Cayman's Tortuga Rum Cake a hit with Hollywood stars!
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Cayman's Tortuga Rum Cake a hit with Hollywood stars!
Cayman's very own,Tortuga Rum Cake
You can finally forget The Firm! The star-studdedHollywood "premier" of the original Tortuga Rum Cakeleft its celebrity audience with sweet memories of the CaymanIslands-and clamoring for a sequel. Thanks to Tortuga Rum CompanyLtd., John Grisham's lingering nasty portrayal of Grand Caymanhas been replaced with a positive new image: an island with atremendous spirit of generosity that's now the Rum Cake Capitalof the World.
On April 1, the 850 VIP guests at "FamilyCELEBRATION 2001" charity fundraising gala, held at the prestigiousRegent Beverly Wilshire hotel in Los Angeles, CA, received anoriginal Tortuga Rum Cake in their elegant gift bags. Former Presidentand Mrs. Clinton were Honorary Chairpersons of the event, joiningaward-winning producer David E. Kelley and actress Michelle Pfeiffer,the Dinner Chairpersons.
It was the second year for the lavish Hollywoodfundraiser that drew an elite crowd to honor entertainment industrystars such as Elizabeth Taylor, for their outstanding charitywork. The celebrity-studded evening combined a gala reception, silent auction and dinner with entertainment by stars includingNSYNC, Brittany Spears, Rod Stewart, Marc Anthony, Faith Hilland Clint Black. The audience included a glittering guest listand proceeds from the evening benefited a variety of local andinternational charities selected by the event's celebrity honorees.This year, Elizabeth Taylor, Sylvester Stallone and Michelle Pfeifferwere among the top honorees.
In February, Monique Hamaty-Simmonds , InternationalMarketing Director of Tortuga Imports (the company's Miami operation)received an invitation to the event and donation request in aletter from Sylvester Stallone. Mr. Stallone was the recipientof the event's Outstanding Creative Achievement Award for 2001.Although she was unable to attend, Mrs. Hamaty-Simmonds donated850 original Tortuga Rum Cakes for the gift bags, winning tremendous publicity and an enthusiastic response from VIP guests.
\Mrs. Hamaty-Simmonds learned just how enthusiasticlast week, when she received a personal thank-you via e-mail fromone of the celebrity guests, Academy Award- winning song writer Ms. Carol Conners , who wrote:
"Dear Monique,
Just a note to, say "A Family Celebrationwas a great success! (Guests included....) President Clinton"President & Mrs. Ford, Brittany Spears, Michelle Pfeiffer,David Kelly, Marc Anthony, Red Buttons, Connie Stevens, CalistaFlockhart and the entire cast of Ally McBeal, Whoopi Goldberg,B.B. King, NSYNC, Ray Charles, Bob Newhart, Carson Daly (of MTVfame) and many more. The Greatest of them all, Dame ElizabethTaylor was there. Not only was everyone blown away when PresidentClinton got up on stage and played saxophone with B.B. King, butthe Cayman Tortuga Rum Cakes scored a knockout! Just ask SylvesterStallone and Sugar Ray Leonard!! 'GO TORTUGA!!' Thank you so much!!My bags are almost packed for the Caymans!!"
--Carol Conners
According to Mrs. Simmonds, contacts likethis are the result of Tortuga's participation in InternationalFancy Food & Confection shows, as well as duty-free and tradeexhibitions year round. During the last four years, TortugaRum Company has developed a reputation for top quality products-and a growing visibilty in the highly competitive global fancyfood marketplace. Along with boosting business for the Grand Caymancompany, these marketing efforts pay off with positive exposurefor the Cayman Islands.