“It is a great honor to be given this award,” said Valerie Daniels-Carter. “To be acknowledged by my peers in business only serves to justify the hard work that I and my employees have put into my company.”

Daniels-Carter is president and CEO of V & J Holding Companies, Inc., which owns and operates 145 Burger King and Pizza Hut restaurants across the country. She is the largest minority franchisee in the quick service industry. Ms. Daniels-Carter attributes V & J Holding’s success to internal growth and efficient operations. She has an operating philosophy that she calls YATSE (You Are The Standard of Excellence).

Ms. Daniels-Carter instills this creed in all of her employees which allows V & J Holding Companies, Inc. to be the “absolute” in its industry.In addition to the “Entrepreneurial Spirit Award”, Ms. Daniels-Carter has received many other accolades, including “Business Person of the Year” (Cardinal Stritch College), “Wisconsin Entrepreneur of the Year” (Ernst and Young and Merrill Lynch), “The Black Excellence Award” (Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper) and has been featured as a national business leader by Black Enterprise and Essence magazines. She is a member of the corporate board of directors for First Star Bank, Bank One and AAA. In 1998, V & J Holding Companies, Inc. was named “Business of the Year” by the Rainbow/Push Coalition.

Valerie Daniels-Carter (and her partner and brother, John W. Daniels, Jr., a corporate attorney) began their business with a single Burger King store in Milwaukee. The association with the company has allowed V & J Holding Companies, Inc. to grow into the largest minority franchisee in the country, proving it to be a very successful partnership. At the Multi-Cultural Prism Awards, both Ms. Daniels-Carter and Burger King Corporation (BKC) will be honored for their respective achievements.The Burger King Corporation will also be recognized at the 5th Anniversary Multi-Cultural Prism Awards. The country’s second largest quick service chain will receive the “Corporate Franchise Award”. Through the years, BKC has made a commitment to diversify its corporation, working with the Reverend Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow/Push Coalition in order to attain that goal. Over 1,173 Burger King restaurants are minority owned and employ over 58,000 people. In addition to receiving the “Corporate Franchise Award”, BKC was named “Corporation of the Year” in 1999 by 100 Black Men of America, Inc. and that same year, one of “America’s Best Companies” by the Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility.

The Multi-Cultural Prism Awards, in their fifth year, annually honor a diverse and eclectic list of outstanding achievers and corporations. The ceremony, to be held on October 19 at the Universal Hilton in Los Angeles, honors entrepreneurs, corporations, and corporate executives coming from five different groups, namely: African American, Latin American, Asian American, Native American and Women. This year, the event will feature a special “Lifetime Entertainment Achievement Award” presentation to Little Richard.