Monday, November 13, 2023 6 pm ET
Landmark Award
Suri Kasirer Founder & President, Kasirer
Suri Kasirer is a born New Yorker and advocate. She founded Kasirer in 1997 out of a studio apartment on the Upper West Side—and a lifelong commitment to championing people, progress, and policy in the City.
Suri grew her business into the #1 lobbying firm in New York City, assembling and leading a team with decades of experience and an unrivaled fluency in government on local and state levels, in languages (including Spanish and Hebrew), in the inner workings of New York.
She and her team have established an unparalleled record of success in the City on behalf of clients who are leaders in a wide range of industries, corporate and nonprofit, education and culture, real estate to technology, hospitality to media to health care to social service.
Year after year, Suri is recognized by Crain’s New York Business and City & State as one of the most influential leaders in New York City. Among the most meaningful awards bestowed upon her, Citizens Union honored Suri as a 2018 Gotham Great and she was a recipient of the National Organization for Women (NOW) Women of Power & Influence Award. In 2021, Suri was recognized as one of Crain’s New York “Most Powerful Women” and was an honoree on the City & State “Power of Diversity: Women’s 100”, the “New York City Power 100”, and the “Manhattan Power 100.” In 2022, she was featured in City & State’s “Real Estate Power 100” and the “New York City Power 100” for the second year in a row. Suri was also recognized as one of Schneps Media’s 2022 Power Women of Manhattan honorees.
Suri is the Vice President of Citymeals on Wheels, and serves on the board of directors of the New York League of Conservation Voters, the Women’s Leadership Forum and the New York Building Foundation. She is a member of the steering committee for the Association for a Better New York and a member of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, WX New York Women Executives in Real Estate, and the Downtown Lower Manhattan Association.
After graduating from Yeshiva University, Suri worked as an educator—before working on a national presidential race. Inspired by politics, joining the executive staff of then-governor of New York Mario Cuomo as his special assistant.
Community Award
Dr. Becky Kennedy Founder & CEO, Good Inside
Dr. Becky Kennedy is a clinical psychologist, bestselling author, and mom of three, named “The Millennial Parenting Whisperer” by TIME Magazine, who’s rethinking the way we raise our children. She specializes in thinking deeply about what’s happening for kids and translating these ideas into simple, actionable strategies for parents to use in their homes. Dr. Becky is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be. She hosts Good Inside with Dr Becky, a chart-topping podcast, has amassed over 1.4M Instagram followers, shares thoughts in her free newsletter, Good Insider, and published a Potty Learning Handbook. She has also launched a game-changing, first-of-its-kind platform; Good Inside Membership is a dynamic parenting hub with Dr. Becky’s complete parenting content collection, a judgment-free, like-valued community, and access to Good Inside-trained experts—all in one place to learn, grow and connect. Dr. Becky received a BA in Psychology and Human Development, Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude, from Duke University and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University.
Erica Belsky, PhD Founder & COO, Good Inside
Erica Belskyis the co-founder and COO of Good Inside, a breakthrough parenting platformand media company providing millions of parents from around the globe a new way to seeand solve challenges in their home through simple,actionable strategies. Erica executive produced the first seven seasons of Good Inside with Dr Becky, a chart-topping podcast, hasoverseen the growth of Good Inside’s social channels, and launched a game-changing,first-of-its-kind platform; Good Inside Membership. Prior to co-founding Good Inside, the mom of three spent several years working with individuals suffering from substance abuseand related underlying mental health issues. Erica received a BA in Psychology from Cornell University, and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University. To learn more, visit: goodinside.com.
Inspiration through the Arts Award
Valeria Luiselli Writer
Valeria Luiselli was born in Mexico City and grew up in South Korea, South Africa and India. An acclaimed writer of both fiction and nonfiction, she is the author of Sidewalks, Faces in the Crowd, The Story of My Teeth; Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions and Lost Children Archive. She is the recipient of a 2019 MacArthur Fellowship and the winner of DUBLIN Literary Award, two Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, The Carnegie Medal, an American Book Award, and has been nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Kirkus Prize, and the Booker Prize. She has been a National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" honoree and the recipient of a Bearing Witness Fellowship from the Art for Justice Fund. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Granta, and The New Yorker, among other publications, and has been translated into more than twenty languages. She teaches at Bard College and is a visiting professor at Harvard University.
Impact Award
Jerelyn Rodriguez Co-Founder & CEO, The Knowledge House
Jerelyn Rodriguez co-founded The Knowledge House, a Bronx-based tech-education nonprofit, in 2014. In 2016, she was honored as one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Education. Previously, she coordinated STEM after-school programs at Braven and was the Bronx Field Director for Reshma Saujani's 2013 campaign for New York City Public Advocate. In 2011, Jerelyn joined Students for Education Reform (SFER) as the National Program Director, organizing and coaching college students in 35 states to advocate for education reform. Prior to SFER, Jerelyn worked in the public school system, teaching and designing programs. She is on the leadership council for South Bronx Rising Together, a founding Datanaut at NASA, a fellow at Camelback Ventures and an Aspen Institute Scholar. She is on the boards of KIPP Foundation and Creo College Prep. Jerelyn has a degree in film studies from Columbia University.
Celebrating Susan Engel for her 40 years at the helm of 92NY Recanati-Kaplan Talks
(in formation)
as of November 9, 2022
*Past chairs °Executive Committee member