I-225 - Monday Plenary—ADEA Tapestry Table: Undaunted Trailblazer

The 2022 ADEA Tapestry Table℠ (Tapestry Table), an educational series focusing on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in dental and health professions education, builds upon the release of the book, Undaunted Trailblazers: Minority Women Leaders for Oral Health. This year, Tapestry Table celebrates the legacy of these outstanding women of color and undaunted women trailblazers who have inspired us. We welcome Cookie Johnson, who is a devoted philanthropist, spokesperson for women’s health, an HIV/AIDS advocate, and the wife of 30 years to the legendary basketball player Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Cookie Johnson has a magic all her own.

No matter her role as an author, philanthropists and entrepreneur, Cookie embodies the spirit of undaunted women of color blazing new trails and building powerful legacies of transformative change. She is a proud advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, using her voice and platform, through speaking engagements and supporting organizations that relate to that community.

Equally of importance is the open transparency of Magic, Ryan White and others in sharing their HIV statuses. Their courage helped bring the HIV/AIDS conversation out of the shadows, moving it beyond the unjust stereotype as a “gay man’s disease” and into the mainstream, which helped advance research funding for HIV vaccines and therapies. Believing in Magic, Mrs. Johnson’s powerful and inspiring memoir, which she wrote as she felt compelled by God’s blessing to inspire and empower others who find themselves in similar situations, will engage the audience and they will learn from her personal experience.

As part of this year’s Tapestry Table plenary, we ask that everyone attending wear something with purple, symbolizing royalty, or lilac, the color of dentistry, in honor of the undaunted women of color in oral health and the unshakable, undaunted women trailblazers who have helped shape who you are personally or professionally.