Via: My Sweet Charity

By: Jeanne Prejean

Texas Women’s Foundation’s 36th Annual Luncheon plans have just been announced. This year’s fundraiser Co-Chairs Lindsay Billingsley and Debra Hunter Johnson have arranged to have the virtual event to be themed “My Voice. My Story. Every Woman’s Power to Build Compassion and Community.”

Thanks to the Target and Suzanne Ahn, M.D. Speaker Endowment Fund at TWF, the speakers will be two best-selling authors — Angie Thomas and Cleo Wade.

As TWF President CEO Roslyn Dawson Thompson put it, “We look forward to hearing from two of the most significant storytellers in our nation — Angie Thomas and Cleo Wade. They remind us that every woman’s voice and story are important, valuable and powerful. We are grateful to our amazing co-chairs, Lindsay and Debra, for helping Texas Women’s Foundation take our signature fundraiser to new heights.”

Angie, whose careers spans from teen rapper to speaker and author, “released her debut novel ‘The Hate U Give’ in 2017.” In addition to spending three years on “The New York Times” bestseller list, it was made into a movie featuring Amandla StenbergRegina HallRussell Hornsby and Common.

On the other hand, Cleo has been described by New York Magazine as the “Millennial Oprah” due to her being an accomplished poet, artist and activist. She just recently released the children’s novel, “What The Road Said.”

Also on board for the event will be Hilda Galvan, who will become TWF Board Chair on Thursday, July 1, and Target Executive VP and Chief External Engagement Officer Laysha Ward.

With the success of its recent virtual Leadership Forum’s broadening its reach people everywhere, it was decided to have the luncheon on Thursday, September 1, be virtual with tickets starting at $36.

For a little bit more information about the speakers, follow the jump.

* Photo provided by Texas Women’s Foundation

Angie Thomas

Angie Thomas was born, raised and lives in Jackson, Mississippi. A former teen rapper, she holds a BFA in creative writing from Belhaven University. Her award-winning, acclaimed debut novel, The Hate U Give, is a New York Times bestseller and major motion picture from Fox 2000, starring Amandla Stenberg and directed by George Tillman, Jr. Her second novel, On the Come Up, is also a New York Times bestseller and a film is in development with Paramount Players with Thomas acting as a producer. In 2020, she released Find Your Voice: A Guided Journal to Writing Your Truth as a tool to help aspiring writers tell their stories. In 2021, Thomas returns to the world of Garden Heights with Concrete Rose, a prequel to The Hate U Give that focuses on seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter.

Cleo Wade

Cleo Wade is a friend, community builder and author of the bestselling books, Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life, Where to Begin: A small book your power to create big change, and Heart Talk: The Journal, 52 weeks of self-love, self-care, and self-discovery. She has been called the poet of her generation by Time Magazine and one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company. She sits on the board of The Lower East Side Girls Club, the National Black Theatre in Harlem and the Women’s Prison Association. When Wade is not at home in California with her partner, Simon Kinberg, and their daughter, Memphis, she can be found traveling around the country on her sold-out book tours, which have become a safe space to laugh, cry, hug and offer support to fellow readers. Her 2021 children’s book, What the Road Said, features illustrations by Lucie de Moyencourt, and encourages people to lead with kindness and curiosity and keep traveling the road of life.