Ava Duvernay And Elaine Welteroth Honored At Ms. Foundation 30th Annual Gloria Awards

Hundreds gathered at the 30th Annual Gloria Awards: A Salute to Women of Vision at Capitale on Thursday, May 3rd to pay tribute to Academy-Award nominated director Ava DuVernay and award-winning journalist and former Editor-in-Chief of Teen Vogue Elaine Welteroth.

In addition to Ms. DuVernay and Ms. Welteroth, the Ms. Foundation honored three leaders from grantee-partner organizations who impacted the women's movement in unparalleled ways. Monica Simpson of SisterSong, Shannan Reaze of Atlanta Jobs With Justice, and Joanne Smith of Girls for Gender Equity were recognized for their work in the fields of reproductive justice, economic justice, and women's safety, respectively. Additionally, Marley Dias, Founder of the #1000BlackGirlBooks, was the recipient of the Free to Be You and Me Award.

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. DuVernay received the Woman of Vision Award, honoring feminist leaders who create positive change, and Ms. Welteroth received the Marie C. Wilson Award, named after the former CEO and President of the Foundation to recognize young, trailblazing feminists.

Teresa C. Younger, President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women, opened the evening, sharing "I am excited to honor a brilliant, beautiful, powerful, and passionate group of women of color, #BlackGirlMagic. I am particularly honored to do this as a woman of color, as a black woman....The unique lens that women of color are graced with gives us a certain understand of [women's] struggles and challenges."

#MeToo Founder Tarana Burke introduced Ava DuVernay to the stage, who said "I'm honored to work shoulder to shoulder with all of you who have let go of the toxic environments that do not serve us - to create the spaces for ourselves that are meant to be."

Elaine Welteroth said, "The work of my generation and the next is built on the backs of women like Marie C Wilson who this award was named after, whose work challenged the status quo before there were stages for it, Women who stood for women before it was the trendy thing to do. Before there were these viral rallying cries known as hashtags that showcased the power of our collective voice."

Marley Dias said, "In the same way that we know that we must all be feminists and we must all be anti-racist. We must all be champions for black girls. When black girls succeed, we all succeed. Being honored here tonight means a lot to me because the champions for equity are women. In the tradition of Ida B. Wells, we are sick and tired of being sick and tired."

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. Previous Gloria Awards honorees include former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 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 the Ms. Foundation, please visit forwomen.org.