Wellness Trends: Mocktails, Cold Plunges & Red Light Therapy
Wellness is showing up everywhere - from luxury events and hospitality to mocktails, cold plunges, red light therapy, and even automotive brand activations. In this episode of The Well Known Podcast, Shannon sits down with Vanessa Gordon, founder of East End Taste, to talk about how wellness has changed the way people gather and what guests are actually looking for now. Vanessa shares why genuine connection matters more than traditional networking, where she would invest a wellness-event budget, and why she believes the next big shift may be much simpler: less stimulation and more meaningful time together.
What You’ll Learn
Why meaningful connection is replacing traditional networking at events.
Which wellness activations are getting attention right now, including cold plunges, red light therapy, IV drips, and B12 shots.
How mocktails and more inclusive food-and-beverage options are reshaping hospitality.
Where Vanessa would put the budget if an event can invest in only one wellness element.
Why the future of wellness may move toward simplicity, presence, and less overstimulation.
If this conversation gave you a new way to think about wellness, events, or connection, like this episode, subscribe to The Well Known Podcast, and share it with someone who cares about wellness worth knowing.
Vanessa Gordon
CEO and Founder - East End Taste
Vanessa Gordon is a Hamptons-based event planner & producer, publisher, and on-air expert specializing in culinary travel, luxury hospitality, and coastal destinations.
She is the CEO and Founder of East End Taste, a culinary travel and lifestyle publication and full-service event planning, production, and staffing company. Through East End Taste, Vanessa works at the intersection of media, hospitality, experiential events, and brand storytelling, creating distinctive experiences in the Hamptons and destinations around the world. She primarily serves ultra-high-net-worth private clients and top-tier brands across the travel, beauty, lifestyle, culinary, and technology sectors.
In 2018, Vanessa founded the Hamptons Interactive Brunch, an annual experiential event that brings together leading brands, notable guests, media personalities, and tastemakers. She also advises hospitality and lifestyle brands on event production, public relations, brand positioning, and audience engagement.
Vanessa’s commentary, reporting, and personal insights have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, BBC Travel, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, Success, Parents, and Psychology Today. Her areas of expertise include culinary and sustainable travel, luxury hospitality, entrepreneurship, parenting, and life in the Hamptons.
She holds a Master of Arts from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and has studied at the University of Oxford.
Vanessa is based full-time in the Hamptons, where she continues to develop East End Taste, produce luxury experiences, and share an informed perspective on travel, food, hospitality, and modern coastal living.
Chapters
00:00 Why the wellness bubble may be ready to shift
00:18 Meet Vanessa Gordon of East End Taste
00:56 How East End Taste grew from media into events
02:16 Why wellness became part of Vanessa’s events
02:50 What people really want from gatherings now
03:28 Are wellness activations a trend or a real demand?
04:34 How mocktails changed the event landscape
05:55 More inclusive menus and wellness-minded options
06:17 Bringing wellness into Porsche and Audi events
07:38 Where to spend the wellness budget
08:43 Vanessa’s definition of wellness
09:24 Why “less is more” may be the next wellness shift
10:16 Technology, overstimulation, and the need for connection
11:09 Where to find Vanessa and East End Taste
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The Well Known Podcast provides educational and informational content only and does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Views expressed by guests are their own. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional regarding medical concerns.
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