30th Birthday & PINNACLE Fundraiser

I turned 30 years old this week, and on Saturday my sister Joelle, boyfriend James, and best friend Melissa organized an incredible birthday party and fundraiser for the PINNACLE initiative. Over a hundred people came and we raised crucial funds needed to print V.1 of the PINNACLE Magazine, and begin planning our next shoot. My parents and sister Stephanie surprised me by showing up from Florida, and my amazing friend Esther Bell let us use her new cafe, The West Cafe in Williamsburg Brooklyn, to party in.  The West has lots of vegan options and when you stop by, make sure to try the fall drink I invented, the Hot Cider Latte!

The generosity of all the people that came together to make this fundraiser happen was immense. We had the most impressive raffle I've ever seen featuring Matt & Nat, Lavish Lint, Olsen Haus, Vaute Couture, The Pleasure Chest, Moo Shoes (Novacas), Cocoa V, John Masters Organics, Pure Food & Wine, One Lucky Duck, Melissa Shoes M:Zero, Lion's Share Industries, Sweet & Sara, Sparrow Media, Coquette Faux Furriers, Sunflour Baking Company, Caninus Custom Dog Apparel, Foodswings, Lula's Sweet Apothecary, VegNews, BabyCakes, "Our Farm" by Maya Gottfried, & portrait photographer Meagan Cignoli.

Skinny Bitch coauthor, Rory Freedman incredibly offered to match all door donations up to $500, and the Cynthia King Dance Studio gave an astonishingly generous gift as well. Special thanks to Girlie Girl Army's Chloe Jo for getting the word out, DJ Ariel for manning the turntables, and Rachel Rosen for lending us her fabulous pin-making contraption that we all got carried away with!

I enjoyed no less than three birthday cakes (chocolate-encased strawberry shortcake, peanut mousse bomb, and brownie bottom cheesecake) and various ridiculous cupcakes from Vegan Treats, sunflower mini-burgers from 4 Cousre Vegan, pea cakes, autumn sweet potato rolls, crostini tapas, and vegan meatballs from Blossom Cafe, Faux Gras from The Regal vegan and a huge, gorgeous wine and liquor bar provided by Ravi at DeRossi Global.

I am moved and honored to have so many brave and wonderful people in my life. Thank you all for making my 30th Birthday something that will set into motion a huge impact for animals.

Here's the photos from the party:

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