NFL-Bills Safety Hamlin Meets with U.S. President Biden
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin and his family visited U.S. President Joe Biden, the White House said on Thursday, months after he suffered a cardiac arrest during an NFL game.
Hamlin, then aged 24, had to have his heartbeat restored on the field after making a tackle in the first quarter of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals in January, in an incident that sent shockwaves through the National Football League.
Hamlin spoke on Capitol Hill on Wednesday in support of a new bipartisan legislation that would increase the availability of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in schools.
“The President thanked Damar for his courage, resilience, and can-do spirit which has inspired the American people,” the White House said in a statement.
“He commended Damar for his efforts – including through legislation – to bring people together and make life-saving technologies more widely available.”
Amerie’s Debut Picture Book ‘You Will Do Great Things’ Strives To Inspire Littles Ones To Dream
Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and producer Amerie is still doing great things.
On Mar. 28, Amerie celebrated the release of her debut picture book, You Will Do Great Things, a fantastical journey about the great possibilities that lie ahead for our little ones, according to Vibe.
Coming off other projects, including the 2017 best-selling bookBecause You Love to Hate Me and the upcoming novel Cool. Awkward. Black., the book club founder proudly announced the news via Instagram alongside a special tidbit that revealed just how much this story was inspired by her 4-year-old son, River.
“There are so many things I want my son to know — about himself, his potential, and life’s journey — and I put them in this book,” Amerie wrote in her social media caption.
The book, published through Macmillan Children’s/Roaring Brook Press, is a lyrical translation of a young boy’s imagination. Family photos encourage the lad on a journey to try bold new things, venture into unexplored worlds, and form deep connections with his multicultural heritage and ancestors. Amerie and her son hail from a Korean and African-American family background.
“Amerie has written a moving, sweeping, and deeply loving story that is inspired by her own family. It is a celebration of everything our little ones have yet to do: the great, the amazing, the strange, and the new. It’s also a lasting reminder that the loved ones in our lives will always be right there beside us ― and in our hearts ― cheering us on,” as stated on Amazon.
Featuring vibrant illustrations by Raissa Figueroa, You Will Do Great Things is also inspired by River’s swag, The main character’s outfit is based on one of River’s own stylish fits.
“The incredible Raissa Figueroa created illustrations that are breathtakingly rich, poignant works of art, bringing to life what I wanted to ultimately convey, which is the very strong, very universal thing every parent who loves their child feels: that we will be forever by their side, cheering them on,” Amerie wrote in gratitude.
Tamala Jones Recalls Suffering A Brain Aneurysm At The Peak of Her Career, ‘I Hit The Floor’
Actress Tamala Jones is opening up about the brain aneurysm she has battled with throughout her life and how it impacted her 30-year career.
The Wood actress appeared on The Tamron Hall Show last week to promote the new Lifetime movie she executive produced and stars in, Every Breath She Takes. While discussing her experience navigating Hollywood for the last three decades, she spoke candidly about a life-changing health scare caused by her brain aneurysm.
“I was born with it,” Jones revealed. “I wasn’t expecting that, and no one else was.”
She went on to describe the pain caused by the aneurysm.
“It was a headache that happened for two weeks straight,” she explained. “I was taking all the sinus medicine and Tylenol. [I] probably should of took an aspirin, and it kept going.”
She experienced another aneurysm while filming season four of For Your Love over 20 years ago.
“One morning, I woke up; I didn’t have any balance. I felt like I had to urinate really bad, and I stumbled to the toilet, nothing came out,” Jones recalled.
“My head started hurting really bad, and then I hit the floor. When I got up, the right side of my body was numb.”
Determined to get to work, Jones pushed past the pain she was feeling and drove to set.
“I got in the car, not realizing that this was done. My right foot was so heavy, I had to put my left foot on the brake and manually move this off the gas pedal,” she explained. “I drove to work, left foot, left hand.”
Jones recalled still being required to work, despite her health issues. After a long workday, she went to see a doctor.
“I got to the hospital, and the doctor was like, ‘I am in awe that you’re alive. Let alone worked a whole day,’” she recalled.
Since having the health scare, Jones has made it her mission to educate others about the realities of brain aneurysms.
“I wasn’t sleeping or eating properly. I was overworked,” she told the Academy of Neurology in 2014. “I think in some ways my experience was a wake-up call to take better care of myself.”
“If I can help one person recognize the symptoms of a brain aneurysm and get help, then I will have made a difference.”
U.S. Accuses Fugees Rapper of Illegal Lobbying with Malaysian Financier
A federal prosecutor on Thursday accused Grammy Award-winning rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of The Fugees hip hop group of illegally taking tens of millions of dollars to lobby the U.S. government on behalf of a Malaysian financier and the Chinese government.
The accusations were made at the start of a trial that prosecutor Nicole Lockhart said will link Michel to financier Jho Low, who is suspected of embezzling $4.5 billion from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, and a Chinese government influence campaign aimed at repatriating dissident Guo Wengui.
Michel is being tried on 11 criminal counts including various conspiracy charges for what prosecutors said were three separate lobbying schemes to influence the administrations of former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Michel has denied the allegations.
“This is a case about foreign money, influence and concealment,” Lockhart said during her opening statement in Washington on Thursday.
Lockhart told jurors the case will highlight “political intrigue, backroom dealings … burner phones and lies.”
The Fugees won two Grammy Awards for their best-selling 1996 album “The Score.” But by 2012, prosecutors said, Michel was in dire need of cash, and he found a solution to his problem through Low, who was known to pay Hollywood celebrities to party with him.
In the first alleged scheme, prosecutors said Michel agreed to funnel about $2 million from Low into Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
Because federal election law prohibits foreigners from donating to U.S. campaigns, prosecutors said Michel masked the source of the funds by using straw donors. In exchange for helping Low, the government said Michel pocketed $18 million.
“Through this scheme, the defendant duped the Obama campaign,” Lockhart told the jury.
A few years later, prosecutors said the focus of Michel’s foreign lobbying campaign shifted, as the U.S. Justice Department intensified its investigation into Low over his suspected embezzlement of more than $4.5 billion from 1MDB.
Low “needed a different kind of help,” Lockhart said, saying that he paid Michel millions of dollars more to try to “secure influence at the highest levels of the United States government” that would quash the investigation.
Michel and Elliott Broidy, the former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, and other co-conspirators are accused of waging an “illegal back-channel” influence campaign to convince the Trump administration to back off on its investigation into Low.
Prosecutors said they also tried to lobby the Trump administration at China’s behest to return exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui to China.
For his work on these two lobbying campaigns on behalf of Low and China, prosecutors said Michel was paid $70 million.
Prosecutors also said Michel failed to register as a foreign agent as required by law.
Later, after learning he was under criminal investigation, prosecutors said Michel tried to obstruct the probe by contacting witnesses and sending demand letters to straw donors from the 2012 campaign that threatened them with a lawsuit if they did not repay the funds.
Guo has since been indicted on unrelated U.S. fraud charges.
Low remains a fugitive in the Michel case. He is also facing separate U.S. criminal charges for conspiring to launder billions from 1MDB.
In 2019, the Justice Department secured a civil settlement separate from the criminal action with Low, and Low agreed to return about $1 billion in assets.
Broidy pleaded guilty for his role in October 2020, but Trump granted him a full pardon before leaving the White House.
Michel’s defense team on Thursday opted to delay their opening statement until after prosecutors complete making their case. His lawyers are expected to argue that Michel did not know he was acting as a foreign agent and believed he was furthering American interests.
The case is expected to feature testimony from prominent witnesses that could include actor Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as former top Trump administration officials.
PREA Foundation Invests $10.8 Million in SEO Career to Advance Diversity and Inclusion in Real Estate
PREAFoundation(Pension Real Estate Association) has approved an $8 million investment into SEOCareer(Sponsors for Educational Opportunity) over five years–SEO’s largest multi-year grant–to continue developing and placing a pipeline of Black, Hispanic, and Native American interns and entry-level candidates at top real estate firms. This recently approved $8M grant, coupled with an initial $ 2.8M pilot grant to launch the SEO Real Estate Track in 2018, brings the total investment to $10.8M to help develop a diverse career pipeline into commercial real estate.
Watch an SEO Career intern share their story here.
“We are proud to partner with SEO to provide students with the tools and resources they need to succeed in the commercial real estate industry,” said Deborah Harmon, Co-Founder of the PREA Foundation and CEO at Artemis Real Estate Partners. “This collaboration is an important step forward in producing a more diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the communities we serve.”
Equipped with the technical training needed to succeed, students thrive in dozens of roles, including Real Estate Private Equity, Capital Markets, Property Management, Investor Relations, Commercial Real Estate, and Asset Management.
“Without SEO, I wouldn’t have been as proactive about contributing to the real estate industry,” said SEO alum Lynne Andre, who interned with JPMorgan Chase & Co. for two consecutive summers and, upon graduating from the University of Pennsylvania this spring, will be an Analyst at Artemis Real Estate Partners. “Connecting and learning from those who look like me has pushed my motivation and confidence to join the field and pursue a career I have truly been passionate about.”
The grant will allow SEO Career to expose 2,600 students to education events on-campus with partner schools and real estate-themed training boot camps for freshmen and sophomores in multiple cities, including Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. Through its newest initiative SEO Hire, the grant also strengthens the organization’s ability to expand its efforts of closing the gap of full-time employment opportunities by providing 300 full-time jobs.
Since its launch in 2017, the PREA and SEO Career Real Estate Track partnership has provided intensive, industry-led training and coaching to 450+ interns across 30+ cities. Students have secured life-changing summer internships with firms across the commercial real estate industry, with interns earning over $4 million in wages across five years. Of the program’s graduating class of 2022, an average of 90% currently work full-time in the real estate industry.
“PREA’s partnership elevates SEO Career being the premier real estate training program for historically excluded students in the country,” said Mindy Davis, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of SEO Career. “This grant takes our work to the next level in closing the opportunity gap for young professionals of color and ensuring the real estate industry has access to a diversified workforce.”
By merging SEO Career’s structured professional development program with PREA’s network of 100+ partner firms, interns have exclusive access to c-level executives, top internship opportunities, 100+ hours of coaching and training, and a lifelong professional network.
Bass Public Affairs Announces the Humphrey-Pinkston Fellows Program for Students Attending HBCUs
Bass Public Affairs (BPA) is excited to announce the launch of the Humphrey-Pinkston Fellows program. The Humphrey-Pinkston Fellows program is offered to students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The program is both a mentoring and a reverse mentoring program. In addition to learning from business and political leaders, HBCU students share their knowledge and insights with national influencers.
“As a proud alum of an HBCU, Fisk University, I am thrilled to launch the Humphrey-Pinkston Fellows program,” said Bass Wilbon. “Our family has a long commitment to the HBCU community, and this fellowship is another way to highlight the incredible impact of HBCUs.”
The fellowship is named in honor of Lula Mae Pinkston-Humphrey, the maternal grandmother of BPA co-founders Dee Dee Bass Wilbon and Deana Bass Williams.
“We know by targeting HBCU students we are targeting American exceptionalism,” said Bass Williams. “Bernayl Sparks, our first fellow, is evidence of the outstanding students in the HBCU community.”
Sparks is a sophomore at Voorhees University in Denmark, South Carolina. She is an active member of the university’s student body serving as vice president of the student government association, a member of the university’s honors college and president of the student advisory council.
While HBCUs only represent 3% of all higher-education institutions, they graduate 40% of all Black engineers, 40% of all Black U.S. Congressmen, 50% of all Black lawyers, and 80% of all Black judges.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. The program is open to sophomores, juniors and seniors attending HBCUs. While Bass Public Affairs is headquartered in Washington, DC, students may participate in the three-month program virtually or in person. Fellows receive a stipend and may pursue independent study credit per their university’s guidelines.
Sister, Sister: Chloe Bailey Admits Feeling ‘Separation Anxiety’ Over Her And Halle’s Solo Careers
Chloe and Halle Bailey are just getting started on their solo endeavors and battling feelings of “separation anxiety” after years of performing alongside each other.
Chloe is gearing up for the release of her first full-length solo album, In Pieces. The album comes amid her standout roles in Donald Glover’s Swarm and the gospel comedy film Praise This.
It also follows a year of releasing solo singles like “Have Mercy” and “Teach Me” in the wake of her sultry stage performances that introduced fans to grownup Chloe and not the young teen who got her start posting YouTube videos covering Beyoncé songs with her sister.
Meanwhile, Halle is gearing up for her film debut as Ariel in Disney’s live-action rendition of The Little Mermaid. The growth in their solo careers highlights the talent Beyoncé saw when she signed the sisters to her Parkwood label in 2015.
But amid all the solo success, Chloe shared how accustomed she and her sister had gotten to working together.
“Both of us had a lot of separation anxiety,” Chloe told People about Halle going overseas to film. “We were attached at the hip ever since she came out of the womb.”
When it came to embarking on her solo career, Chloe admits the move was “really scary” for her.
“We both didn’t really know who we were individually without the other,” she said. “There was a moment of self-doubt where I was like, ‘Can I do this without my sister?”
There were even times when she doubted her solo singing ability and felt she sounded better with her sister.
“I didn’t even like the sound of my voice. I didn’t feel it was special without my sister’s voice layered with it,” Chloe explained. “I didn’t feel that what I brought to the table was special.”
But despite their busy solo schedules, Chloe shared how Halle supported her while recording her solo album.
“I’d be like, ‘I’m so scared. I don’t know if people want to listen to this. I don’t think I can do this without you,” Chloe said. “She’d be like, ‘You always tell me to let people see what you’ve always seen in me since we were little girls.'”
It’s only up from here for Chloe and Halle, and the “Have Mercy” star is excited about their futures.
“I’m so grateful to God that no matter if we are doing something within our group or individually, we are both simultaneously killing it,” Chloe declared. “I’m so proud of her.”
Trump Hit with Criminal Charges in New York, a First for a US Ex-President
Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, two sources said on Thursday, becoming the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges even as he makes another run for the White House.
The charges, arising from an investigation led by Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, could reshape the 2024 presidential race. Trump previously said he would continue campaigning for the Republican Party’s nomination if charged with a crime.
The specific charges are not yet known and the indictment will likely be announced in the coming days, the New York Times reported. Trump will have to travel to Manhattan for fingerprinting and other processing at that point.
Susan Necheles, a lawyer representing Trump, said she was informed of the indictment but did not know when he would surrender. A law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the indictment.
Bragg’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump, 76, sought re-election in 2020 but was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden. Trump has falsely claimed he lost to Biden due to widespread voting fraud and has called the investigation that led to his indictment a “political witch hunt.” Bragg’s office last year won the criminal conviction of the businessman-turned-politician’s real estate company.
The Manhattan investigation is one of several legal challenges facing Trump, and the charges could hurt his presidential comeback attempt. Some 44% of Republicans said he should drop out of the race if he is indicted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week.
The grand jury convened by Bragg in January began hearing evidence about Trump’s role in the payment to Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election that he ended up winning. Daniels, a well-known adult film actress and director whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she received the money in exchange for keeping silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006.
The former president’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen has said Trump directed hush payments to Daniels and to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also said she had a sexual relationship with him. Trump has denied having affairs with either woman.
Federal prosecutors examined the Daniels payoff in 2018, leading to a prison sentence for Cohen but no charges against Trump.
No former or sitting U.S. president has ever faced criminal charges. Trump also faces two criminal investigations by a special counsel appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and one by a local prosecutor in Georgia.
DIVISIVE FIGURE
Trump, a divisive figure in U.S. politics with support particularly among white blue-collar and conservative Christian voters, served as president from 2017 to 2021, governing as a right-wing populist. He was impeached twice by the House of Representatives, once in 2019 over his conduct regarding Ukraine and again in 2021 over the attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. He was acquitted by the Senate both times.
He leads his early rivals for his party’s nomination, holding the support of 44% of Republicans in a March Reuters/Ipsos poll, compared with 30% support for his nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has yet to announce his candidacy. Biden is expected to seek re-election.
Trump on March 18 wrote on social media that he had expected to be arrested on March 21 and urged his supporters to protest to “take our nation back,” reminiscent of his exhortations ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Several Republicans in Congress accused Bragg of selective prosecution with political motivations. “Outrageous,” House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan wrote on Twitter.
Trump in 2018 initially disputed knowing anything about the payment to Daniels. He later acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment, which he called a “simple private transaction.”
In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance law violations for his role in orchestrating the payments to Daniels and McDougal and was sentenced to three years in prison. He testified that Trump directed him to make the payments.
Cohen testified before the Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump on March 13. The grand jury also heard from David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer. The tabloid publication bought the rights to McDougal’s story about her alleged relationship with Trump for $150,000 but never published it, a method known as “catch and kill” used by some media outlets to bury damaging information about a third party.
Daniels has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump at a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2006 – the year after he married his current wife Melania and more than a decade before the businessman-turned-politician became president.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2021 rejected her bid to revive a defamation lawsuit she brought against Trump over a Twitter post in which he accused her of a “con job” after she described being threatened over publicizing her account of a sexual relationship with him. Lower courts had thrown out her suit.
In the case that led to the conviction of the Trump Organization on tax fraud charges, Bragg declined to charge Trump himself with financial crimes related to his business practices, prompting two prosecutors who worked on the probe to resign.
Among Trump’s ongoing legal woes are a criminal investigation led by Fani Willis, the Democratic district attorney in Georgia’s Fulton County, into whether he unlawfully tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat in that state.
Special counsel Jack Smith is separately investigating Trump’s handling of classified government documents after leaving office and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Kanye’s Nine-Year-Old Daughter North West Possibly Launching Skincare Line
Entrepreneurship runs deep in Kim Kardashian’s family, and Kanye West is no slouch in making big business moves, but now it’s time for the kids to hop in the game and keep the fortune going.
Reportedly, Ye’s eldest daughter, North West, might be dipping into the beauty industry with a rumored skincare line.
According to Page Six Style, documents filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) showed that Kardashian has applied to trademark all four of her children’s names, but updates to North’s file have disclosed beauty products, including moisturizers, skin serums, facial oils, bath gels, nail polish, shampoo, hair gel, and more.
Teen Voguereported that the skincare trademark is described as “non-medicated skin preparations, skin moisturizers, skin lotions, skin creams, skin cleansers.” Another filed trademark is described as “entertainment in the nature of providing information in means of a global computer network in the fields of entertainment and pop culture.”
North seems to be following in the footsteps of her mom, who launched her skincare line last year, Skkn by Kim. The tween has also been popping up on TikTok pretty often, posting videos of her skincare routine, special effects makeup, and more from her and her mother’s joint TikTok account. The page has over 15 million followers, and the mother-daughter duo accumulated over 451 million likes. Their TikTok account features North in videos with celebrities like Ice Spice and Mariah Carey.
The Kardashian clan has already taken the beauty industry by storm; this includes North’s aunt, Kylie Jenner, with Kylie Cosmetics, Kylie Skin, and Kylie Baby; and Kourtney Kardashian, who owns Poosh, a platform that promotes healthy living.
Several reports also predict that a toy line by North is possibly in the plan.
North’s siblings, Saint West, Chicago West, and Psalm West, also have trademarks filed through their mother’s LLC.
Earn Your Leisure, Ally, and UnitedMasters Educate Creators of Color on Finance at SXSW
Ally, Earn Your Leisure (EYL), and UnitedMasters teamed up earlier this month to provide attendees at the annual South By Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin, TX, with a dose of financial empowerment.
Together, they presented Earn Your Masters, a two-day event filled with panel discussions and workshops about financial literacy for the next generation of creators. Held at The Belmont in downtown Austin, Earn Your Masters also included musical showcases featuring up-and-coming artists LaRussell, Liana Banks, $hyfromdatre, and BigXthaPlug.
From L-R: Troy Millings, Jadakiss, LaRussell, Ryan Leslie, and Rashad Bilal (photo courtesy of Earn Your Leisure)
During the programming, Erica Hughes, the Senior Director of Multicultural Marketing at Ally, hosted a workshop to help independent artists build multifaceted relationships with major brands.
“So many young people want to create businesses and want to become entrepreneurs,” she told BLACK ENTERPRISE. Thus, she said it’s critical for creators to understand “what it takes to build relationships with other brands” especially in the wake of the growth of the creator economy, which is estimated to be worth more than $100 billion. It’s key “to position yourself for growth so that when you’re coming into the brand partnership, you know how to be ready, you know how to pitch yourself to a larger brand, you know what to ask for, and you know how to be prepared,” she said.
According to Hughes, partnering with Earn Your Leisure to empower creatives of color at SXSW is part of Ally’s mission to uplift underserved communities.
“We are deeply committed to driving growth and economic mobility in the Black community. And this event gave us the opportunity to talk about culture and finance and all the things that we know are important to helping the next generation of leaders,” she told BE.
Ally announced a partnership with Earn Your Leisure and UnitedMasters in December 2021. Since then, the digital financial service company has sponsored a series of Earn Your Master events that took place last year, including during New York Fashion Week and Art Basel Miami Beach.
“When we got into a relationship with Troy and Rashad [the co-founders] of Earn Your Leisure and UnitedMasters, we wanted to create this platform where we could constantly bridge the gap between culture and finance. And this event is the life experience of that mission,” said Hughes.
Natalie Brown, the Senior Director of Corporate Citizenship at Ally, facilitated a workshop about understanding and building good credit – a topic she says is crucial for artists looking to start businesses and establish wealth.
“Your credit score is what helps you get loans. It helps you get cars and homes. It is your personal report card,” she told BE. “Most of us can’t afford to buy a home outright or buy cars outright. And so, you’re going have to get a loan and you can’t really do that without having good credit.”
Brown’s passion for the topic stems from the financial missteps she took due to a lack of financial education she received as an adolescent.
“I didn’t understand credit. I didn’t understand retirement,” she said. “I’ve been at the point where I was trying to buy a home and I didn’t have the right credit score to do so. I know what that felt like. I know what it feels like to not be able to get the kinds of things that you want because your credit score is not the greatest,” she said. “I thought it was important to share my personal journey, and the things that I’ve learned.”
Rashad Bilal and Ronne Brown (photo courtesy of Earn Your Leisure)
Brown also moderated a panel titled “Money Trees, Deep Roots,” featuring Ronne Brown, the founder of GirlCEO, and Chaucer Barnes, the Chief Marketing Officer of UnitedMasters.
“Authenticity is the new currency,” said Ronne Brown during the session. “You can make money just by being yourself.”
The co-founders of EYL, Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal, closed out the daytime programming with a keynote panel discussion on the business of music and entertainment, featuring rap veteran and entrepreneur, Jadakiss; music producer and entrepreneur, Ryan Leslie; and artist and financial empowerment advocate, LaRussell.
“Learn as much as you can about what you’re getting into,” Jadakiss said during the panel when asked about Kiss Cafe, a coffee business that he launched with his father and son in October.
“It’s like a marriage; anything you’re about to fall in love with or spend the rest of your life with, you should try and obtain as much knowledge as you can before you jump the broom or sign the contract.”
Watch the panel discussion hosted by Earn Your Leisure at SXSW, featuring Jadakiss, LaRussell, and Ryan Leslie below.
