Take Wings Foundation 8th Annual Angel Awards Benefit Safeway is a proud sponsor of the Take Wings Foundation Providing opportunities and positive role models for young women in our communities. Take Wings Foundation th 8 Annual Angel Awards Benefit Saturday, August 13, 2011 San Francisco Marriott 55 Fourth Street • San Francisco, CA 6:00 P.M. VIP and Sponsors Reception (By Invitation only) Hosted by Hennessy 6:00 P.M. Cocktail Reception Hosted by Hennessy 7:00 P.M. Dining, Program & Entertainment 9:30 P.M. After Party Program & Event Management - Stalfana A. Bello Take Wings Foundation About the Take Wings Foundation Founded in 1997 by actress Terri J. Vaughn, Take Wings Foundation (TWF) provides a variety of activities for young women living in at risk communities that allows them the opportunity to interact with positive role models, participate in community service projects, and receive academic scholarships. The young women participate in three all day workshops each year that address a variety of topics that are relevant to challenges teens face, such as health and wellness, self sufficiency, personal responsibility and academic success. Through their participation in these various activities TWF offers a safe and supportive place for youth to discuss personal issues that affect most underserved youth. Each year there are anywhere from 5 to 10 young women who receive the TWF Scholarship. The amount awarded to each recipient depends on monies raised from our annual fundraiser which you are supporting this evening! Over this past year, TWF has taken steps to extend our outreach and in 2011 we formally launched our young men’s program. Stay tuned as we develop this wing of our foundation. Our hope is that tonight you will learn more about TWF, feel the passion that Take Wings is built on, and make the decision to continue to support our youth as they Take Wings and Soar! To the Take Wings Foundation Board of Directors: Antoinette, Billy, Shari, Roslyn and Mom, thank you for your tireless efforts, your time, your energy, your love and your dedication to the work that we do for our young girls and young men. This foundation started off as a passion of mine and you have each embraced my passion and made it your own. I love you and could not do this without you. To Tracy Ward, TWF Executive Director: My dear sister I see you working and thriving for our youth. I see you going beyond your duties to keep Take Wings running and growing. I see you challenging the TWF board of directors and me to step up to the call of strengthening our youth. I see you making us a better force in the community for the sake of the youth we serve. I see you do all of this while being a great mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend and continuing to excel in your own career. You continue to be an inspiration to me. Thank you. To My friends Nicole, Boris and Kelly, thank you guys for saying yes! Every year is a challenge for me to find the right speakers and celebrity friends who are available to help celebrate and encourage our community. It’s such a blessing for me when you guys make it so easy. Thank you for choosing to come out to share your gifts of love, laughter, wisdom and music just because I asked. (Meaning they are not paid to be here ya’ll.) I am so humbled and so honored to have the talented and influential friends I have in entertainment, education and politics, many of whom I was a fan of first. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for making this event exciting, motivational and Hot for us all. To Our Sponsors, Honorees, Honorary Chairs and Volunteers: Thank you for your support and partnership in making this evening and our work with the youth a success. Your contributions and time are empowering to each young lady and young man as they strive for excellence. You are inspiring to us because we cannot continue to do this work without your financial support and valuable time. Your commitment, your vision, and your belief in the work we do make a phenomenal difference in the lives of our youth we serve. To All of You here tonight I am more than humbled to have you. You being here is a true testament to the work that God is doing through this foundation. Take Wings Foundation was created solely to help young girls, and now also young men, to thrive. It was created so that we could support, uplift and inspire our youth to grow to have successful lives. By being here tonight you are contributing to the betterment of our society as a whole. We as a foundation cannot exist, cannot serve, cannot make a difference without you. Your support is mandatory for us to succeed with our mission in helping to develop productive and inspiring young men and women. Thank you for choosing to support our youth, by choosing to support Take Wings Foundation. Terri J. Vaughn A Message from the Board To work towards your goal is to fly To achieve it Is to soar On behalf of every young woman & man TWF serves The Board