Lisa Price, Marcus Samuelsson, Louis Johnson Jr. And More Honored At Harlem Business Alliance

March 31, 2016

hba gala1Yesterday evening, Tuesday, March 29, 2016 Harlem Business Alliance (HBA), a New York City nonprofit that services Harlem-based prospective and current business owners, hosted their 35th Anniversary Awards Dinner in MIST Harlem.

The event honored the inimitable Black business owners and community leaders Red Rooster & Streetbird NYC restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson (Business Person Award), NYC Comptroller’s Chief Diversity Officer Carra Wallace (Government Service Award), journalist at NY1 & CNN Errol Louis (Percy E. Sutton Award), Carol’s Daughter founder Lisa Price (Entrepreneur of the Year Award), Red Rabbit founder Rhys Powell (Chairman’s Award) and Harlem Haberdashery co-owner Louis Johnson Jr. (Community Service Award).

Each of the evening’s honorees embodies this year’s Awards Dinner theme: Black Business Matters. They understand the necessity and importance of Harlem Business Alliance in the community and urged attendees to assist and give back to the community in their own ways; either through philanthropy and support of their community or starting businesses of their own. Many of the honorees accredited each other as motivation to continue pushing forward an agenda based on supporting Harlem and the African-American community as a whole. Notable attendees included Congressman Charles Rangel, Councilwoman Inez Dickens, Melba’s Restaurant Owner Melba Wilson, UPTOWN Magazine Editor-in-Chief Isoul Harris, NY1, Experience Harlem, Tre’ness Woods from Sylvia’s Restaurant and more.

The signature cocktail of the evening was entitled “Upper Manhattan”, an ode to the cocktail hour sponsored by Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ). Other beverages included HBA client Ginjan, an organic juice company, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly and Harlem Brewing Company. Guests were seated and served a family-style dinner paired with Barefoot Wine & Bubbly while a curated introductory video played that highlighted the history and achievements of Black businesses over the centuries. Mistress of Ceremonies and Harlem Business Alliance board member Adrianne C. Smith opened the program and led an engaging evening with inspiring acceptance speeches from each honoree. The surprise of the evening came at the end of the program when Congressman Charles Rangel took the stage to award HBA Executive Director, Regina Smith with the Legends Award. As a parting courtesy from Congressman Rangel, HBA received an official Proclamation declaring March 29th as “Black Business Matters Day”.

At the close of the evening guests were treated to HBA client Mere Viola’s Sweet Delights dessert buffet of macaroons, red velvet mini cakes, blueberry bread pudding and more including a giftbag sponsored by Serengeti Tea. Additional supporters of the event included Trailblazer SponsorAirBnB, Innovator Sponsors UPS and NYC School Construction Authority (SCA) and in-kind sponsor City Winery.

The hashtag for the evening was #HBAGala

For more information about Harlem Business Alliance please visit www.hbany.org

Photo credit: Taylor Yarbrough.


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Harlem World Magazine, 2521 1/2 west 42nd street, Los Angeles, CA, 90008, https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
We're your source for local coverage, we count on your support. SPONSOR US!
Your support is crucial in maintaining a healthy democracy and quality journalism. With your contribution, we can continue to provide engaging news and free access to all.
accepted credit cards

One Comment

Leave a Reply

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

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles