June 30, 2024 • 14 mins
Original Air Date: June 30, 2024
Jean Ives Ghazi has the best job on earth. He not only gets to go to work every day at the iconic Empire State Builring, he’s the President of the ESC, which is offering a whole new experience after a ginormous makeover. You gotta go!
Jean Ives Ghazi has the best job on earth. He not only gets to go to work every day at the iconic Empire State Builring, he’s the President of the ESC, which is offering a whole new experience after a ginormous makeover. You gotta go!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio,conversations about issues that matter. Here's your
host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein. I want to introduce
you to the President of the EmpireState Building Observatory. I mean, imagine
being the president of the observatory ofthe most iconic building in New York City
(00:25):
and one of the most iconic buildingsarguably the most iconic in the world when
it comes to a tourist attraction.Jean Eve Gassie, welcome. My god,
what a job, Shelly, goodmorning, Thanks for having me on
your show this morning. Delighted tobe here, and yes, it is
an incredible job. And I lovethis job every day to really watch ourselves,
(00:51):
watch our visitors, and how weentertain and you know, with a
surprise and delight, a little bitfun everywhere, and really representing the most
iconic building in the world. Ilike to think, so I like to
think, so okay, so yes, go on, go ahead. I
was going to say that, ofcourse, when my kids were little,
I took them to the Empire StateBuilding, and I've taken so many of
(01:15):
my family and friends who have visited. But the experience I had back in
the day is a far cry fromthe experience I just had. I was
so privileged to have watched the eclipsefrom the secret floor, no less of
the Empire State Building, where Iwas terrified but exhilarated at the same time.
(01:40):
But here's the difference. If youhaven't visited the Empire State Building in
a while, you need to goback because remember back in the day,
you would go in and everyone wasin the lobby, and you know they
had to kind of separate the officeworkers and the tourists. Well that's no
longer the case. There is nowa reimagined observatory experience. This is not
(02:07):
just you take the elevator up tothe eighty sixth floor. It's it's an
entire experience where you actually get ahistory lesson. I mean, do you
know that the Empire State Building wasbuilt in under a year? I mean,
think of that. Think of that. But you see you look down
(02:29):
an elevator shaft, which made medizzy. But again, you know,
like, where do you get thatKing Kong is involved? It is just
a tremendous experience. So jeanieve,how did this all come to be?
And I know this opened in twentynineteen, and then came, you know,
the shutdown with COVID, so youknow you sort of couldn't even get
(02:53):
it rolling for a couple of years. So true. So thank you for
mentioning the completely reimagine and the experience. And it really is that. And
when you think of the foundation ofwhere the idea came from, it's visitors
like yourself. Everybody in the worldhas a connection with the Empire State Building.
It represents New York City, Itdefines New York City, It has
(03:14):
defined New York City's client for yearswhen you think about the Empire stibuilding and
of pop culture, same thing.But what the polling has told us,
and our visitors have told us isthey needed more than just a view.
They want to connect with this brandin a unique way. So we embarked
in twenty fourteen on this multi yearproject that is the completely reimagined observatory that
(03:36):
you have just experienced. So you'reabsolutely right. If you haven't visited the
Umpire State Building since twenty nineteen,you do not know the new Empire State
Building period the end. And sothe project itself, now of the experience
itself, which is really incredible,has a dedicated entrance for our visitors,
as you mentioned, separating the tenantsfrom the visitors and creating this credible welcome
(04:00):
to New York City to the impossibuildingin their lobby as they first arrived,
and the experiences now include a museumthat celebrates the impossibuilding over time from the
time and was conceived to your point, you learned about the fact that the
building was built in less than ayear in the total project was basically one
year and forty five days to hisplace to the impop culture, and all
(04:21):
these elements or exhibits within the museumconnect with the audience, and all of
them were actually informed by audience feedbackwhen we tested concepts. We validated these
concepts with our visitors to say,hey, does this really connect with you?
