City of Hope's National Professional Salon Industry has selected Reuben Carranza, CEO of Wella, the Salon Professional Division of P&G, North America, to receive their prestigious Spirit of Life Award. This honor recognizes industry leaders each year for their outstanding professional and philanthropic contributions. City of Hope is designated as a camprehensive cancer center, the highest honor bestowed by the National Cancer Institute.

On January 25, Carranza and his guests spent the morning touring the City of Hope campus to learn more about its lifesaving mission to cure cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases.  Presentations by City of Hope physicians and researchers included discussion into the groundbreaking work being done and the excellent clinical and compassionate care offered at City of Hope.

After the tour, guests gathered for a luncheon and Carranza thanked everyone for coming. “There is a cross section of people here who are in the salon industry.  Many of you are here from manufacturing, from school associations, our media partners, and member of our Wella company,” said Carranza.  “I want to share with you that the goal for this year is to raise at least $1.5 for City of Hope.  There are lots of non-profits who compete for our time in the salon industry but I want to tell you why I think City of Hope should be the industry’s charity of choice.  There are few, if any, facilities that can go from bench to bedside in terms of what they do, that can focus on research, treatment and cures whether it is for cancer, or HIV, transplants or diabetes.”

Carranza has chosen to direct funds raised during his Spirit of Life campaign toward City of Hope’s cutting-edge research in diabetes. Coming from a family ravaged by this chronic disease, Carranza has seen the impact diabetes had on his mother and his aunt, both hairdressers, as they struggled to continue to work behind the chair.

The Spirit of Life Gala honoring Reuben Carranza will be Saturday, July 13 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas during PBA Beauty Week and Cosmoprof North America.