When I arrived in Itaewon and walked up to the third floor of Dillinger’s Bar, I don’t know what I was really expecting. Tonight had been the much anticipated for Bras For A Cause and I knew a lot of advertising had been done for it. The other week I had come to Itaewon to help hand out flyers and tell random people about the event. This past week I sold hot pink breast cancer bracelets and I showed my support by making an official meetup activity for the girls-only club I run.
What ended up becoming of the event was an over-packed bar with a lot of energetic people. Event workers were selling chocolate suckers in the shape of nipples and breasts, others were selling buttons, collecting the cover charge at the door, random guys stood around sporting some of the auction bras, while others that were involved in the entertainment part of the evening practiced and got ready in the back stairwell. It definitely was one buzzing bar!
The energy of the crowd was hilariously high and contagious. Then when the belly dancers came out we all become somewhat like deer caught in the headlights, mesmerized by their vibrant coloured fans and swiveling hips. They were really interesting to watch.
It was really nice to get a chance to meet some of my club’s new faces. No sooner had I arrived but then the place became so incredibly packed that you literally could not move. My girl Sammy-Kat ended up having to sit on the bar counter so that she could catch any glimpse of the event.
One of tonight's events was a bra auction, auctioning off all these elaborately decorated bras. It was a great idea and I had volunteered to model but when they told me to go into the stairwell to get ready it was like I had been hit by a truck.
What I thought was modeling and what the other models were doing were polar opposites!!!
I stepped into the back stairwell and there before me where numerous females looking very scandalous. I was shocked. There they stood, wearing tall high heels, dolled up makeup, and nothing but the bra they were modeling for the auction and a pair of panties. Ok, so that’s not totally true, some wore fishnet stockings, but skin was definitely the main thing they were wearing, so I turned, buried my face into some random guy also modeling and blurted out “I cannot do this!” I can’t remember the last time I was so completely and utterly uncomfortable. I was under the impression that I could wear the bra over a black tank top. The organizers reassured me that it was ok but I was the only one obviously doing this. Even a couple of the guys modeling dropped their pants and strutted out in boxers. I didn't want to let the organizers down, they had worked so hard, but I also knew I just couldn't do like the others.
I knew I could definitely give these girls a run for their money with regards to our bodies but I have too much weighing on my shoulders with regards to sponsors and my business starting out to risk anything and put it on the line. Plus my father just didn’t raise me to be that kind of girl. Props to those girls who did though tonight, I respect their confidence and participation but it just wasn’t right for me to participate like that. I’ll drop my clothes for a weigh-in but that’s because it’s boxing, it’s not an over-sexualized situation like this.
The guy in front of me in the model line was very encouraging to me; he definitely was the hero for me tonight. He too was nervous about it all so he wore a plastic mask. He ended up telling me that he’d walk out with me. I couldn’t compete with the others on my own, nor did I care to compete with them, but I wanted to help raise money for breast cancer, that’s why I had agreed to this in the first place. So we went out together. I jumped on his back and we headed out into the middle of the loud, cheering crowd.
My “partner-in-crime” for the night killed the competition with a winning auction bid of $86 for the bra he was sporting. I, on the other hand, couldn’t help but giggle at the fact that I rocked the bra, kept all my clothes on, and killed the competition among the girls (in my round), selling my bra at $50. Very cool.
RESULTS FROM TONIGHT'S CHARITY EVENT:
Bras for a Cause raised 2,478,000 won for the Korea Breast Cancer Foundation!!! That's sooooooooooooooo awesome. Here's the official break down:
100,000 won from Dillinger's Bar
915,000 won on the entrance fee for the event, at about 165 paying people
533,000 won raised selling chocolate boobies and pink bracelets
930,000 won from the bra auction
As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).
After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.
Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.
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