And so we created this incredible experiencethat resulted in us being the number
(04:44):
one attraction in the United States fortwo consecutive years on trip Advisor as reviewed
by visitors. So the key tothis project was listening to our visitors,
understanding their needs, and connecting thememotional connections really solidify the connection that they
had pre arrival with the on siteexperience sort of fueled and cemented the emotional
(05:04):
bond that they have with the EmpireState Building as a result of this museum.
Well, it is just an incredibleexperience. I mean, I can't
wait to bring my grandsons here.You know, I didn't even know about
the reimagined Observatory, and then onceI experienced it, I just thought,
Okay, everyone needs to go backand experience this again, because it's not
(05:30):
your father's or grandfather's Empire State Buildinganymore. So I know that you have
offerings for some unique experiences at theEmpire State Building. The one that comes
to mind is one that's coming upfor proposal, right, So we have
(05:53):
these unique experiences that we basically designfor our visitors, and proposal is one
of them. Also the one that'sone of my favorites. So let's talk
about personal favorites. I think myfavorite it really is the sunrise. So
when you think of New York Cityand you think about unique, low capacity
experiences, this is exclusive to nomore than one hundred guests that have the
(06:15):
entire empress of building observatory to themselves, and you get to witness New York
as it awakens, and it's reallyyou're flooded. Your senses are flooded.
When you think about you know,you're hearing New York awakens, you're seeing
the city awakens, You're seeing theChrist of Building lights turn off as a
sunrise appears over the northeast, andit's just absolutely mesmerizing. So, you
(06:40):
know, located in the heart ofNew York City with a three hundred and
sixty degree unobstructed views outdoor, youreally get to feel New York City as
it awakens. So that's probably oneof my favorite experiences. We have these
private tours all access to it thatallows you to with a personal tour guide
to take you to the unaccessible publicspaces of the Empiretate Building and have you
(07:00):
discovered the magic of the building beyondjust what the exhibits in the museum has
to offer on the second floor.So we're absolutely thrilled with what we've been
able to accomplish there. And ofcourse you also have sunset experiences correct correct,
sunset is just part of our regularprocess of the everyday experience, but
(07:21):
it's truly magical to experience sunset aswell at the Empires Building. And again,
the key what has changed dramatically fromthe time you visit it and most
of your audience has visited. Isthe fact that we have not time ticketing,
so we have a capacity controlled experience, experience where no longer are the
visitors rushing in in the masses,all of them at the same time.
(07:43):
So we control our capacity. Welimit the number of tickets. We further
limit the number of tickets during sunset, which is also a peak period,
to really deliver an exceptional experience toour visitors. I am speaking with the
president of the Empire State Building Observatory, Jean eve Gazy, and you mentioned,
of course one of your favorites ofSunrise Tour. What time does that
(08:05):
actually start? It starts, youknow, while it's still dark, right,
absolutely, so, it starts basicallyabout forty five minutes before sunrise,
and it extends beyond that as longas you wish to stay. And it's
actually coupled with, by the way, a partnership with Starbucks. And we
absolutely love this partnership because our visitorsare able to grab a cup of coffee
and Starbucks Reserve delivers a freshly bakedpastry along with that coffee for all the
(08:31):
visitors that join us for our sunriseexperience. The time varies. Every week
is going to be a little differenttime because there's you know, sunrise varies,
especially with daylight savings. In thewinter time is later in the morning
and the summer is much earlier inthe morning. But when you think about
all the visitors that come to NewYork City and they're up, you know,
particularly the ones coming from overseas,they're up super early in the morning,
have nothing to do there up atthree am. So being here at
(08:52):
four forty five am to witness sunrise, it's an absolute delight for them because
they have the opportunity to take anactivity that was on their bucket list,
as it must do in New YorkCity. You know, I was thinking,
there are so many movies where theEmpire State Building was featured. You
can actually do events that are tiedto movies, right, Is there any
(09:16):
thought about doing that? Absolutely,so thanks for the question, Shelley.
