25) #BlackHistoryMonth Orien Reid

Journalist, consumer advocate and Alzheimer’s Awareness trailblazer Orien Reid.

For more than four decades Orien Reid was Philadelphia’s go-to reporter for consumer advice. She was also a tireless advocate in the battle to bring awareness to Alzheimer’s disease. She watched the disease impact her mother and several close relatives. Orien was the first woman and first African American to chair the International Board of the Alzheimer’s Association. And when she left television she continued to be a consumer affairs spokesperson. In testifying before Congress she spoke of her fear that one day she would get Alzheimer’s. In my documentary In Our Right Mind, I interviewed Orien and she told me she in fact had the disease and was continuing to advocate for awareness and research. We also interviewed her husband Charlie Nix who was her caregiver until he passed and now her loving daughter Traci has assumed that role.