Evening of Awards: Accepting the WOMA 2012 Artist of Distinction Award

I had a wonderful evening last night with my family and friends as I accepted the 2012 WOMA Artist of Distinction Award. The awards dinner took place at the beautiful Eatonville restaurant located off of the famous U Street corridor in Washington DC.

Here I am with the other awardees, Cheryl White and Patricia Nalls with Womanifesting, Inc. (WOmA) Executive Director and founder Tracy Chiles McGhee (2nd from right).

Womanifesting (WOMA) is a 501c3, tax exempt organization incorporated in Washington, D.C. WOMA’s mission is to develop and support programs that foster self-empowerment, sisterhood, and service and to positively impact the lives of women and girls, particularly those under-resourced and marginalized.  WOMA believes that when womanifesting women get fired up, unite, and make a strong commitment to use their gifts and resources to support one another and to build stronger communities, they are unstoppable.

This year WOMA presented awards to two outstanding Organizational Leaders that exemplify the definition of womanifesting:

Patricia Nalls, Founder & Executive Director of the Women’s Collective (www.womenscollective.org), recognized as a Trailblazer.

Cheryl White, Founder and President of the DeAndre Lorenzo White Memorial Scholarship Fund (www.deandrewhitescholarshipfund.com), recognized as a Rising Star.

The women from my productions of “In Her Words” and “Running: AMOK” came out to support me during this event and it made my heart sing. (from left to right: Me, Tracy Chiles McGhee, Colie Williams, Anisha Newbill & Quineice)

I was honored as the “2012 WOMA Artist of Distinction”.

The dynamic Kat Calvin, Founder & President of DC Young Entrepreneurs (www.dc-ye.org) and MiT (www.michelleintraining.com) served as the Mistress of Ceremonies for the event.

Anisha “Mama Moon” Newbill sang “Feelin’ Good”

There was a special musical dedication by my friend and cast mate from my production of “In Her Words”,  Anisha “Moon” Newbill who also introduced me and had such moving words to share with others that left me teary-eyed and loved.

Thank you WOMA for the recognition!