Clarice Redding Louis says she’ll never forget the day she was first introduced to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. It was 2008 and she was 18 years old—a fresh high-school graduate visiting Washington, D.C. as part of an exclusive Bank of America student leadership program. Louis was one of 200 people hand-picked from across the globe for a paid summer internship, which culminated in a week-long trip to D.C. to learn about the importance of government, private sector, and nonprofit organizations working together to improve communities.
But what most surprised her at the outset of her trip was seeing so many people decked out in salmon pink and apple green, Louis told Fortune. Thousands of Alpha Kappa Alpha members from all over the world had congregated at the nation’s capital for the organization’s centennial celebration. Even the White House donned pink and green banners, the official colors of the first Black college Greek-letter sorority for educated women.
