Charity, Fashion and Beauty

Last week I had the pleasure of attending former top-model Patricia Valezquez’s annual fundraising benefit for her Wayuu Taya Foundation. It was truly an eye opening and riveting event.

Donna Karan and Iman

Alessandra and Andres Balazs

There were perhaps 150 of New York’s most influential people (excluding myself) in this beautiful room at the Bowery Hotel. Guest included Rosie O’Donnell, Andres Balazs, Russell Simmons, Donna Karan, Iman, Katie Ford, Anderson Cooper and so on, and so on…

Portia Coleman and Russell Simmons

For a brief moment, I sat there and wondered “What’s the collective average worth of the folks in this room?” I also thought to myself these people could perhaps rebuild the entire continent of South America if they truly focused their power, energy and wealth… But who am I to tell people how to focus…

The stunning Patricia Valesquez

Anyway, the event was extraordinary and quite remarkable. Patricia Valesquez is still perhaps one of the most stunning women on the planet. I also love the fact that she is an openly gay woman that lives her life to its fullest potential.

Kathy Eldon and Anderson Cooper

There were many speeches from some of the aforementioned taste and decision makers but the one speech that left me mesmerized and energized was the one given by Ms. Rosie O’Donnell… I have long been a fan of Rosie every since she worked with Madonna in “A League of their Own”. What an inspiring and amazing woman Rosie has become? She continues to grow even to this day as an enlightened being. Rosie was at the event not only to show her continued support for Patricia’s foundation but also to present a special award to Kathy Eldon, the mother of slain Reuters’ photo journalist Dan Eldon. Rosie’s speech was so passionate and heartfelt. In her speech however she said one thing that stuck out in my mind, “Kathy Eldon helped me to release my anger.” Now this might not sound profound to most of you but for someone like me that recently had to go through a very similar exercise this small string of words spoke volumes. But that is a story for another post…

The Candela/Decker Gallery

Over the weekend it seems that I would be haunted not only by Rosie’s speech but by the son of Kathy Eldon, the late Dan Eldon. While walking down my favorite street in my new neighborhood I stumbled on this small gallery Candela/Decker located at 31 Crosby Street. The gallery is covered in photos and paintings of indigenous people from all over the world. It turns out the owners Lisa Candela and David Decker were both at Patricia’s event earlier during the week had also been responsible for Kathy Eldon’s appearance. This gallery is the exclusive distributors of Dan Eldon’s work (photos, paintings, etc.). I also learned that Rosie, Oprah and Madonna are also huge fans of Dan Eldon’s work as well as major supporters of his mother charitable efforts. My serendipitous trip to the gallery resulted in my buying an amazing book compiled of Dan Eldon’s journals entitled “The Journey is the Destination” and a promise to find a way to work with the gallery’s owners on an upcoming project for Designers for Darfur.

The late Dan Eldon killed at the age of 22

After a long week of funerals, political triumphs, artistic and altruistic discovery, my commitment for staying the course grew stronger and much more focused. I guess if I could wish for anything for the people of the world it would be we all could find that thing, passion or work for which we would be willing to give our life to pursue.