It was upon Patrick’s return to New York from one show season in Milan that he inadvertently got his start in the promotions field. He organized a birthday party for a model that was represented by the same agency. The event was a screaming success, bringing together an eclectic and electric mix of influential people from the media, fashion, art, and finance worlds. Following the success of this party, Patrick quickly became a sought-after promoter in New York City circles. Being a native New Yorker, Hazlewood’s true sense of New York and its vitality has allowed him to run a successful promotions company for the better part of seven years with a variety of clients and venues in New York and South Beach, Miami including actress Joely Fisher, the Gates, Greenhouse, The Hudson Terrace, The 60 Thompson Hotel, X-Bar in Los Angeles, The Sagamore Hotel in South Beach Miami, Resort Palm Beach, and East Hampton, and Sony Pictures, to name but a few.

 

While his promotions company continued to grow and prosper, Patrick felt that there was more he wanted to do in this area. Fast forward to the summer of 2003. With an eye towards advancement and growth, Bacchus One was conceived. Bacchus was the Greek god of wine and revelry and when considering names, Patrick thought this to be an appropriate moniker for a company that was occupied equally with event planning and production, as with promotions. Out of Bacchus One grew B1 Group which is the umbrella company incorporating all of the various services available.

 

B1 Group aims to create superb and sexy events for clients, regardless of size and/or scale of the budget. It is a full-service company which is in the process of expanding its client base nationally, and soon thereafter, internationally (especially in England and Australia). Modeling has and continues to take Patrick around the world, and the exposure to various cultures and locations is reflected in his events, which incorporate these experiences and different flavors.

 

Here is what Mr. Hazlewood had to say:

 

Guts. Glam. Grace.: Are you living your dream?

Patrick Hazlewood: I am in the process of living my dream, and I say “process” because my dreams are evolving entities. That being said, I am en route to fulfilling an aspect of my current dream which is to share some of my travel experiences gleaned from being a model for several years, in both the written word, as well as on-camera. My mother constantly badgered me about writing a book/guide to the various cities I have lived in around the world, and now I am able to do that in a sense.

GGG: Are your career goals in line with your personal goals?
PH: I do try to separate the two, as sometimes they can become too closely intertwined and thus fulfillment of either becomes almost impossible. There are particular aspects that are, however, those that I hope to find in both, they are integrity, constant striving for improvement, altruism, and accountability. All of these are what I personally consider to be the hallmarks of both personal and professional ethics.

Tell us about your company. How did you get started?

PH: Well, I have one company, and several endeavours that I am involved with. B1 Group is my events production company. It grew out of what was a partnership in a strictly promotions company. Promoting was fun as a new model frosh from getting my law degree in London, and in from my 1st show season in Milan…we were given carte blanche to the city and all it had to offer, and my then business partner and I took the ball and ran with it. Eventually, our goals began to differ, he wanted to simply promote, while I saw moving into event production as the next logical step. I was somewhat apprehensive about voicing my opinion that perhaps we should go our separate ways, but this was eventually done for me. I had been in London for a few days shooting and a Father’s Day treat to Wimbledon for my dad, when my partner was suddenly unreachable. As a few more days went by, I had to cut the trip short (Dad was boarding the plane to Heathrow as I left him a message saying I had to get back to NYC ASAP) as I didn’t want our clients left in the lurch. I landed to find that he had started his own company and was swaying our clients to his endeavour. It was a bitter pill to swallow as I would have been fine with dissolution of the company, but alas it was not to be. In the end it spurred me to “get on with it” and start up B1 Group.

 

The company has allowed me to take on larger, more challenging, and more lucrative projects for a variety of clients in various industries.

 

B1 Group has also led to some great opportunities that fall into line with my goal of imparting knowledge. Emerald Chic (emeraldchic.com) is a new and boldly forward thinking fashion and lifestyle blog. While its focus is primarily Florida’s gorgeous Emerald Coast, they have hand-picked and impressive roster of correspondents in major cities all of whom have exposure to the newest, freshest, best and most note-worthy. Yours truly has been chosen as their NY “Fashion-icon” now while I am not sure how much of an icon I am when it comes to Fashion, I am confident in my reviewing skills and ability to provide the “insider’s” view of several of the major cities I know. I am also aligning myself with another company, more of which I will tell you about in our next feature (hint…hint…I hope), but I can say that it will involve even more on-camera work and a variety of topics. I am super excited about the two.

GGG: Has there been an event/person that has greatly influenced you to be the person you are today?

PH: If anyone influenced the person I am today, it would be my parents. They are both incredibly accomplished people, my mother is a graduate of Wellesley College and my father a graduate of Howard University, both holders of Master’s degrees, mum’s from Boston University in Art History, and dad’s (a doctor) in Public Health, both published author’s, and philanthropists. I guess it is their international background, both being from what was British Guiana, and is now Guyana in South America, and having always loved travel (my brother and I basically had our passports at birth!!) and took us literally around the world for school vacations, we were too bitten by the travel bug. They both have a zest for life and instilled in us the value of experiencing and embracing those things new and foreign. They also were always supportive of all of our endeavours and this allowed us not to fear the uncertain and to experiment in many areas. In order to find our passion. All this and they are the warmest, funniest, and truly most giving people, all of which are such admirable attributes. Plus they are funny as all get out…truly fantastic people to spend time with.

GGG: Three years ago, did you envision yourself being where you are today? If not what’s different? What would you change? 

