WASHINGTON, CMC – United States President Joseph Biden has bestowed the US Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award on Trinidadian Hazrat Ali.
Ali, the Community Lead for New York City Mayor Eric L. Adams and who coordinates Adams’ Caribbean-American Heritage celebration at Gracie Mansion, the Mayor’s official residence in Upper Manhattan – received the award for her “lifelong commitment to building a stronger nation through volunteer service.”
Biden said the “American story depends not on any of us, not on some of us, but on all of us.
“I congratulate you on taking it upon yourself to contribute to the public good. I’m proud to present you with the President’s Lifetime Achievement award in recognition of your 5,700 hours of service to this great nation.
“Throughout our country’s history, the American story has been strengthened by those who combine optimism about what can be with the resilience to turn that vision into reality. I’m not alone in recognizing that those willing to step up and volunteer in service of community and country are essential to the ongoing work of forming our more perfect union.”
Biden said, “By sharing your time and passion, you are helping discover and deliver solutions to the challenges we face – answers that we need now more than ever.
“We live in a moment that calls for hope, light, and love. Hope for our futures, light to see our way forward, and love for one another. Through your service, you are providing all three.
“On behalf of the American people, I extend my heartfelt appreciation to you for your volunteer leadership, and I encourage you to continue to answer the call to serve,” he said. “The country is counting on you,” Biden said.
Ali, a Brooklyn resident, received the US Presidential Award 2023 for over 20 years of Community Service.
On Tuesday, she told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that she was “honored and blessed to have received this Lifetime Achievement Award from President Joseph Biden.
“I felt that this type of recognition should be given to ‘old people,’ who have given many years of community work. Even though I am not old, I have truly shared a lot of hours and years of service to the Caribbean and the wider community.
“I love working to better my community. So, I accept this award with immense pride and joy as a true Trini [short for Trinidadian],” Ali added.
In 2006, Ali was appointed by the Washington-based Institute for Caribbean Studies (ICS) to serve as director of Special Programming for New York, a voluntary position with a mandate to lead the charge in celebrating the very first Caribbean-American Heritage Month.
She represented New York at the White House reception to commemorate the first Caribbean-American Heritage Month Celebration.
She previously served as the Brooklyn Borough President’s Caribbean-American Heritage Committee chair.
A former fashion model, Ali is an avid art collector and enjoys designing and creating fine jewelry using gold, precious and semi-precious stones.
In 2003, Ali founded her small business, New Hope and Beyond, Inc., a real estate investment company that deals primarily with foreclosure properties in Brooklyn and Queens.
She graduated as a pharmacist from the University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago. She practiced in the twin-island Republic for several years before migrating to New York.
Before starting her business, Ali worked as an account executive in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry – first with Akzo-Nobel, an international pharmaceutical company, and then with the Swiss Biotech giant, Ares-Serono, where she managed sales and marketing in Manhattan.
and then 