For two decades, Adrienne Arieff, founder of San Francisco–based boutique public relations firm, Arieff Communications, has been transforming brands into household names. If you’ve ever taken a drag off a Ploom vaporizer or ordered impossibly charming calling cards from Tiny Prints, or savored a bag of creamy Cocomels by JJ’s Sweets (her client, Accel Foods, a hatchery for boutique food-and-bev enterprises, counts the artisan confectioner as one of its success stories), you can trace the buzz back to Arieff. As game changers are wont to do, the Potrero resident splits her time between SF and New York; such a hectic bicoastal schedule is the reason she often defaults to instantly stylish all-black Isabel Marant dresses. When the 42-year-old isn’t busy putting brands on the map, she can be found taking selfies with her five-year-old twin daughters, Emma and India; browsing Hayes Valley (Rand + Statler is a favorite) or SoHo (Rachel Comey); or putting the finishing touches on her latest book, a manual for impresarios-in-the-making titled Fairy-Tale Success: A Guide to Entrepreneurial Magic (Adams Media), on shelves this month.
Favorite classic SF experience?
Hanging out at the Ferry Building and eating at Slanted Door with my husband Alex Berline.
Favorite SF street to stroll and why?
I LOVE Potrero Hill where I live to walk my dog. The views from 20th and Arkansas are some of the most beautiful in the city to me. I get a great workout as well.
Favorite public artwork in the Bay Area?
“Caruso's Dream” by Brian Goggin and Dorka Keehn at 55 9th Street near Market.
Go-to spot in the Bay Area for a culture fix?
I love the de Young Museum. A little bit of fashion, modern art and traditional all mixed up in one gorgeous building. My friend Jill is the curator and always gives me the catalogs from her exhibitions so I can get my culture fix from that as well.
For families – hands down the Children’s Museum at Yerba Buena – we spend hours their doing music videos and claymation!
Day-off itinerary:
We would start the morning at Plow in Potrero Hill. To digest the morning we would drive to Fort Funston Beach with the dog and twins. Lunch at Slow Club (an old favorite) then Thai massages at Suchada on Bryant.
One word to describe the Bay Area:
Hilly
If you could bring one Bay Area eat to a deserted island to subsist on for the rest of your days, what would it be?
This article was published in 7x7's September 2014 issue. Click here to subscribe.
