ADCOLOR Announces Winners of the 18th Annual ADCOLOR Awards

ADCOLOR, the premier organization dedicated to celebrating and promoting diversity in the creative industries, unveiled the winners of its 18th Annual ADCOLOR Awards at its awards show held in Los Angeles, California at the J.W. Marriott Los Angeles LA Live. The prestigious event marked the culmination of ADCOLOR 2024, which also included the ADCOLOR Conference and the organization's two talent programs, ADCOLOR FUTURES and ADCOLOR LEADERS.

Winners for the 2024 awards spanned a variety of industries and professional levels, from newcomers to entrepreneurs to executives. The companies represented included Microsoft, Wieden+Kennedy New York, Landor and more. A full list of winners can be found below.

At this year's ceremony, Founder and Chairwoman of The Garcia Companies Dany Garcia was honored with the prestigious ADCOLOR | ADWEEK Beacon Award, which recognizes individuals who use their platform to break barriers and create opportunities for underrepresented communities in the creative industries. Dany was celebrated for her incredible work across entertainment, sports, fashion, and lifestyle and for her unwavering commitment to inclusion.

Other notable guests included the honorees of the organization's ADCOLOR in Music category, which recognizes those who champion diversity, equity and inclusion in the music industry. This year's ADCOLOR in Music | Corporate recipient was 88rising, accepted by the company's Chief Revenue Officer, Michael Chuthakieo. Actress, producer, artist and entrepreneur Queen Latifah received the first-ever ADCOLOR in Music | Icon award for her trailblazing career in music. GRAMMY®-nominated singer-songwriter Shaboozey was awarded with the fourth annual ADCOLOR in Music | Artist of the Year award, following previous honorees of H.E.R., Robert Glasper and D-Nice.

Other 2024 honorees represented a diverse array of prominent companies, including MAKERS, Parkwood Entertainment, Taco Bell, Translation and more.

"Those honored tonight exemplify our mission of 'Rise Up, Reach Back' by using their platforms to inspire, uplift, and create pathways for the next generation of changemakers," said ADCOLOR Founder and President Tiffany R. Warren. "They know what it means to be 'Off Mute' and to keep pushing for equity even when there is resistance. We're proud to give them the recognition they so richly earned through their efforts to speak up and speak out for the communities they represent."

Since 2007, the ADCOLOR Awards have celebrated the achievements of diverse communities across the creative industries. This year's winners were selected by a panel of more than 60 judges from a variety of industries, roles and backgrounds. Honorees in non-competitive categories were chosen by ADCOLOR's esteemed Board of Directors and respective partners.

The full list of 2024 ADCOLOR honorees and winners is below:

2024 ADCOLOR WINNERS

• CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
  The Campaign of the Year pushes boundaries and promotes conversation by highlighting the lives and stories of historically excluded groups. The campaign of the year can run on any platform (linear, print, digital, social, etc.), in any format.
  WINNER: 
  Campaign: "Translators"
  Client: U.S Bank
  Agency: McCann Detroit
  
  
• ADCOLOR IN TECH
  The ADCOLOR in Tech Award recipient is a champion of diversity and inclusion in the tech industries, from digital platforms to programmers to educators to product innovators. By pushing boundaries and creating positive change, they set the stage for future generations to take the opportunities they develop even further.
  WINNER:  Nandita Gupta: Accessibility Product Manager, Microsoft Corporation
  
  
• ADCOLOR INFLUENCER
  The ADCOLOR Influencer builds community and creates change through their creative content on social media platforms. By promoting inclusivity and accessibility on their personal platform, they use innovative means of digital influence that leads to real-life change.
  WINNER: Gabby Beckford: Creator & Founder, Packs Light
  
  
• CHANGE AGENT
  The ADCOLOR Change Agent uses their skill and power to enhance corporate culture, and create a more equitable and inclusive environment for everyone connected to it. They call attention to the talents and potential of others around them, putting plans into action that exceed the scope of their professional role.
  WINNER: Sonia Bisono: Broadcast Traffic Director, Wieden+Kennedy New York
  
  
• DEI EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR
  The ADCOLOR DEI Executive of the Year not only inspires, facilitates and implements progressive change at their own company or organization, their innovation and determination influences the ways others integrate DEI into business models and corporate cultures.
  WINNER: Judith Harrison: Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Weber Shandwick
  
  
• INNOVATOR
  The ADCOLOR Innovator embodies progress and imagination. They stand out among their peers as a game changer when it comes to issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. A pioneer in their goals and their strategies, they create breakthrough opportunities for people and organizations.
  WINNER: Lachi Music: Recording Artist and Founder/CEO, RAMPD
  
  
• MOST VALUABLE PARTNERSHIP (MVP)
  The ADCOLOR Most Valuable Partnership (MVP) occurs between people and companies that work together to provide exceptional, highly effective DE&I solutions that impact organizations and industries. The two partners can be agencies, marketers, entertainment and media companies, brands, individuals, non-profits or diverse suppliers with NMSDC or WBENC certification that team up for a short- or long-term project that furthers diversity and inclusion.
  WINNER: Canadian Down Syndrome Society &  FCB Canada
  
