I Am So Harlem
Event Details
The Benefit will include a fashion show featuring inspirational designs from our Creative Collective, accompanied by live music from South African cellist Thapelo Masita, all set in one of Harlem’s most impressive spaces — a factory-turned- gallery with stunning exposed brick walls and high ceilings as our backdrop. Additionally, guests will have an opportunity to view Don’t Hate the Players, Change the Game, a captivating interview with the legendary Dapper Dan and videography by one of our Creative Entrepreneurs, Kenny Allen. Also featuring Harlem Derby pieces by Robert Owens and a major art piece by Milagros Batista.
Tickets Sold Out
Designer: Javier Valencia
On
Thursday, September 12, 2024
5-8 PM
At
Harlem Gallery
439 West 127th Street
between Amsterdam and Convent Avenues
New York, NY 10027
In
The Factory District
Cocktails, Hors d”Oeuvres & Dancing
Attire: Do You!
Join us for our inspirational evening of fashion, music, art, history and cuisine.
Bethann Hardison
SoHarlem’s 2024 Honoree
Image by Hans Neumann
Invited Creative Entrepreneurs
Robert Louis Owens
Founder and Creative Director of Harlem Derby LLC, which produces the Harlem Derby Music Festival and Harlem Derby Style.
As a native Kentuckian who grew up surrounded by the formality and ceremony of the Kentucky Derby, it was only natural that he created Harlem Derby as a natural extension of his southern roots after relocating to New York City and settling in Harlem.
Robert is dedicated to sharing the legacy of Black Horsemen. He created Harlem Derby in 2013 to spotlight their accomplishments and to give back to inner-city youth through the Harlem Derby Cares Scholarship Program.
The Harlem Derby Style Hat collection names all of the Black Horsemen who won the Kentucky Derby and allows fashion enthusiasts to celebrate these iconic figures in style. In addition to his work as a designer, Robert is also a stylist and model.
His Harlem Derby installation and hats will be on display.
Miya V. Pack
Miya V. Pack is the Founder and Executive Chef of Grace & Savor Catering. Her interest in the culinary arts began in childhood; putting together full meals under supervision by age seven. Her love and respect for all things plant-based also came during this time and she was a self-assigned vegetarian for many of her younger years.
During her early twenties, traveling from East to West Coast while enlisted in the Navy, Pack discovered the bounty of California farmer’s markets. They are diverse and culture-rich, and she lived the practical and simple “farm-to-fork” concept every day. As her knowledge grew, she was able to heal her gestational diabetes while pregnant through fresh, whole foods.
Upon her Navy enlistment ending, and moving back East, she was saddened by the drastic change in her access to quality, healthful foods. She wondered: “What chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, are ailing inner city communities where there are food deserts and no access to fresh produce?” This curiosity, coupled with the push to pursue culinary from an associate, brought Pack out of the home kitchen, and into the professional world of being a chef.
With hard work and tenacity, Chef Pack has cultivated her love for food, and care for others’ health, beginning with a seedling pop-up shop Lord of the Kitchen in 2013, to the fleshed out vision that is Grace & Savor Catering today. Chef Packs inspiration for her menus came passed down from family recipes and life-long research of food from the Diaspora.
Thapelo Masita
A Cellist, who is passionate about connecting people with music and promoting social change through the arts. A dedicated performer and educator, he is a fellow in Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect (2023-2025).
Masita has also mentored young musicians in the Music Advancement Program at The Juilliard School and through the Opportunity Music Project. He has appeared in recitals at the Met Cloisters and the Morgan Library. His performance of J. S. Bach’s First Cello Suite in conversation with Negro spirituals, South African hymns, and the work of Coleridge Taylor Perkinson was described as “assured, his face aspiration[al], imploring” (Bachtrack.com).
He was a prize winner at the 2021 UNISA National String Competition and has performed as a soloist with the Johannesburg and Cape Town philharmonic orchestras. He is a frequent guest musician with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Thapelo is a doctoral candidate at CUNY Graduate Center under Julia Lichten and performs on a cello by Oded Kishony on generous loan from the Virtu Foundation.
Milagros Batista
Knitter designer, fiber artist, and activist Milagros Batista, was born in the colonial port city of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, and draws her creativity and inspiration from both her birthplace and upbringing.
As a child, the strong women that surrounded Batista taught her not only how to knit, but much more: they exposed and developed her into the woman she is today. Batista’s mother helped her hone her strength; her maternal grandmother instilled in her the value of independence while her mentor imparted Batista with the importance of social justice.
At the height of the civil rights movement, Batista moved from the Dominican Republic to downtown Brooklyn.
The sheer beauty and power of her childhood surroundings in Puerto Plata and Brooklyn—the strong ocean, the rhythmic music, the flavorful dishes, and the movements and ways of the people—bestowed Batista with a sense of pride, style, and fueled her creative imagination.
In New York City, Batista completed her education, earning a bachelor’s degree in Spanish Literature from Brooklyn College and a Master’s degree from the Hunter College School of Social Work.
After college, Batista developed a distinguished knitting business that attracted the clientele of prominent women in business and politics. She had her first runway show with Cesar Galindo at Latinsta fw17. Her work has been featured in GQ style, Telemundo’s Acceso Total, Latino Show Magazine, and the New York Daily News.
Batista also fully focused on a career in community development. During this period, Batista used knitting and fashion in her social work practice to “entice young girls and women growing up in the inner city to learn and feel good about themselves, to become creators and to experience the magic of yarn.”
Batista has returned to knitting in her latest Batista Collection. This collection exhibits one-of-a-kind pieces for every occasion, from professional to casual settings. For this reason, it attracts strong sophisticated women with a bold desire to express themselves.
On display will be Batista’s 72”x 132” Black Lives Matter quilt banner, Crocheting for Dignity.
Come experience the SoHarlem Collective’s inspirational designs, accomplishments and stories
OUR COLLECTIVE
![javier logo[42].jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d126b65acb7920001f7aede/159098ef-268c-4cc9-9b80-86555a124b98/javier+logo%5B42%5D.jpg)
![aih logo[95].png](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d126b65acb7920001f7aede/185c2f63-62b1-46c3-830e-6603039ea361/aih+logo%5B95%5D.png)
