Taraji P. Henson
has just been announced as the host of the “Black Girls Rock” 2017 Awards
on BET.
“I’m honored to
host the ‘BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™’ Awards. I love the message and I love
Beverly Bond and her vision. I was lucky to be honored in 2011. It is truly a
highlight of my life. Now I’m back to be part of this amazing night to honor
the strong and powerful Yara, Issa Rae, Roberta, Suzanne, Derrica and Natalie.
Let’s make history together as
we come together as
women of brains, beauty and in support of each other,” Henson said in a
press release announcing her hosting gig.
The Black Girls Rock Awards are targeted to highlight
extraordinary Black women who have broken barriers and been uplifting
influences in their communities. Honorees include actress Issa Rae, actress Yara Shahidi, singer Roberta Flack businesswoman Suzanne Shank, and Derrica Wilson and Natalie Wilson of The Black &
Missing Foundation.
The awards will be taped on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2017 and
will air on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2017 at 8:00 P.M./ET on BET.
Sooooo.....a mom makes her daughter wear a bright neon green T-Shirt that announces that she's a thief. Do you think the punishment is too harsh or good for her?
A little Muppet girl has started a sensation. The unnamed puppet with an afro sings a love song to her hair.
Joey Mazzarino, the head writer of Sesame Street, is also a Muppeteer who wrote the song for his daughter. Mazzarino is Italian. He and his wife adopted their 5-year-old daughter, Segi, from Ethiopia when she was a year old.
Mazzarino says he wrote the song after noticing his daughter playing with dolls.
"She wanted to have long blond hair and straight hair, and she wanted to be able to bounce it around," he tells NPR's Melissa Block.
Mazzarino says he began to get worried, but he thought it was only a problem that white parents of African-American children have. Then he realized the problem was much larger.
In writing the song, he wanted to say in song what he says to his daughter: "Your hair is great. You can put it in ponytails. You can put it in cornrows. I wish I had hair like you."
That simple message has caused an outpouring of responses from women. Mazzarino got a call from an African woman who told him the song brought her to tears. "I was amazed, 'cause I sort of wrote this little thing for my daughter, and here this adult woman, it touched her," he says.
Mazzarino says he's happy to report that Segi loves the song — and her hair.
MTV has named 23-year-old Gabi Gregg its first "Twitter Jockey."
Gregg won the position Sunday night after a nationwide vote.
The TJ position is the updated version of the network's VJ job, and Gregg will report on pop culture news using Twitter, Facebook, blogs and MTV's website.
Gregg graduated from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts in 2008, where she studied international relations and African-American studies. Gregg is the founder of the fashion blog Young, Fat and Fabulous.
As the nation celebrates Independence Day, one member of the First Family will be celebrating her birthday. Malia Obama turns 12 today! While the country's birthday may overshadow Malia's, the Obama family will surely find time to commemorate her special day. Happy Birthday, Malia!
Hey all you soccer fans! The world cup is getting heated! Arise Magazine has some great style spreads inspired by this great sporting event. Check it out in their 10th issue on newstands now.
College junior Jazmine Miller showed off a soccer-playing robot to prospective members of the Spelman Robotics, or SpelBots, team.
"His name is Charles, he's very difficult. That's why it's a he," she laughed. "We kind of see him as human; we talk to him, we yell at him."
Creations such as Charles must be programmed to find and kick the ball and prevent an opposing team of robots from scoring in the annual RoboCup World Championship soccer competition. Since 1997 the matches have been held in Asia, Europe and the United States.
Once a competition begins, the robots are on their own. The team's programming skills have to account for every soccer player scenario, from kicking and blocking to getting up after falling down.
Spelman, the historically black women's college here, has been sending robots to the competition since 2005, often beating graduate students from prestigious tech universities from Germany to Japan. They had their best finish last year in Osaka, Japan, when the team tied for first place with Fukuoka Institute of Technology in Japan in the humanoid robot category.
"Around campus people do recognize our faces; they say, 'Oh, you're on the SpelBots, you're doing the robotics thing. I saw you in Jet magazine.' I really see it when I go abroad," said Miller, a computer science and engineering major.
Early Romance with Robotics Miller's romance with robotics started early. A self-described "world-traveling military kid," she was on the robotics team at her high school in the Netherlands.
Jonecia Keels, from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., is Miller's co-captain. She was a little less sure of a computer career.
"For a long time I didn't think I was smart enough to get into computer science. I only saw males in the industry and I just didn't think I had what it took to be a computer programmer," said Keels.
Two things helped change her mind. First, the confidence she gained at this women's college.
"I know a big reason why there's not a lot of women in computer science is because of intimidation. At an all-women's school, they already know your capabilities. So it is easier to take leadership roles and go that step further without added stress," said Keels.
Lack of Role Models "Looking back at my life, there were a lack of role models for me, being African American and Korean," Williams said.
So he sought out a teaching position at a historically-black college or university. Creating the team was a way to bring a new and creative challenge to his students.
"There's a big emphasis on creativity, collaboration, the social aspects of engineering and computer science. It would do great wonders for our country on a global scale if we maximize that pool of women, and underrepresented students like African Americans, in computer science," Williams said.
"The teams we were competing with were all male, all white," said Miller. "And the first thought that came to me was, we are going to blow their minds!" she laughed.
New data confirms that Twitter’s population is disproportionately black. According to Edison Research’s annual report on Twitter, black people represent 25% of Twitter users, roughly twice their share of the population in general. I guess we love to keep the masses informed!!
On The Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda amazing tennis player Venus Williams who has won 43 WTA tour titles, with 7 Grand Slams and 10 Doubles titles with sister Serena, talks about being successful off the court. Venus is the President of her own clothing line company, and an interior design company V Starr Interiors, and part owner of the Miami dolphins along with sister Serena Williams.
Venus talks about a competition she has with her fan to design an dress online and the winning dress will be worn at the 2010 US Open. "I had a really great competition for my fans with Tide Plus and Febreeze Freshness Sport and they got to design a dress online and I got to judge all the dresses, and all the entries entered and the winner will be announced on May 7th, but I will wear the dress at the Us Open".
She also has a book coming out this June that elaborates on how sports has helped a lot of people through their lives. "Ive talked to so many wonderful people. We have Vera Wang, very high level figure skater could have went on to that next level, but I think she found she wanted to do something else, but how that applied to her life even to this day, and how with out playing sports she couldn't have had that success that she had".
Being so involved in tennis as a kid one would expect certain child hood experiences to be missed, but that's not how she feels. "I've been so blessed in my life I get to do what I love. I get to design, I get to do interior design and I get to play tennis and I love playing it!"
With such a busy schedule Venus believes that when it comes time to settle down and find a soul mate she will make the time.
Wearing a green, camouflage ball cap, Myraline Morris Whitaker looks like a drill sergeant as she leads a group of volunteers putting together care packages for U.S. soldiers serving overseas.
"Excuse me, you gotta put one of these in all of the boxes," she says to one volunteer.
But Whitaker is not an officer, nor has she ever served in the military. She's a hospitality executive who in 2007, founded the Sister Soldier Project - an organization that sends hair care products to female troops of color, who often face challenges maintaining their ethnic hair in desert areas like Iraq and Afghanistan.
The California resident says she got the idea after talking to one of her Caucasian friends who served as a U.S. Marine 20 years ago. The woman told Whitaker she always had to leave the room whenever her African-American roommate would style her hair with what's known as a "hot comb."
Whitaker researched the Internet and discovered some of the most requested items from African-American military women serving overseas were black hair care products.
Answering the call, Whitaker hosted a "packing party," where her fellow book club members helped her send out unused hair products they found in their bathroom cabinets. The idea expanded, and Whitaker now hosts packing parties all over the country, helping an estimated 2, 500 soldiers and counting.
On March 15, the organization held one of its largest events at Morgan State University in Maryland, where volunteers prepared 200 hair care packages. In addition to products like relaxer kits and shampoos donated from black hair care companies, the boxes include women's magazines, toiletries and letters from local elementary students.
"As a future officer potentially going to Afghanistan myself, I think this is a great opportunity for me to give back to those who are serving before me, and then once I go, I know someone will be doing this for me," says Tyeshe Morgan, an Army ROTC student at Morgan State.
The volunteers' efforts haven't gone unnoticed. In 2009, the Congressional Black Caucus honored the Sister Soldier Project with the Veterans Braintrust Award - given to individuals or groups that support America's military veterans. And every day, Whitaker receives emails and letters from soldiers expressing their gratitude.
"I just want to express my personal appreciation for the recent package that you had sent. You certainly did not have to go to such trouble, but I am glad that you did! Your efforts throughout my deployment have been a tremendous morale boost for myself and my soldiers. I will NEVER forget what you have done for us," wrote Lisa Taylor, a soldier serving in Iraq.
For Whitaker, it's that kind of appreciation that pushes her to be all that she can be.
"These [women] have something special in their DNA that says 'I'm going to go out and be of service to this country.' And I want to help them do their job better... and feel better."
Imagine you are the daughter of an internationally known supermodel and former Olympic athlete. Now imagine you are over 300 pounds. That used to be Zulekha Haywood, who is the daughter of supermodel Iman and former NBA/Olympic basketball player Spencer Haywood, who has struggled with her weight and body image her entire life--until now.
