8th Grader Treks 2 Hours To Attend His Graduation, Lands A Full-Ride to an HBCU
One step at a time, an eighth grader’s long walk to graduation landed him a full-ride scholarship to a historically Black university (HBCU).
Middle school student Xavier Jones walked two hours to attend his eighth-grade promotion ceremony at Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU).
A good support system can take a person far in life. Luckily, Jones did not have to take the two-hour trek alone. According to a Facebook post by HSSU, the Yeatman Middle School student was accompanied by his brother and friend. Together, the three journeyed from West Florissant and Mimika in North St. Louis, Missouri, to the HBCU. A quick Google Maps search reveals walking from West Florissant to HSSU via West Florissant Avenue is around a seven-mile trip by foot.
The middle schooler’s effort to attend the ceremony did not go unnoticed. HSSU president, Dr. LaTonia Collins Smith, heard about Jones’ journey and offered him a presidential scholarship to attend the university.
A tweet from the university said, “From a determined walk to an inspiring journey! Yeatman Middle School student Xavier Jones walked 2 hours to his promotion ceremony. Moved by his dedication, HSSU President Dr. LaTonia Collins Smith offered him a Presidential scholarship.”
The Facebook post added, “HSSU President Dr. LaTonia Collins Smith was so moved by his dedication and perseverance, she offered him a Presidential scholarship, which covers four years of tuition, housing, books, and fees!”
HSSU’s in-state tuition is about $16,000 yearly, not including books. This means the scholarship awarded to Jones would save him around $64,000 for a four-year degree.
HSSU might be a great financial move for other students in Missouri. According to the university’s website, HSSU was “recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top 10 public schools in the country where in-state students paid the least for the 2016-2017 school year.” Congratulations are in order for this young man’s dedication and ambition to succeed.
Albany State University Fosters Community Engagement with “Read to a Class Day”
Albany State University (ASU) hosted “Read to a Class Day” as a community engagement event during the 120th Founder’s Day. This event encouraged reading to elementary school students within the Dougherty County School System (DCSS) to positively impact their educational experience.
The university partnered with four elementary schools which included Live Oak, Lake Park, Lincoln, and International Studies. Over thirty-five ASU faculty, staff, and students volunteered to read to various classes. Among the volunteers that participated were members of ASU’s football team. The team enjoyed reading to the children and hearing about their future careers and goals.
Each of the schools expressed their excitement and appreciation throughout the event. Upon the volunteer’s arrival at Lincoln Elementary School, they were greeted by a walkway of students from the cheerleading team that cheered as they entered the school.
Associate Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations, Samala Carrington said, “Our visit with the elementary schools were exciting for both our campus community and the elementary students. The event allowed us to have a direct impact on the younger generation of students and strengthen our community partnerships with DCSS.”
Alumni Relations Coordinator, Joslyn Dipasalegne, participated during the event and said, “The opportunity to make a difference in the lives of young children—our future—was provided by this event. Their eyes were opened to people in professional positions who resembled them. We want to assist in guiding them in the right direction as they continue along in their educational journeys.”
For more information on Albany State University and more community events, visit www.asurams.edu.
Tori Brixx Shares The Blueprint To Her Success With Aspiring Millennial Entrepreneurs
Tori Brixx, a DJ, recording artist, entrepreneur, and talk show host, began her career on social media. She posted a picture to her Instagram account, and it went viral, and from there, she started DJ’ing and hired a coach to help hone her craft.
She booked gigs, including Nick Cannon’s Wild N’ Out and a commercial with Beats By Dre that eventually helped prepare her to work with various brands. She also began dabbling in music, and with her manager, Monica Payne’s guidance, Brixx auditioned for Revolt’s Black Girl Stuff.
Brixx explains, “When I got there, I saw how structured it was, and it was very intimidating. There were so many women in journalism and radio backgrounds, like Brii Renee, who is one of my co-hosts and other news anchors. I was just like, I don’t know if I can really be authentically Tori Brixx.”
