WOMEN OF EXCELLENCE AWARDS
The Ladylike Foundation hosted its Fifth Annual “Women of Excellence Awards” luncheon this weekend at the Luxe Hotel on Sunset. The event honored women who exhibit excellence in their respective professional sectors and philanthropy. Actress, Holly Robinson Peete was the emcee for the event.
Guests enjoyed a silent auction, presentations and music. Five young ladies from of the Foundation received academic scholarships. This year’s awards were presented to: Cookie Johnson (wife of Magic Johnson, Devoted Philanthropist, Child Advocate and Spokeswoman for Women’s Health); Wendy Raquel Robinson (Actress, Producer and Host); Shaun Robinson (Access Hollywood Anchor and Correspondent and Author); Dr. Pamela Wiley-Wells (President of the Los Angeles Speech and Language Therapy Center) and Dunia Elvir (Telemundo Anchor Woman).
We spoke to The Ladylike Foundation’s Founder, Leah Pump about the event and the organization and she said, “It’s our fifth annual luncheon and what we do is we give scholarships to college bound young ladies who apply. Today we’re giving away five, which is the most we’ve ever done. We started with two, three and now five. Their grade point averages are 3.8 to 4.2. Not only do we give scholarships but we honor women of excellence in the community.”
We also asked some of the honorees what their definition of a “Woman of Excellence” is and Cookie Johnson said, “You know I think a woman of excellence first has to start off being a woman of God. And to me when you put God first, He makes everything else fall into place.” In addition to working with the Magic Johnson Foundation, Cookie recently launched a premium denim line, CJ by Cookie Johnson sold at Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and lots of specialty stores.
Shaun Robinson was excited about her award and the event saying, “It’s quite an honor to be here. And you know what we’re doing is giving back to young girls and inspiring them to live out their dreams. One of the things I feel is very important is that girls see so many negative images of women, especially Black women on television. It’s fine to have the fun and the drama but we also need to counter those images and have more positive ones. When we publicize events like this, it’s wonderful to see girls benefiting in seeing women living positive lives.”
Lots of influential women in Hollywood came out to show their support including, Vanessa Bell Calloway (Shameless), Sheree Fletcher (Hollywood Exes), sisters, Laura & Gloria Govan (Basketball Wives LA), Simone Smith (LL Cool J’s wife), Frances Gladney (Smokey Robinson’s wife) and many more.
We caught up with Holly Robinson Peete after the event to see how she felt about hosting the event and she told us, “Well I was honored to be honored a couple of years ago. When she (Leah) asked me, I’m a busy lady but I couldn’t wait to do it!” We also asked her definition of a “Woman of Excellence” and she said, “Just someone that doesn’t settle. Someone that always keeps a level of integrity first at all times.”
This was an amazing event with some amazing women and girls! Leah Pump did a fabulous job with the event and her work with The Ladylike Foundation. For more information on being involved, visit Ladylike.com.
