Martha’s Vineyard has always been a gathering place. Every August, it fills with Black executives, creatives, public servants, artists, and families who have been making the trip for generations. What it did not have — until Erin Goldson decided to build it with Vineyard Icon — was a room designed to honor all of them. Not the companies they worked for. Not the brands that sponsored the weekend. The people themselves.
As part of this growing platform, Goldson launched The Vineyard Icon Scholarship, dedicated to two people: her mother, Amy Goldson, who created stability, belief, and opportunity for her daughters after a sudden loss. And Dr. Alfred Goldson, Erin Goldson’s father, who passed away unexpectedly while she and her sister were in high school. This tragedy happened during the most formative stretch of the college application process.
“That is what Vineyard Icon is ultimately about,” Goldson told EBONY. “It is about honoring the people who created opportunities for us and using what they gave us to create opportunities for someone else.”
That personal story is the emotional foundation beneath everything Vineyard Icon has built. This year, for the first time, that foundation became a scholarship program.
The scholarship came together through a new partnership with Color Vision, an organization whose board Goldson serves on. Last December, during an early morning call before the workday started, Goldson and Color Vision founder Mia J. Davis found themselves talking about scholarships. What began as a casual conversation made clear that both organizations shared the same vision around impact and the next generation of icons. Vineyard Icon fully funds the scholarship. Color Vision supports the administration of funds directly to recipients’ colleges and universities, creating transparency and confirming that each student receives the award.
The selection process for the inaugural scholarship awards was rigorous. Nearly 200 applications came in from students representing more than 85 colleges and universities. Applicants needed a minimum 3.0 GPA, demonstrated financial need, and evidence of leadership and community impact. A scholarship committee of dedicated community members reviewed and scored every eligible application using the same established criteria before voting on the final eight recipients. The essay questions asked students to reflect on what makes them a rising icon and future leader, what legacy they hope to leave, and what they learned from a challenge they have faced.
“Regardless of whether they were ultimately selected,” Goldson said, “I believe that was an important and valuable exercise. It gave each student an opportunity to see the icon in themselves, articulate their purpose, and think intentionally about the impact they want to make.”
Vineyard Icon will announce this year’s eight recipients across its social media channels. Two will also attend the Color Vision conference in Washington, D.C., during Congressional Black Caucus weekend, where they will be recognized in person.
Goldson’s long-term vision is for the Vineyard Icon Foundation to provide six figures in annual scholarship support, and she is already seeing what that growth path could look like. One venture capital firm on the island this summer has pledged support for future scholarships, with a particular interest in expanding opportunity in technology. Beyond the dollars, Goldson wants Vineyard Icon Scholar to become a credential that means something.
Building the Vineyard Icon World
“One day, a hiring manager might see it on a resume, recognize what it represents, and use it as a point of connection,” she said.
That vision for impact has always driven Vineyard Icon. Goldson, a marketing executive who has spent a decade at Unilever leading campaigns for brands including American Express and Dove, has been coming to Martha’s Vineyard every summer of her life. Five generations of her family have called the island home. Her parents met and married there. Her father is buried there. Her grandmother lives there year-round. So when she looked around at the events filling the Vineyard’s August calendar and kept seeing the same thing — corporate gatherings that could have been held anywhere, centered on companies rather than people — she decided to build something different.
“I would love an event that’s really about the people,” Goldson stated. “Where in the world brings together this caliber of Black people, across all industries? I wanted to create something that was special, that was honoring the legacy and the people who make the Vineyard a happy place.”
She booked the venue in May 2025. She had no honorees, no sponsors, and no plan beyond the conviction that this needed to exist. In fewer than 60 days, she produced the inaugural Vineyard Icon Awards, a celebration that brought together former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, music and technology executive Troy Carter, Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival founders Stephanie and Floyd Rance, McKinsey senior partner Shelley Stewart III, and documentary filmmaker Dawn Porter. In the audience: Gayle King, Cory Booker, Lynn Whitfield, Elaine Welteroth, and LeToya Luckett. The people who told her she was crazy to book a venue without a plan watched something remarkable take shape.
She booked the venue in May 2025. She had no honorees, no sponsors, and no plan beyond the conviction that this needed to exist. In fewer than 60 days, she produced the inaugural Vineyard Icon Awards, a celebration that brought together former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, music and technology executive Troy Carter, Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival founders Stephanie and Floyd Rance, McKinsey senior partner Shelley Stewart III, and documentary filmmaker Dawn Porter. In the audience: Gayle King, Cory Booker, Lynn Whitfield, Elaine Welteroth, and LeToya Luckett. The people who told her she was crazy to book a venue without a plan watched something remarkable take shape.
This August, Vineyard Icon returned for its second annual awards celebration, and the platform has grown significantly. The 2026 honorees reflect the breadth of what Goldson means by Black excellence rooted in the Vineyard community. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and physician and women’s health advocate Dr. Sharon Malone received the Trailblazer Couple Award: Holder as the first Black American to hold the office, Malone as a nationally recognized author and advocate.
Music industry executive Sylvia Rhone, the first Black woman to chair a major record label and one of the most influential executives in music business history, received the Cultural Vanguard Award. Entrepreneur and investor Tarrus Richardson, founder of IMB Partners and the Council of Urban Professionals, received the Business Impact Award. As it was last year, the room was a cross-section of the Vineyard community that doesn’t gather anywhere else.
The week’s programming also marked the quiet debut of Vineyard Icon Consulting, a strategic advisory practice Goldson launched to help organizations build meaningful connections with communities through purpose-driven experiences and cultural strategy. Its first client was Slauson & Co., a VC firm visiting the Vineyard for the first time, for whom Goldson curated an introduction to the island’s culture, history, and community.
That creation has taken on a digital life of its own. A post Goldson made featuring a video of Michelle Obama enjoying a Friday night at a beloved Vineyard spot went viral, reaching 2 million views on the exact day she had set as her goal to hit 10,000 Instagram followers.
“I’m always looking for winks from the universe,” she said.
The Vineyard Icon Instagram has since become a year-round window into Black life on the island for the many people who have never been but feel connected to what it represents.
Soaring Toward the Future
So where does Goldson see Vineyard Icon in ten years?
A museum on the island dedicated to the history of Black joy and Black legacy on the Vineyard. A documentary. A podcast. A scholarship program operating at a scale that changes career trajectories. An Icon award that extends beyond the Vineyard.
She is not entirely sure of the shape yet, but the direction is clear.
“What began as an awards show is becoming something much bigger,” Goldson said. “What we’re really building is a lasting legacy rooted in community, impact, and the belief that today’s icons have a responsibility to invest in tomorrow’s.”
At the end of this year’s awards, Goldson walked to the microphone and announced one final surprise honoree. She called her grandmother to the stage, presented her with the inaugural Centennial Icon Award ahead of her 100th birthday, and asked the room to sing happy birthday. What happened next was not planned and didn’t need to be. The room spontaneously shifted into the extended Stevie Wonder version of the classic song.
“I just love us,” Goldson said afterward.
That moment, unrehearsed and unscripted, is the whole Vineyard Icon Foundation thesis.