Day: September 24, 2024

On Thursday, Sept. 19, the Power Women of Brooklyn event at El Caribe marked a significant milestone in recognizing 30 years of celebrating the borough’s most influential women. The event, hosted by Schneps Media, publishers of local titles including Brooklyn Paper, Bay Ridge Courier and amNewYork Metro, brought together leaders from across industries for an evening of networking, celebration and community-building.

The night kicked off with a VIP Power Hour, where honorees mingled and connected before a high-energy cocktail hour filled with networking opportunities. The evening culminated in a lively awards ceremony recognizing the incredible contributions of women who have made strides in business, healthcare, technology and beyond.

Zhané Caldwell of PIX 11 News served as the Master of Ceremonies for the night, guiding the event through its various moments of inspiration and recognition. Honorees, sponsors and guests alike contributed to a vibrant atmosphere, where the theme of women supporting women was front and center.

“This event gives us an opportunity to shine a light on a diverse group of women all over the borough doing so much for their local neighborhood in many different fields,” said Josh Schneps, CEO of Schneps Media, adding that he hopes that awardees benefited from the networking portion of the evening.

Debbie Roman, managing director at Per Scholas, shared her excitement at being recognized alongside her peers.

“It’s an indescribable feeling. This event gives us an opportunity to celebrate and highlights the sense of community where women support women,” Roman said.

A Puerto Rican-born professional who has lived in New York since 2006, Roman emphasized how the event created opportunities for women, particularly in technology, to connect and uplift one another.

“[Power Women] brings bridges to other women and organizations that have the same mission,” she said.

Awardee Christine Colvert of Shuman & Hill also expressed her gratitude, saying, “I am very honored and happy to be one of the honorees among these amazing women who have accomplished very much in their career,” she said. “I get the opportunity to meet other women who have been working hard and still excelling in their careers to do good. I also get to network with other individuals.”

For Reverend Kim Council, deputy borough president of Brooklyn, the evening symbolized something larger.

“Today is wonderful! I feel like 2024 is definitely the year of women,” Council said, calling her award an “honor.”

“It motivates me to do more for the community and for the borough of Brooklyn. It’s an opportunity to meet people who are doing fantastic things,” she added. “[Events like these are] important because women are often underappreciated. When you think about all the things we’ve had to fight for, it was only a little over 100 years ago that women were allowed to vote. It’s important to remind women how valuable they are.”

Awardee Kassandra Perez, Head of Government Affairs, NY/NJ & PR, DoorDash, brought a personal touch to the evening.

“We don’t often get the opportunity to come together, recognize each other, and see all the faces behind the incredible work being done across industries. So, I’m really excited to be a part of that,” she said. “One of the things I’m proud of in my career is serving as a board member of New Majority NYC, an organization that helps get women elected to office in the city — especially women of color, but women across the board. I’m particularly proud of this as a mother of two young daughters who will be here tonight to hear these inspiring stories.

Randy Peers, president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, highlighted the transformative power of women in Brooklyn.

“Brooklyn is one of the most dynamic places on Earth, and it’s our amazing women leaders who have helped transform it into the powerful place it is today,” he said. “We have women from healthcare, non-profits, small businesses, journalism and news media, elected officials — across all sectors. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate the diversity and talent of women not only in Brooklyn but around the world.”

The evening’s raffle proceeds were donated to The Sato Project, an organization dedicated to rescuing abused and abandoned dogs in Puerto Rico, further emphasizing the event’s mission of giving back and fostering community connections.

This year’s sponsors included One Brooklyn Health, Episcopal Health Services, Community Health Center of Richmond, Inc., NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull, Event Strategies for Success, Ponce Bank, BSE Global, NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Faith Deliverance Pentecostal COG, CABS Health Network, The Sato Project, Best Realty Professionals and Miss Jessie’s.

