Financial Women of San Francisco – 60th Anniversary Celebration Fashion Show
August 11, 2016 – Bloomingdale’s
By Kathy Wheadon
Amidst a backdrop of designer clothing at the Westfield Center in San Francisco, the Financial Women of San Francisco, hosted by Bloomingdale’s, celebrated its 60th anniversary in style with a fashion show highlighting the changes in fashion in the 60 years since the FWSF’s creation. More than 100 FWSF members and friends gathered for the spectacular event to enjoy food, wine, networking, a fashion show and live auction.
The fashion show was enthusiastically emceed by Jake Wall, a Project Runway designer, who provided finance facts for each decade and described the clothing being modeled. Models included past scholarship winners Shelby Duncan, Aliaksandra Tsiatsera, and Nkeiruka Medani as well as FWSF’s President, Darcy Illg. Factoids about the decades noted the slow growth of the wage gap between men and women – growing from 63 cents to only 77 cents in 60 years. To put things in perspective, while the S&P has soared by 4,394% in those 60 years, the gender wage gap has only narrowed by 25%!
Following the Fashion Show, a live auction was held, that was indeed ‘live’ly! The bidding was very animated, especially for highly sought after items like a Sonoma weekend getaway and private dinner party for 10. The auction was called by Frank Bizzarro and also included a personalized shopping experience, fine art, coffee with past FWSF Financial Women of the Year, to name just a few. A paddle raise closed the evening. Thanks to the generosity of those who attended, over $35,000 was raised for the FWSF Endowment Fund.
Our generous sponsor, Bloomingdale’s, donated 10% of shopping receipts collected throughout the day. Thanks to the many wonderful volunteers, Bethann Londynsky, Samantha Londynsky, Carrie Whisler, Tracy Teale, Tracy Marlowe, Katie D’Angelo, Melissa Kennedy, Sandra Camacho, Kathleen Nielsen, Colleen Lingane, Anne Evers, Anne Chambers, Lori McKenzie, Katherine Pavicic, Kathy Wheadon, Kimberly Jones and Aliaksandra Tsiatsera, who worked the five floors of Bloomingdale’s befriending shoppers and Bloomie’s associates to collect receipts.
The FWSF Endowment Fund was established in 2009 to create a sustainable source of funding for FWSF’s Scholarship Program. Over the last 30 years, FWSF has provided over $2,000,000 in scholarships to more than 200 young women studying in undergraduate and graduate finance-related programs. Funds raised for the FWSF Endowment will create a lasting legacy for the Scholarship Program.
This hugely successful event could not have been accomplished without the assistance of many, including Simone Tracy and Kiana Kuns of Bloomingdale’s, FWSF members and crew Kathleen Nielsen and Caryl Fass, who managed registration and checkout, not to mention the fearless leaders of the FWSF Endowment Committee, Kristen Lehman and Stephanie Hyde, with support from the entire Committee of Leanne Karns, Michele Alberda, Tracy Teale, Lori McKenzie and Kathy Wheadon.
