The Wisconsin Alumni Association Black Affinity Group hosted its 3rd annual Black Badgers Homecoming Reception on Oct. 24 at the Urban League of Greater Madison’s Black Business Hub in South Madison. Alumni of all ages, along with some current Badgers, came together to celebrate and network.
“The Black Badgers Homecoming Reception went really, really well. We were happy with the nice turnout and with the reception of everyone who was there, and just the ability to collaborate in the way that we did,” Roslynn Pedracine, president of WAA’s Black Affinity Group, tells Madison365.
The Wisconsin Alumni Association: Black Affinity Group is an identity-based affiliate of the Wisconsin Alumni Association, formerly known as the UW-Madison African American Alumni Association. Its mission is to activate and empower the network of Black UW-Madison alumni, Pedracine says, by providing a forum for engagement, stewardship and advocacy, while also building opportunities for mentorship and support of the next generation of Badger leaders.
“We’re essentially an official chapter of the [Wisconsin] Alumni Association that supports Black alumni,” she says. “We help to create community and create a forum for engagement and for stewardship and for advocacy on issues that impact Black alumni, and really just to pour into and invest in the network of Black alumni all across the nation and really beyond,” she says, “because, you know, UW alumni are everywhere, right?”
“At the Black Badgers Homecoming Reception, we wanted to really recognize, honor, and showcase the wonderful businesses of local Black alumni. And so we were able to partner our alumni with our vendors, our alumni-owned businesses here, either locally in Madison or in the South Wisconsin area.
“The event was hosted by Milwaukee Wine Academy, which is owned by alumni Tim Cole. He is a 2009 UW graduate, a tech executive in Milwaukee, and president of the National Society of Black Engineers,” Pedracine continues. “He and his partner started Milwaukee Wine Academy, a couple of years ago, really out of a hobby, but to showcase and elevate wine culture and to bring a level of education to the space. Tim did a fantastic job and he really did a great presentation on all aspects of wine. The event focused on all Black-owned wine producers.”
DJ Martinez M. White of Intuition Productions, a 2010 UW grad, provided entertainment at the event. Syovata Edari of CocoaVaa Chocolatier, a UW Law graduate, created custom gift boxes of her chocolate. Kingsley Gobourne, a UW grad in sociology who founded Artemis Provisions and Cheese which features top-quality, locally sourced meats and artisanal cheeses, provided food at the event.
“It was a really great time. We raffled off tickets to the UW football game. We had great door prizes that were given away,” Pedracine says.
The Black Badgers Homecoming Reception was an event not only for former UW-Madison students, but current ones, too.
“One other thing that’s really important for us with our alumni group is that we engage and support alum and build our community alum, but it’s really important for us that we are giving back and building relationships with future Badger leaders, with current students,” Pedracine says. “We all went to the university. Community and having community as students was so important for us, and so making sure that we’re pouring back into them is important.
“So we had some of the board members of the Black Power Coalition, I believe they were sophomores and juniors at UW who we invited to come, and just created space for them to have a platform to connect with alum, to share the work that they’re doing and to build relationships,” Pedracine adds. “As an alum, I was so proud and so excited to see them show up and just talk about the work that they’re doing and the advocacy that they do on campus and the joy that they’re also centering and bringing to campus.”
Pedracine says the best way to get connected with the Black Affinity Group is through their Facebook or Instagram and the organization is currently planning a Black History Month event where they intend to partner with both graduates and alumni.
“We come to the university to get our education and lay the foundation for our futures and our professional lives, so to be able to have an event where we continue to support and elevate entrepreneurship and the power of what our educational experience and college experience gave to us is important,” Pedracine says. “So to be able to celebrate and share resources and build connections with Badger entrepreneurs, I think it’s just so important for us to do as part of this group.”
