It was almost over before it began.
Matthew Du Bord, our founder father, had driven a rainy 3-hour round-trip drive to my house on NYE eve to carefully hand-deliver a shopping bag full of supremely pristine Gem Wrap packages with perfect labels in stiff white bubble envelopes. He handed them over with a raised eyebrow.
“Do NOT bend these. Or wrinkle or crease or dirty them. These are the beauties and HSN will not let go on the air if they are imperfect in anyway.”
I accepted the bag and my mission. I held next to me in the car so it wouldn’t slide around on the way to the airport. Like you would if you had to transport cupcakes to the neighbor’s house. Only I wasn’t going to the neighbors. I was driving to SFO from Napa then flying across the country to Tampa.
To HSN. To our BIG break on television. To the chance our little company had struggled and waited for- over 4 and half years.
Besides being excited and a little nervous about cooking, talking and prepping for 3 separate shows in 10 hours , I now had to deliver the “beauties” unmarred. I could do it! I would do it! Or so I thought—until I met the TSA at SFO airport.
The “beauties”
I laid the bag full of the perfect Wraps in a bin and gently pushed it onto the rolling conveyor belt. I smiled at the agent as he waved me through the machine. I collected my other bag, my boots, my coat. My wraps? They were stopped inside the X-ray machine. TSA agents began gathering around the screen pointing and looking over at me with concerned scowls. Finally, one agent brought the bin around and dropped it in front of me.
Easy!! I thought.
He looked at me, his head tilted, worried- “These yours?”
“Yes, sir!” I said. “Everything ok?”
His eyes widened, dramatically. “No, Ma’am, It is not. What are these?”
I hesitated. All right! Yes- I scanned a few optional answered besides the truth—but—these wraps are so unique, never been seen on TV or anywhere- could I explain them? What if they took them? They were our beauties- they were our show!
“Um. They. Are. Papers! Colored papers!”
Colored papers? What the…?
The agent shook his head, disappointed.
“No Ma’am. These are registering on the machine as…. cake.”
I froze. I laughed a little. “Cake? “
He nodded importantly, “Yes. Cake.”
He looked at me for an answer. I smiled stupidly at him, nodding. “Uh!”
“So?”
“Sooooo. Cake is okay, right?”
“Yes, it is, Ma’am. You can tell us it’s cake, next time.”
“Oh! Right. Okay. Thank you, sir.” I had my hand on the handle now. “Thanks a lot. Have great day.”
He held the bag for a second and then nodded sharply again.
“You, too, ma’am”
I bolted with the wraps safely in my grasp, thanking all the security goddesses and cake gods. We were safe. We were on our way to Tampa.
The rest of the trip was a breeze. The staff at HSN were cheerful, warm and excited about the wraps like they were the new, cool kids on the block. Producers to cameramen to hosts wandered in and out of the prep kitchen while we got our banquet table prepped for the shows. They asked questions, accepted tasty bites, said they were going to buy some, too. We had 3 great shows- including the 3 AM time slot! Everything looked beautiful, my hosts were great and their ethusiasm was inspiring to me and most importantly to their viewers. I managed to speak and roll and talk all at once without much stuttering. Whatever we did must have been right- because we were fortunate enough to sell out in 3, twelve minute shows. Yes!! Thank you!!
A bouquet of wraps
The table at HSN
We’ll be back on HSN March 12th. Show times TBD. See you there!
