For 2 days we were set up in a big room which is known as a lounge inside the Superdome. To the lounge left of us was Urban Zen, Donna Karan's foundation www.urbanzen.org. You could hear their soothing music and smell the essential oils through the curtain. They had around 100 massage therapists and every now and again there was a yoga class. They were offering all kinds of yummy smoothies and herbal tea which someone would bring to us on occasion. At one point during the day on Saturday I saw Rodney Yee, who if you don't know, is an amazing yogi.
The only people who could access these suites were the women of the Gulf South, volunteers and the press. We soon discovered that women were bussed in from around the region. We listened to their stories. One woman would have not been affected at all by Katrina and another, who lived a block over, lost EVERYTHING. The bottom line was that not one of these women we had the privlege to work on , hadn't had their lives ripped apart regardless of whether or not they personally lost their home. When you looked in their eyes you saw, YOU FELT the sadness....and then the gratitude they felt for the moment...for someone caring for them, for being alive. The perserverance of the huamn spirit was being exhibited right in front of us.
There were plenty of stories of disaster. Too many to account for. One woman in my chair lost her brother, her grandmother, all of her possesions and was displaced in 3 or 4 states before coming home. Another woman sat with her mother on a roof waiting to be rescued and as they were being airlifted to safety her mother had a stroke. She then sat in the Superdome where there were bodies....As she told this story she allowed herself to be healed.
To be able to care for these women and give to them the best that we were was an unbelievable gift to us. It might have been to the women who left feeling and looking beautiful but for me personally I will never be the same. Some of these women cried in our chairs when they looked in the mirror recognizing their own beauty. We handed out the affirmation cards with messages written from a lot of you who are reading this...more tears....They were like reading fortunes from a fortune cookie. Your message might as well have been handed to you directly from God. Everone's message was EXACTLY what they needed to hear. You could hear the "Oh Lord!" when someone read their message.
We worked on a new woman approximately every 15 minutes. The Authentic Beauty team was joined by Magnet LA which is an agency which represents many celebrity makeup artists including Jeanine Lobell. Jeanine was the founder of Stila cosmetics and her work has inspired me throughout the years. She has worked on many, many celebrities including Natalie Portman. There were a total of about 17 artists and we saw approximately 2000 women in 2 days!!!!
At one point Mary Jane handed affirmation cards to all the women waiting to be seen by the hairdressers and in unison they read them out loud. Carol Batey, one of our artists extraordinaire was teaching some women who were made over how to walk the Catwalk....We were all cheering!
These moments I will hang onto for the rest of my life. The team of artists that accompanied me were extradordinary in their ability to care for and nurture all around them. As a result of this experience I will be forming a non-profit division of Authentic Beauty where we can do this everywhere/anywhere for women who need to be nurtured, healed and returned to their own sense of beauty.
On Friday evening Celeste and I were asked to take care of the cast of Swimming Upstream and later attend the reception for the Atlantans at Lyon and Lyon Art Gallery where Gail Foster had her showing of her portraits of "Vagina Warriors"read more.
On Saturday night for the sold out performance of the Vagina Monolgues I was asked to take care of Jennifer Hudson. We later were invited to attend the after party at the W Hotel with many of the celebrities. We partied until the wee hours...read more....
