The Arrival
A jazz singer whose identity we’re keeping under wraps, a calling line, a Presence Check™, and your first introduction to the people sharing this night.
The Pinnacle Prom™ · November 12 · Charlotte
Big hearts.
Big ideas.
One hell of a night.
The Pinnacle Prom™
& the After Prom
Charlotte, we have something to celebrate. The builders. The artists. The people who make the introduction and follow through. Put your phone down, dress with some personality, and come have a very good time with people worth knowing.
November 12, 2026 · The Hamilton · Charlotte
Dinner, cocktails, professional prom photos and dancing included. Tickets $200.
Welcome to The Pinnacle Prom™
Culture. Community.
A little beautiful collision.
You spend enough time working, scrolling, and saying “we should get together.” Here’s the date. Artists and executives. Founders and Charlotte originals. Old friends, first-timers, and guests flying in. Big hearts, big ideas, and big follow-through, together at The Hamilton.
A jazz singer. Dinner and cocktails. Professional prom photos you’ll keep. A crown passed with meaning. A commissioned dress revealed for the first time. Then comes the After Prom: a DJ, a dance floor, and a full party.
Step inside the evening01 The premise
A modern salon.A grown-up prom.A cultural collision.
Come celebrate what happens when good people actually get together.
Business, art, style, and civic influence move through Charlotte in their own circles. On November 12, those circles meet. We’re gathering to celebrate the people who open doors for others, and to create more of those connections across the room.
For one evening, The Hamilton becomes a world inside the Charlotte you think you know. Dinner gives way to ceremony, prom photos, dancing, and just enough beautiful trouble. Phones go down. People stay awhile. Conversation gets the chance to become something.
The Pinnacle Dinner™ began with a table. Sixteen months later, more than $5 million in documented business movement is connected to the broader ecosystem: clients, jobs, partnerships, sponsorships, and speaking opportunities. This is our chance to celebrate the people behind that movement and what we can make happen next.
Come solo, bring a date, gather your favorite people, or arrive ready to meet someone entirely new. The evening begins the moment you decide to enter it.
Culture×Commerce×Connection×Ceremony
The Photo
Come ready to be seen. Professional photography captures you dressed for the occasion. A prom photo worth keeping.
The Table
Intentional seats, a beautiful dinner, and enough structure to make the conversations matter.
The Crown
Marie Kelly, our inaugural Queen of Connection™, returns to crown Dr. Jennifer Adelhardt, our 2026 Queen.
The After Prom
Dinner and the crown give way to the After Prom. Our DJ takes over, the dance floor opens, and the full party begins.
The After Prom
The lights move.
The room changes.
The room changes.
The Pinnacle Prom brings the dinner, connection, and ceremony. The After Prom brings the DJ, dancing, and full-party energy. Make plans to stay.
St. Mark Vintage × ArtPop × The Pinnacle Dinner™
Whatever will he
create for ME!?
Darrell Anderson of St. Mark Vintage made the phone-valet totes our ArtPop dinner guests took home. Then we watched his work walk the runway. Now I’ve commissioned him to create my one-of-a-kind Prom dress. And yes, I’m making you wait to see it.
For our June ArtPop × The Pinnacle Dinner™ collaboration, Darrell created limited-edition Presence Check™ phone-valet totes from repurposed billboard vinyl. In September, we watched that same material take the ArtPop runway in his jacket, trousers, and matching headpiece.
The next chapter · A paid creative commission
Kristi’s dress. Darrell’s imagination.
Kristi has commissioned Darrell to design a one-of-a-kind dress for The Pinnacle Prom™. The finished look makes its debut November 12 at The Hamilton.
This is what we mean when we say the room creates opportunity: an artist’s work gets seen, a relationship grows, and a new commission follows. Darrell’s next creation is part of the evening you’re being invited into.
The designer is revealed. The dress stays a secret.
A little more with every reveal
The night is taking shape.
The designer
Darrell Anderson. A commissioned original. The story begins here.
The making
A closer look at the work behind the dress, without giving away the entrance.
The finishing touches
The people, sounds, and small details making this evening unmistakably Pinnacle.
The reveal
The complete look. The whole room. The part you get to experience in person.
For the first 50 ticket holders
A little piece of the night.
Yours to keep.
The first 50 Pinnacle Prom™ ticket holders receive a limited-edition Presence Check™ collector’s item. The Prom edition is still under wraps. Here’s where the tradition began.
Claim my ticket · $200
A special creation for November 12
Manolo’s making
something for us.
A special Pinnacle Prom edition dessert.