This year’s awardees were:

• Amber Adler, Award-Winning Activist & Best-Selling Author
• Ty’East Alleyne-Bobb, Chief Executive Officer, Typostrophe 360 LLC
• Chrissy Beckles, Founder & President, The Sato Project
• Katia Belony, Licensed Real Estate Broker, Best Realty Professionals
• Monique Brizz-Walker, Principal & Fundraiser, Event Strategies for Success
• Leonora Bulychova, President, Club A-Elita
• Kelly Carroll, Executive Director, Atlantic Avenue BID
• Christine Colvert, Partner, Shulman & Hill
• Angela Cooper, Assistant Director of Communications, Public Affairs & Volunteering Services, NYC Health + Hospitals/McKinney
• Rev. Kimberly Council, Brooklyn Deputy Borough President
• Dr. Anika Daniels-Osaze, Ed.D., MPH, Associate Dean for Education, School of Public Health, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
• Hon. Maritza Davila, Assemblymember, 53rd District
• Sherly Demosthenes-Atkinson, Chief Executive Officer, CABS Health Network
• Dr. Seanna-Kaye Denham Wilks, Chief Experience Officer, NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County
• Kamila Dottin, Director of Projects, Independent Drivers Guild
• Cynthia Felix-Jeffers, President, Brooklyn Sunset Park Lions Club
• Michelle Figueroa, Chief Financial Officer, One Brooklyn Health
• Rose Graham, Director of Community Affairs, Educator & Community Advocate, Community School District 17/Community Board 17
• Renee Hastick Motes, MPA, Senior Vice President & Chief External Affairs Officer, Episcopal Health Services
• Williar Hodges, Senior Director, Finance and Benefits Administration, Community Health Center of Richmond
• Laurie Jacoby, Chief Entertainment Officer, BSE Global
• Anastasia Koshik, Director of Marketing & Communications, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce
• Myrdith Leon-McCormack, Founder, World Bride Magazine & MLM Represents
• Francisca Leopold, Chair, Kings County Hospital Community Advisory Board
• Chaplain Dr. Ingrid P. Lewis-Martin, Chief Advisor, Office of the Mayor
• Elizabeth Lovejoy, Executive Director, Bay Ridge 5th Avenue BID
• Taina Martinez-Laing, MSW, NYCPS, Chief Executive Officer, Baltic Street Wellness Solutions
• Kamla Millwood, Founder/CEO & President, Palatial Publishing LLC
• Shannon O’Rourke, Director of Radiology, Optum
• Leslieann Peers-Roman, Rising Star Award
• Kassandra Perez-Desir, Head of Government Relations NY/NJ & Puerto Rico, DoorDash
• Jeanine Ramirez, Founder, Jeanine Ramirez Media Consulting
• Patricia Riggio-Strong, First Vice President, Director of CRA and Fair Lending, Dime Community Bank
• Dr. Gracie-Ann Roberts, Chief Quality Officer, Community Health Center of Richmond
• Debbie Roman, Managing Director, New York, Per Scholas
• Gloria Sandiford, Broker, Co-Owner & Vice President, Flateau Realty Corp
• Dr. Sandra Scott, Chief Executive Officer, One Brooklyn Health
• Dr. Lisa Scott-McKenzie, Chief Operating Officer, NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull
• Emerald Snipes-Garner, Founder & Executive Director, We Can’t Breathe Inc
• Rev. Dr. Neithe Soleyn, Founder & Senior Pastor, Faith Deliverance Pentecostal Church of God
• Hon. Phara Souffrant Forrest, Assemblywoman, 57th District
• Sara Steinweiss, Founder, Conflict Resolution Systems, LLC
• Natalia Travilina, Founder, TraNa Relief Association
• Dr. Monique T. Welbeck, Chief Nursing Officer, Community Health Center of Richmond
• Dimple Willabus, President & CEO, Rhythm Nation Entertainment
• Barbara Williams, Citywide Director of Outreach, NYC Civic Engagement Commission
• Hon. Jaime R. Williams, Assemblymember, 59th District
• Lakeasha Williams, Founder & Entrepreneur, Brickhouse Unlimited Inc.

To learn more about the 2024 Power Women of Brooklyn, visit PowerWomemBklyn.com.

Additional reporting by Ramy Mahmoud

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Bay Ridge residents are banding together to help the family of neighbor Segundo Reina-Gaon after he was identified as the victim of a fatal hit-and-run crash on Sept. 11. 

Reina-Gaon, 74, was crossing Ridge Boulevard on Bay Ridge Avenue when he was struck by the driver of a white SUV, pushing him into another parked car. The driver fled, and Reina-Gaon was rushed to NYU Langone-Brooklyn, where he was pronounced dead.

