Elevator rides are normally drab; you get in ride up, ride
down, and get off. Sometimes you see someone you know, most times it’s just you
and a bunch of strangers quietly thinking, ear buds activated to favorite music
or a podcast. That’s how it usually is for me day in, day out. Until yesterday
afternoon when my normal lunch time elevator jaunt had a bit of a lift.
An older woman with short dark cropped hair, wearing a
raincoat accented by a red and whitea floral scarf stood across from me, an
animated twenty-something talking about the traffic and the weather stood
nearby. The woman looked familiar and my brain and I couldn’t place her on
first sight. Kaleidoscopically whirling about the inner archive in my mind,
pulling out a snapshot from Casablanca
and a magazine ad from the early ‘80s, and then it came to me. Isabella Rossellini, daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini, famous Lancôme
model, and animal activist. She
was stunningly beautiful, with kind eyes and a settled poise about her. I am
not normally star struck but I found myself gleeful at this chance encounter
and couldn’t help but make eye contact and express my admiration for her
work.
When I returned to my desk I shared my experience with a few
co-workers, one had no idea who Isabella Rossellini was and when I used Bogie
& Bergman as a cultural reference I only received a blank stare. I rang
another colleague who like me knew her and her work and together we reveled in
my chance encounter. Ms. Rossellin who is in New York on a press tour for her
new project Mammas, a series produced
for the Sundance Channel. She was at our offices to promote the project on
HuffPost Live, you can view it here if you like. 
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