Paint & Sip…

Paint & Sip…

Photo credit: Janet Donovan

A glamorous job with Washington Life actually was the impetus for Michael Clements to become an entrepreneur. Right before he left Hollywood for DC, he was an extra on West Wing and played one of Alan Alda’s assistants.  “It was the season when he and Jimmy Smits did the live Presidential debate. I worked that episode and I was backstage for a couple days with Ron Silver, who recently passed away. The last day I worked there was a Thursday or Friday. I got on a plane and came to DC and on the first or the second day I got to go with the publisher of Washington Life who took me to the Mandarin Oriental for the Kennedy Center Honors brunch. That first day in DC, who do I see? Ron Silver! He was very political, Republican operative side of things. When I saw him I was like, ‘Hey Ron. How’re you doing’? And he’s like, ‘what are you doing here?’ We had been on set just two days prior.”

Elena Postnikovam, Anchyi Wei (Michael’s wife and business partner), Juleanna Glover, Michael Clements

Clements worked as the Editor-in-Chief for Washington Life for six years and then took a break for the last five to become an entrepreneur. He was actually motivated by Washington Life to take that break because he met so many interesting and fascinating people doing incredible things that he said to himself:  “I want to do something. I felt like I was missing that business side of it so I just basically gave myself an MBA in five years by building a business, I guess. I think I wanted that challenge of starting something.  I think I wanted a creative business and wanted to run a business doing something I was passionate about. So I think having that experience and still having that business keeps me grounded.” His business, ArtJamz, a paint and sip, was conceived after a boozy paint and sip with friends when Clements was up late one night painting, drinking and hanging out.  “Wouldn’t this be great if there was a place we could do this?”

Christopher Reiter and Lynly Boor

Now it’s an expanding industry. “As an entrepreneur, that’s why you do it. I mean, you do it because you have a passion, but at the end of the day, it’s a business and you want to be profitable as a business. So, yeah, I saw an opportunity and I saw a niche in the market and I felt that it could be lots of things given time. A lot of things we’re doing now are a little different from when we started. As paint and sip has matured, we do a lot of corporate events, team building, kids birthday parties. I mean, I think if I knew then what I know now about the amount of work that it would take to start a business, I probably wouldn’t have done it. I would not have done it, but I think that’s part of the beauty of starting a business is you have to have that mindset when you’re deciding you’re just doing this.”

Michele Kosinski, State Dept. reporter for CNN with Michael Clements

It’s been a complicated and difficult five years for Clements, both good and bad.  “So over the past five years, I quit my full time job in media; I started a business from scratch; I got married; I have a kid. I also lost my mom and I lost my father, and I lost my father-in-law.”  He wanted to return to media, but his position at Washington Life was no longer available because of the very talented Virginia Coyne who took over his former position. So he was excited when the opportunity came along to be Editor-in-Chief of Capitol File. “I thought it was a really great opportunity.”  He turned his business over to a great team and although still involved strategically, it progressed to the point where he was able to build a team and a system. “And I think it’s important for a business to be able to run not needing to be dependent on one person. My problem was always that I would say, ‘you know, I’ll just do it.’  I wanted to start writing again and get involved in media. I felt it was the right time, so I just thought, maybe I’ll have coffee with Meredith (Publisher, Capitol File) and see what’s going on and so we met and I think it was maybe two minutes into our conversation, she jokingly goes, well do you want to be Editor-in-Chief? And then I said yes! So it’s been a crazy five years and I felt like it was a good time and that there’s an opportunity for Capitol File to be cerebral, be political, but also be lifestyle.”

Jeff Dufour, Juleanna Glover, Tim Burger

So, in celebration of his new position, Juleanna Glover and Christopher Reiter hosted a dinner for Clements in their Kalorama home with old friends and future associates. “I hope that I’m able to both make Republicans and Democrats equally happy and equally angry. If somehow that happens, and I think Washington has a great opportunity to have a magazine like Capital File that can be cerebral, you can also really tell wonderful stories about what’s happening in the city from a lifestyle standpoint. We don’t have to necessarily hang on every tweet, but sort of try to capture the spirit of what’s happening in the city and look at more long-lead, and I hope that I’m able to synthesize what’s happening and really showcase some beautiful things in this city and be cerebral and work with artists. And Washington’s worst-kept secret is that I also have an arts business as well.  I think that molding those two, I hope, creates wonderful things. I’m just really appreciative.”

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