Benita Cooper MArch ’05, founder of Philadelphia and Haddonfield based firm Benita Cooper Design (BCD), is the recipient of a 2019 Minority Business Leader Award from the Philadelphia Business Journal. Now in its eleventh year, the awards honored 25 business and community leaders from a diverse range of fields and backgrounds.

“I was so honored to be nominated for something so prestigious. To be chosen by a journal that’s part of a national network, it’s got a certain level of prestige. It’s huge. I’ve been thinking a lot about what that means. I think of it in terms of the three words: minority, business and leader,” Cooper told The Haddonfield Sun.

Cooper was also recently honored by the New Jersey Senate with a Joint Ceremonial Resolution Certificate, issued by Senator Jim Beach, Assemblyman Louis Greenwald, and Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt, and signed by others. The Certificate, which described Cooper as a “woman of strong character and fortitude” with a “meritorious record of excellence within all the spheres of her life and work,” was presented to Cooper at the Minority Business Leader Awards Ceremony in August.

In addition to her work with BCD, Cooper is the Founder and President of The Best Day of My Life So Far, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering older adults through storytelling and active listening. On November 8, 2019, the nonprofit is hosting a 10th anniversary storytelling celebration in Philadelphia. Learn more on Facebook and the The Best Day of My Life So Far website.

Photo credit: Susan Ulep Photography