One raw, rainy, windy March evening, I met my friend Andrea for dinner. In concession to the weather, I wore my fabulous new cowboy boots, adorned with hearts and angel wings. Andrea, who makes no such concession to Mother Nature or anyone else, wore red patent leather peep-toe pumps. Wildly inappropriate for such weather, but, as Andrea said, " ... they make me happy in such depressing weather."
Half-way through our meal, a woman stopped by our table and said, "I just have to tell you both ... your shoes are fabulous." After chatting a few minutes about shoe styles, designers, stores and sales, I noticed our new friend's dinner companion had left. When I pointed this out to her, she said in an off-hand manner, "Oh, he's not my date. I was interviewing him to be my campaign manager." A keen eye for fashion, a killer sense of style, an obvious brain in her head, AND political aspirations? I liked this woman ... instantly. "Why don't you pull up a chair?" I suggested.
A few hours (and cocktails) later, we all made plans to go out again. When that evening approached, I sent an email saying that since we literally met, and bonded, over shoes,
" ... we should all wear our most fabulous shoes and call it Fabulous Shoe Night." One tiny, innocuous Facebook post that I was heading out to Fabulous Shoe Night with some girlfriends led to a flood of comments and queries. Everyone wanted to know --- WHAT is Fabulous Shoe Night, and how do I get in on it?
What began as a Girl's Night Out with a few friends wearing fabulous shoes grew exponentially. We started meeting monthly. Each and every one of us noticed that casual mention of FSN led to the same thing ... "That sounds like so much fun!" and "Can I go, too?" When Andrea told me that her teenage daughter was having Fabulous Shoe Night with her friends, as well as my niece in Florida and a few friends in other parts of the country, I realized the concept, if you will, had legs. Shoes may be my passion, but I had another, equally intense passion --- giving back. I started thinking ... with the far-reaching power of Facebook and other social networks, how many people could we help if we turned Fabulous Shoe Night into a group of like-minded, fabulous women with a passion for shoes AND a focus on charity?
And so it all began ....