Yes, we feature key movies.You know, when I think of Elf,
for example, during the holidays,who doesn't watch Elf over and over
again. Well, I certainly dowith my grandkids grand kids as well,
and so you know, Elf isa mussy over the holidays, and so
we certainly have movie Nights at theUmpressed Building. So whenever the Empressed Building
(09:41):
was featured in movies and you know, countless movies, comic books, commercials,
when we talk about the movies,we have movie Night of the Empressity
Building where we'll have basically your showingof a movie. And again with limited
crowds. We limit there's probably betweenone hundred and hundred and twenty five guests
at the most to come and viewthe show, have a little snack on
(10:01):
us, and enjoy afterwards the experienceand the best view in New York City.
But I mean King Kong, absolutely, and that's going to be something
in the future and affair to rememberto remember there's so much oblivion. I
mean, yes, absolutely. Thelist goes on is on Steepless in Seattle.
Just you know, we love it. Okay, you're coming up on
(10:24):
a really big anniversary, you know, like you're saying how young we are.
We're ninety three years young, andyes we are approaching that triple digit
number. So what thoughts do youhave with what's going to be happening?
Not too long away, not toolong the way the team is already brainstorming,
(10:46):
So we have an exceptional marketing teamas you may have witnessed from the
post on TikTok, and a socialteam that's incredible. Their activations are really
wonderful, including some of the mostrecent major activations with Star Wars and Disney
and the Lewis Hamilton activation last weekwhich was just an absolute fun. So
(11:09):
we have an incredibly creative team,very well connected to really deliver an exceptional
year round celebration in seven years.And of course I can't really reveal the
secrets, but the team is alreadyon it and we're very blessed to have
such a team. Let me askyou, how did you get this job?
How does one apply to be thepresident of the Empire State Building Observatory.
(11:35):
You have one of the best jobson earth, I think so.
I like to think so as well, and so, yeah, great question.
It was a lot of fun.I was actually approached by a headhunter
about eighteen years ago, and I'veonly had a short tenure here of seventeen
years. I'm in my seventeenth yearnow. And you know, as a
first generation immigrant, it really trulyis an exceptional opportunity to represent the most
(12:00):
iconic experience in the world. Andyou know, went through the interview process
and it was great to land thejob. And you know, I remember
the first time I came to visitthe impressive building many moons ago, when
I brought my family to the topof the Mpiesty building. It was always
that must do, must see,and I have fund memories. This was
in July of two thousand and onewhen I first visited the Mpresta building with
(12:24):
my family, so I flew themin, we went up to see it.
It was sort of the sense ofachievement. It's an aspirational brand and
you know, sense of I didit. I made it to the top.
I made it to the best.So that's how it feels. By
the way, speaking of making itto the top, I did the climb.
One year, I did the entireState Building climb. Yes, one
(12:46):
thousand, five hundred and seventy sixsteps. That's yes, incredible. I
mean it's it's difficult, but again, you know, it's like a once
in a lifetime. Yeah, yougotta do it. Okay, I'm going
to throw you a curveball. Hereis the Empire State Building haunted absolutely not.
What do you mean absolutely not?I mean you look at me like
(13:09):
I have horns or something, becausethere ever been there have been you know
some think of all the untold storiesin the Empire State Building, right,
you could probably do a movie juststarring the building. Okay, we have
about a minute and a half left. What have we not touched on that
(13:31):
you would like our audience to knowabout energy efficiency? Sustainability? Ah?
Yes, key pillar of what wedo at the Empire State Building. Not
only are we ninety three years young, but we are a model of energy
efficiency and so much so that weare able to help influence policies in DC.
(13:52):
And we are you know, whenyou think of a building that was
retrofitted that now saves more than fortyfour percent and saved energy about twenty four
percent of its energy relative to preredo of the Empire State Building, it's
absolutely phenomenal. So we're an iconof energy efficiency and something that very few
(14:13):
actually know. Okay, I justencourage you go back to the Empire State
Building. Yes you've been there,but not the way it is now.
