Oscars Nominee Swag Bags Are Supporting Queer-Owned Businesses

Author: Desirée Guerrero

For over 20 years now, Distinctive Assets has been the company in charge of creating the carefully curated (and increasingly extravagant) gift bags for Academy Award nominees. And this year’s Oscar swag bags, with an estimated value at over six figures, may just be the most luxurious and outrageous yet.  

This year nominees in the Best Actor and Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Actress (yes, they’re still gendering categories), and Best Director categories received the “Everyone Wins”-themed gift bags earlier this week. This star-studded mailing list includes Jessica Chastain, Olivia Colman, Kristen Stewart, J.K. Simmons, Jesse Plemons, Ariana DeBose, Kirsten Dunst, Jane Campion, Will Smith, Andrew Garfield, Denzel Washington, and Steven Spielberg.

Among many other high-end and over-the-top items, the bags included plots of land in Scotland from Highland Titles, body enhancements by Art Lipo, personal fitness sessions with the legendary Diego Sebastian, and a stay at Turin Castle. But we were happy to see that queer-owned cookie business, Wunderkeks, is being also represented in the bags with its “Red-Carpet Fudgiest Brownies Ever,” complete with gold-leaf topping. 

Wunderkeks’s “Red-Carpet Fudgiest Brownies Ever” will be included in this year’s Oscar nominee gift bags

Wunderkeks, a small business that makes homemade baked goods, was started in Guatemala by entrepreneurs and husbands, Hans Schrei and Luis Gramajo. The company is also known to give back to LGBTQ+ youth charities. Distinctive Assets founder Lash Fary says it was important to ensure that the swag bags represented diversity as much as they did fun and frivolity.

“We are humbled to be commemorating two decades of curating a specialty gift bag that has become a global pop culture phenomenon,” Fary recently told InStyle. “The companies we feature have amazing products and services while also embracing diversity, inclusion, health, and philanthropy. We are not only celebrating these incredible nominees but also a return to normalcy in a post-pandemic world.”

“To us, cookies are a way to spark joy while delivering an important statement, by way of a big, colorful box of hand-crafted cookies made with love,” adds Gramajo, noting Wunderkeks’s efforts to “to proliferate the urgent message of unconditional love and acceptance for our LGBTQ+ family.” 

The 94th annual Academy Awards ceremony, cohosted by female comedians Wanda Sykes and Amy Schumer, will air live this Sunday night at 5:00 pm (Pacific time) on ABC.

Original Article on The Advocate
Author: Desirée Guerrero