But, after the producers reassured her they wanted her to be herself, it made her feel a little more comfortable. Still, she said, “It was hard. I had to learn. I had to get my confidence up.”
“I was so afraid of cancel culture. What if I say the wrong thing? What if I’m not knowledgeable about a topic? I just didn’t want to say the wrong thing or say it the wrong way. So, I just wanted to make sure that I [would] be a vessel and I let God use me, and I bring my real experience so that I’m saying things that can be relatable and show that I’m learning with you guys too.”
On “Black Girl Stuff,” the crew talks about things from a female perspective and has had guests this current season like Jordyn Woods, Jozzy, Reginae Carter, New Edition, Chloe Bailey, Cynthia Bailey, and Eva Marcille.
With a current distribution deal, we can also look forward to hearing something new from Brixx.
“I just can’t wait to share it and see what everybody has to think.”
And as an entrepreneur, she gets to balance her artistry with her business.
“But I have somebody to help me say hey, make sure that this is done or taken care of and make sure I’m on it. But even though they’re making sure and pushing you to do it, you still got to be consistent. Just be aware of what’s going on. Make sure you getting your money and you reading those contracts and you perform and you showing up.”
She has her sights on having several successful businesses in the future, such as a CBD skincare line, which is currently in the works.
Brixx definitely wants to be a voice for the ones who can’t speak, and she wants to make sure that the positivity she has around her is also spread to others.
“To leave behind, I want to be a positive image in this industry and be a voice that they can relate to.” As her career soars, Brixx shares her journey authentically with her social media following.
Nutty Professor’ Soundtrack Taught Jay-Z How To Become A Businessman & Billionaire
As successful as Jay-Z is, according to a recent Boardroom article, his business acumen came from a place he hadn’t thought about when he officially entered the music industry ranks.
The success of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, wasn’t what made Jay-Z more of a businessman. It was a song on that album placed on the soundtrack of an Eddie Murphy movie that led the Brooklyn-bred rapper toward becoming a billionaire.
The masses didn’t gravitate to the album like the streets embraced it. Most of us know that the streets didn’t necessarily buy records, specifically during that time. But, the inclusion of “Ain’t No…” featuring a 17-year-old Foxy Brown on The Nutty Professor soundtrack did more for his career than the lyrics he possessed did at that particular time.
The remake (the original The Nutty Professor came out in 1963 and featured comedian Jerry Lewis) featuring Murphy grossed $274 million at the box office. It’s a safe bet that most of those who saw the film and/or listened to the soundtrack did not know who Jay-Z was, but they knew after the movie’s release.
Brokering a deal with Def Jam Records’ Russell Simmons to get the song on the soundtrack, it sold a million units. Jay-Z was at the beginning of the commercial success he eventually obtained.
“We learned about the business through that record,” Jay told MTV News. “We had a little of bargaining power. Our lack of knowledge of the business was made up because we had a hit record. A hit record helps you out, it makes you smarter than you really are.”
That hit record changed the career trajectory of the richest hip-hop recording artist (Net worth: $2.5 billion, according to Forbes).
After seeing how commercial success can be, he recorded 1997’s In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, with a different mindset. The album debuted at No. 3 on the US Billboard 200 chart and became his first platinum album. Since then, Jay-Z has continued to dominate the industry in various ways.
Black TikTok Creator Stirs The Pot Calling White Women ‘One of the Most Dangerous Groups in the US’
A Black TikTok activist made a video that labeled white women as “one of the most dangerous groups in the United States” and it has white people in an uproar.
Sierra Thompson, the TikTok creator who goes by the handle @blkgirltragic, posted the video in response to a viral video showing a NYC nurse attempting to stop a Black boy from using a city bike. After sharing her thoughts, she goes on to say that “whiteness is a cult” and points out how white people are making excuses for that nurses behavior.
