By: Lisa Lockwood | Link to article
The 2026 Outstanding Mother Awards raised $1.4 million for No Kid Hungry.
Four accomplished leaders in the fields of retail, apparel, entertainment and technology were honored Thursday at the 48th Annual Outstanding Mother Awards.
The luncheon, held at 583 Park Avenue, recognized women who balance influential careers with commitment to family and community. This year’s honorees were Denise Magid, chief merchant, Bloomingdale’s; Jennifer Foyle, president, executive creative director, American Eagle and Aerie; Jill Hazelbaker, chief marketing officer and senior vice president, communications and public policy, Uber, and Ciara, multiplatinum, Grammy-winning global entertainer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Mindy Grossman, partner and vice chair of Consello and a previous honoree, served as mistress of ceremonies.
The event, which was attended by a record 590 people, raised $1.4 million, with proceeds for the second year in a row benefitting No Kid Hungry, a national campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization committed to ending hunger and poverty in the U.S. and abroad. The event also featured a live auction led by auctioneer Billy Harris.
This year, the committee introduced a new honor, the “Rock Star Mom,” selected by No Kid Hungry in partnership with LIFT-New York. The inaugural Rock Star Mom honoree was Giselli Veloz, senior program manager at LIFT-NY. A former LIFT mom and New York State license-eligible mental health counselor, Veloz has dedicated her career to addressing systemic inequalities and empowering low-income communities throughout New York City.
In accepting her award, Veloz said that her journey hasn’t been a straight line, and there have been times she’s had to pause, reset and build more than once. “I’m incredibly grateful for the support I received along the way, my family, my mom, the loved ones that I lost” and everyone who showed up for her and believed in her. She also thanked organizations like No Kid Hungry, Share Our Strength, and LIFT which supported her during difficult moments in her life.
In accepting her award, AEO’s Foyle recalled that over 10 years ago, her daughter Maggie (who is now a high school senior) looked in the mirror and asked her, “Mom, am I beautiful?” She was taken aback by the 8-year-old’s question and thought maybe she could use that as a platform to change what they do, and they began something powerful. For over a decade Aerie has promoted the #Aerie Real campaign, which advocates for body positivity and celebrates real people with real skin, stretch marks and skin bumps. Aerie pledged in 2014 not to retouch models’ bodies in their advertising, aiming to show a more realistic, diverse representation of beauty. Foyle thanked her daughter Maggie for making her a mother and for being her inspiration.
She said she comes from a long line of women who quietly ran the show. Her grandmother never learned to read or write, but was the strongest woman she knew. She raised four children and lived through incredible hardships, but managed to take care of everyone. Her mother, who was at the event, immigrated to the U.S. As a teenager, she left school to support her family. “But more than anything, my mom showed up. She was at every game, every recital, every moment. She made sure that I had the opportunities that she never had, and because of her I became the first woman in my immediate family to graduate college.”
Fast forward to today, and Magid thought she could do it all, being the perfect mom, perfect executive, make all the baby food from scratch, and be the class parent. “And then I got some of the best advice I’ve ever received: ‘You can absolutely have it all, but you do not have to do it all.’” Another mentor in the industry told her to build her team at home the same way she builds her team at work. “Trust them and don’t do it alone. So I did, and the phrase is really true, it takes a village.” She thanked the caregivers, teachers, her family, and her husband “who manages to keep everything running smoothly even when I’m not there. Because the reality is you can’t be everywhere all the time.”
Uber’s Hazelbaker recounted her journey as a mother to a child with a speech and language disorder, highlighting the challenges she faced and the support received from her boss at Uber. Hazelbaker, who was based in the Bay Area of California, needed to relocate so her daughter could go to a better school for her needs on the East Coast. The family relocated to Washington, D.C., where her daughter is thriving.
“Every mom in this room is fighting for her child, even if it’s invisible. What gets us through, what unites us is the fact that we will do whatever it takes for our kids, no matter our circumstances,” said Hazelbaker.
Ciara said, “Thank you so much for this incredible honor. I am deeply grateful to be here among so many inspiring women. I am so blessed with four incredible children….who teach me far more than I can ever teach them. They show me patience, resilience; the hardest, longest days, everything I do, every decision I make, is rooted in my love for them, and I hope that they grow up knowing exactly who they are and what they’re capable of and how deeply they are loved.”
She said she’s thankful to have her husband, Russell Wilson, to stand beside her in “the chaos and the beauty of this life we’re living. None of this could be possible without your support, your strength and your unwavering faith and belief in our family.”
Ciara said that balancing career and family isn’t about perfection. “It is about showing up, again and again with love and attention.”
Even though she may be overwhelmed at times, she has to say to herself, “It is a blessing to be driven crazy like this.”
