Mother Wit

Months after her daughter’s unexpected passing, Emily “Cissy” Houston, mother of the late songstress Whitney Houston, will be a special guest speaker at the 2012 Mother2Mother affair hosted by the Naci Mai organization for children and young adults.

“An Evening of Hope” begins at 6 p.m. with a reception and dinner Friday, Sept. 28, at the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit.

“Cissy Houston will be a positive guest because she is a mother who has lost her only daughter,” says Mother2Mother founder Kayce Shepard. “That makes it even greater because she comes from the perspective of parenting even when it’s painful.”

Diana Lewis, a mother and retiring WXYZ news anchor, also will speak at the event with Christine Johnson, Irvin “Magic” Johnson’s mother and Delores “Mom” Winans, matriarch of the Winans family. The event also will feature The Ishmel Sisters, a youth singing group.