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42 PALM BEACH ILLUSTRATED PALMBEACHILLUSTRATED.COM | MAY 2015 43 The youngest of eight children in Palm Beach’s well-known restaurateur family, 24-year-old Gabrielle Coniglio (never Gabby) practically grew up at E.R. Brad- ley’s Saloon, Cucina Dell’ Arte and Nick and Johnnie’s. So it only makes sense that after graduating from Loyola University in New Orleans, she found her calling in the kitchen. Despite having no formal training (although she credits her mother, Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio, for inspiring her by cooking for the family), Gabrielle worked as a line cook at Commander’s Palace for a year before returning to Palm Beach in May 2013 and introducing an eatery component to The Bee (formerly Bee Organics), the vegan café run by her brother, Nick. A free spirit, she also cooks privately for a family in Palm Beach and is always looking for her next big adventure. Her role in the family: The jokester. Her first duties at Commander’s Palace: I peeled and deveined shrimp for 12 hours a day. How she cooks: I research, I read tons of recipes for the same thing and then I create something different. What she orders at The Bee: The living tacos: walnut meat on a piece of lettuce with cashew cheese, purple cabbage, mixed beans and salsa—and I have to add the fresh guac. Confession: I used to go over to E.R. Bradley’s during my shift at The Bee and eat one piece of bacon. Her eating habits now: I still eat the same way I did but more in moderation. I just pay more attention to what I put into my body and where it came from. The next dish she wants to master: My mom’s pasta recipe. Her other passion: Traveling. I went to Peru in October, and I think my next trip will be to Bali. Her next adventure: I’m looking at moving to Colorado. Where she sees herself in 10 years: Back here. I couldn’t stay away for too long. Where she shops: My sister Christina’s closet. What she would do if she were invisible for a day: Eat food off other people’s plates. Favorite Coniglio tradition: Sunday dinner. Her deserted island essentials: A friend who could build, at least one pan and Chick-fil-A fries with barbecue sauce. The title of her autobi- ography: Eat Your Way to Happiness. Five style setters with Palm Beach ties talk collection picks, shopping haunts, tight suits and R-rated words BY KERRY SHORR GABRIELLE CONIGLIO The Foodie PALM BEACH RISING If you don’t know them already, you should: Meet five rising stars who are leaving their mark in big ways. PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBERT NELSON BY JENNIFER PFAFF I never thought the restaurant life would be for me until I fell in love with cooking. After that, I realized this was where I was meant to be.”

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42 PALM BEACH ILLUSTRATED PALMBEACHILLUSTRATED.CoM | MAY 2015 43

The youngest of eight children in Palm Beach’s well-known restaurateur family, 24-year-old Gabrielle Coniglio (never Gabby) practically grew up at E.R. Brad-ley’s Saloon, Cucina Dell’ Arte and Nick and Johnnie’s. So it only makes sense that after graduating from Loyola University in New Orleans, she found her calling in the kitchen. Despite having no formal training (although she credits her mother, Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio, for inspiring her by cooking for the family), Gabrielle worked as a line cook at Commander’s Palace for a year before returning to Palm Beach in May 2013 and introducing an eatery component to The Bee (formerly Bee Organics), the vegan café run by her brother, Nick. A free spirit, she also cooks privately for a family in Palm Beach and is always looking for her next big adventure. Her role in the family: The jokester. Her first duties at Commander’s Palace: I peeled and deveined shrimp for 12 hours a day. How she cooks: I research, I read tons of recipes for the same thing and then I create something different. What she orders at The Bee: The living tacos: walnut meat on a piece of lettuce with cashew cheese, purple cabbage, mixed beans and salsa—and I have to add the fresh guac. Confession: I used to go over to E.R. Bradley’s during my shift at The Bee and eat one piece of bacon. Her eating habits now: I still eat the same way I did but more in moderation. I just pay more attention to what I put into my body and where it came from. The next dish she wants to master: My mom’s pasta recipe. Her other passion: Traveling. I went to Peru in October, and I think my next trip will be to Bali. Her next adventure: I’m looking at moving to Colorado. Where she sees herself in 10 years: Back here. I couldn’t stay away for too long. Where she shops: My sister Christina’s closet. What she would do if she were invisible for a day: Eat food off other people’s plates. Favorite Coniglio tradition: Sunday dinner. Her deserted island essentials: A friend who could build, at least one pan and Chick-fil-A fries with barbecue sauce. The title of her autobi-ography: Eat Your Way to Happiness.

