As the company continues early production of its important new full-size pickup trucks, Akerson has elevated Alicia Boler-Davis to senior vice president of global quality and global customer experience. She had been a vice president of global quality and U.S. customer experience, reporting to Mary Barra, GM’s senior vice president of global product development.
Boler-Davis will now report directly to Akerson. The promotion came a week after GM earned the top spot among major auto manufacturers in the widely watched J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study that measure customer problems in the first 90 days of ownership.
Akerson made the announcement before a crowd of about 2,000 GM employees on Wednesday at the automaker’s Warren Technical Center to celebrate GM’s performance in the annual survey.
GM was the best-performing major auto manufacturer overall in the consumer study for the first time in its history and individual models from its brands took the top spot in eight of the vehicle market segments. The Chevrolet brand beat stalwarts like Toyota and Honda.
Calling the celebration his “most memorable day” since becoming CEO in September 2010, Akerson urged employees to guard against complacency. “This award gives us a glimpse of what it’s like to be on top,” he said.
Good Black News
It looks the Oprah Winfrey Network has finally found its stride. After the success of “The Haves and Have Nots,” which enjoyed OWN’s highest-rated debut with 1.8 million viewers, the network is making a play to appeal to the soap opera-loving crowd by picking up “All My Children” and “One Life To Live.”
OWN has acquired the first 40 episodes of both soaps and will air them for a 10-week run this summer. Erik Logan, one of OWN’s presidents, told The Hollywood Reporter:
“These shows have proven to be very popular with a significant, loyal fan base, not to mention Oprah herself is a big fan. Many of our viewers across numerous platforms have expressed their passion for the soaps so we are especially excited to air this limited engagement on OWN.”
OWN will continue to cater to the same passionate niche audience with “The Haves and Have Nots.” The network ordered 16 more episodes of the drama, which brings the episode tally to 32. The first run of 16 will end on September 3rd, and the second half will premiere early next year.
article via clutchmagonline.com
Curator and art afficiando Souleo has put together a multi-destination art exhibition called “Motown to Def Jam” in collaboration with ArtCrawl Harlem in New York City.
The meticulously planned, four-gallery, 49-artist exhibition takes visitors from the early days of Chess Records in the mid 20th century, all the way through to the contemporary offerings of rap and R&B label Def Jam in a series of visionary visual works. Also referenced in the show are the legendary Stax and Philadelphia International labels that helped pave the way in bringing new African-American sounds to the mainstream.
For pieces in the show, participating artists created or contributed works that described their interpretations of specific songs from singers and rappers at these record labels. Each piece, inspired by a beloved song, or songwriter, from black and American pop music history, brings black music history to life in a new way.
“A lot of people don’t know that June is African-American Music Appreciation Month,” said Souleo. “I wanted to share our struggles and triumphs and the unique ways that we express ourselves. For example, instead of the usual pop hits from Motown, I wanted to use more of the later socio-political music that came out of Motown.”
A lively Black Music Month kickoff
Souleo kicked off the five-weeks exhibit with gallery tours and a series of parties. An exhibition this grand required not one, but four different galleries, and these ancillary events connected them all.
The guides for a special preview tour were celebrity columnist and author Flo Anthony, pop culture critic Patrick Riley, historian John T. Reddick and renaissance media man Walter Rutledge. “I chose these people as the tour guides because they are the experts and they have been in the same room with some of these musical artists. They can give those extra tidbits that you would not get anywhere else,” said Souleo.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzZolMOUSko&w=560&h=315]
Newark mayor Cory Booker has released his first television campaign ad for the New Jersey Democratic race for U.S. Senate. This ad is his first foray into the primaries which conclude in August. This ad is titled “Run”, and features Booker listing some of the successes he’s had tacking problems as mayor.
“I’ve proven that by bringing people together, even with big problems we can make big progress,” says Booker in the video. “Washington ducks our problems, I wont.” Booker is competing against his fellow Democrats Frank Pallone and Rush Holt to win the seat of the late Frank Lautenberg who passed away earlier this month.
article by Adrienne Green via thegrio.com
Official sales numbers are in for the J. Cole-imposed competition with Kanye West and Yeezuslands at No. 1. Cole’s Born Sinner and Mac Miller‘s Watching Movies With the Sound Off enter at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, making it rap’s “biggest week” since November 2011, reportsBillboard.
The Billboard 200 chart tracks top-selling albums nationwide. The coveted first-week sales often determine the trajectory of an album’s overall outcome and strategies for continued marketing.
Kanye, even with the no-marketing marketing strategy, and no single pushed to radio (DJ’s, unconventionally, made their own radio edits from the album), earned his sixth straight chart-topping debut, selling 327,000. This puts him in the third slot for biggest openers this year (behind BET Awards performer Justin Timberlake with 968,000 and electro-pop duo Daft Punk with 339,000); and it puts him in a three-way tie with Eminem and Nas for almost the most No. 1’s. Jay-Z has the most with 12, including his collaborative project with ‘Ye, Watch the Throne.
The Billboard 200 chart tracks top-selling albums nationwide. The coveted first-week sales often determine the trajectory of an album’s overall outcome and strategies for continued marketing.
