Red Leaves was successfully launched on Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at a very chic premiere event held in Manila at the RCBC plaza. UNICEF co-hosted the event (a true sign of Stairway’s foothold and efficiency in its field) and many important people and stakeholders were in attendance. There is currently an anti-child pornography act going through Congress. For some reason, it is illegal to buy or sell child pornography but it is not illegal to own it, though if one owns it, he most likely bought it. The bill is not controversial, so everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that it goes through.As part of the Stairway family, we all traveled to Manila
on Monday morning and arrived at the hotel we were staying at called Bianca’s Garden, formerly called True Home. It is a quaint Spanish-style collection of small rooms tucked away in one of the slum neighborhoods of Manila. Upon arrival, we had lunch and went on to put together 300 training kits that consist of a DVD, storybook, and manual that go with each of the three animations that Stairway has put out. We sold the complete package along with other Stairway products at the event.
Then we all piled into the jeepnee and Revo and headed over to the plaza- to set up for the next night’s event. The RCBC is a huge venue that holds various companies, restaurants, and theaters. We were in a branch of the building that had a theater with a huge projection screen that was able to drop down from the ceiling and could be let up for theatrical productions.
Outside the theater was a large, beautiful foyer area where we set up tall tables, a photo exhibit, and a booth for selling products. We set up the stage set for the theater production, Cracked Mirrors, that was put on by three of the Stairway staff members who were formerly clients at Stairway, set up the photo exhibit, and ran around making sure everything was in place for more setting up the next day.
The actual event was awesome. There was an excellent turnout- over 450 people attended- and everything ran smoothly. There was a cocktail hour in the beginning as people entered and then we screened Red Leaves Falling. Then there was an intermission with a buffet in the foyer, and the event continued in the theater with the extremely powerful musical, Cracked Mirrors. I filmed the entire program for Stairway to use for various purposes.
At the end, Monica was presented red roses in recognition for all of her hard work and the Stairway staff was recognized for all of their support and hard work. Watching them from the balcony, where I was filming, I felt so proud of all of them, and so happy to be just a tiny part of what Lars, Monica, and the rest of the Stairway family is doing here. It really is like a big family here, and after our trip to Manila, I truly feel like a part of this unit.