Five style setters with Palm Beach ties talk collection picks, shopping haunts, tight suits and R-rated words

By KERRy SHORR

Gabrielle ConiGlioThe Foodie

PALM BEACH

RISINGIf you don’t know them already, you should: Meet five rising stars who are leaving their mark in big ways.

PHOTOGRAPHy By ROBERT NELSON

By JENNIFER PFAFF

I never thought the restaurant life would be for me until I fell in love with cooking. After that, I realized this was where I was meant to be.”

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Massachusetts-born Chris Leavitt’s first foray into real estate took place in his childhood vaca-tion town of Palm Beach, where he completed a six-week high school internship. Following a stel-lar career in New York, he relocated to Miami in 2009 when he was offered the exclusive listing on the W South Beach, a move that eventu-ally led to a spot on the Bravo reality TV show Million Dollar Listing Miami. Despite living in Miami, he found himself enjoying his free time in Palm Beach, so Leavitt recently joined Douglas Elliman Real Estate to list The Bristol, the waterfront condo being built in downtown West Palm Beach. As his life in Palm Beach comes full circle, Leavitt is immersing himself into the area, having served as a junior chair at this year’s Palm Beach Heart Ball and, most importantly, spend-ing quality time as his other “offices”—local spas.

His life in New York: I was living at the Plaza Hotel. Life was great. I was like the male Eloise. His specialty: Getting along with everyone. Some people have shells when you meet them; they have facades. My specialty is deconstruct-ing those very quickly. Top tip for buyers: Don’t buy because it’s the right investment. Buy it because you love it. Top tip for sellers: Detach yourself from the home. Favorite episode of Million Dollar Listing Miami: Helping my client and friend Orsi. I negotiated not only the sale of her property but helped her out of a really bitter divorce without engaging lawyers. Where he spends happy hour: Sitting outside at Brick-Top’s and drinking the prickly pear margarita. His hidden gem in Palm Beach: The Society of the Four Arts. I used to go there as a kid to study and do research papers in the library. On his bucket list: Having a child, starting a family, meeting someone and settling down. His dating prospects: There are offers. There have been bids on the property, but nothing’s been signed. Career goal: Being my own developer of a project. Something few people know about him: People think I’m really hard and diva-ish and nothing bothers me, but I’m actu-ally super sensitive, really emotional and I take everything very seriously. Person who had the biggest impact on his life: Joel Osteen. I read a lot of his books and listen to his tapes, and he’s phenomenal. If he could have dinner with anybody: Warren Buffett. He’s such an inspira-tion and the epitome of success in the most respectful way: a gentleman and a successful billionaire whom I could really learn from.

CHris leavitt

When you’re selling a lifestyle that you also live in and exude, it’s so easy and fun.”“

The TV Star

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aleXanDer ives

It’s a very lucky thing to come from a place where generations of your family contributed something to that community—and to be able to continue and be part of that in a wide-ranging way.”“

If the past informs the present, Alexander Ives is living proof. The third-generation Palm Beacher is the president of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, a fitting role consid-ering his family history: His maternal grandfather, Bernard Cooley, was the president of The Colony Hotel from 1949 to 1959, while his pater-nal grandfather, Philip Ives, was a well-known residential architect in the Northeast. As the foundation’s first president since 1991, Alexander is dedicated to preserving the cultural identity of his hometown—and his own family legacy.

What fascinates him about preservation: I’ve always been taken by the way a cultural environment affects a community. I think the places where you work, the streets you walk on, the places you drive in affect your vision of your community, how you treat each other and how you feel about things. His favorite place in Palm Beach: The Phipps Plaza area. Almost every major architect in the town of Palm Beach—Addison Mizner, Maurice Fatio, Marion Sims Wyeth, John Volk, even Howard Major and Belford Shoumate—all have something in that area. Personal preservation moment: The landmarking of the 400 Building condo-minium. At one point, my grandparents moved in there. I remember spending summers on the roof-deck pool with cousins. An architect he admires: Peter Zumthor. He has this sort of religious cult around him, and I’m probably a member. An avid childhood memory: Riding my bike on the bike trail, going to the Stop-N-Go (which is now a bunch of really nice high-end townhouses) and getting a comic book or a magazine and a 78-ounce cup of Dr. Pepper. Favorite local bite: The squid-ink orecchiette at Buccan. Can’t stop buying: Books. I have maybe 700. They cover every single wall and work as tables. Guilty pleasure: I happen to be a Dr. Who fanatic. I don’t feel particularly guilty about it. Something few people know about him: Way back when, I used to DJ on the weekends in downtown West Palm. Qual-ity he admires most in a person: Forgiveness. I think that’s a very valuable quality because you limit yourself if you’re not willing to forgive, and you limit your experiences. Favorite book: In Search of Lost Time. That’s the perfect title for someone who works in preservation.

