Tory Burch*
Tory Burch has lived a life that would thrill the hearts of romance writers and readers. Her parents were Reva, an actress who dated Steve McQueen and Marlon Brando, and Buddy Robinson, who was a stockbroker and was cozy with Grace Kelly and Joan Bennett. As a child, Tory rode horses, attended Agnes Irwin School and went on to the University of Pennsylvania. Her two marriages were pretty heady. One was to the son of a real-estate tycoon and the other was to an investor in Internet Capital Group. She even had three sons including one set of twins.
So, what could this blonde 40-something have to do with the Dallas Women’s Foundation? Well, Tory didn’t just lull around as part of the chummy types up East. After graduating from college in 1988, she headed to NYC and worked for Zoran, Harper’s Bazaar, Vera Wang, Polo Ralph Lauren and Loewe, where she learned the ropes of public relations and advertising.
After years of studying, networking and knocking on doors, the 38-year-old took a jump. . . a very big jump. It was in 2004 that she “launched her first collection out of the Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan that she shared with her then-husband and business partner, Chris Burch.” Her goal was “to create a collection that was not only distinctive, but also well-made and accessibly priced.” Within time the line was sold at Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and other very high-end stores. In addition to mainline retailers, she opened Tory Burch boutiques world-wide (like the ones in Highland Park Village and NorthPark) and built a whole world of Burchiness.
Again, what does all of this have to do with the Dallas Women’s Foundation? A lot. Tory is a living success story about a woman who used her brains, taste and roll-up-the-sleeves drive to build her company. Business publications would call her an entrepreneur. The Dallas Women’s Foundation is calling her “the keynote speaker” for their Thursday, October 9th, luncheon at the Hilton Anatole.
Jan Osborn and Robin Bagwell
At this 29th annual luncheon co-chaired by Robin Bagwell and Jan Osborn, Tory will “speak about her commitment to increasing economic security for American women, and her approach to the issue.”
According to DWF’s President/ CEO Roslyn Dawson Thompson, “Tory Burch not only has a powerful personal story about her journey to build a successful business, but she is also deeply engaged in the same work we are focused on at Dallas Women’s Foundation – advancing women’s economic security and empowerment in our own country. Tory’s focus on women in the U.S. mirrors our focus on women in our community and state. Women wear the face of poverty here, as they do everywhere in the world. In fact, female headed households represent only 30 percent of all households in North Texas, but they represent 52 percent of all households living in poverty. We must change that, and by investing in women and girls, create a ripple effect that enables their families and communities to thrive.”
Get your Revas ready for this luncheon. Last year’s sold out with 1,500 in attendance and raised more than $1M to help the women and girls within the Dallas community.
BTW, if you’re among the 500 attending the DWF’s Maura Awards dinner tonight at the Omni, you might want to congratulate Roslyn and her crew for landing Tory.
* Photo provided by Dallas Women's Foundation