Sparta business woman brings her product to Academy Awards event

Sparta n Cathy Beggan has seen stars, literally. Beggan, a ten-year resident of Sparta, was invited to attend a two-day pre-Academy Awards event for select businesses with products chosen for the gift baskets for the stars. The event is an opportunity for the businesses to showcase their products and give away samples. After receiving a phone call from the event coordinator Steve Stein, Beggan thought it might have been a practical joke. She soon discovered Stein was legitimate and the next thing Beggan knew, her product, Wake UP On Time, would be included in celebrity gift baskets, along with such items as laptops and products by Coach and Fendi. Beggan later learned Nancy Borgnine, daughter of actor Ernest Borgnine, is a fan of her product and referred it to Stein. Beggan had an opportunity to meet Borgnine and her father for the first time at the event. The Friday before the Academy Awards, Beggan and her 10-year-old daughter Christina flew to Los Angeles in the morning, and returned home on the red-eye flight Monday morning. Their action-packed weekend included an exclusive tour of the back lot of Universal Studios. The back access gave Beggan an opportunity to see celebrities walking by to their sets, and also to see the famous Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives. On their own, mother and daughter also dined at the Koi Restaurant, a celebrity hangout with Japanese cuisine, and Crustacean, a Beverly Hills eatery known for their “Walk on Water” a glass floor aquarium. On Sunday, they ventured to the Universal Theme Park. During the event, Beggan saw what she described as “one famous face after the next.” Actors Tom Arnold, William Shatner, Lorenzo Lamas (with daughter Shayne in tow), Mario Lopez, Scott Baio and Stephen Baldwin were among some of the men who visited her table. Actresses Jennifer Love-Hewitt and Camryn Mannheim also stopped by. She described Tony Dovolani from Dancing with the Stars as “very nice” and said Kara DioGuardi, the newest judge for American Idol received an “overwhelming amount of attention.” Beggan said her daughter drew people to the table as one of the only children present at the event. Love-Hewitt spent considerable time talking with them both. Daughter Christina exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses with young celebrities, including one of the actresses from Twilight. Beggan was wiped out of product before the end of the event. She said lots of good things have come as a result of the two-day event and event coordinators said they had great feedback about the products from celebrities and would like to speak further with her about it. Wake UP On Time is an herbal pill conceptualized by Beggan, that people can take before they go to bed to wake up refreshed. She worked alongside experts and formulators to devise her product, which is marketed by her company Rise-N-Shine, LLC. She describes the product as a mix of B vitamins, Ginseng, Guarana and L-Tyrosine for energy. The product is featured in the April issue of In Style Magazine, and can be seen on Beggan’s Web site at: http://www.wakeupontime.com.