Breaking barriers for decades, Black supermodel headlines United Way celebration

A pioneering supermodel headlined a special event Wednesday at the University of Miami, speaking of her four decades of achievements on and off the runway.

Beverly Johnson told the crowd of about 600 people at United Way Miami’s 22nd annual Women United breakfast about the importance of breaking barriers.

Johnson did just that to become the first Black model to grace the cover of American Vogue in August 1974.

The founder of Beverly Johnson Enterprises appeared this year in the BET documentary “Black + Iconic: Style Gods.” She also told the Miami Herald in an interview about her 38 new projects in the works, including adapting her “The Face That Changed It All: A Memoir” into a mini-series with Warner Brothers.

The supermodel also manages to make time to give back to her family and her community — telling the Watsco Center audience that philanthropy “is how I can get out of me, me, me and being full.” The 70-year-old has a daughter and a handful of grandchildren.

This year’s United Way event honored women who have made history in recent years. They included Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade County’s first female mayor.

Only United Way’s Women United members and their guests were invited to the breakfast. Members pay at least $1,000 a year to belong to the group, which focuses on education, financial stability and health issues.

Normally the site of the university’s basketball games, the Watsco Center was filled with tables topped with fresh fruit and pastelitos de guayaba, danishes and raspberry rugelach. The sound of forks and knives clinking against porcelain plates paused momentarily when Johnson was called to the stage. Applause echoed as the model stood to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and danced her way toward Leslie Miller Saiontz, the moderator and founder of Achieve Miami.

Speaking of her philanthropy for the Global Down Syndrome Foundation and Barbara Sinatra Children Center for Abused Children, Johnson said, “That’s why I’m so involved with United Way. You walk the talk. You just don’t talk it. You walk it, and you walk it every day. All you women, I’m in awe of you and what you do, what you accomplish, because it’s God’s work. It really is.”

Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, her father worked as a steelmaker and her mother was a nurse. Johnson talked about her upbringing and career. She reflected on what led to her success as a model who has appeared in 500 publications. After modeling, she started her own businesses, including designing wigs, hair extensions and eyeglasses.

“All of the things that came after were things that were presented to me that I had felt intuitively that I would do,” Johnson said.

The model said she followed her gut, often going against the advice of others to launch her companies. “It showed me that you have to trust yourself,” she said.

For Symeria T. Hudson, it was her first Women United breakfast as president and CEO of the United Way’s Miami chapter. Hudson became the nonprofit’s first Black female leader in August 2022. She told the Herald the organization will continue to focus on helping to devise solutions to Miami-Dade’s biggest challenges.

The former head of the Chapman Partnership, which is focused on homelessness, Hudson sees education as the path forward for many families.

Later this year, she said United Way Miami will begin a new tuition-assistance program for traditional college students, single mothers and people returning to school to pursue second careers. For the program, the nonprofit is tapping a $25 million donation from MacKenzie Scott, the American novelist and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.