Co-founders Melvin Thomas and Angela Farrugia present cheque to Railway Children charity.
Licensing agency TLC is well known for exceeding expectations – and it has done it again, presenting a cheque for $180,000 to the Railway Children charity, totally smashing its fundraising target of $50,000.
The cheque was presented to the charity’s chief executive Terina Keen at a celebratory event to mark TLC’s 20th anniversary, held at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery’s Magazine restaurant yesterday evening (Monday October 11).
Addressing an audience that represented TLC’s past and present, (including many former colleagues and investors, as well as the current team and brand owners that the company represents), co-founders Melvin Thomas and Angela Farrugia chronicled the last two decades, paying tribute to the many who have played a part in the journey.
“It has taken us 20 years to have overnight success,” said Angela “and now we want to give back,” citing the company-wide programme of fundraising initiatives that has been underway since April, involving all of TLC’s 24 offices around the world.
Highlighting the cornerstones of the business that has stood TLC in such good stead over the years, in his speech Melvin said: “It’s people and brands”, singling out longtime colleagues Lisa Shapiro and Dan Avener for a special mention.
“We’ve had various victories and body blows,” admitted Angela in her speech summing up the last 20 years of the business, but said that the decision to form a joint venture with Iconix in 2010 was the “first real change. Suddenly we became an owner of 17 brands and the new audiences they opened up.”
She said that “the world changed again” for TLC in 2014 when world leading sourcing company Li & Fung acquired the business making it part of Global Brands Group (GBG), followed this summer with the merger with talent agency CAA.
“Now we have nine letters that make up a power house,” summed up Angela referring to the CAA-GBG TLC acronym.
Elucidating on how the strength of the TLC ‘power house’ has been put to very good use to help others, Terina Keen, chief executive of street children charity Railway Children, said: “What does $180,000 mean? It means it will save 600 children who this morning woke up on the streets, giving them access to somewhere safe to stay, away from abuse and violence; it could fund an entire project in Kenya for a whole year.
“These children are ‘the youngest of our species’. There are 100 million children who live on the streets. We talk of progress, yet we leave the youngest of our species to die on the streets.”
Want to read more news like this? Simply sign up to our daily digest by clicking here. You can also follow @LicensingSource on Twitter.
