Elisabeth Omilami

Life and career

She was born in Atlanta, the daughter of activist Hosea Williams and State Representative Juanita T. Williams. Her young life was spent with the Civil Rights movements of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. After graduating from college she created the People's Survival Theatre, producing a season of five shows per year. People's Survival Theatre continued to produce shows long after Elisabeth's journey to New York City when her husband Afemo Omilami received a scholarship to New York University. In New York, Elisabeth worked as an arts administrator and executive assistant. She directed and acted as much as she could, supporting her family as her husband's career grew. In 1985 she left New York to return to Atlanta. While in Atlanta she continued to perform on stage and in film and television. Omilami graduated from Hampton University with a BA in Theatre.

Activism

Omilami's parents brought her along on Civil Rights marches and movements across the South since she was young. During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Omilami attended boarding school to Wasatch Academy in Utah where she was the only black student.

Omilami had worked for over 15 years in the background of her father's Hosea Feed The Hungry and Homeless efforts, and upon his passing in November 2000 became the organization's CEO, expanding the organization from a budget of $200,000 to over $1.5 million. She worked to provide programs that would meet the basic needs of the working poor and homeless along a continuum of care leading to self-sufficiency. She expanded these programs from four months to year-round services and established medical clinics, clothing distribution, barber and beautician services, children's educational programs, and home delivery of over 22,000 dinners per year. She has spoken and toured worldwide for several international relief efforts in places like the Philippines, where she has founded and operates a school for the underprivileged children of Mindanou, and Haiti and Uganda, where she sponsors several orphanages.

Omilami has been acknowledged many times for her humanitarian service. Honorary membership induction into Zeta Phi Beta sorority, A Georgia State Senate Resolution in recognition of her community service, Atlanta Business League 100 Women of Influence, For Sisters Only, Women In Film Humanitarian Award, Secretary of State of Georgia Outstanding Citizen, State of Georgia Goodwill Ambassador, YWCA Women of Achievement Academy, Burger King Urban Everyday Heroes, Kraft Community Service; Southern Christian Leadership Conference Women Drum Major for Justice, T. D. Jakes Phenomenal Woman, Daughters of Isis Community Service Award, the Emory University M.L.K. Community Service Award and The National Conference of Black Mayors Fannie Lou Hamer Unsung Heroine Award.

Theatre and film

Omilami founded of one of Atlanta's earliest theatre companies People's Survival Theater, as well as the "Summer Artscamp", providing arts programming for economically challenged youth for over 7 years. She is a playwright has written several plays, one of which is There Is A River In My Soul. She is a past member of both the Georgia Council For The Arts and the Fulton County Arts Council and is a passionate advocate for the arts to be instituted as permanent part of society. She is an actress and has performed at the Alliance Theatre in A Christmas Carol and in early 2002 in Left Hand Singing at the Jewish Theatre of The South. She can also be seen in the HBO made-for-television movie Boycott, In the Heat of the Night and the award-winning I'll Fly Away.