Micah Kimberley

Sometimes you unknowingly walk into your purpose, which seemed to be a common theme for some on the main stage of the Samsung Galaxy Creator Collective 2023. The multi-day event took place March 21-22, gathering diverse content creators from all over to support them along their journeys of turning their passion into profit with 40 hours of programming. From #TeamGalaxy’s Jaden Smith and Harry Hudson speaking on maintaining your authenticity as a creator to keynote speaker Marques Brownlee, or MKBHD, sharing insight into his journey, there was something valuable for everyone to take away — whether you were an aspiring creator looking to get in the game or already established your footing. Creators like Brownlee — who happens to be the latter — appear to make it look easy, but people may not be aware of the years he’s put in to build his platform making tech videos.

Relationships might be worth more than money, especially for hip-hop billionaire Jay-Z. As AfroTech previously reported, the rapper once revealed that relationships and sometimes talent are the factors that matter for music collaborations. “It’s actually always been mostly relationships. Sometimes it’s talent, and sometimes someone asks me to be on some. Pretty much every song that I am on — I am asked to be. I don’t ask people to be on their songs, and I never charge,” Jay-Z said during an episode of Kevin Hart’s “Hart to Heart” talk show on Peacock in 2022.

At one point on Twitter, you’d often see jokes or memes after someone would go on a rant or on for a bit longer than 140 characters regarding something they may be passionate about. Then they’d wrap it all up with “Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.” And, while it’s not every day that you get to travel miles away to hear a real-life TED talk from billionaires like Bill Gates and even, the controversial Elon Musk, in April, that was the case for me. I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to travel to Vancouver to attend TED2022, “A New Era.” At TED, I attended sessions that included topics like play, imagination, intelligence, and more, plus dinners that encouraged me to have tough conversations about capitalism with people who looked like me and some who didn’t. Going to an event like TED (which stands for “Technology, Entertainment, and Design”) not only forced me to participate in uncomfortable conversations but also self-care that included hand massages, meditation...

NBA player Spencer Dinwiddie — the self-proclaimed “tech guy with a jumper” — and tech entrepreneur Solo Ceesay are taking their talents to the podcasting world. Today, Dinwiddie and Ceesay — also the co-founders of Calaxy app — announced their New Money podcast in partnership with CoinDesk and Spotify in a press release exclusively provided to AfroTech. “With the launch of New Money, we are catapulting traditionally boring conversations on finances into the realm of mainstream entertainment. We have given way to colloquial conversations about new methods of wealth creation in an effort to produce something that could resonate with all audiences,” said Ceesay in a press release. While the now co-hosts are entering new territory, they aren’t new to the “creator economy” as their company, Calaxy, is an open social marketplace for creators by creators. The decentralized social media app brings creators and fans closer through various features while unlocking opportunities for creator...

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know there’s been a diversity, equity and inclusion problem going on in tech for quite some time now, and not addressing it is not going to make it go away. With the inaugural AfroTech Executive — held on Aug. 28, 2021 — AfroTech and Blavity CEO Morgan DeBaun did the opposite. Instead of ignoring the problem and failing to address it, for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, AfroTech brought together some of tech’s biggest power players in one room to discuss how to move the needle. From venture capitalists and angel investors to startup founders and tech moguls, and of course, corporate executives like EBONY and JET CEO Michele Ghee, AfroTech Executive made sure everyone was in the room to talk about how how to progress as a collective. Basically, in the words of Ghee, a diversity, equity and inclusion champion herself, we could preach to the “choir all day” long amongst ourselves, but we cannot accomplish anything alone. “It’s important...

