• News

by Selena Hill

May 30, 2020

Black CNN Reporter is Arrested on Live TV While Covering the Minneapolis Protests

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CNN reporter Omar Jimenez was arrested early Friday morning by the Minnesota State Patrol as he and his colleagues were reporting on the ongoing protests in Minneapolis.

Jimenez, who is black and Latinx, was led away in handcuffs while he was live on air covering the demonstrations over the death of George Floyd by police on Monday. After the officers approached the journalists during the broadcast, the team responded by identifying themselves as reporters and asked the authorities where they wanted them to relocate.

“We can move back to where you’d like. We can move back to where you’d like here. We are live on the air at the moment,” Jimenez told the officers moments before he was taken into custody on live TV. “We’re getting out of your way. So, just let us know. Wherever you’d want us, we will go. We were just getting out of your way when you were advancing through the intersection. Let us know and we’ve got you.”

In response, two police officers put Jimenez in handcuffs without offering an explanation although he asked several times why he was being arrested. His cameraman, who is white, and producer, who is Hispanic, were also detained shortly thereafter.

Dr. Anika Goodwin, a board-certified ophthalmologist with 15 years and 10,000 eye surgeries under her belt,  has married her dual passions of looking good and seeing well to create OpulenceMD Beauty, an eye specific beauty brand that specializes in magnetic lashes.

Goodwin knew from an early age that she wanted to be in medicine, but never imagined she’d become an eye doctor.

“I’m a bit of a creative,” she says, “and I honestly believe that was one of the things that led me to love ophthalmology. I enjoy beautifying. My specialty of ophthalmology is called oculoplastic reconstructive surgery and so I focus on making the eyes the eyelids, and the facial structures that support the eyes, all function as well as they can while having as good a form and appearance as they can.”

Becoming a beauty entrepreneur was also not part of her plan. “I am trained to be a really good eye surgeon. I am trained to be an excellent diagnostician when it comes to visual health issues. I was not trained to be an entrepreneur. I’ve never taken a business class in my entire life,” she says. “But I think the thing that separates entrepreneurs from people who just have ideas is their willingness to dive in, do the research, and figure it out.”

“We as black women, since the beginning of time, have been figuring it out and getting it done. This is what we do,” she continues. “We take a hardship, we figure out a solution, and we then make that happen. Entrepreneurship is basically in our DNA.”

For Goodwin, her entrepreneurial idea started with her own love of lashes.

“I’m one of those people who used to go to work all the time in high heels, dressed up walking through the hospital. But I have never had the luxury of time between being a physician, a spouse, a mommy. I never had an hour to put my face on in the morning. So one of the things that I discovered early on was how much of a difference a set of lashes made in your look,” she says. “I could put on lashes, put on some lip gloss and look totally pulled together.”

Goodwin experimented with all types of lashes, eventually becoming a individual lash extensions user for years. But for a busy professional, hour-long touch-up appointments every two to three weeks became too much to fit into her schedule.

“During that time you’re lying on a table; your eyes are closed. I couldn’t return phone calls, I couldn’t answer emails, I couldn’t do anything. So I made the decision I was going to have to give these up,” she says. “But I realized how much of a difference they made, not just in my look, but in my confidence. I no longer felt like I looked pulled together. Even with mascara I couldn’t achieve achieve the same look.”

She also realized how much damage she’d done to her natural lashes.

“One of the things I noticed after I let my individual lash extensions go was my lashes were almost non-existent. I’ve always had kind of puny, short lashes, but they were even finer and even shorter than they had ever been in my life,” she says. “That told me that the individual lash extensions had not been healthy for my natural lashes.”

So Goodwin began to look for other options. That’s when she turned to magnetic lashes, and—as with everything else in her life—started doing her research to learn all she could about them.

“I discovered there were things that could be better about them, that could make them easier to wear, more comfortable to wear,” she says. “There were things that would make them not be as heavy on the eyelids, which I felt distorted my vision a bit. I set out to basically solve those issues for myself and in doing so decided that other women like me, busy professional women, would benefit from the same thing. So I decided to do it on a much larger scale.”

Her clinical experience helped her create a product that keeps vision and eye safety at its center.

