Diversity Action Alliance Announces 2026 G.E.M.S. Honorees

Twenty-five communications leaders will be celebrated at the 2026 G.E.M.S. Honors, presented by MSL, on September 16 in New York City.

The Diversity Action Alliance (DAA) has announced the 25 outstanding leaders selected as its 2026 G.E.M.S. Honorees. DAA is also pleased to announce that acclaimed journalist, author, speaker and television host Tiffany D. Cross will serve as emcee for this year’s celebration.

The 2026 G.E.M.S. Honorees represent leaders across the communications industry whose vision, courage and sustained contributions are helping transform organizations, strengthen communities and advance a more inclusive profession.

Their collective impact reflects the spirit of DAA’s 2026 theme, Collective Power, and the belief that communication shapes culture, leadership shapes organizations and collective action creates lasting change.

The 2026 G.E.M.S. Honorees

✨Sade Ayodele — SoundCloud

✨ Fatou B. Barry— The PR Girl Manifesto

✨ Dr. Jake Beniflah — The Center for Multicultural Science and California State University, Fullerton

✨ Heather Cabral — Faith in Action

✨ Mariko Carpenter — Nielsen

✨ Terrance Coleman — Zeno Group

✨ Dr. Jamila Cupid — Pepperdine University

✨ Carla Ellison — MSL

✨Dominic K. Hawkins — NAACP

✨ Fields Jackson, Jr. — Racing Toward Diversity magazine

✨ Ketia Jeune — ATURE, Inc. and Footlocker

✨ Amina Colter Jones — Edelman

✨ Dasia Jones-Wallace — Burson

✨ Fahad Khawaja —Hue

✨ Daphne Kwok — AARP

✨ Nicholas Love — Kulur Group, LLC

✨ Carolina Mata, MBA, CEC, ICF-ACC, BCC — Integral

✨ Tonya McKenzie — Sand and Shores Communications, Marketing, and Sports Media

✨ Cheron Porter, MA, APR — INLIVIAN

✨ Jacob Rodriguez — Highwire PR

✨ Joanne Tabellija-Murphy — Walmart

✨ Michelle Tang — McCann

✨ Megan Tuck — Highwire PR

✨ Cydney Peyton Walton, MCM — Applied Information Sciences

✨ Alima Trapp — Doner