Manolo Betancur, a longtime Pinnacle collaborator and Charlotte favorite, is creating a dessert especially for The Pinnacle Prom™.
He’s already part of the room’s history. On November 12, he brings something new to the table.
Dinner, cocktails, your professional prom photo, and a sweet reason to celebrate.
For first-timers New to the room?
There’s a place
for you here.
Come as you are, dressed as you mean to be seen. The room will meet you there.
The Pinnacle Dinner™ is a Rare Room™ created by executive strategist Kristi Straw. Every seat is intentional. Phones go down, the conversation deepens, and people leave with relationships and opportunities they can trace back to the room.
The Prom is that idea at its most expansive and playful. Founders, executives, artists, operators, advisors, and community builders will share the same evening. Somewhere between the photo and the dance floor, unfamiliar faces become part of the story.
- A beautiful dinner
- Intentional connection
- Professional prom photos
- The Queen of Connection™ ceremony
- A real dance floor
“Belonging begins when a room gives people
a real reason to know one another.”
Kristi Straw, Creator of The Pinnacle Dinner™02 The collaborators
The people making it happen.
The Pinnacle Prom™ is being built by people who understand that the details matter, the guest list matters, and the story should travel farther than one night.
Anchor Presenting Sponsor
Sally Awad
Crown & Prom Photography Partner
Sally represents exceptional homes, and she’s built them, too. She understands structure, finish, and the way a single thoughtful detail can change how an entire place feels. As our Anchor Presenting Sponsor, Sally is making two of the Prom’s defining rituals possible: the professional prom photo every guest takes home and the crown passed from one Queen of Connection™ to the next.
Meet Sally
Community Partner
Faith Hill
The Intuitive Architect · Speakeasy Global Mastermind
Faith is the founder of Bohēma Holistic Beauty and Charlotte chapter captain of Speakeasy Global Mastermind. She and Kristi recently co-created The Founders Soirée, a sold-out Pinnacle Powered™ experience for Faith’s community at a private Charlotte estate. The house filled with ambitious founders, the phones came down, and the evening became intimate, electric, and deeply useful. Faith returns as the Prom’s Community Partner with the same instinct for who belongs together, what a room needs, and how possibility moves when trust has somewhere beautiful to land.
Social Media Partner
Stetson Patton
Socially Stetson
Kristi met Stetson at The Founders Soirée and knew within one conversation that they’d find a way to work together. Three weeks later, Stetson and her boutique agency, Socially Stetson, became the Prom’s Social Media Partner. That movement is part of the room’s larger story: remarkable people are noticed, valuable work is named, and a new connection becomes a real opportunity. Now Stetson’s team is shaping how the Prom’s build, reveals, personality, and best moments travel.
Meet Socially StetsonOur impact moment · Arin’s Good Girl Dog Treats
Take something
good home.
Even your dog gets a little Pinnacle love.
We’re purchasing take-home treats from Arin’s Good Girl Dog Treats for our guests. Arin’s is a social enterprise creating meaningful work, skill-building, and greater independence for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
That choice puts our event spending behind work we believe in. Just as commissioning an artist creates paid creative work, buying from Arin’s supports a business built around opportunity and participation.
A good night out. Something good to take home. More people included in what we’re building.
03 The Queen who started it
Inaugural Queen of Connection™ · 2025
Marie Kelly
She saw the room before it existed.
Marie is a brand marketing leader and fractional Chief Growth Officer with nearly 20 years of experience spanning integrated marketing, experiential design, and high-impact partnerships. Her career includes leadership roles at Grey Advertising and Jack Morton, as well as serving as Head of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships at the Sloomoo Institute.
She has led multi-million-dollar programs for Google, LVMH, NBC, and P&G and shaped experiences at the Oscars, the Cannes Film Festival, SXSW, and CES. Vibrant, exacting, and visionary, Marie sits at the intersection of culture, community, and cause.
She was also the first person to call Kristi a creative. The first to say, “You can do this.” When Kristi began imagining a different kind of gathering, Marie put The Art of Gathering in her hands. A beautiful room mattered most when people left it changed.
Across her work, Marie has used influence to make room for others, from #TimesUp advocacy to elevating conversations around mental health and neurodiversity. At Pinnacle, she notices who should know each other, makes the introduction, and keeps the door open behind her. It’s why she became the inaugural Queen of Connection™.
On November 12, she returns to pass the crown.
The 2026 Queen of Connection™
Dr. Jennifer
Adelhardt
Her presence creates possibility.
The Queen of Connection™ honors the woman who makes the introduction, opens the door, and brings other people with her. A woman whose influence creates belonging and whose relationships make room for someone else.
