LEGACY and Luminaries HONOREES
2025 LEGACY AWARD HON0REES

Melba Moore
Tony Award Winner,
Grammy Award Nominated Singer and Actress

Glenda McNeal
Chief Partner Officer,
American Express

Robin Washington
Incoming President and Chief Operating and Financial Officer,
Salesforce

Valerie Jarrett
Chief Executive Officer,
Barack Obama Foundation
2025 LUMINARY AWARD HON0REES

Monique Rodriquez
American Entrepreneur and Founder,
Mielle Organics

Jemele Hill
Journalist

Minda Harts
Workplace Consultant, Author & Speaker

Tunde Oyeneyin
New York Time’s Best-Selling Author, Peloton Instructor and Motivational Speaker
2024 LEGACY AWARD HONOREES
Judy A. Smith
Founder & CEO,Smith & Company
Thasunda Brown Duckett
President & CEO,TIAA
Mellody Hobson
Co-CEO & Chairman of the Board of Trustees,Ariel Investment Trust
2024 LUMINIARY AWARD HONOREES
Aisha Bowe
Founder & CEO,STEMBoard and LINGO
Symone Sanders Townsend
Author, Seasoned Democratic Strategist, Co-HostMSNBC’s The Weekend
Dia Simms
Executive Chairwoman, Lobos 1707/Co-Founder, Pronghorn
2023 LEGACY AWARD HON0REES

LORETTA DEVINE
Actress

TRACEY TRAVIS
EVP & CFO
The Estee Lauder Companies

VERA MOORE
President & CEO
Vera Moore Cosmetics

LISA WARDELL
Former Chairman & CEO
Adtalem Global Education
2023 LUMINARY AWARD HON0REES

Issa Rae
Actress, Writer, Producer & Comedian

Luvvie Ajayi Jones
New York Times bestselling Author, Speaker, and Multimedia Entrepreneur.

LAUREN SIMMONS
Wolfette Of Wall Street
2022 LEGACY AWARD HON0REES

Yolanda Adams
Gospel Legend

A’ Lelia Bundles
Journalist; Author; Founder,
Madam Walker Family Archives

Sherrilyn Ifill
President & Director-Counsel,
NAACP Legal Defense Fund

Janice Bryant Howroyd
Founder & CEO,
ActOne Group
2022 LUMINARY AWARD HON0REES

Tamika Mallory
Activist; Author

Ukonwa Ojo
Global Chief Marketing Officer,
Prime Videos & Amazon Studios
2020 LEGACY AWARD HON0REES

Debbie Allen
Award-winning Actress, Director and Producer

Debra Lee
Former CEO & Chairman Emeritus, BET Networks;
CEO, Leading Women Defined Inc.

Myrtle Potter
Chief Executive Officer, Sumitovant Biopharma;
Former Executive Vice President & COO, Genentech

Gale V. King
Executive Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer,
Nationwide
2019 LEGACY AWARD HON0REES

Cynthia Marshall
CEO,
Dallas Mavericks

Alice Walker
Pulitzer Prize-winning author

Chaka Khan
Legendary Singer, Songwriter, Activist

Vashti Murphy McKenzie
Bishop of the 10th Episcopal District of the AME Church
2018 LEGACY AWARD HON0REES

Carmen De Lavallade
Legendary Dancer, Choreographer, Actress

Edith W. Cooper
Executive Vice President and Global Head of Human Capital Management,
Goldman Sachs Group

Jayne Kennedy Overton
Ground-breaking Sportscaster, Actress, Model, Philanthropist

Donna Brazile
Veteran Democratic Political Strategist, Author, and Adjunct Professor
2017 LEGACY AWARD HON0REES

Ursual Burns
Chairman & CEO,
Xerox Corp.

Phylicia Rashad
Award-winning Actress

Shirley Caesar
Pastor & Award Winning Gospel Artist

Marcia Ann Gillespie
Former Editor-in-Chief of Ms. Magazine and Essence; Gender and Race Activist
2016 LEGACY AWARD HONOREES

Renee Powell
First African American woman to be inducted into the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews

Vanessa L. Williams
Actress, Singer, Author

N. Joyce Payne
Founder: Thurgood Marshall Fund
2015 LEGACY AWARD HONOREES

Susan L. Taylor
Founder & CEO, National Cares Mentoring Movement

Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Journalist & Author

Pam Grier
Activist & Actress

Beverly Tatum
President, Spelman College
2014 LEGACY AWARD HONOREES

Valerie Daniels Carter

Myrlie Evers
Civil Rights Activist

Cicely Tyson
Actress

Julieanna Richardson
Founder of History

Marian Wright Edelman
President & Founder, Children’s Defense Fund
2013 LEGACY AWARD HONOREES

Marcelite Harris
Retired, United State Air Force

Cathy Hughes
Founder & Chairperson, TV One

Marva Collins
American Educator

Cathy Ross
EVP & Chief Financial Officer, FedEx Express
2012 LEGACY AWARD HONOREES

Amsale Aberra
Co-Founder/Co-CEO & Creative Director, Amsale Design Group

Anita Hill
Professor of Social Policy, Law and Women’s Studies

Rachel Robinson
Founder, Jackie Robinson Foundation

Carole Simpson
Veteran Broadcast Journalist

Dionne Warwick
Singer & Activist
2011 LEGACY AWARD HONOREES

Barbara Harris
Retired Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts

Bethann Hardison
Founder & President, Bethann Management Co. Inc.

Ntozake Shange
American Playwright & Poet

Eleanor Holmes Norton
Congresswoman, Washington, DC
2010 LEGACY AWARD HONOREES

Shirley Ann Jackson
President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

B. Smith
President & Chief Creative Officer, B. Smith Enterprises

Alexis Herman
US 23rd Secretary of Labor

Audrey Smaltz
CEO & Founder, The Ground Crew Worldwide

Aulana L. Peters
Retired Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
2009 LEGACY AWARD HONOREES

Jocelyn Elders
Former US Surgeon General

Mary Frances Berry
Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought & Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania

Leah Chase
Owner, Dooky’s Chase Restaurant

JoAnn Price
Managing Partner, Fariview Capital Management
2008 LEGACY AWARD HONOREES

Ann Fudge
Former Chair & CEO, Young & Rubicam Brands

Dorothy Height
Chair & President, National Council of Negro Women

Nikki Giovanni
Poet, Writer, Commentator, Activist, Educator & Professor. Virginia Tech

Ruby Dee Davis
Actress, Poet, Activist, Playwright, Screenwriter & Journalist
2007 LEGACY AWARD HONOREES

Faye Wattleton
President, Center for the Advancement of Women

Judith Jamison
Artistic Director, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Ruth Simmons
President, Brown University
2006 LEGACY AWARD HONOREES

Ernesta Procope
President & CEO, E.G. Bowman & Co. Inc.

Johnnetta B. Cole
President, Bennett College For Women

Suzanne de Passe
Chairman & CEO, de Passe Entertainment

Joyce Roche
President & CEO, Girls Inc.