The Women of Color Foundation Announces their 10th Anniversary Celebration!

Women of Color Foundation Announces Hall of Fame Induction Gala and Awards Event as Part of Year-long 10^th Anniversary Celebration

       

10^th Annual Executive Development Retreat to Take Place May 31 – June 1

The Women of Color Foundation is proud to announce the launch of the organization’s inaugural Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Awards Gala.  The Gala’s theme is “Celebrating the Brilliance of Extraordinary Women of Color” and will honor thirteen women who have made both a personal and professional impact on the lives of others, locally, regionally, nationally, and/or internationally. The awards will include special 10^th Anniversary Individual Philanthropy, Lifetime Achievement, Diversity and Inclusion, and Global Achievement Awards.

The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Awards Gala is one of several events taking place throughout this year as part of the Foundation’s 10^th Anniversary celebration, including the 10^th Annual Personal and Professional Development Retreat for Women of Color, “Connections, Community and Career”, which will lead up to the Gala.  The two-day Retreat, which has been around since the Foundation’s inception in 2002, will take place 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Thursday, May 31 and Friday, June 1, 2012 at Cleveland Clinic’s Lyndhurst Campus at 1900 Richmond Road in Lyndhurst, Ohio.  The Retreat is a unique concept and forum designed to facilitate the collaboration, networking, mentoring, sharing, and training of women and girls.  The goal is to leave women with a greater sense of empowerment, and therefore, participants are encouraged to actively participate in workshops discussing topics relating to health, career, personal development, finance, professional development and more.  Over 300 women are expected to attend the Retreat.

The Awards Gala will take place on Saturday, June 2, 2012, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Cleveland Clinic’s Lyndhurst Campus.  The Awards recipients include: Maria Bonilla Boss, President, Boss Enterprises, Inc; Margot James Copeland, Executive Vice President and Director of Corporate Diversity & Philanthropy, KeyCorp; Constance D. Harper, Associate Publisher & Executive Editor, Call & Post Newspapers; Pamela Marshall Holmes, Senior Director, Community Outreach, Cleveland Clinic; Marilyn Sanders Mobley, Ph.D., Vice President, Office of Inclusion, Diversity & Equal Opportunityand Professor of English, Case Western Reserve University; Debra Adams Simmons, Editor, The Plain Dealer Newspaper; Daisy Alford Smith, Ph.D; Chief Executive Officer, Girl Scouts of North East Ohio; Margaret W. Wong, Esquire; Principal, Margaret W. Wong & Associates, Co., LPA; The Honorable Shirley A. Smith; Member, Ohio Senate; 21^st District of Ohio. 

The 2012 Special Awards recipients include: 

Michelle E. Urquhart , Founder/Co-Chair, Urquhart Memorial Foundation, who will receive the Individual Philanthropy Award; 

The Honorable Sara J. Harper, Judge, 8^th District Court of Appeals, Retired, Cuyahoga County, Ohio (Lifetime Achievement Award); 

Renita Jefferson, Director of Leadership Development, Human Resources, American Greetings Corporation, will receive the Diversity and Inclusion Professional of the Year Award; 

DeLores Pressley, International Motivational Speaker, Life Strategist and Author, and Founder, DeLores Pressley Worldwide, will receive the Global Achievement Award.

“We are extremely excited and proud to honor these thirteen extraordinary women at our inaugural Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Gala,” says Alexandria Johnson Boone, Founder and Chairwoman of The Women of Color Foundation.  These women come from a variety of cultural, personal and professional backgrounds, and have experienced the successes, triumphs and failures that all women can relate to.  They exemplify the fact that, despite difficult challenges, unexpected obstacles and setbacks, women are smart, strong, tenacious and leaders in their families, communities, professions and businesses.  These women are role models to us all, and truly epitomize what the Women of Color Foundation has tried to accomplish over the past 10 years, and what we, ultimately, stand for,” she said.

The Retreat and Awards Gala are presented by The Women of Color Foundation, Cleveland Clinic, American Greetings Corporation, and WEWS-TV NewsChannel 5, with the support of Forest City, Dominion East Ohio, Fifth Third Bank, KeyBank, Prudential, Medical Mutual of Ohio, Cleveland State University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Akron, E.F. Boyd & Son, Inc., and Huntington; and media sponsors, The Cleveland Women’s Journal, Max’n Out Entertainment, Call & Post, The Women’s Book, and Kaleidoscope Magazine.

A variety of registration and sponsorship packages are available for the Cleveland Personal and Professional Development Retreat and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Awards Gala, as well as other 10^th Anniversary Women of Color Foundation events. 

For information on registration, including available scholarships, please contact 216-391-4300, ext. 307 or visit the website, www.womenofcolorfoundation.com