28 May 2008

We're 35!

Last Wednesday, our 35th Anniversary Celebration and 20th Annual Gloria Awards energized us all! We're so thankful to everyone who made the event a success. Our awardees spoke movingly about their work and partnerships with the Ms. Foundation as they accepted their Women of Vision awards for outstanding social justice leadership in their communities and companies. Meanwhile, through song and speech, our presenters, performers, event chair Loreen Arbus and co-hosts Gloria Steinem and Sara K. Gould entertained and inspired us the whole evening long, leaving us with a resounding charge to forge new connections across organizations and movements and demand lasting progressive, feminist social change during this election cycle and beyond.

For coverage of the event, see Divine Caroline's website for a Q&A with our President and CEO Sara K. Gould and profiles of three of our awardees Lucy C. FĂ©lix, Brenda Dardar-Robichaux and Yunuen Rodriguez -- all grantees of the Ms. Foundation.

Also see the fantastic piece by Jennifer Pelly, "At the Gloria Awards, Feeling the Promise of My Generation," published by the Women's Media Center. Pelly, a college student in New York, was particularly bowled over by the powerful leadership and accomplishments of awardee Yunuen Rodriguez and reflects on how the entire evening reinforced her commitment to, along with others from her generation, drive progressive social change into the next three decades.

Again, thank you to everyone who supported this fun and important event! Here's to another 35 successful years and many more powerful, visionary women leaders to come.

Photo top left: Sara K. Gould, Ms. Foundation President & CEO © Kevin Wick/Longview
Photo above right:
Dolores Huerta (Presenter), Lucy C. Felix (Awardee), Blythe Danner (Presenter) © Kevin Wick/Longview