- March 31, 2026
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As the Bird Key Yacht Club continues to navigate programming without a clubhouse, the Seafarers Speaker Series has brought something special to join members together.
This season, the series featured speakers including Audible founder Don Katz, Atlantic Records CEO Val Azzoli and, most recently, makeup guru Bobbi Brown.
While many club members and staff worked hard to make the series bigger than ever, credit goes to organizers Carol Smith, Amy Lazarus and Beth Nothstine for helping to put together the lineup of speakers.
Brown recently published her biography, "Still Bobbi," and at the March 20 talk with the club at The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, she explained how her motivation to always seek the next new project led to a fascinating career in the world of beauty.
But before all the lipstick line launches and empire-building came the story of how Brown and Lazarus met.
The two were both living in Montclair, New Jersey, in the early '90s as mothers to young children. Brown was shopping at the grocery store when Lazarus asked for a helping hand in keeping an eye on one of the kids in the checkout line while she fetched a forgotten item on the shopping list.
"You looked honest," Lazarus told Brown with a laugh as they caught up with one another before the talk.
In the spirit of taking a village, Brown said she was glad to oblige. They connected over their shared experiences and made plans to meet up later.
What neither of them suspected then was that they were embarking on a friendship of several decades that would endure through major life changes, cross-country moves and more.
"We're very lucky because our group of friends who raised our kids together in Montclair keep in touch," Brown said. "For every birthday and big event, we're all there."
The 100-plus attendees at the talk had plenty of questions for Brown about how she got her start in the beauty industry, worked to get her first Vogue cover, built two billion-dollar cosmetic brands and made her mark in the fast-paced fashion world, being named one of Fortune's "Most Powerful Women" in 2021.
Really, Brown said it often came down to a combination of being in the right place at the right time when opportunity came knocking and being willing to reinvent herself to tackle each new project.
When one audience member asked about the odds of her having reached her level of success, Brown said, "I have been very lucky with my marriage and my businesses. It's not just that I work hard. I've been lucky, and I have a very distinct point of view."
"I have a lot of common sense, and I've never been someone who believes in overspending and overcomplicating things," she added.
She said having a solid support system is also essential and said she credited her husband, Steven Plofker, for being a strong pillar in everything, including her new book.
The speaker series organizers said they were grateful to the guests who helped make it extraordinary this year, which was especially important as the club works to rebuild its clubhouse.
Crews recently began work pouring the slab for the new building. Bird Key leaders broke ground on construction in November, and Commodore Tony Britt said the project is progressing well.
