It barely lifts a palm off the ground and Lolita He doesn’t stop growling. He has white curls that look like cotton, but he barks with resentment when visitors interrupt his peace. He also does this to defend his territory, which is none other than the office of María Bravo (Málaga, 1967), a successful businesswoman with an agenda full of contacts. celebrities The real names are those who work in Hollywood, perform on the world’s best stages or set foot on the most legendary football fields. “My clients are my friends,” he says. And many of them respond to his call to participate in the charity galas promoted by the Global Gift Foundation, which he created together with Alina Peralta and Eva Longoria in 2013. The next one will be this Sunday in Marbella. Where else?
Their offices are hidden in Nueva Andalucía, near Puerto Banús. It is an area where the luxury of Lamborghini and Ferrari vehicles mixes with the summer simplicity of bougainvillea. At breakfast time, the smell of coffee and toast hovers over a conversation in which names such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Ricky Martin, Antonio Banderas or George Clooney, with whom Bravo was in Rome a few days ago, come to light. during a job for Nescafé. Many others pose with her on Instagram, where she is seen accompanied by Kylian Mbappé, Andy García, Luis Fonsi, David and Victoria Beckham, Nicky Jam or Adrien Brody. She works with many of them at her agency Maupy Worlwide, which she created in 2005. “I saw that Hollywood had no connection with Europe or Asia,” she recalls, so she wanted to build bridges. The initiative was born in Los Angeles, the city where Bravo has lived for 33 years until she returned to her homeland during the pandemic, where she lives with her partner, the decorator Nicolás Escámez. “Marbella gives me a lot of peace,” says the person who even has a square in her name in the town where she spent a good part of her childhood and youth, Estepona, where she studied vocational training.
Bravo’s life has taken many twists and turns. She recounts with a smile when she was working as a dancer in hotels on the Costa del Sol and one day she saw a handsome Canadian sitting in the front row, with green eyes that she couldn’t stop looking at. That same night she met him and the next day she broke up with her boyfriend, to whom she was engaged. Six months later she got married in Toronto and then they travelled to the United States, where the Malaga native worked as a stockbroker and travelled halfway around the world. Then her husband died suddenly and she returned to Spain, to Madrid, with her agency. marketingThen, in 1999, she met Bruce Willis and love took her back across the pond. In Los Angeles, she lived with the actor for three years and made a name for herself among the famous faces of Hollywood. Later, she married Jean Dousset – Louis Cartier’s great-grandson – and the marriage lasted nine years.
In 2004 she herself participated in the filming of Carlita’s Secreta play starring Eva Longoria. “The movie was horrible, but it gave me a lifelong friendship,” Bravo emphasizes. Both then began to volunteer at The Children’s Hospital (Los Angeles) where they acted as interpreters between doctors and Latino families whose children were being treated in oncology. From there came the idea of creating galas that could help more people. Longoria shot to stardom shortly after when she began starring in the series Desperate women“We saw that there was a lot of potential because the press was interested in everything she did, so we took the international leap,” recalls the businesswoman. They held events in Paris with the help of former basketball player Tony Parker —Longoria’s husband at the time— and in Marbella they launched the Starlite charity dinner with Antonio Banderas. It was before the event became the festival it is today, with which Bravo wants nothing to do. “Back then it was a charity gala, now it’s a business,” she clarifies about the project currently led by Sandra García-Sanjuán.
Solidarity projects
In 2012, she took a step forward with Eva Longoria – whom she convinced to also buy a house in Marbella – and together they created the Global Gift Foundation and the Global Gift galas. This weekend’s gala will be the 12th to be held on the Costa del Sol, but every year there are a dozen in cities such as Geneva, Tokyo, Abu Dhabi, Paris or London. Also in Dubai – which is the one that raises the most money – and Marbella, which for Bravo is “the one with the most heart”. Thanks to her career, she has an address book that is worth gold. From there she gets the contacts of the personalities who accompany her. “I call them and ask them for the favour, but I also tell them that if they don’t come I won’t get them work,” she says, laughing. “They don’t get paid anything here,” she says, more seriously. “Not the artists, not the celebrities, not anyone. If anything, we cover some of their expenses,” she points out.
This weekend’s event, which will be held at the Meliá Don Pepe hotel, will be hosted by María Bravo and Eva Longoria, with performances by Navajita Plateá and The Gipsy Kings and will be presented by Eva Pedraza, Vicky Martín Berrocal and Tom Urquhart. Among its 300 guests will be Princess Beatrice D’Orleans, Amaury Nolasco, Carlos Sobera, Bernd Schuster and model Lidia Santos. Everyone will enjoy a dinner prepared by chefs Iñigo Urrechu, Víctor Carracedo and Andrés Moreno. They will also be able to bid on works by artists such as Jaime Monge, Auguste and Elena Ksanti.
![María Bravo at her home in Marbella in July 2024.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/25JXJNCX4JADTFAFQ34JUCMBAQ.jpg?auth=949b0a9821bb37273e40b080641bf46362ee7ceef38012fe4a72a3e808b4416c&width=414)
Their participation will help finance their own projects such as two orphanages in Vietnam where they care for 120 children or two foster homes in New Delhi (India) where they help 1,200 minors. Also Casa Ángeles, a space created in 2021 in Marbella. There it has 30 therapists who develop different activities and therapies with 500 children with special needs and their families, in addition to developing inclusive summer camps. The proceeds from the galas are also destined to local projects in the countries where projects such as those promoted by the Eva Longoria Foundation or Eva’s Heroes are already being held. “It is very important to connect: the union with the right person is strength and many things are achieved,” says the person who, she says, wakes up every morning with the feeling of fulfilling a dream. “I tried for many years to have children and I didn’t succeed. Now I have understood: if I had had children I would not be able to help so many people now,” says the one who does not rule out continuing to make films. “Eva always tells me this when she does a series, but I never have time. I always say no because I don’t have time. I will do it when I can, but it has to be something worthwhile,” she says.
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