Kanye, even with the no-marketing marketing strategy, and no single pushed to radio (DJ’s, unconventionally, made their own radio edits from the album), earned his sixth straight chart-topping debut, selling 327,000. This puts him in the third slot for biggest openers this year (behind BET Awards performer Justin Timberlake with 968,000 and electro-pop duo Daft Punk with 339,000); and it puts him in a three-way tie with Eminem and Nas for almost the most No. 1’s. Jay-Z has the most with 12, including his collaborative project with ‘Ye, Watch the Throne.
During a 2009 stopover in his ancestral Kenya, President Obama said, “I have the blood of Africa in me.” He is the first American president able to make such a declaration, but that’s not the only thing that will be different about his first major tour of the continent that begins today.
Unlike his immediate predecessors, his primary focus will not be human rights violations, AIDS or aid. This president will be taking care of business. The weeklong trip with his family includes stops in Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania, each representing a different region of the continent and chosen for very strategic reasons. The goal is for the “U.S. to significantly increase our engagement in the years to come,” said Ben Rhodes, the White House deputy national security adviser for strategic communications.
New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told BET.com that Obama is developing the next phase of the nation’s relationship with Africa.
“The trip shows a new direction and attention, and instead of focusing on aid or hunger, which are important, he’ll be talking about business, economic development and how we can get the Export-Import Bank involved in Africa with American and African businesses,” Meeks said. “And he’s bringing along a number of business folks, including African-Americans, to make these kinds of contacts.”
New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told BET.com that Obama is developing the next phase of the nation’s relationship with Africa.
“The trip shows a new direction and attention, and instead of focusing on aid or hunger, which are important, he’ll be talking about business, economic development and how we can get the Export-Import Bank involved in Africa with American and African businesses,” Meeks said. “And he’s bringing along a number of business folks, including African-Americans, to make these kinds of contacts.”
In the wake of Tuesday’s Supreme Court’s ruling to do away with a portion of the Voting Rights Act, the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus has revealed its plan to push back against the state’s voter identification law. Members of the caucus and the NAACP have announced a rally on July 11 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Capitol Rotunda. The state’s voter ID law is set to go on trial at the Commonwealth Court starting on July 15.
“It is vitally important that we continue to decry the gross perpetration of injustice upon our citizens. We will continue to stay on the offense,” said state Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown (D-Philadelphia), the chairwoman of the Legislative Black Caucus, as reported by Penn Live.
Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson said that the voter ID law threatens voting rights by disenfranchising more than 750,000 people. An injunction was placed on the law last year and prohibited its enforcement during the 2012 election. The upcoming trial will decide whether it will be lifted or made permanent in the next election cycle.
Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson said that the voter ID law threatens voting rights by disenfranchising more than 750,000 people. An injunction was placed on the law last year and prohibited its enforcement during the 2012 election. The upcoming trial will decide whether it will be lifted or made permanent in the next election cycle.
Everyone should know this by now: Never count Oprah out. Oprah Winfrey returns to the top of Forbes’ annual Celebrity 100 ranking of the most powerful celebrities after two years in second place. She leads a female-dominated top 10 that includes Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Madonna, Taylor Swift and Ellen DeGeneres.
Even without her eponymous daytime talk show, Winfrey made an estimated $77 million between June 2012 and June 2013, down from last year’s $165 million. While she wasn’t the highest earner on Forbes’ list, her money, mixed with strong fame scores in metrics like press mentions and social networking power, pushed her to the top.
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a 1996 law denying federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples is unconstitutional, in a sign of how rapidly the national debate over gay rights has shifted. The decision was five to four, with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy writing the majority opinion, which the four liberal-leaning justices joined. (Read the decision.)
“The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity,” Justice Kennedy wrote. “By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts was in the minority, as were Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. The ruling overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, which passed with bipartisan support and President Bill Clinton signed.
article via nytimes.com
What do you get when you take a group of stylish, ambitious black women and place them together in a room? Given all the debates currently taking place about the image of black women in media, particularly reality television, unsavory images might be the first (unfortunately) to come to mind. But, this past weekend’s Blogging While Brown conference, which just wrapped its sixth year in New York City, was an oasis of truth demonstrating the power, positivity and true sisterhood of African-American women interested in blogging and technology.
“Unfortunately, we as black women carry a stereotype of being loud, catty, and constantly trying to outdo one another,” said Karla Trotman, the Philadelphia-based proprietress of Bellybuttonboutique.com, a site that helps mothers and moms-to-be with supportive products related to pregnancy. “But this conference draws out women, all of whom were coming from a place of abundance. The sharing of information and the openness was so refreshing. The connections, discussions, and fellowship were all incredible. I felt truly filled by the experience.”
While Blogging While Brown is not geared to black women specifically — and there were many men, other people of color, and whites who attended and sat on panels — the overwhelming percentage of the 300-plus assemblage consisted of African-American women. This setting, far from being limiting, made Blogging While Brown a refreshing sanctuary for people seeking exposure to interesting individuals and fresh information with a result that was truly enlightening. Even for black women, it was like getting to know a whole new tribe.