LOS ANGELES – Candy Spelling, one of LA’s celebrated residents, will attend the American Society of Association Executives and the Center for Association Leadership’s 2009 Annual Meeting & Exposition in Toronto to help sell Los Angeles as a destination for meetings and to encourage planners to attend the 2010 meeting in Los Angeles from Aug. 21-24.
Mrs. Spelling, author and newly designated “tourism ambassador” is partnering with LA INC. The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau to promote Los Angeles.
“I’m a very fortunate person because my family has been in Los Angeles for generations,’’ said Mrs. Spelling. “Tourism plays such an important part in the economy of Los Angeles and Southern California, and I’d like to think my husband and I helped a little. My house is a popular stop on the “tours of stars’ homes” (yes, mine is the largest house in Los Angeles!), and I can rarely come or go without a tour bus or two driving by.’’ “Candy Spelling’s knowledge of the city and her dedication to her hometown makes her the perfect ambassador for Los Angeles. She is committed to assisting the Bureau in the work that we do and we look forward to working with her. She has presented us with a one-of-a-kind opportunity to tell the story of LA,’’ said Mark Liberman, president and CEO of LA INC. The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Mrs. Spelling will autograph copies of her New York Times-bestselling book, “Stories from Candyland’’ at the Association Solutions Marketplace on Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 17 and 18. Additionally, she will participate in the closing general session of the convention along with Mark Liberman, president and CEO of LA INC. The book is a confection of stories and adventures in Candy Spelling’s life.
Spelling has always been passionate about Los Angeles. Her first job was working at LA based-See’s Candies and today, her many civic activities include being one of the nine commissioners for the Los Angeles Coliseum, serving on the Board of Commissioners for the Department of Recreation and Parks for the City of Los Angeles, and she works with LA’s Best, an after-school enrichment program serving disadvantaged children throughout Los Angeles in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District. Spelling is also scheduled to join the Board of Directors of LA INC. in the Fall. She is also a contributing editor to “Los Angeles Confidential” Magazine, and writes regularly for The Huffington Post, momlogic.com and other media outlets. She is also joining BBC Radio as an entertainment correspondent later this
summer, another opportunity to promote Los Angeles and tourism. Spelling joins celebrities Kobe Bryant, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Lauren Conrad in LA INC.’s newest marketing campaign – “That’s So LA.” The “That’s So LA” campaign targets meetings and conventions and visitors. The campaign is currently on-line and in print to key domestic and international markets.
LA INC. The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau is a private, nonprofit business association whose primary mission is to market and promote Los Angeles as the premier site for meetings, conventions and leisure travel. Though not part of the city government, LA INC. is recognized as the city’s official tourism marketing organization.