  
• RISING STAR
  The ADCOLOR Rising Star is an up-and-comer in the creative industries with less than seven years of experience who is under the age of 30. Their brilliance, determination and shining personality makes them stand out as a leader. In their short time of rising up, they are already reaching back.
  WINNER: Ivan Delgado: Designer, Landor
  
  
• ROCKSTAR
  The ADCOLOR Rockstar reveals their brilliance as a visionary leader, through their professional role or their efforts outside it. They have a track record filled with successes, and the potential to accomplish much more. Landing between the Rising Star and the Legend, this individual rocks their own singular path as they encourage others to shine.
  WINNER: Chloë Davies: Founder & CEO, It Takes A Village Collective (ITAV)

2024 ADCOLOR HONOREES

• ADCOLOR | ADWEEK BEACON
  The ADWEEK | ADCOLOR Beacon award celebrates an executive and/or media creative who is helping to transform and move the culture forward, specifically with regards to diversity and inclusivity, by rising up while reaching back.
  HONOREE: Dany Garcia: Founder and Chairwoman, The Garcia Companies
  
  
• ADCOLOR | ONE CLUB CREATIVES
  The ADCOLOR | One Club Creative Award is given to a professional in a creative field from a historically excluded community who has demonstrated extraordinary talent and achievement within the media, creative, digital and traditional advertising disciplines. This honor is presented by The One Club for Creativity.
  HONOREE: Ashley Henderson:  Founder and CEO, Legend Twenty Two
  HONOREE: Jason Campbell: Chief Creative Officer, Translation
  
  
• ADCOLOR IN MUSIC
  The ADCOLOR in Music Award recipient is an artist, creative, executive or technician who champions diversity, equity & inclusion in the music industry. Whether a bold-faced name or a player behind the scenes, they use their voice and power onstage and off to fight for change that reaches beyond the world of music.
  CORPORATE HONOREE: 88Rising
  - Accepted by Michael Chuthakieo: Chief Revenue Officer, 88Rising
  ICON HONOREE: Queen Latifah: Actress, Producer, Artist and Entrepreneur
  ARTIST OF THE YEAR HONOREE: Shaboozey: GRAMMY®-nominated singer-songwriter
  
  
• ADVOCATE
  The ADCOLOR Advocate is an LGBTQ+ a professional in the creative industries who increases awareness of issues that affect members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies. Their efforts to create progress within the creative industries reverberate into the culture at large.
  HONOREE: Brian Anthony Moreland: President, B More Now Productions
  HONOREE: Geena Rocero: Author, Director, Founder, Street Pageant Productions
  HONOREE: Adrienne Hayes: VP of Global Marketing, Google
  
  
• CATALYST
  The ADCOLOR Catalyst uses their platform to serve as the voice of a cause or community, educating and inspiring current and future generations of advertising, marketing, media, PR and entertainment professionals.
  HONOREE: DIVE Studios
  - Accepted by Eric Nam: Co-Founder & Artist, DIVE Studios
  - Accepted by Brian Nam: Co-Founder / CEO, DIVE Studios
  HONOREE: MAKERS
  - Accepted by Alicin Williamson: Diversity and Culture Officer, Yahoo!; President, MAKERS
  - Accepted by Ja'Nay Hawkins: Chief Partnerships Officer, MAKERS
  HONOREE: Monica Ramirez: Founder & President, Justice for Migrant Women
  
  
• LEGEND
  The ADCOLOR Legend is a seasoned industry veteran, a trailblazer who has pushed boundaries leading to positive and long-lasting change. By opening doors for others – and showing them how to turn around and build their own entryways – they have developed a template for future change makers to elevate the opportunities they have created.
  HONOREE: Carla Serrano: Chief Strategy Officer, Publicis Groupe
  HONOREE: Sean Tresvant: Chief Executive Officer, Taco Bell
  HONOREE: Justina Omokhua: Senior Vice President, Parkwood Entertainment
  
  
• LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
  The ADCOLOR Lifetime Achievement Award goes to an industry icon whose longtime professional and personal successes exemplify ADCOLOR's mission of Rising Up and Reaching Back.
  HONOREE: Judy Jackson: President, JLC Ventures
  HONOREE: Sandra Sims-Williams: Chief Business Inclusion, Impact & Belonging Officer, Nielsen
  HONOREE: General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. & Sr.: America's First Two Black Generals
  - Accepted by Doug Melville: Author, "Invisible Generals"; CEO, JodieAI
  
  
• Mr. & Ms. ADCOLOR
  Mr./Ms./Mx. ADCOLOR are two individuals selected annually who not only carry out the ADCOLOR mission, but can stand in as ambassadors to the ADCOLOR organization. Through their service to the industry and to ADCOLOR, they demonstrate and showcase what it means to truly Rise Up and Reach Back.
  Mr. ADCOLOR: Sean Choi: Owner, The Culture Whisperer LLC; Adjunct Professor, Parsons University
  Ms. ADCOLOR: Mimi Minoz: Global Creative Producer, Wieden+Kennedy 

ABOUT ADCOLOR
ADCOLOR® is a not-for-profit 501(c) (6) organization whose mission is to celebrate and champion diversity in the creative industries. Our process is twofold. First, we help individuals and organizations RISE UP, letting their accomplishments and ideas shine. Then we teach these new leaders and would-be-mentors how to REACH BACK and find others who deserve to be noticed and promoted. Our goal is to create a community of diverse professionals who are here to support and uplift one another. Learn more by visiting www.adcolor.org.

