Global Heroes News - December Edition

Sips in the City: Have a Glass, Give a Plate With SJP This Holiday Season

RAYE MOCIOIU

While Carrie Bradshaw and her friends may lead fabulous lives in the city, Sarah Jessica Parker herself remembers a life far removed from glitz and glamour. Growing up in Nelsonville, Ohio, Sarah Jessica was the fourth of eight children in her family. Raising eight children on a tight income was no easy feat. Sarah Jessica recalls times when her family went without electricity and couldn’t always celebrate birthdays or holidays. From a young age, she helped support the family by bringing home paycheques from dancing and singing gigs. After winning her first Broadway role in 1976, Sarah Jessica and her family moved to Roosevelt Island in New York City, closer to the action, to encourage her career—and it paid off. Throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, Sarah Jessica catapulted into stardom with a wide variety of TV and movie roles. Her most notable role, as sex columnist Carrie Bradshaw on the TV series Sex and the City, made Sarah Jessica one of New York City’s most iconic actors and arguably a cultural ambassador of the city. For many, the shoe-loving journalist is a symbol of status and wealth, always adorned in couture garments and designer shoes. The character brought Sarah Jessica star status and praise from the fashion world, but through it all, she has never forgotten where she came from.

In a 2000 interview with the New York Times, Sarah Jessica describes her childhood as “Dickensian,” and shares a memory of when her elementary school teacher would call out the names of the children who were to receive a free lunch and have them line up at the front of the class. “‘I knew I was different from the kids who pay for lunch or bring their lunch from home. It was a stigma thing. I was not the only person receiving a free lunch, but you are aware that you are different,” she shares. Now an accomplished actor, entrepreneur, and activist, Sarah Jessica makes it a point to keep her thoughts on those who are vulnerable. During the 2016 Forbes Women’s Summit, Sarah Jessica spoke candidly about how lucky she feels to be in a position to be a mother and still be able to do and create things that she wants to pursue—something that she knows many mothers, especially single mothers, are unable to do. It’s the kind of thinking that leads her activism, keeping a focus on those who do not have access to programs that can improve or even save their lives. It’s also what has led her to continuously use her voice to advocate for vulnerable children. She is a very public supporter of the Robin Hood Foundation, New York’s largest poverty-fighting organization, even participating in their COVID-19 relief telethon in 2020. Over the years, Sarah Jessica has been a significant supporter of New York City’s poverty-fighting organizations, including the Food Bank for New York City, and has actively participated in UNICEF campaigns since 1997. Her lived experiences relying on public assistance have proven to her that poverty isn’t defined by race, gender, or education level, and have made working to combat child hunger a cause that is incredibly close to Sarah Jessica’s heart. That’s why her wine company Invivo X, Sarah Jessica Parker, has donated over 330,000 meals in 2021 in collaboration with FEED, an impact-driven brand by Lauren Bush to fight world hunger.

Sipping With SJP

Founded in 2008, Invivo & Co. are New Zealand’s leading winemakers, working out of one of New Zealand’s oldest wineries to produce award-winning vegan wines from some of the world’s best grapes. In 2019, Sarah Jessica became a shareholder in the company, joining forces with co-founders and life-long best friends Tim and Rob to create her SJP Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and Rosé. The collection, called Invivo X, Sarah Jessica Parker, curated by Sarah Jessica Parker, combines New Zealand wine-making expertise with New York sass to create delicious, memorable, and one-of-a-kind wines. Since their release, the blends have been recognized in the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 World’s Best Wines and went on to win countless awards, including being awarded twelve 90-point ratings. This year alone, Invivo X, Sarah Jessica Parker received three prizes at the 2021 New York International Wine Competition, winning gold for Invivo X, SJP Sauvignon Blanc, Invivo X, SJP Rosé. The brand was also awarded Europe’s Rosé of the Year. Beyond a hat-trick of awards and a worldwide love of the collection, Invivo X, SJP does more than taste good—it does good.

The Giving Glass

Hunger is a daily reality for approximately 811 million people worldwide, according to the UN. Providing free and nutritious meals in schools is one of the most effective ways to combat hunger, while at the same time encouraging and fueling mental and physical growth. FEED works closely with its non-profit partners—the UN World Food Programme, No Kid Hungry, and Akshaya Patra—to provide school meals reaching kids around the world. “Hunger is not defined by gender, race, or education and has soared across the globe exponentially in the wake of the COVID pandemic,” Sarah Jessica explained in a statement on Invivo X, Sarah Jessica Parker’s website. “It is especially heartbreaking that so many children are affected.” Every purchase of Invivo X, SJP 2020 Rosé and 2020 Sauvignon Blanc goes towards funding meals for school children worldwide, with 27,500 meals donated every month by Invivo X, SJP. Founded in 2007, FEED offers meaningful ways to make a difference, from the bags you carry, to the places you gather, to the meals you share. With every product sold, FEED provides school meals to the most vulnerable communities worldwide, through on-the-ground partners. Since its inception, FEED has helped provide millions of meals to students in vulnerable communities in 63 countries around the world, including in America, by working with nonprofit organizations to fund and facilitate school meal programs. “As a result of the pandemic, rates of food insecurity and hunger are meaningfully higher than they’ve been at any point in the last two decades,” says FEED CEO & Founder Lauren Bush. “The FEED Foundation is so proud to partner with Invivo Wines and Sarah Jessica Parker to help raise much-needed awareness for this issue and help fund school meal programs that make a major difference in the lives of kids in need around the world and here in the U.S.”

With a wide range of wares, from bags to accessories to home goods, FEED shares an enduring principle at the heart of all they do—that people’s choices of what to buy and wear have the power to change the world. FEED works to create change at every level of its brand, working with artisans from Kenya to India to create its goods. Through the sale of their artisan-made products, FEED provides not just meals, but sustainable livelihoods for the artisans and their families. Now that the holiday season is in full swing, giving gifts has never been so perfectly tied with giving back. Between a delicious, award-winning wine collection that provides meals with every bottle sold, and a sustainable brand producing artisan-crafted bags, accessories, and more, this holiday season will make a glass of wine with your meal that much better. Invivo X, Sarah Jessica Parker is available across the U.S. and globally and has now made its way to Ontario. Find the coveted Sauvignon Blanc and Rosé at LCBO stores, in addition to liquor stores in Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Quebec. For more information, head to invivoxsjp.com.

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