Steps by major companies and organizations are still being taken to ignite change and empower the Black community. On Wednesday, the NBA Board of Governors — in partnership with the National Basketball Players Association — announced that it will be contributing $300 million toward establishing the first-ever NBA Foundation dedicated to strengthening the Black community economically in an official press release . “On behalf of the NBA Board of Governors, I am thrilled to announce the creation of the NBA Foundation,” said NBA Board of Governors Chairman and Toronto Raptors Governor Larry Tanenbaum, according to the press release. “All NBA team governors recognize our unique position to effect change and we are committed to supporting and empowering young Black men and women in each of our team markets as well as communities across the U.S. and Canada.” The foundation’s mission is to strengthen access and extend support for high school, higher education, and “career-ready” Black men...

In 2014, startup Zoox was founded by co-founder and CTO Jesse Levinson, to make an impact on the tech industry by building purposeful zero-emissions automobiles for autonomous ride-hailing. After being acquired by Amazon for $1.2 billion, according to Forbes , that impact may have been set in stone. “This acquisition solidifies Zoox’s impact on the autonomous driving industry,” said Zoox’s CEO, Aicha Evans, in an Amazon blog post . “We have made great strides with our purpose-built approach to safe, autonomous mobility, and our exceptionally talented team working every day to realize that vision. We now have an even greater opportunity to realize a fully autonomous future.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CB5mmCEJZAf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link As Zoox looks to the future after the acquisition, Evans and Levinson will still hold their leadership positions as the business still stands by itself to fulfill its mission. “Since Zoox’s inception six years ago, we have been singularly...

As social media giants like Instagram have partnered with Black artists and creatives to ignite the message behind Juneteenth, other social channels should have probably done the same. Today, as we were getting ready to kick off the festivities to celebrate Juneteenth, the day that commemorates the last slaves being freed in the United States , Snapchat was gearing up to issue an apology. After a filter that previously read “Juneteenth Freedom Day” and encouraged you to “smile” to break chains in the background went viral, the company realized they missed the mark. Mark Luckie, both a digital strategist and journalist, noticed the filter and tweeted , “This SnapChat #Juneteenth filter is…um…interesting,” before it shortly went viral. This SnapChat #Juneteenth filter is…um…interesting. Smile to break the chains? Okay then. pic.twitter.com/Wyob3kT3ew — Mark S. Luckie (@marksluckie) June 19, 2020 Other users shared their thoughts and reactions as well before Snapchat dropped the filter...

MoonXCosmetics , a handmade vegan skincare line specializing in all skin types, just experienced major success online, but not without the vision of its 20-year-old founder. MoonXCosmetics offers an assortment of products ranging from natural hydrating oils, cleansers, body conditioners, masks, and more — some of which were restocked on its virtual shelves on Thursday. Mariee Revere, CEO and founder, took to Twitter to announce that she made $1 million in eight minutes off of what she said would be a “million-dollar restock.” She called it the million dollar restock, and got it. I’m proud. Keep doing your thing. #SupportBlackBusiness https://t.co/inY4foCA0S — Big Mama✨👑. (@whoisyanna) May 1, 2020 “1 million in 8 minutes! thank you god and thank you to everyone who supported me! i had to cut the site 26 minutes due to me reaching 20k + orders! thank you so much!” Revere said via Twitter . Based on her company’s Instagram, MoonXCosmetics seems to have gained the approval of various...

As a Black woman going to the hair salon is a part of self-care. Whether you go once a week, month or year, it is an experience that has probably been ingrained into your routine since a child. For Natanya Montgomery, the first time she remembers visiting the hair salon was at seven-years-old and according to TechCrunch , she’s been going once a month for 18 years. Now, she’s the founder and CEO of Naza Beauty , what Megan Rose Dickey referred to as a “Drybar but for women of color.” The salon — which recently secured $1 million in funding backed by Alexis Ohanian’s Initialized Capital —  offers 25 variations of five different protective styles including crotchet, sew-ins, twists, blowouts, and braids. Although the salon does not offer any coloring services, chemical treatments or hair cuts, they do promise to have you out of the chair in either four hours or less. Naza Beauty “More and more people are seeing that these styles are valid, real and beautiful,” she said. “A lot of...

