Each year in the month of January, the anniversary month of the founding of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., spurs the 900+ chapters across the globe to reflect, observe and pay tribute to the organization’s rich history of educational excellence, political and community involvement. The Detroit Deltas will follow suit with their 105th Founders Day Observance Luncheon to be held at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 13, at the MGM Grand Detroit Hotel in the Grand Ballroom.
One hundred and five years ago 22 college women founded Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and today the sorority has more than 250,000 members in the U.S., and in eight international chapters. Chapters pay tribute to the ideas of the Founders and the mission of the organization by conducting political action, presenting physical and mental health programs, executing educational and economic development programs, and serving the community locally, nationally and internationally.
“Detroit Deltas look forward to our commemoration of 105 years of excellence in service, while honoring the traditions and ideals of the 22 dynamic founding members who started this organization back on January 13, 1913 on the campus of Howard University,” said Lois Elizabeth Bingham, president, Detroit Alumnae Chapter.
The special guest is honorary Delta member, Paula Williams Madison, a business leader, former television executive at both WNBC New York and KNBC Los Angeles and part owner of The Africa Channel, documentarian, philanthropist and author of Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem about discovering her Asian heritage. She sold her interest in the WNBA LA Sparks to Magic Johnson in 2014.
Award-winning Detroit Free Press columnist, Delta member Rochelle Riley, will serve as moderator of a unique “Conversation with” this former NBC Universal executive.
“We are anticipating a day of reflection and in-depth conversation between our special guest and our moderator. It is our hope that our audience, filled with Delta members and guests, gleans from the day the historical impact that 22 courageous young women had when they founded this great sisterhood of service,” said Tiffany Douglas, chair of the 2018 Founders Day celebration.
More than 800 Deltas, including elected officials, educators, business and community leaders, along with their guests, are expected to attend the Founders Day Luncheon which will include a tribute program, vendor exhibition area and a book signing by Madison immediately following the luncheon. Tickets are $75.
Harlem native, Paula Williams Madison is chairman and CEO of Madison Media Management LLC, a Los Angeles based media consultancy company with global reach.
In 2011, Madison retired from NBCUniversal, where she had been executive vice president of Diversity as well as a vice president of the General Electric Company, then the parent company of NBCU. During her 22 years with NBCU, she held numerous successful leadership roles, including president and general manager of NBC4 Los Angeles, Los Angeles regional general manager for NBCU’s Telemundo TV stations and vice president and news director of NBC4 New York.
Honored for corporate leadership and community outreach, Madison was named one of the “75 Most Powerful African Americans in Corporate America” by Black Enterprise Magazine in 2005 and included in the Hollywood Reporter’s “Power 100.”
She’s been honored by Asian organizations as well, having been recognized in 2014 as one of the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business and in 2015, she was honored by the East West Players and AARP with their Visionary Award and by the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles with their Historymaker Award.
Madison is a board member of the Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles United Way, the California Science Center Foundation, The Center for Asian American Media, the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, Cardinal Spellman High School, co-chair of the African American Alumnae of Vassar College as well as an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Detroit Deltas are college-educated women who are community leaders, serving in a variety of professions, including education, health care and law. Detroit Delta public service activities include providing homeless shelters with meals, and the construction and operation of Delta Manor, a residential facility for seniors. In recent years, Detroit Deltas have awarded more than a half-million dollars in scholarship funds. For more information, go to www.DetroitDeltas.com.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. is a public service organization of college educated women with more than 250,000 members worldwide, committed to the constructive development of its members and to public service with a primary focus on the Black community. The major programs of the sorority are based on the organization’s Five Point Programmatic Thrust:
*Economic Development
*Educational Development
*International Awareness and Involvement
*Physical and Mental Health
*Political Awareness and Involvement
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