Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara board president Tracy Jenkins, left, keynote speaker and Beautycounter founder Gregg Renfrew, and Girls Inc. CEO Barbara Ben-Horin at the 18th annual Celebration Luncheon. 
Honoree Marsha Bailey of Women’s Economic Ventures with Girls Inc. members, from left, Quinn, Grace, Nayeli and Karen. 
Rubayi Estes, left, Girls Inc. board member and sponsor Ann Daniel, and Zahra Nahar Moore. 
Sponsor Anne Towbes, left, Susan Tarlow and a guest. 
Sponsor and auctioneer Leo Bunnin, left, with Sean Morreales of Pacific Western Bank. 
The crowd of 400 attendees enjoys lunch and the program in the ballroom of the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. 
Girls Inc. members join keynote speaker Gregg Renfrew on the stage. 
A centerpiece and complimentary water bottles for guests. 
Alex Regan displays some of Beautycounter’s cosmetics in the event foyer.
Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara hosted its 18th annual Celebration Luncheon on Friday at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. This year's event theme was “The Path of Most Resistance: Effecting Change Through Perseverance.”
The theme is a phrase from keynote speaker Gregg Renfrew, founder and CEO of Beautycounter.
Renfrew is an entrepreneur who sold her first company, The Wedding List, to Martha Stewart Living and in 2011 launched the Beautycounter, which is a cosmetics brand known for its clean, safe products. It set a new health and safety standard for the beauty industry. Her push for strong cosmetic safety laws is providing more than 40,000 Beautycounter independent consultants, mostly women, with the opportunity to be business owners and activists.
She is an advocate for more federal regulation to ban dangerous chemicals in cosmetics and other products, lobbying in Washington, D.C., to pass a major federal law updating the laws governing the beauty industry that have stood largely unchanged since 1938.
“The United States has developed 85,000 new chemicals since World War II,” Renfrew said. “Since then, only 11 have been banned! In comparison in the European Union, 1,400 have been banned. There is almost a total lack of regulation.
“The most important gift we can give to girls is the gift of confidence, knowing they already have everything they need to lead very successful lives. As we all know, the world will always be a better place when there are more women in leadership roles.”
As is the Girls Inc. tradition, the event emcee was a Girls Inc. member. This year, Sofia led the program and introduced Girls Inc. speaker Sarahi, a Dos Pueblos High School student. She said her parents divorced when she was in the fifth grade and that initially it had a negative effect on her grades and school.
“I had to be there for my mother and brother,” Sarahi said. “I couldn’t let myself fail. So, I worked to bring my grades up. Each weekday I looked forward to the hours of 2:45 to 6 p.m., when I went to Girls Inc. I called it my happy place, where I could forget about everything. The staff was instrumental in keeping me on track to achieve my dream of going to college.”
The luncheon also honored local entrepreneur and Women’s Economic Ventures founder and CEO Marsha Bailey with the 2019 Strong, Smart, Bold Award. Bailey started WEV in 1991.
“The idea that women’s economic status could be improved by helping them start their own business was both innovative and unproven,” Bailey said. “But 28 years later, WEV has proven that business ownership can provide a viable pathway out of poverty, but that it can also build family wealth and stability and contribute to the economic well-being of our communities.”
Today, WEV serves Santa Barbara and Ventura counties and has more than 30 full- and part-time staff members with an annual budget of $2.5 million. It has helped start or expand more than 4,500 businesses.
“We have a goal of raising $250,000 at this event,” Kristen Weaver, director of communications for Girls Inc., told Noozhawk. “We have $135,000 already raised from sponsorships and donations.”
Top sponsors included Bui and Herb Simon, Women Connect4Good, Ann Daniel, the Nurture Cottage Foundation, the Natalie Orfalea Foundation, Ginni Dreier, Peii Harcourt, Anne Towbes, Wells Fargo, Betsy Manger and many others.
Click here for more information about Girls Inc., or call Weaver at 805.963.4757 x14.
— Noozhawk contributing writer Rochelle Rose can be reached at rrose@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkSociety, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.