Wendy Connor, The Light Behind The Prestigious Plum Awards

  16 May at 15:39

“No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others.” Showing gratitude is an essential step to triumph in all aspects of life" – Alfred North Whitehead

There is nothing more gratifying than recognition from your peers and colleagues for a job well done. We all strive for acceptance, and recognition is a reflection of belonging. It is perhaps a basic human innate need.

On recovering from a serious bout of covid in 2021 Wendy Connor realized that many individuals selflessly contributed in all areas, and were never acknowledged, even in small ways. This is when the need to humanize experiences, observations and interactions with each other rose to the surface of her emotions. It was the pandemic, and miraculously recovering from its scourge that brought into sharp focus the need to pause and act with compassion for herself and others, including those unsung heroes and heroines who were never even acknowledged for their efforts.

While scrolling through her computer, she noticed that not many people from previously disadvantaged communities ever received recognition for their contributions in any field. This is what motivated her to introduce the Plum Awards. This connotes; PROJECT- LION/ESS-UNCHAINED -MEMORIES

As a result, Connor first introduced and hosted PLUM AWARDS at the Riverside Hotel in 2021. This started as a result of Conner honouring the relevant peers in her community. The awards over the years have wielded enormous talents from various fields and disciplines.

Conner expounded: "The vision of Plum is to celebrate men and women who have made an impact in and around our communities and award them in gratitude annually to celebrate their wonderful human effort and expose their tenacity and testimony to other people in the community so they too can be encouraged or inspired to do the same, if not better

Where do I see PLUM AWARDS in the future? I honestly am led by where God is taking me and most of our honoured guests have inspired me to push harder and further.

So I hope to go Nationally and who knows, maybe our families who have emigrated will end up on our Scout's list and we will be able to see an international explosion of PLUM. I say this in humility as it's not I, but a joint effort with my team that will get us to this place

Our mission is to search the Communities as well as surrounding areas and bring them into the limelight award them and promote them to greatness. We have some unsung heroes who have done remarkable things. Legends in our time. Some have graduated out of this world into eternity, and nobody has ever acknowledged or even gone back to the family in appreciation and gratitude for the remarkable impact that these people have made on our communities.

The timing is now more than ever before. We would like to correct this mishap and ensure that everybody is equally celebrated and awarded for the remarkable and inspirational work they or their family members have done. History needs to understand that we are about to break the Alabaster box and scent our communities with a tangible fragrance of good, unchained memories of the magnificent hard work and dedicated accomplishments that have come out of our disadvantaged communities in Durban, South Africa.

Our mandate is to uplift and acknowledge our mentors, create accomplished men, and women, and project them into acknowledgement for their remarkable accomplishments.

Our team scouts are from the youth to retired seniors. It's a privilege for us to be inspired by their testimonials on the day of the event and beyond"

So, there we have it; Wendy Connor is not only among the most ambitious people, but also values integrity and tends to conduct herself with professionalism and consistency. She is encouraging and loves to see others triumph, but also wants it to be earned and respected. Likewise, she appreciates excellence wherever she finds it and is most supportive while being incredibly hardworking.

Lorraine Richards