The 2014 DVF Awards Honorees
The following extraordinary women were honored at the 5th annual DVF Awards in New York on April 4, 2014:
The Lifetime Leadership DVF Award
Gloria Steinem
Gloria Steinem is a writer, lecturer, editor, and feminist activist. An organizer and frequent media spokeswoman on issues of equality, she is particularly interested in the shared origins of sex and race caste systems, gender roles and child abuse as roots of violence, non-violent conflict resolution, the cultures of indigenous peoples, and organizing across boundaries for peace and justice.
Ms. Steinem graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College in 1956, then spent two years in India on a Chester Bowles Fellowship. She wrote for Indian publications, and was influenced by Gandhian activism.
In 1972, Ms. Steinem co-founded Ms. magazine. She continues to serve as a consulting editor for Ms., and was instrumental in the magazine’s move to be published by the Feminist Majority Foundation. She also helped to found New York magazine in 1968, and has written numerous bestselling books.
Ms. Steinem helped to found the Women’s Action Alliance and the National Women’s Political Caucus. She was president and co-founder of Voters for Choice, and was co-founder and serves on the board of Choice USA. She was the founding president of the Ms. Foundation for Women, and was a founder of its Take Our Daughters to Work Day.
The International DVF Award
Kah Walla
Kah Walla is an entrepreneur, activist and political leader from Cameroon. Throughout her career, she has focused on good governance, the rights of women and youth, and the rule of law. She is the CEO of STRATEGIES!, a leadership and management firm she founded more than 20 years ago. She is the current president of the Cameroon People’s Party (CPP), which she joined in 2010. In 2011, she became the first woman to ever run for the presidential election in Cameroon. She is a social activist, and founder of Cameroon Ô’Bosso, a citizenship movement to help the grassroots organize to defend its interests. In 2016, Kah’s political party, two other Cameroonian political parties, and one NGO launched the Stand Up for Cameroon initiative, a platform to demand basic services for Cameroonians and call for a peaceful political transition. Through this initiative, Kah is challenging the status quo in her country. Last year, Stand Up for Cameroon launched a successful campaign to stop the modification of the Cameroonian constitution which would have allowed for early presidential elections.
Through her DVF Award grant funds, Kah traveled to parts of Cameroon to work with and bring awareness to girls who have been affected by Boko Haram. She also worked to create a documentary film about human trafficking in Cameroon.
strategiesconsultingfirm.com
The International DVF Award
Liron Peleg-Hadomi & Noha Khatieb
Noha and Liron met in 2007 when both traveled to Northern Ireland as part of a Vital Voices delegation to bring Palestinians and Jews together to learn from peace builders there and bring solutions home. They instantly bonded on a personal level and returned to Israel inspired to create dialogue and to build a new culture of tolerance and peace together.
In 2010, Liron and Noha became the local coordinators for a new extension of the Vital Voices Peace and Prosperity program for young women within Israel. Building on the success of this program, in 2015 they launched the Learn Engage Advocate and Dialogue Program (LEAD) with the support of the DVF Award grant funds. Through LEAD, they brought together young women leaders across the conflict divide to promote social change in Israel. LEAD Fellow created their own social impact projects to promote peace and reconciliation in their communities.
The Inspiration DVF Award
Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys is a 15-time Grammy® Award-winning singer/songwriter/producer, an accomplished actress, a New York Times best-selling author, an entrepreneur and a powerful force in the world of philanthropy and in the global fight against HIV and AIDS. Her message of love, hope and freedom inspires and resonates around the world. Keys’ multi-cultural background and multi-genre music make her the perfect face and sound of the new century. As Keys reminds us, we are all connected in this Internet/global village era, so it is crucial to love and respect everyone. Not only is she one of New York’s most popular ambassadors, but she is also a strong and powerful public voice for women everywhere.
The co-founder of Keep a Child Alive, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS, she is a global activist who has been involved in that fight for over 12 years. In 2014, Alicia co-founded the We Are Here Movement to engage and educate her audience about the many issues that together prevent equality and justice across our world.
keepachildalive.org
The People’s Voice DVF Award
Veronica Scott
Veronika Scott is CEO and Founder of The Empowerment Plan, a Detroit-based nonprofit organization focused on permanently elevating families from the generational cycle of homelessness. What started as a simple idea— to design a self-heated, weather-resistant coat that transforms into a sleeping bag for the homeless population—has evolved into a system of empowerment in which single parents from local shelters are paid to produce the coats, giving them an opportunity to earn money, find a place to live, and regain their independence.
Veronika is the youngest recipient of the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award from the JFK Library Foundation and Harvard University. She has received an IDEA Gold Award from the Industrial Design Society of America and has an honorary PhD of Humane Letters from Johnson State College. Veronika has been named one of CNN’s Ten Visionary Women in the World and is the winner of the 2014 DVF People’s Voice Award. She has also been named a 2015 Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur, and a 2016 CNN Hero.
Since 2012, The Empowerment Plan has employed 39 formerly homeless individuals and distributed more than 20,000 coats across the globe. But their lasting impact lies within those they employ. Through their unique approach to workforce development, The Empowerment Plan is creating a viable workforce from a population that is many times overlooked. In addition to growing their employment model, The Empowerment Plan will launch a retail line that will directly fund the operations of the nonprofit organization so that they can shift away from depending fully on philanthropic funding and work to exist as a true social enterprise with lasting impact in Detroit and beyond.
empowermentplan.org
People's Voice DVF Award Nominees
Let your voice be heard.
The People’s Voice DVF Award is chosen by popular vote and will be celebrated at the 9th annual DVF Awards to be held on April 13, 2018 at the United Nations in New York City.
This year’s nominees are: