Benefit Awards and Breakfast
April 27, 2023
Cipriani 42nd Street, 110 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10170
Registration and Mocktails: 7:30 AM | Breakfast and Award Ceremony: 8 – 10 AM
Join us in New York City as the Lives of Commitment benefit returns to an in-person event, where we’ll celebrate powerful women whose vision and leadership opens pathways to a more just future.
MEET OUR
2022 HONOREES
BAHIA AMAWI
Bahia Amawi is a Palestinian-American who immigrated to the US when she was 9 years old. She is a speech language pathologist by profession, working for over 20 years in the public schools and a homeschooling mother of 4 black belt kids. She is an active member of her Muslim community in Austin, Texas and a protagonist of the film Boycott.
In 2018 Bahia was fired from her public school job because she refused to sign the anti-boycott pledge. Bahia took a stand and sued the state of Texas with the help of CAIR. Bahia won and is currently still working without the anti-boycott clause in her contract.
RABBI DANYA
RUTTENBERG
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg is an award-winning author and writer who serves as Scholar in Residence at National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW). She was named by Newsweek as a “rabbi to watch,” as a “faith leader to watch” by the Center for American Progress, and has been a Washington Post Sunday crossword clue (83 Down). Her newest book, On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World is a National Jewish Book Award winner that has been hailed by Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley as “A must read for anyone navigating the work of justice and healing.”
She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, and many other publications. Her other books include Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration, Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting, which was a National Jewish Book Award finalist, and Surprised By God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion, nominated for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish literature; as well as The Passionate Torah: Sex and Judaism; Yentl’s Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism, and, with Rabbi Elliot Dorff, three books on Jewish ethics.
RABBI DANYA
RUTTENBERG
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg is an award-winning author and writer who serves as Scholar in Residence at National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW). She was named by Newsweek as a “rabbi to watch,” as a “faith leader to watch” by the Center for American Progress, and has been a Washington Post Sunday crossword clue (83 Down). Her newest book, On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World is a National Jewish Book Award winner that has been hailed by Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley as “A must read for anyone navigating the work of justice and healing.”
She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, and many other publications. Her other books include Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration, Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting, which was a National Jewish Book Award finalist, and Surprised By God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion, nominated for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish literature; as well as The Passionate Torah: Sex and Judaism; Yentl’s Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism, and, with Rabbi Elliot Dorff, three books on Jewish ethics.
REV.
KENYETTA CHINWE
Rev. Kenyetta Chinwe is a Black, queer, genderfluid woman of Caribbean heritage and a Florida native who has resided in Atlanta for the last 23 years. She is a singer, writer, actor, spiritual facilitator, daughter, sister, aunt, reproductive justice educator, and all around creative. For the last 3 years she has been utilizing the skills she gained in Faith based leadership, the Arts, and Management, to advance the work of Reproductive Justice as SisterSong’s Faith Advocacy Coordinator. She is also a founding member and Interim Steering Committee Co-Chair of the Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity (SACReD). Her current call is to build a base of visible and vocal Faith leaders and people of faith who openly support the cause of Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights, Reproductive Access, and Reproductive Justice. She now serves as the inaugural Program Officer for the Rights, Faith, and Democracy Collaborative at Proteus Fund.
MARY BYRON
Mary Byron is Board Chair Emerita of Auburn Theological Seminary, and the owner of Cloud Nine Quilts in Absarokee, MT where she helps her customers create beautiful fabric gifts for their loved ones and their homes. Prior to this, she was a partner in the Technology Division at Goldman, Sachs where she worked for 25 years. Mary started her career as a network engineer and held many roles within the Technology Division including CIO for the Asia Pacific Region based in Tokyo and global Chief Technology Officer. Mary was a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Commission on Institutional Change, appointed in 2017 to assess structural racism and white supremacy culture within the UUA’s institutions and its wider religious movement. In her essay, The Joy in the Spiritual Work, she writes about her journey with anti-racism work. “Keeping quiet, doing nothing isn’t an option for me in a faith that proclaims that we respect the inherent worth and dignity of all people.”
She is an active volunteer and serves as Chair of the Absarokee Area Merchants Association, Treasurer of the Board of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, Director on the Global board for Room to Read and Chair of the UUA Audit Committee. Mary enjoys connecting deeply with nature through co creative gardening and hiking anywhere in Montana, with a particular fondness for the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness and Yellowstone National Park.
MARY BYRON
Mary Byron is Board Chair Emerita of Auburn Theological Seminary, and the owner of Cloud Nine Quilts in Absarokee, MT where she helps her customers create beautiful fabric gifts for their loved ones and their homes. Prior to this, she was a partner in the Technology Division at Goldman, Sachs where she worked for 25 years. Mary started her career as a network engineer and held many roles within the Technology Division including CIO for the Asia Pacific Region based in Tokyo and global Chief Technology Officer. She is an active volunteer and serves as Chair of the Absarokee Area Merchants Association, Treasurer of the Board of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, Director on the Global board for Room to Read and Chair of the UUA Audit Committee. Mary enjoys connecting deeply with nature through co creative gardening and hiking anywhere in Montana with a particular fondness for the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness and Yellowstone National Park.
Meet some of our previous Lives of Commitment honorees
WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
Lives of Commitment
April 27, 2023 | Cipriani 42nd Street
Doors: 7:30 AM | Breakfast and Award Ceremony: 8 – 10 AM
