Holly Robinson Peete

For more than two decades, Holly Robinson Peete has been a television star with high-profile roles that cross over between comedy and drama. Snagging her first acting gig on the awardwinning children’s show “Sesame Street” at the age of four, she knew her heart belonged to showbiz at an early age but opted to place her education first.

Married for 13 years to former NFL quarterback Rodney Peete, she became an author with her book Get Your Own Damn Beer, I’m Watching the Game: A Woman’s Guide to Loving Pro Football.

Peete believes profoundly in the power of philanthropy and lives by the motto, “Service is the rent you pay for living.” In 1996, the Peetes formed a nonprofit, the HollyRod Foundation, with a mission to help improve the quality of life of people plagued with devastating life circumstances. HollyRod has expanded its mission recently with the formation of HollyRod4Kids which benefits many children’s causes, focusing on improving the quality of life of the children of the Gulf Coast post-Katrina, Kenya and South Africa.

She has received numerous awards and honors for her most recent philanthropic deeds, including the 2005 Girls, Inc. Mentor Award; and the 2006 A Place Called Home Humanitarian Award.