The 14th Annual ESSENCE Black Women In Hollywood Awards is proud to be celebrating five extraordinary Black women in film and television who each continue to blaze paths forward that exude excellence to the highest degree.
Among this year's honorees is history-making Hollywood icon Whoopi Goldberg. During her acceptance speech at the Black Women In Hollywood Awards, the EGOT holder shared a heartfelt message of appreciation for the ESSENCE brand and credited her ability to remain her self as the key to her success.
"To be a Black woman in the world is not always the easiest thing, as you all know," she said. "But, I appreciate that ESSENCE has always made it very clear that we didn't have to be anybody else's idea of Black women. That we were free to be us, regardless of who was trying to tell us who we were "supposed" to be. And that, in my mind, has made you, always number one.
Check out the video above to hear Whoopi Goldberg's acceptance speech in full and then head over to www.essencestudios.com for more of everything you missed at the 2021 ESSENCE Black Women In Hollywood Awards.
The ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood are presented by Ford and sponsored by American Airlines, Coca-Cola, Korbel and L’Oréal Paris.