The reimagined observatory experience is something forall ages. You don't want to miss
it. Thank you so much,Jean eve Ghazi. You've been listening to
(14:35):
Sunstein sessions on iHeartRadio. A productionof New York's classic rock Q one O
four point three
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio,conversations about issues that matter. Here's your
host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein. I want to introduce
you to the President of the EmpireState Building Observatory. I mean, imagine
being the president of the observatory ofthe most iconic building in New York City
(00:25):
and one of the most iconic buildingsarguably the most iconic in the world when
it comes to a tourist attraction.Jean Eve Gassie, welcome. My god,
what a job, Shelly, goodmorning, Thanks for having me on
your show this morning. Delighted tobe here, and yes, it is
an incredible job. And I lovethis job every day to really watch ourselves,
(00:51):
watch our visitors, and how weentertain and you know, with a
surprise and delight, a little bitfun everywhere, and really representing the most
iconic building in the world. Ilike to think, so I like to
think, so okay, so yes, go on, go ahead. I
was going to say that, ofcourse, when my kids were little,
I took them to the Empire StateBuilding, and I've taken so many of
(01:15):
my family and friends who have visited. But the experience I had back in
the day is a far cry fromthe experience I just had. I was
so privileged to have watched the eclipsefrom the secret floor, no less of
the Empire State Building, where Iwas terrified but exhilarated at the same time.
(01:40):
But here's the difference. If youhaven't visited the Empire State Building in
a while, you need to goback because remember back in the day,
you would go in and everyone wasin the lobby, and you know they
had to kind of separate the officeworkers and the tourists. Well that's no
longer the case. There is nowa reimagined observatory experience. This is not
(02:07):
just you take the elevator up tothe eighty sixth floor. It's it's an
entire experience where you actually get ahistory lesson. I mean, do you
know that the Empire State Building wasbuilt in under a year? I mean,
think of that. Think of that. But you see you look down
(02:29):
an elevator shaft, which made medizzy. But again, you know,
like, where do you get thatKing Kong is involved? It is just
a tremendous experience. So jeanieve,how did this all come to be?
And I know this opened in twentynineteen, and then came, you know,
the shutdown with COVID, so youknow you sort of couldn't even get
(02:53):
it rolling for a couple of years. So true. So thank you for
mentioning the completely reimagine and the experience. And it really is that. And
when you think of the foundation ofwhere the idea came from, it's visitors
like yourself. Everybody in the worldhas a connection with the Empire State Building.
It represents New York City, Itdefines New York City, It has
(03:14):
defined New York City's client for yearswhen you think about the Empire stibuilding and
of pop culture, same thing.But what the polling has told us,
and our visitors have told us isthey needed more than just a view.
They want to connect with this brandin a unique way. So we embarked
in twenty fourteen on this multi yearproject that is the completely reimagined observatory that
(03:36):
you have just experienced. So you'reabsolutely right. If you haven't visited the
Umpire State Building since twenty nineteen,you do not know the new Empire State
Building period the end. And sothe project itself, now of the experience
itself, which is really incredible,has a dedicated entrance for our visitors,
as you mentioned, separating the tenantsfrom the visitors and creating this credible welcome
(04:00):
to New York City to the impossibuildingin their lobby as they first arrived,
and the experiences now include a museumthat celebrates the impossibuilding over time from the
time and was conceived to your point, you learned about the fact that the
building was built in less than ayear in the total project was basically one
year and forty five days to hisplace to the impop culture, and all
(04:21):
these elements or exhibits within the museumconnect with the audience, and all of
them were actually informed by audience feedbackwhen we tested concepts. We validated these
concepts with our visitors to say,hey, does this really connect with you?
And so we created this incredible experiencethat resulted in us being the number
(04:44):
one attraction in the United States fortwo consecutive years on trip Advisor as reviewed
by visitors. So the key tothis project was listening to our visitors,
understanding their needs, and connecting thememotional connections really solidify the connection that they
had pre arrival with the on siteexperience sort of fueled and cemented the emotional
(05:04):
bond that they have with the EmpireState Building as a result of this museum.
