article via thegrio.com; forbes.com
Stephanie Lampkin, a black female engineer, has seen her share of workplace discrimination. Despite the fact that she was a full-stack web developer by the age of 15 and then went on to get her education at Stanford and then MIT, she often had a hard time getting her foot in the door to get into the tech industry, which has long been dominated by white men.
But Lampkin has developed an app that would help to curb discrimination in hiring by eliminating even unconscious bias from the hiring process.
The app, called Blendoor, uploads resumes without a name or a picture so that candidates are judged solely on their merits and their technical abilities.
“My company resonates more with white men when I position it as, ‘hey, I want to help you find the best talent. Your unconscious mind isn’t racist, sexist — it’s totally natural, and we’re trying to help you circumvent it,’” she told Forbes.
Already, Lampkin has 19 large tech firms signed up to use the app, which will also collect job data to see how those who are seeking jobs are matching up with positions they would be qualified for.
To read more, go to: http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2016/03/03/black-woman-engineer-launches-blind-job-match-app-to-take-bias-out-of-tech-hiring/#e3c5a05601c4
Posts published in “Community”
article by Courtney Connley via blackenterprise.com
While college helps to build your network and contacts for current and future opportunities, the strength of the HBCU community is one that provides a unique connection for its students and graduates.
Just ask millennials Luke Lawal and Brittany Ireland, who are proud HBCU alums and the leaders behind the popular site, HBCU Buzz.
“I realized that after going to college no matter where you go you can pinpoint an HBCU graduate,” says HBCU Buzz founder Lawal.
Graduating from Bowie State University in 2012 with a degree in bio-chemistry, Lawal works at a lobbyist firm on Capitol Hill and admits that it was the unique HBCU connection that helped him to grow connections at his current job.
“My general counsel is a Howard grad and we connected before I even got the job via LinkedIn,” says Lawal. “Whether I went to Bowie or he went to Howard, you generally just gravitate towards wanting to help and that’s one of the biggest benefits of graduating from an HBCU.”
His idea to launch HBCU Buzz came in 2009 during his undergraduate years, where he held a marketing position in the Student Government Association (SGA). With this position, the Maryland native traveled to different black colleges across the nation and got an inside view of how things were run on different campuses.
“When I was at Florida A&M I just remember visiting some of the SGA offices and talking to their students and I realized they have a lot of different techniques that us in the north just aren’t aware of,” he says. “So I was trying to figure out why we hadn’t connected with them and why we weren’t publicizing what other HBCUs were doing.”
It was then that his idea for a blog site came about. After spending much time at Howard University and eventually being contacted by BET to help with their Rip the Runway show, Lawal linked arms with Ireland, who was serving as Howard University’s homecoming fashion show coordinator.
“I asked him about HBCU Buzz and I was so excited and loved the idea,” says Ireland, who graduated from Howard in 2013 with a degree in public relations and a minor in sports management. “Immediately we were a team.”
The two locked arms and officially launched the site in March 2011, with Ireland working her way up from event coordinator, to director of PR and now president of the site.
Since it’s launch in 2011, HBCU Buzz has grown from a blog site that covers campus events, news, sports and fashion, to a brand that partners with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, HBCUs for Obama, and political activists to host on-campus events across the nation.
With a growing readership that consists of more than 81,000 followers on Twitter, 55,000 on Instagram and 20,000 on Facebook, Lawal and Ireland make it clear that the secret to growing the HBCU Buzz brand is its strong connection to the community.
To read more, go to: http://www.blackenterprise.com/education/young-professionals-built-plaform-hbcu/
article by Maeve McDermott via usatoday.com
Before last year, Kennedy Center hosting hip hop shows seemed like an unlikely prospect.
But after hosting Kendrick Lamar’s sold-out performance with the National Symphony Orchestra last year, the center’s 2016 season includes its first hip hop culture series, bringing on rapper and producer Q-Tip as their first artistic director of hip hop.
The social justice-oriented rapper is best known as a founding member of the seminal hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, and has worked with many of music’s biggest names, including Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, the Beastie Boys, Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige and Pharrell Williams.
The Kennedy Center, which celebrates John F. Kennedy’s 100th birthday this year, announced details of six events celebrating different facets of hip hop culture, including a poetry slam, a teach-in and a dance competition. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and soprano Renee Fleming were also appointed at-large artistic advisers for the 2016-2017 season, according to the AP.
“This new programmatic platform recognizes Hip Hop’s contributions to global culture and its role in promoting values such as courage, freedom, justice, and service,” the center announced in a release.
To read more, go to: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2016/03/08/q-tip-named-kennedy-center-first-hip-hop-director/81485882/
by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)
Walt Disney World Resorts, in conjunction with Essence Magazine and comedian Steve Harvey, recently hosted its 9th Annual Disney Dreamers Academy in Orlando, Florida. After selecting from thousands of applications, Disney rewarded 100 U.S. high school students and their chaperones with a four-day seminar (March 3-6) geared towards inspiring, exposing and guiding them on how to achieve their dreams.
After kicking off the long weekend leading a parade down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom and being welcomed by Walt Disney World President George Kalogridis, Walt Disney World Vice President and Executive Champion Tracey Powell, Essence Editor-At-Large Mikki Taylor, gospel singer Yolanda Adams and host Steve Harvey, the Dreamers are immersed in intensive sessions with motivational speakers such as Jonathan Sprinkles and Capital Prep School Founder and Principal Dr. Steve Perry to help them understand how to overcome obstacles, learn from failures and how to work hard to make their dreams become reality.
Additionally, the Walt Disney World theme parks become vibrant “classrooms,” where Dreamers participate in hands-on, intensive “Deep Dive” workshops led by industry experts. Covering a myriad of career paths ranging from animation to imagineering to marine biology, the Deep Dives do more than expose students to a career choice; they bring to life an opportunity that otherwise might seem distant or impossible.
Celebrities such as MC Lyte, Tamera Mowery, Loni Love, Lance Gross, Lamman Rucker, Silento and film producer Will Packer also gave their personal time and shared their knowledge with the Dreamers on what it takes to gain and maintain an unconventional career.
“It has literally been so amazing,” said Dreamer Deja Kirk from Oklahoma City, who is interested in becoming an elasmobranchologist (a marine biologist who specializes in sharks and rays). “I’m not one to be corny at all, I’m usually a very stoic person, so for me to be so excited about this is really huge. Even if you don’t know what you’re going to do, just getting the general exposure to everything I feel like not only am I prepared to pursue my career, if I were to change it in any way I still have a really good foundation for whatever I want to do.”
This week, Good Black News will be bringing you even more stories from this unique event, including spotlights on several Dreamers, perspectives from their parents, as well as interviews with some of the dedicated professionals who gave their time and wisdom to DDA this year.
To learn more about Disney Dreamers Academy, go to: https://www.disneydreamersacademy.com or https://www.facebook.com/DisneyDreamersAcademy/
article by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph. D. via theroot.com
Legendary singer and civil rights activist Mavis Staples has been in the business of making music and changing lives for over 60 years. The Chicago-born singer with the signature raspy voice launched her career in 1950 as part of the family gospel group The Staple Singers, comprised of her father (Pops) and three older sisters (Cleotha, Pervis and Yvonne). The “skinny 15-year-old girl with the big voice” was often mistaken for a man or a big woman, surprising fans with her childlike appearance despite her full-bodied voice.
Like many family acts, the Staples honed their craft in the church before taking their show on the road. Having recorded a couple of singles, the Staples Singers hit their stride with the 1957 release of “Uncloudy Day,” on the renowned Vee-Jay Records, which became a mainstream hit. The rest as they say is music history. Staples’ life and times as a singer and activist are chronicled in the HBO documentary Mavis!, directed by Jessica Edwards, who made it her goal to capture the life of a living legend in her words on her terms, having realized that “No one had done the story of her.”
Mavis! chronicles the rise of the Staples Singers and their evolution from gospel to freedom songs to soul music. Staples leads viewers down memory lane recalling the group’s work with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement, her romance with the love of her life (musical giant Bob Dylan) and Staples desire to remain humble despite her staying power and overcoming the precariousness of the music business.
