SMJ Magazine Special Edition---Glass Achievements Award

10 o.

N DS N E O AR SU IS T I AW I 15 I T 20 R E D EN BE M A L EM CE DE C I IEV P E ACH

S S AS GL

Grammy Award Winner

LE’ANDRIA JOHNSON onstage at the

smjmag.com Winter 2015

SJM

$6.99 CANADA

Glass Achievement Awards in Toronto

SMJMAG.COM

2

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

SMJ MAGAZINE

7.

18.

From the Desk of...by Shelley Jarrett On with the Show Photo Gallery

12.

21.

Three’s A Charm: Michael Stuckey Talks Honestly...by Andrew Terry Pasieka On the Red Carpet with Comments...by Andrew Terry Pasieka

8.

16.

17.

Glass Winners and their Comments...by Andrew Terry Pasieka The Winners’ Photo Gallery From Introduction to Winner’s Speech

feature 14.

30 All photos by Lubin Tasevski

From Grammy to Glass...by Andrew Terry Pasieka

Jacket by Zia Zamora Makeup by Wright Artistry

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

3

Sheri L. Lake (647) 272-3624 i_dezign@outlook.com

SHELLEY JARRETT AWARD WINNING IMAGE/STYLE CONSULTANT, MENTOR, SPEAKER & PUBLISHER

416-839-2792

twitter.com/SJImageCreation www.linkedin.com/in/sjimagecreations www.facebook.com/SJImageCreations

w www.sjimagecreations.com/www.smjmag.com www.youtube.com/user/SMJMagazine pinterest.com/shellyspix/

www.limmediagroup.com 4

Founder & Publisher Shelley Jarrett Editor-in-Chief Andrew Terry Pasieka Creative Director/Layout Sheri L. Lake Photographer Lubin Tasevski Fashion & Design Editor Claris Minas Manglicmot Staff Reporters Caroline Dinnall Contributors Shelley Jarrett Andrew Terry Pasieka Robin Wright (Makeup Artist for Shelley ) Zia Zamora (Designers for Shelley & Andrew) Devin Tucker (Stylist for Sheldon Neil & Londa Larmond) Publicity LIM Media Group Inc. Website www.sjimagecreations.com www.smjmag.com Contact publisher@smjmag.com SMJ Magazine is a division of Seventh House Publishing Arts.

Special Edition Issue 2015 No. 10

Photograph

By Lubin Tasevski

LEFT: Fashion designers Zia Zamora, a husband and wife team.

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

5

You can enjoy past issues of SMJ Magazine and build your own virtual library for just $2.99 online by visiting www.smjmag.com

SMJMAG.COM

It has been almost two years but SMJ Magazine is finally presenting its second special edition issue. This ushers in SMJ’s most exiting year ever.

Commencing our third year of publication, we are finally adding a fourth regular issue. There will be a Spring issue, slated to be published in the first week of May. We will be publishing more than one special edition in the next twelve months.

In this issue, we are presenting you with the sparkle and glamour of the Third Annual Glass Achievement Awards.

I have been honored in being an integral part of each year. I was a recipient of Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013. In 2014, I along with my editor in-chief and husband were proud to be presenters of the Artist of the Year award. This year, as the official print media sponsor of the awards, we bring you highlights from the Red Carpet, the award show itself, and an exclusive that only SMJ readers will receive: a photo gallery of each winner moments after coming off stage with their trophy. Both the red carpet and winners’ backstage will feature comments and snippets from interviews SMJ did on the spot.

We are indebted once again to SMJ’s incredibly talented chief photographer Lubin Tasevski, who captured the many emotions and expressions of the night. In photo and in text, we bring you the moment-by-moment highlights.

We are proud to feature Grammy Award winner Le’Andria Johnson on both our front cover and center page. There is also a very frank interview with co-founder and organizational head Michael Stuckey.

A bonus of this issue you will find by subscribing to our YouTube channel, where you will see the red carpet interviews: an exclusive half hour video of the Fashion, the Fun and the Feel of that night.

To those of you who participated or volunteered, we hope this issue brings back pleasant memories.

To the winners, we trust this is another souvenir of your ascending careers.

To those who were in the audience, we hope this becomes part of your celebrity treasures.

Photograph

By Lubin Tasevski

Photo By: Nathalie Atanda Redwood studio SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

7

SMJMAG.COM

By Andrew Terry Pasieka

8

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

SMJMAG.COM

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

9

SMJMAG.COM

10

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

SMJMAG.COM

Photographs

By Lubin Tasevski

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

11

SMJMAG.COM

By Andrew Terry Pasieka For a second year in a row, Glass Achievement Award main man Michael Stuckey is too busy on the night of the show to do a sit down interview. We have to catch him long distance back home in Ohio, pulled over on some road.

We start off talking about the things that went the best. The peak period of the red carpet and parts of the show that had the best production in terms of preparation and the final rehearsal were as good as “anything done in a major award show anywhere.”

The artists themselves have become the most appreciative of all the audiences. Stuckey’s goal going in was to ensure from the red carpet on, they were treated like VIPs. “From all the comments I have received up to now, they have all said that they were treated like stars.” And they handled themselves professionally, starting with the superb job of co-hosting by Sheldon Neil and Londa Larmond.

Stuckey also commended some of the partners for going the extra mile, to ensure the event felt ‘big time.’ (We at SMJ were honored that he singled our team out for their glamour and pizazz on the red carpet, and for our innovative idea of backstage portrait photos and interviews with the victors immediately after their win. Thank you Morris, Andria and Lubin!!!)

Next we talked about the great ideas that didn’t go off quite as well.

Michael wanted to start fulfilling the prophecy ‘not a borrower but a lender be,’ and he felt the event should start owning its own equipement.

He built a stage to be used as an alternate during the show, to cut down on edits and allow the production to move more seamlessly.

“We wanted to be like the secular market and its biggest award nights. I invested my own money and time to get the materials

12

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

SMJMAG.COM

and to build this stage, and to let our team know that this was the right path. Unfortunately we were not able to take full advantage of the stage because of improper lighting which showed up at the final rehearsal.”

Someone who would underwrite the cost of manufacturing the actual awards. Finding another Michael Stuckey!!

A morning portion that was dropped this year but which will be brought back new and improved next year are the “excellence breakfast awards.”

Stuckey remarked that many supporters of Glass “are more conservative people, who are not in arts & entertainment, are only involved in the church or are elderly or both.” Starting next year he will have a ‘women of excellence’ morning as he did in the inaugural year; ‘men of excellence’ will follow in 2017. The plan is to incorporate a ‘youth of excellence’ in 2018.

The last area is the most sensitive. Michael Stuckey is looking to the secular world for a venue in 2016.

Now we get down to brass tacks; what needs the most work. Stuckey names three areas: corporate sponsorship, partnership, and the venue.

Stuckey says that Christian and gospel artists do not receive the same corporate support as do secular artists, from money to in-kind to endorsements. “We have to grow the Glass Achievement Awards beyond the spiritual aspect that the awards have been, and start promoting the inspirational and outreach; for example, honoring great community leaders in the excellence awards.” To bring the awards to the masses is to have sponsorships take over as the largest revenue generator, and a good way to achieve that is to honor men and women who have corporate connections in the community.

“They are still faith-based believers, but they have a strong inspirational component to their life.”

In terms of partnership, the goal is to find as many like-minded people as himself who buy into the idea that the best way to improve the overall production is to invest in their little portion of it. It started with Stuckey building an alternate stage, but he needs partners who can invest in (or find people who can invest in) Glass getting its own LED lights, and other technical and backstage equipment and materials.

“Can I speak the truth? I have reached the point that I would rather give my money to the world than the church. The church, which is supposed to be there to advance The Kingdom, is charging more money for space than the secular market, and will not bend for discounts.

The church may be strong spiritually in places, but they are broken financially everywhere.

Apart from places of worship, they own nothing. They may be refuges of prayer, but they have very little business-like organization and are not set up to actually operate like a profitable business.”

It may be a sobering way to end the story, but that is precisely the point. Without major improvement in these three areas, the story of the Glass Achievement Awards could easily end. If we look around us, we cannot help but agree. It is 2016 as you are reading this, and we still have not recovered from the effects of the 2008-09 recessions.

Photographs

By Lubin Tasevski

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

13

SMJMAG.COM

FROM GRAMMY TO GLASS

By Andrew Terry Pasieka

14

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

SMJMAG.COM

Le’Andria has got the award shelf to back up those chops. Crowned Season 3 winner of B.E.T. Sunday Best in 2010.

Digital Gospel Award in 2011 for best female gospel artist. Double Stellar Award winner in 2013 for best new artist and best contemporary female vocalist.

This controversial lady has also been pastor of Imperfect People Changing Ministries in Atlanta for 3 and a half years now.

How fitting is the name!

And the piece de resistance, GRAMMY Award in 2012 for best contemporary gospel performance. How did she feel about climbing that mountain?

Better currently is her new album, The Evolution of Le ’Andria Johnson, which is selling well in stores and online. Her debut CD, The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson, spent eight weeks at No.1 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart. What can she do for an encore in 2016? She smiles, “Stay tuned!”

(By publication time, we find out. A tour to support the album, a reality TV show, and a film!)

Better that night started out hitting the red carpet in her version of ‘the little black dress.’ Her two-song set was to climax and close the award show, but after the up tempo opening number, the best was yet to come. For some reason the backing track for the second song refused to come on. The GRAMMY girl took off her high heels, reached down deep inside for her rawest emotion and did the song a Capella, accompanied part way through by only one keyboard instrument.

Afterward, she related how she did it backstage. “I felt a connection with the Holy Spirit and with this situation being part of my story. I didn’t react outwardly; I just sang my way through it like God carrying me through my tougher times.”

Now we know why she won a GRAMMY.

Photographs

By Lubin Tasevski

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

15

SMJMAG.COM

PHOTO GALLERY

16

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

SMJMAG.COM

SMJMAG.COM

TO WINNERS SPEECH

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

17

SMJMAG.COM

PHOTO GALLERY

18

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

SMJMAG.COM

SMJMAG.COM

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

19

SMJMAG.COM

PHOTO GALLERY

20

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

SMJMAG.COM

SMJMAG.COM

with Comments Edited By Andrew Terry Pasieka

Cheryl Nembhard : “I am wearing Beni Boo, an amazing designer in Toronto…This is my third Glass nomination in the three years of the awards. I won in the first year, and this year is special because I am not standing by myself, since my production company has been nominated with me…Following “The Son,” a film on fatherlessness, and “Rock Paper Scissors,” a film on teenage depression, we are presently editing our third film, “Truth,” on sexual trafficking.”

DJ Evangelist: “I feel good; I’m pumped and ready to go! I was nominated in this category in the first year and won last year. Can lightning strike twice? Anything is possible with God!...I am also privileged to present the first award for Best Male Vocalist with your other half at SMJ!!”

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

21

SMJMAG.COM

Christian Horizons:“We are celebrating our 50th anniversary; it is our jubilee year. We are an organization that provides supports and programs, like this choir, for people with exceptional needs. We create communities of belong; each one of those people on stage tonight is special.”

Londa Larmond: “This has been an interesting year for me. I started vocal coaching; I mentored at Youth Fest Canada, and now I am a co-host tonight. I’m branching out! People say now I should have my own reality show; we’ll see what happens in the future!”

22

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

DJ at 98.7: “Our station has been on the airwaves since 2011…I represent the African scene…I’ve got my fingers crossed about our nomination; I’m wearing my lucky bowtie!”

SMJMAG.COM

SMJMAG.COM

Jeremy Capriette (Ruth Dente’s brother and record producer): “I think she is going to win them all…

Working with my sister is inspiring…I’m harder on her than with anyone else.”

Issac Simpson: “The album project ‘The Process’ really was a healer after getting shot. God opened up the doors of heaven, and I have been literally all over the world because of it …I had to get out what was stored inside of me; a lot of people have been blessed by my testimony…The album is still doing well, but I will be in the studio sometime in 2016 to start work on my third album.”

Ruth Dente: “I am humbled by what God has been doing in my life this year; 2 Covenant awards and now 2 Glass nominations.

I’ll be singing my award-winning song ‘Worthy’...it was conceived in prayer and just started flowing out of me…I hope the song can be a blessing to someone this evening.”

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

23

SMJMAG.COM

Pastor Jay Caprietta (Ruth Dente’s brother):“She’s the type of woman who will bang down doors and keep on going…She’s very courageous!...We had instilled in us from birth to believe in ourselves and to stay humble.”

Inside Out: “Our name is indicative of how God uses our talent from inside us to bring out the music that ministers to our audiences…The Glass Achievement Awards is a great opportunity for artists and leaders in these categories to come together and get to know one another.”

Sharon Ann: “My style is Christian contemporary. I have a strong mother who inspired me to go after what I believe in.”

24

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

SMJMAG.COM

SMJMAG.COM

Percy & Maria Caprietta (Ruth Dente’s Parents):“She has an incredible gift from God; it emerged around the time she 14, when she stepped up to sing solo at church…We are very excited that she is a double nominee.”

Sheldon Neil & Family (on his triple threat talents): “You know, it’s important to have a relationship with God; it is important to discern the difference as He raises each talent to the forefront depending on the situation and the audience. Tonight is a family affair as my mother is also a presenter. You are in for a treat!” (from his wife) “I think this is all amazing. I am happy to be here in support of my husband.” (from daddy after baby daughter tried to grab the mic) “She’s a natural.

That’s what it’s all about, man!”

Roxanne Robinson: “I am grateful to the Glass Achievement Awards for the nomination and to be with these great fellow nominees. God is a God of second chances, which is the title of one of my songs. He said, I will give you the gift of music. Use it, and I will take you places. And here I am.”

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

25

SMJMAG.COM

Marvia Providence:“I am honored to be receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award this evening. It is not an ending; I am still seeking out new horizons.

I could have quit so many times along my journey, but this award says to everyone, I’m still here!”

26

SPECIAL EDITION GLASS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2015

SMJMAG.COM