Kingston Bridal Week 2013 with Randy Fenoli – The view from the inside

It’s so very exciting and I’m still over the moon that the KBW team thought so highly of me that they would appoint little ol’ me to be international celebrity Randy Fenoli’s media manager while he was here in Jamaica. It was truly an awesome experience and I wanted to share a few little nuggets with you. Even though I’ve written this article twice before, one that appeared in the Jamaica Observer and another that will appear in the October issue of Nirvana Magazine, yes, I can still write more. Of course I saved a few little nuggets for you my readers! And there are pictures that are personal and cutesy that I can share here, like this #selfie with the great Randy! How cute are we???

 It is awesome, I tell you, to adore someone on TV and then meet them and be even more delighted. He was fun right off the plane, sipping his very first coconut water straight from the nut and asking for the vodka. A man after my own heart, I knew right then that we were gon’ be alright! He wasn’t a diva, he wasn’t obnoxious, in fact he was so kind and gracious the entire time. As mentioned, I’ve never done anything like this before on this magnitude so there were definitely some things that slipped through my fingers that I really wish hadn’t and some preparations I wished I’d made beforehand but he was just cool like a coconut.

Drinks and h’orderves with Michelle Hussey and her partner Dave Banmiller, owners of the Terra Nova Hotel here in Kingston as well as the marketing executives at the hotel. Dave is a retired airline executive and having ran 4 different airlines all over the world, he has stories for days! The conversation was fascinating and it was my little taste into the lifestyle of the rich and famous. As we sat for dinner with the finest wine and all lobster everything, I didn’t want to be the one at the table snapping pics for Instagram! LOL! Luckily, the Huff Post reporter who came to Jamaica to cover Kingston Bridal Week wasn’t experiencing the same apprehension I was

This was my entree, lobster thermidor. It was rich, creamy, decadent and divine. But the rice almost stole the show. Of course, rice cannot be better than lobster! But you never expect something as plain as rice to give you such an explosion of flavours! I wanted to ask for more! What is it that they put in that rice?!?!?! It was my second of three lobster meals at the Terra Nova over my stay and it was all decadent.

Chie Davis of the Huffington Post, myself, Randy Fenoli, Miller aka Diesel our security detail and Nicole Barbar from the Kingston Bridal Week team, aka the dream team. On the big day of all the events, we were the ones to make sure everything ran smoothly and it came off without a hitch. I’m especially proud of my decision to not have lunch at the hotel but instead to order Scotchies for the team as I wanted Randy to have a little taste of our jerk chicken and I wanted him to have it the way we Jamaicans love it. He was thrilled, he loves the pepper sauce! Yes, Randy loves him the spice.

Randy is a party guy too and each night we went back to the Regency Bar at the Terra Nova to throwback Greyhounds and chat with the patrons. I don’t know how he does it after such long days but it sure was fun! I’ll tell you I crashed and burned HARD when he left. I slept ALL day long. Yep, Im a rookie. But it was great fun and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I could listen to him talk for days, he has no qualms opening up and sharing stories of his personal life and his professional life and it is all a joy to hear him speak. He tried to help all those around him who he could and it was just real special to see him move through a crowd. That’s why he’s the big star he is!

Thanks again to team KBW for this opportunity!