Exclusives
Julianne Beffa
Plus 1 Network’s Year End Soirée: Inside LA’s Most Connected Holiday Party
- By: Ani Gutierrez | Photos: Abby Cox
An exclusive evening where actors, founders, and creatives gathered for a celebration built on genuine connection.
There’s been no shortage of holiday parties this season, but only a few have managed to pull the most plugged-in industry professionals into one space. On Wednesday night, Plus 1 Network and Celebrity Packaged Goods did exactly that at the Year End Soirée, where an exclusive crowd of actors, founders, artists, and the power players who orbit them enjoyed a night that blended upscale elegance and holiday spectacle with meaningful connection.
Joivan Wade, actor, founder & CEO of Plus 1 Network, hosted the evening with an unmistakable generosity of spirit, making the expansive Beverly Hills villa feel like a friend’s home rather than a high-powered industry hub.
From the moment I stepped into the villa and onto the red carpet, it was clear this wasn’t just another December mixer. It was thoughtfully curated, crafted, and intentionally designed for founders, creatives, and cultural players who prefer their networking with the kind of stylish ease that makes strangers feel like long-lost collaborators.
The guest list was tight-knit and impeccably curated: CEOs, media pros, entrepreneurs, artists, and the type of multi-hyphenates who seamlessly slip between industries. The room buzzed with familiar faces and industry standouts, including Jackie Aina, Denis Asamoah, actresses Melanie Liburd and Caroline Chikezie, Bel-Air actors Jimmy Akingbola, Adrian Holmes, Justin Cornwell, and Olly Sholotan, as well as Michael B. Jordan’s longtime trainer, Corey Calliet. More than once, I found myself chatting with someone who was a writer, actor, and entrepreneur; a combination that feels almost standard.
Before I could even grab a cocktail, I was immediately handed a card from the signature Plus 1 Card Game: the community’s now-iconic icebreaker designed to turn networking into something fun and effortless. With Ian Henry, Plus 1’s membership manager, helping shape the experience, the game encouraged genuine connection over forced small talk.
The cards had questions on them, ones thoughtful enough to spark conversation without feeling forced, and it honestly worked. By the end of the night, I exchanged five Instagrams, met potential collaborators, and had surprisingly good laughs with people I’d just met. Plus 1 calls the cards “the game that changed networking forever,” and watching conversations flow from corner to corner, that claim felt accurate.
The atmosphere was dressed for the holidays, from charcuterie spreads and perfectly plated hors d’oeuvres lining marble tables, to an open bar shaking signature cocktails well into the night. Under the creative direction of Melissa Williams, Plus 1’s event director and actress, the decor and design elevated every corner of the villa. This was the kind of thoughtful hosting made possible with support from brands like Skio, Replo, Sticky Digital, and Wall of Entertainment, all of whom helped bring the experience to life.
Guests rotated through cocktails like The Lady of the Night, The Missing Piece, The Starterita, The Culture Setter, and Subscribe & Sip, each one as cleverly named as it was delicious. The bar showcased pours from Gran Coramino Tequila by Kevin Hart, The BlackStorm Brand wine, Pop’s Punch, and Avaline Wine by Cameron Diaz. Non-alcoholic sips such as Olipop, Halfday, Bero, and De Soi also made the rounds, offering equally considered options for those skipping the buzz.
The real scene-stealers, though? A towering Santa on stilts dancing through the crowd, a live band keeping the energy high, and a dazzling performer dressed in glowing wings drifting inside a transparent bubble across the pool. The entire evening was an effortless blend of Beverly Hills sophistication and whimsical, high-energy spectacle; the kind of duality Plus 1 and CPG seem to do best. One moment the band was tearing through holiday classics; the next, I spotted Bel-Air’s Justin Cornwell laughing it up while posing with Santa.
The night’s partner, Refunnel, powered the digital connective tissue of the event, helping capture content and curating the experience in a way that made the night feel elevated, yet effortless. Everywhere I turned, someone was snapping a moment worth remembering.
By the time guests were on their second (or third, or fourth) cocktail, Plus 1’s founder, Wade, joined co-hosts Dhruv Patel of CPG and Zohaib Rattu of Refunnel, to gather the room for a speech and a moment of celebration. Together, they raised their glasses to another year of community-building, collaboration, and the kind of intentional spaces that define Plus 1’s mission.
As the evening wound down, guests lingered, swapping contacts, trading ideas, talking partnerships, and laughing like old friends who you’d never guess only just met hours earlier.
That’s what seems to set a Plus 1 x CPG night apart. Designed for genuine exchange, you never know who you’ll meet, but you always walk away with a connection worth celebrating. Festive, intentional, elegant, and buzzing with all the possibility of what’s next, if this soirée was the last big hurrah of 2025, it raised the bar for the year to come.
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Beauty + Fashion
Julianne Beffa
