SWAC GameChangHer Awards Brunch, Hosted by Tiffany Greene

In HBCU excellence information…

Supply: Adriana Sim

Atlanta lately hosted the GameChangHER Brunch & Awards, a robust celebration of Black ladies in sports activities, management, and group impression who are usually not solely breaking limitations but additionally making certain the doorways keep open for these coming behind them.

Not too long ago held on the Renaissance Atlanta Airport Gateway Resort, this occasion stood as a spotlight of the Southwestern Athletic Convention Basketball Championship Match, marking the primary time the video games had been hosted in Atlanta. With that shift got here a way of grandeur and significance and an simple reminder that Black ladies in sports activities deserve their flowers, their energy, and their platforms.

Backed by Insights Advertising and marketing and the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority (AFCRA), the brunch gathered HBCU athletes, executives, policymakers, and trade leaders for a morning full of well-deserved recognition and thought-provoking dialog. ESPN’s first Black feminine play-by-play commentator, Tiffany Greene, a lady who embodies what it means to be the primary however not the final, hosted the occasion.

Supply: Adriana Sim

The Georgia Worldwide Conference Middle offered the right setting, and as quickly as I stepped into the area, I may inform this was no odd brunch—it was a motion. There was intensive decor and activations reflecting the celebration of Black excellence in sports activities, magnificence, and enterprise, with CurlDaze Haircare and Social Home Vodka exhibiting up as proud supporters of HBCU tradition.

Supply: Adriana Sim

Earlier than the occasion formally kicked off, Georgia State Senator Sonya Halpern informed BOSSIP concerning the significance of being honored as a GamechangHER.

“I’m excited to be right here and acknowledged as a lady in sports activities and for the work I’m doing. I at all times say politics and sports activities are the identical—it’s all about who’s writing the foundations and what are the foundations of the sport.”

Supply: Adriana Sim

Tiffany Greene on Why Illustration Issues

As soon as brunch was underway, Tiffany Greene took the mic to set the tone for the day, reminding everybody that they weren’t simply there to be seen, they had been there as a result of they deserved to be honored.

Supply: Adriana Sim

“It’s about creating an area the place you don’t even see your self. All about saying, ‘I consider and need to be right here.”

She then welcomed SWAC Commissioner Charles McClelland, who emphasised simply how vital this occasion was for the convention and the Black ladies main it.

“That is considerably essential to us. Not as a result of they’re honoring my boss—although that’s at all times a very good factor—however as a result of they’re honoring leaders. Not solely on this state however this metropolis and nation. I do know it’s Girls’s Historical past Month, however daily is Girls’s Historical past Month. I say this as a result of one among your honorees, Adeenah Pooler, she is our Senior Affiliate. The SWAC has been round since 1920 and by no means has there been a feminine quantity two within the SWAC and as quickly as I get run over by a bus, she’s going to be primary.”

Supply: Adriana Sim

American Sports activities continues to make progress with Girls persevering with an inventory of “firsts!”

GameChangHER Award Winners: The Girls Main the Cost

Then, the second everybody was ready for—the awards.

Supply: Adriana Sim

See extra of our GameChangHER Brunch & Awards recap on the flip.

Memorable Moments: Phrases That Will Echo Past the Ballroom

From the rostrum, honorees delivered highly effective speeches that left the viewers impressed and motivated. A few of the standout moments included phrases of knowledge.

President Tomikia P. LeGrande: “Management is a state of being, a mind-set. Once we consider change makers, we expect of people that affect others. Nobody hires leaders to maintain the established order. I’m solely one among two ladies within the President’s Council.”

Supply: Adriana Sim

Angela Suggs: “Thank the lads that made a method and didn’t stand in the best way. Tremendous honored to be right here.”

Sonya Halpern: “SWAC isn’t only a sports activities convention, it’s a legacy.”

Dr. Genese A. Lavalais: “Expertise is in every single place, however alternative shouldn’t be—that’s why we should work to vary this.”

Terri Lee: “We’re in a season the place our democracy is being threatened. If we don’t rise up for what’s proper, we’ll nonetheless be preventing. It’s our duty to carry people accountable.”

Laila Brock: “Thanks for considering of me in the identical period and for giving ladies an area to be celebrated. I consider that historical past repeats itself. If we take the ability of sport to do superb issues, I feel we’re going to just do high-quality.”

Erika Mitchell: “I want to acknowledge my late school coach and highschool coach. I keep in mind when Coach Crump at Alabama State known as my father and informed him, ‘Give her to me, and I’ll ensure she graduates.’ That is what HBCUs do. I’m the caregiver of my father, who’s battling stage 4 most cancers, however I do know he can be happy with me. I advocate for HBCU college students to affix the SWAC as a result of sports activities assist college students matriculate by means of school and assist them turn into leaders. This convention helped form my journey.”

Mayor Professional Tem Jamelle McKenzie: “It’s not who you’re identified for however moderately who you’ve gotten come to be.”