Black Women of Long Island holds awards brunch

Celebration and recognition were both in the air at a Sunday brunch honoring the achievements of Black women on Long Island.

Dozens of women from across Long Island gathered in Freeport for the second year of the event organized by the group Black Women of Long Island, which honored more than 20 Black women leaders and changemakers.

Winners included a cross-section of people such as educators, business leaders, medical professionals and beyond.

Renee Daniel Flagler, executive director of Girls Inc. of Long Island and one of the honorees, said her advocacy to help youth overcome disparities is not for the sake of recognition but noted that getting it is humbling.

“Affirmation from your own community is tremendous,” said Flagler, of Baldwin.

Sunday’s awards brunch marked the end of a three-day event aimed at empowering and uplifting Black women. Other events that were part of the celebration included a kickoff mixer on Friday. On Saturday, the organization held an all-day conference at Hofstra University.

Judith Jacques, founder of Black Women of Long Island, said the organization was born out of a need for greater community among Black women in the area.

She started off with a WhatsApp group. Then in 2022, she created the Black Women of Long Island group on Facebook. Today the group has more than 4,000 members.

“I want to create spaces where Black women feel safe and they feel seen and they're celebrated, unapologetically,” said Jacques, of Amityville. “And I wish that every Black woman who leaves this space today feels exactly that.”

On Sunday, attendees young, old and in between mixed and mingled.

They heard from many of the women who won awards, including Vanessa Baird-Streeter, president and CEO of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island. Other award winners included chef Sandy Pierre and state Assemb. Michaelle Solages (D-Elmont).

Valerie Cartright, a New York State Supreme Court justice who was also an honoree, said it's important to be in the room with women, many of whom who have experienced some of the same challenges she has.

“It’s humbling to be amongst so many sheros and ladies that are … treating ceilings as though they’re floors,” she said.

Yolanda Hutchinson, an awardee and superintendent of Parks and Recreation in the Village of Hempstead, said the events held special significance because they happened shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris lost her presidential bid to Donald Trump. If Harris had won, she would have been the first Black and Asian woman to be U.S. president.

“And to see that, and after maybe less than two weeks shy of that, to be in a room full of Black women — just soaking up that knowledge and their expertise and all the beauty and all the life that they have — is simply amazing,” she said.

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Education: Howard University 

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith came to Newsday in 2023 after being a race and history reporter at USA TODAY, where she wrote enterprise and spot articles examining how the past shapes the present. Previously, she worked as the race and justice reporter at the USA TODAY Network of New York, covering issues such as criminal justice reform, housing, environmental justice, health care and politics. At The Journal News/lohud.com in Westchester County, she covered Yonkers, the state's third-largest city. She also worked at The Associated Press in Atlanta.

Honors and Awards: Criminal justice reporting fellowship with the National Press Foundation;  New York News Publishers Association award for distinguished investigative reporting;  Contributed reporting for Best of Gannett honor; Member of Table Stakes, a program funded by the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and managed by the American Press Institute to transform local news.