PH: To be honest with you, 3 years ago was when I started to really realize that I was one of the few models with no acting aspirations, I had always thought that reporting from events (such as the ones my company puts on) looked so much more interesting than memorizing lines and making you believe me. I admire all of my mates that do so, but realized I had no real passion for it. Luckily, about almost exactly three years ago, I was asked to do some on-camera reporting for Fashion Week in NYC. The producers had seen me all over the catwalk that season and were looking for a working model that was also eloquent and a fast thinker on his feet and I suppose I fit the bill. I won’t lie. That first day, as I got to the tents and made my way down 40^th street with my Press pass and not my Model pass I was TERRIFIED!!!  I mean I was thisclose to texting the producers and saying I was too ill to go on camera, but I thought about how many people were counting on me, from my co-host, to my producers, to the crew, to Dan and Dean Caten and the great folks at Dsquared2 that dressed me for the whole week, and knew I HAD to soldier on. Once there, it was GREAT. The nerves melted away when I saw several of my friends that I had just been on the catwalk with ready and rearing to be interviewed…in fact, we had to edit a lot as we often forgot we were being taped.

 

In any case, this was my first taste of hosting and I was hooked. When the same company asked me back to do the red carpet coverage for the Tribeca Film Festival, I couldn’t accept fast enough. Basically, I had found my true calling and so now I was focused on making it happen, I figured if Cindy Crawford could move from modeling to hosting, why couldn’t a male model do the same? Now with being the “Fashion-Icon-at-Large” for Emerald Chic and my other project, I am on track for fulfilling my dream…I’m going after Mario Lopez’ job on Extra!!!

 

GGG: How do you empower yourself? What keeps you motivated and staying on course to reach your goals? 

PH: Hmmmm…I empower myself by keeping a clear sight of my goals and trying to block out a lot of what I call the “negative chatter”…the negative little comments that people make. People don’t realize how much this can cause a paralysis of sorts. When you start to hear this, you begin to believe it and it can be so destructive.

 

The other most important thing I do is to assess where I am in reaching those goals…everyone has periods where they stray off course, but so long as you have a reference point, coming back is always possible.

 

GGG: Who/what keeps you grounded? 

PH: I would say that I have been very fortunate in having a great network behind me. My family and friends are my most important allies. I always said that those of using the industry are all lucky, we were given great packaging, but it is what is inside that really defines who we are and that is also defined by with whom we choose to surround ourselves. I have seen way too many up and coming models, both male and female get caught up in the hype and glamour. This is a business that caters to your every whim, that actively pursues you for your “packaging”, grants you concessions that others do not enjoy, and offers you entrée to the best WORLDWIDE and if one is not careful, there is a tendency to start to expect it and that’s when you lose your way. I can’t deny that I enjoy some of the perks that come with the job description; however I have never felt a sense of entitlement. I suppose this too, is a credit to my parents. Both sides of my family have been privileged yet despite being exposed to the best of the best from basically infancy, they taught us never to take it for granted. Nor to feel that we were better than anyone else.

 

GGG: How do you embody guts, glamour and grace? 

PH: Well, I suppose I should answer in order. I have always been a gutsy kind of guy. I mean, many people thought I was insane to leave the States and get my Law Degree from England as opposed to the easy route of here in The States…and then upon completing it, move to Milan, Italy to pursue a career in an industry that is notoriously fickle on ethnic models. My Dad once said to me as I complained that I could not do something, “Eradicate that word “Can’t” from your vocabulary, Patrick, there is very little that you cannot find a way to make happen” and he is right!!!

 

In terms of glamour, I have to admit that a lot of it comes from my dad. He is truly one of the best dressed men in the city. Since a small child, my dad always paid attention to detail when it came to GREAT tailoring. Names like Gieves and Hawkes, Turnbull and Asser, Loewe were all part of our vocabulary. Can you tell we spent a LOT of time in London?? I should also say that spending almost every summer of my life in Europe, helped to shape my taste which leans to more subtle, timeless and elegant clothing. Rarely do I pick up on a trend BECAUSE it is a trend, I leave that to the clients that hire me to put me in the “latest” look!

 

Grace is unfortunately a dying attribute. I have to say that for me grace is in the word gracious for a reason and we are fast losing respect for being gracious. If it’s texting away while at a dinner, forgetting to say thank you to those in service, to shoving through crowds without much more than a “move”. I think our instant gratification is now starting to feel entitled to being put first…in EVERYONE’S mind…UNREAL. And don’t ask me about people’s behavior in the nightclubs. People are suffering from the “Jersey Shore-ification” of society…the thought that any sort of conflict MUST result in fisticuffs is ridiculous! I really hope people get back to good manners, altruism, and consideration for others!

 

GGG: What advice can you give to other people on the rise? 

PH: I would say, find what you like to do and get someone to pay you to do it. Once you have done that that is half the battle. Now, even more importantly, once you find that thing, stick to the course, but realize it is an evolving process and there are times when you may want to tweak that thing. I am one of the few models that have no interest in being an actor, however, I have always liked interacting with people, hence promoting, leading to event production, and now I realize that hosting/presenting is my “thing”. Be alert to all opportunities and don’t be afraid to fail. Calculated risks can be a Godsend!

 

GGG: What’s up next? Projects, trips, next big splurge? 

PH: Well, I have already covered the next projects. Emerald Chic is my next project so look out for that and my coverage of Fashion Week. Trip wise, Miami is likely in early March, then Europe later in the spring…London, Germany, Milan…lots of mileage!! As far as my next big splurge, I am thinking of a new digital camera as my trusted CANON is dying, some pieces from the leather crafters at HAUS LEATHER’S new collection…the best leather accessories, and finally some killer jewelry pieces from HIS WORLD COLLECTION by JOE PACETTI. I LOVE really masculine silver jewelry and Mr. Pacetti’s offerings are ALWAYS on point!

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Tags: Person of the Week, Striving for Success