The Awards

The Fourth Annual Mahogany Dime Awards

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Hayti Heritage Center

801 Old Fayetteville Street

Durham, NC 27701

A special thanks to the 2007 sponsors

Platinum Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors, Donors, and In Kind Supporters

North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company

St. Joseph's Historic Foundation

Another Thyme Restaurant

Wils-TECH

North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development

Realty Executives-Southpoint

Giorgios Hospitality Group

Chamas Brazilian Steakhouse

The Red Onion Restaurant

MACLaws & Associates

Mary Williamson

Dr. Jeannette M. Council

Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole

H & S Cleaners

SpiritHouse

Lucia Powe

Pastel Images

Creations by Mitch

Vidal's Creations

Exotique

Rejoice! Home & Body

The Town Planner

His Name Media

Check out the highlight reel from previous years
Mahogany Dime Awards Reel

Hosted by Gayle Hurd of Radio One Raleigh

Jasmine Williams was the 2007 Mahogany Dime in the Making
Find out more Dime in the Making
What is a Mahogany Dime?

Mahogany Dime™ Award Recipients 2006 (from left to right)
Dr. Linda Norflett, Dr. Jeannette Council, Angela Ray, Jane Johnson Chavis Dr. Alma Adams and Constancia Ross

Mahogany Dime™ Award Recipients 2005 (from left to right)
Dr. Annie McCullough Chavis, Lori Gibbs, Angela Ray, Dr. Eunice Dudley, and Gloria Sawyer
not pictured (April Turner)

Meet the 2007 Mahogany Dime™ Award Recipients

Michele Andrea Bowen of Durham
The Mahogany Dime™ Award for the Arts

Michele Andrea Bowen of Durham will be honored in the category of the arts. Bowen is the author of Church Folk and Second Sunday, both of which reached number 1 on the Essence Bestseller List. Her most recent work is Holy Ghost Corner. She is currently working on her fourth book.

A native of St. Louis, Missouri. Bowen grew up on the city’s north side in an all-black working class community. She was educated in the St. Louis Public School System in segregated schools. Her family didn’t have a lot of money but she says they were blessed. They were healthy, had all of their basic needs met, had lots of love, friends and family, and a wonderful church home, Washington Metropolitan AME Zion Church, a historic institution that was established in the city during the late nineteenth century.

Bowen started writing stories on that huge, lined elementary school paper in pencil when she was eight years old at the suggestion of her mother, who told her it would be easier to read all that she was making up and trying to tell her at any given time. Her first stories were generally about little black girls who lived in St. Louis. After graduating from Beaumont High School, she won a full scholarship to Washington University in St. Louis and earned an undergraduate degree with honors in Psychology. She also earned an M.S.W. in Social Work, along with an M. Ed. in Counseling Education from Washington University. Later she moved to North Carolina and completed my academic training by earning graduate degrees in Public Health as well as United States History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Bowen was on her way to becoming a history professor when the writing bug really hit me and I started writing what was the rough draft of my first novel, Church Folk. . She became a writer and subsequently an “author,” when Church Folk became the third book in an African American Christian Fiction line of books under a new Warner Books Imprint called Walk Worthy Press in June 2001.

Bowen is very involved in her own church, St. Joseph's A.M.E. Church where she sings on the Praise and worship team. She is also a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

Andrea Harris of Henderson
Mahogany Dime™ Award for Leadership

Andrea Harris of Henderson will be honored in the area of leadership. She is the President of the North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development in Durham, though her story began in Henderson some years ago. Harris excelled in high school at the Henderson Institute and later attended Bennett College, where she earned a B.A. Degree in Psychology in 1970. After distinguishing herself as scholar and leader at Bennett College, Harris returned home to teach in the Vance County school system. She continued her deep commitment to Vance County by serving as Director of Senior Citizen's Programs 7 Community Organization for Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity, Executive Director of Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity and Associate Director of the North Carolina Senior Citizens' Federation.

In 1982, Harris joined the Minority Business Development Agency of the North Carolina Department of Commerce as a Management and Information Specialist. While at the North Carolina Department of Commerce, she serve as chair of the first statewide Community Reinvestment Act steering committee. Her efforts resulted in minority business becoming a priority to the North Carolina banking community.

During her tenure as the Department of Commerce Harris developed a deep commitment to the growth and development of minority business enterprises. Acting on her commitment, She co-founded the North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development (the Institute) in 1986 -- in an attempt to establish a research and policy base to expand the economic strength and resources of minority communities. She is currently the President

Harris' professional commitments are reflective of her civic duties. She is Chair of Gateway Community Development Corporation; Past Chair of the Statewide Community Reinvestment Act Steering Committee, Kitrell Job Corps Advisory Council and the Rural Economic Development Organization; Past Vice Chair for the Committee on excellence In Education and the Vance County Arts Council; Past Secretary of the Vance County Strategic Planning Commission; Past Assistant Secretary, 2nd Congressional District of the Black Leadership Caucus; and Past President of the Henderson Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Vivian Joiner and Stephanie Tyson of Winston-Salem
Mahogany Dime™ Award for entrepreneurship

Vivian Joiner and Stephanie Tyson of Winston-Salem will be honored in the area of entrepreneurship. Tyson and Joiner are the owners of Sweet Potatoes Restaurant in Winston-Salem. A loan from the Downtown Winston-Salem Foundation and support from individuals like Phil Hanes, known as a "friend raiser" helped them open up the restaurant in 2003 and it has garnered national attention as a fine dining experience because of its unique style of southern inspired, uptown, and down home cooking.

