Daisy L. Alford Smith, Ph.D. Women of Color Hall of Fame Inductee

Courtesy of Rodney L. Brown Photography

Pictured left to right: Alexandria Johnson Boone, Founder and Chairwoman of The Women of Color Foundation and Daisy L. Alford-Smith, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Girl Scouts of North East Ohio

Women of Color Foundation
Hall of Fame Induction Gala and Awards

The Women of Color Foundation honored thirteen women who have made both a personal and professional impact on the lives of others, locally, regionally, nationally, and/or internationally.  The awards gala took place Saturday, June 2, 2012, at Cleveland Clinic's Lyndhurst campus.

The award recipients include: Maria Bonilla Boss, President, Boss Enterprises, Inc; Margot James Copeland, Executive Vice President and Director of Corporate Diversity & Philanthropy, KeyCorp; Constance D. Harper, Associate Publisher & Executive Editor, Call & Post Newspapers; Pamela Marshall Holmes, Senior Director, Community Outreach, Cleveland Clinic; Marilyn Sanders Mobley, Ph.D., Vice President, Office of Inclusion, Diversity & Equal Opportunity and Professor of English, Case Western Reserve University; Debra Adams Simmons, Editor, The Plain Dealer Newspaper; Daisy Alford Smith, Ph.D; Chief Executive Officer, Girl Scouts of North East Ohio; Margaret W. Wong, Esquire; Principal, Margaret W. Wong & Associates, Co., LPA; The Honorable Shirley A. Smith; Member, Ohio Senate; 21st District of Ohio. The 2012 Special Awards recipients include: Michelle E. Urquhart , Founder/Co-Chair, Urquhart Memorial Foundation, who will receive the Individual Philanthropy Award; The Honorable Sara J. Harper, Judge, 8th District Court of Appeals, Retired, Cuyahoga County, Ohio (Lifetime Achievement Award); Renita Jefferson, Director of Leadership Development, Human Resources, American Greetings Corporation, will receive the Diversity and Inclusion Professional of the Year Award; and DeLores Pressley, International Motivational Speaker, Life Strategist and Author, and Founder, DeLores Pressley Worldwide, will receive the Global Achievement Award.

“We are extremely excited and proud to honor these thirteen extraordinary women at our inaugural Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Gala,” says Alexandria Johnson Boone, Founder and Chairwoman of The Women of Color Foundation. These women come from a variety of cultural, personal and professional backgrounds, and have experienced the successes, triumphs and failures that all women can relate to. They exemplify the fact that, despite difficult challenges, unexpected obstacles and setbacks, women are smart, strong, tenacious and leaders in their families, communities, professions and businesses. These women are role models to us all, and truly epitomize what the Women of Color Foundation has tried to accomplish over the past 10 years, and what we, ultimately, stand for,” she said.