Melissa Pennington is leveraging the advancements of technology to improve her work in human resources (HR). Exposure To Human Resources The Queens, NY, native carries more than two decades in the sector, which she was first introduced to as a high school student. She took a Myers-Briggs personality test, which suggested she consider a career in HR. She was unfamiliar with what it entailed until further research. “I remember thinking, ‘What is that?’ The more I explored, the more I realized how perfectly it aligned with who I am,” she told AFROTECH™ in an email interview. “As I grew into my career, I started to understand the impact HR could have — not just as the department dealing with policies or consequences, but as a true catalyst for positive change.” Pennington’s focus in her work would settle on nonprofits and medium to small-sized businesses. This was inspired by her grandmother, who moved to the United States in pursuit of the American dream. She owned multiple beauty...

Kerry Washington has invested in Spill, the Black-owned social media platform designed to provide a safer and more inclusive environment for diverse communities to engage with and discuss culture in real time. “In a digital world where marginalized groups, especially Black, Brown, and LGBTQIA folks, rarely feel prioritized, Spill stands out,” Washington said, according to TechCrunch. “I’m proud to be part of this community as both a user and an investor.” Founded in 2022 by Alphonzo Terrell and DeVaris Brown after the two had worked at Twitter, Spill raised a $2.75 million seed extension in 2023 and has over 200,000 active users. In addition to serving as an investor, Washington actively participates in the Spill community by hosting “Tea Parties,” which are live video conversations, and engaging with users on topics like voter registration. “She’s incredibly accessible and knowledgeable, especially around these topics and is not scared in any way, shape, or form about really...

While in the NBA, Al Harrington had long-held dream of owning a cannabis dispensary; now he owns several. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Harrington is the founder of Viola Brands, which exists to “increase minority participation and ownership in the cannabis industry while positively impacting and reinvesting into communities most affected by the war on drugs.” Its inception was inspired by his grandmother, who suffered from glaucoma that impaired her vision. He suggested she consume cannabis, and although she was initially reluctant, it helped her greatly after trying it. “She was complaining about her eyes hurting and I said, ‘Grandma, why don’t you give it a try.’ I said a doctor will actually recommend it,” he told News 12 New Jersey. “I said, ‘It’s legal here,’ and she said, ‘I’m in so much pain today, I’ll try anything.’ From that point on, I had a different outlook on cannabis. I realized that it was medicine. So, I started doing research and then eventually I got into the...

Robert F. Smith’s Vista Equity Partners has signed off on a multi-billion-dollar deal. According to a news release, the private equity firm that has more than $100 billion in assets under management, has agreed to acquire Smartsheet— an enterprise platform for modern work management — alongside Blackstone for nearly $8.4B in an all-cash transaction. Per the agreement, the buyers would acquire all outstanding shares held by Smartsheet stockholders for $56.50 per share in cash once the proposed transaction is completed. “For more than a decade, we have built a thriving community of employees, partners, and customers, each focused on building and benefiting from Smartsheet’s industry-leading work management platform,” Mark Mader, CEO of Smartsheet, said in the press release. “Our next phase of growth and customer success is underway, and we look forward to partnering with Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners to accelerate our vision of modernizing work management for enterprises,...

50 Cent faced some growing pains when launching his series “Power.” While speaking on the podcast “Earn Your Leisure,” he notes a time when there was a clear division between television and film production. When he was looking to introduce “Power,” he felt there was major pushback. “A ctors that were successful on TV, the film actors wouldn’t go near them, like they would stay away from it because they felt like it was a higher grade of quality, that they wanted to stay with more cachet with you being a movie star than you being a television star,” he recalled. “Now we’re producing premium projects that allow Forest Whitaker and “Godfather of Harlem.” You see Academy-Award-winning actors choosing television ’cause it builds a consistency, and they can pay out the money that keeps the talent happy with staying there, but you do need to know with ‘P ower’ everybody told me no. I pitched that show to all of the networks, and they were like ‘No,’ and I wanted to make the project so...

Marketing strategist Mahdi Woodard is helping Black entrepreneurs harness their marketing power. His mission follows nearly 10 years of experience in corporate marketing. Ultimately, it was a nudge from a mentor that opened up his mind to the possibility of venturing further into the marketing sector on his own terms. “He said, ‘If you got the financial chops to do corporate finance, investment banking, you’ll thrive in marketing. Because it’s not just the creative things, you are the person that’s running the business. You need to have that analytical rigor and that creative muscle,'” Woodard recalled the advice on the “Black Money Green Tech” podcast hosted by Will Lucas. The branding specialist also recognized he had become a trusted resource for many who were looking for advice, which he later recognized as consulting. By placing a calculated bet on his skills, he forged his path as a brand strategist under his own company, Mahdi Woodard, Inc. In that same breath, he is...

College student Layla Wallace has secured a grant for her bakery business. Wallace started her Michigan-based business, Layla’s Cool Pops, when she was just 10 years old after being inspired by her fourth grade economics project in 2015, MLive reports. At the time, she did not have any proper knowledge of what it would take to run a business and be successful, but she is only becoming wiser in light of her steps in higher learning as a business student at Western Michigan University. “When I started the business, I didn’t know anything,” Wallace told the outlet. “I’m taking courses that are helping me develop my business, teaching me the fundamentals of how to function, develop, and grow.” In the meantime, Wallace continues to run Layla’s Cool Pops in Kalamazoo, MI. She sells cupcakes in flavors such as confetti, pink lemonade, red velvet, and lemon, among others, as well as cookie pops, cake pops, brownies, and pies. Orders are currently being fulfilled from her home, and the...

Award-winning chef Kwame Onwuachi’s new restaurant is honoring a Black mathematician. The Nigerian-American restaurateur, raised in New York City, NY, opened Dōgon on Sept. 9, 2024, inside luxury hotel Salamander Washington DC. The fine-dining establishment’s design honors Benjamin Banneker, a mathematician and astronomer who primarily taught himself by watching the stars and studying math textbooks while on his family’s 100-acre farm in Baltimore, MD, according to the Library of Congress. In 1752, Banneker gained recognition for reportedly creating the first all-wood clock in American history . Nearly four decades later, he was among the individuals responsible for designing and surveying Washington, DC, including choosing the sites of the U.S. Capitol building and the White House, among others. Not only was the new restaurant’s grand opening date chosen to commemorate when DC was officially named in 1791, Onwuachi also pays homage to Banneker’s West African Dogon tribe lineage...