CharitySL.nl 2021 a closer acquaintance with the sponsors : Winter & Holly .

20 november 2021 Petra Waco-Oximoxi

Our event is over. We would like to highlight our sponsors, First of all :TAO ( Together As One )

In 2020 we met Winter and Holly. With T.A.O. ( Together As One ) they organize events for charities, but always for children. They do a lot for CharitySL.nl, Winter also did a fantastic performance for CharitySL.nl 2021. The proceeds of their festivals for the benefit of KiKa have been donated during CharitySL.nl 2021. We are very grateful to TAO for what they have done for KiKa

Tell me about yourself. What is your story? (how did you enter Second Life and besides playing the stars from the sky, what are you doing in SL? )

HOLLY: I joined IMVU first back in 2011 after some personal traumas that had me homebound and after 4 years someone introduced me to SL. After about a year of being in both SL and IMVU, I left IMVU for good. I didn’t really do much in SL though, just hung out at a beach club and listened to DJ’s, danced and read local chat. In early 2017 a new friend introduced me to Live music!!! and OMG. I was hooked. Hooked on the singers and the live music community in general. I opened and ran my own venue (No Strings) for almost 6 months on my own, 3 days a week 7 hours a day, hosting, managing, doing it all on my own before hiring hosts and a manager so that I could enjoy the live music scene a lot more. Then mid 2018 I was convinced by a friend that i needed to start singing in SL after he heard a recording of me. I suffered HUGE stage fright, and so i worked on that for a few months by singing at Karaoke places like the ~O~Lounge, and then in September 2018 I debuted at my own venue (which I have sadly closed since). I was picked up by Management about 5 months later and havent looked back since. Other than performing, I am a part of the TAO team, and spend a lot of time (4 festivals per year) decorating, organising and helping plan each festival with my boyfriend/partner Winter. I also have my own clothing store, HintyWoller, which I am building slowly when I have the time. In my spare time I like to go to Winters shows, watch movies, and chat with friends.

WINTER : In 2011 I saw an advertisement about SL. I don’t remember where it was, but I thought I would give it try!
I was in SL for 6 months and had a GREAT time. Though i had NO idea about singing or Live aspect of it. I simply took it as an online game, became a Vampire and joined a Clan. That was fun!
I had to leave though as it was getting in the way of RL and RL was changing drastically then. In 2018, Seven years later, I decided to come back! First thing I did, joined a Clan and became a vampire again! Now there were days where I would just simply go to a place in the sim of the clan, call friends over and start playing songs on voice for them. Just for fun! One Day I met Arisha. She is a DJ in SL. She said – “you should be an SL singer”. I quickly brushed off that Idea cause I was nervous and didn’t think I can do it here. I have been singing in RL since 1998 and with my current Band since 2003. I just never had an ‘online’ singing experience before. After a lot of persuasion, On April 1st 2019 I had my very first SL show, and it was a 2 hour show!
Aside from singing, I organize the Together As One (TAO) Festival that always and ONLY supports Children’s Charities! That and my family and friends doesn’t leave much time for anything else!

How did you get started with Together As One?

WINTER :It is an idea I always wanted to do once I started singing. Organize a big music festival! Well.. what better thing to do, when you can raise money to help children in need AND have fun doing it!?!? That is the best feeling in the world!

Why do you want to give it your all for these charity’s ? What motivates you?

WINTER & HOLLY : In our mind, a child should NEVER suffer! A child has done NOTHING wrong in this world. It is not their fault if there is no money for food, or they are going through an illness or ANYTHING like that. If there is SOMETHING we can do to help, we will! No one is perfect in this world, and No one is a saint, but when you have a chance to do some GOOD in this crazy world we live in, if we can someway help a fellow Human Being, then yes we ALL should! Our motivation? Children ! The Future! OUR Future!

What is the greatest strength of Together as one?

WINTER: Together As One’s greatest strength lies in the name! It is EXACTLY what it says! TOGETHER. The Greatest Strength is Unity and Teamwork! ALL of us working for a common goal, to do some Good in this world for our children! Holly has been with me since day 1 and has helped me and done things for TAO back when this whole thing was just an idea! She has been by my side since day 1 and I couldn’t have organized all of this without her! Then we added BB! BB brought a lot of experience to the table as TAO then, was only a music festival. Then Kissi came, she is our Floor manager for all the after Parties when we are so tired to monitor, Kissi takes over! Last but DEFINITELY not least, the people and fans! The most important piece! They are the ones who support! They fill up the sim, They Donate all their money. So yes… the Greatest strength of Together as One, is ALL of us!! Together As One!

What can we expect from you the coming months and where do you see yourself in five years?

WINTER & HOLLY: All we know right now, is that each Together As One festival gets bigger and bigger each time but NEVER loses its core purpose! Raising money for Children’s Charities! We will continue to add whatever we can, to not only make TAO just a Music festival but also an experience for EVERYONE! We currently have a Market with many Stores, Raffles, Games, Treasure hunts and we recently added the ‘Meet & Greets’ which each performer gets to tell us a little bit more about themselves on a more personal level! In 5 years… let’s just take 1 TAO at a time!

The next TAO- event: