Kenny G opened a gathering with a saxophone serenade. Paula Abdul judged an American Idol-style expertise contest. Hamilton solid members carried out. Lance Bass was there, hanging out. And when Robert Van Winkle, higher generally known as Vanilla Ice, sang his 1990 hit “Ice Ice Child,” flanked by 10-foot sparklers, he pulled the Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath onstage.
This was Cameopalooza 2021, an organization retreat celebrating the meteoric rise of Cameo, an app and web site the place common individuals might purchase customized movies from minor celebrities for as little as $1. Attendees feasted on seafood towers and fondue fountains at an upscale restaurant on the Chicago waterfront and partied into the night time at a Hilton penthouse suite, the place Jack Harlow, a TikTok-famous rapper, carried out a non-public present.
300 Cameo staff danced, took movies and basked of their success to be part of the Cameo “Fameo” — the corporate’s nickname for its staff and group of celebrities. They have been on a rocket ship powered by D-list celebrities and pandemic loneliness.
The corporate was making ready to broaden in each course: crypto artwork, dwell occasions, merchandise, worldwide; its co-founder and chief govt, Steven Galanis, now 35, was skilled at straddling the road between enterprise and pleasure. A former collegiate occasion promoter, he shared the approach to life of Cameo’s celeb expertise, jet setting between events, sporting occasions and luxurious properties in Miami, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Cameo had simply raised $100 million on the audacious ambition to pioneer the “connection economic system,” touchdown a $1 billion “unicorn” valuation only a few years into its existence.
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