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Cincinnati Rhythm

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023 | 6PM - 10PM

Waypoint Aviation’s Airplane Hangar

JOIN US each fall in celebrating the new Americans who contribute to a strong regional economy and a diverse, vibrant community.

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COMMUNITY • MUSIC • FOOD • DRINKS

COMMUNITY • MUSIC • FOOD • DRINKS

Let’s Celebrate!

Cincinnati Rhythm is our highly anticipated, multicultural annual event.

There’s something for everyone who attends including plenty of food, music, performances, and special awards. Every year we hold this special event for the immigrants and refugees who call our region home. The event is a celebration and an opportunity to connect with friends, old and new.

Thank You to Our 2023 Sponsors

Shakila Ahmad
& Dr. Masood Ahmad

Dr. Tariq Sultan
& Sufia Sultan

International Food

Enjoy local food with an international flavor. Food-based entrepreneurs from immigrant and refugee communities will serve delicious meals from all over the world. Feel at home with a traditional dish from your country or try something completely new.

Enjoy food from:

Music + Performance

The sights and sounds of an international stage make our celebration truly unique. Come see traditional dance, listen to lively music, and watch special performances. Cincinnati Rhythm is always an unforgettable experience.

Hear music and watch performances from:
• DJ Garley
• Ijo Ugo
• Son del Caribe
• Cincinnati Dayton Taiko

Awards

We also come together to hear the success stories from our immigrant and refugee communities. What accomplishments were realized? What challenges were overcome? And for the most memorable achievements, we’ll present the Legacy Award, Rising Star, Community Leader, and Business Leader.

Past Award Recipients

Two men hugging

Group of people posing in front of a jet

5 students smiling

Bryan Bhutanese Comm

Iju Ugo crowd

Evans Nwankwo

President, Megen Construction

Recipient of The 2021 Business Leader Award

Evans believes relationships are at the core of any successful construction project and Megen enjoys a reputation for accessible client relationships, proactive thinking and an unmatched estimating process. Under his leadership, Megen has guided some of the Greater Cincinnati region’s most important construction developments including the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and the Fountain Square Revitalization. In addition, Evans mentors a minority-owned HVAC company, which he helped found, and a minority-owned electrical company. For Evans and his team, inclusion and diversity have always been part of Megen’s value system and certainly in their DNA – not just something they focus on when asked.

Evans is a lifetime member of the American Society of Professional Estimators, and his many awards include the John F. Barrett Entrepreneur Vision Award and the Spirit of Construction Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in Mason, Ohio, with his wife and business partner, Catherine, and their three children.

Evans was born in northern Nigeria, the seventh of 13 children. His family was nearly killed in, and subsequently uprooted by, Nigeria’s civil war in the late 1960s. Days before his tenth birthday, his father died. The family stayed together, and through sheer tenacity and hard work, all 13 children graduated from college, becoming: four doctors, two educators, two accountants, two engineers, a registered nurse, an attorney, and a priest. His parents’ faith, integrity, generosity and fortitude have inspired Evans throughout his life.

In 1978, Evans came to the U.S. to attend Texas A&M University. He worked part-time as a security guard at a Holiday Inn during semesters and as a cook on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico during summer and Christmas breaks. In 1982, he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Building Construction Engineering, and joined Turner Construction Company. In 1993, one week before marrying fellow engineer Catherine, Evans resigned from Turner and started Megen Construction Company in the basement of his home. The name Megen is a combination of a tribute to his mother Margaret (Meg) and his own initials (en). Today, Megen Construction is respected for its commitment to quality, integrity, diversity & teamwork.

Dr. Inayat Malik

Past President, The Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati,
Member, American Urological Association

Recipient of The 2022 Legacy Award

A native of Pakistan, whose family had migrated from India, during the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, he graduated from King Edward Medical College in Lahore in 1963. After serving as a house surgeon for a year at Mayo Hospital, he moved to the US in 1964 for higher medical education, and came to Cincinnati in 1967 to specialize in Urology at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. He entered private practice in 1971 and during his career as a Board-certified urologist, served as Chief of Urology and President of Medical Staff at Bethesda Hospitals. He also served on Bethesda‘s Board of Trustees. Ever since taking up residence in Cincinnati, in the late sixties, he has been intimately involved with the development and organization of Muslim community, pioneering its integration into the larger American society and advocating for equal participation and rights.

In the seventies and eighties, it required institution of networking with other faith communities, institutions of higher learning and starting contacts in print and broadcast media. While serving as President of The Islamic Association of Cincinnati in 1993, he was charged, along with the late Ahmad Samawi, with the task of overseeing construction of The Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati, a one of a kind, multi-purpose campus on 18 acres in West Chester. The Center opened its doors in 1995 , aiming to counter stereotypes and misinformation about Islam and Muslims and to promote their full recognition and acceptance as part of the mosaic that American society is. There was conscious effort made to include all ethnicities and backgrounds, including the local African American Muslims, represented on the governing Board.

He served as President and Board Chair for the Islamic Center through 2013. He oversaw the development of community outreach, interfaith cooperation and programs to meet the religious needs of a growing Muslim community. This included the building of a full time pre-K through 8th grade private school on the Center premises. He represented the community in the media, writing articles for the press and appearing on television. Under his leadership and vision, the Islamic Center has, since its opening day, hosted regular open house events to encourage interfaith and interethnic familiarity and harmony. He has has stayed active in representing the Cincinnati Muslim community in the larger civic society, whether it be the dedication of National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, involvement with the FBI Citizens ‘Academy, rallies to draw attention to Climate change and doing hands-on work at Habitat for Humanity build sites, along with other members of the Muslim community. He cofounded the groundbreaking, local Muslim Jewish Dialogue in 2003, which later

evolved into The Bridges of Faith Trialogue, for interfaith communication and cooperation on issues of religious freedom, as well as, racial and social justice. He served as its founding Board Chair.

In 2017 the Trialogue adopted the name of EquaSion and broadened its reach to include all non- Abrahamic faiths also, to serve as a broad coalition, promoting social and racial justice. He stepped down as its Board Chair at the end of 2020, but continues to serve on its Board of Directors. He has served on several other Boards, including National Conference for Community and Justice where he served as Board Chair, Cincinnati chapter of American Red Cross, Bruggeman Center for Interfaith Dialogue, Cincinnati Health Improvement Collaborative and Greater Cincinnati World Affairs Council. On the national level, he is a life member of the Islamic Medical Association, promoting worldwide, medical relief efforts on a non partisan basis. He is also a life member of the largest American Muslim organization working to promote Muslim rights and social justice causes, under thelslamic Society of North America, where he serves on their Founders’ Committee. He is a member of the Pioneers Club of Unity Productions Foundation, supporting their work in producing documentaries about Muslim life, issues and history, as well as acting as consultants in Hollywood in depiction of Muslim characters. He was the Founding Board Chair of National Federation for Just Communities, a nationwide coalition of likeminded organizations formed in 2006, to bring the values of diversity, inclusion, and social justice to our schools, workplaces, and communities. He served till 2018, as a Board member of

National Religious Campaign against Torture, a DC based organization striving to outlaw torture as a national policy.”

In 2005, he was the recipient of the “Connecting the People Award” of Cincinnati Human Relations Commission. In 2008 he was honored with the Distinguished Service Citation by the Bridges for a Just Community and in 2013 The United Way of Cincinnati awarded him the Joseph A Hall award for promoting diversity. In 2017, the local chapter of APPNA (Pakistani American Physicians’ umbrella organization) gave him their Community Service Award for lifetime of community service and civic engagement. He lives in Cincinnati with his wife Ishrat.