Mother & Daughter to Receive Joe Manns Black Wall Street Award, Jan. 4th

Black Wall Street NEW YEAR EMPOWERMENT SUMMIT to feature panels, workshops, & awards

(BALTIMORE – December 27, 2024) – Be sure to attend the Black Wall Street New Year EMPOWERMENT SUMMIT on Saturday, January 4, 2025, from 10 am to 2 pm at the Sankofa Children’s Museum of African Cultures at 4330 Pimlico Rd. This will be an inspiring event filled with workshops, speakers, networking opportunities, and, of course, the coveted Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards. This event is presented by BMORENews.com, the West North Avenue Development Authority (WNADA), and Fulton Bank.

RSVP to BlackWallStreetSummit2025.eventbrite.com.

Honorees receiving the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards include our first mother-daughter duo ever!

Naijha Wright-Brown and her daughter, Pia, will both be recognized for their entrepreneurial spirits.

Who are they?

Naijha Wright-Brown, MBA is a partner and Marketing Director for The “multi-award-winning” Land of Kush, VeganSoul Bistro based in Baltimore, Maryland. Naijha is the Executive Director of the Black Veg Society, Board Chair of the Restaurant Association of Maryland, and the Board Secretary of Thrive Philanthropy. She has a digital talk show, “Naijha Speaks,” that helps individuals on a mission to find their vegan soul through food, people, events, and culture. She co-founded Vegan Soulfest and Maryland Vegan Restaurant Month. Naijha was one of Baltimore Sun’s Top Black Marylanders to Watch in 2023 and a 2021 Baltimore Business Journal Enterprising Women of Excellence Honoree.

Naijha is a native New Yorker raised in the South Bronx, a people person and known as a connector. She has an MBA in Business from the University of Phoenix and is a successful serial entrepreneur. She is married to Gregory Brown, CEO of The Land of Kush and they share a daughter and two cats.

Pía Novella Brown is a 7th-grade student and winner of Compassion and Kindness awards at The New Century School in Baltimore, Maryland. Born into the vegan lifestyle and restaurant business, Pía’s favorite foods at The Land of Kush are chickun tenders, mac and cheeze, yams, and kale salad. In 2024, Pía was a key decision-maker in the inaugural Children’s Veg Fest by selecting the logo for the brand. She also distributed quarter-sized samples of vegan deli sandwiches at the Black Veg Society table. In 2021, she co-authored BFF Publishing House’s collaborative book My Young Life Matters: The Next Generation Speaks. In the summer of 2024, she played the role of Serabi in The Lion King Kids stage play at The Hippodrome Annex. She’s learning to play the piano and enjoys playing Roblox, swimming, dancing, reading, drawing, and painting.