00:00what's up essence family my name is greg emmanuel fashion and beauty contributor at essence magazine
00:10and tonight we are here at the 2022 parsons benefit we are here on the red carpet to capture
00:16all the looks and to talk to tonight's special guests stay tuned tonight's uh dress code is
00:22creative black tie so what is what's your take on creative black tie creative black tie is a fun
00:27shirt it has to have some sequins or metallic or something going on definitely some cute fun shoes
00:35and then i think you know the jacket can be a little more muted or if you do a really fun jacket
00:41you can do a more muted shirt right so for me i decided to go with the fun shirt tonight why is
00:47tonight so important for new york city and beyond well so i'm the president of the new school and
00:52this is our big annual gala it's one of the things that we do to raise important scholarship
00:57dollars for students so every dollar that's raised tonight goes to financial aid and support
01:02for undergraduate students at the university and it's one of the biggest things that we need to
01:06make sure that we can that the university is accessible parsons is great the new school is
01:11great we have amazing programs but we want to make sure that students regardless of their background
01:15regardless of their circumstances that if they get into the new school they get into parsons that
01:20they can come here and be students and succeed so that's why we do this event and i love it
01:25absolutely love it we've already raised 2.3 million tonight and hopefully that's just the beginning
01:29yes amazing
01:31we're here tonight for parsons event and the dress code is creative black tie what's your take on
01:39creative black tie creative black tie i think it's wearing whatever makes you feel the most beautiful
01:47the most confident um and daring to fully embrace who you are as a person and tapping into that
01:56internal creativity and expressing it with your clothes show us your earrings they look amazing
02:03these are my um what i like to live by which is dream it and then do it
02:09i'm wearing my brand autumn adegbo it's been featured in essence of a bunch of times
02:12yeah well we're glad to see you on the carpet so we're here for parsons tonight why is tonight so
02:19important for the city of new york and beyond because new york is the greatest creative city in
02:24the world and parsons produces more designers people in the creative industry than any institution in the
02:33city so we've got to support parsons if we love new york because we love creativity well said and your work
02:40and impact has been recognized by so many esteemed um publications and platforms how does it feel to
02:47be honored tonight by parsons it feels especially humbling i don't feel worthy
02:53so as someone who works to progress um you know equal opportunity for minorities
03:00why was it important for you to accept this award tonight it was important because so many people of
03:07color are underrepresented in the design industry we need to lift them up and among them is the president
03:15of the new school and i wanted to acknowledge his leadership tonight thank you mr walker
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