• by Kelly Samardak , March 27, 2009

When I got the invitation from AMP3PR to attend "An Evening of Reinvention - from Hair to Toe & From the Inside Out" a couple of weeks ago, I said yes because Alyson Campbell, Partner/Publicist at AMP3, is good people and because it looked like a night of much needed positivity. When I saw that BettyConfidential.com (like your best friend -- only better), an online magazine focusing on lady stuff (my favorite -- the image of a young woman, looking perplexed, with the blurb "He won't let me see his apartment") was involved, I knew I had that little "online" piece for this post. Little did I know, the night at Saks was going to be a lot more than "you're pretty inside" empowerment speak -- it was going to educate me and slap me in the face at the same time.

The rain had surprised me and once the wind inverted my umbrella twice, I abandoned it and accepted that I'd be hitting Saks Fifth Avenue with a wet head. I never go to Saks. Ever. But smelling all that commerce and hearing the credit card machines ree-ee-eeting as they printed receipts made me long for the days when I'd drop half a paycheck (my Friendly's paycheck) in the Danbury Fair Mall. Gail Hilton, Director of Marketing and Sales at Qwikker, and I approached the elevator, narrowly escaping the pushy perfume gal bellowing "please just let me show you this one thing, girls!" as we passed. The doors opened into a brightly lit, perfectly clean, glittering cave of shoe heaven. Towards the back -- at the SFA Café -- the low thrum of women's voices and the tinkling of wine glasses echoed over the Stuart Weitzman stilettos.

The bar in the SFA Café was lined with makeup (for free consultation and makeovers) on one end, with plates of bread and cheese lining the other. The wait staff floated through the early crowd with trays of beverages, passing by the BettyConfidential table covered in pink "ask the experts" sheets. Guests could anonymously ask those burning questions keeping them up at night. The only burning I felt was the moisturizer I rubbed into my eyeball, so I moved about the room, snapping pictures of the VERY diverse mix of ages and ethnicities. The only homogeneity I dig is in milk. I immediately spotted Elline Surianello, Founder and CEO of Le Metric Hair Center, Inc. wearing bejeweled pin-up-gal glasses. She radiates warmth and gave me a much-needed side hug. When she addressed the crowd later, her energy commanded attention and her unabashed honesty about her life and her mission to help was inspiring. She's mastered the art of taking struggle and pushing it into opportunity.

Elline yanks the door open on the taboo: a balding man is not a jarring image. But women actually lose a classification: "the blond" or "the brunette" doesn't apply when you're dealing with hair loss due to illness, drastic weight loss, stress, genetics, or -- and this is something I did not consider at all -- abuse. So now, not only are such women trying to make it through every day, they've got this external impression to deal with. Imagine having hunks of your hair ripped from your scalp and then trying to function as a "normal" person in society with patches missing from your head. There are great organizations like BeautyCares, led by big-hearted founder Aryn Quinn, that focus specifically on giving self-esteem back to abused women in the form of hair replacement, massage therapy, and more.

Listening to the effervescent Elline reveal personal pieces of herself were Felicia Sullivan, writer, blogger, and fashiononista; the fedora-sporting Malorie Kaye of Cameo Pr; Nichelle Stephens, multi blogger; celebrity blogger Tia Walker; Erica Peltz, physical therapist to NYC's sprained and strained; Erica Amster, wine aficionado; Amanda Keylor, Research Project Manager; and Oriana DiNella, Creative Assistant and Fashion Stylist for NOLCHA.  The LeMetric entourage occupied a big table at the back and they were Cal (lastname unknown!); Loredana Cerilli, lead stylist at the Toronto-based LeMetric affiliate, John Paul aka "JP", Lydia; Jasmine; and Ana. Girls, if you're reading this and you want to share your last names, send me a note and I'll add them! It's got to be hard to follow someone as vibrant as Elline. 

When Dr. Valerie White took the floor and worked the  "love yourself and others will love you" angle, I took the opportunity to see what the hubbub was at the cheese counter at the front of the room. Hanging out by the cheese I found the super-tall and equally friendly Ji Cha -- one of chefs on the TV show "Hell's Kitchen." She left the show due to an injury and now that she's repaired, she's weighing the options of returning, or concentrating on her own thing. That show makes me feel verbally abused when I watch, so I recommended the healthier alternative.

While meandering around, I had that "I know you ... don't I?" moment with a gal relaxing on one of the café's booths. She was Amy Kelly, Marketing Manager at Kinetic. Amy was there with some of her old college roommates. One of her friends whisper-shouted, "Anna Wintour is here!" If Anna Wintour REALLY was in attendance, my Forever 21 frock wasn't going to make the cut. I sidled up to the blond bob and she smiled at me warmly. Well, that's not Anna Wintour.

The final speaker was Lois Joy Johnson, Beauty & Style Editor of BettyConfidential.com, who admitted that her time was wearing the shallow jersey - focusing wholly on appearances. Lois brought up Anna Wintour's doppelganger, who was actually the make-up artist Sandy Linter. Elline took the mic back to close out the night, ripping off her wig to soak the audience with her courage. "Come on! You know I can't walk through SAKS like this!" After revealing raw stories and emotions, she opened the floor up for questions. And this is what she got: "What perfume should I wear to transition from winter to spring?" Really? We instantly went from the deep end to the shallow end at Phelps speed.

Last night was one of those "wake up and smell your own garbage" moments for me. I can either take my garbage out and get to smelling the good stuff again, or I can wallow around in it like Tempelton The Rat and never see the flowers over the discarded Brussels sprouts.

Oh, and as a side note - even with the 15% off offered as part of the party for afterhours shopping at Saks, I was a good 900 bucks short.*edited at 5:02p.m* I forgot to mention our fabulous Saks personal shopper, Lauren Gregory who patiently trundled us all over Saks, pointing out fabulous clothes and shoes and bags.  And none of us bought a thing.  

Celebrating good stuff? Send invitations to kelly@mediapost.com !

Lots of stuff to see in the Flickr photo set!