Los Angeles, CA—On Sunday, March 8, the National Women’s History Museum (NWHM) hosted its 8^th Annual Women Making History Awards at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The event, which coincided with International Women’s Day, honored actresses and activists Andie MacDowell and Logan Browning, alongside ECOS™ President and CEO Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks and Dr. Nancy D. O’Reilly for their significant contributions to their fields and roles as inspirations to women everywhere.

During the inspiring ceremony, NWHM President and CEO Holly Hotchner spoke about bringing the organization’s dream of a brick-and-mortar museum to life in Washington, D.C. Under her leadership, over the past year, the Museum began the critical work to help realize its mission: to build the first ever U.S. museum to show the full scope of the history of women. In 2020, this work will continue, as the museum kicks off a year-long celebration of the centennial of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote.

The museum will also continue its popular “Determined to Rise” series, which features scholarly panels, public events, and lively discussions on women’s history topics from the early 1830s when African-American women abolitionist groups organized to fight for freedom, personhood, and women’s rights to the ratification of the 19^th Amendment in 1920. “Determined to Rise” shapes a broader understanding of the woman suffrage movement throughout the turn of the century, acknowledging not only the achievements resulting in the ratification of the 19^th Amendment, but also its profound limitations.

Also in attendance at the luncheon were presenters Rainey Qualley, Margaret Qualley, and Camille Winbush, special guests Yvette Nicole Brown, Laura Bell Bundy, Yaya DaCosta, Natalie Dreyfuss, Giselle Fernandez, Amanda Fuller, Edy Ganem, Anna Hopkins, Carly Hughes, Sharon Lawrence, Mercedes Mason, Molly McCook, AJ Michalka, Aly Michalka, MILCK, Sara Rue, Jade Tailor, Shantel VanSanten, Virginia Williams, and many more!

The event was sponsored by American Airlines, A3 Artist Agency,  ECOS, Mari Snyder Johnson, Morgan Stanley, Mount Saint Mary’s University Los Angeles, Nebula9 Vodka, L'Oréal, Melissa Roe & Family, Michelle Villemarie & Family, and VPC, Inc.