Donna Hayes Receives W Award

Tonight the YWCA of New York City will present Harlequin CEO Donna Hayes with the W Award at its annual Summer Soirée. The W Award is given to individuals and companies who represent and focus on the empowerment of women, and since Harlequin’s stories focus on the triumph of the heroine, and since they’re written by (mostly) women and read by (mostly) women – and, interestingly enough, produced at HQN HQ by (mostly) women (with the exception of his fabulousness, Don Mills), it is entirely perfect that Hayes is being honored. Way to go!

I’m covering the event tonight as press, and I’ll be live-tweeting the event from the Trump SOHO in Manhattan.

AAR recently did an interview with Donna Hayes where she talked about the award and how Harlequin empowers women, most notably through its More Than Words program.

The YWCA-NYC Summer Soiree is a gala that raises funds needed for their women-centered program initiatives, including their Women’s Empowerment Network, which offers job training, skills counseling and legal assistance among other services, their elementary after-school programs, and their high school enrichment programs, all of which serve communities in New York City.

I’ll be reporting live updates from the event, taking pictures and recapping Donna Hayes’ speech, as well as finding out more about the YWCA-NYC programs. If there’s anything you want to know about during the soiree, let me know, either here or on Twitter (I’m @smartbitches).

My minor struggle right now: the dress code is black and white, with a touch of “persimmon.” What is persimmon? The predominant colors of the YWCA-NYC are black and white and orange- is persimmon orange? I thought it was a red color. Either way, I’m pretty sure I don’t own anything that’s remotely near persimmon in color.

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  1. Caroline says:

    Have fun tonight! What a lovely evening it should be! Here is an image for you to get an idea.

    http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Produce/Producefacts/Fruit/full_persimmon-color-chart.shtml

  2. AgTigress says:

    Persimmon is definitely orange!
    Have a great time.  🙂

  3. quillwillow says:

    Could the touch of persimmon be a flower, or a scarf or some type of jewelry?

    price67…price might not be the issue, but coming up with something persimmon in the next 67 minutes might be.

  4. Ann Stephens says:

    Good for YWCA! The point that I can depend on romance to portray women as heroines is one I make whenever anybody poo-poos the genre.

  5. Kathleen says:

    As noted, persimmon is indeed a deep red-orange color.  I think it could look smashing as an accessory.  A necklace over a white sheath with a black belt and shoes?  A fab scarf however which way you wear one?  (I personally suck at scarves.  They never look the way I want them to!)  It’s summer, so a beautiful tropical flower tucked into an elegant or tousled updo?

    Those be my ideas.  Have fun!  Be gorgeous!

  6. SB Sarah says:

    Ok, so my persimmon? A bathing suit top. No lie! I found an red-orange halter-top tankini suit and wore the top half with a skirt and jacket. Not bad! But thank you for all the help—there was a LOT of persimmon accessorizing going on, including one member of the steering committee who had a wreath of hot orange and red flowers on her head. It was fab.

    And the celebration of female empowerment was even better. So cool to see Harlequin and romance acknowledged for empowerment through entertainment.

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