FFIAs Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree
Mrs. Gwendolyn DeVoe
CEO, DeVoe Signature Events
Creator & Executive Producer, Full Figured Fashion Week®
Casting & Production, 2019 Curvas Fashion Show
Gwendolyn DeVoe is a former freelance plus model turned fashion event producer who devotes her time to mentoring and developing young women interested in plus size modeling and entrepreneurship. In addition, in an effort to ensure that plus size fashion brands and its aficionados receive equal airtime and tasteful recognition in the fashion industry, Gwen has been instrumental in creating a number of platforms for the plus size fashion community.
Gwen is also the Creator and Executive Producer of Full Figured Fashion Week®, an annual presentation of the fashion industry’s finest plus models, designers, retailers, boutiques and businesses with products and services for the plus community. The event celebrated ten years of production in June 2018 and is heralded as one of the industry’s most legitimate gateways for plus fashion and a “must attend’ for anyone involved in the industry. Gwen’s recent credits include being hired to produce the SHE Beverage Company’s Curvas Fashion Show during SHE Week in Las Vegas in July 2019.
Gwen has received numerous awards for her work in the plus fashion industry, including receiving a Resolution from the City of St. Louis for her work in plus size fashion; being recognized by the City of New York with a Proclamation declaring June 22nd “Gwen DeVoe Appreciation Day”; acknowledged as a 2018 Woman of Impact by IMPACT Magazine; and receiving The High Priestess of Plus Award during the Power Plus Weekend in 2018. Gwen’s work, and all that it involves, does not end there. She has executed a strong line-up of “signature” events, including Full Figured and Fabulous™, Dangerous Curves…the Tour™, the Ready to Runway Model Bootcamp and Project Curves™. She is a highly sought-after event host, industry influencer, motivational speaker and expert on the plus size fashion community. She has written content for USA Today, and has appeared as an expert on several radio and television shows including Fox 5’s Good Day New York, OMG! Insider Entertainment Tonight and ASPIRE TV. Gwen’s recent features include The Huffington Post’s Women in Business, Fortune.com, Fashion & Style, and Biz Women - The Business Journal.
In 2017 Gwen launched her own personal blog, MOGUL Moments, a fashion and lifestyle blog for mature fashionistas. She is also near the completion of penning two books related to the plus fashion industry. She recently announced the creation of “Bae Walks --- The Big and Tall Tour” for men set to launch in Fall 2019.
Gwen’s latest initiative, the Silver Fox Model Camp, is a one-day workshop for aspiring mature models. The standard of beauty is becoming more inclusive and this workshop is designed to teach mature women how to monetize life experiences and ageless beauty by exploring the modeling industry.
FFIAs Iconic
Award Honoree
Mrs. Alexandra Boos
President of Undeland Management
Alexandra Boos is a Hollywood talent manager and coach who is currently most known for her role in developing and managing the career of celebrity Rosie Mercado, host of talk show Face the Truth, produced by Dr. Phil and CBS. As a thirty-year fashion pioneer, New Yorker magazine called Alexandra a “fixture” in the plus industry, passionately supporting growth in every creative spectrum from modeling to marketing and creative director for a plus fashion magazine to launching a curves division at a Manhattan modeling agency. Alexandra has her own exclusive agency, Undeland Management, and currently develops talent with her own unique faith-based methodology armed with the mission to help create celebrities in fashion and entertainment who serve the world with the gifts and talents God gave them. Alexandra was one of the first the recipients of Full Figured Fashion Week’s “Legends Award”, National Curves Day “Humanitarian Award”, and now the “Iconic Award” from The Full Figured Industry Awards.
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Avenue Confidence Award Recipient
Ms. Yasmine Arrington
Founder and Executive Director of ScholarCHIPS, Inc.
Yasmine (YAZ-MEEN) “YazzieSpeaks” Arrington is the Founder and Executive Director of ScholarCHIPS, Inc. In 2010, while a junior in high school, Yasmine founded the non-profit ScholarCHIPS (www.scholarchipsfund.org), an organization that provides college scholarships, mentoring and a peer support network to graduating high school seniors who have a parent(s) in prison, and are pursuing their college degree. To date, ScholarCHIPS has awarded over $180,000 in college scholarships to 61 scholars. Yasmine launched ScholarCHIPS as her Girl Scout Gold Award in October of 2010 and was a Girl Scout at People’s Congregational United Church of Christ, under the leadership of Mrs. Vida Anderson and as a 2010 LearnServe International fellow.
Yasmine was born and raised in Washington, DC. She is a 2015 graduate from Elon University with a Bachelor of Arts in Strategic Communications and History. Yasmine earned her Master of Divinity degree from the Howard University School of Divinity in May 2018, where she served as the 2016 -17 Student Government Association President. Yasmine holds the title of Miss District of Columbia Plus America 2016 and was named a 2017 Radio One WKYS 2017 Top 30 Under 30. Yasmine is the host and producer of her own radio show, Millennial Minds, that airs on WERA 96.7FM on Wednesdays and on DC Radio on weekdays. She is also a professional plus size fashion model, motivational speaker, preacher and poet.
