June Ambrose, MC Lyte and more stars talk Black excellence at the NAACP Image Awards
The show-stopping event featured appearances from the biggest Black entertainers and influencers
The 55th annual NAACP Image Awards was a star-studded event, a night featuring prominent creative talents in the entertainment industry.
Black excellence was at the forefront of the ceremony. On the carpet, award recipients and attendees told theGrio about what it means to exemplify Black excellence in their industry and community. “Vanguard Award” honoree June Ambrose, MC Lyte, Devale Ellis and others stopped by to share a few gems throughout the glamorous evening.
See what your favorite Black celebs had to say below:
June Ambrose
“Black excellence is what we’re standing on,” Ambrose said. “It’s the ground that we stand on. It’s the walls that support, incubate and protect us. This is a community, and when Black excellence recognizes each other, we recognize that we need to work more together. So, we can also create change … It’s reigniting and a reminder that our tribes must continue moving forward together.”
Devale Ellis
“Black excellence means so much because Black people are not monolithic,” Ellis said. “Black excellence is revolutionary. Black excellence is changing the narrative of what they think Black people are.”
MC Lyte
“Being a beacon of hope for your community,” Lyte told theGrio. “That means bringing back useful information and something that’s good. Good means able to be used. So, just continue to be a conduit for God to move through.”
Chido Nwokocha
“Black excellence is creativity,” Nwokocha said. “We are such beautiful, creative people and that drives that excellence.
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Pinky Cole
“I want all creatives and people who have big imaginations to have the mindset of transferring their skill sets to be successful everywhere they go,” Cole told theGrio. “That is a tool worth more than money and notoriety.”
Danielle Pinnock
“Black excellence is us toiling upwards always and forever and surpassing everything,” Pinnock said. “We are the culture. We are everything. Our melanin is everything; we are the hitmakers. Everyone looks up to us. To be in this room and have a seat at this table means the world to me and makes me feel part of the culture — a part of the things moving and shaking.”
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