Well, it is just an incredibleexperience. I mean, I can't
wait to bring my grandsons here.You know, I didn't even know about
the reimagined Observatory, and then onceI experienced it, I just thought,
Okay, everyone needs to go backand experience this again, because it's not
(05:30):
your father's or grandfather's Empire State Buildinganymore. So I know that you have
offerings for some unique experiences at theEmpire State Building. The one that comes
to mind is one that's coming upfor proposal, right, So we have
(05:53):
these unique experiences that we basically designfor our visitors, and proposal is one
of them. Also the one that'sone of my favorites. So let's talk
about personal favorites. I think myfavorite it really is the sunrise. So
when you think of New York Cityand you think about unique, low capacity
experiences, this is exclusive to nomore than one hundred guests that have the
(06:15):
entire empress of building observatory to themselves, and you get to witness New York
as it awakens, and it's reallyyou're flooded. Your senses are flooded.
When you think about you know,you're hearing New York awakens, you're seeing
the city awakens, You're seeing theChrist of Building lights turn off as a
sunrise appears over the northeast, andit's just absolutely mesmerizing. So, you
(06:40):
know, located in the heart ofNew York City with a three hundred and
sixty degree unobstructed views outdoor, youreally get to feel New York City as
it awakens. So that's probably oneof my favorite experiences. We have these
private tours all access to it thatallows you to with a personal tour guide
to take you to the unaccessible publicspaces of the Empiretate Building and have you
(07:00):
discovered the magic of the building beyondjust what the exhibits in the museum has
to offer on the second floor.So we're absolutely thrilled with what we've been
able to accomplish there. And ofcourse you also have sunset experiences correct correct,
sunset is just part of our regularprocess of the everyday experience, but
(07:21):
it's truly magical to experience sunset aswell at the Empires Building. And again,
the key what has changed dramatically fromthe time you visit it and most
of your audience has visited. Isthe fact that we have not time ticketing,
so we have a capacity controlled experience, experience where no longer are the
visitors rushing in in the masses,all of them at the same time.
(07:43):
So we control our capacity. Welimit the number of tickets. We further
limit the number of tickets during sunset, which is also a peak period,
to really deliver an exceptional experience toour visitors. I am speaking with the
president of the Empire State Building Observatory, Jean eve Gazy, and you mentioned,
of course one of your favorites ofSunrise Tour. What time does that
(08:05):
actually start? It starts, youknow, while it's still dark, right,
absolutely, so, it starts basicallyabout forty five minutes before sunrise,
and it extends beyond that as longas you wish to stay. And it's
actually coupled with, by the way, a partnership with Starbucks. And we
absolutely love this partnership because our visitorsare able to grab a cup of coffee
and Starbucks Reserve delivers a freshly bakedpastry along with that coffee for all the
(08:31):
visitors that join us for our sunriseexperience. The time varies. Every week
is going to be a little differenttime because there's you know, sunrise varies,
especially with daylight savings. In thewinter time is later in the morning
and the summer is much earlier inthe morning. But when you think about
all the visitors that come to NewYork City and they're up, you know,
particularly the ones coming from overseas,they're up super early in the morning,
have nothing to do there up atthree am. So being here at
(08:52):
four forty five am to witness sunrise, it's an absolute delight for them because
they have the opportunity to take anactivity that was on their bucket list,
as it must do in New YorkCity. You know, I was thinking,
there are so many movies where theEmpire State Building was featured. You
can actually do events that are tiedto movies, right, Is there any
(09:16):
thought about doing that? Absolutely,so thanks for the question, Shelley.
