This weekend I attended the CoachArt x Natasha Wagner event at the Ron Robinson boutique in Santa Monica. The event was sponsored by Ron Robinson and the CoachArt foundation - a charitable foundation that works with local artists to provide one- on-one training and group classes for children with chronic illnesses. The foundation kicked off it's partnership with actress and local community theater leader, Natasha Wagner, who is also the daughter of Hollywood legend Natalie Woods, last year at their annual gala. She was honored with one of their awards and has been working with them ever since. Since then she has been working with the organization to create theater and improv classes for CoachArt children in communities around the LA area. Natasha launched her Santa Monica program at Ron Robinson this Mother's Day. As part of the event the store even offered special deals and a fun shopping experience for the mom's who brought their kids to the event. Natasha celebrated the day as well with a special on her own signature fragrance line inspired by her mom Natalie Wood; 20% of proceeds went to the CoachArt foundation. Natasha was so excited to see such a full house turn out for her theater class; the kids who participated were having a blast learning improv techniques. She made sure everyone was included and came up with fun activities for the whole group. The event also included snacks and dessert provided by a local catering company that specializes in all organic and sugar free creations. The class was an exciting opportunity for the children who participate in CoachArt programs because childhood chronic illnesses can often prevent kids from joining many activities in their school, especially if they attend public schools who already have a limited selection of arts activities available. For these children a chance to get to know new friends and feel accomplished at something is such an important opportunity since they can often feel out of place at public schools who aren't equipped to offer them alternative activities to choose from. Choices are often limited for children who are required to attend public schools and giving a variety of choices of activities and learning environments for kids to choose from based on their needs is something many children could benefit from. CoachArt and it's volunteer coaches such as Natasha are providing a much needed place for these kids to get exposure to new activities in the arts, which for many may even turn into a possible career. The fun day continued with more arts and crafts provided by CoachArt volunteers. I headed over to check out Natasha's new fragrance line and spoke with her about her inspiration, her mom and silver screen glamour girl Natalie Wood. According to Natasha she wanted to create something that was classic while still being fresh and light. She said, "I wanted to create something fresh and accessible but still have gardenia at the heart."
The fragrance appealed to fans of all ages and captured her mother's memory with notes of gardenia, her mother's favorite flower, and orange blossom which Natasha said always surrounded her childhood home. The fragrance captures the timelessness of her mother's legacy and according to Natasha one her favorite memories of Natalie Wood. On her mother's birthday Natasha remembers getting hundreds of gardenias sent to the house and the air being filled with the refreshing scent for days afterwards. She spent months developing the fragrance and learned about the process of creating a perfume at a company in upstate New York, a process she said she really enjoyed. "What I learned is, it's not just one or two fragrances that create the scent. It's like wine or like cooking," she said of the yearlong project. According to Natasha she is a very decisive person and she knew instantly what she liked and didn't like. She wanted to stay away from anything too strong and "perfumey" but was incredibly happy with the final product once it was finally finished. It has inspired her to create more fragrances and she has plans to introduce more to the line in the future. She is currently working on a rose inspired fragrance to add to the line next.
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