Yolanda Smilez is a comedienne and radio host who while establishing her presence in Rochester NY and abroad, has taken notice of the talented members of her community. Yolanda has created a platform to celebrate each individual’s contribution to the community. The first annual ROC Awards were birthed in 2012 and under her leadership has celebrated its 8th year this February and continues to grow in the number of categories presented, in attendance and support.
First let me commend you on your awards show and celebrating your community. Talk to me about your motivation inspiration for starting the awards show and “What What” the awards show is about.
Thank you, Well the motivation behind the award show was to create a platform for the everyday person in our community, our demographic basically; not so much the urban but the minorities of our community to be recognized for their talents, their businesses or their political work, and things of that nature. This is something that we didn’t have in place eight years ago. I was home one night… This is a funny story about how the Roc Awards got started. I’m a comedian and the comedians on the scene were all beefing, like having an all-out brawl behind the scenes. I was like we need a night where we can just celebrate each other. As I was sitting at home on the couch one night watching the BET awards, it came to me that this was what we needed; a night like this where we can just celebrate each other and that was the catalyst for me to start this project.
You named this the Roc awards after the city of Rochester NY and it reminds me of another comedian Steve Harvey who created the Hoodie awards in Los Angeles years ago. Tell me as a comedian why was it so important for you to take on this task for your community.
I love to see people win and that’s the one thing that’s unique about me, I’m for building and creating positivity into people as I like them to pour into me just to celebrate each other and I think that that’s the one gift in ministry that God put on my life because once I realized that this is not just an event or this is not just a new business this is more of a ministry for me in my community because it’s something that pushes me each year to make sure it gets better and better and it’s just in my heart.
Tell me about some of your categories and the people who have participated in the awards show.
We honor everything from best baker, best barber, best stylist, and best business, to actors, comedians, musicians and all entities making the community thrive. We have a rising star award, a humanitarian award, and a lifetime achievement award. We were fortunate to have R&B singer Jon b on hand to present on of our awards and we honored Garth Fagan who is known as a trailblazer in the world of theater and dance, as just a few celebs that have graced our stage.
What are some of the things you’ve seen happen in your community since the awards have been happening?
I see more people taking their craft and their business more seriously because they actually want the award so they’re there making sure that they’re doing their marketing better, and they’re becoming better business people thanks to the platform. For a great many I think that our communities need to encourage each other’s ability so that we know to be proud of our own neighborhoods and community, so I think this award show does this. Also, and most importantly this year one of our poets is going to do a Stop The Violence tribute. We are going to have a cipher by our hip-hop artists that will take place and what we did was have them remix the song “Self-Destruction” that was from the ’80s and our artists are going to spit their own verses to it. Basically, what we are trying to do is to get our community to come together to realize that some of the things they are doing are what is causing the self-destruction to our community and we want them to stop.
Octavia Bostick
