March 28, 2019
Ms. Foundation for Women to Honor dream hampton, Sana Amanat at 31st Annual Gloria Awards
MS. FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN TO HONOR DREAM HAMPTON,
SANA AMANAT AT 31ST ANNUAL GLORIA AWARDS
Award-Winning Filmmaker and Writer to Receive the Woman of Vision Award,
Marvel’s VP of Content & Character Development to Receive the
Woman of Vision “Marie C. Wilson Award”
NEW YORK, MARCH 28, 2019 – Today, the Ms. Foundation for Women announced that they will honor award-winning filmmaker and writer dream hampton and Marvel’s Vice President of Content & Character Development Sana Amanat at the 31st annual Gloria Awards: A Salute to Women of Vision, to be held on Wednesday, May 8th, in New York City.
The Gloria Awards, named for Gloria Steinem, one of the organization’s founding mothers, is a yearly celebration to benefit Ms. Foundation grantee partners around the country and to recognize leaders who have made an indelible impact on the gender justice movement at the local, state, and national level. Ms. hampton will receive the Woman of Vision Award, honoring feminist leaders who create positive change, and Ms. Amanat will receive the Marie C. Wilson Award, named after the former CEO and President of the Foundation to recognize young, trailblazing feminists.
“We are thrilled to announce the honorees for the 31st Annual Gloria Awards,” said Teresa C. Younger, President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation.“As the Ms. Foundation celebrates our 45th anniversary, we are proud to honor the leadership, innovation, and courage of this year’s honorees. They represent the many generations, cultures, ethnicities, races, sexual orientations and identities of women that are leading and impacting the fight of social, political and economic equality for all genders. dream hampton is an incredible activist who has elevated people of color and the LGBTQIA+ community throughout her career to create real change in people’s lives. Sana Amanat is an outspoken advocate, and through her role at Marvel, has contributed to increasing diversity in pop culture and celebrating women and girls of color to change who the world sees as a super hero.”
In addition to Ms. hampton and Ms. Amanat, the Ms. Foundation will honor leaders from two grantee-partner organizations who have impacted the women’s movement in unparalleled ways. Angeline Echeverria of El Pueblo, Inc. in North Carolina and Deon Haywood of Women With A Vision in Louisiana will be recognized for their work igniting changes in their communities to ensure equity and opportunity for all women. Additionally, youth activists Charlotte Iradukunda, Jessica Hernandez, and Layla Bagwell of the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence will receive the Peggy C. Charren Free to Be You and Me Award.
Since 1973, the Ms. Foundation has invested over $65 million to build grassroots movements fighting for gender equity for women, particularly women of color around the country. This past year, the Ms. Foundation launched a new strategic plan that is committed to investing in and strengthening the capacity of women-of-color-led movements and grassroots organizations that intentionally and inclusively centers women and girls of color. The Ms. Foundation is determined to center the voices of women of color on the frontlines and bolster them through grantmaking, capacity building, policy and advocacy, leadership development, strategic communications, and political organizing.
Previous Gloria Awards honorees include former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Academy Award-nominated director Ava DuVernay, former Editor-In-Chief of Teen Vogue Elaine Welteroth, the co-chairs of the Women’s March on Washington, fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg, Sheila Nevins of HBO Documentary Films, Suzanne Lerner of Michael Stars, and Jennifer and Peter Buffett on behalf of the NoVo Foundation.
For more information about this year’s honorees and to purchase tickets, please visit forwomen.org/gloria-awards/.
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For 45 years, the Ms. Foundation for Women has worked to build women’s collective power in the U.S. to advance equity and justice for all. The Ms. Foundation invests in and strengthens the capacity of women-led movements to advance meaningful social, cultural, and economic change in the lives of women. With equity and inclusion as the cornerstones of true democracy, the Ms. Foundation works to create a world in which the worth and dignity of every person are valued, and power and possibility are not limited by gender, race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or age.
Press Contacts:
Tolu Onafowokan and Caroline Humphrey
Sunshine Sachs
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About the Honorees
dream hampton is an award-winning filmmaker and writer from Detroit. Her most recent work,“Surviving R. Kelly”, Lifetime Television (2019), broke ratings records and had wide and far- reaching impact. hamptom’s film and tv credits include: Executive Producer: “Surviving R. Kelly”, Lifetime TV (2019), “Finding Justice”, BET (2019), “It’s A Hard Truth Ain’t It”, HBO (2019), “The Burial of Kojo” (2018). Director: “Treasure: From Tragedy to Transjustice, Mapping a Detroit Story” (2015); Director: “Black August” (2010); Director: “I AM ALI” (2002); Co-Executive Producer: “An Oversimplification of Her Beauty”, Netflix (2013); Co-Producer: “BET Black Girls Rock” (2010-2015), “BET Honors Awards” (2010-2015), “Behind the Music: Notorious B.I.G.” (1999, Emmy), Associate Producer: “The Russian Winter” (2012). She directed the music video “QueenS” for TheeSatisfaction which NPR named one of the most stylish music videos of 2012. Since 1990 hampton’s articles and essays have been published in more than a dozen anthologies and in newspapers and magazines including, The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Detroit News and NPR. In 2010, she collaborated with Shawn Carter on the New York Times bestseller, “Decoded”. hampton was a 2014 Kresge Artist Fellow and was the 2015 Visiting Artist at Stanford University’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts where she taught “From Moments to Movements; New Media, New Narratives” a course on 21st-century activism and organizing.