Thompson’s words are not her own. Associate professor of Latin American and Indigenous Studies at Stonybrook University, Joseph M. Pierce, tweeted the statement in Mar. 2022.
The TikTok creator claims people were bombarding the comment section of her profile as well as the video of the bike incident to prove the white women’s innocent over the Black boys.
“It’s wild to me how people still see Black people as one of the most violent groups when actually the most violent among us has the inability to hold their community members accountable for the ways in which they harm others,” Thompson said.
“You know who you are.”
Her video made its way to Twitter and was reposted by Libs of TikTok only to have anti-woke page, Thoughts of a Women, share their rebuttal.
“It’s crazy how non-white people can speak this way about white people and it’s not a problem,” the user tweeted. “White people are hated on so greatly in this country and it’s really sad to see.” They weren’t alone in their thoughts.
Exactly. If roles were reversed, they would play the race card, always.
Thompson didn’t back down on her stance, and actually made a video crediting Pierce for making the statement first. She continued to explain the depths of the theory.
“Whiteness is a cult that is fed into by white supremacy,” she said. “Your intimidation tactics don’t change historical facts.”
Thompson may have a point, as similar arguments have been made, particularly, after the Jan. 6 attacks that express this sentiment.
“White women’s investment in white supremacy is older than the United States itself and goes back to their role in the economy of slavery,” writer Anna North wrote.
Amber Ruffin Calls Out Streaming Providers For Not Sharing Stats So They Can Pay Writers Less
Comedian Amber Ruffin is still thriving despite the ongoing writer’s strike plaguing Hollywood. A writer and on-air talent herself, Ruffin knows firsthand how streaming giants are getting away with not properly compensating the writers for creating their best-performing content.
Ruffin saw a boost in her career in 2020, when Seth Meyers decided to open each episode of his late-night show with her unscripted take on life as a Black woman, as noted by The Daily Beast. That opportunity soon led to Ruffin, who became the first Black woman writer in late-night television back in 2015, hosting her own late-night talk show, The Amber Ruffin Show.
While the show is still in production amid the writer’s strike and cancellation of other Black-led talk shows, including like HBO’s Pause with Sam Jay and Showtime’s Ziwe, Ruffin’s show has been reduced to occasional one-off specials and is no longer a weekly series.
“I think it says we’re in America. Hi, welcome to America,” Ruffin shared on “The Last Laugh” podcast in response to her Peacock show’s subtle erase from the platform.
But the star is still doing well in an industry where the odds were once stacked against her as a Black female comedian. She has a new podcast, from iHeartMedia and Will Ferrell’s Big Money Players Network, called “The Amber & Lacey, Lacey & Amber Show,” which she hosts alongside her sister Lacey Lamar. Ruffin is also fresh off receiving her first Tony nomination for writing the book for the new musical version of Some Like It Hot.
When it comes to her work as a writer, Ruffin fully supports the writer’s strike and believes it will be “a long strike” until streaming giants agree to properly compensate the writers behind the content that generates so much money.
The pay will come when writers are aware of how many people are streaming their content. The big issue is, the streaming providers aren’t sharing the stats.
“They know exactly how many people are watching it, but they will never tell you,” Ruffin said.
“You used to be able to make a living off of writing a TV show, and you can’t anymore. It doesn’t have to be like this.”
How Can Black Millennials Take Part In Homeownership In 2023?
The current recession is a daunting reality to face. The job market is shaky and layoffs are sweeping across various industries. Many of us are struggling to pay down student loans for financial relief, some are struggling to get by and pay rent, and we’re all staring at another recession. So what gives? Well, after a conversation with Brooklyn real estate broker and entrepreneur Tricia Lee Riley, a lot, actually.
“We’re in an official recession now, but nobody wants to talk about it. I guess they don’t feel good about the marketing around it. We’ve never had a recession before where tech companies are laying people off. So you know it’s bad,” said Riley. “It’s going to be a few years before we really get stable again. It’s just a cyclical thing. Every industry is impacted.”
