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"We are honored to present our Advocacy Award to Dr. Woody for always being a steadfast friend of SAGE and for energizing the advocacy work of the LGBT elder community," says Michael Adams, SAGE CEO, "Dr. Woody's passion and leadership for issues that affect LGBT elders is helping crack the wall of invisibility that often surrounds them."

"I am humbled and deeply honored to receive the SAGE Advocacy Award to acknowledge the work I do on behalf of LGBT elders every day and for the last 20-plus years," Dr. Woody says. "You know when you are doing the work you love, you don't necessarily see people looking at what you're doing. You're looking for results to help your tribe."

Dr. Imani Woody is the founding director and CEO of Mary's House for Older Adults, Inc., and has been an advocate of women, people of color and LGBT/Same Gender Loving issues for more than 20 years. She currently works as a diversity and inclusion consultant in the field of health, aging, and issues affecting the LGBTQ/SGL and people color communities. She has presented on LGBT aging issues at the White House National LGBT Elder Summit and at the 2017 National Equality March for Unity and Pride. Dr. Woody is a member of the National LGBT Elder Housing Initiative, a mayoral appointee to the D.C. LGBTQ Advisory Council, and is the Program Officer for the Older Adults Advisory Council for Metropolitan Community Churches. She a Board member of the LGBT Technology Partnership and has served on many boards, including the Mautner Project and the Women in the Life Association.

Dr. Woody serves as a spokesperson to legislative and non-legislative audiences as well for local, national, and international press outlets. As a licensed Standards of Excellence Consultant, Dr. Woody's specialty is to work with nonprofit organizations to develop stronger Boards of Directors and more engaged staff. She is adept at structuring and facilitating strategic planning processes, including changes in organizational focus, identification of objectives, and implementation of long and short-term goals. Formerly a training specialist for the AARP Foundation, Dr. Woody developed curriculum and delivery of on-site and web-based trainings. She trained substantive experts to become trainers through the Train-the-Trainer program and provided on-going technical assistance to field trainers. Dr. Woody has been a life coach for more than 10 years and is the founder and principal of Living Life Like It's Golden, a six-part program that empowers people to live their lives more fully through visioning. She has a PhD in Public Service Leadership with an emphasis in Non-Profit Management from Capella University and a Master's Degree in Human Services from Lincoln University. She lives with her wife of 17 years in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

SAGE is the country's largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT ) older adults. Founded in 1978 and headquartered in New York City, SAGE is a national organization that offers supportive services and consumer resources to LGBT older adults and their caregivers, advocates for public policy changes that address the needs of LGBT older people, provides education and technical assistance for aging providers and LGBT organizations through its National Resource Center on LGBT Aging, and cultural competence training through SAGECare. Headquartered in New York City, with staff across the country, SAGE also coordinates a growing network of affiliates in the United States. Learn more at sageusa.org .