Urbmob

A True Baller

posted Tuesday, May 20, 2008

For the last six weeks I have been on the road living the UrbMob life. New York, LA, DC, Atlanta, Tokyo. At last, a chance to unwind back home in Vancouver. I had the pleasure of dining at Lumiere last night with my wife and my good friend Raj Taneja and his wife Mona. Lumiere is a story about how you can start from nothing and become a true baller, if you work hard and maximize your opportunities. Lumiere was once called the finest restaurant in Canada by no less than Charlie Trotter himself. Started by a local celebrity chef, it has become a local institution. Owner David Sidoo’s story is the UrbMob story. David is Indo-Canadian. Growing up as one of the few Indian kids in a predominately white, working class city he endured a lot of racism. The sh*t he dealt with only made him stronger. He became a professional football player in Canada and then once his career in the Canadian Football League began to wind down, he became a stock broker and later an investment banker. Starting from nothing, he leveraged his celebrity as a football player into a lot of money making opportunities. A few years ago he had a chance to take over Lumiere, the restaurant in Vancouver where all the politicians, celebrities and local businessmen dine. He started from nothing to own the establishment. He is a boss now. David’s story is the UrbMob story. Upload. Get Famous. Get Paid. Take your fame and fortune and turn it into Lumiere. We met David through my friend Raj Taneja. Raj writes an influential blog called Urban Mixer that covers the good life here in Western Canada. Raj is an influential local guy that can help make or break a restaurant, club or event. In every town there is a Raj. He is the guy that can help build your local profile – every artist needs to win his hometown first. Once you have a strong local and then regional following you work to expand your national profile. But you’ve got to take care of business at home first. Guys like Raj help to do this.