As a member of this organization for many years, I always attend their annual gala as the organization always honors amazing, accomplished women which serve as role models for all in attendance. This year is no different, with the honorees being:
I always walk away from this event feeling inspired and uplifted, be it from the speeches and words of wisdom and inspiration from the honorees, or from the conversation and contacts I make with other women in the industry who are all talking about the new projects that they are working on.
No matter the age you are, looking to the future, following your passion and putting the pieces of the puzzle together to create and be what you want to are, I feel are the keypoints of a successful, happy life for a woman.
This event is open to the public. If you are not a member, but are interested in getting into the entertainment industry in the New York City area or just wanting to know what is going on and connect with the shakers and movers in this area, become a member or attend one of their many events throughout the year.
Meet our 2024 Muse Honorees
Raney Aronson-Rath is the editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE, PBS’ flagship investigative journalism series, produced at GBH in Boston, MA. Under her leadership, FRONTLINE has evolved into a multi-platform organization, expanded its reporting capacity, and has won every major award in broadcast journalism. In addition to increasing FRONTLINE’s digital footprint, Aronson-Rath has spearheaded its expansion into theatrical documentaries, earning multiple Academy Award ® ️nominations and a 2024 Oscar win for 20 Days in Mariupol. She joined FRONTLINE in 2007, previously working at ABC News and The Wall Street Journal. Aronson-Rath holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s from Columbia Journalism School.
Alex Borstein most recently completed the fifth and final season of THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL where she can be seen starring as ‘Susie Myerson’ for which she has won two Emmy Awards and was nominated again this year for ‘Outstanding Supporting Actress’. She also starred for 3 seasons in HBO’s American version of the British series ‘Getting On’. Alex is well-known for her role as ‘Lois’ on FAMILY GUY for which she won an Emmy Award and was previously nominated for her writing/producing work on the series. Her other writing/producing credits include Showtime’s SHAMELESS and MADtv.
Tantoo Cardinal is a SAG Award nominee most recently in Scorsese’s feature Killers of the Flower Moon, and Marvel’s newly released series, Echo. As one of the most acclaimed and respected Indigenous actresses in the entertainment industry, Tantoo has appeared in over 120 film and television projects (including classics like Dances with Wolves and Legends of the Fall and her acclaimed performance in Smoke Signals) and is a strong advocate for the Indigenous community off-screen. She is a recipient of the Earle Grey Award, a Member of the Order of Canada, a CBC/Playback Hall of Fame inductee, and a 2020 Governor Generals Artistic Achievement Lifetime Achievement Award recipient for Broadcasting and Film. With her extensive professional accomplishments, Tantoo has carved out a voice for herself that proves both important for the representation of an underrepresented media demographic, and insightful to younger generations of movie-goers to come.
Fran Drescher is often described as a Russell because she has the curves of Jane Russell, the comic timing of Roz Russell and the tenacity of a Jack Russell. Best known for her portrayal of the beloved Fran Fine in the hit television series The Nanny, a series she created, wrote & executive produced. Fran was nominated for two Golden Globes and two Emmy awards. She has directed TV episodes for one hour and half hour shows. Fran has also appeared in the cult classic This Is Spinal Tap for which she won Esquire Magazine’s five minute Oscar. She worked with great directors like Milos Foreman in Ragtime, Francis Ford Coppola in Jack, Chris Guest in The Big Picture, and Rob Reiner. She starred in Doctor Detroit with Dan Aykroyd, Cadillac Man with Robin Williams and Beautician and the Beast with Timothy Dalton, and Adam Sandler in Hotel Transylvania. She is about to shoot Spinal Tap II. She is also a two time NY Times best selling author with Enter Whining and Cancer Schmancer. Fran is the founder and visionary of her non profit Cancer Schmancer which focuses on causation of dis-ease and radical lifestyle change to prevent or reverse illness. She is no stranger to DC and was written up in the Washingtonian as one of the top five celebrity lobbyists. Fran successfully got the gynecologic cancer education and awareness act passed by unanimous consent, a feat that earned her two mentions in the congressional record and the appointment of Public Diplomacy Envoy for Health with the US State Department. Fran is serving her 2nd term as national president of SAG-AFTRA, the largest entertainment union in the world. She led one of the longest strikes in SAG-AFTRA history, resulting in a victorious billion dollar deal. She is known as an outspoken defender of civil liberties, diversity and inclusion. As SAG-AFTRA President, Fran founded Green Council for Eco Responsible Entertainment on screen, behind the scenes, and in viewers’ homes. A recent highlight was interviewing Barbra Streisand. Fran continues to lend her unique voice on behalf of the greater good.
