Our first guest is Lash Fary the Hollywood Gift Guru and Founder of Distinctive Assets. Today he will provide our audience an inside look at the most buzzed about Swag Bag in History! “While the end product may look at first glance like the same cornucopia of fabulous gifts we always assemble, this year’s contents are particularly special. The companies we are featuring embrace diversity, inclusion, health and philanthropy and are giving back to their communities and the world at large in significant ways.” ̶ Lash Fary
The “Everyone Wins” Nominee Gift Bags are NOT affiliated in any way with the OSCARS® or the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. A.M.P.A.S. does not award, sponsor, endorse or provide these gift bags. Neither the Academy nor Distinctive Assets wants there to be any association between the “Everyone Wins” Gift Bags and the OSCARS® or the Academy. For more information go to https://www.distinctiveassets.com/about-the-founder
Vanessa Okwuraiwe, Principal at Edward Jones, will discuss how financially prepared Americans are in the wake of the pandemic and how the Financial Fitness program can help. She will share her financial strategies to help families looking to boost their financial stability and resiliency this year. As part of its ongoing effort to increase financial preparedness and resilience, the Edward Jones Financial Fitness program helps Americans with everything from investing tips, planning for retirement, paying for education, and more. For more information visit www.edwardjones.com/financialfitness
Asher Smith, Litigation Manager for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Foundation. Today’s topic is a lawsuit to stop John’s Hopkins University, barn owls are being subjected to deadly experiments conducted by students.
Although great strides have been made by animal right activists over the years, animal experimentation—which can be replaced with everything from organs-on-a-chip to whole human DNA these days – still goes on in laboratories around the country. Some institutions use tax funds to conduct antiquated and harmful research on caged, domestic and wild animals. At John’s Hopkins University, barn owls are being subjected to deadly experiments conducted by students, in which the birds’ skulls are cut open and electrodes implanted in their brains. The owls are then restrained and bombarded with bright lights and loud noises for hours on end, eventually being killed.
These experiments continue in part because the Helm’s Amendment to the federal Animal Welfare Act, unfairly excludes “birds . . . bred for use in research, from coverage under the Act.” This has stripped the Secretary of Agriculture of the discretion to issue or enforce standards, rules and regulations for their humane treatment, something PETA is suing to correct. For more information please visit www.peta.org/owls