The Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Miami-Dade will hold their annual Thelma Gibson Awards Dinner on Sept. 19, hosted at the Coral Gables Woman’s Club.
Coral Gables Woman’s Club member and Chamber president Diane Superville expects a sellout crowd for this dinner with three remarkable honorees.
The first of the three to be honored is Thelma Campbell of Girl Power. Thelma is also executive producer of the annual “It Takes A Village Conference” and executive board member of the Miami-Dade Youth Crime Task Force, a member of the Liberty City Community Action Agency and a member of the Sojourner Truth Book Club, to mention just a few of her list of accomplishments.
Another TGA honoree is Sony Ali from Karachi, Pakistan where she was raised in a home of severe violence. At 12 years, she moved with her mother and younger brother to the U.S. She later moved to India at age 16 to pursue a career in the Hindi film industry. Ten films later, Sony returned to the United States in order to pursue a formal education earning a degree in psychology and creating No More Tears, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, in 2007, with its mission of rescuing human trafficking and domestic violence victims from their abusers.
For her work with NMT, Sony has received numerous awards including the American Heritage Award from the American Immigration Council, The Daily Point of Light Award by President George H.W. Bush and The National Domestic Violence Month Proclamation from President Barack Obama.
The final honoree for 2019 is Kathy Andersen, executive director of The Women’s Fund Miami-Dade. Kathy’s leadership in the non-profit and for profit industries over the years is massive. With a master’s degree from the Harvard University Kennedy School, Kathy is a Master-Class trained facilitator in Adaptive Leadership from Harvard Center for Public Leadership.
Past positions have included executive director at The University of Miami Global Institute for Community Health & Development; chief operating officer (COO) at Shake-A-Leg Miami, Group general manager at Ford Motor Company, and Senior Corporate Strategy Consultant at Westpac Banking Corporation (Australia).
For more information on this and other WCC events, visit www.womenschamberofcommerce.org.
In other news, The General Federation of Women’s Clubs influence and positive impact on South Florida is evidenced by the lives they touch with their good work funded by multiple fundraisers throughout the year. The Coral Gables Woman’s Club holds monthly Gringo Bingo games at Clutch Burger for numerous charitable organizations and most recently raised more than $1,100 to be directed to A Safe Haven for Newborns. That same night they celebrated the birthday of Clutch owner Steven Bradley who has helped raised thousands for five charities since April by hosting these events. As a surprise the club gifted Steven with a new bingo cage making his number calling much easier. Kudos to Steven and DJ Germain with his music for making this a party every month.
Yet another active group of woman are members of the Coconut Grove Woman’s Club, a group of selfless volunteers also coordinate regular fundraising events for charitable programs. Coming up next for that Coconut Grove club will be a Karaoke night on Aug. 29. This promises to be a fun night and gives guests a chance to sing their hearts out and support the outreach efforts of this club located at 2985 S. Bayshore Dr.
The fun begins at 5:30 p.m. and continues through 8 p.m. Admission is $10 and includes free snacks with a cash bar. The evening’s emcee will be vocalist and actress Von Henry.
Von Henry is a well-recognized vocalist on the music scene in South Florida with her Von Henry Express. By the way, the Von Henry Express is a modern world music ensemble, that combines the musical histories of its members, specifically jazz, R&B and dance. They use this mix to weave a mixture of acoustic and electronica that takes the audience along on their journey so you may want to see her that night is you have upcoming events.
Until next time, keep making each day count.
