Joy, Power and A Party for the People: Recapping the 2022 Empowerment Experience

By Dylan Lewis | WURD Radio

WURD radio hosted our annual Empowerment Experience, kicking off the year-long celebration of our 20th anniversary on Saturday, Dec. 10 at the Power Market. The theme for this year was “Bringing Joy and Power to the People” and we most certainly did as Black vendors filled the space and we laughed, danced, and cooked our way through the day.

Hosts Andrea Lawful Sanders and Kala J. held it down on the mic and on air interviewing vendors and guests throughout the event and kept it empowering with thoughtful conversations.

Choreographer Sanchel Brown kicked off the event with a fun Afrobeats dance class to get our groove on and our heart rates up. 

Following the dance class, WURD president and CEO Sara Lomax spoke to Philanthropi’s Keith Leaphart about giving back to the Black community. If you missed the interview, listen below:

The day didn’t stop there. We kept it going with a cooking demonstration with Chef Chris Scott and WURD’s very own Tonya Hopkins aka The Food Griot and host of Savory and Sweet. They filled the room with the delicious aroma of oxtails and black eyed peas from Chef Scott’s new cookbook Homage: Recipes and Stories from an Amish Soul Food Kitchen. Tonya then broke down her mock mulled wine recipe from her Food Network Kwanzaa mini-series. Chef Omar Tate from Honeysuckle Provisions in West Philadelphia hopped on stage towards the end of the demonstration rounding out a trio of amazing culinarians. Even if you missed the chance to sample this delicious food, you can still watch the demonstration below.

Finally, we got down to the sounds of the legendary DJ Gary O as he took us through the decades and we danced the rest of the day away.

We brought power to the people with a variety of Black vendors who were generous enough to allow us to raffle off some of their items to a couple of very lucky forWURD members. 

Huge thanks to everyone who participated in the event and came out to support us here at WURD. This event is just the beginning of our year long 20th anniversary celebration so if you weren’t able to attend, there will certainly be more opportunities to experience the joy and power of WURD radio.