Queen Latifah breaks ground on Rise Living housing development in Newark NJ

Queen Latifah (Dana Owens) joined Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Tuesday at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new mixed-used project she is partnering with local developers to build in the city’s South Ward.

Queen Latifah, Robert F. Smith among W.E.B. Du Bois Medal recipients

Entertainer Queen Latifah and Robert F. Smith the entrepreneur who announced that he would pay the college loans of more than 400 Morehouse College students who graduated in May are among W.E.B. Du Bois Medal recipients. The Du Bois Medal celebrates black excellence and opportunity.

The Du Bois medal is the highest honor Harvard gives to scholars, artists, writers, journalists, philanthropists, and public servants for their contributions to African and African American history and culture. It is awarded by the African and African American Studies Department, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary at Harvard.

“Understand that there will be times when you will have to stand alone. There will be no one else that will believe in your dream,” Queen Latifah, hip-hop artist, actress, and medal recipient, told a packed audience Tuesday evening at Sanders Theatre. “There are plenty of people who told us we will never be where we are today … but we don’t believe those people. You have to be strong and be courageous and just know that if you believe in it, it’s going to happen. Don’t give up. Do not quit. Fight for it.”

In a moving speech, Smith — the founder, chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, a firm that manages equity capital worth upwards of $50 billion — recalled how his upbringing and community inspired him to succeed for those who didn’t have the opportunities he did, and to open doors to success for others. Of his $34 million gift to the 2019 graduates of Morehouse, he said, “To me that’s my job. It is to liberate the human spirit.”

Besides Smith and Latifah, this year’s honorees included Elizabeth Alexander, a renowned poet, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and former fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study; Lonnie Bunch III, the head of the Smithsonian Institution; Rita Dove, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former U.S. poet laureate; Sheila C. Johnson, philanthropist and co-founder of Black Entertainment Television; and Kerry James Marshall, an award-winning artist.

Past winners include such luminaries as poet Toni Morrison, boxer Muhammad Ali, children’s rights activist Marian Wright Edelman, Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, comedian Dave Chappelle, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, writer Maya Angelou, politician and civil rights leader John Lewis, opera star Jessye Norman, rapper Nasir “Nas” Jones, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and entertainer and media executive Oprah Winfrey.

[SOURCE: HARVARD GAZZETTE]

Queen Latifah building $14M worth of new housing in Newark NJ

Hip-hop icon Queen Latifah (Dana Owens) is returning to her hometown of Newark to invest in a cluster of multi-family town homes along Springfield Avenue and South 17th Street.

The $14 million project is expected to break ground in the summer.

Latifah, a co-president of BlueSugar Corporation, is working with GonSosa Development on the project, which is anchored outside of the city’s downtown, spanning the West and South wards.

The project includes 20 three-family town homes and a three-story mixed-used building with an additional 16 units. Plans for the building include a fitness center and 1,900 square feet of commercial space that will be rented to nonprofits. The 60 units in the townhouses will be market rate; the 16 units in the building will be affordable.

Rents for the market rate units will start around $1,800 a month and are expected to open by December 2020. The affordable housing building is expected to be finished in December 2021; units there will be priced according to a person’s income.

[SOURCE: NJ.COM]

‘Bessie’ Wins Outstanding Television Movie at 2015 Emmy Awards

Hidden among a historic win by Viola Davis and other African American winners such as Regina King and Uza Aduba was a victory for Queen Latifah's HBO film Bessie.

Queen Latifah’s Bessie, a HBO biopic about legendary blues singer Bessie Smith, nabbed four trophies, including Outstanding Television Movie, at the 2015 Emmy Awards on Sunday (Sept. 20).

Unfortunately, the 45-year-old actress didn’t take home the trophy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her portrayal of the late jazz songbird, that went to Frances McDormand for her performance in Olive Kitteridge.

Nevertheless, Bessie did receive some hardware in the creative fields. Those awards were for Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited Series or Movie, Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie or a Special (Original Dramatic Score) and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited Series or a Movie.

[SOURCE]

Queen Latifah's Talk Show Has Been Canceled

Production on The Queen Latifah Show, which is currently in its second season, will wrap by the end of the year. Original episodes of the show will continue to air on CBS-owned stations through March of 2015.

The host posted this goodbye on the show's Facebook page:

Post by Queen Latifah.