Random Thoughts

05/07/08

Leave it to Nancy Davis to once again pull off an incredible heart felt purpose driven star studded evening for her annual “Race to Erase MS” event. The red carpet was as usual populated by some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities and brightest philanthropic stars. Nancy understands Hollywood and knows how to gather up support to create change. That’s what she’s done with her “Center without Walls” effort, bringing together the best doctors in the world to tackle neurological diseases specifically Multiple Scleroses. Even though Nancy has been battling MS for years, she is resilient and hosted a stunning Tommy Hilfiger fashion show with many celebrity models including Cheryl Ladd who was a real crowd favorite. I was excited to see the dancers from “Dancing with the Stars” kick off a night which was headlined by the REAL Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons on the eve of his 79th birthday. He was incredible. The night raised a lot of money, raised social consciousness and once again proved that my friend Nancy Davis knows how to put the “fun” in fundraising.

Orange was the color of this year's event, so Nancy and the "Race to Erase" team provided orange leather bands so that all of us could signify our support for the event.

04/30/08

We can hardly believe this is our 5th annual Magic of memories event at the fabulous Islands Hotel in Newport Beach. Clearly for the weekend of April 26th, Newport was a more beautiful place being populated by all the soulful spirits of the Paul Mitchell Schools.

Every year we are humbled, awed and amazed by the Paul Mitchell future professionals and school owners, but this year was incredible. The team raised a crazy amount of money to benefit four charities, the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, Food 4 Africa, the Andrew Gomez Dream Foundation and the Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation. All of us at the Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation are deeply grateful because we use the money to fund our signature program Leeza’s Place. It is in fact because of this annual event, that we have been able to open our Leeza’s Place doors in so many locations across the nation and serve hundreds of thousands of caregivers in need. We went from one location during the first year of Magic of Memories and a handful of caregivers to now hundreds of thousands. And it’s because of the efforts of the Paul Mitchell Schools.

Where do we begin with our thank you’s? Let’s start with the amazing and talented Winn Claybaugh. Winn we just adore you. If you weren’t lucky enough to be at the dinner where Winn made his singing debut, we’ve posted it for you here on my website under “Blog – My Video Blog”. I sort of “persuaded” Winn to sing with Larry King’s wife Shawn King. I knew Winn would kill me because of the ambush, except for the fact that we used the opportunity to generate about $15,000 in funding. Winn, after hearing you sing “Smile” with Shawn, it was worth more than that. Our auctioneer for the evening, Alfie Silva, suggested that Winn singing become an annual event and I’m all for it!

JP Dejoria, one of the brightest lights on the planet, thank you for your leadership, your vision, your inspiration, your friendship and for this amazing opportunity. I always look forward to seeing the school owners, the team leaders and the future professionals all year long, but especially at Magic of Memories. It really is magical that you are honoring your mission to change the world and I couldn’t be more proud to have a small part in that.

A highlight for me came near the end of the night when Milwaukee’s Lori Paul had an emotional moment to share her success with getting a $30,000 grant to open a Leeza’s Place in her community. Lori reminded the audience of what JP often says, “We are affecting the lives of many people whom we will never meet.” Lori, those unnamed souls are forever grateful.