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Grant Hill has diversified his wealth in team ownership. Hill had previously been a player across four teams in the NBA, and his time would conclude after 19 seasons. He accumulated more than $100 million during his playing days, and his earnings would only continue in retirement, CNBC reports. Atlanta Hawks In 2015, two years following his exit, Hill began sporting a new hat as a team owner. As previously mentioned by AFROTECH™, he became part of an ownership group headed by Ares Management Founder Tony Ressler, which acquired a stake in the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks from the ownership team led by Bruce Levenson, per Bleacher Report. The sale was reportedly valued at $850 million, reports ESPN. What’s more, it has proven to be a great addition to Hill’s portfolio as the team is now worth a staggering $3.3 billion, notes Forbes in 2023. Orlando City Soccer Club And Orlando Pride Hill widened his presence in ownership, alongside his wife, Tamia, becoming limited partners through their...
It’s raining Black excellence at Southland College Prep Charter High School! For the 11th year in the row, its senior class, which is predominantly Black, have all been accepted to college, Black News reports. In fact, $50 million in merit and need-based scholarships have already been offered to students, with that number expected to exceed $60 million. “And the amount of money rises each year,” senior Lundyn Williams told CBS News. Dr. Blondean Y. Davis, Southland’s CEO and superintendent of Matteson School District 162, told Black News: “Our students faced unprecedented challenges, and they addressed every one of them and more than met them.” Davis adds when she founded the Chicago, IL, area school in 2010, she was told by others that “students from our area would not be able to access the Ivy League or top schools in the country.” Clearly, she has proven doubters wrong. “I have been accepted to 43 different schools and applied to 51,” Williams mentioned, according to CBS News....
It’s officially time to announce the 2024 AFROTECH™ Future 50! The AFROTECH™ Future 50 is celebrated in our digital hub and social media platforms. During previous years, the individuals have also been honored in person at the annual AFROTECH™ Conference. The categories for the 2024 AFROTECH™ Future 50 are Dynamic Investor, Future Maker, Visionary Founder, Changemaker, and Corporate Catalyst. The criteria for each are as follows, as previously shared by AFROTECH™: Dynamic Investors are venture capitalists who have made significant contributions to advancing underserved tech founders. Future Makers have spearheaded groundbreaking tech innovation. Visionary Founders lead remarkable company growth and promote diversity and inclusion. Changemakers have made a significant social impact in the tech industry. Corporate Catalysts actively promote diversity and redefine and implement initiatives to do so. Established in 2022, the AFROTECH™ Future 50 aims to spotlight contributions Black tech...
Wawa Gatheru is striving to make the world a better place. Changemaker As previously reported by AFROTECH™, the Connecticut native and Rhodes Scholar founded Black Girl Environmentalist (BGE), an organization creating a more equitable space in the climate sector by empowering “Black girls, women, and non-binary people across environmental disciplines.” Her focus on the environment was born while gardening with her mom and grandmother during her early years, and she learned “the ethic of reciprocity and care for the planet,” her website mentions. It would not be until high schoo l that Gatheru would identify as an “environmentalist.” At 15, she took an environmental science course that framed it as a justice issue, revealing to her the lack of intersectionality in the field, and she recognized the field’s intersectionality gap. In higher learning, Gatheru further engaged in the climate space by pursuing environmental science and policy at the University of Connecticut (UConn), per...
Responding to a fundamental calling, Denise Woodard became a visionary in a $2 billion industry. Her Calling Woodard was looking to find a solution to help her daughter who had various food allergies, as previously reported by AFROTECH™. She was searching for snacks that would help her daughter but ultimately started creating her own recipe for cookies made without wheat, tree nuts, peanuts, milk, eggs, soy, fish, sesame and shellfish — launching vegan company Partake Foods in 2016. Woodard saw great promise in her products and believed others would too. She received checks up to $10,000 from family and friends through a Kickstarter campaign to scale the business into Whole Foods and Wegmans, she told Forbes. “I was cobbling together $5,000 and $10,000 checks to keep the lights on, from anyone who would listen,” she told Forbes. “The dribs and drabs were not enough, so I sold my engagement ring. But we were seeing traction, which led us to raise our first institutional round.” A...
Representation in space exploration is crucial, and Sian Proctor stands among the luminaries. A woman on a mission, Proctor aspired to have an impact on society. The geoscientist had been “chasing space” throughout her lifetime, Space.com mentions. Born the same year Neil Armstrong made history with his first steps on the moon during NASA’s Apollo 11 mission, and raised with a father working at the NASA tracking station on Guam, Proctor would go on to make her own significant contributions. Historical Firsts As previously reported by AFROTECH™, Proctor became the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft. This was accomplished after she earned a Ph.D. along with a pilot’s license and SCUBA certification. She also completed a four-month mission in a building located near a Hawaiian volcano for an experiment imitating the conditions and stresses on a habitat like Mars in 2013. Ultimately, Proctor’s expertise, creativity, and dedication to her JEDI space initiative — a just, equitable,...
Marquitrice Mangham has opened a grocery store in her hometown. According to Capital B News, Mangham was born and raised in Webb, MS, but moved away after high school. Now living in Atlanta, GA, she ventured back part-time to the Mississippi community of less than 500 residents in 2016 after she inherited family farmland. Upon her return, Mangham recognized worsening circumstances had affected housing and businesses in the area. Additionally, for household needs locals could only rely on a Dollar General, which had been in operation since 2009. The nearest grocery store was a 20-mile drive. Mangham decided to support the community by establishing Farmacy Marketplace in 2022. The 2,500-square-foot store sources its fresh foods and meats primarily from local farmers. Additionally, she opened the grocery store under her nonprofit, In Her Shoes, to have access to programs and resources that can sustain the store in the community. “There was only one grocery store in the whole county,...
This 12-year-old — E’leese Shelton — is heading to college! According to WCTV, E’leese graduated from Tallavana Christian School in Havana, FL, surrounded by supportive family. “It’s just kind of surreal,” she explained, according to the outlet. “I believe it’s mostly because of my support system, like my friends, my mom, my church community.” While to some, a 12-year-old accomplishing this feat may come as a surprise, it is not for E’leese’s mother, Danrell. When her daughter was just 2 years old, she already knew she was unique by how quickly she picked up learning on a LeapFrog tablet. “I got her a LeapFrog tablet, and we didn’t know that she was self-taught until it was telling her to do the letters, uppercase, lowercase letters, and we didn’t realize that she knew all of it,” Danrell explained, according to WCTV. “I did not teach her any of it. She just had the LeapFrog, and she knew it.” Additionally, E’leese continued to accelerate in learning, reading at the age of 3 and...
Not everyone is born to be a full-time content creator , but these days it’s rare to meet someone who isn’t a user on at least one social platform. Twitter’s transition into X caused it to lose millions of users and the fate of TikTok in America is still up in the air, yet still, people around the world rely on apps like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to get their news, connect with loved ones and express their own feelings. The positives are great – but what about the negative aspects of social media , such as doomscrolling? We have access to more information than ever before at the tips of our fingers, and all day, notifications bring us updates that can send your nervous system on an unpleasant rollercoaster ride. If we’re not careful, we can become addicted to this cycle which is both mentally and physically damaging. Keep reading to better understand doomscrolling, and what you can do to combat the digital disease plaguing us. What Is Doomscrolling? Before you try to break a...
Women-led hair startup Parfait continues to champion Black women. As AFROTECH™ previously mentioned, Parfait is reportedly the first to integrate facial recognition and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide buyers with customizable wig products. It previously raised $5 million in April 2022, backed by a funding round led by Upfront Ventures and Serena Ventures. “It’s widely understood that facial recognition systems perform less well for women and people of color,” said Parfait Co-Founder Isoken Igbinedion, a former Target and Amazon executive . “Training models used in facial recognition technology are largely unbalanced, often relying on training datasets that are similar in makeup, and do not represent the visual composition of faces worldwide. This often results in poor performance for users who do not fit into that dataset, often represented by white faces and male features.” She continued, “Parfait seeks to be the first to make major progress in improving product and service...
When it comes to having a lucrative business, it’s crucial to be descriptive when selecting a name; being descriptive can be effective in appealing to the fantasies of your audience. A descriptive name clearly explains what your business does, making it easier for potential customers to remember your brand identity and envision its value. Take a cue from successful businesses in the same industry and follow how they use descriptive names and wordplay to name their brands and businesses. Your business name should remind your target market of your brand promise and provoke the right emotions toward your business. For example, “Crunchies” for a snack brand resounds the promise of an ever-crispy savory fresh snack that keeps giving. With that in mind, let’s explore some unique business name ideas across industries to inspire creativity as you coin yours. Tech Startups The tech industry is about innovation, reliability and continuous product delivery, so the name should align with your...
It’s important for workplaces to embrace neurodiverse and disabled individuals. By definition, Harvard Health Publishing refers to the term neurodiverse as “‘the diversity of all people,’ but it is often used in the context of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as other neurological or developmental conditions such as ADHD or learning disabilities.” National Institutes of Health (NIH) data estimates that 15% to 20% of the population worldwide is neurodiverse. Some individuals who are classified as neurodiverse experience stigmas while in the workplace. A 2024 study released by Understood.org shows 59% of respondents believe their condition would negatively impact them in the workplace, and 49% are unsure of the necessary internal communications to pursue for workplace accommodations. To create an accepting atmosphere, there are protocols that should be put in place. Wells Fargo Systems Operations Associate Danielle Washington, who has maintained her role since September 2023...