China Southern Airlines Dignitary Gala at The Plaza Hotel

China Southern Airlines held a glamorous gala at The Plaza Hotel to celebrate their inaugural flight from Guangzhou, China to JFK.

This is China Southern Airline's new non-stop service between New York and Guangzhou that is meant to better connect the US and Chinese markets and further promote New York as a global destination.

The evening gala featured a cocktail hour followed by a sit-down dinner in The Plaza’s Grand Ballroom, speeches by China Southern executives, a raffle and performances by China Southern’s flight attendants.

This unique international evening had an impressive roster of invited guests that included, WABC Host, NY Times bestselling author and TV Correspondent Rita Cosby, Actress Julianne Michelle and Political Filmmaker, Social Activist, and Actor Sean Stone.

Confirmed Government Officials included:

Kenneth E. Hyatt – Acting Under Secretary for International Trade, U.S. Department of Commerce

Ambassador Vinai Thummalapally –Executive Director, SelectUSA International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce

William Colton – Assemblyman, United States Government

Markly Wilson – Director of International Marketing for the New York State Division of Tourism, United States Government

Haitian Lu, United Nations

Ian Chan – Office Manager of Councilman Peter Koo, United States Government

Elaine Fan, United States Government

Liu Yiwei – Counselor

Li Xiaomei – Consul, Consulate General of China in New York

Liu Lian –Secretary of Consul General Sun Guoxiang

For more than 30 years, China Southern - www.csair.com - has been the largest airline in The People’s Republic of China and is headquartered at the ultra-modern Baiyun International Airport Guangzhou. China Southern operates a fleet of more than 550 aircraft and serves 193 cities in 30 countries and regions, forming an extensive network with Guangzhou and Beijing as its hubs. China Southern is a proud member of SkyTeam and together with member airlines offers passengers a worldwide system of more than 19,000 daily flights spanning more than 1,000 destinations in 187 countries.

It was my first time going to The Plaza Hotel for a gala and I couldn’t have been more excited. I’ve attended quite a few beautiful venues around the city for high-profile events but The Plaza certainly tops a great majority of them. For over 100 years socialites, celebrities, royalty and business leaders have chosen The Plaza for their most important social events.

My dress of choice for the evening was a beautiful Eliza J sparkling champagne colored piece. It was definitely the most benefitting look for such a glamorous affair at The Plaza.

My friend Rolise Rachel who's the Events/Business Development Director for Social Life Magazine looked stunning as ever in her Taylor Dress. (Another one of my favorite fashion company’s!) I owe a special thank you to Rolise for letting me know about the China Southern Airlines gala that evening.

The cocktail portion of the evening started promptly at 6pm. Immaculately dressed guests arrived to mingle and sip a fabulous selection of wines and cocktails.

Around 7pm the call for dinner began. The Plaza’s Grand Ballroom was transformed into an opulent dining room. While walking into the room I savored my giddy feeling of about to have dinner at The Plaza with some of the world’s most important dignitaries.

I was completely enchanted by the grandiose Beaux Arts decor of The Plaza’s Grand Ballroom which really set the stage for this once in a lifetime experience.

My table included top executives from China Southern Airlines like Huang Zibo, and Wang Jidong whom I had the pleasure of dining with. They were super friendly and even taught me how to properly toast in Chinese!

The evening dinner commenced with speeches and presentations from China Southern Airline’s top executives.

After the speeches China Southern Airline’s extremely talented, beautiful and poised flight attendants sang and danced with traditional Chinese plate-spinning performances.

While taking in the incredible performances I was also completely enamored with my salmon tartare appetizer that was set on thinly cut cucumbers and topped with an impossibly delicious crunchy tempura.

The main-course was an equally scrumptious steak served with shrimp, rice and thinly cut veggies. The foodie in me certainly appreciated the surf and turf combination!

Dessert was a savory scone filled with ice cream and an assortment of fruits.

After dinner I went around the room to meet more international guests and take a few more photos with my best friend and lawyer Robin Herman.

One of my favorite people to see at the China Southern Airlines gala was stunning socialite Joanna Fan whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting at a gala once before. Joanna was beautifully dressed in a combination of shining yellow and blue satin with matching blue heels.