Friends Are By Your Side: A Night of Wigs & Wishes

Recently, we attended a Night of Wigs and Wishes, Martino Cartier's fundraiser for his non-profit, Friends are By your Side. This amazing organization restores dignity to women and children by gifting them wigs during their battle with cancer - regardless of financial situation. More than 1000 salon professionals, close friends, and reality TV celebrities attended the inspiring gala in Berlin, NJ where $100,000 was raised for the charity.

We cannot say enough about founder Martino Cartier's passion and dedication to FABYS, and Mari the Studio is proud and honored to now be a partner salon.  Enjoy our photos of the evening below, and to learn more about how one man has globally united hundreds of salons by donating wigs and granting wishes, please visit FriendsAreByYourSide.com and take a profoundly moving journey with us.   

Mari with FABYS founder Martino Cartier

Stephanie, Mari and Kelly attending a Night of Wigs & Wishes at Lucien's Manor in NJ

Stephanie and Mari with the beautiful Sarah Daphnis, our Oribe Brand Manager

Celebrity stylist and reality TV star Tabatha Coffey with Martino Cartier at a Night of Wigs & wishes

Friends are By Your Side: Meet Kiki

Let us introduce you to Kiki.  At age 11, with childhood cancer, Kiki was turned away by a number of places for a wig.   When she was introduced to Friends Are By Your Side, Kiki was immediately brought into the salon, and received a stylish and comfortable wig. Martino Cartier, founder of FABYS, also vowed to grant a wish for her.  In December of 2012, Martino picked up Kiki in a hot pink stretch limo, where she sat front row for a Justin Bieber concert and even had her wish granted by meeting the singer!  

Just one week later, Kiki lost her battle with kidney cancer.  Before she passed, she explained to Martino that she had one more wish.  That wish was to collect toys for the other children at Nemour’s du Pont Hospital. Although Kiki was gone too soon to see her last wish come true, her spirit was felt as FABYS collected over 4,000 toys for the hospital.  Box after box was unloaded off of an 18 wheeler truck for the children, each one signed “Love, Kiki” in the young girl's memory.

While Kiki’s story is inspirational, it’s not uncommon. Insurance companies can take months to reimburse the upfront cost of expensive wigs (which can run anywhere from $400 – $4,000) and many non-profits require a great deal of financial documentation.  Kiki’s mom, Terri, had been turned down by other foundations because they said she made too much money.  However, with the growing hospital bills, and Terri having left work to care for Kiki, it just hadn't been possible for her to afford a wig.

Since Kiki, Friends are By Your Side has given hundreds of wigs and granted dozens of wishes.  Please visit www.FABYS.com for more information, or to donate.

Friends are by Your Side & Mari the Studio

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Mari the Studio is very pleased to announce that we have pledged our support and have now partnered with “Friends are By Your Side”, a non profit that restores dignity to women and children who are battling cancer. Martino Cartier, the founder of FABYS, made it his goal to provide wigs regardless of financial situation, and spread the word to salons across the country who would pledge to do the same. FABYS also grants “wishes” such as meet and greets with celebrities, Disney trips and toy drives.  Hundreds of salons, including Mari the Studio, have aligned with this foundation and it has even spread to other countries around the world.

Before & After of Kim receiving her wig from Martino Cartier of FABYS

Wish granted, as Emma meets Cinderella

We are also proud sponsors of a night of Wigs & Wishes, a special event to raise awareness and funds for Friends are By Your Side.  More than 600 guests will attend this event next Sunday, including a growing list of celebrity appearances. Proceeds from the evening will grant wishes for women and children fighting this disease as this expanding organization helps make dreams come true.

For further information or to donate, please visit:

http://friendsarebyyourside.com/

https://www.facebook.com/FriendsAreByYourSide

Please go to www.FABYS.com for more information or to donate

We Love You!

Happy Saturday to all our guests! We wouldn't be here without you, so thank you! We love you!

Celebrity stylist Ted Gibson with his client, Anne Hathaway

Cheers!

Mari the Studio

Blowdry Package Now Available!

Now Available:

Blowdry Package with Kelly!

6 Blowouts with Kelly - $175 

(Value $210)

Buy now, Use later!

Easy and fast check out!

Let us do the work!

It's a Boy!

