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Creating a successful stream of income for yourself is great, but it’s even better when your win helps others. As previously reported by AfroTech, Elise Swopes made headlines when she turned her love of making non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into making over $200,000 back in 2021. Additionally, the rise in her online presence led to her being featured in projects such as collaborating with Black Women On Boards (BWOB) for its NFT release to commemorate its accelerator program’s launch.
Snap is looking to support Black talent on their journey toward securing the bag. During VidCon 2022, the social platform announced a new accelerator program for emerging Black creators, TechCrunch reports. Under Snap’s 523 initiative, 25 program selectees will be paid $10,000 monthly for a year — totaling $120,000. The $3 million funding is intended to help Black creators thrive on social media through their platform. In addition, Google Pixel, UNCMMN, and Westbrook Media have hopped on board to partner with the new program. “Black creators face unique systemic barriers across the creator industry — from disparities in compensation and attribution, to toxic experiences and more,” the company wrote in a press release, according to the outlet. “We believe one of the ways we can help remove some of those barriers is to provide mentorship and financial resources to emerging Black creators in the early stages of their professional career.” 523 launched in December 2021 as a move to...
SNIPES is ready to “Crack the Code,” and tons of more people will have access to digital resources and education. A part of a new initiative to help close the digital divide, Crack the Code is a nationwide initiative that will promote digital equity and build the next generation of STEM leaders. The new campaign will include state-of-the-art computer labs in targeted markets throughout the United States, where SNIPES has a retail presence.
TikTok has a new creative addition on its hands that’s looking to take creators’ content to the next level. TechCrunch reports that the company has launched Effect House — its own augmented reality (AR) development platform. TikTokers will now have access to AR effects within the video app to grow their reach and level of creativity. While already known for its extensive library of effects, the launch allows for creators to build their own effects, according to the outlet. The new expansion further tightens its competition against Snap and Meta. “Effect House brings your storytelling to life through powerful, intuitive, and expressive features,” its website describes. “Our built-in capabilities — from advanced tracking to rich interactions — enable you to experiment, create, preview, publish and manage all your effects on TikTok.” Effect House has been in close beta since its creation in 2021. Now, after it’s officially gone public, TikTok is opening up beta access from its initial...
When it comes to accelerator and mentorship programs, there’s certainly no shortage of them out there. From Fiverr to Apple, accelerator programs seem to be tailor-made for today’s startups, which seem to face insurmountable odds in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic. “By joining an accelerator program, startups are offered benefits like mentorship and educational workshops. At the end of it startups often compete in a pitch event or demonstration day (otherwise known as ‘Demo Day’),” says Tricia Levasseur, a former Bloomberg journalist, and current TechStars mentor. “The experience for founders is that acceleration provides a process of intense, rapid, and immersive education aimed at ‘accelerating’ growth by compressing years’ of learning into just a few months. For those that compete in a pitch event, cash prizes in the form of funding can be won.” Clearly, the benefits of such programs are self-evident. And while these programs are nothing if not competitive, they’re...
Voiceover artist L. Michelle McCray’s introduction into the arts began at five-years-old after singing “When You Wish Upon a Star” in a Disney play. Her first official gig, which was in radio, sparked her adolescent years. Tapping into her passion early on set the tone for her future to come. “I had been playing little pranks, imitating, and my mother would read me stories. And, I was so in love with what my mother did that I started imitating her, and then it turned into me imitating people in the news and practicing all these inflections, sounds, and tones,” L. Michelle told AfroTech. L. Michelle’s radio background and theatre, music, and media production pivoted her career as an artist, particularly in voice acting. Now, with over 25 years in the game under her belt, L. Michelle rightfully crowned herself as the “voice acting master.” In 2020, her journey as an artist took a slight halt due to the arrival of COVID-19. The pandemic hit after she moved to Boston to attend Berklee...
Companies continue to create opportunities and resources for Black entrepreneurs, and now Fiverr — an Israeli online freelancer platform — is one of the latest to support. The platform has launched the Future Collective Fellowship Program, a business accelerator fellowship for Black entrepreneurs, according to Zenger. In the act of Fiverr joining the movement toward equality for Black-owned businesses, five businesses were selected for the program’s inaugural class and each will receive $24,000. The program is also backed up by 1863 Ventures, a Black-led and D.C.-based nonprofit organization and Maestra, a women of color-owned business strategy firm. “Fiverr’s purpose is to provide anyone, no matter their race, religion, background or beliefs, the opportunity to build their business, brand or dreams. The U.S. is our largest market and therefore it’s incumbent upon us to use our platform and resources to help our community there however we can,” said Fiverr CMO Gali Arnon. Along with...
Back in May, Spotify announced a monumental initiative designed to invest in and amplify the work of Black creators in music and beyond. Today, the streaming giant has teamed up with Black woman-operated creative agency FourTwo Creative to rollout a new campaign continuing the momentum of the new budding creator hub. Frequency Podcast Campaign — which features a two-part video series highlighting select Black creators who have chosen podcasting as their creative avenue — was created by both parties in an effort to spotlight a space where Black voices are moving the needle and becoming a dominant force in audio. “Podcasting is yet another medium that allows Black creatives to have a space where they can say what they feel and tap into audiences who can relate,” FourTwo Creative tells AfroTech. “It’s a medium that’s also a level playing field of creating one’s own platform—there are so many resources available that allow creatives to start with what they have and produce quality...
PepsiCo and the National Urban League (NUL) are teaming up to provide financial support for Black-owned restaurants. According to a press release, the global food and beverage (F&B) leader has formed a partnership with the NUL to launch their Black Restaurant Accelerator Program, which has pledged to give 500 Black restaurant owners in 12 U.S. cities a total of $10 million over the next five years. Both entities’ support comes about following a tumultuous year for small Black-owned businesses that were impacted by the pandemic. “As the pandemic exposed existing disparities many minority business owners face, we saw a fundamental threat that could erase the decades of progress Black-owned restaurants have made,” C.D. Glin — Vice President, Global Head of Philanthropy at The PepsiCo Foundation — said in a statement. “This investment will help Black restaurateurs not only recover from the pandemic but set them on a path to long-term economic resilience. We are inspired by the progress...
If you’ve ever had radio dreams, this Black founder is about to make them a reality. Ayinde Alakoye — a former speech contributor and message advisor to Barack Obama during a 2008 Presidential campaign — is remaining committed to the community, specifically the Black community. As a serial entrepreneur in the live broadcast space , Alakoye is no stranger to building apps. He created iHeartRadio’s mobile app and now he’s crafting his very own company from the ground up to better serve his community. Now, through his company Nēdl, Alakoye is on a mission to elevate more Black voices. The platform is a live audio discovery and creation app that allows users to start their own live call-in radio show with just the tap of a button. From there, the app transcribes, amplifies, and monetizes their words within seconds of them speaking. “If anyone can create a product for everyone, it’s us,” said Alakoye during a previous episode of AfroTech’s Black Tech Green Money podcast. “And so that’s...
Clubhouse has officially exited its beta stage! Just a year after launching on iOS, and later on Android systems, the audio-streaming app has officially exited its beta phase which means its invite-only system is out of the window. Things to love about Clubhouse: ✅ Wonderful people ✅ Fascinating conversations ✅ Backchannel ❌ > ✅ Easy to join After 16 never-boring months of building, we’re thrilled to share that Clubhouse is now out of beta, open to everyone, and ready to begin the next chapter! pic.twitter.com/vC1g2KfhyQ — Clubhouse (@Clubhouse) July 21, 2021 According to Complex, in an announcement on July 20, the Clubhouse team announced what the platform’s next chapter will look like for users. “The invite system has been an important part of our early history,” wrote founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth in an official blog post. “By adding people in waves […] we’ve been able to grow Clubhouse in a measured way, and (mostly 😬) keep things from breaking as we’ve scaled. But we’ve...
Amazon is announcing an ambitious plan that aims to drive economic equity for Black entrepreneurs across America. The tech giant has shared that it’s launching its own Black Business Accelerator (BBA) — in partnership with the Amazon Black Employee Network (BEN) and a coalition of strategic partners — to target the barriers created by systemic racism that prevent access, opportunity and advancement for Black business-owners in the U.S. According to a company blog post, the $150 million initiative strives to both generate sustainable equity and promote growth for these Black-owned businesses over the next four years by providing financial assistance, business education, mentorship as well as marketing and promotion of their brands as third-party sellers in their online store. “Selling online, particularly through Amazon, is a powerful economic opportunity for entrepreneurs,” Brandi Neloms — Manager at Amazon — said to Small Business Trends. “This program unlocks the full opportunity...
This week, Google announced plans to continue its accelerator program for African startups as well as launch 40,000 new developer scholarships for those spread across mobile and cloud development tracks in the continent. The new slate of scholarships — created in partnership with tech talent companies Pluralsight and Andela — will be granted to both beginner and intermediate developers who reside in Africa. At the end of Google’s training, it will then award 1,000 full scholarships to the top students, certifying them in either Android or Cloud development. According to an announcement from Google, the ongoing accelerator program will be opening up applications in 17 African countries — including Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe — for its sixth class in an effort to both recognize Africa’s exceptional digital talent and provide critical support to startups. “Last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first...