Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 22, 2010
Realtors get a chance to let their hair down
Erica Tuggle
For the annual fashion show, the Women’s Council of Realtors got fancy. In the surrounding luxury of the Doubletree Downtown hotel, the women feasted, laughed and previewed some of the hot new fashions for fall that are sure to impress and attract clients.
The room was decked out in a fashion of its own, too. Low, colored mood lighting framed the large flat screen televisions all around the room that were providing images of ’80s music videos. With bowls and vases of floating roses on the tables and a catwalk spotlighted in the middle of the room, everyone was ready to “make it work,” leave the busy and stressful world of clients and closings for a while and bask in the light of fashion.
What’s more is that this event was all for a great cause: The Chattanooga Room in the Inn. Development coordinator Victoria Galen took the mike before the event to thank the WCR for their support and the funds that were being raised through the event. She explained that the Chattanooga Room at the Inn is a residential facility for homeless women and women with children. Those in need stay with the Chattanooga Room in the Inn, completely free of charge, as the women work towards stability and permanent housing. This non-profit incurs all the typical costs of a household if a household was comprised of 25 people, that is. Luckily, the Chattanooga Room in the Inn has been successful in these endeavors in the Chattanooga community since 1988 “with the support from the community and people like you,” Galen said.
The super sponsor of the month, Century Title and Escrow, was also recognized at this meeting and Liz Griffith, an agent with Century Title, said a few words of welcome. She explained that Century Title and Escrow opened in 2000, with majority owner and WCR member Nina Boss providing her 37 years in the industry and 27 years with the same company in establishing Century Title.
Century not only supports the WCR, but also the Chattanooga Association of Realtors, the Mortgage Bank-
er’s Association and the Home-builders Association through active participation and involvement. Griffith said they especially support all in the industry in crunch times like these and finished with the philosophy of Century Title and Escrow.
“We believe there are two kinds of customers: those who currently enjoy our accurate and timeless service and those who soon will,” she said.
Sticking to the decree of business before pleasure, the WCR announced since they are not allowed to compensate state officers for their travel expense, they had voted to give a one time gift of $100 to Joyce Smith, who will be the state WCR president next year.
When excitement for the fashions to roll out was at its peak, comedienne Karen Mills came out to hype up the crowd even more. This comedienne grew up in Chattanooga, played basketball for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and won a spot in the hall of fame for it. She has worked with Daily Show host Jon Stewart and was a contributing writer for the Rosie O’ Donnell Show.
Mills came out to the catwalk and performed from there, making cracks about travel common sense, aging, the right way to use a Southern accent, changes that Barbie needs to undergo and cell phones. After many laughs at her one-liners and a round of applause, the moment for the models was close at hand.
Special surprise guest Tim Gunn (or a man who looked suspiciously like him) from Project Runway took the stage to begin the show and thrilled the audience with tales of the tall “uber model” Heidi Klum. He said Klum was on her way to the fashion show, too, but was indefinitely held up.
Models Nina Boss, Brenda Pargeon, Karen Flores, Maryanne Page-Azambuja, Jan Thompson, Todd Henon, Jay Bell and Jason Carr then walked the catwalk one by one in fashions that Gunn said, “Donald Trump would be your apprentice in some of these clothes!”
The stunning outfits for the women came from Coldwater Creek and included many variations on the dressy casual look and good use of knee length boots. The men’s fashions came from Belk and said, without a doubt, this year, plaid, sweaters and cardigans are the way to go.
After the fashions had been shown, door prizes and the raffle for the romantic basket were announced. In this basket was a night’s stay at the Doubletree, champagne, Big River Grille certificates and many more pamper-yourself accessories. Preorders for the 2011 Men of Real Estate calendar to benefit the WCR were taken at the event and will be delivered to offices
in October.
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