Editorial Note: The content of this article is based on the author’s opinions and recommendations alone. It has not been previewed, commissioned or otherwise endorsed by any of our network partners. Converting a for-profit business to a nonprofit entity could be a smart move if charity and community impact has become your focus as a business owner. But making the change requires more than applying for tax-exempt status. The process would largely depend on your state’s laws regarding business conversions, and not every company can become a nonprofit organization without a good reason for doing so. Only certain types of businesses can turn into a tax-exempt entity, a procedure that requires filing paperwork with state organizations and the IRS. Keep reading to learn what it takes to turn a for-profit enterprise into a nonprofit organization, and if it’s the right move for your business. In this guide, we’ll cover: Reasons to convert a for-profit business to a nonprofit Converting...

As Amazon’s new headquarters makes its way to Long Island City, Queens, so will computer science funding to over 130 New York City area high schools. Amazon will fund AP and intro classes in schools across five New York City boroughs. Of the schools receiving funding 30 will be in Queens near the vicinity of the new headquarters. Amazon says the funding will take care of preparatory lessons, tutorials, and professional development for teachers. In addition, a digital curriculum and live online support will be readily available for both instructors and students. The move makes sense for Amazon, as it tries to recruit and retain tech talent in the city, but as TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez points out , this is just another indication of how other cities could have benefited from the tech giant’s presence. However, the move also drives home how disappointing Amazon’s “HQ2” decision has been for those areas that lost out when the retail giant opted to split its “second” headquarters between...

One of the newest tools to strengthen mentorship is coming from the minds of a group of teenagers in Connecticut. Chelsea Cranford, Natalee Best, Elyece Patterson, and Angelique Phillips of Hartford created EBONI — a platform for young black professionals to receive mentorship and guidance on how to navigate predominantly white workspaces. The group of young engineers used Chatfuel, Facebook’s platform for creating chat bots. “It’s a powerful idea for them,” Angelique Phillips’ mom, Jackie told the Hartford Courant. “Creating a pathway of outreach for minority young professionals to know exactly how to navigate the world of work, and to make it a culturally sensitive environment.” The “powerful idea” has gained them an invitation from Facebook after advancing to the finals in a challenge that posed the question of how a social issue could be solved utilizing technology. “We were thinking about everybody in the community,” 16-year-old Cranford said. “I’m glad I took the steps to...

Soulja Boy is shooting his shot at the gaming industry. The star has released two products, a handheld and a console, that are now available on his website SouljaWatch.com. “I know it’s new to the industry. I know they’re scratching their heads and there’s going to be a lot of talk, but hey man, I’m just a person with a dream,” Soulja Boy told Rolling Stone. “I know that I’ve been introduced to the world as a rapper, dancer, producer, but don’t just limit me to that and think outside the box and really give me a shot with this.” The Souljagame console, priced at $199.99, will not only run games of its own such as SouljaGames, but also offers PlayStation, NeoGeo, PC, Sega, Game Boy Advance, and NES games as well according to Soulja Boy. https://twitter.com/souljaboy/status/1070685738629353472 According to Souljawatch.com states the console already has 800 preinstalled games. The Souljagame handheld runs for $199.99 regular price offering 3,000 games plus Switch, 3DS, Vita, NeoGeo,...

Apple has launched an app development program with women founders–specifically women of color in mind. Although the company has previously held workshops, talks, and accelerators, this is the first program focused on women-founded companies. Starting in January, Women will be able to receive support through Apple’s new Entrepreneur Camp. The two-week camp will offer one-on-one coding assistance from Apple engineers plus design, technology, and App Store marketing sessions. Inclusive of all who identify as women, participation requires the company to be founded, co-founded or led by women. Companies can also have at least one woman on the development team. “We wanted to focus on women who already have an app-driven business, and we don’t require them to have an iOS app,” Apple Senior Director of Worldwide Developer Marketing Esther Hare told TechCrunch . “This isn’t an incubator where you come with a good idea and we help you think through it. It’s about already having a good idea,...