Like many women, Zulekha has tried every diet imaginable. Of course none of them worked in the long-term, causing her to make the decision to undergo gastric bypass surgery, an experience Haywood wrote candidly about in article called "Imagine You Are the Daughter of a Supermodel" the most recent issue of Glamour magazine.
Haywood sat down with The Today Show's Hoda Kotb and Kathy Lee Gifford to talk about her experience being the daughter of two famous parents, her weight loss struggles and her decision to undergo gastric bypass. To date, she has lost 170 pounds.
"I've seen plenty, fights breakout all the time over small things, over big things" said one teen girl. "Like oh you looked at me different to oh you're talking to my boyfriend."
Girl fights, they're all over YouTube, but why are they happening?
As girls have access to drugs and alcohol more, they're behaving more like boys.
On Monday San Diego county officials focused on binge drinking as one tie to the female violence.
Defined by the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health as girls fighting at school or work, or taking part in a group-against group fight or attacking someone with the intent to seriously hurt them.
According to the survey, about one in four girls between the ages of 12 and 17 had been engaged in at least one of those types of violent behavior in the past year.
The survey also revealed the girls who fought were more likely than those who did not to have reported binge drinking and illicit drug use in the last thirty days.
"No, we're not saying it's all about the alcohol. We're focusing on alcohol as one of the intervenable effects," said Trauma doctor Michael Sise.
Sise says while binge drinking is just one link to the violence, it is one that shows up in many high-risk behaviors.
"If you don't make it clear that drinking is unacceptable, that violence is unacceptable, then you're putting them in danger. It works to tell our kids what to expect it works to show up and be a force in their lives it's our future and its their health and safety." Sise said.
by Melissa Rose Cooper from www.grio.comShari Griffith and Katrina Kelly met over 10 years ago and are best friends. At 25-years-old, they walked the path that many students typically follow after graduating from high school: they went to college, earned bachelors' degrees, and obtained jobs in corporate America.
But in 2008 during the height of the recession, their lives took a different twist. They were both let go from their employers. But instead of struggling to find other jobs, the duo decided to revisit their high school roots in March 2009 and create their own catering business --- Cake N Wings.
Griffith and Kelly's business is a unique combination of bite-sized, square cakes, called "tots," and chicken wings. It had its birth in 2001 when the two were seniors at Frederick Douglass Academy. Kelly proposed the idea that they enter a business competition through The National Foundation of Teaching Entrepreneurship.
"It just started with the fact that I make wings," said Griffith, "and she [Kelly] makes really good cake. "
Kelly shook her head, still baffled that her friend had even considered the idea.
"I didn't think she was going to take me seriously," she said.
As simple as their idea seemed to be, Cake N Wings won the competition and Griffith and Kelly received $200 in seed money to start up their business, which continued throughout their last year at the school.
Griffith studied business at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. and Kelly, theater arts at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. They both graduated in 2006 and like other new graduates, secured paying jobs. However, they soon learned that earning a regular paycheck was not necessarily the key to their happiness.
"I realized that I didn't want to work for anybody," said Griffith while Kelly nodded in agreement. "I wanted to work for myself and I wanted to work with my best friend and be happy."
Kelly lost her job in July 2008 and almost 4 months later, Griffith lost hers. These long time friends then took their misfortune, turned it into an opportunity and brought their inactive business back to life.
Griffith and Kelly sought help from the place that initially brought them together---their high school. Their principal, Dr. Gregory Hodge, has known them for 13 years and was one of their biggest supporters. He gave the women their first catering job, which turned out to be a surprise birthday party for an investment counselor, Robert Schwartz.
"I struck up a conversation with them at the party and I was very impressed," said Schwartz, who is now retired. He said the event was such a success that he decided to provide the start-up money for Cake N Wings.
And with the money Griffith and Kelly received for their company, they began advertising Cake N Wings throughout Harlem by word of mouth and giving their business cards out in the neighborhood. This is how they met Michael Rosen, a local hip-hop artist promoter.
"Me and Shari are just your regular girls from around the way," said Kelly. "We're not all stiff and, like, uniformed and if we have a job, we come there as ourselves. That's what makes us stand out."
From www.thegrio.comI recently saw a commercial for the "Booty Pop" panties -- a pair of panties that is padded to increase a woman's gluteus maximus, and thus her confidence -- available in several sizes: extra-sweet, sweet, sweeter, sweetest and super-sweetest. The panties are available in both black and nude shades. The commercial was clearly geared towards young white women without actually saying as much. And doing a quick search around the Internet, it's clear the artificial buns are really popular; even with talk show host Kelly Ripa.
What makes this product interesting from a black woman's perspective is that we have long dealt with low-self esteem and the idea that our bodily features -- especially our stereotypically big butts -- are not only unattractive, but also inhuman. I remember reading in school about the life of Saartjie "Sarah" Baartman, a black South African woman who was exhibited literally like she was a caged animal throughout Europe 200 years ago because of her large backside.
Fortunately, pop-culture icons like Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce and Kim Kardashian have made having "junk in the trunk" a desirable feature. Tune in to almost any hip-hop music video and you'll almost certainly see very full-figured females showing off their very healthy behinds. You may also notice that women on the magazine covers are also airbrushed to add on a little curve to their backside -- regardless of their race.
The "Booty Pop" panties are just the latest in a growing trend to have women who are rear-end challenged achieve this now popular Hollywood look. Woman can opt to receive butt implants; there are special exercises, diet regiments, and jeans to give them the bums they desire.
The argument can be made that this new trend will make ethnic girls who are naturally gifted with shapely backsides feel a bit more proud about their bodies. But this new panty product can also be viewed as another loss for women in general. Young girls and women of all color are increasingly under pressure to augment and adjust their bodies.
What's disturbing about the "Booty Pop" ad is that it clearly focuses on young women. It's already bad enough that young women have to deal with a laundry list of body image issues. While we can expect that there will always be someone trying to make a buck off of our insecurities, this just serves as a reminder that we must impress upon our young women that they are all sweet, no matter what sizes they come in.
If the names Chelsea Gray and Chiney Ogwumike sound familiar, it’s because both have been chosen as PARADE All-Americans twice before. This year, they have the added distinction of sharing Player of the Year honors on our 34th annual All-America High School Girls Basketball Team.
Gray, a 5-foot-11 point guard for St. Mary’s High in Stockton, Calif., helped keep the Rams in the nation’s top-ranked position for most of the year, averaging 18 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds per game.
“She’s a great all-around player, always working hard to improve,” St. Mary’s coach Tom Gonsalves says. “Chelsea could score 30 points every night; instead, she passes and gets our other players in the game. She’s an even better person than player, and a super student with a 3.6 GPA.” Gray will head to Duke next season.
A love of basketball runs in the family for Co-Player of the Year Ogwumike, a 6-foot-3 center at Cy-Fair High in Cypress, Tex. Her sister Nneka was named PARADE Co-Player of the Year in 2008, and Chiney has two younger siblings who also play the sport. But she isn’t likely to disappear into anyone’s shadow. This season, she averaged 23 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.
“Chiney has so much talent and outstanding leadership abilities,” Cy-Fair coach Ann Roubique says. “She has grown tremendously—not only as a player but as an individual. She’s an excellent teammate and an excellent role model, and she’s without a doubt a great representative of our school and our community.” A straight-A student who is active in her community and president of the student council, Ogwumike will join her sister Nneka at Stanford next year.
Gray and Ogwumike head a 40-player roster of standout athletes from 18 states and Washington, D.C. California leads the pack with nine All-Americans, including Co-Player of the Year Gray. The team was selected by coaches, scouts, and recruiters across the country. Top Players
KALEENA MOSQUEDA-LEWIS Mater Dei High, Santa Ana, Calif. ODYSSEY SIMS MacArthur High, Irving, Tex. NATASHA HOWARD Waite High, Toledo, Ohio ELIZABETH WILLIAMS Princess Anne High,Virginia Beach, Va. RICHA JACKSON Midwest City High, Midwest City, Okla. SHONI SCHIMMEL Franklin High, Portland, Ore.
A Gary, Indiana native will make history next month as the first black valedictorian from the University of Notre Dame.
Katie Washington, 21, is a biology major and minor in Catholic social teaching with a 4.0 GPA.
“I am humbled,” said Washington to the Northwest Indiana Times. “I am in a mode of gratitude and thanksgiving right now.”
University officials said they couldn’t recall ever having a black valedictorian, and don’t keep record of their race.
“Katie works so hard,” Washington’s mother Jean Tomlin said. “I told her when she went to Notre Dame, ‘You are representing your family, your church and the city of Gary. Make us proud.’”
She has definitely made her family proud and is following in their footsteps. Her father is a doctor, her mother and sister are nurses, one brother is completing his residency and another brother who works for British Petroleum.
“I have had so much support, people who really wanted to see that I reached my full potential,” Washington told nwitimes.com. “They all had my best interest at heart.”
In a historic moment for women in sports, Washington D.C. science teacher Natalie Randolph has been named head coach of the Calvin Coolidge Senior High School football team, reports CNN. Randolph is believed to be the first female head varsity coach in the country.
"While I'm proud to be part of what this all means," she said at a new conference this week, "Being female has nothing to do with it. I love football, I love teaching, I love these kids. My being female has nothing to do with my support and respect for my players on the field and in the classroom..."
