40th Annual Milwaukee Black Excellence Awards honors ‘Phenomenal Women’
Photos by Yvonne Kemp
On February 28, 2025, The Milwaukee Black Excellence Awards/Louvenia Johnson Scholarship Fund hosted the “40th Annual Milwaukee Black Excellence Awards” at the Baird Center in downtown Milwaukee. The even’s 40th anniversary theme was “Celebrating Four Decades of Excellence: Honoring Phenomenal Women” and recognized __ women in various categories (middle photo) including education, arts, culture, religion, and business. Special honorees included the “Divine Six (upper left photo)”, Milwaukee’s local chapters of the six African American sororities. The keynote speaker was Gabrielle Finley-Hazle, the first African American woman to serve as President of Aurora Health Care. As part of the program, scholarships awarded to 12 local high school seniors from the Louvenia Johnson Scholarship Fund; 2 additional also students received a scholarship from the George Callaway Family and 2 students received a scholarship from Milwaukee Public School Foundation. The awards were co-sponsored by The Milwaukee Business Journal and WISN 12 News.
