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L'OREAL Women of Worth Awards 2011

Last week I was a Red Carpet Correspondent at the L’Oreal Women of Worth Awards 2011 at the Hearst Towers in NYC. I swear, if all the women who attended the award ceremony were placed in the White House, we could take over the country, solve world hunger, bring world peace, and still look great while doing it. This year more than 2,100 applications were reviewed and narrowed down to only 10 honorees. Each of the 10 honorees received 10,000 dollars towards their organization and the winner received an additional 25,000 dollars. To become an honoree you have to be affiliated with an organization, volunteer, be an outstanding achiever, and be an active go getter in making a difference within the community. Many honorees strive to empower women, mentor children, and help survivors to live a better life.

Honoree Ann Brownell founded, The Amanda Network, after her daughter, Amanda at 16 years old, tried to take her life in a bathroom at her High School due to the sexual and cyber bullying. Cyber bullying, and bullying, has become such a problem today. To all the bullies out there…you need to realize that your actions can have serious consequences, people have feelings, and at 16 years old no one should ever be so distraught that they are contemplating taking their own life.

Honoree Susan Munsey created, GenerateHope, which provides a uniquely designed long-term recovery program for young women who have been trafficked, prostituted, or otherwise sexually exploited. The GenerateHope program provides dedicated housing and recovery, including continued education, job training, life-skills training, individual and group therapy. The United Nations estimates that 700,000 to 4 million women and children are trafficked around the world for purposes of forced prostitution, labor and other forms of exploitation every year. Trafficking is estimated to be a $7 billion dollar annual business.

To pay tribute to the incredible women recognized for the evening celebrities- Andie Mac Dowell, Gayle King, Katie Cassidy, Aimee Mullins, and Julianna Margulies graced the red carpet where I was able to interview them before the awards began! It was so fantastic to see such high profile women come out to support each honoree and their cause!

Events like L’Oreal’s Women of Worth Awards are so uplifting and inspiring. It is refreshing to know that there are people who are really trying to create change. In today’s world we tend to focus more on the bad and overlook the good. We give negative press more attention and don’t highlight the positive. I was so honored to attend the awards for the second year in a row and hope to be back again next year. Congratulations to this years winner Gretchen Witt who cofounded Cookies for Kid’s Cancer, which is an organization at the heart of a movement to fund new less toxic cancer therapies developed specifically for children. You go girl!!!!

 

For more information on all the honorees and the L’Oreal Women of Worth Awards visit: www.womenofworth.com

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