Faces of Diversity Award

The Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association Educational Foundation celebrates inclusion and diversity and is proud to honor individuals who have achieved great success in their lives and in business with the Faces of Diversity Award. Congratulations to our 2019 Pennsylvania state winner:

​Amina Aliako and her family were displaced from their hometown of Aleppo, Syria after the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. For five years, they lived as refugees in Turkey, until they were able to re-settle in Philadelphia in January 2017.

Amina, the sole breadwinner for her family of six, managed to get a part-time janitorial job at the Reading Terminal Market, and just one year later opened her own stand selling pickled vegetables and other traditional Syrian foods to market-goers five days a week.

Congratulations to Amina, our 2019 Pennsylvania Faces of Diversity Award recipient. Her tremendous determination and perseverance in pursuing a vision for her family's future are an inspiration to us all.

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