Brazil 7
Jack Ezon and the various Embark teams like to be different. Everyone these day has after parties. Embark Immersion Rio 2026 therefore warmed up, as if for the Shakira blow-out on Copacabana Beach last night, with a before party, in the form of cocktails for the participating Immersion advisors on the Carnaval terrace at Belmond’s legendary Copacabana Palace, The Copa.
The beach was already being turned into a mega event space for last night’s one-night stand of the 49-year old Colombian entertainer, who travelled to the stage via a specially built Corona-labelled bridge across from the Copa – see the photo above, taken by Copa GM Ulisses Marreiros in his hotel’s Pérgula restaurant. The concert, paid for by the city as part of its Everyone in Rio campaign, attracted over two million free enthusiasts from far and wide – below, Marreiros, on left, and Belmond colleague Laurent Carrasset, who flew in from Lima. In 2024, incidentally, Everyone in Rio starred Madonna (1.6 million audience) and in 2025 Lady Gaga starred (two million).
But this series of Girlahead is about that other mega happening, Embark Immersion Rio. On Monday the event-proper started, and it would not have happened without major support of Accor. The host hotel was Fairmont Copacabana Beach, and Accor company Paris Society did the music for the evenings. There was also, to come, a Sofitel beach party.
Somehow the Fairmont managed to seat over 400 at the sixth floor poolside welcome dinner on the Monday. Oh, the hoteliers … an alphabet of A-listers, kicking off with Nikheel Advani from Turks & Caicos, Vincent Billiard from Paris and Marie-Berengere Chapoton from Sao Paulo. Everyone seemed to have such a good time (on his final departure, on the Thursday, Gerald Krischek said ‘it’s been amazing, incredible’). But there was, come Tuesday, serious work to do, to justify the jollifications….