A lot of Black millennials are really scared by this. Many may not still know some of the basics of investing or even proper budgeting given the economy we were dealt out of college or just going into young adulthood. So I questioned Riley on what she’d honestly suggest Black millennials do right now if they haven’t started preparing for the recession and still want to be homeowners.
“Black millennials need to adapt changes to their personal budget. We never know when our individual industries will be affected. It’s about taking responsibility for your livelihood and your security,” she said. “There’s no such thing as job security, whether you work for yourself or you don’t. When we’re looking at shifts and changes in the economy, you must apply that to your own home. When I saw the rates were going up, which would impact the number of people who were buying homes, therefore impacting the number of people who were able to successfully sell homes, I prepared by cutting my entire salary by 20% and my home budget by 25%, which entails what I allow myself to spend.”
Riley continued: “I think where millennials get it wrong is that they understand what’s going on in the economy and they understand their money, but they’re not living well below their means when the time comes. There are just times in life when you need to live well below your means, which can still mean living well but also below your means. You can’t earn and spend. You can’t do that and plan for security. You have to sacrifice something for security.”
I asked Riley for her thoughts on house hacking, especially for millennials in their 30s.
“I don’t know why house hacking is overlooked so much. Whatever that looks like: Maybe it’s you and a roommate, or maybe it’s you moving in with your partner. It could even mean going to live with your parents for six months to restructure. Just don’t personalize these financial struggles when it’s a global concern.”
That last line stood out, as so many of us in our 30s, and even some of us in our late 20s, feel like failures because we can’t live up to the life our parents had at our age or even to what we were expected to have at this point in our lives.
“You want to say ‘I failed’ or ‘I didn’t do this right.’ But it’s not you! If the government can be in arrears, why do you think you’re supposed to be perfect? Come on,” Riley reasoned. “What it is, though, is being moldable and flexible as things change. And also being creative and having the judgment to not overextend yourself.”
While I won’t point the blame solely at social media for many millennials and Gen Zers trying to “keep up with the Joneses,” I will acknowledge the effect it’s had on us. Overextension, as Riley labels it, is a trend many of us fell into. “Millennials don’t have to feel that since they may be making a certain amount they should be paying more. Nothing feels as good as security,” Riley says. “When we bought our home, there were homes that I wanted, but better than that, I wanted to know that if I wanted to take a client I could, and if I didn’t want to I wouldn’t have to.”
Ironically, the pandemic affected Riley as soon as she bought her home. “I was in my home for seven days before the pandemic hit, and I couldn’t work for seven months. I didn’t earn a check for nine months. That’s when you realize how important it is to live for things that are true for you and not what impresses other people.”
One aspect that came up was our cultural obsession with independence in the Black community and how it affects our daily lives and future finances. It still seems taboo, in a sense, to bring up, but the truth is that we’ve heard all too often of Black parents asking their kids to leave the house at 18 or 21, forcing many to figure life out without a head start. “I think culturally we are immensely tied to our independence and also defined by it. And that’s generational. There’s a level of immense pride in our ‘independence’ that is different culturally. I’ve been around to see how other cultures take a lot of pride in how well they set their children up to be successful when they become independent. They ideally want to see their kid come out of the house, maybe get married, and buy a house. Maybe rent for a year or two, but be positioned to now secure their own home and fully do ‘adulting.’”
What we can afford versus what we can actually cover comes up, with Riley explaining that “there is something to be said about budgets and what’s realistic. Sometimes we do things that we can pay for but can’t really afford it. Being able to afford something means that if your hours were cut by 20% you’d still be comfortable. Being able to afford it means that you don’t have to wait until you get paid to take care of it. I think what we need to do in our culture is look at finances and budgeting and have more conversations around that. For instance, you should only be paying about 20% of your income on housing.”
With the job market in a whirlwind of layoffs, the thought of holding off on purchasing a home for a few years plagues many Black millennials. However, there are some of us who do have the savings and income to purchase. I wanted to know firsthand what Riley thought of sitting tight on buying anything while the market does what it does.
