Tales from The Social Club: Familiar Faces, Different Places

Shane Holmes
3 days ago
2 min read

Meeting Date and Time: Tuesday, October 28, 2025 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM

Meeting Location: Kate Libby Coaching Office, 55 Washington Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201

On the week of Halloween, we met at Kate Libby Coaching's new office in the Brooklyn, NY neighborhood of DUMBO, which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. KLC's office opened in late September 2025. Below is a picture of the neighborhood with the Manhattan Bridge in the background.

Inflatable Halloween decoration, an ice cream truck labeled "I Scream for Ice Cream" with a clown and skull popsicle, on a city street with Manhattan Bridge in the background. — DUMBO Neighborhood with Manhattan Bridge in the Background

My co-worker, Amy, gave me a tour of the office. Below are pictures of the interior of the office. What is notable is it has much more space than our previous office near Grand Central. Note that the plants in the three pictures below are not real.

Leather office chair next to a white desk in a room with hanging lights and small plants. — KLC Interior Office

KLC Sign and Two Fake Plants

Small modern kitchen with a white table, chair, sleek cabinets, and sink. — KLC Office Kitchen Area

Hallway in office with dim lighting, a row of desks with computers, and documentary posters on white walls. — KLC Office Area

We met in a conference room where we made jack-o-lanterns. Our group leader Juliette asked us what type of pizza and drinks we would like to order. This led to a discussion about the different types of soda that can be ordered (Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite to name a few examples). One of our members humorously suggested that instead of being called The Social Club (TSC), we call ourselves The Soda Club (TSC). We laughed at that idea. We worked on carving pumpkins and drank apple cider until dinner arrived. We enjoyed pizza and soda. The apples went uneaten. Then, we had a variety of Halloween candy for dessert. Some of the types of candy that were present were Skittles, Kit Kat Bars, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Someone asked what the most popular type of Halloween candy is which led to a discussion about the most popular type of Halloween candy. People guessed Kit Kat Bars and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Someone in the group used Google to look up the answer. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are mentioned in a Forbes article as the number one selling Halloween candy and have held that title for over 10 years.

One challenge of the meeting was the conference room had a noisy HVAC system running. I coped with this challenge by wearing my light blue noise cancelling headphones and turning the AC off temporarily (although the AC had to be turned back on when the room got too warm).

The Social Club Members Carving Jack-O-Lanterns

The steps to pumpkin carving are as follows: use a knife to cut open the top of the pumpkin, scoop out the insides until it is hollow, draw a face on the pumpkin, and carve out the face along the lines using a knife. One of The Social Club members opted to draw, not carve, a face on their pumpkin.

Growing up I would use candles in the pumpkins on Halloween. Juliette took the precaution not to use candles in the pumpkins to avoid an accidental fire. Instead we used a small light that got brighter and dimmer on a cycle to simulate how the light from candles would act.