About Our Honorees
Barry Cooper is founder/executive director of The B.R.O. (Brothers Redefining Opportunity) Experience Foundation, an organization helping young men of color build emotional resilience and leadership skills through trauma-informed mentorship and healing programs. Affectionately known as "Coach Coop," he is an educator, author, bridge builder, protector and catalyst for change. The former Dean/Director of Culture at Eagle Academy for Young Men, adjunct instructor at CUNY Fatherhood Academy, mentor for youth navigating incarceration and Vice-Chair of the Brooklyn NAACP Educational Committee, he is the author of "The Provider: A Guide for Co-Parenting Dads" and a forthcoming children’s book.
Rotimi Akinnuoye is a serial entrepreneur and philanthropist with a corporate background in biotech sales and marketing. After immigrating from Nigeria at age 12, he built ventures in real estate, nightlife, and retail. Ten years ago, he and three partners founded Bed-Vyne Wine & Spirits Shop in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, which has since grown into three businesses, including Bed-Vyne Brew and Bed-Vyne Cocktail, becoming a neighborhood institution through support of local nonprofits like the Bed-Stuy YMCA, Campaign Against Hunger, and BedStuy Strong. Rotimi chairs the Bed-Stuy YMCA board, sits on the Brooklyn Navy Yard and One Brooklyn boards, and co-founded M.A.D.E. Community. In summer 2026, he opens North Star Books + Bar with his brother Ayoola and Nikole Hannah-Jones.
Michael Brooks is a leader in the craft movement in Brooklyn, NY and is a partner in Bed-Vyne Wine (est. 2011), Bed-Vyne Brew (est. 2013), Bed-Vyne Cocktail (est. 2014), Vice President of the Tompkins Avenue Merchants Association 2016 - 2025 and Board Member of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation since 2021. He has over 17 years of experience in wine retail and created a system that organizes wines by taste to help customers understand their palate and make better decisions when choosing wine. Michael’s prior experience includes sales, marketing, project management, operations in the pharmaceutical and telecommunications industries. Michael received a B.S. in Marketing from Canisius College of Buffalo in 1996.
Herbert Shannon Jackson Sweat, Jr. was born on March 3, 1949, in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Franklin K. Lane High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1966. Following airborne training, he served with Company A, 4th Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vietnam, participating in the Battle of Dak To and four combat campaigns before his honorable discharge in 1970.
A highly decorated veteran, Mr. Sweat earned four Bronze Stars, the Combat Infantryman Badge, Presidential Unit Citation, and numerous other military honors.
Following his military service, he worked for the U.S. Postal Service, the NYC Highway Department, and the New York Daily News. A dedicated veterans advocate, he held leadership positions with Veterans of the Vietnam War, NABVETS, the American Legion, and Black Veterans for Social Justice. A proud member of the Shinnecock Nation, he devoted his life to mentoring veterans, championing compassionate support, and serving his community with distinction.
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Nikole Hannah-Jones is the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of The 1619 Project and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine. Her deeply researched reporting on racial inequality and injustice has also earned her a MacArthur Fellowship, a Peabody Award, the Knight Award for Public Service, two George Polk Awards and the National Magazine Award three times. Her six-episode Hulu documentary series, The 1619 Project, won the Emmy for best documentary series. Hannah-Jones was also named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World.
An institution builder, Hannah-Jones is a founder of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting; founder of the 1619 Freedom School, a free-afterschool literacy program in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa; and founder of the Center for Journalism & Democracy at Howard University, where she serves as the inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Journalism.
ola is an antidisciplinary artist who works in collage, papermaking, printmaking, book arts and stopmotion animation, a Set Decorator for Film & TV and the Creator of The Free Black Women’s Library, a social art project, literary hub, reading room, Black Feminist archive and community care space in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. Through her creative praxis she shapes space, builds worlds, and conjures moments that centers the pleasure, liberation & creativity of Black women. She has received fellowships from New York Foundation for the Arts, Women’s Studio Workshop, BRIC Arts, Blackburn Printmaking Shop, & the Metropolitan Museum. Her work has been in the NY Times, Hyperallergic, and Teen Vogue.
www.thefreeblackwomenslibrary.com
Stefani L. Zinerman is a fierce public servant, community advocate , and long time Bedford-Stuyvesant resient. She worked in the banking industry and beverage distribution and later, was senior manager for a New York City adult literacy program. Zinerman also served as a pastor and was involved in community organizations including the Brooklyn NAACP and Age-Friendly, a program she chaired that helps local leaders improve their communities for the elderly. Zinerman entered local politics after New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg defunded the Begin Education/Employment Gain Independence Now (BEGIN) program; she volunteered with the Obama For America campaign, becoming the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood volunteer leader. Zinerman served as Council man Robert E. Cornegy's petition and campaign manager starting in 2012 and became his chief of staff once he was elected. Current New York State Assemblywoman.
www.assembly.state.ny.us/mem/Stefani-Zinerman/bio/
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