“I don’t think sitting tight is always necessary, because homeownership is impacted by so many things. What you hear about the most are interest rates. But that doesn’t always impact every buyer. A lot of people can have preferred interest rates through their banking relationships and through their job’s banking relationships,” she explained.
When asked if having the funds for a down payment or the best credit was more important, she confidently responded, “Absolutely both. The credit is going to determine your loan terms, and that’s extremely important. If you don’t have good loan terms, you won’t be able to afford your purchase. For example, if I borrow $500,000 and I have great credit, and you borrow that much with only decent credit, our monthly payments and home insurance look very different. So now we may be living in the same house, but it’s costing you 25% more than me. And don’t forget your closing costs, either. Closing costs can run you 3% to 4% of the transaction.”
House hacking, serious budgeting, living well below our means, and remaining adaptable to the shifting economy is where Riley advises Black millennials to begin their homeownership dream — though not at the cost of our mental health. “Come down from where you think you need to be to where you are. Millennials have a habit of not giving themselves grace around finances, feeling that they need to be fully financially established to be legit. That’s not fair to them. It’s not fair to yourself, because things are always going to happen,” she says. “Things are going to come up. Nothing is ever set. That’s why grace is important. I feel like millennials just want to be where they want to be right away, and that’s just not how this works. You have to give yourself grace.”
Meet the Black Doula Who Is Saving Lives and Bringing Joy to Birth
For more than 20 years now, Shafia M. Monroe, founder of SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion Training, has been training and certifying doulas to help improve birth outcomes, teach Black birth tradition, and bring more joy to the birthing experience.
Giving birth should be a beautiful time. But according to a report by the CDC, in 2021 the national Black maternal mortality rate increased to 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020. Even worse, there has been an increase of preterm-related infant mortality rates for Black babies: It’s now three times higher than the white infant mortality rate.
Monroe comments, “Black pregnant and postpartum women deserve the best; they should be celebrated, protected, and honored for bringing new life into the world. Historically, when a Black woman was pregnant it was a time of joy, and her community surrounded her with love and support.”
Black women need doulas because it shortens labor, reduces cesarean sections, decreases medical interventions, lessens the need for regional anesthesia, increases breastfeeding rates, reduces premature births, and parents feel more satisfied with the birth experience. All these outcomes positively impact the birth of a child.
And becoming a doula is a rite of passage to community healing. Learning how to care for pregnant women, understanding the physiology of pregnancy and birth as well as the legacy African American midwifery, reducing Black infant mortality and maternal morbidity, teaching nutrition and self-care can only benefit Black mothers-to-be.
To grow the doula workforce, Monroe will hold online and in-person trainings every other month throughout 2023.
“My goal is to increase the number of Black doulas, who can educate the community on how to improve infant and maternal health, bring joy to Black birth, and be pillars in their communities,” she says.
Black Startups Could Benefit From New $150 Million Investment Fund
SoftBank has launched a $150 million fund aimed at providing fresh capital to Black and Latino startups.
The Japanese technology investor has also rebranded the effort, calling it the Open Opportunity Fund (OOF). The shift is intended to provide greater access for other outside limited partnerships to invest in the fund.
Investor and entrepreneur Paul Judge is chairman of this new fund. He and others will become co-owners of OOF, with SoftBank as a limited partner.
Plans call for the second fund, or Fund 2, to surpass the initial effort by deploying the $150 million within three years. The first fund, launched in 2020, invested $100 million in 75 companies led by Black and Latino founders, including Greenwood,Career Karma, and Praxis Labs.
Judge told BLACK ENTERPRISE via email that SoftBank was committed to the mission.
“One of the key evolution points with Fund 2 is that we are opening access to other LPs. We are excited by the early interest and commitments shown by a wide set of potential investors,” said Judge, adding that Fund 2 is about earning commitments from different types of investors and noting that several corporations, foundations, and institutions have already made pledges to invest in minority businesses.
Judge said minorities and HBCU endowments traditionally have not had great access to the asset class of tech venture capital funds. But as part and parcel of closing the overall wealth gap, Black individuals and institutions need to have access to strong investment opportunities as well.
“One of our goals is to help close that gap by providing access to qualified Black individuals, family offices, and HBCUs to invest in the Open Opportunity Fund,” he explained.
That capital support is certainly needed. Financing has become increasingly difficult for Black founders. BE reported that Black founders raised an estimated $2.254 billion out of the $215.9 billion in U.S. venture capital allocated in 2022.
And financial backing dropped 45% for those businesses last year, making it the largest year-over-year decline for Black entrepreneurs. The numbers offer a grim insight on how challenging VC funding can be for Black founders and business owners.
Simultaneously, many of the nation’s largest corporations vowed tens of billions of dollars roughly three years ago to support economic growth and new opportunities for Black businesses and individuals. But a significant amount of that funding purportedly has not materialized.
OOF will target a broad range of Black companies to support with funding and plans to have a similar ratio and number of Black and Latino founders in the second fund as it had in the first, Chad Harris, vice president of Fund 2, described. In the current portfolio, he said, there are more than 40 Black founders and more than 30 Latino founders.
“This means we will reach almost 150 Black and Latino founders in the combined portfolio,” Harris estimated.
The existing portfolio includes companies operating within financial technology, healthcare IT, enterprise software, education tech, blockchain, and artificial intelligence.
Harris said diverse entrepreneurs are solving some of the world’s hardest problems, noting the work being done by Praxis Labs on diversity, Mayveen on wellness and beauty, and Altro, Greenwood, and Welcome Tech around financial tools.
“Some of these problems are not about the diversity lens but instead are amazingly talented entrepreneurs solving hard problems, like Lumu in cybersecurity or QuickNode in blockchain,” he said.
All told, SoftBank believes it can continue to help Black founders grow. This news release shows some metrics on the progress that’s already been made on that front.
Judge shared with BE that the Open Opportunity Fund not only has a proven team but has also shown that investing in minority companies can deliver successful returns.
“It is not only the right thing to do, it is also a profitable thing to do,” he said.
17-Year-Old Shooting Victim Ralph Yarl Makes First Public Appearance At Brain Injury Fundraiser
Things seem to be looking up for Ralph Yarl since he made national headlines in April after being shot in the head.
Yarl, the 17-year-old Black boy who was shot for mistakenly ringing the wrong doorbell, appears to be recovering well, as he made his first public appearance at the Going the Distance for Brain Injury annual run in Kansas City, Missouri, the Kansas City Star reports.
Yarl stood strong with fellow brain injury survivors and was supported by his family and friends. The 1,000-plus other participants, racing through Loose Park with neon green T-shirts, had registered as members of “Team Ralph.”
Yarl’s aunt, Faith Spoonmore, said it was important for her nephew to see he isn’t alone.
“This is not something that anyone planned for; however, it is one of those things where there’s a whole community of people that go through this, live life with this,” Spoonmore said.
“We want him to see there are people still living good lives even after this. That’s the part we’re most grateful for. There’s still hope.”
The race, now in its 36th year, raises money for the Brain Injury Association of Kansas and Greater Kansas City, an organization that provides the public with brain injury advocacy, education, and resources. Many supporters wanted to talk to Yarl about his experience, but his family did its best to keep conversations light. Robin Abramowitz, executive director of the association, said that Yarl’s appearance also served to bring awareness and “attention to the fact that brain injury can happen anytime, anywhere, to anyone.”
The Staley High School student found himself a victim of gun violence when Andrew Lester, 84, shot him because he rang his doorbell, looking to pick up his brother. Lester was arrested and charged with two felonies — assault in the first degree and armed criminal action — after protests erupted in Missouri and across the country.
