Thank you for joining us for the 2025 Inspiration Gala!
On May 29, 2025, more than 530 guests gathered at Pier Sixty for Partnership with Children’s 2025 Inspiration Gala, an evening celebrating healing, connection, and community. We honored visionary leaders in finance and media, experienced a powerful digital installation by Krista Kim, and heard moving stories from staff and our remarkable student speaker. Together, we raised over $1.15 million to expand trauma-informed mental health support in NYC public schools. Thank you to everyone who made the night so meaningful. We can’t wait for next year!
EVENT DETAILS
2025 Inspiration Gala
Thursday, May 29, 2025
Pier Sixty, New York City
HOSTED BY
Kristine Johnson
WCBS TV Anchor
2025 HONOREES
Honorees
We’re proud to honor exceptional partners whose personal and professional achievements inspire and uplift our young people. To learn more about our previous honorees and Inspiration Award winners, click here.
FEATURING
MEDITATIVE MOMENT WITH KRISTA KIM
The award-winning digital artist guided guests through an immersive meditative moment. Krista Kim’s work can be seen worldwide and has been showcased across all of Times Square and The Sphere in Las Vegas, creating a zen for the digital age.
Krista Kim
Award-Winning Digital Artist
FEATURING
PWC STUDENT SPEAKER: CLYDE
Relive the magic! Watch all of the gala speeches here and celebrate the people and stories that made the night unforgettable.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTING PWC'S WORK
EVENT SPONSORS
Heroes
Heather & Jed Finn
Morgan Stanley
Visionaries
Apollo Global Management
PwC
Champions
ARGA Investment Management, LP
Danielle & Dan Benardette
Blackstone
Bridge Investment Group
Broadridge Financial Solutions
CBRE
Creative Planning
EY
GTIS Partners
IAB
Scott Kleinman
MJR Foundation – Marc Rowan/Carolyn Rowan
PIMCO Investments, LLC
Proskauer
Ramneek Rikhy & David Majure
UnitedHealthcare
Jim Zelter
John Zito
Mentors
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Amazon
Apollo S3 Team
BlackRock
BraddockMatthewsBarrett
Jill Braufman & Dan Nir
CAIS
Disney Advertising/ESPN
FOX Corporation
GroupM
iCapital
Alexandra Murray
NBCUniversal
Matt Nord
Paramount Advertising
David Sambur
Simpson Thacher & Barlett LLP
Helena Willner & Rob Vahradian
Yahoo!
Leaders
Cindy Chang & Tom Booker
State Street
PWC BOARD OF DIRECTORS
PWC Board of Directors:
Helena Willner, Board President • Jed Finn, Executive Vice President • David Cohen, Vice President • Alexandra Murray, Vice President • Ramneek Rikhy, Vice President • André Branch, Treasurer • Andy Bettwy, Secretary • Nelly Akoth • Dan Benardette • Tom Booker • Jill Braufman • Kalena Griffin Costa • Jonathan Fassberg • Omino Gardezi • Patrick Grandinetti • Nancy Hall • Pinar Kip • Helen Lin • Freddy Rolón • Michael Rost • Pay Wu
ABOUT PARTNERSHIP WITH CHILDREN
About PWC:
Since 1908, Partnership with Children (PWC) has strengthened the emotional, social, and cognitive skills of children in New York City to succeed in school, society, and life. For 117 years, we have provided a safety net to generations of New Yorkers and responded to some of our city’s greatest challenges. Today, our work focuses on the mental health needs of our young people. We place licensed clinical social workers, youth development specialists, and teaching artists in schools to provide young people, grades K-12, growing up in poverty with trauma-informed mental health counseling, community-based programming, and healing-based arts education. Through this approach, our students build the skills necessary to break cycles of poverty and become advocates for their communities. Last year, PWC’s work impacted over 22,000 children and families across 47 NYC public schools. To learn more about our history and the scope of our work click here.