Co-owners Vivian Joiner and Stephanie Tyson, who is the chef, have been in the restaurant business a long time. Joiner said they decided that "if we were going to work this hard, we might as well do it for ourselves."

Chef Stephanie Tyson said that her vision was to focus on the food that her grandmother cooked, but her cooking reflects her cooking-school training and travels. Tyson said that she grew up eating sweet potatoes mostly in pies and casseroles. At the restaurant, she uses them for fries, soup, salad, cornbread, aioli (a garlicky mayonnaise) and cheesecake.

One of Tyson's simple, and popular, twists on Southern food is to serve fried green tomatoes and okra as an appetizer instead of a side dish. "The food itself isn't new," she said. "It's the presentation that's new."

In 2005, Sweet Potatoes received a “Downtown Excellence Award” on behalf of the city of Winston-Salem for contributing to For contributing to the vitality of the Arts District and the success of downtown through dining excellence. In August of 2006, Southern Living Magazine lists it as one of four “must do” dinning experiences in the city of Winston Salem.

Sweet Potatoes really shines in its desserts, many of which star ... sweet potatoes. Sweet potato cheesecake is decadently rich and creamy, and a slice of sweet potato pound cake with cinnamon whipped cream is superb. Tyson can work outside the genre too. Velvety banana pudding is pure comfort in a bowl.

Gloria King of Durham
Mahogany Dime™ Award for Service

Gloria King of Durham will be honored in the area of service. A 1967 graduate of the Lincoln Hospital School and former president of its alumni association, King has been a long time servant of the Durham community. An advocate in preserving the history of the city, King was instrumental in helping establish a memorial for Durham's Lincoln Hospital and its School of Nursing.

During the Jim Crow years, Lincoln Hospital served Durham's black residents. Established in 1901, the hospital began its nurses' training in 1903 and formally incorporated its school two years later. The school closed in 1971 when Lincoln and the white Watts Hospital merged to form the present Durham Regional Hospital.

the Durham city and county governments both donated $20,000 each toward the $65,000 total cost. Private donors have helped as well and on August 13, 2005, the memorial was unveiled to the community.

In addition to preserving history, King works with the association to give back to the community as the organization awards scholarships to students studying to become nurses. She wrote grants for establishing an endowed scholarship for the North Carolina Central University for nursing students.

When she is not serving through the alumni association, King also gives back with her service as a member of the Durham Alumnae Chapter of with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., where she was inducted in 2002. She got involved quickly, working on the Health Awareness Committee. She was later appointed custodian for chapter properties where she wrote and the chapter implemented the first official guidelines for loaning chapter properties.

In 2006, she was recognized by the Ebonettes Service as a "Dare to Make a Difference" honoree in the area of education.

Justice Patricia Timmons Goodson of Fayetteville
Dr. Johnnetta Cole Living Legend Award

Justice Patricia Timmons Goodson of Fayetteville will receive the Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole Living Legend Award. Appointed to the Supreme Court of North Carolina by Governor Mike Easley, Justice Patricia Timmons‑Goodson will always be due special notice in the history books as the first African-American woman to sit on North Carolina=s highest court. Following her investiture on 7 February 2006, she became the 95^th North Carolinian to serve on the State Supreme Court. In the November 2006 General Election, the voters of North Carolina overwhelmingly affirmed her appointment by electing her to a full eight-year term.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Speech from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she served as student body secretary. In 1979 Justice Timmons‑Goodson received her Juris Doctorate from the UNC‑School of Law.

Her legal career has included service as a prosecutor and legal aid lawyer. In 1984, at the age of 29, Justice Timmons‑Goodson was appointed to the district court bench. She was elected in 1986 and subsequently was re‑elected twice without opposition. In 1997 she was appointed as judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals and in 1998 was elected to a full term. Her election marked the first occasion that an African-American woman was elected to an appellate court in North Carolina.

Justice Timmons‑Goodson has served as a bar leader in positions which include Vice‑President of the North Carolina Bar Association and Secretary of the Appellate Judges Conference of the American Bar Association. She has been the recipient of many notable awards such as the UNC‑Chapel Hill Distinguished Young Alumna Award, the North Carolina General Federation of Women Club's Women of Achievement Award, and the Gwyneth B. Davis Award from the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Fayetteville Chapter of Links.

Her passion outside of the law is young people. Whether mentoring or speaking to youth organizations or classes, she seeks to encourage and influence our next generation of leaders.

Justice Timmons‑Goodson is married to Dr. Ernest Goodson and they are the proud parents of two sons. She is an active member of First Baptist Church of Fayetteville.

Other details about the ceremony

A roster of some of North Carolina’s prominent men will serve as award’s presenters with entertainment by some of the area’s finest talents. Past presenters have included Christopher “Play” Martin, Motivational speaker and Biggest Loser contestant Ken Canion, and Dr. E. B. Palmer, founder of the African American Cultural Complex in Raleigh. The event is open to the public.

To learn about our past recipients, visit the links below:

An Evening of Blackberry Whispers - First Annual Mahogany Dime™ Awards
Celebrating North Carolina's Creme de la creme - Second Annual Mahogany Dime™ Awards.
Mahogany Stars Illuminating North Carolina- Third Annual Mahogany Dime™ Awards

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