CEW Foundation’s 2013 Beauty of Giving Luncheon

The CEW Foundation, philanthropic arm of Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW), hosted its annual Beauty of Giving luncheon, benefiting Cancer and Careers, at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria on December 13, 2013. The foundation is dedicated to empowering and educating people with cancer to thrive in the workplace and to eliminating fear and uncertainty for working people with cancer.

According to Kate Sweeney, executive director, CEW Foundation, who welcomed 600 attendees to the event, “Everyone gathered at this luncheon has something significant in common; that is, we all share a passion for this fabulous organization. You are changing people’s lives when you support Cancer and Careers. Providing workplace support is an idea whose time has come. Because of these caring companies, we are able to celebrate at this annual event.”

Carlotta Jacobson, president, CEW, noted the growth of the foundation since its inception 12 years ago. “It’s amazing that we’ve become the authority on Cancer and Careers. We’ve trained hundreds of oncology nurses, and we’ve partnered with a variety of cancer organizations to get to where we are today,” said Jacobson.

She then introduced the next chairman of the Foundation, Heidi Manheimer, CEO, Shiseido, acknowledging her commitment to Cancer and Careers since it began. Manheimer thanked the sponsors who have helped train the nurses and enabled the research that supports the Foundation. Among them were, Founding Sponsors: Avon Foundation for Women and Genentech, a Member of the Roche Group; Platinum Sponsors: Laura Geller, QVC, and Tweezerman; Gold Sponsors: Chanel, Elizabeth Arden, The Estée Lauder Companies, Laura Mercier, L’Oréal USA, Self, Shiseido; and Silver Sponsors: Allure, Bare Escentuals, Batallure Beauty, LLC, Bath & Body Works, Bloomingdale’s, Johnson & Johnson, Kaplow, Macy’s, Nordstrom, P&G Beauty & Grooming, Sephora and Target.

In addition, she acknowledged the support of the Beauty Editors’ Closet Sale, totaling $73,000 in 2013, with top sales raised by Martha Stewart Living, Martha Stewart Weddings and People Style Watch, as well as the successful Beauty with Benefits contributions, garnered through the QVC and CEW collaboration.

A Tribute to L’Oréal

Jacobson presented this year’s Beauty of Giving honor to L’Oréal USA and Frédéric Rozé, president and CEO, L’Oréal Americas. Rozé, speaking on behalf of L’Oréal, said, “For a company to achieve success they must care about people. Life is short and fragile. Beauty is linked to this fragility, and our industry has to focus on this because we bring beauty to everyone.” Rozé spoke of his pride in being able to support initiatives for Cancer and Careers, saying, “Here in America, you are showing the right example for the rest of the world.”

With that, Sweeney took the podium and introduced the auctioneer for the event’s holiday auction, CK Swett, Heritage Auctioneers, which encouraged a “frenzy of bidding” for a range of indulgent getaways and spa retreats, all benefiting Cancer and Careers. Overall totals for the getaways and the Fund-A-Need auction reached $80,000, CEW’s most successful fund-a-need auction to date. Grand Total Funds raised were $520,125, which included sponsorship and table/ticket sales, as well as the live auction and fund-a-need.

The event sponsors were Self, Robertet, Mary Kay, Orlandi Inc., Publicis Kaplan Thaler, QVC, SAY Media, Tweezerman International, Alden Image, Beauty Inc, Consultancy Media, Kaplow, Suite K and WWD.

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