“Our lashes have a purpose. The main function of our eyelashes is to protect our eyes. The base of your eyelashes have oil glands, and the purpose of that is to protect your tears from evaporation. If you lack that, then you’re more prone to dry eye. So the lashes are much more than just a beautiful frame for your eyes. You need them to be healthy,” she says.

It’s why she chose mink as the material for her lashes, because it’s the most lightweight. It’s also why all of her lashes are magnetic, avoiding the need for adhesives that many times contain formaldehyde and also allowing for women to easily remove the lashes and clean both the product and their eyes on a daily basis.

“With clusters, or individual lashes, or even strip lashes that you glue on, women don’t want to do it every day or they don’t want to go in for their touch-up more often than they have to. So what do you do to preserve those things? You avoid aggressively washing that area,” she says. “Well in doing that, you’re not doing that daily lid hygiene routine that is so necessary for healthy eyelids, and not just healthy eyelids and eyelashes but for healthy vision.”

The lashes are also offered in petite sizes with smaller bands because “not all eyelids are created equal” and “eyelashes are not one size fits all.” There are special collections for beauty pageants, cheer and dance teams, and weddings. And all of the lashes are cruelty free and latex free, with some vegan options.

“As we look more toward clean beauty,” Goodwin says, “and we start to pay more attention to the products, the ingredients that we use on and in our bodies, you should not forget about that same principle as you’re looking for something to complement your eyes.”

New Orleans has made headlines as one of the cities hit hardest by COVID-19. Nevertheless, when people think of New Orleans, they think of how resilient the people are. As members of the black community in the city strive to overcome being disproportionately impacted during the pandemic, Cash Money is stepping in to help them. Co-founders and brothers Bryan “Birdman” Williams and Ronald “Slim” Williams of Cash Money Records partnered with New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell to cover the cost of rent for the month of June for residents living in low-income housing.

To date, Cash Money has donated over $225,000 to Forward Together New Orleans (FTNO), the nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization filling urgent gaps in community needs and available resources to protect our city during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As natives of New Orleans, Birdman and Slim are invested in giving back and helping those whose challenges resonate with them.

In an exclusive interview with Slim and Vernon Brown, Cash Money’s longtime attorney and business manager, they shared the importance of supporting the community and helping others through these uncertain times with BLACK ENTERPRISE.  

“We all need each other right now,” said Williams. Brown agreed. “I’ve spoken to people over the last several weeks and the one thing that’s a common theme is that we’re all, in so many different ways in so many of the same ways, affected. There’s no one that’s not touched.”

“The biggest problem that me, Slim, and Baby speak about every day is we don’t have answers,” he added.

While no one seems to have the answer, Cash Money and the City of New Orleans are working to present solutions.

Paying it Forward

“The mayor and her staff have been great. They knew what we wanted to do and what we had in mind. And they knew we’ve been doing this for a long time,” said Slim.

Since the inception of Cash Money nearly 25 years ago, Birdman and Slim have given back to under-resourced communities in the area through their 501(c)(3) organization, The Johnny and Gladys Williams Foundation, that is named after their parents. Over the years, the brothers and their team have provided residents with health screenings, thanksgiving meals, and other resources.

“For at least 10-plus years now, there has been a focus on three areas that they [Slim and Birdman] feel that if they’re able to make an impact with it can have long-term effects and positively helping people and improving the lives of those in New Orleans and anywhere in general. And that’s in housing, healthcare, and education,” said Brown.

“We added a big component to the turkey giveaway where we have thousands of people who come in here Oschner Health Systems along with Stanford University Medical Center, join us in giving medical exams and screenings to all the people who attend the turkey giveaway. And it’s been an incredible process. Every year, there have been people actually who have had to be taken from that facility straight to a hospital because of conditions that they didn’t even know, Brown added.

Related: Black Americans Are Contracting And Dying From COVID-19 At An Alarming Rate, Report Shows

Moving New Orleans Forward Together

Now in the midst of the pandemic, they are helping those struggling financially to keep a roof over their heads.

As detailed by FTNO and Cash Money in a joint release, “funds will be used specifically to pay the June rent for hundreds of subsidized tenants and families who are most at need and live in the former Magnolia, Calliope, and Melpomene projects, now known respectively as the Scattered Sites Harmony Oaks, Marrero Commons, and Guste. Tenants will be notified directly if they are included in the grant, which will go to the landlords.”

Slim went on to say, “We’re able to take the pressure off for one month so that people don’t have the pressure of worrying about their rent.”

In the same statement, Birdman shared his sense of collective responsibility to his community.

“The legacy of Cash Money belongs to the city of New Orleans. There’s nothing more important to us than giving back to the brothers and sisters who live on those same streets we grew up on—from musicians to service workers to everyday working families. That’s what this label was always about.”

Prior to this initiative, Brown recalls a conversation with Birdman where he expressed interest in buying property for New Orleans residents. “Baby (aka Birdman) actually called me and said, ‘I’d like to buy the houses in the Magnolia and the rest of the housing. I’d like to buy it and let the people live there and give it back to them. When people own their own homes, they don’t have to pay rent and they can maintain it. They tend to have more pride in it. It helps the entire family ecosystem.’ I said, ‘That’s a little complicated to do, but we can work on it.’”

Fast forward, Cash Money is helping pay rent.

In the joint statement, Mayor Cantrell shared, “In years to come, when we look back on how our city came together to get through the coronavirus crisis, we will have no better example of leadership than the Williams brothers, these sons of New Orleans who make our city proud today. No one should have to fear losing their home while trying to protect their health. That is why we have been leading the charge in New Orleans to make housing more affordable, and quickly banned evictions in our city during the COVID-19 crisis. This helps us continue that path, demonstrating how we can come together as businesses, government, and non-profits to address our residents’ most pressing needs now.”

It takes the community to save the community

In addition to paying June’s rent, Cash Money has partnered with iHeart Media’s New Orleans-based Q93 and WYLD radio stations to give away a hundred $100 gift cards to radio listeners for groceries every weekday in May totaling $10,000.

“The mayor, Q93, and Uptown Angela, SVP Programming at Q93, have worked with us to put this together. That’s what makes things work. When people work together who got the passion and the same goals of helping the city, the citizens, and the businesses of New Orleans,” said Slim.

Having grown up watching their parents give back to the community, Slim said that he knows that they would be proud of him and his brother for doing important work. “I know that they’re smiling down on us,” he said.

Slim also shared that it is important for him to set an example for younger people.

Furthermore, Slim and Birdman hope to inspire the people of New Orleanrents to keep going.

People from New Orleans are built solid. We’ve had a lot of obstacles that we’ve had to cross. From Katrina to whatever it may be. One thing I know is that God is undefeated. As long as we have patience and faith, we will get through this. We’ve been through a lot but we always come out victorious,” said Slim.

Steve Pamon, the president and chief operating officer of Beyoncé’s management and production company, Parkwood Entertainment, has a message for the class of 2020: your biggest hater is yourself.

The Morehouse College alum delivered words of motivation and inspiration to 200 HBCU students at the Culture Creators‘ virtual C2 Summit earlier this month. The four-day summit, which was held May 18–21, was designed to enrich graduates by highlighting the achievements of diverse professionals in entertainment. The digital experience included panel discussions, one-on-one interviews, speed mentoring, culture chats, and a pitch competition. Students were also granted access to job recruiters and seasoned influencers with various backgrounds in business, entertainment, technology, finance, and lifestyle.

“Your biggest hater you have to worry about is yourself. I was my biggest hater—still am for the most part,” said Pamon during a virtual keynote. “You start thinking about what could go wrong, when the truth of the matter is, the best predictor of future behavior is what? Past performance. Nobody invited to this Zoom has a continued history of messing up.”

He also warned students not to compare themselves to others, which can leave them feeling discouraged. “We use the wrong measurements to judge our success,” said Pamon, who oversees all aspects of Parkwood Entertainment, Parkwood Touring, and Parkwood Ventures. Pamon was responsible for managing the launch of Beyonce’s athleisure line, IVY Park, as well as the entertainer’s brand partnerships with WTRMLN WTR, Global Citizen, and Chime For Change.

Other speakers at the C2 Summit included chairwoman and COO of Atlantic Records Julie Greenwald; Sports Agent (CAA) Carlos Fleming; Motown General Manager, Marc Byers; Miami Dolphins Marketing Executive Marques Jackson, and Nickelodeon Human Resources Exec Courtney Oliver.

Founded in 2015, Culture Creators celebrates black culture across music, television, film, visual arts, fashion, sports, tech, and entrepreneurship. The organization focuses on education and digital content and aims to educate, inspire, and empower millennials and Gen Z.

Ezinma, the classically-trained violinist who became a viral sensation after her video covers of trap music went viral, is sharing her gift of music with inner-city students.

Affectionately known as “Classical Bae,” the 29-year-old Nebraska native developed a love for the violin at the age of four after being assigned to create a homemade version of the instrument by a teacher. She told Complex last year that she then became obsessed with playing the violin.

“I just begged my parents to play. I did not stop,” she said. “Finally, they gave in and rented this little violin, and I ended up really taking to it and loving it.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

SCHHHHMONEY #hustlers #classicalbae #money #violin

A post shared by Ezinma 🎻 eh-zeen-mah (@ezinma) on Sep 20, 2019 at 12:36pm PDT

As a young adult, Ezinma moved to New York and graduated from the Mannes School of Music and gained notoriety for fusing classical music and hip hop. She had her breakthrough moment in 2017 when her cover of Future’s “Mask Off” went viral as part of the rapper’s #MaskOffChallenge. She even caught the eye of Beyonce and traveled with the megastar on her Formation World Tour.

In addition to working with Queen Bey and performing at Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden, Ezinma became one of the faces of Essentia latest campaign, encouraging people to “do that ‘thing’ they really want to do.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to pursue your passion, so to be able to reflect on my journey and hopefully inspire others means a lot to me. Honored to share a little advice to my future self with you through this video #overachievingH2O #ItMightAsWellBeYou #EssentiaNation

A post shared by Ezinma 🎻 eh-zeen-mah (@ezinma) on Oct 25, 2019 at 11:55am PDT

Now, Ezinma is sharing the lessons and tools she learned during her journey with young people of color. During quarantine, the musician joined forces with Re-Create, which provides educational programming during after school hours for New York City Public School students between kindergarten and 5th grade, reports Fox 32 Chicago. According to a press release, spearheaded lessons like “How To Make a Violin At Home,” “How to Make a Foot Chart,” and “My First Violin Lesson” for students attending PS 9, PS 166, and PS 84.

Ezinma also partnered with Wide Open School to tell the history of Ludwig van Beethoven’s famous piece “Symphony No. 5 in C# Minor,” which is famously known as “Beethoven’s Fifth.”

Moving forward, Essentia says the violinist will lend her support to their commitment to After-School All-Stars, an organization that dedicated to uplifting underserved communities.

Furthermore, Ezinma is gearing up for the launch of her nonprofit foundation, HeartStrings, a music-based youth development program for children K-5 of diverse backgrounds, later this year, says Essentia. The HeartStrings Academy will equip each student with a quality instrument, music instruction, and community engagement activities along with access to world-renowned concerts and performance. Her goal is to help children of color get more exposure and access to classical music.

“Being somebody who is not white or Asian in the classical space is difficult,” she told Complex. “I never saw another black person playing the violin until I was 15 or 16. Anything that veers from [what’s traditional] feels disrespectful in [the classical] world.”

By Trevor Hunnicutt

(Reuters) – The vetting process is underway to help presumptive Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden pick his running mate for the Nov. 3 election.

Biden has vowed to choose a woman as his potential vice president. Here are some of the nearly dozen candidates who are likely under consideration, according to people familiar with the process expected to wrap up by July.

Senator Kamala Harris

A number of advisers have pressed Biden’s campaign to pick Harris, 55, because the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants could help excite black voters, a key Democratic constituency. Harris endorsed Biden after dropping out of the race, but her earlier criticism of him during a Democratic primary debate about his opposition to school busing rankled some people close to Biden.

Senator Amy Klobuchar

The 60-year-old senator from Minnesota could help Biden appeal to moderate and working-class white voters in potential Midwestern battlegrounds like her home state. But Klobuchar struggled to capture black voter support during her own presidential bid and faced criticism over her prior handling of a murder case involving a black teenage defendant when she was a Minnesota county prosecutor.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer

Whitmer, 48, raised her profile as the governor of a state hit hard by the coronavirus. But she has also come under fire for a stay-at-home order that some in the key battleground state of Michigan viewed as too onerous.

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Warren, 70, has spoken with Biden regularly since dropping out of the Democratic nominating race and endorsing him. She is seen by Biden advisers as a bridge between the former vice president and people skeptical of his commitment to progressive policy priorities. While Biden and Warren battled over policy issues during the primary, the senator from Massachusetts has since supported revisions to the Affordable Care Act that match Biden’s healthcare proposals.

Former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams

Abrams, 46, gained a national profile during her failed 2018 bid to become Georgia’s governor. Though Abrams has limited executive experience, Biden advisers think the black voting rights advocate could deliver Georgia, a state Democratic presidential candidates have not won in nearly three decades.

Representative Val Demings

Biden has said Demings, 63, an African-American congresswoman from the election battleground state of Florida, is on the running mate shortlist. The former Orlando police chief served as one of the managers of the House of Representatives’ impeachment proceedings against Republican President Donald Trump but has a lower profile among voters nationally.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham

Lujan Grisham, 60, became the first Latina Democratic governor of a state in 2018, after serving six years in Congress. Biden’s campaign has been pushed by allies to consider a running mate who could boost his support among Latino voters, potentially the largest minority voting bloc in the November election.

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto

Cortez Masto, 56, a senator from potential battleground state Nevada, succeeded Democratic Senator Harry Reid, a party power broker who has encouraged Biden to consider her, according to people familiar with the matter. She served as attorney general of Nevada before becoming the first Latina elected to the U.S. Senate, and also could help strengthen Biden’s appeal with Latino voters.

Other names

Biden mentioned as possible running mates Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who clashed with Trump early in his presidency. Influential Biden supporter and black lawmaker James Clyburn has mentioned Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms as a candidate. And former Obama administration National Security Adviser Susan Rice said she is willing to be Biden’s running mate.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in New York; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Culliford and Richard Cowan; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Aurora Ellis)

Members of Congress have called a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report on the racial and ethnic deaths related to the coronavirus, “lazy.”

According to BuzzFeed, Congress asked the CDC to collect national data on the race and ethnicity of coronavirus cases and deaths and set Wednesday as a deadline. The agency responded March 15, which primarily featured a page of links that referred back to its public website.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) tweeted last week that the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, should be ashamed.

“HHS should be embarrassed by the lazy, incomplete, 2.5-page copy-and-paste job it calls a “report” on the racial disparities of COVID-19 cases,” Warren tweeted. “I’m going to keep fighting until we get this monthly demographic data as required by law.”

The director of the CDC, Dr. Robert Redfield, sent the report to Congress on March 15, which includes a link to the CDC’s data on coronavirus cases and deaths in the U.S. However, the data only includes racial and ethnic information on less than half of the country’s 1.7 million positive cases.

The report also includes a page on hospitalizations broken down by race and ethnicity, but that page only includes data from specific network hospitals in 14 states. That data breaks down to about 10% of the U.S. population. The CDC also didn’t respond to questions on how the data was obtained or how long it will take to update the data.

“This wholly inadequate response tells us nothing except what we already knew: the Trump Administration would prefer to ignore the disproportionate impact this crisis is having on communities of color,” Sen. Patty Murray, the lead Democrat on the Senate Health Committee, said in a released statement.

Redfield did say in the report that CDC data does suggest “a disproportionate burden of illness and death among racial and ethnic minority groups,” adding that “studies are underway to confirm these data.”

However, it was not specified what studies are being conducted.

African Americans and Latino Americans are getting infected and dying of coronavirus at a faster rate than other races. The inability to telecommute for work, being forced to interact with the public in jobs that place them on the front lines, and a lack of adequate health coverage all increase the risk of getting infected.

• News

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

May 29, 2020

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Will Not Be Released From Prison Early

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After initial reports last week that former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick would most likely be freed from jail, it turns out that’s not the case, according to The Detroit News.

A Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman told The Detroit News earlier this week that officials had reviewed Kilpatrick’s case and refused to release him to home confinement. The review appeared to be part of a broader effort to release prisoners due to attempts to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus that has so far killed 64 federal inmates nationwide.

“On Tuesday, May 26, 2020, the Federal Bureau of Prisons reviewed and denied inmate Kwame Kilpatrick for home confinement,” the Bureau of Prisons office of public affairs wrote in an email to The Detroit News. Kilpatrick will remain incarcerated at the low-security prison in Oakdale, LA. His expected release date is January 2037.

He was convicted on 24 counts of public corruption including bribery, racketeering, and fraud.

In a press release that was issued last week, the Ebony Foundation claimed that Kilpatrick “has been granted early release after spending 7 years of a 28-year sentence.”

“He said that he was being released,” state Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, who has been pushing for Kilpatrick’s freedom said, adding: “I’m elated for him. … An out is an out. … He’s done his time. And I think, ‘My God when is long enough long enough.’”

Whitsett also told the Detroit Free Press that she’d confirmed with the White House that Kilpatrick is among 3,000 inmates who will be released. 

Kilpatrick, who was convicted and jailed for multiple public corruption crimes, is currently in a federal prison in Louisiana after he was convicted in 2013 of 24 charges including extortion, mail fraud, and tax violations. He has requested a commutation of his prison term from the White House after losing all filed appeals. He maintains that he was wrongfully convicted and railroaded by overzealous prosecutors.

• Lifestyle

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

May 29, 2020

Attorneys for Zion Williamson Files Protective Order to Block Eligibility Inquiry in Lawsuit

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New Orleans’ Pelicans basketball player Zion Williamson has had his attorneys file a protective order to block his former marketing agent’s inquiry into illegal benefits he is accused of accepting while he was a student at Duke University, according to Sports Illustrated.

Daniel Wallach of The Athletic has revealed on his Twitter account that Williamson’s lawyers are calling the requests from Gina Ford “invasive” and “irrelevant.”

BREAKING: Zion Williamson files for protective order against ‘invasive’ and ‘irrelevant’ discovery requests, seeks court order to block Gina Ford’s inquiry into past eligibility at Duke and whether he received any improper economic benefits. pic.twitter.com/7GM4Hppyp7

— Daniel Wallach (@WALLACHLEGAL) May 28, 2020

The former Blue Devil and current Pelicans player Williamson is being sued by his former marketing agent, who has requested that he admit to receiving “money, benefits, favors or other things of value” to attend Duke University last year.

Ford, the president of Prime Marketing Sports, has served requests for admissions asking that basketball phenom Williamson admit that he has received items that would disqualify him from playing collegiate sports while he attended Duke.

The 19-year-old NBA player is being sued by Prime Marketing Sports after he left the marketing company to sign with Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Williamson’s original deal with Prime Marketing Sports required him to remain with them for five years. He ended up signing with CAA less than a month after signing the deal with Prime Marketing Sports. Williamson’s attorneys have argued that his contract with Prime Marketing Sports was unlawful under North Carolina law. They claimed the contract was in violation of North Carolina’s Uniform Athlete Agents Act because Prime Marketing Sports is not certified by the NBA Players Association nor a registered athlete agent in North Carolina or Florida.

In a filing with Miami-Dade County court last week, Ford’s attorneys have asked Williamson to admit under oath that the statements listed below were true:

• Sharonda Sampson, Williamson’s mother, and Lee Anderson, his stepfather, “demanded and received gifts and economic benefits from persons acting on behalf of Duke University (directly and/or indirectly) to influence [Williamson] to attend Duke University to play basketball.”

• Sampson and Anderson “demanded and received gifts, money and/or other benefits from persons acting on behalf of Adidas (directly and/or indirectly) to influence [Williamson] to wear Adidas shoes” and to “influence [Williamson] to attend a college that endorsed Adidas shoes.”

• Before becoming a student at Duke, Williamson “or person(s) acting on [his] behalf (including but not limited to Sharonda Sampson and Lee Anderson) accepted benefits from a NCAA-certified agent that are not expressly permitted by the NCAA legislation” between Jan. 1, 2014, and April 14, 2019.

• Women

by Lydia Blanco

May 29, 2020

Aventer Gray’s New Podcast Encourages Women to Be Fearlessly Authentic

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Women are often given societal cues on how they should live, show up in the world personally and professionally, and be in relationships with others. For those reasons and more, Aventer Gray, pastor, mentor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist is inspiring women to own their womanhood and power by living life unfiltered through her new podcast, Ave Unfiltered.

Many know Gray as the wife of Pastor John Gray of Relentless Church in South Carolina. Aside from her many titles, she is on a journey to help other women to live fully in their purpose. For years, Gray has been inspiring women from the pulpit and other ministries. Now, she is tapping into a new audience as a podcaster. And she is steadfast about making sure that people get to know the real and unfiltered version of herself when they tune in.

“As black women, we need to share and exchange information so that we can grow and that we can be better for each other and for whatever our purpose is. And not only that, we wear a lot of hats. And by maintaining and balancing harmony and peace inside of our lives, it will allow us to be better at whatever those things are,” said Gray.

Ave Unfiltered

In the first episode of the podcast with Devi Brown, Gray shares one of the reasons she decided to make her off-the-record conversations with her close friends public and live an unfiltered life. “I had to step out of the place where people think I am into my actual self and be OK with that.”

Gray admits that it took time to launch the podcast after being encouraged by friends to share freely with others outside of the traditional ways in which she does.

“One of my super close and cherished friends in a random conversation said, ‘Hey, girl, I wish somebody could hear us talk about this, you know?’. When I was deciding about not just this in particular, but just having a moment of fulfillment for myself, I [realized] I don’t want to leave anything that God has placed inside of me untapped and undone,” said Gray.

As Gray promotes women living in their purpose and at their highest vibration, she has a lineup of powerful women joining her. Some of her guests include Devi Brown, Iyanla Vanzant, Ayesha Curry, and LeToya Luckett-Walker.

“I want women who will be just as unfiltered as I am in the conversation,” said Gray.

In the infancy stages of building the show, Gray reached out to Vanzant for prayer she and encouraged Gray to speak out and made the time to be one of her first guests.

“These women know what I’m about. They know what I stand for. And most of them have seen me grow into this. I wasn’t always here.”

“The conversations I feel will push women to stretch themselves to a place where they don’t need to feel validated in any one title,” said Gray.

She went on to say, “The podcast itself is just me saying, ‘Hey, here’s an invitation to this candid, at times humorous, heartfelt, super genuine conversation.'”

Having the courage to be authentic

When it comes to being fearlessly authentic and learning to live that way, Gray said, “My absolute best is being the best me uniquely, fearfully, wonderfully made the way God made me. I have to consistently be me because that’s where I’m most fulfilled. And I want women to understand that sometimes that place will have you misunderstood.”

That is why it is important to be unfiltered which by Gray’s definition means being true to yourself and who you’ve been called to be without all of the embellishments. And, in a tasteful and positive manner.

“I need you to live your best-unfiltered life where you don’t have to shift to be liked or shift to make yourself fit a space that you want to go into. If the space is for you, you are enough,” added Gray.

“The energy that I wish to release is authenticity, transparency, truth, realness, wholeness, harmony, and peace,” said Gray. “And we as women don’t get enough of that because we’re always serving everybody. Our innate ability to relate, to feel, to persevere, to show up to and help is in there. But if we are not doing that for ourselves, we don’t have anything to pull from.”

As women pursue being their best selves, Gray offers this advice, “Give yourself the necessary time and do the work on yourself. And with every opportunity, measure it against your faith. Measure it against who you are and who you’re becoming. At the same time, never leap too fast. Never jump in front of an opportunity that will cause you to compromise your you. In any scenario, if it’s for you, it will come back around without you having to compromise to attain it,” said Gray. “And I will say to keep the Lord at the forefront of your everyday life, dealings, relationships, and your purpose.”

Ave Unfiltered releases bi-weekly on Thursdays and is available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Google Podcasts, and Facebook.