Where I Work: David Hessekiel, Entrepreneur

Where I Work showcases people who work in Rye. The feature is inspired in part by exploring how the pandemic has impacted our work environment and part by wanting to understand how and where people work inside the City of Rye.

Today we meet entrepreneur and Rye resident David Hessekiel.

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Your Name: David Hessekiel

Your Company: Cause Marketing Forum, a firm I started 20 years ago.

MyRye.com: What do you do?

Hessekiel: I am the “chief cook and bottle washer” overseeing our two brands of conference/online communities: Engage for Good (focused on corporate citizenship) and the Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum (the source for nonprofits that raise money by having their supporters reach out to their networks for donations.)

Where do you work?

Hessekiel: When I first went out on my own after the first Internet Bubble (I was CMO of an ill-fated dot.com), I started working in an unfinished cinder block basement room beneath my home on Overlook Place.  Within a couple of years I had built a terrific basement office.  Boy do I love my commute.

Describe your desk and office.

Hessekiel: In my office I’m surrounded by mementos from various aspects of my life:

• My collection of cause marketing memorabilia such as a box of “Ronzoni Pasta for a Cause” and a banner for TOMS shoes
• Artwork I’ve collected including a folk art character made out of a castaway tin of Sinclair Househood Oil and a roller skate and numerous items decorated with skeletons related to the Mexican Day of the Dead. (A 2019 trip to Oaxaca with a buddy for the Day of the Dead celebration was a bucket list journey.)
• More recent pandemic additions include a mini-studio for Zoomwebinars I emcee and a PAC-MAN arcade game I use to break up long stretches of work.