The 76-year-old, who still lives in Chicago, is still touring and picking up awards, having recently won a 2016 Grammy for Best Roots Performance for the song, “See That My Grave is Kept Clean.” Staples is proud of her win. “It’s a wonderful feeling for an artist of my generation to be honored and recognized,” says Staples. “It’s very inspiring and it makes me feel like my decision not to retire and to keep making new music was the right one,” she adds.
To read more, go to: http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/03/mavis_staples_tells_her_own_story_in_mavis.html
Mavis! is currently airing on HBO. Check local listings
article by Nigel Roberts via newsone.com
Some 15,000 guests joined Teach For America at its Washington, D.C. gathering in February to celebrate the organization’s quarter-century anniversary. On this milestone, the group’s army of teachers, alumni, and allies – now numbering 50,000 – commemorated the past, but fixed their eyes on the future.
At the top of TFA’s agenda going forward is recruiting teachers of color to meet the needs of the nation’s exploding Latino student population and African-American pupils who are struggling to close the academic achievement gap.
The ballooning growth of Latinos and the simultaneous decline of the White population have resulted in a significant demographic shift among students. The 2014 – 2015 academic year marked the first time that minority schoolchildren—Latino, African-American, and Asian—outnumbered their White counterparts, Education Week reported.
However, the teaching force has failed to keep pace with this major shift. According to U.S. News, only 17 percent of educators are people of color.
The problem, according to numerous studies, is that minority students perform academically better under the guidance of teachers of their own race or ethnicity.
A study reported by the Washington Post states:
“We find that the performance gap in terms of class dropout and pass rates between white and minority students falls by roughly half when taught by a minority instructor. In models that allow for a full set of ethnic and racial interactions between students and instructors, we find African-American students perform particularly better when taught by African-American instructors.”
Why do minority students tend to perform better with teachers who look like them? The study reported in U.S. News says teachers of color are often better motivated to teach in racially segregated, poor schools. What’s more, they typically have higher academic expectations of their pupils and better understand their culture.
article via newsone.com
Centenarian Virginia McLaurin may have made our hearts melt when she met President Obama last month during a Black History Month event, but now it’s the 106-year-old’s Washington D.C. community making her smile.
McLaurin, who went viral after dancing joyfully with the President and First Lady Michelle Obama, may appear full of spunk, but friend and neighbor Deborah Menkart told the Huffington Post that it’s a bit difficult for her to climb the stairs to her apartment.
Menkart, who also conducts oral interviews with McLaurin, decided to start a crowdfunding campaign to assist her friend, who she said is set on maintaining her own independence.
From ABC News:
“She wants to maintain her independence and be close to her church,” McLaurin’s friend and neighbor Deborah Menkart told ABC News today. “In order for her to stay close to her church and have a place that’s accessible to a person of her age, she needs to raise funds. We’ve been getting an outpouring from people that said they want to help.”
[…]
“This donations page was created so that we can all help her have the resources she needs to live comfortably and to continue her active role in the community,” according to the page titled, “Support for Ms. Virginia McLaurin” on YouCaring.com.
And active she is. McLaurin is a volunteer in an early childhood classroom, serving as a foster grandmother, and is also an advocate of the tenants’ rights organization, Latino Economic Development Center.
So far, the community has donated more than $18,000 to the YouCaring fund. Menkart hopes to reach $50,000 for “core necessities like health care” and comfortable, wheelchair accessible housing, she told ABC News.
You can show your support for McLaurin here. To see her meet the Obamas if you haven’t, watch below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L-lPaYI_4w&w=560&h=315]
article by Jessica C. Andrews via hellobeautiful.com
To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re honoring the black women whose innovative designs are changing the fashion landscape as we know it. With creativity, style and grace, designers like Undra Celeste, Kimberly Goldson and Charlene Dunbar (of Suakoko Betty) are diversifying the style industry while making a name for themselves in the process.
Known for her sophisticated and clean lines, Undra Celeste offers an array of dresses and separates beautifully crafted to compliment a woman’s frame. Kimberly Goldson draws inspiration from her hometown of Brooklyn for fashion-forward designs earmarked for the millennial woman. Charlene Dunbar of Suakoko Betty merges traditional African fabrics with contemporary silhouettes for a collection of irresistible apparel and accessories. Shop three outfits below centered around these designers’ hottest looks.
Look #1: Kimberly Goldson
Team a Kimberly Goldson skirt with a Darcie crop top and Steve by Steve Madden pumps. Finish your look with a Beyoncè tote, a Samuel watch, a Black Up lip pencil and Beyoncè Pulse fragrance.
Look #2: Suakoko Betty
Style a Suakoko Betty dress with Christian Louboutin pumps and a Nancy Gonzalez clutch. Round out your look with Vince Camuto bracelets, a Casetify phone case, Bobbi Browneyeshadow and Elie Saab perfume.
To see full article, go to: http://hellobeautiful.com/2016/03/02/black-is-the-new-black-three-women-designers-you-should-know-and-support/?omcamp=es-hb-nl&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NAT%20-%20HB%20Daily%20Dynamic%202016-03-02&utm_term=Hello%20Beautiful%20Subscribers%20Non%20Dormant%20SEND%20TO%20ME
article by Mark Lelinwalla via bet.com
For the second straight year, Michael Jordan was named to Forbes‘ World’s Billionaires list, with a net worth valued at $1.14 billion.
The value makes MJ the 1,577th richest person in the world and 486th richest in the United States. That’s up nearly 200 spots from the 1,741st worldwide ranking that Jordan had on last year’s list, which marked his debut on Forbes‘ World’s Billionaires list in 2015. What makes his place all the more special is Jordan is the lone current or former athlete on the prestigious list.
Jordan’s 90 percent ownership share of the Charlotte Hornets accounts for about $500 million of his assets, while his Air Jordan line with Nike continues to thrive in the sneaker market with 32 years in the game.
Carmelo Anthony, whose sneakers are designed by the Jordan Brand, couldn’t be prouder of his mentor.
“It makes me proud. Yeah, it does,” Melo told ESPN. “I remember getting there and seeing where the business was then. I remember sitting in the airport in 2006, coming from the world championship, and I remember when the brand had just hit a billion, and to see where it’s at right now — [nearly $3 billion in sales] — that’s a lot. That’s a lot of growth to be a part of.”
To read more, go to: http://www.bet.com/news/sports/2016/3/03/michael-jordan-makes-forbes–prestigious-list-again.html
article by Robin White Goode via blackenterprise.com
Five-year-old Giavrielle Lightfoot is an accelerated learner.
“We thought something might be different about her because she was reading before she was 3,” says her mother, Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot. “We also thought she may have just memorized books the way little kids do.”
But when her mother read a book to her that she hadn’t read before, the not-yet-3-year-old read it.
At 2, Gia would say, “I need to play the violin.”
“I had taken her to children’s orchestras, and would have her listen to classical music on NPR. Finally I took her to a music store and let her look at a violin, but she kept saying, ‘I want to take it home. I want to take it home.’”
“I thought it was a little precocious giving a 2-year-old a violin,” Walker-Lightfoot says. “I told her she was too little. Even the smallest violin was too big for her. So we came back a year later and picked one out.” Gia was evaluated and soon started the Suzuki method at the Roberson School of Music. (The famous Suzuki method begins music lessons with the youngest children, even before they’re born.)
Gia’s interest wasn’t a passing phase. “She absolutely loves it,” Walker-Lightfoot says. “We’ve never had to argue with her about practicing. ‘Ode to Joy’ was her Christmas recital number.”
Walker-Lightfoot mentioned testing to her pediatrician, to verify that Gia is a gifted child, “but I wasn’t sure where that would lead.”
Walker-Lightfoot was reluctant because she, her husband, Johnathan, and their only child live in Howard County, Maryland, where children must be 5 by Sept. 1 in order to start school.
That hard and fast rule wouldn’t work for Gia, who was born in December. She was not only already reading, she knew her colors and could count. “From what I’ve read, if bright children aren’t challenged they can get disruptive—because they’re bored.”
The Lightfoots found an academic-focused Montessori school where youngsters can be taught the kindergarten curriculum if they’re 5 by Dec. 31, as long as they pass their work.
Gia is now thriving in an environment of diverse learners. In a class of 11, five students are East Indian, three are African American, one is biracial, one has a Spanish surname, and one is white. The Lightfoots intend to keep Gia in Montessori. They plan to transfer her to another school in the network that goes up to grade 5.