Mrs. Eunice W. Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer Of Johnson Publishing Co., Receives Trumpet Award

Jet, Feb 15, 1999

Mrs. Eunice W. Johnson, secretary-treasurer of Johnson Publishing Company and producer and director of the company's EBONY Fashion Fair, which is the world's largest fashion show, recently received the coveted Trumpet Award during ceremonies in Atlanta.

Mrs. Johnson was saluted for consistently achieving excellence in her career and at the same time, enhancing the quality of life for all Americans, during the recent Seventh Annual Trumpet Awards show at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta.

She is the wife of John H. Johnson, publisher, chairman and CEO of Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Company Inc., which he founded in 1942 with her love and support.

Mrs. Johnson also named the company's flagship magazine, EBONY, which remains the world's most popular Black-oriented magazine for more than 50 years. She also writes a special fashion feature which appears in EBONY each month.

Since 1961, Mrs. Johnson has been producer and director of EBONY Fashion Fair, which makes 200 appearances in its 185-city tour of the United States and the Caribbean. Since its inception, the annual fashion show extravaganza has raised more than $44 million for both local and national charitable organizations.

Each year, Mrs. Johnson travels to the fashion capitals of the world including Paris, Milan, Rome, London, New York and Los Angeles to purchase garments by internationally-acclaimed designers.

In the EBONY Fashion Fair, Mrs. Johnson gives exposure to both young Black designers and models. Many models have become successful actors upon leaving the show.

Mrs. Johnson also was involved in the creation of Fashion Fair Cosmetics. Both she and Mr. Johnson noticed the EBONY Fashion Fair models were struggling unsuccessfully to find cosmetics in shades that matched their deeper skin tones. Fashion Fair Cosmetics was born in 1973 in answer to this problem and today is the world leader in cosmetics for women of color and is sold in more than 2,500 fine stores across the United States, Africa, the Caribbean, France, England, Canada, Switzerland and other foreign countries.

Today, Mrs. Johnson remains involved as a creative consultant for Fashion Fair Cosmetics.

In addition to Mrs. Johnson, other Trumpet Award honorees included philanthropist Matel Dawson, television journalist Bryant Gumbel, opera star Jessye Norman and legendary singer-songwriter-producer Smokey Robinson.

Special honorees included Dr. Dorothy Height, chair and president emerita of the National Council of Negro Women, who received the Living Legend Award; U.S. Congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis, who received the Pinnacle Award, and the late entertainer Frank Sinatra, who was posthumously honored with the Humanitarian Award for his life work in fighting for the rights of Blacks and other minorities everywhere.

The 7th Annual Trumpet Awards also included a new award, the Circle of Athletes, to recognize sports stars who use their abilities to be positive role models both on and off the field.

Those honored included Olympic track and field champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee; baseball great John "Buck" O'Neil of Negro League Baseball fame and Eddie Robinson, record-setting Grambling State University football coach.

The Trumpet Awards were hosted by entertainer Debbie Allen and Kweisi Mfume, NAACP president and CEO.

The annual awards are presented by the Turner Broadcasting System. The mission of the Trumpet Awards is to inspire, educate, stimulate and enlighten human minds to the reality that success, achievement and respect are void of color and gender.

Ted Turner, vice chairman of Time Warner, Inc., credited Xernona Clayton, creator and executive producer of the Trumpet Awards for coming up with the idea of the Trumpet Awards as a Black History Month tribute.

The Trumpet Awards will air February 21 at 7 p.m., ET on the TBS Superstation.