Brooklyn’s Best Honors will celebrate its first anniversary with festive affair at Brooklyn’s premiere venue Bedford Hall. Sponsored by Our Times Press, Bedford Hall and Urban ID Media, the celebratory affair will include live performances from singer/songwriter Darryl Copeland and friends and special guest appearances. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Safe Horizon’s Jane Barker Brooklyn Child Advocacy Center, which provides an essential community response to New York City's most vulnerable victims of violence and abuse by giving child victims the foundation they need to move from crisis to confidence. The special anniversary honorees are Educator T.S. Hoard; Dancer/Choreographer Dwana Smallwood; and Civic Leader Tremaine Wright.
T.S. Hoard lives by Nelson Mandela’s quote that “education is the most important weapon which you can use to change the world.” In his quest to be a change agent, the Milwaukee, WI born educator chose Brooklyn as his launching ground. As the current principal of Excellence Boys Charter School of Bedford-Stuyvesant Middle Academy, Hoard oversees one of New York City’s highest performing charter schools in the Uncommon School’s network. Under Hoard’s leadership, his team is driven to cultivate in its young men the knowledge, skills, and character necessary to succeed academically, embrace responsibility, and become honorable citizens and courageous leaders.
Dwana Smallwood was born and raised in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn where she learned to dance at an early age. This led to her tenure as a principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1995-2007. Heralded as “one of the greatest modern dancers” by Vogue magazine, she’s danced before millions on The Oprah Winfrey Show’s “The Best…” series which afforded her the opportunity to travel to South Africa to cultivate the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG) Dance Company. In 2013, Smallwood turned the pages to a new chapter in her life when she fulfilled her life-long dreams and opened the doors to the Dwana Smallwood Performing Arts Center, Inc. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
Tremaine Wright is a civic leader, entrepreneur and proud Bedford Stuyvesant resident. As the Chairperson of Community Board 3, she’s spent the last 10 years improving the quality of life in her neighborhood. She’s an active member of Brooklyn’s Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.; served as a volunteer lawyer for the Volunteers of Legal Services’ Incarcerated Mother’s Project and is the founding member of the Brooklyn Alliance for Safer Streets. An enterprising entrepreneur, Wright is also the former owner of Common Grounds A Neighborhood Coffee House that served as a community safe space. Tremaine credits her supportive parents, family and neighbors for providing a sense of shared responsibility and community.
Brooklyn’s Best Honors is an Urban ID Media production, a Brooklyn-based media and event marketing agency. The quarterly receptions capture the wealth and diversity that profoundly exists in the County of Kings. Each affair is held exclusively at a Brooklyn-based venue where honorees, tastemakers from all over get to create an authentic cherished Brooklyn experience. For additional information, visit our Facebook page, click here or call (718) 399-7016.
