It happened again. The success, the surprise, the support, the celebration… all of it. With GO! 2011 Convention banners waving in the Utah air, the masses gathered around a velvety red carpet at the doorstep of XANGO World Headquarters, and, just a few hours removed from sunrise, waited in anticipation of the two top leaders from the CIS: newly elevated 500K Selects Oleg & Galina Ogromnovy.

The crowd support was amazing and more than deserved for these great people. Chauffeured unsuspectingly to our headquarters, Oleg & Galina stepped out to a welcoming round of applause supplied by all of my founding partners, the employees of XANGO, and many friends from around the world (VP of Greater China Region Daniel Tuan, Manager of Business Development Michel Benatar, and Premier Select Distributor Bill Moss, to name a few).

Bryan Davis was the first to officially open the doors of XANGO to our guests with these words: “On this beautiful morning, the sun is shining on everybody—especially you, Oleg & Galina.” President of EU, CIS & South Africa Dany Laroque shared his congratulations as a close friend of the Ogromnovys, and after a series of kind and eloquent words, he summed it up himself, saying, “Long story short—500K Selects. GO!” To which there was laughter, applause, and the party moved indoors.

As I stepped in front of the crowd, I was pleased to present Oleg & Galina with one of the loudest applauses our lobby has ever witnessed. Coming from fellow 500Ks Anton & Dustin Garrity and Dwayne & Melody Dyer, as well as so many great leaders from the nations of CIS—200K Selects Svetlana & Igor Loserovich, Marina Matytsina & Vladimir Mikheshin, Sergey Savich, Vadim Smirnov & Elena Gulevskaya; 100K Selects Lilia Kirsanova, Vladimir & Natalia Schmidt and Gulnara Kabidenova—this applause was truly representative of the work and care that go into becoming a 500K Distributor.

When I first met Oleg & Galina, during my first trip to Moscow over two years ago, one thing was very clear to me: they were going to do this, they were going to become top leaders with XANGO. They had the look in their eye then, and they still have it today. Because Galina has become such a big part of our Women Building Bridges movement, I handed the mic over to Senior VP Beverly Hollister to share her gratitude to our newest 500K couple.

Gracious and simple, Beverly had this to say: “I love this couple. I have watched and admired their servant-leadership uphold their organization for the last two years.” Of course, Oleg & Galina were given time to defend themselves against all this praise.

Galina was full of thanks, and shared a story from our first meeting (just after her church wedding with Oleg), when she felt impressed to show me pictures from the blessed occasion… an occasion she had only shared with her closest friends and relatives. She explained that today she understands why. She understands that, in her words, “today, XANGO is our biggest family.” That’s what makes XANGO so great.

Oleg remembered back to his first visit to XANGO World Headquarters with Galina and Dany. He specifically recalled seeing the “walk of stars” that lauds our 500K Selects at the entryway, and how Galina leaned over and said, “I want one.” Now, as an official star of XANGO, Oleg says, “We would like to have as many stars in our constellation as possible.”

It was the perfect moment to signal the official ceremonies. My partners Gordon and Joe bedecked the couple with their 500K pins, Gary Hollister led the entire group in a healthy XANGO toast, and everyone stepped outside one last time for the unveiling of the Ogromnovy’s stone in the XANGO walkway.

It’s official: Congratulations to Oleg & Galina Ogromnovy, the first 500K Selects of XANGO CIS!