Sana Amanat, Marvel’s Vice President of Content & Character Development, oversees the expansion of Marvel’s content across the company’s various platforms into the hands of global audiences. She started out her career at Marvel as a comic book editor. Her past editorial credits include Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, and Miles Morales. She is most known for co-creating a Muslim-American female super hero named Kamala Khan – the new Ms. Marvel – which gained worldwide media attention and sparked excitement and dialogue about identity and the Muslim-American narrative. Sana is also an executive producer on Marvel Rising, Marvel’s animation franchise featuring a young, diverse group of Marvel heroes. As a part of her larger efforts to bring in broader audiences to Marvel, she helped launch the Women of Marvel platform that has activated and excited a new generation of fans. Sana has appeared on various television programs like the Late Night with Seth Meyers, and gave an acclaimed TedxTeen talk about the need for representation in storytelling. She was a part of Marie Claire’s 2016 New Guard of America’s 50 most influential women, as well as featured in Vogue’s 2018 American Women special. She also had the distinct honor of representing Marvel Entertainment at the White House and introducing President Barack Obama, who called Sana a “real life super hero.”
Angeline Echeverria has served as the Executive Director of El Pueblo, Inc. since 2012, where she supports an amazing team of staff, board, and community leaders to build collective power for reproductive justice and immigrant rights. She credits an internship at Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF) with launching her career in non-profits in 1999 and she continues to stay connected to SAF as a board member and volunteer. After graduating from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in Latin American Studies, she brought her commitment to social justice to the Women’s Project in Little Rock, AR; to the Sarapiquí Conservation and Learning Center in Costa Rica; and to the Immigrant Justice Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Prior to joining El Pueblo, she spent four years at La Fuente, an organization dedicated to empowering immigrants and workers in New York City and Long Island. Angeline lives in Raleigh, NC, where she enjoys playing soccer, Zumba, and spending time with her partner.
Deon Haywood is a southern Black lesbian, an activist warrior, a mother and grandmother, and a breast cancer survivor. For more than 25 years, she has worked as a human rights defender and advocate for Black women, working class and low-come women, and LGBTQ communities in the Deep South. As the Executive Director of Women With A Vision (WWAV) in New Orleans, she led the organization after Hurricane Katrina in successfully changing the “crime against nature” statute being used to criminalize street-based sex work, thereby securing the removal of more than 800 people from the Louisiana sex offender registry. Through her relentless advocacy, she has grown WWAV into a leading voice on Black women and criminalization in the American South, advancing community-led policy solutions on the international and national stages and at home in Louisiana. For this work, she has been honored with numerous awards by groups across the United States in recognition of her leadership at the intersection of HIV/AIDS, harm reduction, LGBTQ rights, reproductive justice, anti-criminalization, and ending mass incarceration, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, SisterSong, Ms. Foundation, National Organization of Women (NOW), ACLU Louisiana, the Human Rights Campaign, the Red Door Foundation, Philadelphia FIGHT, Planned Parenthood, Forum for Equality, TheBody.com, BET.com, and Frontline Defenders Dublin Platform. In 2018, she was appointed to the New Orleans Human Relations Commission to advance this body’s work on Human Rights and Equity.
Charlotte Iradukunda is a 15-year-old youth activist with the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence. In the words of Angela Davis, “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” Charlotte became involved in her community when she realized that she doesn’t have to just sit and accept all the choices adults make. She started a club at her school that educated students and faculty about the changes that queer youth of color want. Charlotte loves poetry and jazz music, one of her favorite artists is Nina Simone.
Jessica Hernandez is a 16-year-old youth activist with the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence, a student, leader, and organizer. As a student, Jessica is constantly learning more about herself, her community, and how she can improve the lack of youth engagement in her community. As an organizer, she strives to recognize, educate, and empower youth and increase their access to resources. As a leader, she is committed to volunteering and teaching youth in low-income communities about healthy lifestyle choices. As a Mexican-American, Jessica stands strong, loud, and firm for herself and her people.
Layla Bagwell is a 16-year-old activist at the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence, mixed girl, and changemaker. She finds passion and joy in connecting to people and giving marginalized communities a voice, as well as connecting with her ancestors.
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