Latasha Gillespie is the Head of Global Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) for Amazon MGM Studios, Prime Video and Freevee. Under her leadership, Amazon MGM Studios created the entertainment industry’s first Inclusion Playbookand standardized DEIA into its greenlight process. Latasha is a celebrated speaker, host, and moderator who has appeared on stages around the world, including CES, Essence Festival, Cannes, AFRIFF, the Recording Academy, the Television Academy, Rio2C, AdColor, Sundance and more. She has been featured on Variety’s 2021 Women’s Impact Report and 2022 Inclusion Impact Report, was honored as a 2022 Multichannel News Wonder Woman and received the Black Women Film Network 2023 Beacon Award. In 2021, the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce named Latasha Executive of the Year and she graced the cover of Inclusion magazine. Black Enterprise named her one of the 2019 Most Powerful Women in Corporate Diversity and she is a 2018 Ebony Power 100 Honoree.
Kyra Sedgwick is an award-winning actress, producer and director, whose role in the critically acclaimed series The Closer earned her both an Emmy and a Golden Globe. Sedgwick just wrapped production on Connescence, a character driven film written and directed by Michael J. Weithorn, in which Sedgwick stars opposite Judd Hirsch and Kevin Bacon. She was last seen in season two of the smash hit Amazon series The Summer I Turned Pretty. Sedgwick recently directed the feature film Space Oddity, starring Kyle Allen and Alexandra Shipp, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Sedgwick also directed an episode of HBO’s upcoming The Girls on the Bus. Previous film roles include Singles, Phenomenon, The Game Plan, The Edge of Seventeen and Born on The Fourth Of July. Sedgwick is a tireless advocate for the awareness of and action to slow climate change and environmental damage to our Earth.
Millicent Simmonds is a Critics Choice Award nominated actress, BAFTA Rising Star Award nominee, and was named in Variety’s 2021 Power of Young Hollywood Impact List. After her impressive turn in “A Quiet Place,” Millicent took over the lead in the second film of the franchise in what IndieWire dubbed a “truly phenomenal performance.” Millicent burst onto the scene as the star of Todd Haynes’s film “Wonderstruck” opposite Julianne Moore. Upcoming projects include a series based on Sara Novíc’s novel, True Biz; portraying Helen Keller in Wash Westmoreland’s film “Helen & Teacher”; and the action thriller “Ballerina Overdrive.” Millicent made her Broadway debut in Grey House, directed by Tony Award winner Joe Mantello.
Filmmaker, artist, and author, Michèle Stephenson, pulls from her Haitian and Panamanian roots and experience as a social justice lawyer to think radically about storytelling in non-fiction spaces. Drawing on fiction and hybrid forms of storytelling Stephenson tells emotionally driven narratives of resistance and identity that center the lived experiences of communities of color in the Americas and the Black diaspora. In 2023, Stephenson had two films Oscar shortlisted – the feature documentary Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and premiered on MAX and her ESPN short Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games which won Best Short Doc at the Tribeca Festival. Her feature documentary, American Promise, was nominated for three Emmys and won the Jury Prize at Sundance. Her work, Stateless, was nominated for a Canadian Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. Stephenson co-directed the magical realist virtual reality trilogy series on racial terror, The Changing Same, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival; won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Immersive Narrative at the Tribeca Film Festival and was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Interactive Media Innovative category. Along with her writing partners, Joe Brewster and Hilary Beard, Stephenson won an NAACP Image Award for Excellence in a Literary Work for their book, Promises Kept. Currently, Stephenson is in post-production on a feature on the Black Power movement in Canada. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, a Guggenheim Artist Fellow, a Creative Capital Artist awardee. YOU MAY LIKE: COVERAGE OF THE 2018 MUSE AWARDS WITH VIDEO ON SUZEEBEHINDTHESCENES CLICK HERE |
Join the conversation on social media:#nywift | @nywift NYWIFT programs, screenings and events are supported, in part, by grants from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. Updated: Mar 13, 2024 |
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