Yessica Rivera created a GoFundMe campaign to support Reina-Gaon’s family. Reina-Goan was a father to five children and a grandfather to 20. 

“We thank the community of Bay Ridge [for] the love and support that has been given to us in these most difficult times,” a note on the campaign from Rivera reads. “This leaves us with some good feelings that our father was a loved man by many people in the community of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Let’s not forget him and remember his life and his contributions as we celebrate his life spiritually.”

So far, the community has raised more than $6,000 toward a $15,000 goal.

“Ignacio was a kind and loving man,” wrote one local donor. “Our dog, Cooper, would see Ignacio on many mornings and I don’t know who was more excited.”

Local officials have also spoken out in support of the family. 

“My understanding from speaking to some local Bay Ridge residents is that he worked locally, and he has family in Ecuador and they are really struggling financially to make his final arrangements,” Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann told Brooklyn Paper. “And, you know, he was a wonderful family man who was very supportive. And he’ll be very much missed.”

Bay Ridge has seen several traffic collisions at notably dangerous intersections over the last few months, with some ending in fatalities.

Council Member Justin Brannan and State Sen. Andrew Gounardes — who both posted on X in support of Reina-Gaon’s family — have advocated for increased red light cameras in the area. Senator Gounardes sponsored a bill in June to quadruple the city’s red light camera program, which passed the State Senate.

Police have not released any additional information about the SUV’s driver. At a council meeting for the neighborhood’s 68th Precinct precinct last Wednesday, Commanding Officer Kristen Schafer said the case was “still under investigation.”

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Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday continued to praise two NYPD officers behind a police shooting on a Brooklyn subway platform last week that left four people, including one of the cops involved, injured.

Hizzoner also blasted those who have been critical of the officers’ actions following the release of body camera footage of the incident last Friday that somewhat contradicted the NYPD’s original narrative of how the incident unfolded.

The bodycam video shows that the two cops shot 37-year-old Derell Mickles multiple times after they pursued him on Sept. 15 for entering the Sutter Avenue subway station in Brooklyn without allegedly paying the $2.90 fare and refusing to drop a knife. But the incident also resulted in one of the officers and two bystanders getting shot, leaving one man — 49-year-old Gregory Delpeche — with brain damage.

Adams continued to broadly defend the officers’ handling of the incident during his weekly news conference on Tuesday and instead took aim at their critics.

“It is very easy to look back and look at the video, where you can hit pause, you can hit stop, you can hit delay, you can go and get something out of the kitchen and come back and look at it again. That’s not real life,” Adams said. “The person who had the knife ran towards the police officer, those officers, several times, attempted to say ‘drop the knife, drop the knife, drop the knife.’”

While NYPD brass and the mayor have continued to insist that the officers showed “restraint” in only shooting Mickles when he charged at them — and after they failed to talk him down and subdue him using their Tasers — the edited body-camera video tells a slightly different story.

It shows that although Mickles did refuse to drop the knife and briefly charged at one of the officers, they shot him at a moment when he was standing still with his arms at his sides and his back against the train.

In light of the footage, police reform advocates have charged that Mickles did not pose a threat at the moment of the shooting, which, they argue, could have been avoided.

Still, Mayor Adams insisted that the cops “did what they were trained to do” by using their tasers, which did not appear to have an effect on Mickles, before using their firearms. He added that they did their job by stopping Mickles, who has an extensive wrap sheet, from hurting anyone with the knife.

“This is a person that has been arrested over 20 times that we could talk of,” Adams said. “He had a clear mission to carry out a violent act. And I thank God that those officers took the necessary precautions.”

Mickles pleaded not guilty from his hospital bed on Friday morning to charges including attempted aggravated assault on a police officer, possession of a weapon and skipping his subway fare.

Backlash over the NYPD’s handling of the shooting has only intensified since the body camera footage was released.

Shortly after the video came out on Sept. 20, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams slammed the mayor’s comments that the officers handled the situation with restraint. He argued that Adams choosing to laud rather than condemn the officers’ handling of the situation amounts to poor leadership.

“He continues to fail when leadership is desperately needed and should be utterly ashamed of those comments,” Williams said in a statement. “Our police are often asked to do too much in difficult conditions. They need leaders who will be clear when something clearly went wrong. This was a blatant disregard for the life of this community, and officers growing ‘impatient’ is not a valid reason to use deadly force.”