In 2026, the crown belongs to Dr. Jennifer Adelhardt.
Jennifer is already part of the Pinnacle story. She’s joined us as a VIP speaker and stepped inside BetterStory Studio™. Now she becomes the second woman to carry the Queen of Connection™ crown.
And yes, green is practically her signature. She’s a Leo, just like our inaugural Queen, Marie Kelly. Apparently, the crown has a type.
On November 12, Marie passes the crown to Jennifer at The Hamilton. Two Queens. A growing tradition. One night to be in the room.
Celebrate Jennifer · Claim my seat
04 How we got here
A note from Kristi Straw
I built the room I knew could exist.
I’d spent years watching accomplished people pass within inches of one another, trading cards and credentials while the more interesting conversation waited underneath.
I began with one intentional table. Every seat had a reason. Phones went down. People spoke honestly, made real asks, and stayed long enough to help one another follow through.
Then the room began to move things: clients, jobs, capital, partnerships, sponsorships, speaking invitations, and the kind of trust no algorithm can manufacture. More than $5 million in documented business movement has been connected to the broader Lighthouse ecosystem in 16 months.
The Pinnacle Prom™ grew from that work. It’s our largest, most playful cultural expression yet: a modern high-society salon with a crown, professional photos, dinner, a DJ-led After Prom, and a guest list curated to let Charlotte’s worlds collide.
“I’m a market maker for expertise. I make valuable people easier to understand, place, trust, and buy, and I build the rooms where that recognition can happen.”
Kristi Straw, MBAFounder, Lighthouse Leadership Consultants™ · Creator, The Pinnacle Dinner™ and Rare Room™
05 Why this room
There’s a reason
people come back.
You get time to actually talk. Introductions with a reason behind them. People who listen, contribute, and follow through. The Prom adds room to celebrate, loosen up, dance, and leave with new people to be glad you know.
The Pinnacle Dinner™ earned a 9.8/10 average overall experience rating from 22 respondents. ArtPop ratings above reflect 16 respondents. Across ArtPop and the Founders Soirée, all 71 completed participant records opted into the private relationship directory.
Created and hosted by
Kristi Straw, MBA
Founder of Lighthouse Leadership Consultants™, creator of The Pinnacle Dinner™, and the market maker behind the Rare Room™ methodology.
Scenes from rooms we’ve already made
This world has a history.
Artists, makers, musicians, founders, and Charlotte originals have helped turn Pinnacle rooms into something guests can feel and remember.
The archive also holds Tatiana Berdo’s photography, live music, Lacy Johnson and LM Creative, ArtPop Street Gallery, Charlotte Is Creative, and the people who keep making the room more interesting.
06 The details
Thursday evening
November 12, 2026
The Hamilton
Charlotte, North Carolina
- Ticket release
- 99 tickets for purchase
- Attire
- Black tie optional
- Energy
- Modern maximalism
- Tickets
- $200 · Now available
Dinner included✦Cocktails included✦Professional photo included✦The whole night included
Oxblood. Cream. Midnight blue. Gold. Mirrors. Great glassware. Dress like you already have plans after midnight.
An evening worth being part of.
Your invitation has arrived.
Your dinner is included. Your cocktails are included. Your professional prom photo is included. The crown, the conversation, the ceremony, the dancing, and the whole improbable night are included. All you have to decide is whether you want to be able to say you were there.
The first 50
Claim my seat · $200
Once all 99 tickets are claimed, public ticket sales close.
The first 50 ticket holders receive a limited-edition Presence Check™ collector’s item, with the Prom edition still under wraps.
07 Need to know
Before you ask your prom committee.
Can I come if I’ve never attended a Pinnacle Dinner?
Absolutely. The Prom welcomes people who are new to Kristi, new to The Pinnacle Dinner™, or newly ready for a room like this. You’ll be part of the evening from the moment you arrive.
Do I need a date?
Come solo, with a friend, with a partner, or with the person you want to introduce to Charlotte. Your seat is part of the room either way.
Is this a networking event?
Think dinner party, modern salon, and a DJ-led After Prom in one beautifully considered evening. The room makes space for conversation, ceremony, dinner, dancing, and the relationships that grow between them.
What does black tie optional mean here?
Tuxedo, gown, cocktail dress, velvet suit, dramatic jacket, excellent shoes. Formal is welcome. Personality is expected.
Will this be phone-free?
The Presence Check™ returns so the most important parts of the night can be fully lived. We’ll also make room for the moments and objects you’ll absolutely want photographed.
When do tickets go on sale?
They’re available now. Once all 99 tickets are claimed, public ticket sales close.