The Alliance for Women in Media Southern California Affiliate (AWM SoCal) recently held its 57th Annual Genii Awards at the Skirball Cultural Center.
The national organization is based in Washington, D.C.; its Southern California division encompasses the area from Santa Barbara to San Diego.
AWM SoCal is dedicated to “celebrate programming that’s for, by and about women,” said Palisadian Kim Spence Dickey, who is the press and community outreach director for the association’s board of directors.
“We are constantly recognizing new producers of programming that further women in the industry,” Dickey said. “We really support other organizations that help us move women up the ladder in terms of gender parity, equal opportunity in the industry and all of those things that help women have a seat at the table.”
This year’s Genii winners included documentarian Nicole Boxer, Extra co-hosts Tracey Edmonds and Charissa Thompson and Time Warner Cable executive Lisa Meier, plus three scholarship winners from UCLA, USC and CalArts.
Past winners include Betty White, Whoopi Goldberg, Cloris Leachman, Jamie Lee Curtis and Lucille Ball.
Proceeds from the Genii Awards celebration go towards scholarships and educational programs.
Boxer’s mother, Senator Barbara Boxer, was on hand to present the Excellence in Documentary award to her daughter.
“If you really want to know what an excited mother looks like, I am the model,” Boxer said. “I am thrilled. It’s one of those great moments, because Nicole has worked so hard and her subject matter has been difficult. She has taken issues not in the public trauma they went through, rape in the military, rape on college campuses—very tough issues—and she has brought them to light.”
Dickey has been involved with the organization for about 10 years. Her responsibilities include getting speakers at industry panels and bringing in media experts to talk about myriad topics.
Among Dickey’s many duties for the Genii Awards were finding presenters and honorees as well as soliciting items for the silent auction (including rental of the Pacific Palisades Woman’s Club).
AWM SoCal strives “to offer women opportunities to grow” in media and entertainment, Dickey said. There is a mentoring program, to help “nurture the next generation.” The organization, run solely by volunteers, is strongly focused on empowering women.
Throughout the year, there are many educational and speaker programs, and “a lot of opportunities to meet women who are accomplished in the field,” Dickey said.
The next AWM SoCal event will be “Speed Mentoring: Digital Media,” which Dickey describes as similar to speed dating. Dozens of mentors will meet for about five minutes each with dozens of mentees, exploring entertainment-industry possibilities and job openings. It will be held on June 4 at CBS Studios in Studio City.
Dickey spent 30 years in marketing and public relations, running a variety of red-carpet events, including the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival. She worked at Ogilvy and Mather and J. Walter Thompson.
Though recently retired, Dickey remains involved with a variety of different projects, including StorybookProducer.com, where she is the producer/publisher, and DogWell.guru, where she is the producer/blogger.
The New England native has been married for 31 years to third-generation Palisadian Stephen Dickey, who manages properties in town. The couple met in college at Brigham Young University in Utah. They have lived in the Highlands for 13 years, in a home where Maya Angelou once lived. They live with their poodles, Lacie and Shalie.
Stephen’s grandmother was realtor Lelah Pierson, who was a character actress before turning to real estate. His grandfather was J. Townley Pierson, who came to the Palisades in 1925. Pierson Playhouse is named after the couple, who donated the property. Stephen’s mother, Helen, is a native Palisadian, and his late father, Robert, was a Chamber of Commerce president in 1967-68.
By Laurie Rosenthal
Staff Writer
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