*While the New York and global theater community celebrates its 2022-2023 full season of nominees, honorees, and award winners, L&B Concepts, headquartered in Laurel, Maryland, will present The Inaugural Broadway and New York Theater Gift Lounge on Thursday, June 8, Friday, June 9, and Saturday, June 10.
The invitation-only event will be held at the classic art deco Belvedere Hotel, located in New York’s theater district.
The gift lounge is the brainchild of Laura Fote, Joelle Valbrun-Bailey, and Gwendolyn Quinn, three entrepreneurs who joined forces to celebrate the extraordinary and award-winning talents of stage actors, playwrights, directors, producers, choreographers, and composers, as well as lighting, sound, scenic, projection, costume, and wig/hair design professionals working both off and on Broadway.
It is also the goal of Laura, Joelle, and Gwendolyn to help source and provide access to women-owned businesses, small businesses, minority-owned businesses, and Black-owned businesses as well as midsized to large companies and corporations by providing them with an opportunity to present their products and brands to this unique community.
The three entrepreneurs have sought out gift items in a wide range of industries including beauty and fashion, consumer electronics, and various lifestyle and unique products. Though the company is not sanctioned by a specific award show, it will be gifting some talent from the 38th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards, the 89th Annual Drama League Awards, the 72nd Outer Critics Circle Awards, the 67th Annual Drama Desk Awards, and the 76th Annual Tony Awards.
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“With our combined talents, Joelle, Gwendolyn, and I have extensive backgrounds in a variety of industries including manufacturing, marketing, public relations, special events, and the hospitality industries,” says Laura Fote, the CEO of L&B Concepts, which provides rentals to corporate and private clients as well as wholesale and retail clients in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia areas. L&B Concepts also has direct access across different industries and manufactures and produces products abroad, including in Asia and Europe.
With more than 35 years of experience in catering, event planning, hospitality, and marketing, New York City native Valbrun-Bailey started her career at corporations including Vista Hilton, Marriott, Plaza Hotels, LSG Sky Chefs, Aramark, and numerous others. She received her formal training at the French Culinary Institute and Sky Chefs. By 1994, she opened Classic Catering, and her list of corporate and non-profit clients including the New York Urban League, the United Way, the Jackie Robinson Foundation, Mt. Sinai Hospital, John Hopkins, Georgetown University, New York University, Columbia University, and Children’s Television Network, as well as celebrity clients Diana Ross, Russell Simmons, Suzanne Taylor, Bill Cosby, Whitney Houston, and many more.
In 2020, she co-authored Basic Table Manners for Children with Cheryl Parkinson. Valbrun-Bailey has also penned several columns, sharing her knowledge and expertise on entertaining and etiquette, while curating menus and selecting recipes.
“I am thrilled to return to New York for this occasion and to catch some of the shows during this award season,” says Valbrun-Bailey. “We hope the nominees and honorees are as delighted as we are to meet them.”
Quinn is a longtime and award-winning career public relations leader and music industry executive who was first introduced to the pioneers of the gifting industry 25 years ago. She later included gifting as a value-added service to her clients and associates and has handled both private and corporate gifting events. Under the leadership of celebrated music mogul Clive Davis, she represented some of the biggest names in music, including the late Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Prince, and numerous others. Recently, she was a part of the team for the history-making Jazz Music Awards and was named co-executive producer of the inaugural ceremony. In 2019, just before the pandemic, she joined the team as one of the producers of Café Mocha’s 9th Annual Salute Her Awards: Honoring Black Women of Broadway and New York Theater. She is also a former voting member of the [New York] Drama Desk organization.
“I’ve been an avid theatergoer since I moved to New York City in the early eighties,” says Quinn. “I love theater. I grew up in theater and I love the New York theater community. I hope our collective efforts demonstrate our appreciation and love to a group of individuals who are among the best and most talented in both the arts and entertainment industries.”
Fote concludes: “As the presenting sponsor, we are honored to celebrate and shine a spotlight on the creators of the New York theater community, who oftentimes don’t get the recognition their so rightfully deserve. Our goal in business and life is to serve our communities. Those are the principles that both my husband and I were raised on in our native Cameroon, and those are the principles on which my husband and I founded the company, L&B Concepts.”
For more information on L&B Concepts, visit www.landbconcepts.com.
The post The Inaugural Broadway and New York Theater Gift Lounge, Celebrating the 2022-2023 Season of Winners, Honorees, and Nominees appeared first on EURweb.
