THE 2027 GAPABA GALA AWARD RECIPIENTS & EMCEE






   About the Award Recipients and Emcee: 



Damien Atkins, Chief Legal Officer

Beast Industries

CLO Champion Award





Alpa Amin, Executive Director

Georgia Asylum & Immigration Network

Community Champion Award






Noelle Abastillas, Associate General Counsel

McKinsey & Company

President's Award





To Be Determined

The Judge Alvin T. Wong Pioneer Award







Amara Walker, Vice President of PR

Porsche Cars North America

Gala Emcee 


Amara Walker serves as Vice President of Public Relations, for Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (PCNA), where she leads corporate and product communications, public relations strategy, experiential programs and content creation. She stepped into the role in February 2026, bringing more than two decades of experience in the media industry.


Amara is an Emmy-award winning journalist, who spent 11 years as a news anchor for CNN and CNN International. During her time based at the network’s global headquarters in Atlanta, she led her team through countless major breaking news stories improvising for hours, during the fall of Syria’s Bashr al-Assad, the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, the car-ramming terror attacks in Europe, the Greek financial crisis, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war for which she was awarded an Emmy, and more. Walker also reported from the scene of major stories including the 2021 Atlanta spa massacre and the subsequent outcry from the Asian-American community. She was featured in the Hollywood Reporter and NPR for her authentic reporting style. She was also part of the 2020 presidential election night team reporting on President Trump’s attacks against the Georgia Secretary of State. Her subsequent reports focused on the investigations into Trump’s phone call pressuring the Secretary to “find” more votes after his loss to Joe Biden. 


Walker is also a proud Celebrity Champion for the Alzheimer’s Association.


Contact Us:


Please contact registration@gapaba.org

Vy Vu

Managing Director

director@gapaba.org, 404-547-4279




  

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