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| Celebrity Cruises New Celebrity Reflection - Employees to be Godmothers |
Celebrity
Cruises is marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month in a particularly
unique and meaningful way: Richard D. Fain, Chairman of Celebrity
Cruises and Chairman & CEO of parent company Royal Caribbean Cruises
Ltd. (RCCL), and Celebrity’s President & CEO Michael Bayley today
revealed plans to honor four employees – two who work aboard its ships,
and two in its corporate offices – as Godmothers of
Celebrity Reflection, the fifth in its five-ship Solstice Class series.
Like the Godmothers of every prior Solstice Class ship – all with
remarkable life achievements, including overcoming breast cancer – the
cause is of great personal interest to the selected employees. The
Godmothers of
Celebrity Reflection are:
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Jovanka Goronjic – Jovanka joined Celebrity Cruises’
AquaSpa staff in 2009, after previously working with Celebrity’s sister
brand, Royal Caribbean International. Her mother was diagnosed with
breast cancer in 2005, and endured several rounds of treatment. In
tribute to her mother and the cause, Jovanka donated her hair for the
creation of wigs for cancer patients. With support from Celebrity, she
arranged time off to be with her mother at critical times during her
treatment. Her mother has since defeated the illness, and Jovanka now is
AquaSpa Manager on Celebrity Constellation.
-
Megan Mathie – Megan is a glassblowing artist in the Hot Glass Show aboard Celebrity Solstice, and previously performed the same role aboard Celebrity Eclipse.
Earlier this year, she was informed that both her sister and mother
were diagnosed with breast cancer, and flew home to spend time with
them. However, both convinced her to return to the ship to continue her
work. Determined to support the cause, Megan and her team now host a
“Hot Pink Glass Show” on every cruise. There, she shares her story with
her audience and through her art, in honor of her sister and mother. At
each cruise’s end, she auctions a one-of-a-kind pink glass creation to
raise funds for Celebrity’s charitable partner, The Breast Cancer
Research Foundation®.
-
Helen O’Connell – An eight-year employee of the
company, Helen manages Community Relations, and has a clear and
contagious passion for serving her community. She is widely lauded
internally and externally for leading the corporation’s annual “G.I.V.E.
(Get Involved, Volunteer Everywhere) Day,” and events leading to it in
South Florida and in many of the company’s offices and ports of call
around the world. Helen also serves as the corporation’s primary liaison
with Make-A-Wish Foundation and supports Celebrity’s fundraising
activities for BCRF. Before being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009,
she traveled to New York every weekend for three months to help care for
her father, who was battling bone cancer. Helen is known for always
putting others’ needs ahead of her own, such as volunteering with
numerous organizations in South Florida and caring for her sick aunt in
Ireland, while also making her work a top priority.
-
Rosey Rodriguez – A 17-year employee of RCCL, Rosey
is manager of the company’s Special Events team and recognized at
Celebrity for being a key contributor to planning and implementing the
events surrounding every Solstice Class ship launch. She is a devoted
single mother of two children, Joey, 21, and Alexis, 15. On June 8 of
this year, she was diagnosed with stage-3 breast cancer, and has since
been resolute in her commitment to beat it. While many women would
legitimately take short-term disability at this stage, Rosey instead
takes her laptop to treatments to allow her to work remotely. Her
colleagues say this is entirely in character, as she puts everyone and
everything – including her work – ahead of her own desires. She is
considered a dedicated leader of her team, admired employee of the
company, loving mother and selfless individual.
“The breast cancer cause is one we’ve adopted across the Celebrity
brand, and one with deep meaning for each of these women and their four
predecessors,” said Fain. “These ladies are not only inspiring in their
professional lives, but in their personal lives, as well, with each of
them devoted to their own and our company’s interest in doing all we can
to find a cure for breast cancer.”
“These impressive women personify the qualities we admire among our
Solstice Class Godmothers: remarkable strength and courage, along with
optimism, warmth and genuine care for others,” said Bayley. “They
beautifully represent countless other women within our company and
around the world who have battled the disease or supported the cause in
honor of friends or family who have done so.”
Celebrity Cruises’ support of the cause began in 2008 with an event on
Celebrity Solstice
to raise funds for breast cancer screenings for low-income women. Next,
the brand sponsored the first “Celebrity Sunwalk” in association with
Walk the Walk, a breast cancer charity founded by the Godmother of
Celebrity Equinox,
Nina Barough. And last year, Celebrity became an official corporate
partner of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), offering
Celebrity’s guests the opportunity to make a difference while enjoying
their vacation through a unique lineup of onboard experiences that help
raise awareness and funds for BCRF.
Celebrity is showing its support of the cause even further this month
through multiple initiatives, including an integration and cruise
auction featured in Bloomingdale’s “Big Pink Book,” with a percentage of
sales benefiting BCRF; a sweepstakes to win a cruise with a $1,000
donation to BCRF in the winner's name; a "pink" home page takeover of
Celebrity’s web site,
www.celebritycruises.com, and relevant content on its Facebook page,
www.facebook.com/celebritycruises,
throughout the month; a donation to BCRF of $2 for every “Excite the
Senses” lifestyle book sold onboard and online; pink-hued emails to
customers; “Starring Crew Week” honoring Celebrity’s crew across the
fleet with special events to raise funds for BCRF, and events engaging
and educating employees at Celebrity’s headquarters. All of this
complements the continuation of the year-around activities supporting
BCRF: “Celebrity Freedance” and the auction of works of art created by
glassblowing artists from The Corning Museum of Glass at the Hot Glass
Show on
Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Equinox and
Celebrity Eclipse.
The four Godmothers of
Celebrity Reflection will preside over
the naming of the ship in Miami on December 1, and consistent with
Celebrity’s Solstice Class tradition, will be joined by the Godmothers
of each of
Celebrity Reflection’s sister ships.
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