Yes, we feature key movies.You know, when I think of Elf,
for example, during the holidays,who doesn't watch Elf over and over
again. Well, I certainly dowith my grandkids grand kids as well,
and so you know, Elf isa mussy over the holidays, and so
we certainly have movie Nights at theUmpressed Building. So whenever the Empressed Building
(09:41):
was featured in movies and you know, countless movies, comic books, commercials,
when we talk about the movies,we have movie Night of the Empressity
Building where we'll have basically your showingof a movie. And again with limited
crowds. We limit there's probably betweenone hundred and hundred and twenty five guests
at the most to come and viewthe show, have a little snack on
(10:01):
us, and enjoy afterwards the experienceand the best view in New York City.
But I mean King Kong, absolutely, and that's going to be something
in the future and affair to rememberto remember there's so much oblivion. I
mean, yes, absolutely. Thelist goes on is on Steepless in Seattle.
Just you know, we love it. Okay, you're coming up on
(10:24):
a really big anniversary, you know, like you're saying how young we are.
We're ninety three years young, andyes we are approaching that triple digit
number. So what thoughts do youhave with what's going to be happening?
Not too long away, not toolong the way the team is already brainstorming,
(10:46):
So we have an exceptional marketing teamas you may have witnessed from the
post on TikTok, and a socialteam that's incredible. Their activations are really
wonderful, including some of the mostrecent major activations with Star Wars and Disney
and the Lewis Hamilton activation last weekwhich was just an absolute fun. So
(11:09):
we have an incredibly creative team,very well connected to really deliver an exceptional
year round celebration in seven years.And of course I can't really reveal the
secrets, but the team is alreadyon it and we're very blessed to have
such a team. Let me askyou, how did you get this job?
How does one apply to be thepresident of the Empire State Building Observatory.
(11:35):
You have one of the best jobson earth, I think so.
I like to think so as well, and so, yeah, great question.
It was a lot of fun.I was actually approached by a headhunter
about eighteen years ago, and I'veonly had a short tenure here of seventeen
years. I'm in my seventeenth yearnow. And you know, as a
first generation immigrant, it really trulyis an exceptional opportunity to represent the most
(12:00):
iconic experience in the world. Andyou know, went through the interview process
and it was great to land thejob. And you know, I remember
the first time I came to visitthe impressive building many moons ago, when
I brought my family to the topof the Mpiesty building. It was always
that must do, must see,and I have fund memories. This was
in July of two thousand and onewhen I first visited the Mpresta building with
(12:24):
my family, so I flew themin, we went up to see it.
It was sort of the sense ofachievement. It's an aspirational brand and
you know, sense of I didit. I made it to the top.
I made it to the best.So that's how it feels. By
the way, speaking of making itto the top, I did the climb.
One year, I did the entireState Building climb. Yes, one
(12:46):
thousand, five hundred and seventy sixsteps. That's yes, incredible. I
mean it's it's difficult, but again, you know, it's like a once
in a lifetime. Yeah, yougotta do it. Okay, I'm going
to throw you a curveball. Hereis the Empire State Building haunted absolutely not.
What do you mean absolutely not?I mean you look at me like
(13:09):
I have horns or something, becausethere ever been there have been you know
some think of all the untold storiesin the Empire State Building, right,
you could probably do a movie juststarring the building. Okay, we have
about a minute and a half left. What have we not touched on that
(13:31):
you would like our audience to knowabout energy efficiency? Sustainability? Ah?
Yes, key pillar of what wedo at the Empire State Building. Not
only are we ninety three years young, but we are a model of energy
efficiency and so much so that weare able to help influence policies in DC.
(13:52):
And we are you know, whenyou think of a building that was
retrofitted that now saves more than fortyfour percent and saved energy about twenty four
percent of its energy relative to preredo of the Empire State Building, it's
absolutely phenomenal. So we're an iconof energy efficiency and something that very few
(14:13):
actually know. Okay, I justencourage you go back to the Empire State
Building. Yes you've been there,but not the way it is now.
The reimagined observatory experience is something forall ages. You don't want to miss
it. Thank you so much,Jean eve Ghazi. You've been listening to
(14:35):
Sunstein sessions on iHeartRadio. A productionof New York's classic rock Q one O
four point three
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