Stephanie Fusco - content that grows legs - Latest Comments

Re: the california diaries: beverly hills, 90210

EatDrinkToronto — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:11:41 -0000

The twitter plate is too cute! That's a lovely view from your hotel room, too (tempting for shopping...)

Re: That time I got a call from Oprah

Kasia Rusiniak — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:35:59 -0000

Definitely a good feeling to know that individual voices are heard. Unfortunate that things turned out the way they did, but good on them for stepping in and apologizing! And good on you for speaking up!

Re: That time I got a call from Oprah

stephaniefusco — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:23:50 -0000

Unexpected and very cool.

Re: That time I got a call from Oprah

stephaniefusco — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:23:26 -0000

I thought it was really cool that they called but yeah, wish they'd taken more ownership. The apology was definitely appreciated and a huge step for a big brand like Harpo/Oprah.

Re: That time I got a call from Oprah

stephaniefusco — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:22:42 -0000

You had amazing seats!

Re: That time I got a call from Oprah

JamieLeighTO — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:49:13 -0000

Disappointing that they didn't take ownership for the issue, but a call from Harpo Studios is exciting nonetheless! Amazing!

Re: That time I got a call from Oprah

Renee — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:29:04 -0000

That's me in the picture, 3rd over from right!

Re: That time I got a call from Oprah

Shannon Hunter — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:09:36 -0000

AMAZING!

Re: That time I got a call from Oprah

casiestewart — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:04:25 -0000

AWESOME.

Re: Tough lessons learned at Oprah’s Lifeclass in Toronto

stephaniefusco — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:21:14 -0000

Thanks for your comments, Lola.

Regardless of whether Harpo & Oprah had anything to do with the planning of the event, it remains that the takeaways from the event will reflect on the Oprah brand and how people feel about Oprah.

Re: Tough lessons learned at Oprah’s Lifeclass in Toronto

guest — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:04:50 -0000

FYI...the oprah group had nothing to do with the planning of the event...it was 'the power of women'. A lot of complaining going on...maybe people need to pay more attention to Lifeclasses....

Re: Tough lessons learned at Oprah’s Lifeclass in Toronto

Mrspuff — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:38:28 -0000

Agreed with most of the things that were said. I was one of the staff working at the event and I could not believe how unstructured the venue was for such an event and became chaotic at many times with the seats not being numbered and set for the ticket. This event should have been held at ACC or another venue with assigned individual seating and the prices should have been much lower for the general admission. Sorry that you guys had to pay so much for them for where you had to sit. I agree that it was a money grab for the organizers of the event, Power of Women Inc who were the host for the venue. Harpo did not have anything to do with the venue and lack of organization.

Re: Tough lessons learned at Oprah’s Lifeclass in Toronto

stephaniefusco — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 11:04:31 -0000

Great post, Shannon!

I had a phone call from Oprah's team at Harpo yesterday and they explained that Power of Women were the organizers and that certain things the Oprah team at Harpo asked for weren't done.

I'll be doing a follow-up with more about that conversation later today.

Re: Tough lessons learned at Oprah’s Lifeclass in Toronto

Shannon Hilton — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 10:15:28 -0000

I had a bad experience too. And spent thousands to get there, since we came from Calgary. I do think that fault lies with the organizers (Power of Women inc - whom I can't even find a website for!) and not with Oprah, OWN, etc.
Poorly organized, poorly planned, and too little communication & security outside.
My take: http://bit.ly/Jec0ml

Re: Tough lessons learned at Oprah’s Lifeclass in Toronto

Jacyntaalana — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:35:15 -0000

I sat in the front row of the festival tickets. I was one of the first 300 people in line in the morning and there was a huge argument between people in line and security because they mixed everyone up at one point and those waiting in line in the morning got so upset. security gave us early comers pink wristbands and were promised us some of the best seats. HOWEVER only half actually got right up to the front, the rest of us stuck in the back. so some of the people that didn't line up until 1 got to sit up at the front because they mixed in with us and the other half for shafted for some reason. it was so disorganized and crazy. fights broke out and it was just an overall bad experience in the lineup

Re: Lazy-girl summer beauty essentials

Kim — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:13:50 -0000

i know it's great to have beauty tips n reviews you can trust.ps.Vichy has a very wide selection of products n most are available in many age category's you should check them out,any franchise phamacy that have Health n Beauty consulton's,i'm a die hard fan but i am also open to new all natural products,sensitive skin

Re: Tough lessons learned at Oprah’s Lifeclass in Toronto

stephaniefusco — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:56:06 -0000

To be honest, unless you were in the first couple rows you could probably get the same experience watching it at home.

