Nadia Daniel wakes up at 3:30 a.m. to get ready to head to work every day. Brendan Weitzman moonlights after work as a trivia host and is often running on fumes at the end of a week. These two sound like they could use a reboot.
Daniel and Weitzman are the winners this year of the third Geek Style Reboot, a special package presented in partnership with Nordstrom in which two hard-working geeks get a day of pampering at the retailer’s flagship store in downtown Seattle. Daniel and Weitzman were selected from a pool of entrants and will enjoy their relaxing day on Thursday before attending the GeekWire Gala.
GALA FAQ: What to know for our festive holiday party
Our winners will grab lunch, hit the spa, meet with personal stylists and beauty consultants. They will select new head-to-toe outfits, provided by Nordstrom, and get prepped to attend the big Gala party later that evening at the nearby Showbox at the Market.
For the rest of you happy holiday geeks who we plan on seeing at the Gala, Nordstrom will join us on stage to give away $500 gift cards to lucky attendees.
Make sure you have your tickets for the Gala, and learn more about Daniel and Weitzman below.
Nadia Daniel
Daniel has worked for more than five years with the Washington State Patrol as a Homeland Security Division video surveillance specialist.
“Since I can’t talk much about what specifically I do, I basically watch and observe any illegal activity,” Daniel said.
She gets up extra early Monday through Friday — and said she thanks God for another chance in life before her feet even touch the floor. From her Stanwood, Wash., home, it’s an hour drive to work in Seattle.
Daniel manages a 3- to 5-mile run along the waterfront during her lunch break. She also works part time in real estate, and when she’s not meeting with those clients on weekends, she serves as a mentor to teens and women. She encourages them to be positive, show respect and take care of themselves, and she has helped victims of physical and mental abuse get away from troubling situations and start over.
“When I worked in immigration prior to the WSP job, people would bring me flowers just because I cared and wanted to help them in every way,” said Daniel, who is originally from Ukraine. “Because I understood their stress of how to become a citizen and so on.”
Daniel’s daily wardrobe is professional suit and she views Seattle style as jeans and sneakers, a white shirt and a puffy jacked. Her style icons are Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Raquel Welch and First Lady Melania Trump. And her favorite accessory is high heels.
“I don’t think there is anything I don’t like doing,” Daniel said about her pursuits outside of work. “Riding a motorcycle, oil painting, watching European detective shows, cooking … and talking to people.”
Her idea of getting ready for a party such as the Gala would be to go with something “classy” and lean toward a dress and heels, and make sure her curly hair “is in order.” She’s most looking forward to meeting amazing people.
“I don’t go out as much because I don’t have time, so this will be big for me,” Daniel said.
Brendan Weitzman
Weitzman “wears a lot of hats” as the manager of workplace technology for Moss Adams, a public accounting firm in Seattle, where he sets up tools, processes, and strategy to help 3,500 employees across the Western and Central U.S. communicate and collaborate more effectively.
“I love my job, but I work as a team of one so most days it’s painfully solitary and leaves my inner extrovert screaming for attention,” Weitzman said. “To scratch that itch, after work I moonlight as a quizmaster (trivia host) for Geeks Who Drink two-plus nights a week, and when I can spare a weekend I also officiate and MC weddings. These side gigs are essential to keeping my emotional battery charged, but they often leave my physical one running on fumes. Fat, happy, and exhausted is a pretty fair assessment of my general state of being most weeks.”
When it comes to his style, Weitzman lives by a “no boring colors” mantra, even though working for an accounting firm necessitates a slightly conservative work attire. Colorful and/or patterned button down shirts, dark jeans and a shoe and sock game with a splash of personality are standard.
His commute by transit often means 10,000 steps a day getting to and from various gigs and activities, capped off by an uphill slog home from the light rail station at the end of a long day. He nods to a couple Seattle fashion staples: waterproof layers (umbrellas are for tourists) and, as a good child of the “Singles” and Sub Pop era, a comfy flannel for low-key weekend outings.
“I don’t know if I have a fashion icon, but off the cuff … Andy Dwyer-era Chris Pratt?” Weitzman said. “Especially before he got swole for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ he was the guy I looked at and thought ‘if he can make being a chubby guy look good, maybe there’s hope for me yet!'”
As for his favorite accessory, it’s probably the cheapest one Weitzman owns: a pair of blue glasses he got for $7 off Zenni Optical. The frames are consistently the thing he wears that gets the most compliments.
“I feel like I’ve been stuck in neutral on my fashion game for a long time,” Weitzman said in closing his pitch for the Reboot. “Too tired and busy to do much about it, most days I just grab what’s clean and still fits. I still have my go-to outfits for weddings, date nights, and other special occasions, but I could really use some help revitalizing my daily style. Help me, Geek Style Reboot. You’re my only hope!”
Make sure to say hi to our winners at the Gala on Thursday. And watch for a recap of their experience at Nordstrom on GeekWire — look how much fun our winners had in 2017 and in 2018!
And check out the recap video below from last year’s event:
