50 Cent Announces ‘Humor & Harmony Festival’ Coming To Shreveport
Katt Williams, DC Young Fly, and 2 Chainz have been confirmed.
Q50 Cent, after committing to bringing G-Unit Studios to Shreveport, Louisiana, will bring a music and comedy festival to the city this August.
The rapper told his almost 33 million followers on social media that from August 8 to 11, he will present The Humor & Harmony Festival in Shreveport. He said more than 29,000 people have already registered for the planned festivities.
“You don’t want to miss this over 29,000 people have registered already go to Humor HarmonyWeekend.Com 💣Boom💨 36,000 Super Bowl of comedy, music. Wait till you see who’s confirmed 🤦 @humorharmonyshreveport@bransoncognac@lecheminduroi“
The Shreveport Times reported that the festival will include comedians, music shows, classic car shows, and a scheduled celebrity basketball tournament. Some of the high-profile talent announced for the weekend include Katt Williams, DC Young Fly, 2 Chainz, Tank, Monifah, Ray J, Bill Bellamy, Jeremih, French Montana, DaBaby, and Lavell Crawford.
The Live Rich or Die Trying star promised fans that the festival will be “Super Bowl Big” as he anticipates 60,000 heads to come out that weekend.
The Power executive has been well-received in Shreveport since it was reported that the entrepreneurial lyricist obtained a lease for the city-owned studio, once known as Millennium Studios, for an annual cost of $2,400.
After a unanimous vote from the city council to approve giving the G-Unit boss a lease for the property, 50 inked a deal to manage the building maintenance with a 30-year lease that has an option to renew for another 15 years.
Georgia Woman Awarded $1.2M After Being Hit By Walmart Employee With Shopping Cart
The incident caused injuries to Tammy Callihan's neck and back.
A woman who was hit with a shopping cart by an employee while she was at a Walmart in Georgia was recently awarded $1.2 million after filing a lawsuit against the retail giant.
According to WSB-TV, Atlanta resident Tammy Callihan was awarded the money after the 2020 incident at the Walmart in Jasper, Georgia. The altercation caused injuries to her neck and back. It also aggravated a prior disc herniation that required Callihan to have spinal surgery.
“We’re pleased the jury recognized the impact the severe injuries had on Ms. Callihan’s life,” said Morgan & Morgan attorney Robert Fickett in a written statement. “She now experiences daily, recurrent pain that limits the activities of her daily life, including holding her grandchildren and walking her dog. I’m proud we were able to secure justice for our client and provide her with some peace of mind as she moves forward with her life.”
Before the jury decided, Callihan’s attorneys allegedly declined Walmart’s highest settlement offer of $350,000.
Reuters has reported that Walmart recently agreed to pay $1.64 million to settle charges that its New Jersey stores used illegal pricing practices. The Attorney General of New Jersey, Matthew Platkin, said the settlement was the largest won by the Office of Weights and Measures of the state Division of Consumer Affairs. It includes a $1.62 million civil fine.
“As the price of grocery items continues to rise,” Platkin said, “this settlement sends a clear message that New Jersey will not allow retailers to engage in unlawful pricing practices that deny shoppers the ability to easily compare prices to figure out which product is a better buy.”
New Jersey requires retailers to display prices using standard, easy-to-understand measurements such as pounds and quarts. Inspections done in Walmart stores in the first quarter of 2023 found more than 2,000 incorrect measurements.
Heartbreak in Massachusetts: 15-Year-Old Killed; 21-Year-Old Boyfriend Charged with Murder
Ahliana Dicke, a 15-year-old from Massachusetts, was fatally shot in her home, leading to the arrest of her 21-year-old boyfriend, Trevor Bady.
Ahliana Dicke never made it to her middle school graduation on Friday, June 14. Instead, her grandmother found her lying lifeless on the floor of their family home in Massachusetts from apparent gunshot wounds. She was only 15 years old.
An investigation by the Lowell Police Department led to the arrest of 21-year-old Trevor Bady in after discovering that someone had broken into her home shortly after midnight on Friday, shooting her multiple times.
After Dicke’s family realized she was not present for her graduation, they were worried and began searching. They returned home to find her dead. At 6:10 p.m., Dicke’s grandmother alerted police that her body had been found on the floor of a bedroom in the family’s home. Several shell casings were found at the scene of the crime.
