News — Black development

A Black female Amazon Web Services senior manager on Monday filed a lawsuit against the trillion-dollar company and two of its executives on allegations of race and gender discrimination. Besides an additional allegation of the company flouting the Equality Pay Act, the plaintiff, in the lawsuit, also claims she was sexually harassed and assaulted by a former Amazon executive, Recode reported.

Prior to joining Amazon in 2017, the plaintiff, Charlotte Newman, previously worked for Sen. Cory Booker as his economic policy adviser. In an interview with Recode, the Harvard Business School graduate revealed the discrimination started when she was first offered a much lower role within the organizational ranks despite applying for a higher opening that she said befitted her qualifications.

After joining the company, Newman said the discrimination persisted as she was unable to rise up the organizational ranks for over a year despite performing some tasks that were above her level and also demanding a promotion from her manager. She also alleged some of her White colleagues who were on the same level as she was were promoted ahead of her despite having less working experience and not having graduate degrees. The lawsuit alleges that the period of stagnation cost her millions.

Though she was eventually promoted to a senior level in 2019, Newman claimed her first boss spoke to her in a language she believed was racially stereotypical when he addressed her about her mode of communication – using descriptions like it was “too direct”, “just scary”, and saying she “can intimidate people.”

Aside from that, Newman alleged a senior colleague by the name Andres Maz sexually harassed her on numerous occasions, claiming he went as far as seemingly proposing they have sex. Newman also recalled other separate incidents where Maz groped her by her thigh and yanked her by her hair when she was leaving a company hangout. She also said she was initially reluctant to report Maz’s alleged unprofessional advances as he was responsible for providing updates on her performance to another manager, thus making her fear there was going to be some form of retaliation from her superiors if she did so.

“There’s been deep emotional pain,” she told Recode. “All of the hard work, all of the sacrifices I made, my education — none of that saved me from someone who’s a predator and living in fear of what else he might do.”

Newman said she ultimately decided to file an official complaint against Maz and also open up on the discrimination she faced as an employee of the organization after she was spurred by the protests that happened in the country following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. She said she filed the complaint in June last year, adding that she was also working from home during that period. Though Maz was eventually fired after investigations, she said she had to endure participating in virtual meetings involving him for several months while company authorities were looking into her complaints.

“At the very least, Amazon could have better safeguards in place to protect employees,” she told Recode. “A company of Amazon’s size should have clear guidelines about what happens if you report, hear what your rights are … [and] ensure that once you report you don’t have to be contacted by the person who harassed you.”

Fearing retaliation from her managers, Newman said she moved to a different department last year. Newman’s lawsuit comes after an expose from the news outlet that revealed bias and discriminatory complaints from Black Amazon employees.

“I strongly believe that Amazon should be harnessing the light of diverse leadership rather than dimming the light of Black employees and other employees of color,” she said. “For years I had been sort of suffering in silence, [but] I’m sure there are a lot of people who now feel more empowered to add their voices to the story, and hopefully there’s some real change that occurs.”

Newman said she has told representatives from the company she would only remain with the establishment for a longer period if they introduce policies that would revamp their hiring and diversity programs. She also wants a company hiring practice known as “down-leveling” to be either scrapped or reviewed.

“Amazon works hard to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture, and these allegations do not reflect those efforts or our values,” the company said in response to the lawsuit. “We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind and thoroughly investigate all claims and take appropriate action. We are currently investigating the new allegations included in this lawsuit.”

Two Cameroonian dads living in Quebec are bringing a much-needed representation into the doll industry. Upon realizing that many stores did not have Black dolls or they were either stacked at the back of shelves when shopping for toys, they decided to make their own.

The Quebec-based dads, Gaëtan Etoga and Yannick Nguepdjop, after doing a lot of groundworks and research, launched their own doll company, Ymma, in November, according to HuffPost Quebec.

The main aim of the company is to introduce children to the world’s diverse communities while they play with these dolls. Although the Ymma dolls are mostly Black and mixed-race, the daddy-duo say their products are meant for children of all ethnic backgrounds.

Even for a big cosmopolitan city like Montreal, there were some obvious loopholes in terms of diversity and inclusion especially when it comes to toys, the fathers observed.

The dads did not want their children growing up with an identity problem. “We want Black kids to have toys that look like them. We want to inspire them, build their self-esteem, their self-confidence, and make them understand they are beautiful the way God created them.”

Children develop their social skills from a tender age. Ymma’s intentions are for these kids to embrace all races and be exposed to diversity from the onset and what better way to do this than through afro-loving and African print wearing Black and mixed-race dolls which retail for $20.

This is crucial because studies conducted in the 1940s by doctors Kenneth and Mamie Clark have shown that children naturally gravitate towards white dolls when presented with the two. A more recent one undertaken in 2010 reaffirms the findings of the earlier study, which should not be the case, according to Etoga.

Being Black or mixed-race should not make anyone feel unseen. That is why Ymma is on a mission to normalize what should have been normalized a long time ago, making sure Black and mixed-race children feel more seen and more accepting of who they are.

“I think certain parts of society dictate to them that their hair and their noses are ugly,” Etoga told HuffPost Québec. “But what we want to tell them is that that isn’t true.”

The dads are also paying homage to their native home’s culture through the names of the dolls, their natural hairstyles, and the traditional Cameroonian ensemble worn by them.

The names of each doll, Priso, Beri, and Sadi, originate from Douala, a town in their Central African Nation, where they are originally from.

Aside from staying connected to their roots, they are also creating wealth for the locals in their hometown as all the fabrics and outfits worn by the dolls are produced in Cameroon.

Etoga explained that the blue top pattern used for some of the outfits is traditionally used in Cameroon during large ceremonies. The black, yellow, and orange circular pattern ‘toghu’ used for some other outfits are also usually used by Cameroonians in the northwest of the country. The dolls come with outfits, but extra ones can be purchased and sold separately for $10.

Determined to make a difference wherever they find themselves, all Ymma’s packaging is done locally in Quebec to contribute to the local economy which has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We hope to see our dolls in every household in the world,” the ambitious entrepreneurs said.

“We want to be the reference for diverse dolls. It’s true we are a business, but it’s not just about selling dolls. It’s about change. Kids are the future; we want to make the world a better place for them.”

Marketing student Tahir Murray followed in his family’s footsteps by creating a clothing line focused on HBCUs. The Howard University senior designed HBCU apparel that has attracted the attention of Black NBA All-Stars such as Chris Paul.

Last year, Murray participated in Nike’s Air Max campaign. The company honored and celebrated individuals who have attended HBCUs.

“Before we launched in Fall 2019, I knew I wanted to primarily focus on HBCUs to help share our stories,” Murray shared with The Council of Fashion Designers of America. Murray hopes that his clothing brand will continue to bring more visibility to HBCUs.

Keeping the Power of the HBCU Legacy Alive

The first Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were established in the 1800s, providing higher education opportunities for Black people. Admissions officers typically denied entry to Blacks who were seeking to attend traditional institutions due to segregation and discriminatory practices.

According to NBC, HBCUs are experiencing an alarming drop in enrollment that could threaten their future. “There is a distinct possibility that a number of HBCUs could cease to exist in 20 years or so,” Ronnie Bagley, a 1983 graduate from Norfolk State University shared with NBC. “If that were to occur, many low-income, first-generation students will lose out on an opportunity for a college education.

Penetrating the HBCU Market with Unique Clothing Designs

Murray is on a mission to re-energize the passion for HBCUs. Through his HBCU luxury brand, LegacyHistoryPride™, the college senior is combining his passion for fashion with the needs of the market to drive more attention to HBCUs.

“Before I started LHP, there wasn’t anyone else in the market shining this type of light on HBCU culture through something I grew up on, which is fashion,” Murray shared.

LegacyHistoryPride™ has secured multiple partnerships with HBCUs. The lifestyle brand has over 50,000 followers on social media and connects with thousands of students across the country. According to the website, the company is providing scholarships to current undergraduate HBCU students.

HBCU Student Continuing A Legacy of Clothing Businesses

Murray is on track to obtain his bachelor’s degree in marketing from Howard University this year. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has been in the fashion industry since the day he could walk. Growing up in a family of apparel entrepreneurs, Murray always had his eyes set on continuing the legacy that his grandfather started.

Ortner Murray, Murray’s grandfather, came to the United States from Trinidad & Tobago in 1966 to pursue the American dream. He lived his dreams through entrepreneurship, creating the iconic Von’s Sneaker store in Queens. Murray’s father created the School of Hard Knocks and the Queen’s 7 T-shirt. 

Now, Murray is using this opportunity to showcase what’s possible for the next generation.

Nashlie Sephus is on a mission to build a tech hub in downtown Jackson, Mississippi, to train the next generation in technology. Downtown Jackson is not known for its technology prowess but Sephus wants to put the community on the map of technology hubs in America.

She is building a $25-million Jackson Tech District out of 12 abandoned acres of vacant lots and ramshackle buildings in downtown Jackson. “My goal is to turn this space into a self-sustaining village where people can live, work, play, and eat,” Sephus tells Inc.

The plan includes developing seven of the abandoned buildings within five years and the redevelopment will include a maker’s space, an electronics lab, a photography studio, apartments, restaurants, a grocery store as well as an innovation center. 

The techpreneur works at Amazon as an applied science manager for its artificial intelligence initiative. Before joining Amazon, she was the chief technology officer of the startup firm Partpic, a visual recognition technology.

Partpic was sold to Amazon in 2016 and in 2018, Sephus launched her own company called Bean Path. The firm is an incubator and technology consulting nonprofit, Sephus says, and claims to have helped over 400 locals businesses and individuals with their technology needs.

She founded Bean Path after she watched members of her team get laid off during an internship at Delphi Technologies in Indiana. That was when she decided to be her own boss.

The idea to build a tech hub occurred to Sephus in 2018 when she was looking for an office space for Bean Path. According to Inc., her search for an office space focused on the downtown Jackson area, a once booming business community for Black businesses. 

“It’s clear that people don’t expect anything good to come from Jackson,” she says. “So it’s up to us to build something for our hometown, something for the people coming behind us.”

She adds: “It had never occurred to me, even though I had sold a company to Amazon and was working with some of the top people at Amazon and having led a whole startup, started our own nonprofit. It just never occurred to me that I, a young Black female, could buy a building in downtown Jackson, Mississippi.”

Her vision to build a tech hub in downtown Jackson has resonated with some investors and city officials, including her superiors at Amazon. One of such investors is Toni Cooley, whom Sephus once provided tech help.

Contrary to her fears, Amazon has also offered a helping hand through its Amazon Future Engineer program, which provides scholarships and instruction for teachers interested in improving their tech skills.

Raising money to finance her project has been one of Sephus’ challenges. In fact, less than 10% of Black businesses get access to venture funding. She has sunk $500,000 of her savings into the project, in addition to funds she raised from friends and families amounting to some $150,000. 

She intends to raise additional cash through crowdfunding, grants and private sources. The tech hub project will generate funds through rentals and membership fees, she says.

Sephus obtained her first degree in computer engineering at Mississippi State University. She subsequently earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in computer engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

The “Black Panther” movie has inspired many initiatives to empower African Americans and Blacks in general. Columbus-based entrepreneur Maurice Womack was moved by the Marvel film to co-found with his wife an educational eco-system for black learners called the Wokanda APP.

The platform was launched on February 1 and houses a group of experts who are committed to educating subscribers on topics such as entrepreneurship, finance, health care and other topics through BLCK (Bite-sized Learning & Community Knowledge) Talk. What’s more, the topics will be taught by all Black experts.

“We’re really focused on empowering the Black community,” co-founder Maurice Womack said. “We’re using African American experts to reach the African American community. We’re trying to create a community where you’re learning from people who are recognized experts in their field, who are teachers that look like you. We as a community have a lot to offer each other.”

Aside from providing education to members, the communal platform also seeks to encourage lasting personal and professional relationships. On its website, Wokanda says its “mission is to empower the Black community with knowledge, ideas, and connections to one another.”

“We truly believe in the mantra that ‘Knowledge is Power’ and we are providing a platform to facilitate its distribution. We’re building a library of knowledge from a nation of subject matter experts and a community of learners to engage with each other and information.”

Some of the experts on the platform include Barbara Fant, a poet; James Rose III, an investor; Dawn Carpenter, a finance expert and Tracie Cleveland Thomas, executive director. Others include Evelyn Sullen Smith, an attorney and Joe Moss, an entrepreneur.

“(We’re) really trying to creating a long-term community resource around learning and around the topics that matter to us from leaders around the community who are important to us as experts,” Womack told The Columbus Dispatch.

Explaining the rationale for the name of the platform, Womack said the platform derives its name from the word “woke” and Wakanda, the fictional Africa country of superhero Black Panther.

“If you think of Wakanda, it’s the pinnacle of Black success,” Womack told bizjournal. “It was this idea of working together, being able to empower ourselves with our own knowledge and our own community. I think in one word, it embodies what we’re trying to do.”

Womack said he and his wife started the Wokanda platform after the failure of their STEM education consulting company. The web services interactive platform targeted children in under-resourced areas of science and technology-based coursework.

“People are accustomed to using Zoom now because of the pandemic, so it’s not as hard of a sale,” Womack told The Dispatch. “But these experts happen to be Black people, and they’re teaching culturally responsive topics in a way that’s familiar to us.”

The Wokanda app works through registering and paying up a membership fee which ranges from $14.99 for current students and $19.99 a month for others. Womack said his goal is to reach at least 1,500 registered members before the end of 2021.

Lupita Nyong’o has spoken out on colorism and self-love several times and her maiden children’s book Sulwe delivers that message aptly to young and old readers alike. Giant streaming platform Netflix announced Thursday that it is bringing the book to life in an animated musical and we are all here for it.

Sulwe, which means Star in the Lou language, centers around Sulwe, a dark-skinned girl who goes on a starry-eyed adventure and awakens with a reimagined sense of beauty as she comes to terms with her dark skin.

Nyong’o noted that in her native Kenya, there is an explicit preference for people with lighter shades even in the overwhelmingly Black-skinned country.

It was illustrated by Vashti Harrison and with this being her first book, Nyong’o hopes to inspire young Black children to appreciate and accept their uniqueness.

A statement released on Thursday by the ‘12 Years A Slave’ actress reiterated how personal the book was to her indicating that Sulwe is close to her heart being a victim of colorism herself. “Growing up, I was uncomfortable in my dark skin,” she said. “I rarely saw anyone who looked like me in the aspirational pages of books and magazines, or even on TV. It was a long journey for me to arrive at self-love.”

She continued, “Sulwe is a mirror for dark-skinned children to see themselves, a window for those who may not be familiar with colorism, to have understanding and empathy, and an invitation for all who feel different and unseen to recognize their innate beauty and value. 

“I am thrilled that the book is being adapted into an animated musical that we hope inspires children all around the world to celebrate their uniqueness.”

Last year, Lupita had a special homecoming for Sulwe in East Africa with new editions in her native language Luo and widely spoken Swahili.

The Oscar-winning actress shared the news on Twitter hoping that the message of Sulwe “can travel the world for readers of all ages, but it’s especially meaningful to bring it home”.

“#Sulwe is coming home! You can now find editions in Kenya in English, Swahili & my mother tongue, Luo. My childhood inspired Sulwe’s story,” she wrote at the time.

Nyong’o is an outspoken voice on issues of racism and colorism. Since her breakout appearance in 2013’s “12 Years A Slave”, she has used her platform to channel the movement aimed at collapsing racial prejudice.

Often, she draws on her experiences as a young Black woman in spaces with people who do not look like her. Nyong’o went to the United States from Kenya although she was born in Mexico where she lived for several years.

Peter Akwaboah first made his mark in sports. While in high school in Ghana, he was a multisport athlete. When he reunited with his family in the UK, sports was still an integral part of his personal development. 

However, he knew coming from a country with limited resources, his chances of succeeding among his peers who had everything was daunting.

“My peers were better, faster and stronger, given they had access to better facilities,” he says, according to this blog. Nonetheless, it did not deter him from seeking excellence. And true to his character, he managed to be part of his school’s athletic team.

Akwaboah was an unused substitute in his school’s athletic team. In one competition, he was asked to replace a colleague who didn’t show up. He grabbed the opportunity and set a new record in the high jump category and subsequently represented the UK in global competitions.

“‘This is my big chance,’ I thought—a chance to show everyone I am good enough. I dug deep, remembered everything I had learned in training and went for it. I broke the school record that day,” Akwaboah recalls.

Born in the UK, Akwaboah was brought to Ghana at a young age. He reunited with his family as a teenager to pursue higher education. He went to the University of Birmingham in the UK, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a Master’s degree in Engineering.

He joined Morgan Stanley in 2015 as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Operations. Before joining Morgan Stanley, he worked as a software developer for many financial institutions in Europe.

After working at Morgan Stanley for a year, he became the Global Head of Shared Services Operations which includes managing the firm’s settlement and payments infrastructure. What’s more, he had an additional role as the chair of Morgan Stanley’s payment risk steering committee and member of the Federal Reserve Bank’s (FRB) Payments Risk Committee.

Akwaboah is now the new chief operating officer for Morgan Stanley’s technology and operations division. In his new position, Akwaboah will oversee the operations and technology strategy for the firm, including a team of 300 people.

“He brings significant experience, knowledge, and leadership skills to this strategically important role having led teams and worked across technology and operations functions during the course of his career,” Rob Rooney, the head of technology, operations, and firm resilience, said in a memo, according to the Business Insider.

Akwaboah has previously worked at Deutsche Bank in a number of Technology roles, including KPMG and IBM. He also worked at Royal Bank of Scotland for 10 years with his most recent role in the Asia Pacific as Chief Operating Officer responsible for Operations, Technology and Corporate Services across the region.

Finding business opportunities are one of Akwaboah’s hallmark. Thanks to his involvement, Morgan Stanley became one of the banks to co-lead a $3 billion bond sale for Ghana. Before that, the firm had never executed a deal with the government of Ghana.

Being separated by geographical boundaries does not limit Akwabaoha’s ability to undertake philanthropic activities in his country of origin. He is one of the major supporters of a hospital called the Foundation of Orthopedics and Complex Spine in Ghana. The hospital specializes in providing complex spine and joint replacement surgeries to adult and pediatric patients age 9 to 25.

In 2019, Akwaboah was honored with the 2019 Corporate Leadership Award at the FACE List Awards gala during the Pan-African Weekend.

At a will reading, every relative of the deceased present expects the lawyer to mention their name when the property is being distributed.

For the family of Lord Glenconner it came as a surprise when the lawyer allocated all his estates to his black manservant Kent Adonai.

Colin Tennant became 3rd Baron Glenconner when his father passed on in 1983, his wife Lady Anne Glenconner was the Lady-In-Waiting for Princess Margaret.

In a recent article by the Daily Mail, Lady Anne recounts how her devastated family was when after her husband’s passing in 2010, the family found out he had willed his entire estate to his manservant.

Known for having an eye for the exotic, Colin bought and transformed Mustique in 1958 for £45,000 and with his love for real estate he reinvented the place into a getaway island for the famous.

He set his eyes on St Lucia and invested in an undeveloped 480-acre estate. After he spontaneously bought an exotic elephant from a Dublin Zoo to St Lucia. Colin needed a caretaker for his new pet.

At 18, Kent met Colin in 1982 while helping his father load banana boats, they got wind of a ship that had exotic animals including an elephant.

Kent stood out from the many young boys who expressed an interest in caring for the elephant and Colin took a liking to him.   

 “When we got to Soufrière, the elephant didn’t want to come out of its box. I helped to encourage her out. I think that’s why Mr Tennant said he wanted me to look after her. To this day, many people here still know me as ‘marrie l’elefant’, (the elephant husband in patois), not Kent.”

Spanning three decades Kent became Colin’s go-to person for everything, especially since his wife, Lady Anne, had to dedicate her time to care for their almost-brain dead son, Christopher, who was 19 at the time of the accident in 1987.

He was his “elephant keeper, estate manager, driver and factotum for the aristocrat, whose family fortune was the product of an ancestor inventing industrial bleach.”

Lord Glenconner got prostate cancer in 2010 and hid his diagnosis from people except close relatives and Kent.  As a businessman he felt if his cancer went public, it will just be bad for business.

Describing the day Colin died to the Telegraph, Kent said, “I tried to pump his chest and bring him back to life as I held him, but it was no good,” he said emotionally. He drove his master to the hospital, but he was dead on arrival from the heart attack he suffered earlier.

In the wake of his master’s death Kent Adonai’s luck changed. A poor boy who grew up in “a shanty town, is now the proud owner of a vast estate on the island of St Lucia worth millions of pounds.”

Lord Glenconner made a new will seven months before his death with a lawyer from Soufrière. At the will reading the lawyer read, ‘I hereby leave everything to Kent Adonai, and I trust he will carry out my wishes towards the family.’

Clueless as to what his “wishes” were and his family’s obvious disappointment with the turn of events, the family contested the will in court in St Lucia.

Lady Glenconner told The Sunday Telegraph: “We are not angry; we are surprised. There’s no rift. We feel Colin [Lord Glenconner] was very ill, that he changed his will, but was not well enough. He had cancer very badly and I don’t think he remembered making the will. The will wasn’t Kent’s fault.”

For seven years, the legal battle to rightfully claim what they thought was theirs raged on. His family believed he was not of sound mind when he amended his will because to them the rightful heir to his estate was his grandson Cody Tennant.

Kent ended up with a huge amount of money and land worth £22 million and Cody got about half of his estate.

“I was with him every day. We would talk for hours; I drove him everywhere. He was a wonderful man. He taught me so much about the world, about history and culture. Every day, I miss him terribly,” said Mr Adonai to the Telegraph.

A 17-year-old high school senior hopes her science experiment will be instrumental in saving lives in developing countries. Dasia Taylor has developed a color-changing suture that will make it easy to detect infections.

The sutures will change color if the PH level of the patient alters, making the detection of infections faster and easier and that was the most important aspect of her research. When the PH level alters, it indicates the presence of an infection which leads to its early detection.

Ultimately, it will make the early detection of infections in developing countries a lot easier, so they are quickly treated with antibiotics to cut down the costs of expensive treatments.

Taylor did not start by wanting to experiment with sutures in a lab growing up. She nursed the dream of being a surgeon, but a suture gift one Christmas sparked her curiosity in STEM, and she went for it.

“Even if you don’t know what you’re doing, just go with it,” Taylor told reporters. “I stand by the idea that I stumbled into STEM by way of intellectual curiosity. Be curious, because that will afford you so many opportunities.”

The Iowa City West High School senior is now a Regeneron Science Talent Scholar for her research work on the color-changing sutures.

She took up the task outside normal school hours with the help of her science teachers. After a year of intensive research, she entered her work into the 80th annual Regeneron Science Talent Search.

Taylor was named a part of the top 300 scholars out of the 1,760 students who made submissions. Her research primarily focused on the suitable material for the stitches and learning how to work in a sterile environment to test bacteria as well as how to wear gloves properly.

Her high school was kind enough to give her bacteria from its labs for the research. “I wanted to conduct research. I didn’t think I was going to get this far,” Dasia recalled. “This was really a chance for me to branch out and use my creativity.

“I love my project, and to find out that it was working and to get the results I did, I was over the moon.”

The first time the public saw her experiment was in March 2020 at the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. Most Black people stay away from STEM and for a Black girl walking into the competition with her afro, Taylor stood out from the crowd.

That notwithstanding, she had worked on her studies for a year and had done a lot of trial and errors so she walked into that competition full of confidence and she won with her head held high.

“Being in the room knowing stereotypes were flying and to be able to prove them wrong and win first place was phenomenal. My mom and I talk about it all the time. I often find myself in white-dominated spaces. That’s definitely one for the books,” Taylor told the Gazette. 

The young researcher could be named one of the 40 finalists to receive $25,000 as a Regeneron Science Talent Scholar and participate in the final competition in March 2021 for the grand prize of $250,000.

Still unsure of what college she will attend after high school, Taylor wants to major in political science and wants to be a lawyer. In the last four years, she has been dedicated to equity and restorative justice in her community.

“I’m a firm believer (that) you don’t have to be confined to a box and just stay in one subject area. You can bounce around. If you’re interested in it, go for it,” Taylor said.

In what seems to be an unprecedented deal for Nigerian-born creator Roye Okupe, his African superhero universe under his YouNeek Studios library has now found a new home at Dark Horse Comics. Okupe will be developing his superhero series set in West Africa with the backing of a multimillion-dollar production house and he couldn’t be happier.

The 34-year-old moved to the United States at the age of 15 with nothing but dreams and his love for comics and superheroes. He dreamed of bringing his own version of the superhero universe to life and nursed those dreams through George Washington University and even after graduating, Washington Post reports.

Now the young creative is living his dream after he took a chance on himself and has landed an exciting partnership with Dark Horse. Okupe did what most people are too afraid to do in 2015. He quit his job as a web developer to work full-time on his comics under his YouNeek Studios library and began publishing his own animated comics living off his $401,000 severance.

Like every new venture, it was tough starting out alone and seeking investors and a presence on TV. The world of superheroes was at its peak then, with Spider Man breaking records at the box office but Okupe found himself at the end of a dark hole when he was told his main character’s race would not cut it.

Obviously. Those investors lacked foresight because a fictitious African world Wakanda was about to make $1 billion at the box office in the near future and they had just missed the chance of signing what could ‘YouNeekly’ change the world of comics.

An unplanned meeting at New York Comic-Con in 2019 with the editor in chief at Dark Horse, Dave Marshall can be etched in history as the start of something new for Okupe.

Prior to the meeting, Okupe had built his own fan base on social media with about 90,000 loyal followers who have been enjoying his self-funded works. Prior to starting his own comics, he had to learn everything from scratch — publishing, marketing and publicity — and how the comic world works.

He did not have the following that Marvel, DC Comics or Dark Horse Comics have so he decided to deliver full comic novels to his audiences instead of the monthly issues. That worked for him largely due to the diversity he was pumping into the industry.  

His fans have come to love the three books in his African Superhero world that are interlinked and all authored by him. According to the Post, his book, “Malika: Warrior Queen”, is about a 15th-century superhero; “Iyanu: Child of Wonder” is about a teenage orphan with superpowers, while “E.X.O.” is an Afrofuturist superhero tale.

Africans believe it takes a village to raise a child and the same goes for the YouNeek novels written by Okupe. He enlisted other African creatives to help his work come to life especially with the illustrations. Bringing on board, Chima Kalu, Sunkanmi Akinboye, Raphael Kazeem, and Etubi Onucheyo, Toyin Ajetunmobi, Godwin Akpan, and Tarella Pablo. 

“I think the immediate impact with Dark Horse’s legacy is that you’re going to have a lot more people paying attention. It’s also going to shine a light on the African continent and what it has to offer when it comes to the entertainment industry, specifically comic books,” Okupe said.

Marshall respected Okupe’s market knowledge and the structure of his universe. “I was impressed by what Roye had accomplished having built YouNeek from scratch. Exciting artwork, compelling stories – just good comics.”

For the African comic universe creator, maintaining complete control and moving seamlessly into his partnership with Dark Horse remains his topmost priority. He is also appreciative of the chance taken on him to develop his universe.

“YouNeek Studios is unlike anything in American comics today. I hope to see the YouNeek acquisition prove to comics that there is absolutely a market for these stories, told by creative teams that have the knowledge to tell them right, and I see more publishers picking up books like these in the future,” said Mike Richardson, Dark Horse C.E.O. 

Dark Horse will be revamping the three books already published. “Malika: Warrior Queen” and “Iyanu: Child of Wonder” will be out on September 7 and 21 respectively whiles “E.X.O” will be released on October 19. 

There are other books set to be released that the Dark Horse and Okupe will work on. Okupe’s next move might be to get his works to Hollywood. “To me, this is an unprecedented deal. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. I’m just really excited to see what’s to come,” he said.

Tommie Smith, one of the Olympic Gold medalists who raised a black-gloved fist at the 1968 summer Olympics in Mexico City, in what has become known as the “Black Power” salute, is being honored on a limited edition of ‘The breakfast for Champions’, Wheaties.

The silent protestor, whose bold statement on racial inequality in America and a pioneer athlete activist is now a part of the many athletes that the General Mills brand has paid tribute to in the last 86 years.

Photos of Smith will be put on the limited-edition of the cereal box which will sell online at $5 and all proceeds will go to the NAACP, the nation’s long-time advocate of civil rights for Black Americans. Advance sales which opened last Friday are ongoing with shipments expected to be made in April.

Smith appears on both sides of the box. One side showing the iconic fist raised and the other showing the gold medalist in full sprint.

“As a world champion, I always wanted to be on a Wheaties box,” the 76-year-old Smith said in a statement released by the retail food giant. “To now be recognized by Wheaties and selected to grace the cover of their box, in the class with other great champion athletes, is an honor.”

On the morning of October 16, Smith won the 200m race, setting a world record of 19.83 seconds. Australia’s Peter Norman came in second, with American John Carlos coming in at third. As a custom, the three athletes went to the podium to accept their medals.

Smith and Carlos did not wear shoes on the podium. Instead, they wore black socks to represent Black poverty. Smith also wore a black scarf to highlight Black pride.

“While Tommie was a world champion runner, his work as one of the original activist athletes laid the foundation for champions to use their platform and stand for something extraordinary,” Wheaties executive Taylor Gessell said in a statement released by General Mills.

The photo of the iconic, black-gloved protest was taken by John Dominis, and still resonates heavily to this day. Smith said that the raised fists were not a Black Power gesture but a “Human Rights” salute.

The acts cost them a whole lot. They were met with abuse and death threats for their brave action and they were subsequently dismissed from the team.

Fast forward to 2005, the pair were honored with a 22-foot statue of one of the most iconic moments in black history in the United States. It was unveiled at San Jose State.

Then 51 years after receiving their medals from the podium in a silent protest, the U.S. Olympic Committee in 2019 inducted the duo into the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame on November 1 that year for their “character, conduct and off-field contributions,” according to USA TODAY.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 across the globe and particularly in America, Black businesses have been found to be the hardest hit. Also, COVID-19 has delayed the opening of many Black businesses, thereby affecting the economic power in the Black community.

Despite the intensity of COVID-19 in the United States and its consequences on the ability of people to continue with business operations and raising new businesses, two Houston brothers have defied all odds to open the city’s newest Black-owned coffee shop called Day 6 Coffee Company.

Day 6 Coffee Company, founded by Ricardo “RJ” and Ian Wilson, has a divine connotation, driving its foundation from the biblical word of God. According to Ricardo, it was founded on the Bible verse, Genesis 1:31, that God created coffee.

“On the sixth day, God gave us coffee and so much more,” he explained, according to Chron. “Although plants, trees, and animals were created on the third day, God actually ‘gave’ us those creations when he created us on the sixth day. And the sixth day is said to be when God finished his creations.”

Besides the divinity informing the naming of the coffee shop, the establishment of the company is in part a tribute to their late brother whose dream was to open a restaurant.

“One of my brother’s dreams was to open a restaurant. RJ and I and our family decided that we would fulfill his dream, firstly with me taking up the mantle as a chef and then ultimately using Day 6 Coffee Co as a stepping stone into making our mark in the food industry,” Ian said.

The coffee shop, located at 910 Prairie Street, also offers a range of flavors, including Texas latte, cheesecake latte and pumpkin latte. In addition, the menu includes items such as boudin kolache, brisket kolache, florentine quiche, cheesecakes and sandwiches.

Ricardo said he learned how to make coffee while he was studying in Barcelona. He was introduced to it by his house mother as she prepared coffee for the family on a daily basis.

“Waking up each morning to the smell of coffee with the combination of watching the sunrise was meditative and spiritual. We want everyone to have that same experience when drinking our coffee,” he said.

Although the coffee shop is less than two months old, it has become one of the most famous beverage shops in Houston. Its first day of operation was an instant hit and has since recorded a respectable stream of patronage.

“We want to be known for providing that type of energy,” Ricardo said. “A business and networking kind of environment. When we provide value to others, others provide value to us.”