditorium Theater July 9-24, and each film will be introduced by a member of the Houston Film Critics Society.
Taken together, the six films speak to James and Salle’s Texas upbringing, courtship and marriage (Salle and James met and fell in love in the third grade), as well as James’ fascination with puzzles and math.
In 1972, he created the Vaughn Foundation Fund to support research into a mysterious theorem conceived by the 17th-century math enthusiast Pierre de Fermat, a math problem so complex it was deemed unsolvable until the English mathematician Andrew Wiles, inspired by James and his dedication to the field, managed to solve it in 1994 and publish his proof the next year.
Salle and James were also acquainted with the American mathematician John Nash, who lived with schizophrenia and is the subject of Ron Howard’s film A Beautiful Mind (2001) which screens July 17.
The remaining films include A New Leaf, a dark comedy directed by Elaine May, who stars in the film alongside Walter Matthau; Cat Ballou (1965), an over-the-top slapstick western starring Jane Fonda as Catherine “Cat” Ballou, who teams up with a motley crew of barely competent gunslingers to avenge the death of her father; and Alfred Hitchcock’s classic murder-on-a-train mystery The Lady Vanishes (1938), starring Margaret Lockwood and Sir Michael Redgrave.
Jane Fonda as Cat Ballou
Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean in 'Giant'
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