Here are a few of my favorite things!
These are all items I personally use, love, and highly recommend.
(This page contains affiliate links.)
Ryze Coffee
I love coffee, but there’s a fine balance between being appropriately caffeinated and also maintaining calm. What I love about Ryze is it that incorporates adaptogenic mushrooms into the delicious arabic coffee blend so you get an amazing tasting drink that also helps you feel more calm and happy throughout the day. I am obsessed and always include a tablespoon in my morning coffee. You can take 15% off a purchase of Ryze Coffee by entering GIANNAGAUDINIwhen you visit the link below!
Pique Teas
I am a huge fan of a hot beverage and when it comes to teas, Pique is my favorite brand. I love them because they taste amazing and support health and wellness as well. My favorites these days are the Sun Goddess Matcha and the Nanadaka Coffee Alternative.
SenSpa
Event Planning is frequently ranked as one of the top 5 most stressful careers, so what better way to de-stress after your event than with a little spa treatment R&R? My favorite local spa in San Francisco is SenSpa. They just celebrated 18 years in the business and can even host your events! If you are a first time client, you can book a 75 or 90-minute Massage and namedrop Gianna Gaudini, they will give you a free Infrared Sauna session ($35 value) with any service - trust me, this is the best detox ever, and feels like a warm hug. Enjoy!
Santa Barbara Chocolate
Fun fact - chocolate is good for you, and can increase DOSE (dopamine, serotonin, endorphins and oxytocin). It’s my favorite treat after a long day and also fun to add to coffee. I love Santa Barbara Chocolate because it’s not only sustainable (using agricultural practices in growing and harvesting that to meet society's present food and climate change solutions), but has a nice assortment of guilt-free treats. My favorite is the sugar-free pure cocoa wafers for an indulgent, guilt-free hit of chocolate, melted on top of walnuts, or added to home-made trail mix for a great onsite-event snack!
Ostrichpillow
is the perfect place to find unique gifts for travel-weary attendees who need some R&R. I love how soft and luxurious the products feel and how sleep they look. My favorites are the eyemask and heated neckwrap and my son loves the soothing heatbag. Not only are the products amazing and the highest quality, the team is incredible to work with. Take 10% off you entire order via the code GGOstrich10.
Savvy Sleepers
founded my good friend, and fellow mom-preneur, Dale Schroeter, a former fashion influencer and celebrity stylist. If you’re wondering what her secret is to looking like a supermodel while being a mom to 4 girls, it’s her very own creation: Savvy Sleepers luxurious satin pillowcases. Crafted from the highest quality satin, Savvy Sleepers pillowcases provide a smooth, gentle surface that reduce hair breakage, prevent facial wrinkles, and maintain skin hydration. Sounds too good to be true, but unlike traditional cotton pillowcases, the satin fabric minimizes friction, allowing your hair and skin to glide effortlessly as you sleep, ensuring you wake up looking gorgeous. I have one in “vintage rose”, and I swear it has knocked five years off my age since I’ve started using it. My gems can take 15% off any purchase using code SavvyG15.
Tinsel Arcade
My own custom-designed blazer might be the coolest thing I own and I get stopped whenever I wear it by people wanting to compliment me. I selected the color-palette, materials, and style and they created me such a gorgeous and perfectly fitted garment, it’s always a stunning finish to my ensemble and instant conversation starter! Design your own, or check out the ready-made styles. BONUS: Take 10% off your order (custom or ready-made) with the insider code: GIANNAVIP
Peace By Piece International
is a women-owned social impact gifting company that offers clients an extensive assortment of high-quality, customizable, and brand-able gifts that support underserved communities AND positively impact the environment. They partner with over 30 artisan partners in the US and globally that are carefully sourced and vetted for their impact. Every gift given changes a life, and one event can uplift an entire community. Each recipient receives a customizable card that shares the story so that they can share the impact with the recipients of the beautiful artisan items. Mention my name to them when you reach out, and they will offer you free customization in the form of engraving or other branding of your gift items!
Brilliant Made
THE one stop shop for all of your smart gifting and fulfillment needs! If you know me, I love being able to prove the value of events, gifts, and experiences. Brilliant’s “preferred gifting campaigns” allows you to send a link to a recipient to select their gift of choice. It’s personalisation for the win (and less in the bin) when you give your customers or event attendees beautiful options so they can select a choice that’s perfect for them. And, not only are they a sustainable brand, they also are generous and offering you 10% off your first order via my link below:
Emily Jenks—Photographer
Emily has been taking my family portraits for years and I’ve referred her to so many other happy families! She’s the epitome of professionalism, yet approachable and calm under pressure. She once had an emergency in which she and her daughter were both sick for a very important shoot for my anniversary, and rather than cancel on me, she took the time to find me a replacement photographer, brief her and it all turned out flawless! Emily’s process is methodical and she recommends key vendors to help you prepare, ideas for clothing, styling, and locations - a top notch partner through and through! If you’d like to book with her, you can use the code GiannaEmilyVIP to take 10% off any photo package!
Conjuring Wonder—Entertainer
I met Magician and Entertainer, Dennis Kyriakos, at the private club I belong to in San Francisco, The Battery, where he is the magician in residence. He impressed me immediately with his ability to astonish the most discerning crowd with such ease and charisma. He’s genuinely a delight to work with, professional, personable and always delights. I've hired him for both corporate events and my own social events and he always delivers a magical experience (pun intended). Take 10% off a booking with the code: GiannaMagicVIP by reaching out to him via email and mentioning my name (conjuringwonder@gmail.com) or the link below:
EVA—Entertainment
Women-owned Eva is my favorite one-stop platform to book whatever it is I need to make an event more entertaining: From comedians to musicians, unique team-building activities to A-List speakers, I can find and book it here. I use Eva for both inspiration and new ideas as well as to handle logistics like payment, insurance and riders for me. And since I’m a fangirl, they’ve provided me with my own discount code to give you 10% off any booking with the code: EVAGVIP.
