Allow her to reintroduce herself! As a self-proclaimed “queen of career pivots,” Necole Kane is the epitome of persistence personified. Her initial claim to becoming widely recognized on the worldwide web began during her late 20s. Before today’s blogs like The Shade Room took over our timelines, Kane was behind the popular celebrity news and gossip blog Necole Bitchie. While the former blogger had great success with the platform — raking in 20 million visitors every month — a shift began of what she wanted for herself. There was an apparent sense of emptiness in both her personal life and in the media. Therefore, after a seven-year run, she shut down the site. The end of that chapter cleared the way for Kane’s ultimate rebrand. “I’m learning that as I create companies to always have them represent my personal growth and where I am in life,” she told AfroTech. “When I crossed over into my thirties, that’s when I started looking for more purpose and intention. I started looking...

When Kyle Parker began attending a predominantly white institution (PWI), he quickly realized that getting a decent haircut would be a challenge. In his predominantly white college town, there were no Black barbers. In fact, the closest Black barber was two hours away by car. The ordeal seriously impacted his mental health as he wasn’t able to look and feel his best. He also realized that other Black students were probably facing the same challenges, so he began dreaming up a solution. “Being African-American, I didn’t have the option to walk down the street to my favorite, affordable barbershop while attending Grinnell College in Iowa. The barbershop was a large part of my culture that was missing and became a factor in why I transferred after 3 years. Wherever I decided to attend, I had to have an equal chance to a great barber as most of my classmates. I knew it would tremendously help my mental health,” Parker told AfroTech. He eventually transferred out of Grinnell College but...

When Shellie-Ann Kerns left her home in Jamaica to join her husband in Washington State, she wasn’t sure what to expect. They moved to his family farm in Gray’s Harbor and she immediately began imagining ways to make the land productive. Family Roots “Farming for me, it’s in my blood on my mother’s side, and from her great grandmother, all the way down. My father’s family is also agricultural,” she said. “It’s something that I understand how it works. Something that I’ve just always been passionate about. When I came here, it was winter. And I needed to plant something. I did some research and I saw that, ‘hey, you can plant garlic in the middle of winter.’” Her first batch of garlic did so well that Kerns continued to plant garlic every winter. Now she’s taking her farming up a notch and making it a community affair. For her, farming is about supporting her community on a basic level. Decolonizing The Food System “What’s really driving me is the ability to feed the community,”...

Public health has been the most talked about topic of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but today marks another important day for our health and development as we continue to battle the HIV epidemic. World AIDS Day — held on the 1st of December every year — is a global health day that gives people the opportunity to unite in the fight against HIV worldwide and show their support. For this year’s World AIDS Day, media personality, talk show host, and HIV advocate Johneri’O Scott is using his own story living with HIV to help break the stigma in the Black community through his new digital campaign, #IAMNOTHIV. In this newly-launched campaign, Scott opens up about being diagnosed with HIV, challenges placed upon individuals living with HIV, and how he plans to educate communities in Georgia to help spread awareness about the virus. “I want to get my story out there and let people know that nothing can get in your way and nothing can stop you,” he said. “I want to inspire, empower, and...

It’s no secret that African Americans have been hit harder than any other group by COVID-19 . However, even before the pandemic, we knew that the Black community was at a disadvantage in the healthcare system. According to Cigna , a leading healthcare provider, Black people are 80 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, and 20 percent more likely to have visual impairments. Black women are also 40 percent more likely to die from breast cancer. Dr. Danielle Richardson, an LA-based optometrist at Zak , is trying to help reduce these disparities. Dr. Richardson is a glaucoma-certified therapeutic optometrist and hails from Indianapolis, Indiana. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Indiana University Bloomington and a Doctor of Optometry degree from Indiana University School of Optometry. She is also licensed to practice optometry in New York, Texas, and California. Dr. Richardson is passionate about educating communities of color about the importance of proper...

To call Bernard J. Tyson an industry giant would still be a significant understatement. As Chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente , Tyson heads an organization that provides care for 12.3 million members at 600+ locations across eight states and the District of Columbia. We had the fantastic opportunity to talk with him ahead of AfroTech 2019 about his career, the future of health care, and how Kaiser Permanente fights for equitable health care for its members and the 68 million residents in its surrounding communities. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. AfroTech: Mr. Tyson, you’ve been in the health care industry for about 35 years. In fact, your LinkedIn profile indicates that you studied health service management as an undergraduate and also earned an MBA with a focus on health services administration. Can you tell us what sparked your interest in health care? Bernard J. Tyson: When I was a child, my mother spent a lot of time with her doctor and in a hospital...