I'd totally be on board with thinking that OWN just didn't know what they were doing here in Toronto, but as a PR gal myself I know that these sorts of things generally necessitate a site visit or two. Plus, they had a Canadian PR team (Corus) working on it.

Unfortunately, since it's Oprah we're talking about here, I doubt we'll see any response from Corus or OWN. 16,000 people having a bad experience in Toronto is just a tiny drop of bad press compared to the positive coverage she gets.

Re: Tough lessons learned at Oprah’s Lifeclass in Toronto

Bee Amegah — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:45:12 -0000

I really wanted to go, but now, I'm kind of thankful I didn't. Plus, it seems excessive to charge so much money for general admission (even for Oprah) when the divisions between $500/200/50 seats wasn't that distinctive. Never having been to MTCC, but seeing the crowds, it just seems like it was a bad idea to hold the event there. All I can think is that having never been to Canada, let alone Toronto, the people at OWN didn't really know what they were bargaining for when the event was booked there. Possibly they thought it would have been a good place to have an "intimate" venue, rather than choose an arena like the ACC. I don't know if OWN will respond, hopefully Corus does, but either way, I hope both organizations will learn from this experience, and not just ignore the criticisms and get lost in the afterglow of OinTO.

Re: Tough lessons learned at Oprah’s Lifeclass in Toronto

stephaniefusco — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:11:16 -0000

Oh, wow. I wasn't aware that even those with Executive/Emerald seating were told to line up, too.

What irked me the most was that we lined up only to get the same seats we would have if we'd shown up at 5:30/6.

I remember her saying during the afternoon show that she would be coming back - we left early so I was curious if she ended up visiting. I guess not!

I'm so sorry to hear that you had such a terrible experience, especially after paying so much money.

Re: Tough lessons learned at Oprah’s Lifeclass in Toronto

@leafsweetie — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:00:02 -0000

I had Executive Seating and was not in the least impressed with my seats. There were 5 rows in front of me that were "reserved" and those people did not show up til the live taping. There's no reason why a paid, ticketed event (and not a cheaply ticketed one, at that) should be a "fend for yourself, elbows up, chase your seat after lining up for hours"-event.

We waited outside from 12pm (and at that point the lineup was under the tunnel on Lower Simcoe near Front). Once we got to near the front of the building, people who were being dropped off at the front tried to cut in line. We got police involved and they did their best. They tried to plead that they had been in line as well - we've all be standing together (strangers) for 4 hours, we recognize everyone in front of and behind us. In addition to that, they cut the speakers' speaking time short. They started late and gave us less of what we paid for (the speakers' thoughts and Oprah). I hear that in the morning, Ms Winfrey came out into the crowd to say hello. We didn't get that in the afternoon. I also had network issues. Couldn't use their wifi and the networks were so jammed that I couldn't even use 3G. My battery died from trying so hard to get online.

Re: Tough lessons learned at Oprah’s Lifeclass in Toronto

stephaniefusco — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:49:03 -0000

Good on you for sending Oprah a letter! I've been tweeting at the network to zero response - kind of disheartening since they're more than happy to respond to everyone in the first 50 rows who had a fabulous time.

Re: Tough lessons learned at Oprah’s Lifeclass in Toronto

stephaniefusco — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:48:14 -0000

Cindy - I agree completely! I think we all would have gotten more out of the event if we'd scalped our tickets and headed to a nearby bar to watch!

Re: Tough lessons learned at Oprah’s Lifeclass in Toronto

ENRICHYOURLIFE7 — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 05:51:48 -0000

Oprah comes to Toronto for the first time.... and MTCC was the venue chosen? Yes, I was there... and YES, I was incredibly disappointed. $200 and one row ahead of the $50 seats? Stuck in the basement watching TV.

I had the same issues - lack of organization, no communicatoin from MTCC security, no assigned seating.

I have written to Oprah (not sure what that will do). Couldn't find the e-mail address for Corus Entertainment. Corus, if you're reading, the lack of preparation and the lack of $$$ fairness was SHAMEFUL.

Re: Lazy-girl summer beauty essentials

stephaniefusco — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:56:10 -0000

Me too! I find the colour can be a bit matte for lips, depending on the shade, but I always have at least one on hand!

Re: Lazy-girl summer beauty essentials

kelsey perry-carlsen — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:05:14 -0000

I love the Stila convertible colour compacts - great for lips and cheeks, and if you're into pink eyeshadows, you could use it as that too.