Marlowe-Pugnetti Company Inc—AV Partner
Marlowe-Pugnetti Company Inc. I’ve been working with James Marlowe, Founder, for nearly 20 years and he is not only best in class, but such a wonderful partner and a dream to work with (he’s saved me so many times!). What I love is they can do almost anything you need and on any budget including, media and event production, audio-visual production, lighting, staging, camera operations, graphics and webcasting, and Hybrid production. Use my VIP code to take 10% off any of their services: GiannaVIPMPCINC.
Gradual—Community Platform
is a powerful community platform that provides a central home for all community experiences —events, forums, content, conversations, and much more. It’s not just me who loves them—they are favored by customers like OpenAI, Nextdoor, Roblox, GE Healthcare, and other enterprise-grade customers and startups alike. Gradual’s CEO is one of the few tech CEO’s I know who actually “gets” the value of events and hosts them regularly for a large community of engineers—a true testament to his investment in the space. And he’s also super generous, offering my audience 10% off services when you add my name to the “how did you hear about Gradual” field in the demo requests submitted when you make a request below.
Hublio—Webinar Platform and AI Content Creation
is my go-to webinar platform and partner for the times when my clients need a virtual partner who is reliable, forward-thinking and leverages the power of AI to generate so many different types/formats of content you can repurpose instantly from one webinar. It is incredibly useful for those of us who need to squeeze the maximum impact from our content. My favorite feature is Hubilo’s Snackable Content Hub which uses AI to build clips to use immediately while you still have your attendee’s attention, continuing the momentum which ultimately drives revenue. As a member of their advisory board, I can extend a 10% insider discount to you if you request a demo via the link below. Please tell them I sent you so you get VIP treatment!
Marco Experiences—Retreats and Virtual Events
I love planning offsites and retreats, but sometimes I need to outsource them, in which case, I turn to my trusted partner, Marco Experiences. Marco is your one-stop platform for building a best-in-class employee experience offsite. In a world where 80% of companies are remote or hybrid, personal connection has never been more crucial, and offsites are a core way distributed teams connect. Brands like Netflix, Hampton, Headway, Syndicate, Medium, and many more leverage Marco’s platform for ideating, sourcing and planning their offsites. I love platforms that save my clients time and money: on average, Marco can shave 20 - 40% off a budget through their exclusive partnerships, save planning time (on average 80 - 100 hours) and provide unique ideas to boost engagement. You can take 10% off the service if you book through my VIP link below (mention my name when you schedule a demo and you’ll receive the 10% discount!).
The Buzz Lab—Media and Video
is your strategic partner for creating killer videos that help you leverage the content you’re creating in new and strategic ways. Companies like eBay, Amazon, Adobe, Uber, Anthem and PayPal use The Buzz Lab to maximize the value of an event by creating emotionally-driven content to use before, during, and after an event: Event trailers to get people excited about your event, product launch videos, speaker and company profiles and customer success videos, and event wrap-up videos. They even created the video content and sizzle reel for my event course if you want a vetted example! I love working with The Buzz Lab because they are not only best in class when it comes to media creation, they are also strategic content consultants who can help you maximize the value and impact of the content you create for an event and deliver it in a way that connects with your audience and drives real value. Use my VIP code to take 10% off any of their services: GiannaBuzzVIP.
Team Class—Team Building
Virtual events are a great way to stay connected between in-person events. From pasta making, to ukulele painting, to chocolate tasting, TeamClass has over 100 unique activities to choose from. The platform provides event engagement measurement tools so you can learn what resonates with your team and prove the value. Select your activity, and they will handle all the logistics and direct shipping so you can just show up and enjoy. I have been an advisor to TeamClass and have been so impressed by the product offering and platform. If you mention my name when you book, they will give you a 10% discount off your event.
Iron Petal—Florals For All Occasions
is a San Francisco florist I adore and use both personally and professionally. Specializing in moody, romantic, Renaissance revival, Iron Petal is inspired by dramatic still life paintings and Medieval fields. Skylar’s designs emphasize the complexities of nature’s gifts in the pursuit of basking in the endlessly rich tones they have to offer. If you name drop my name, Gianna, when you reach out to Skylar, she’ll give you 10% off your order!
Regroup—Offsite Facilitation
While I specialize in event design, strategy and operations, I often partner with my former Google colleague, Trista and her company, Regroup, on designing and facilitating the activities and development portions of corporate retreats and offsites. Trista and her team are Org Development experts with years of experience running Google and other Big Tech L&D programs. They will uncover your needs and create custom solutions that drive tangible, sustainable change and help you to achieve your desired goals without fail. Some of their services include: executive coaching, custom offsite and workshop facilitation, org design, and strategic planning. Whether you need to increase manager capability, employee engagement, or leadership team alignment, you're in good hands with Regroup! Reach out to me (gianna@gaudini.com) if you’d like me to facilitate a connection and a discount.
Gatsby—Event Invite Management
Most event professionals I know yearn for a better invite platform that is as streamlined and easy to use for their attendees as it is for planners on the backend. Enter my favorite new tech darling, Gatsby - the fast-growing all-in-one workspace powering top events. The platform’s custom design capabilities are exceptional, and the guest list tracking + registration save organizers hundred of thousands of hours (and headaches!). For VIP focused events and more, request a demo, and use promo code GIANNAAWESOME20 to secure a 20% discount for year one. I promise you will love this!