PRESS RELEASE
Beacon Awards 2006
BEACON AWARDS TO CELEBRATE DIVERSITY
IN GREATER ORLANDO'S WORKFORCE
ORLANDO, Fla. (February 8, 2006)
During a first-ever event on February 23, 2006, six leaders in workplace diversity practices will receive awards as beacons who light the way for other employers throughout Central Florida.
The Beacon Awards: Celebrating Diversity in Greater Orlando's Workforce is from 5 to 8:30 p.m. at Walt Disney World's Coronado Springs Resort. The awards are designed to spotlight workplaces in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Volusia and Lake counties that practice inclusion in areas of race, ethnicity, gender, age, physical and mental ability, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and family status.
Awards will be presented in six categories:
Large business: 1,000-plus employees
Medium business: 51 to 999 employees
Small business: up to 50 employees
Organization: nonprofit
Individual: person who has made a difference
Advocate: champion of inclusion
Keynote speaker for the event is Dr. E. Lance McCarthy, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Orlando Urban League. A nationally recognized economist and investment advisor, with a specialty in urban development, Dr. McCarthy has assisted nonprofit organizations, churches, corporations, professional athletes and cities with economic development and financing plans. His upcoming book, Wall Street to the Hood: 21st Century Strategies for Rebuilding Urban America, focuses on urban enlightenment and prosperity, and gives solutions for changing the philosophical economic mindset of African-Americans.
WKMG-TV Local 6 investigative news reporter Nancy Alvarez will emcee the event. A member of Channel 6's Problem Solvers Unit, Ms. Alvarez handles in-depth news stories that uncover wrongdoing in the public and private sectors. She works closely with Latino Leadership and other organizations that help people in the community.
The ceremony also will feature an invocation by Ann Brown Payne, CEO of the Minority/Women Business Enterprise Alliance Inc., known as The Alliance. Ms. Payne is a well-known speaker who founded and hosts "The Business Report" radio talk show broadcast weekly to 170,000 listeners. An ordained minister, she serves on the board of VWJ Ministries and St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Orlando.
The evening will include vocals by Orlando soloist Anna-Kay Morrison, who will perform "The Star-Spangled Banner" and an original song about diversity.
The Beacon Awards hosts are the Orlando Chapter of National Association of Women Business Owners, The YaYa Network, Orlando Business Journal, and the OBJ/Diversity Works team of Walt Disney World, Darden Restaurants, Orlando Utilities Commission and the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission.
"As women business owners, many of us in traditionally male fields, we appreciate individuals, companies and organizations that embrace diversity on all levels," says Therese Smyntek, 2005-06 president of NAWBO Orlando. "We sought to partner this year with groups that share this way of doing business. This is an event for men and women all over Central Florida. In coming years, we expect the entire community to embrace diversity as a sound business practice."
Before the Beacon Awards ceremony, hundreds of women business leaders will gather at the Coronado Springs Resort during the day for the 4th Annual YaYa Network Conference, a one-day event that has as its theme this year "All About Diversity." Keynote speakers for the conference are:
Dot Richardson, M.D., a two-time Olympic gold medallist in softball and director/medical director of the National Training Center in Clermont, Florida.
Roslyn Ridgeway, national president of Business and Professional Women/USA.
"The YaYa Network believes in promoting diversity in all aspects of business," says Pam Carman, founder and president of Business Architects of Innovation, which produces the conference. "These days, we all wear many hats in our community as citizens, parents, grandparents, volunteers, workers, employers and leaders. We can learn from each other if we embrace our differences as well as our similarities."
Tickets are still available for both events for $75 for the Beacon Awards and $159 for the YaYa Network Conference. Visit http://www.theyayanetwork.com/ to purchase online.
About the Beacon Awards
The Beacon Awards: Celebrating Diversity in Greater Orlando's Workforce is a partnership between the Orlando Chapter of National Association of Women Business Owners (www.nawboOrlando.org), The YaYa Network (www.theyayanetwork.com), Orlando Business Journal (www.bizjournals.com/orlando), and the OBJ/Diversity Works team of Walt Disney World, Darden Restaurants, Orlando Utilities Commission and the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission.