Today on Extraordinary Women Radio, I’m excited to bring you this extraordinary woman – Rosalind J. (Bee) Harris, publisher and art director of the Denver Urban Spectrum newspaper; 2020 Inductee to the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.
In this episode:
- Discover how Bee founded the Denver Urban Spectrum newspaper
- The importance of having dreams and how to make them happen in your life
- Learn about the factors that lead to business success
- What community building means for Bee and her business
- How to raise your voice as women and get your message heard
Rosalind J. Harris also referred to and known as Bee is the owner, publisher and art director of the Denver Urban Spectrum newspaper. Since 1987, she and her contributors have been “spreading the news about people of color,” and celebrated 32 years in April in 2019.
As an active member in the community, Bee is politically connected and has volunteered on campaigns locally and nationally.
Over the years, she has served on many diverse boards in the capacity of a director and also as an advisor. Memberships and organization affiliations include the Girl Scouts Mile High Chapter, Black Star Communications, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Visit Denver, Colorado Association of Black Journalists, the Colorado Black Arts Festival, the Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce and the Healing Garden. Her most recent appointment was serving on the Denver International Airport South Terminal Redevelopment Program – a public art program and she currently serves on the board of Colorado Press Association.
Awards and honors received over the years include the Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award; National Council of Negro Women Trailblazer Award; Girl Scouts 2000 Women of Distinction honoree and numerous awards from the Colorado Association of Black Journalist. In 2003, Bee was selected as a Burger King Everyday Hero and also received the Dr. Martin Luther King Social Responsibility Award. She also is the recipient for the Media Award from the Colorado Gospel Music Academy & Hall of Fame. In 2009, she received a Community Star Award from Northeast Academy and was recognized as one of Denver’s 150 “Unsung Heroes” from Mayor Hickenlooper.
On March 1, 2011, she was one of the recipients of the Metro State Rachel B. Noel Colorado Greats award. In February 2012, she was received the President’s Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama and during the Denver Urban Spectrum’s 25th anniversary celebration, Rosalind “Bee” Harris was bestowed with an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service from the Denver Institute of Urban Studies and Adult College. In 2013, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce. In February, 2015 Bee was recognized as one the top 25 most powerful women in Denver by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce. In October, she received the Lifetime Achievement and Excellence Award from the Colorado Black Women for Political Action. And in 2016, she received the John Parr and Sandy Widener Civic Leadership Award from the Denver Foundation. Over the years, Denver Urban Spectrum has won numerous awards from the Colorado Association of Black Journalists.
In 2000, Bee founded the Urban Spectrum Youth Foundation, a mentoring program that trained youth from ages 13 to 17 in the field of journalism. During a 7-week summer program, participants learned skills and techniques in writing/reporting, photography, layout and design, sales and marketing, and business management. More than 250 youth have gone through the award winning program.
“Love life and live it. Live life and love it.” – Rosalind J. (Bee) Harris
Discover more about Rosalind’s works and passion on her website here: Denver Urban Spectrum. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn.
Let’s meet Rosalind J. (Bee) Harris!
Rosalind J. (Bee) Harris Show Notes
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The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame mission is to inspire by celebrating and sharing the enduring contributions of Colorado’s distinctive women. To achieve this, the Hall educates the people of Colorado about the stories of the women who shaped our state and the nation’s history with courage, leadership, intelligence, compassion, and creativity. Their talents, skills, struggles, and contributions form a legacy that the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame is dedicated to protecting. I invite you to join us at the March 18, 2020 Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame 2020 Inductee Gala by purchasing your ticket here.
Watch for five additional interviews in the coming months of the 2020 Inductee Hall of Famers:
- Katherine Archuleta – LISTEN TO HER INTERVIEW Archuleta was appointed as the first Latina to lead the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in in 2013 by President Barack Obama, overseeing a budget of roughly $250 million and managing human resources for the federal government’s 2 million employees. Archuleta also served as chief of staff for U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Secretary of Transportation Federico Peña, where she strived toward justice and equality through her direct influence on policy at the state and national level.
- Lupe Briseño LISTEN TO HER INTERVIEW Briseño made waves within Colorado’s Labor Movement after organizing the Kitayama Carnation Strike—the women-led social movement in 1969 at the Kitamaya floral plant in Brighton, which centered on demands for worker’s rights, especially in regard to the treatment of female workers. Her demonstration of leadership in the fight for civil and labor rights, social justice, and feminism played a pivotal role in the Colorado Chicano Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and ’70s.
- Velveta Howell – LISTEN TO HER INTERVIEW Howell was the eighth African American female to graduate from the University of Colorado Law School, and went on to become the first woman of color appointed as Colorado’s Deputy District Attorney. Howell was also later appointed to the Colorado Health Care Reform Executive Steering Committee and helped establish the Colorado Office of Health Disparities—only the second in the nation.
- Marianne Neifert, MD, MTS – LISTEN TO HER INTERVIEW In the late 1970s, Neifert was the first U.S. physician to promote the routine use of modern breastfeeding technologies and helped establish the then-burgeoning field of breastfeeding medicine. In 1984, she co-founded the Mothers’ Milk Bank—the nation’s largest nonprofit human milk bank. In 1990, she co-founded the Colorado Breastfeeding Task Force (which later became the Colorado Breastfeeding Coalition) with a mission to educate and advocate for the practice, and later co-founded the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine in 1994.
- Gale Norton – LISTEN TO HER INTERVIEW Gale become the first woman elected Attorney General of Colorado – at a time when only two women had previously held the office of state Attorney General anywhere in the country. She achieved another first when she was appointed Secretary of the US Department of the Interior – the first female leader in the Department’s 150-year history. In that role, Norton was responsible for managing over 20% of the land area of the United States, a Fortune-500-sized budget, and a workforce of 70,000 employees. Norton led efforts that resolved 70-year-old interstate disputes on the Colorado River and instituted a west-wide water conservation program. She championed the President’s Healthy Forest Initiative and Cooperative Conservation.
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