of Directors would like to thank each of you for helping us to soar. Terri J. Vaughn Riley, Founder Tracy L. Ward, Executive Director Rosalyn Gentry, Board President Board Members Shari Morgan Antoinette Otis Helen K. Vaughn Billy J. Ward 8th Annual Angel Awards Benefit Program Nicole Ari Parker & Malinda Williams Evening Hosts Dr. Charley Hames, Jr. .......................................................................................Invocation Beebe Memorial Cathedral Terri J. Vaughn .................................................................Welcome & Acknowledgements Founder, Take Wings Foundation Dining & Music Tracy L. Ward ...............................................Angel Award Presentation to Ed Fitzpatrick Executive Director Helen K. Vaughn ........................ Angel Award Presentation to Warren Strudwick, M.D. Member, Board of Directors Take Wings Foundation promotional video courtesy of the Golden State Warriors and produced by Janet Fong Take Wings Foundation 2011 Graduates Kelly Price ................................................................................................... Entertainment Recording Artist Presentation by Chef Brian Hill Live Auction Nicole Ari Parker & Malinda Williams ................................................... Closing Remarks After Party hosted by Hennessy Take Wings Foundation Malinda Williams Evening Co-Host Malinda Williams, an esteemed Hollywood sweetheart, will again grace the silver screen alongside Chris Rock in Julie Delpy’s “Two Days in New York”. A true motion picture star, Malinda recently starred in “First Sunday” (Screen Gems), a feature film starring Ice Cube and directed by David E. Talbert, and Tyler Perry’s “Daddy’s Little Girls”, where she portrayed Maya, the assistant and friend to Gabrielle Union’s character, Julia, a successful lawyer who falls in love with a janitor named Monty (Idris Elba), much to the chagrin of her father. Maya convinces Julia that Monty is a good guy and she should listen to her heart and not to her judgmental family and friends about his social status. In 2005, Malinda starred in the Outkast film, “Idlewild” (Universal). “Idlewild” was Malinda’s first starring role in a major musical production. In this period piece, also starring Big Boi and Andre 3000, Malinda portrayed Zora, the wife of “Rooster” (Big Boi). Malinda also recently starred on the television drama “Windfall”(NBC), where she portrayed Kimberly George, a 22 year- old single mother whose luck found her winning the $386 Million dollar lottery and left her life in the trailer park behind. If you ask this talented actress some of her career goals, she will tell you, “I just want to portray African-American women accurately, because that is all I represent; not necessarily positively or negatively, just correctly.” If this beautiful actress’s face seems familiar, it may be because she spent five years portraying Tracey “Bird” Van Adams, a beauty salon owner and struggling entrepreneur on Showtime’s ground-breaking, history making series “SoulFood.” Malinda has worked consistently in a business where many careers are short- lived. In 2003 and 2004 she earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for “Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series”, and in 2002, 2003and 2004 the series received the NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Drama Series” with yet another nomination in 2004. Malinda’s leading role film credits include: The Wood (MTV /Paramount), High School High (TriStar), and An Invited Guest which won the Best of Show at the 1999 Acapulco Black Film Festival and the Audience Award at the 1999 Urban World Festival in New York. She also starred in Dancing in September (HBO). Other film credits include: Sunset Park (Columbia/TriStar) and A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (New Line). Malinda’s guest starring television credits include: CBS’s The District, Law and Order: SVU and ABC’s NYPD Blue. Having recently wrapped production on David O. Russell’s latest project “Nailed”, and currently writing a blog for Essence.com, Malinda also finds time to work with non-profit organizations such as The Take Wings and Chryalis Foundations. Having the ability to portray characters ranging from a sophisticated beauty salon owner, to a mentally challenged teenager, has branded Malinda Williams one of Hollywood’s most well-respected actresses. 8th Annual Angel Awards Benefit Nicole Ari Parker' Evening Co-Host Nicole is as adept at portraying strong sexy women as she is at playing vulnerable and complicated characters. She is best known for her outstanding performance as ‘Teri Joseph’ of Showtime’s award winning original series “Soul Food” and has displayed her acting range in several blockbuster and independent films. She most recently starred in the new ABC drama series “The Deep End” where she played Susan Oppenheim, a partner at Sterling, who prides herself on her “take-no-prisoners” attitude.