According to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Lowell Police Superintendent Greg Hudon, the Massachusetts teen had been “in an abusive relationship” with Bady. Close friends and family referred to him as the her boyfriend.
“I was on the phone with her last night,” Skyla Guthrie told reporters the day after her friend was killed. “Still in disbelief. She was happy… a positive person.” Guthrie also recalled how her friend was excited to turn over a new leaf with plans to enter high school and “do bright things in life.”
Police and prosecutors report that just after midnight on Friday, police received a phone call with a tip that a male and female had been fighting across the street. Per the source, the female could be heard yelling, “Get off me, get away from me; I don’t want to be with you anymore.” The caller also recalled hearing gunshots.
When police arrived, neither the male nor the female were found. However, surveillance video in the area captured the female, later identified as Dicke, yelling for help and the male, soon identified as Bady, leaving the home.
According to reports, Bady took an Uber to and from Dicke’s home before and after the killing. A driver for the company revealed that “he had had a suspicious passenger and expressed concern,” according to prosecutors. Bady was soon confirmed as that person.
Bady was arrested on Monday, June 17, at a home roughly 30 miles southeast of where Dicke was killed. He has charged with murder as well as “felony armed home invasion, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, use of a firearm while committing a felony, and discharge of a firearm within 500 feet of a building.”
He is set to be arraigned in Lowell’s District Court on Tuesday.
Oprah worked as a news anchor before hosting her self-titled show in 1986. Oprah established Harpo Productions, a multimedia production company, Oprah Magazine and in 2011, she launched the Oprah Winfrey Network. In 2003, Oprah was named the first African-American female billionaire and she is now worth $3 billion: (Photo: Mark Von Holden/Variety via Getty Images)
Oprah Celebrates Stanford University Graduate, OWLA Alum, Dr. Bongeka Zuma
The Stanford grad is part of the inaugural class at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, established in 2007.
Media mogul Oprah Winfrey recently attended a momentous occasion at Stanford University, celebrating the graduation of Bongeka Zuma, an alumna from Winfrey’s Leadership Academy in South Africa.
Winfrey shared her elation on Instagram with a slideshow of photos and videos with Zuma, who graduated as a Doctor of Medicine. “One of the great joys of my life was to see her walk across that stage!” the “Selma” actress wrote. “Knowing where she’s come from…and how strongly she believed in becoming a doctor…She never gave up.”
Zuma’s journey began in KwaZulu-Natal, leading her to be part of the inaugural class at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, established in 2007 in Henley-on-Klip. According to Winfrey’s official website, the tuition-free boarding school on a 52-acre campus boasts state-of-the-art facilities, including a high-tech computer lab, wellness center, and library housing thousands of books. Recognizing the challenging backgrounds of many students, Winfrey implemented a robust support network of educators, psychologists, and social workers.
Prior to her Stanford accomplishment, Zuma graduated summa cum laude from Spelman College and earned a master’s degree from Oxford University. Winfrey, who has attended 22 graduations for her “daughter-girls” from the Leadership Academy, noted, “This one was extra special.”
In a 2012 episode of “Oprah’s Great Expectations,” Zuma reflected on the pressure to excel. “I guess when you bring girls…from all over South Africa…you bring girls who have been number one at their schools…competing to want to be great.” In the video posted on OWN‘s YouTube channel, Winfrey addressed her first class of future graduates ahead of their final exams. She challenged the students to fulfill the highest expressions of themselves as human beings, “nothing small.”
Sunday’s graduation ceremony was a joyous affair for Dr. Zuma. The Stanford grad was surrounded by friends, fellow OWLAG sisters, and professors. Winfrey concluded her Instagram tribute with heartfelt congratulations to the new graduate.
Chris Rock, Terry Crews, Tichina Arnold To Reprise ‘Everybody Hates Chris’ Roles In Animated Series
'Everybody Still Hates Chris' will premiere later this year on Comedy Central.
Chris Rock, Terry Crews, and Tichina Arnold will reprise their roles from Everybody Hates Chris for a new animated series, Everybody Still Hates Chris.
Coming to Comedy Central later this year, the new animated version of the 2000s live-action comedy sees Rock return as narrator and executive producer and Arnold and Crews reprise their roles as Chris’ parents, Variety reports.
New cast members include Tim Johnson Jr., who plays young Chris; Ozioma Akagha, who plays Chris’ feisty little sister, Tonya; Terrence Little Gardenhigh, who plays Drew, the “golden child” of the family; and Gunnar Sizemore, who plays Greg, Chris’s only friend at school who’s “girl obsessed.”
CBS Studios, Chris Rock Enterprises, and 3 Arts Entertainment will produce the half-hour animated series “inspired by his (Rock) experience growing up as a skinny nerd in a large working-class family in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, during the late 1980s,” according to a logline. Crews reprises his memorable role as Chris’ father, Julius, “who is a gentle giant with a relentless work ethic and cheap. Growing up dirt poor, he knows the cost of everything down to the penny. He works two jobs to support the family, and on his days off, he takes on a third job.”
Arnold returns as Rochelle, Chris’ mother, “who is smart, strong-willed, and has a nurturing spirit, but she can also be hot-headed, especially when it comes to her kids. She tolerates zero nonsense, so she quits more jobs in a month than most people do in a lifetime.”
“I’m very excited to introduce the world to another funny side of my childhood,” Rock said.
“I wanted this job to get free tickets to a Chris Rock stand-up show, but we ended up making something we’re proud of that is true to the original series we all loved,” showrunner/exec producer Sanjay Shah added.
Brooklyn Robot Foundry Awards Free Franchise for One Year to Janine Harper
In 2022, the Foundry launched a Frandowment Competition, awarding one franchise free of fees for the first year, to one deserving owner.
Janine Harper never expected to become a franchisee while she was working abroad as a TV News Producer in Japan. Following her return to the U.S., she found herself looking for her next big move.
In 2015, Harper enrolled her six-year-old daughter in the Brooklyn Robot Foundry programs and was immediately impressed with the brand’s hands-on approach to teaching children about STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) and their commitment to ensuring that classes were taught by a diverse staff, so that every student can see someone who looks like them working in the field.
Having a background in tech herself, Harper loved the fact that Brooklyn Robot Foundry was founded and run by a woman who had worked as an engineer. Harper’s background in tech includes software development, a role as a Support Engineer, and a Scrum Master at Kaplan, leading technical teams.
According to their website, the goal of the Brooklyn Robot Foundry is to share the fun of STEAM learning with children ages 2-12 everywhere and inspire them to continue a life full of exploration, problem-solving, and imagination. In 2022, the Foundry launched a Frandowment Competition, awarding one franchise free of fees for the first year to one deserving owner.
At the time, Harper was working at IBM as an Associate Data Scientist. After learning about the Frandowment Competition, she knew it was an opportunity she would always regret not taking advantage of. After doing her due diligence and reaching out to friends with experience in the franchising space, she decided to take the leap and apply.
The entire Foundry team was impressed with Harper’s experience and her thoughtful application in which she spoke on the importance of making programs like these equitable for all children and the need for parent leaders, and knew she was the perfect franchise candidate to join them on their mission. In July 2023, Harper was announced as the winner and opened her first location in September 2023.
The Frandowment opportunity is unique in the franchise industry. Franchisor incentives for franchise ownership come in various forms but rarely include free or significant discounts for the initial investment, royalty fees, inventory, and marketing fees. And while discounts can be a motivator in considering franchise ownership, they are just one factor.
Harper shared with BLACK ENTERPRISE, “I truly believed that I was CEO of my own career, so to that end, I would keep learning and earning certificates that would put me into my next best position. I just hadn’t really thought of myself as an actual entrepreneur. I realized that it was more my mindset than the money that was standing in my way. I feel like the contest to win a franchise was a kick in the pants for me. I don’t think it would have been impossible to own a franchise without the competition, but the thought of getting a break on the fees for the first year, for some reason, really incentivized me. I felt I could always come back to data science, but this felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so why not give it a chance.”
Harper’s realization that it wasn’t simply about the discounts the Frandowment opportunity provided is a testament to the importance of these types of programs within the franchise sector to encourage other BIPOC entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs to take the leap into franchise ownership.
“The Frandowment competition allowed me to imagine a different future for myself and my family. I think that it could do the same for other people. Historically, our communities have been blocked access to capital and it shapes how we move today and what we can envision. Competitions like the Frandowment are a great way to counteract that. I hope other franchisors consider this as a way to achieve greater diversity amongst their franchisees,” explained Harper.
As a native-born Jamaican, Harper believes that running her own business, specifically a Brooklyn Robot Foundry, provides her with an amazing sense of freedom, fitting perfectly in line with the celebration of Juneteenth this month.