The Historian

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Holly Weston became interested in yoga as a theater student at New York University, but it was a whirlwind romance years later that ultimately inspired her to pursue the discipline as a career. After she met the love of her life during a weekend visit to Palm Beach, he proposed three months later and she left the city to begin a new life in her home town. Six and a half years later, the blissfully happy mom to Wylder, Fox and Hunter (all 5 and younger) is living her dream as a certified yoga instruc-tor, a lululemon ambassador and the owner of Haute Yoga, a heated vinyasa studio with loca-tions in Palm Beach and West Palm Beach.

Childhood memory from Palm Beach: We were neighbors with Lilly Pulitzer, and I used to go over there on Sundays and sing for her and all her friends. One time, I sang “New York, New York” for Frank Sinatra over the phone—and I didn’t know who he was. You’ve seen her in: A ton of commercials, like Herbal Essences and Burger King. Her first yoga experience: Before our acting classes at NYU, we had a yoga teacher come in and teach us yoga to relax us and get us ready for the day. What turned her into a yogini: When Jivamukti yoga was first beginning in New York, I used to take the owner’s classes all the time. What she loves about the discipline: It’s given me so much confidence, strength and patience, and it’s made me fearless. How she met her husband, Paolo: I was at Echo with some friends, and he walked by, and I thought he was breathtaking. Family tradition: Every Sunday, we go to the Italian Restaurant at The Breakers. Go-to authors: Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Her biggest challenge: Finding balance among my job, my kids, my husband and my friends. Guilty pleasure: A good red wine and a big bowl of pasta with butter Parmesan and truffles. Someone she’d like to dine with: My grandmother, Hilda Miller. She passed away, and she was just a ray of sunshine. Her deserted island essentials: Wylder, Fox and Hunter. (Sorry, Paolo!) The yoga position that represents her: Handstand. It’s so challeng-ing, and I like that. I love to be able to turn my life upside down or see the world in a differ-ent perspective—and to be able to handle it.

HollY Weston

Every day, when I wake up, I want to be the best person I can be. That’s it.”“

The Yogini

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sCott DiaMent

I come up with ideas every single day. Probably 999 out of 1,000 ideas I have in a year are not good ideas. But every so often, there’s one good kernel there, and I try to run with it.”“

Scott Diament has been a businessman since the age of 12, when he started a bagel-delivery service in his Bronx neighborhood—an enterprise he sold to another teen two years later for $5,000. Shortly after graduating from Florida Atlantic University, he invested in a jewelry store with friend Rob Samuels and Samuels’ father, and today their Provident Jew-elry brand is a renowned chain on both coasts of Florida. That venture led to the creation of the Palm Beach Jewelry, Art and Antique Show in 2004, which in turn spurred the Palm Beach Show Group and collectorsnet.com. Now, Dia-ment organizes events from coast to coast—and never stops coming up with his next big idea.

How he knew the first show would be a hit: On opening night, we heard from the police that I-95 was backed up for two miles of people wanting to come to the show. After 40 minutes, we were waving off cars because we had sold out all the parking. Most memorable item he’s acquired: A Nobel Prize medal for literature given to The-odor Mommsen in 1902, the second year they were ever awarded. What he collects: Every-thing. There is no theme to my collection other than I’ve never sold one piece since I started acquiring when I was 8 years old, and each one spoke to me. Most recent purchase: A pair of cufflinks. They’re skulls, and when you open the mouths, there are fancy yellow diamonds in the eyes. Why he’s been successful: Execution. A good idea executed today is much better than a great idea never executed. Favorite activity: Skydiving. On my birthday a couple years ago, I went skydiving two times in one day. Regularly reads: Science Daily. What he would do if he were invisible for a day: [laughs] Can’t publish that one. On his bucket list: Be invisible for a day? [laughs] I’d like to go into space, maybe visit another planet. Someone he admires: Bill Koch. I think he’s one of the greatest collectors who has ever lived, and I’m just so happy he lives in our community. Advice for his sons, Alexander, 11, and Leo, 6: Be creative and have persever-ance. What thrills him about his job: When you see people lined up to get into this thing you’ve built, you’ve in some way changed the world. I may not be able to cure cancer or do other things I would like to do, but I can produce really incredible events that people love to come to.

The Ideas Man