Delivering Good Honors Top Women Execs

Luncheon held in NYC to raise money for the charity, which donates excess product to families in need.

The charity Delivering Good (formerly K.I.D.S./Fashion Delivers) held its 11th annual Women of Inspiration Luncheon Wednesday at the Pierre Hotel in New York City, honoring Gaye Dean of Target, fashion designer Tracy Reese and Lana Todorovich of Ralph Lauren as this year’s Women of Inspiration.

The sold-out fundraising event, which was hosted by Fox Business anchor Cheryl Casone and co-chaired by Karen Bromley of the Bromley Group and Carole Postal of CopCorp Licensing, recognizes women who have distinguished themselves in the worlds of fashion, entertainment, real estate and philanthropy.  

The organization used the event to formally unveil its new name, Delivering Good, which better represents its new, expanded mission. The charity works with retailers, manufacturers, foundations and individuals to provide excess product to children and families in need. What originally started with toys and apparel, has now grown to include a host of product categories ranging from home goods to health items to books. Since 1985, Delivering Good has donated more than $1.6 billion of merchandise across the U.S. and overseas.

This year, the Delivering Good Women of Inspiration Luncheon raised more than $430,000 to help provide new fashion, children's and home products to people in need.

This year’s honorees at the Delivering Good Women of Inspiration Luncheon included:

A 29-year Target veteran, Dean leads the marketing strategy development and execution of key license merchandise programs and is the key liaison at the retailer for a large segment of the entertainment, brand and license industries.

American designer Reese’s signature daring colors and unique prints are rooted in a philosophy of bringing out the beauty in women of all shapes, sizes and colors. Her eponymous fashion line and secondary line–Plenty by Tracy Reese–are sold across the U.S. as well as retailers throughout Europe and Asia. Reese is on the board of directors of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and is also part of Turnaround Arts program through the President’s Committee of the Humanities and Arts.

In addition to her role at Ralph Lauren, Todorovich is also the founder of the Circle of Hope Children’s Foundation, dedicated to providing need-based aid to underprivileged children from all walks of life and across national boundaries. In 2009, Lana received the 2009 Ellis Island Medal of Honor for her philanthropy work.

Both Dean and Reese pointed to their mothers (Reese also mentioned her 100-year-old grandmother) as women they have been inspired by in their lives, while Todorovich looked to her daughter, Emma, who introduced her at the event.

Todorovich also gave a moving account of her immigration to the United States and the genesis of her own charity, Circle of Hope, which has partnered with Delivering Good. Todorovich said her story was one of love–she came to New York City in 1986 as an exchange student and fell in love not just with the city and the fashion industry (she started her career at Oscar de la Renta), but also her future husband. Todorovich and her family founded Circle of Hope after seeing the devastation caused to families by war in Todorovich’s home country, the former Yugoslavia, in the ‘90s, and the group has gone on to help thousands of New York City residents as well.

“Can it really be that simple? Following your passion, following your love and weaving that love through the tapestry of your life?” Todorovich said in her acceptance speech. “My answer is yes. It is that complicated, and it is also that simple.”

In her acceptance speech Dean gave a shout out to the many people in the room from the licensing industry who had given back through their support of Delivering Good and other iniatives. Watch it here:

Gaye Dean, Women of Inspiration Luncheon from License! Global on Vimeo.