By Sam Borsato - @BorsatoSam on Twitter

City Based Company Reflects on Red Carpet Experience

Mar 6, 2016 | 7:44 AM

LETHBRIDGE – It was the experience of a lifetime for a Lethbridge-based company.

Merena Johnson, the founder of Halo Headwear, had the chance to showcase her company at an Academy Awards celebrity gifting suite.

Inspired by busy moms like herself, Johnson makes and sells fun and functional headbands. Halo Headwear also employs local women who prefer to work from their homes, and donates 20% of sales to Compassion Canada’s Child Survival Program.

“We had lots of people that really loved what we’re doing, loved our product. Lots of people said they wanted to follow-up with us, and talk more about us with friends and influences in their lives.” Johnson explained.

However, it was a different experience from what they expected. She said it was much more hectic than they would have anticipated.

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Johnson explained that each celebrity was announced and escorted into the ballroom where vendors were set-up. Lots of them had a team of publicity reps and managers, so it was harder to have one-on-one interactions.

Johnson noted that they weren’t guaranteed to see any A-list celebrities, but still met up with a few bigger names. “They were all invited, but they have very busy schedules. We did see some of their peers, like Brendan Fletcher, who was a co-star with Leonardo DiCaprio on The Revenent. He took a Halo from our booth. We didn’t get to see Leonardo, unfortunately.”

“Some extraordinary athletes, like Apolo Ohno, he came and chatted with us for a while, too. So, we got to connect with them and a lot of them are passing on Halos to the A-listers that we were hoping to see while we were there.”

She says now that they’ve done it once, Halo Headwear would be more than willing to do another suite. The company that invited them said they can already start pre-applying for next year’s show, and possibly others like the Golden Globes.

You can find the company’s website here