Culture Creators is returning for its sixth year of celebrations with its annual Innovators and Leaders Awards Brunch, in partnership with Netflix. The ceremony will take place during BET Awards week at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on June 23.
L.A. Reid will be a recipient of the icon award “for his storied career in entertainment,” as it reads in the Awards’ press release. Robin Thede, creator of the comedy series “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” will receive the innovator of the year award “for her accomplishments in television as well as her influence on the next generation of Culture Creators.”
“It’s a wonderful honor to be recognized by Culture Creators as the Innovator of the Year,” Thede said. “There is no better feeling than when your work and your purpose align for the greater good of the community.”
Previous icon award recipients include Russell Simmons, Sylvia Rhone and Swizz Beatz, amongst others. Past recipients of the innovator of the year award include Jesse Collins, Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Liles, Marsai Martin, and Derrick “D-Nice” Jones.
The Innovators and Leaders Awards Brunch will be hosted by R&B musicians and actors, Tank and Coco Jones. Amber Riley will also treat guests to a live performance.
Other awardees include Shari Bryant, the co-president of Roc Nation; Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings of Earn Your Leisure; Nicole Lynn the president of football operations for Klutch Sports Group; CEO and founder of Harlem’s Fashion Row Brandice Daniel and visual artist Flo Ngala. Actor-activist Kendrick Sampson and entrepreneur Kenny Burns, will also be honored.
Prior to the award show, Netflix will showcase some of their forthcoming Black stories and content at their Black Storytellers press preview dinner. That event will also include a conversation with some of the cast of “The Upshaws” including Kim Fields and Jermelle Simon. “The Upshaws” is slated for a June 29 release on Netflix.
