Glasswing Gala Raises $1.6M for Children in Latin America and NYC

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CHILDREN’S HOUR: Carolina Herrera, her daughter Carolina A. Herrera, Johanna Ortiz and Natalie Massenet were among the guests at Glasswing International’s annual benefit gala, which raised $1.6 million for children’s health and welfare programs in Latin America, the Caribbean and New York City.

The event, which took place at Guastavino’s in Manhattan, honored the entrepreneur and philanthropist Carmen Busquets, a cofounder of Net-a-porter and investor in a variety of digital fashion, luxury and retail businesses, including Cult Beauty, which sold last month to The Hut Group for 275 million pounds. Glasswing also hosted a cocktail at Fasano Fifth Avenue on Wednesday night.

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Carolina Herrera at the Glasswing cocktail. - Credit: Image Courtesy of Yvonne Tnt/BFA.com
Carolina Herrera at the Glasswing cocktail. - Credit: Image Courtesy of Yvonne Tnt/BFA.com

Image Courtesy of Yvonne Tnt/BFA.com

Glasswing is a nonprofit organization that aims to address the root causes of poverty and violence in communities through education, health and development programs focused on children and adolescents. Cofounded by Celina de Sola and based in El Salvador, it operates across Latin America, the Caribbean and New York City.

Busquets helped expand Glasswing’s work to New York. Having visited El Salvador when she joined the charity, Busquets extended Glasswing’s programs to a school in Union Square that now works with migrant families from more than 50 countries.

Anna Khouri, Celina de Sola, Silvia Tcherassi, Carmen Busquets, Johanna Ortiz and Lauren Santo Domingo at the Glasswing gala. - Credit: Courtesy Image
Anna Khouri, Celina de Sola, Silvia Tcherassi, Carmen Busquets, Johanna Ortiz and Lauren Santo Domingo at the Glasswing gala. - Credit: Courtesy Image

Courtesy Image

In her speech during Thursday night’s gala, the Venezuelan-born Busquets said, “there is no time for just hope. We both know that we need action — we need to just do it.” Glasswing now has programs in three New York City public schools that involve hundreds of students, their families and teachers.

Busquets said she joined the charity because “I knew I wanted to make a difference in Latin America.” During her first visit to El Salvador, she said she talked to a number of children at Girls Clubs, who “said they didn’t feel like they were part of society — they felt invisible. I told them that they are important, and that they exist to make society better.”

Carmen Busquets, Donna Karan and Adam Glassman. - Credit: Image Courtesy of Madison-Voelkel/BFA.com
Carmen Busquets, Donna Karan and Adam Glassman. - Credit: Image Courtesy of Madison-Voelkel/BFA.com

Image Courtesy of Madison-Voelkel/BFA.com

Glasswing partners with organizations including the World Bank, UNICEF and a number of universities in the regions where it operates. It describes itself as one of the leading Latin American nonprofit organizations, with a presence in 10 countries and a team of 300 staff regionally.

Among the donors at this year’s fundraiser were Natalie Massenet, Lauren Santo Domingo, Donna Karan, Shirin and Frédéric Fekkai, Gabriela and Austin Hearst, Clarissa Bronfman, Charlotte Tilbury, Amy Christiansen, Bill Fisher and Nina Garcia.

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