A huge congrats to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on welcoming their baby boy! The future King was born on Monday July 22!

Cheers indeed!

Rule Britannia!

One Run for Boston

We are so proud of our guests Jennifer Iaccarino, and Sheila Cardell for their recent participation in “One Run for Boston”, a cross-country run started to raise donations and support for the city of Boston and those whose lives were affected forever by the marathon attack on April 15, 2013. 

One Run for Boston, which was started by a British author and teacher Danny “Danny Boy” Bent, was the first ever non-stop running relay across America.  Hundreds of runners from across the country began June 7^th in Los Angeles and were assigned to different legs throughout the US.  Jennifer and Sheila were part of the Bridgeport to Milford leg of the race with “Girls Gone Miles”, a group of women who are “passionate about running and celebrating life”. A special GPS enabled baton charting the route was passed along by participants, and made Boston its’ final destination on July 1^st.   One Run raised over $80,000 to help victims of the marathon bombings.

Way to go girls!

The One Run banner, which tracked the route of the relay, was signed by all participants! 



Members of "Girls Gone Miles", including Jennifer (center left) and Sheila (center right) with Danny Boy



Girls Gone Miles geared up for One Run! Boston Strong!



Cheers!

Mari the Studio

Mari the Studio: Our big win for Best of Fairfield!

Thank you to all our wonderful guests who voted for us!

We are HONORED to have won Best of Fairfield 2013!!!

We have won 2013's Best of Fairfield for Men's Styling!



Creating Connections: It's a Small "Business" World



"My wife Kim has been going to Mari for years and smiles after each visit. I went in to try Mari out and guess what? I’m hooked. Even our cattle ranchers ask me... ‘where do you get your haircut?’ Mari’s the best and her staff is top notch too."
Stew Leonard Jr.

          A few months ago, while perusing the professional website of our merchandise line, Oribe, we stumbled upon a review of My Story, a book by local dairy store/supermarket founder, Stew Leonard.  The review happened to be personally written by Oribe’s co-president Daniel Kaner.  In his review, Daniel discussed his love of Stew Leonard’s grocery stores both for their fine products and also their business model.

What a coincidence, we thought! Not only are Stew Jr. and his family guests at our Fairfield salon, but the president of our favorite haircare line is a huge fan! We passed along the information to Stew Jr. himself, at which point he reached out to Daniel and thanked him for his review. From there, a connection was made, and Stew was invited to speak in Miami at “Backstage”, Oribe’s annual convention (or as they refer to it, “a hair jam...a multi-day bash of hairstyling, makeup, photography and entertainment” -- not your average convention!).

Stew was able to inspire and thoroughly entertain the crowd of salon owners and hairdressers with his business savvy advice, and at the same time, was able to help Stew Leonard’s childrens’ charity for water safety. The Oribe company graciously donated 200 swimming lessons to help inner city children learn how to swim. We at Mari the Studio couldn’t be happier that Stew Leonard’s and Oribe have made this relationship, and are so proud to have been a part of it.

From Left to right: Daniel Kaner, Co-president of Oribe; Stew Jr; and the incomparable Oribe 

A quote from Stew's speech at "Backstage"

Cheers!

Mari the Studio

Stew Leonard’s Charity for Water Safety:

http://www.stewietheduck.com/12watersafety.cfm

To purchase Stew Leonard Sr.’s book:

http://www.stewleonardsgifts.com/item_detail.cfm?ItemNmbr=090

For more information on Oribe products:

http://www.marithestudio.com/products.html

My Wonderful Gift

How thoughtful and kind is my staff? I received this book by Kathy Buckley as a thank you gift from my Guest Services Manger as a token of appreciation for the conference in Arizona.

If you do not know who Kathy Buckley is, you are certainly missing out.  Billed as "America's First Hearing Impaired Comedienne", Kathy is an absolutely hilarious and inspiring speaker who made us burst into laughter, and then turned it around and made us burst into tears.  Her message was that NOTHING is impossible if you dream it - nothing.

Stephanie came home, so touched by Kathy, she bought two copies of this.  One for herself and one for me. I can’t wait to begin this book!

Be sure to look up Kathy’s website and Facebook page for more information. And if you have a chance to see her, don’t miss the opportunity!!!  

Cheers!

Mari the Studio

www.kathybuckley.com

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialKathyBuckley