On Sunday night as Hollywood celebrated the film industry’s glitziest night of the year, City Summit ended their week of star-studded events with the City Gala glamorous Oscars afterparty. The event included appearances from high profile guests, such as Wesley Snipes and Colin Farrell, as well as local businessmen and entrepreneurs. The red carpet was full of fashionable looks and stars including Kevin Harrington, Randy Jackson, Mario Lopez, and Frank Shankwitz.
Hollywood Glam got exclusive interviews with some of the stars on the red carpet including Lynn Rose, songwriter Stephanie Valencia and several other celebs.
Stephanie Valencia was wearing a beautiful red dress for the event and talked to Hollywood Glam about her look for the night as well as some of her latest projects.
“So, I’m a singer/songwriter, I’m a motivational speaker for young women, and I just feel like there’s nothing I can’t do, I’m not gonna lie to you. So, I go and speak to young girls in at-risk neighborhoods, in continuation schools, I speak to young girls that even just say “hey, would you mind just talking to me”, and it’s just about inspiring them like hey, you can do this. It’s kind of being that voice that they just need to hear that’s motivating them, it’s like really let’s go over this. Right now, I’m helping a girl who’s trying to get ready for her wedding and she’s trying to just not to be stressed out, and everyday I’m like sure, no problem, there’s no quest too big or too small for me, I’m not gonna lie.”
Besides her work in the community she is also passionate about including empowering messages in her music as well.
She said, “So my songs are about experiences. Many times, it has to do with a relationship, what really brings a girl down to little bitty teeny tiny pieces: it can be a relationship and that goes completely south. Where they feel they’re not pretty, they’re not thin enough, they don’t compare to the girl next door or the girl in the magazine, and they don’t carry themselves well. And what I tell them it’s the number one thing: it’s kind of hopefully I have that ah ha moment with some girl where she’s like: oh my God, that was me and at the end of my songs. I’m always like now, I’m rising up now, I’m strong and I’m moving forward. I tell people all the time I can make sweats look so freaking cute because I feel cute in them. But if you constantly remind someone, I don’t look good today like if a guy gives a compliment to a girl: oh you look so lovely today! and a girl will tell him: no, I don’t. You are basically a salesman of yourself and you just told this person, I am not a pretty person. Beauty is really in the eye of the beholder.”
Stephanie was embodying her own advice for the event and told us about the dress she was wearing saying, “I am wearing a dress that somebody bought for me and I just feel that it was appropriate because it made me feel good. And I’m wearing some Jessica Simpson heels and some fun jewelry and some Aqua de Joie because I’m all about perfume I love perfume!”
Check out more red carpet coverage in the video below!
The event continued with a fashion show and a presentation of the Hero Award given out by the City Gala and City Summit founder Ryan Long who also gave an interview to Hollywood Glam Magazine. Ryan talked about his long-term goals for the summit and accompanying programs saying he was planning on continuing to grow it in the future and hoping to see more collaborations and projects coming out of it. He talked about how he’d seen it change and grow since founding it back in 2013. He was so excited to kick off the Gala saying he couldn’t wait to celebrate the end of a successful week of panels.
Then, Colin Farrell took the stage giving the audience some laughs and a great time to close out the night.
