FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Alison Cross
August 11, 2009
Rooftop Birthday Gala Celebrates Girl’s Self-Esteem & Redefines the Beauty Industry
Project Authentic Beauty Marks One-Year Anniversary 8.20.09 at Whiskey Blue, W Hotel Buckhead
Atlanta, GA—What do you get when you cross two mothers passionate about girls’ self-esteem, an inner-beauty conscious celebrity makeup artist Leo, and the chicest rooftop in the city? All U Need is Love and a Little Lipstick, Authentic Beauty CEO and founder Alyson Hoag’s annual birthday gala, which promises to raise awareness, funds, and champagne glasses for the one-year anniversary of Project Authentic Beauty (PAB). PAB is a non-profit effort, in conjunction with The Chelko Foundation, whose mission is to empower all girls that they are authentically beautiful from the inside out.
On Thursday, August 20, 2009 from 6:30-8:30 PM on the rooftop of Whiskey Blue at the W Hotel in Buckhead, Hoag and PAB co-founder Alison Cross will host a stylish benefit to encourage men and women to take a strong stand for girls’ positive body image that is threatened daily by destructive marketing from the beauty industry. The event includes tasty nibbles by Urban Flats, cash bar, VIP drink the “lipstick-tini”, silent auction, onsite mini-makeovers, special hotel rates, and lipstick sales (100% proceeds to PAB). Tickets start at a suggested donation of $40, however attendance is encouraged for all levels of contribution. Visit www.myimagejourney.com for tickets.
“My greatest hope for PAB is to bring solidarity in our world regarding women and girl’s authentic beauty, where you can feel good and safe exactly as who you are,” says Hoag. PAB was inspired partly by ongoing client stories heard in Hoag’s makeup chair about three-to-five-year olds who tell their mother’s they’re fat. This disturbing trend inspired Hoag to share her special day with womankind. Her clear intention is to encourage a rebirthing of this important tenant: “When a woman knows in her soul that she is beautiful, she can do anything.”
Cross, a licensed mental health counselor and PAB workshop founder, is committed to providing holistic inner beauty curriculum because she finds it unacceptable that 40% of nine-year-olds report themselves dieting. “When I show girls that every magazine image has been altered through graphic design, they are on the edge of their seats, full attention and hanging on my every word,” says Cross. She sees the light bulb go off every time as her students connect how these false images create a warped and unattainable standard of beauty. “This talk resonates with women and girls of all communities, cultures, and religious and socio-economic backgrounds.”
While PAB education encourages healthy body image, it also provides tools for each girl to express her unique beauty and navigate the beauty product aisles. “I love that our work teaches whole beauty and makeup as fun self-expression,” says Cross who is determined to create a social epidemic of authentic beauty. It’s working: girls report self-empowerment that they then pass onto their friends. “I am heartened by 14-yr-olds who say ‘I never felt beautiful before the PAB weekend. I already told my friend who hates her body. Thank you so much.’ These girls walk out with a wake-up call that they’ve been underestimating themselves based on their looks.”
The PAB vision to teach all girls that they are authentically beautiful has been active through these initiatives:
· Workshops to girls 8-18 on inner beauty, self-esteem, nutrition and exercise, and media savvy education
· Prom makeup services to homeless teenagers (Covenant House,
· Makeup services to mothers of chronically ill children (Q-100 Bert's Big Adventure, Disneyworld FL 2009)
· Education presentation to guidance counselors (statewide
· CURE Childhood Cancer gala presentation (September 2008)
For event sponsor and general information, directions, and gala benefit tickets, visit www.myimagejourney.com.