“I am free to win, but then also free to lose. I hope that by creating classrooms of budding engineers that are truly inclusive we can help to address the lack of diversity in technology. The curriculum that we are using exposes young people to creative problem-solving and builds their confidence. These skills will help them to thrive in any field in the future,” she said.
She added, “To champion equity, we maintain a scholarship list so that we can provide financial assistance to families that need help. We are actively seeking grants and partners, like the New York Public Library so that we can put on classes for the public for free.”
“When I was working in tech, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of diversity and the tokenism and think about the ways that that negatively impacts us. There are no adequate solutions when we only hear the same voices. I am hoping that my franchise will make a difference in the lives of the children that are in my classes and their families. The biggest motivator in everything I do is knowing my daughter is watching. I hope to inspire her to use her own talents and ideas to, one day, create a business that solves a problem that she cares about after learning from all my mistakes firsthand.”
Dawn Porter Documentary, ‘Power Of The Dream,’ Details How WNBA Players Demanded Social Justice
The documentary features insights from former and current WNBA legends like Sue Bird and Layeshia Clarendon.
Dawn Porter’s compelling new documentary Power of the Dream, is now streaming on Prime Video, and chronicles the remarkable story of a group of WNBA players who boldly took a stand for social justice and rallied behind now-Senator Raphael Warnock.
According to Sports Business Journal, the film’s origins trace back to 2020, when then-U.S. Senator and former Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) publicly admonished the WNBA for voicing support for Black Lives Matter amid the COVID-19 pandemic and height of social unrest.
“Getting to the bubble felt like a win, and then we get smacked in the face with Kelly Loeffler’s letter,” said WNBA retiree and four-time titleholder Sue Bird.
“Saying she didn’t want us to have Black Lives Matter, Say Her Name [Breonna Taylor], anywhere involved in the season. I can vividly remember being like, ‘That’s bullshit. What do you mean? You own a WNBA team. You know exactly who we are. You know exactly what we represent.’”
In the aftermath of the high-profile conflict with the WNBA players, the league disclosed in 2021 that Loeffler and co-owner Mary Brock had divested their stake in the team, transferring ownership to a trio of new investors.
“It is our fervent wish that we shall never see again such an abuse of power and arrogant display of privilege,” Women’s National Basketball Players Association Executive Director Terri Jackson said at the time, according to The Washington Post.
According to a press release from Amazon MGM Studios, the documentary features candid firsthand perspectives from pivotal figures, including Bird, WNBA retiree Angel McCoughtry, the Los Angeles Sparks‘ Layshia Clarendon, Elizabeth Williams representing the Chicago Sky, Seattle Storm’s Nneka Ogwumike, as well as insights from prominent media voices Jemele Hill and Holly Rowe.
According to Amazon MGM Studios, Power of the Dream is presented by Prime Video Sports and hails from Industrial Media, Trilogy Films, Joy Mill Entertainment, and TOGETHXR. Tracee Ellis Ross is among the producers.
Kyle V. Allman is Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of BLACK ENTERPRISE, where he leads the company’s national sales organization and drives revenue strategy across its expanding portfolio of digital, social, and experiential platforms.
Allman joined BLACK ENTERPRISE in 1999 as Circulation Manager for BLACK ENTERPRISE magazine, overseeing new business and renewal subscriptions, as well as programs designed to maintain and grow readership. In 2004, he created the Financial Empowerment Series, a series of after-work financial networking seminars designed to engage African American professionals and expand awareness of the BLACK ENTERPRISE brand. In addition to developing the concept and programming, Allman helped secure sponsorship support for the series. The success of the initiative helped pave the way for his transition into the company’s Sales department in 2005, where he began developing integrated partnerships across the BLACK ENTERPRISE portfolio.
Today, Allman oversees the BLACK ENTERPRISE national sales team, creating innovative, cross-platform media and marketing partnerships for leading brands and organizations. His responsibilities span BLACK ENTERPRISE’s digital and social platforms as well as its signature national events, including the Women of Power Summit, Xcel Summit for Men, HBCU Hackathon, as well as a collection of podcasts across various industries.
Prior to joining BLACK ENTERPRISE, Allman held circulation management roles with publications including ICON, a men’s thought and style magazine, and Graphis, an international publication focused on visual communication and graphic design.
Allman earned a Bachelor of Science in Business from Long Island University and serves on several community-focused boards.
