CNN’s Soledad O’Brien Featured Speaker At Black Star News Annual Dinner 2009

‘Towards the end of the year, we always think it’s good to pause and count life’s blessings, such as waking up everyday’ says Milton Allimadi, Publisher and CEO of The Black Star News co. ‘We also want our supporters to join us in closing this year as we hope for a better 2010.’

[Annual Dinner 2009]

This year Rep. Maxine Waters, Rev. Al Sharpton, and CNN’s Soledad O’Brien head a list of stellar honorees and speakers at the Black Star News’ 2009 Annual Awards Dinner at the Puck Building in New York, on November 20, 2009.

Past BSN honorees have included Bill and Camille Cosby, for their philanthropy and very generous support of education.

Other Honorees for this years’ annual gala include Jamal Simmons (Consultant and regular guest commentator on CNN and MSNBC); Gregory Floyd, President (Teamsters Local 237); Dwight Raiford (MetLife Senior Financial Planner); Dr. William Pollard, President (Medgar Evers College); Belynda M’Baye (Harlem real estate broker, Harlem Lofts); Lynda Ireland (CEO, NY & NJ Minority Supplier Development Council); Brandon Gibson, Entrepreneur
(Gibson Group); and, Ajene Watson, Entrepreneur (AJENE WATSON LLC).

“Towards the end of the year, we always think it’s good to pause and count life’s blessings, including waking up every morning,” says Milton Allimadi, Publisher and CEO of The Black Star News co.

“Even though the recession isn’t yet behind us, we felt it was worth acknowledging achievements made by our honorees and to get together with our readers for networking. We also want our supporters to join us in closing this year as we hope for a better 2010.”

BSN’s Annual Awards Dinner recognizes exemplary women and men who excel in their professions and serve as  inspiration to the younger generation. The Gala event will be held on Friday, November 20, 2009 from 6:30 PM to 11 PM at The Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012-2722.

The Awards Gala will include an Open Bar cocktail hour; dinner; musical entertainment by a live band; and the awards ceremony. Musical Entertainment at a past Black Star Annual Awards Dinner was provided by Grammy-Nominated Artist, Amiel Larrieux. This year’s band has not yet announced.

Union leader Gregory Floyd will speak on the challenges of protecting jobs and benefits in a recessionary environment.

Rev. Sharpton, Rep. Waters and Soledad O’Brien, CNN anchor and host of the widely celebrated series “Black In America,” and “Latino in America,” will be featured speakers.

The theme for this year’s dinner is “Education, As the Key to Empowerment.”

“I am honored to accept this year’s award for groundbreaking journalism,” Soledad O’Brien said. “I consider myself lucky to be able to do what I do – to shed light on those stories that need to be told.  We received such extraordinary feedback after Black in America I, it was clear viewers had a great interest in the subject matter and that we needed a part II.
Reporting for the Black in America series was an extremely rewarding experience for me personally.  By highlighting issues throughout the black community and featuring successful community leaders who are improving the lives of African-Americans, I see the series as a starting point to generate dialogue about issues of race in this country that could lead to real change.”

Additional past Black Star News honorees have included Marian Wright Edelman; NY1 News’ Dominic Carter; The Daily News’ Errol Louis; “Like It Is” host and producer Gil Noble; The Amsterdam News’s Herb Boyd and Nayaba Arinde; Columbia University’s LaVerna Fountain; NYC Councilman Charles Barron; The People’s Attorney, Alton Maddox; legendary director Melvin Van Peebles; and many others.

Reserved Dinner tables seating 10 are still available at the discounted rate of $2,500. Individual tickets –open bar and dinner but no reserved seating— are also available at the discounted rate of $50 per ticket.

The Black Star News is a weekly newspaper, also found online at www.blackstarnews.com with a focus on news impacting general readership with emphasis on underserved communities, African Americans, as well as immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa.

Seed funding was provided by Bill and Camille Cosby in 1997. Having earned a reputation for investigative journalism, BSN has been featured in articles in The Wall Street Journal, The Daily News, The New York Post, Brill’s Content magazine, The New York Observer. The newspaper’s publisher was profiled on CNN financial news.

This year’s dinner sponsors include Emblem Health; Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield; The City University of New York (CUNY);  MetLife; Teamsters Local 237; The Gibson Group Inc.; Harlem Lofts; and, The NY & NJ Minority Supplier Development Council.

For dinner table reservations and tickets please call (646) 261-7566.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *