Celebrate Unity
Three and a Half Acres’ Annual Gala
Friday, October 16th
7:30p-8:30p EST
Pre-party with drinks
by 67 Orange & music by DJ Taela Naomi
7:00pm – 7:30pm
Register for the Free Event here
Presented by THAY’s Board:
Kristin Krantz (The Krantz Team)
Lara Land (Land Yoga)
Karen Murray (Voice over artist)
Jennifer Scullion (Seeger Weiss LLP)
Three and a Half Acres Yoga is proud to announce the
Honoree at this years
Celebrate Unity Annual Gala
Tamron Hall
Tamron Hall is an accomplished TV host, award-winning journalist and philanthropist. Her highly anticipated syndicated daytime talk show entitled “Tamron Hall” premiered across the country on Monday, September 9 with impeccably strong ratings. “Tamron Hall” is a daily destination for all things topical and a platform for viewers to connect with the people who are shaping our world through meaningful, engaging, and entertaining conversations.
Since 2013, Tamron has hosted “Deadline: Crime with Tamron Hall” on Investigation Discovery, taking an in-depth look at crimes that shocked the nation. The sixth season of the show is slated to premiere in fall 2019. She also brought her signature reporting style to “Guns On Campus: Tamron Hall Investigates,” a special on Investigation Discover that explored the importance of securing one’s personal safety on public property. In a powerful interview, Tamron brought two survivors together to present both sides’ positions behind this controversial debate.
Previously, Tamron co-hosted the third hour of “TODAY” and “TODAY’s Take” for three years and anchored “MSNBC Live with Tamron Hall.” She received the 2015 Edward R. Murrow Award for Reporting: Hard News in Network Television for her segment on domestic violence as part of “TODAY’s” Shine A Light series. She has hosted several special reports for MSNBC and NBC News, including the Emmy-nominated “Education Nation: Teacher Town Hall,” and she served as a correspondent for the NBC News special “The Inauguration of Barack Obama,” which won an Emmy for Outstanding Live Coverage in October 2010.
Prior to joining MSNBC in 2007, Tamron spent 10 years at WFLD in Chicago, where she served as an anchor, general assignment reporter, consumer reporter and host of the three-hour “Fox News in the Morning” program. While there, she secured a one-on-one interview with then Senator Barack Obama shortly before he announced his presidential run. Tamron was nominated for an Emmy for her consumer report segment, “The Bottom Line,” which she launched in 1999. Before joining WFLD, she spent four years as a general assignment reporter at KTVT in Dallas, and she began her broadcasting career at KBTX in Bryan, Texas.
Tamron was honored with Temple University’s prestigious Lew Klein Alumni in the Media Award in both 2010 and 2015 and was appointed to Temple’s Board of Trustees. In 2016, she received an Honorary Doctorate from Peirce College and most recently she was a Variety Power of Women Honoree. Tamron is an active member of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Tamron is passionate about many causes, including domestic violence, homelessness and literacy – dedicating her time to many deserving organizations over the years. She is an ambassador for Safe Horizon, a domestic abuse organization which also honored her with their Voice of Empowerment Award in 2014. She’s partnered with Safe Horizon previously to launch The Tamron Renate Fund in honor of her sister to help victims and families affected by domestic violence. Day One, a New York-based advocacy group for victims of domestic violence, honored her work, and she received the Ackerman Family Advocate Award for her efforts to raise awareness for families who have a loved one experiencing abuse.
Tamron is a native of Luling, Texas, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism from Temple University.
Brandice Daniel
Brandice Daniel is the CEO and Founder of Harlem’s Fashion Row (HFR). HFR was founded in 2007 with the goal of providing a voice for multicultural designers. The company has had many successful brand partnerships, including TRESemme, OWN, ESSENCE, Prudential, Target, Marriott International, Smartwater, Coca Cola, Google, and Shea Moisture. During 2018 NYFW, HFR collaborated with Nike and Lebron James on the HFRxLB16 shoe, the first Lebron sneaker designed by and for women.
Above all, Brandice is an entrepreneur, author, wife and mother. Just this year, she presented a Ted Talk with TedX Memphis and starred as a guest judge on Project Runway. Brandice has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Strahan and Sara Show, NBC Black She Thrives, CBS NY, Vogue, GQ, Paper Magazine, New York Times, Forbes, TeenVogue, Essence.com, BET, and the CFDA’s website for her efforts in increasing visibility for designers of color.
Dapper Dan
Fashion Innovator
With his eponymous store on 125th Street, Dapper Dan pioneered streetwear in the early 1980s, co-opting luxury branding to design original garments with high-end detail. Known for using exquisite leathers, furs, and other fine materials, he first drew powerful New York City hustlers as clientele, who all came due to his strong street reputation as a legendary professional gambler and dandy. He then went on to outfit entertainers and other celebrities, including Eric B. & Rakim, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, Mike Tyson, Missy Elliott, JAY-Z, Beyonce, Aaliyah, P. Diddy, Floyd Mayweather, and many more. Dapper Dan has been featured on platforms including The New York Times, Elle, Vogue, W, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, CNN, and Netflix. His works have been on display at The Smithsonian, The Museum at FIT, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Museum of Modern Art. Dapper Dan’s boutique reopened in 2017 in a major partnership with Gucci. His memoir, “Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem” was released via Random House on Tuesday, July 9th, 2019 and is a New York Times Bestseller.
Sonya Rani Choudhury
I came to Land Yoga almost 7 years ago when it first opened up. I was looking for a regular fitness routine in a place where I would feel comfortable, what I didn’t know is that 7 years later, Yoga would become way more than a fitness routine but for me it is a lifestyle and something which continue to sustain me on a daily basis. As an individual who has dealt with depression and anxiety for a large portion of their life, yoga has been the one fundamental thing which has helped me the most with these problems, I have learned the power of the breath and being mindful, and along the way yoga has been my greatest coping tool!
A few years ago I had the privilege and honor of going through the THAY training to become an instructor, for the past two years I have taught chair yoga to elderly individuals at the Harlem Food Bank.
It is always the highlight of my week, and I love being able to share this gift of yoga with the Elderly.
In my professional life, I am a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner at the New Jewish Home here on the UWS , and active in many volunteer organizations including Achilles International , New York Cares and West Side Campaign Against Hunger.
Taela Naomi
DJ, model and educator
Taela Naomi is an award winning DJ, model and educator based in NYC whose talent and presence have gained attention both in NYC and internationally. After earning her B.A. from Amherst College, Taela performed as an Actors Equity Association performer with several shows including The Producers, Dreamgirls, High School Musical 2, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Josephine, and Bill T. Jones’ Broadway adaptation of Superfly. With her knowledge of diverse musical genres, natural ability for cutting and blending, impenetrable focus, and bubbly spirit, Taela has risen to become one of NYC’s most sought after DJs. She has played all over NYC and has earned praise from the legendary DJ Red Alert and played alongside the great DJ Tony Touch. Her signature party, The Dance Party, has become a weekly go-to event for music lovers, dancers, and NYC trendsetters. Her latest party series, Rum + Pum Pum Shorts which features Afrobeat, dancehall, reggae, and soca music, has been selling out in record time since it launched in September 2017. Taela won the prestigious Uptown Battle of the Bars competition, earning her the title “Best Uptown DJ.” As an educator, Taela created a course in the Art of DJing, which she teaches in public schools in Brownsville Brooklyn, the Bronx, and soon Harlem, which has made a huge difference in the lives of the children. Taela’s mission is to transcend the typical club experience to get people to connect and to move, to be present, and to boldly fall back in love with dance parties!
Don Lemon
CNN Tonight
Don Lemon anchors CNN Tonight with Don Lemon airing weeknights at 10pm. He also serves as a correspondent across CNN/U.S. programming. Based out of the network's New York bureau, Lemon joined CNN in September 2006. A news veteran of Chicago, Lemon reported from Chicago in the days leading up to the 2008 presidential election, including an interview with then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel on the day he accepted the position of Chief of Staff for President- elect Barack Obama. He also interviewed Anne Cooper, the 106-year old voter President-elect Obama highlighted in his election night acceptance speech after he had seen Lemon's interview with Cooper on CNN. Lemon has reported and anchored on-the-scene for CNN from many breaking news stories, including Hurricane Florence (2018), Las Vegas shooting (2017), the Orlando shooting at Pulse Nightclub (2016), Charleston church shooting (2015), death of Freddie Gray while in police custody, the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO (2014), the George Zimmerman trial (2013), the Boston marathon bombing (2013), the Philadelphia building collapse (2013),the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (2012), the Colorado Theater Shooting (2012), the death of Whitney Houston, the Inaugural of the 44th President in Washington, D.C., the death of Michael Jackson (2009), Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana (2008) and the Minneapolis bridge collapse (2007).
Lemon has also anchored the network's breaking news coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the Arab Spring, the death of Osama Bin Laden and Joplin tornado. Lemon reported for CNN's documentary Race and Rage: The Beating of Rodney King, which aired 20 years to the day of the beating. He is also known for holding politicians and public officials accountable in his "No Talking Points" segment. Lemon joined CNN after serving as a co-anchor for the 5 p.m. newscast for NBC5 News in Chicago. He joined the station in August 2003 as an anchor and reporter after working in New York as a correspondent for NBC News, The Today Show and NBC Nightly News. In addition to his reporting in New York, Lemon worked as an anchor on Weekend Today and on MSNBC. While at NBC, Lemon covered the explosion of Space Shuttle Columbia, SARS in Canada and numerous other stories of national and global importance. In addition to NBC5 and NBC News, Lemon has served as a weekend anchor and general assignment reporter for WCAU-TV, an NBC affiliate in Philadelphia, an anchor and investigative reporter for KTVI-TV in St. Louis and an anchor for WBRC-TV in Birmingham. He began his career at WNYW in New York City as a news assistant while still in college.
In 2009, Ebony named him as one of the Ebony Power 150: the most influential Blacks in America. He has won an Edward R. Murrow award for his coverage of the capture of the Washington, D.C. snipers. He won an Emmy for a special report on real estate in Chicagoland and various other awards for his reporting on the AIDS epidemic in Africa and Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, he won three more local Emmys for his reporting in Africa and a business feature about Craigslist, an online community. Lemon serves on the Board of Trustees at Brooklyn College. He earned a degree in broadcast journalism from Brooklyn College and also attended Louisiana State University.
Ivo E. Philbert
Vice President, External Relations & Special Projects
Jackie Robinson Foundation
Ivo Philbert is Vice President, External Relations and Special Projects for the Jackie Robinson Foundation, where he is responsible for JRF’s partnerships with community and educational partners, as well as membership and non-profit organizations; oversees JRF’s engagement at national conventions/conferences, oversees JRF’s and manages JRF’s Rachel Robinson International Fellowship Service and Leadership trip to Africa for freshmen scholars. Before assuming the External Relations role in January 2018, Mr. Philbert was Vice President & Chief Program Officer where he was responsible for the strategic and operational oversight of the Foundation's Mentoring & Leadership Development Program; including the scholarship selection process and scholarship grants made; monitoring and evaluating the program to ensure efficacy and standardization; supervising the JRF Program staff; maintaining liaisons with the Program's
constituencies; and working closely with the President & CEO to develop the ongoing programmatic vision and strategic planning. Previously, Mr. Philbert was Vice President of Strategic Account Management & Business Development for the international non-profit organization, INROADS, where he spent over 20 years in a variety of roles.
Mr. Philbert is an active mentor to many young professionals and volunteers his time with several organizations. He is a member of Mastermind Connect, Chair of the Board of The Harlem Eat Up!
Foundation; Vice Chair of the Board of the CouncilHim Foundation; advisor to The US Virgin Islands Alliance and co-lead of the New York efforts for Operation Rebuild Virgin Islands (Hurricanes Irma & Maria relief efforts). Formerly, he was on the Board of Directors of Big Apple Basketball, the Atlanta Dogwood Festival and the Atlanta Caribbean Carnival. An avid food and dining enthusiast, he also manages an Instagram food page – @diningwithvo. A graduate of the University of New Haven, Mr. Philbert was raised on the island of St. John in the US Virgin Islands and currently resides in Harlem, NYC!
