Tuesday night’s Smart Talk appearance by Victoria Rowell impressed the Des Moines Civic Center crowd with an inspirational personal story, a stirring journey complete with a ‘call to arms’ for all. Want to make a difference in other people’s lives, or in your own life? Victoria Rowell, movie and TV star, dancer, writer and philanthropist, had some Smart Talk for you. Raised in foster care through her childhood, by her description she still is in the foster care program, playing forward the nurturing she received. She started the non-profit Rowell Foster Children’s Positive Plan in 1990, fighting for foster children all over the world – “a world without borders”- as she described it. She talked of a “pandemic in the foster care system”, encouraging that we all can do something and make a difference, no matter how small.
Victoria Rowell carries more that a “celebrity endorsement” for her charities. She has lived the life, and today her organization supports the gamut of direct services for foster children – in fine arts, higher education, healthcare, financial literacy, reunification programs, cultural enrichment, and resources family support. It’s no wonder Ms. Rowell has received the United Nations Association Award for her work in human rights and world peace. She’s what you call a player.
This last year Rowell she shared her story with the world with her award winning book, The Women Who Raised Me, [4] a journal dedicated to the many role models in her foster care. “Growing up in foster care, I was never meant to be raised by one mother, but by many,” Rowell has said. Rowell received an NAACP Image Award in 2008 for Outstanding Literary Work by a Debut Author, for The Women Who Raised Me, and has been honored with multiple NAACP Image Awards in her career.
But it wasn’t all serious talk Tuesday night, and there were and plenty of questions about her role as Drucilla Winters on The Young and the Restless, [6] and whether she would be returning to that role soon. The Daytime Drama Diva was also a Prime-time star on Diagnosis Murder [7] with Dick Van Dyke for 7 years, and has guest-starred on The Cosby Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and has a recurring role in the series Noah’s Arc. And Ms. Rowell is currently co-producing an HBO movie based on that award winning homage to The Women Who Raised Me. And Ms. Rowell also has an impressive list of film credits, [8] including Eve’s Bayou, Leonard Part VI, The Distinguished Gentleman, and Dumb and Dumber.
But what impressed Tuesday most was the personal message to the audience about not selling yourself short. “Don’t self-edit” as she put it – we all have something to offer to people in need, be it assisting someone for “a day or a week, or with a couple of bags of groceries”. She charged the audience to chase personal passions and dreams – do not hold them in – manifest them. Great encouragement from an award winning dancer who received a prestigious dance scholarship at age 8 – by learning dance from a book, one of many her foster mother showed her and by watching the June Taylor Dancers [9] and the Ted Mack Amateur Hour [10] shows on TV!
Photo by flickr by Dasruets
Article written by David Borzo
You must log in to post a comment.