By: Abigail Richards

Adrienne Arsht, an American philanthropist and business leader, is being recognized by the United Way of Miami-Dade for all of her hard work. Arsht is well-known for her $30 million donation to the City of Miami's Performing Arts Center, now called the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, as well as her work helping troubled youth succeed. It is because of her generosity and desire to help others that she is being honored with this prestigious new award.

The United Way of Miami-Dade will be honoring Arsht with the first Icon of Philanthropy Award during its June 13 annual meeting. According to the United Way, this recognition award was created to celebrate an "individual's extraordinary philanthropic work that helped to transform our community's social services, arts, culture, education, health and/or environment landscape."

Harve A. Mogul, the president and CEO of the United Way, felt Arsht was more than worthy to receive one of these custom awards.

"Adrienne is an extraordinary philanthropist. Her philanthropy reaches beyond borders, beyond charitable sectors at levels that simply raise the bar and provide a leadership example to others," said Mogul. "It is broad, it is profound, it is transformative and, as a result, the residents of Miami-Dade, and in communities across the country, will benefit from her generosity for generations upon generations."

Capitol File Magazine recently spent a day with the busy philanthropist and found much of her time is spent trying to help others, whether it be using her voice to make a difference or using her nonprofits to help those who need it most. Aside from donating money to the performing arts center in Miami, Arsht has also created the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project, which provides pro bono legal aid to women as well as helping the people of Haiti recover from the 2010 earthquake.

According to the source, Arsht believes being educated on all topics she deals with is the key to getting sponsors to fund her nonprofit endeavors.

"If I go looking for funding, I want to know what I'm asking," Arsht told the news outlet. 

Over her long-standing career, Arsht has been a huge presence in Miami organizations, including the Miami Business Forum, the Performing Arts Center Foundation, the Women's Chamber of Commerce, Women Tomorrow and the Jackson Memorial Hospital Foundation.