Meet Diona Jones, Pittsburgh’s East End Cooperative Ministry’s New President and CEO
The Board of Directors for East End Cooperative Ministry said they executed a nationwide search for their next President and CEO. But, as it often turns out, Pittsburghers know how to deal with other Pittsburghers best, especially those who are experiencing some trying times. Diona Jones is a Pittsburgher. Born and raised on the East Side, graduated from Peabody High School before anyone ever thought to name it Obama, and went through a series of trials and tribulations that one may go through, growing up in urban environments. “Their
JaSaun Buckner: The Girl Who Did It From the South Side [Video]
South Side native JaSaun Buckner reflects on her Chicago roots, creative rise and cultural impact in this powerful interview. Growing up as a kid on the Southside, I always wondered what my friends and I would become. The thought of being something great, as a kid, was as abstract as the color in the sky but I hoped that we’d all grow up to do something meaningful. And we did, as is evident in this amazing interview I was blessed enough to do with JaSaun Bucker—a true cultural
Fatima ‘TNT’ Lister of the Harlem Globetrotters Elevating Women in Sports
"The representation is what's most important, specifically having women in spaces where they might not be in normally." — Fatima "TNT" Lister, Harlem Globetrotters One thing we've learned this month specifically is that the world would be a very dull place to live in without the continuing influence of women from all walks of life. The mere sight of witnessing ladies dominate in areas not seen before can be life-changing for many, especially when it's a woman of color at the forefront. For nearly 100 years, the world-renowned exhibition
NBA Icon Isiah Thomas Has Quickly Become an Entrepreneurial Legend
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Isiah Thomas played basketball with the tenacity not often seen in today’s game. Whenever a team outscored his Detroit Pistons, it only meant a negative mark in the loss column, but never total defeat for Thomas. An NCAA champion at Indiana, and a two-time NBA champ with the Pistons, much like basketball, Thomas has followed up his on-court success with an almost peerless triumph in the business world. He told the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s live morning show, “Let It Be Known,”
Black Married Couple Empowering Today’s Black Tech Leaders
Candice Matthews Brackeen and Brian Brackeen are General Partners at Lightship Capital, a firm investing in innovators, E-commerce, Artificial Intelligence, Healthtech, and more. They are the leaders behind Black Tech Week which aims to bring together some of the greatest innovators in technological industries. “As Black people we’ve been inventing things for a long time, we been entrepreneurs for a long time,” said Mrs. Matthews Brackeen. “We just want to make sure they all convene in the same space; they build community, they build network, and they do
All-Black Female Crew Observes 100th Anniversary of Bessie Coleman’s First Flight
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent@StacyBrownMedia American Airlines celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first Black woman to earn a pilot’s license – Bessie Coleman accomplished that feat in 1922. With an all-Black female crew, the airlines hosted the Bessie Coleman Aviation All-Stars tour, recognizing how Coleman bravely broke down barriers within the world of aviation and paved the path for many to follow. To help honor Coleman’s legacy, American Airlines hosted Gigi Coleman, Bessie’s great-niece, on a flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Phoenix. An all-Black female crew
Getty & The Smithsonian Acquire Ebony And Jet’s Iconic Photo Archives
Photo: Getty Images Seven decades of iconic Black stories and photos from Ebony and Jet magazines will soon be digitized and available to the public, Smithsonian Magazine reports. Over four million negatives and prints from Ebony and Jet, both produced via the Johnson Publishing Company starting in the 1940s and ’50s, have been acquired by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and the Getty Research Institute, according to a joint statement by the two entities. The Getty Trust is putting up $30 million towards processing the digitization of photographic negatives, photos,
Serena Williams announces retirement, arguably the greatest athlete of all-time
by A.R. Shaw Serena Williams will walk away from the game of tennis. In an article published by Vogue, Williams, 40, shared that she will “evolve away from tennis” to focus on other things. Her last tennis match will take place this month at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, New York. Serena Williams, along with her older sister Venus Williams, took the tennis world by storm in the 1990s as teenagers on the pro tennis circuit. Serena would win her first grand slam title in 1998 at Wimbledon, capturing
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated ® Elects Dr. Stacie N.C. Grant as International President
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated elected Dr. Stacie N.C. Grant as its 26th International President and Chief Executive Officer during the organization’s biennial international convention in Philadelphia. A New York native, Grant received the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award from President Barack Obama. She is a CEO, award-winning author, international speaker, and trainer. A life member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Grant has served on every level of the organization as an active and financial member for 33 consecutive years. She brings decades of professional and business development expertise with
Henry Louis Gates Jr. To Oversee Oxford’s New African American Dictionary
Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. will be at the helm of Oxford's new dictionary that will recognize Black culture's centuries-long impact on the English language. On Thursday (July 21), Gates Jr., Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, announced that he will serve as the editor-in-chief of the Oxford Dictionary of African American English. The new dictionary will house a glossary of popular words and phrases used by Black Americans past and present. “Just the way Louis Armstrong took the trumpet and turned it inside out from the way people