Celebrating Black History Month 2023

February marks Black History Month in the United States and Canada, honoring the too-often neglected accomplishments of the Black community. Our Black Leadership Network celebrates this month by hosting a series of events to facilitate conversations on allyship and empowerment, while also highlighting the successes of Black professionals.

On the 1st of February Black History Month was kicked off by a celebration in our New York office, where the executive sponsors of the BLN, Alvise Munari, Chief Client Officer and Rob Gutowski, General Counsel joined for a toast in our BLN themed room. The room was set up last year, and offers a welcoming space for meeting and collaboration, whilst being dedicated to the history and culture of African Americans. The celebration was also attended by Harlem artist Ronald Draper, where he unveiled one of his artworks “We are the flowers”, which takes pride of place as the main feature of the room.

Next week the celebration series continues with a hybrid event featuring a discussion between former WNBA star Genai Walker-Mackling speaking about her trek from professional athlete to a prominent role at Morgan Stanley with MSCI’s Abiola Oriowo, Executive Director, Tax and Co-Chair of BLN Americas. 

Later this month, a Taste of the Cultures event will serve as the closing of the celebrations, where some of the different nationalities in our MSCI offices across the US will be recognized and represented through their unique cuisine, featuring dishes from Jamaica, Haiti, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Eritrea.