Kevin Hart is giving credit to film producer Will Packer for his position in business and his career. Where It All Started The comedian turned actor first met Packer at the Los Angeles airport, according to the Chicago Sun Times. Hart remained on Packer’s radar and he eventually called the actor to work on their first movie “Think Like A Man.” At the time, Hart was booking mostly cameos which included “Scary Movie 3” (2003), “Soul Plane” (2004), and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” (2005). Learning Packer Was The Real Deal While On Set When it came to landing more screen time, Hart had become accustomed to empty promises. Landing the gig and working with Packer was all the proof needed from Hart that the Will Packer Productions founder was “the real deal.” “When I first met Packer and ‘Think Like A Man’ was brought up, he came to me first and said, ‘Listen man, I’m going to make this movie happen, but I’m not going to go forward and pursue, if I don’t know that I have you,'” Hart recalled...

It’s been two decades since Fantasia Barrino’s “American Idol” win. The Grammy Award-winning singer was crowned in the show’s third season in 2004, at just 19 years old. In the finale, she had three standout performances including “All My Life,” “I Believe,” and “Summertime,” which was also performed earlier in the season and is the song she believes changed America’s heart towards her. “For me, going back to ‘Summertime,’ it means a lot because that’s the song that made people change their mind on me. When I first was on ‘American Idol,’ you’re thinking someone who’s clean, polished, who has somewhat of a perfect story, and I do not have that,” she told AFROTECH™. “I was already a young mom. I had already been speaking about how I got there.”   An ode to that special moment in time for Barrino, she is reimagining “Summertime,” collaborating with music director and producer Adam Blackstone — known for his work with Rihanna, Jay-Z, Janet Jackson, and Jazmine Sullivan — in its latest...

DryMerge has raised $2.2 million to make automation easier with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The company was co-founded by Edward Frazer and Samuel Brashears. The pair, who first met in elementary school, made sacrifices to focus their full attention on the company. University of Wisconsin graduate Brashears walked away from a role at Hive AI while Frazer dropped out of Yale University to pursue the venture, a press release mentions. The founders recently participated in the Y Combinator Winter 2024 Batch startup accelerator program. “…I’m a pretty young founder – I dropped out of Yale to build the company and my cofounder Sam had just graduated from the University of Wisconsin,” Frazer wrote on LinkedIn . “I knew very little about how people worked, what problems they had, or how to solve those problems — and importantly, I didn’t care — I figured it’d be enough to build cool technology and watch the users appear out of thin air.” He continued, “It wasn’t until midway...

Kevin Burnett has transitioned from the football field to help families create wealth. Burnett, an Inglewood, CA native, was drafted in 2005 as a 42th draft pick in the second round to the Dallas Mavericks, according to ESPN. He was signed to a 4-year deal valued at $3.31 million with the team, which included a $1.15 million signing bonus and $1.15 million guaranteed, Spotrac notes. Burnett played for four teams throughout his career, ultimately retiring with the Oakland Raiders in 2014. He earned a total of $20.57 million. In retirement, Burnett took some time to water into his wife and four kids, per Equities.com. He became more immersed in his children’s worlds, which also included sports. This led him to coach his older kids’ football and baseball team, sparking a newfound purpose. “Hey, this is where I see my purpose,” Burnett explained. “It’s where I see my angle.” In 2020, he secured a position at McArthur High School in Hollywood, FL, as a football coach. With poverty and...

Fearless Fund is claiming victory following a settlement that dissolved one of its grant programs. What Happened As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Fearless Fund had been in a legal battle with legal activist Edward Blum and his American Alliance for Equal Rights group over the firm’s Strivers Grant program — a Blum-led group had earlier challenged race-based affirmative action policies and won in the Supreme Court. The grant program, backed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Mastercard, supported Black-owned women businesses with $20,000 in funding, per information shared by “CBS Mornings.” The lawsuit, filed August 2023 in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, GA, argued it was in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to launch a grant program “open only to Black females,” labeling the move as “explicit racial exclusion.” As a result, several rulings and appeals have been issued. First, the grant program was permitted to continue operating under U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash on...

Meshach Jones joined Bloomberg straight out of college in 2017, and quickly became a member of the company’s Asset and Investment Manager (AIM) Compliance team. In his role as a software engineering team lead, Jones found a way to excel while serving his clients and creating his own lane within the company. “As a Bloomberg engineer, there are no specific levels,” Jones explained. “It’s really about allowing engineers to get involved wherever they deem fit and not creating barriers based on titles that might discourage people.” Jones became part of the company’s Black Professional Community (BPC) and has served as a lead within the Bloomberg Black in Tech (BBIT) group, which is focused on representation and supporting engineers and technologists in their careers. He took his role even further, making sure these groups found a way to recruit potential engineers by giving them better insight into the industry. “We created Tech Labs,” Jones recalled. “Those labs allow potential...

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...

The 2024 NFL is in full swing, but players are still finalizing deals and securing contracts. One of the most lucrative deals recently announced was that of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. Prescott entered the league in 2016 as the round four, 135th pick. In the 2023-2024 season, he completed 410 passes for 4,516 yards and 36 touchdowns. This level of play has made him a mainstay for the Cowboys organization, prompting high-level negotiations for his most recent contract. According to Spotrac data, Prescott inked a four-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys worth $240 million. The contract includes a $80 million signing bonus and guarantees totaling $231 million, with an average annual income of $60 million. For the 2024 season, Prescott is set to receive a base salary of $1.25 million, along with the $80 million signing bonus. The contract extension was completed after the season-opener vs. the Cleveland Browns. However, the 31-year-old athlete didn’t let the lingering deal...

Oprah Winfrey is embracing artificial intelligence (AI). How She Is Using AI The long-time television host and founder of her own network believes “we are in for the ride of our lives.” There appears to be positive sentiments around her reactions as she has been leaning into the technology, even using ChatGPT to search for Airbnb listings, she mentions during an interview with “ABC News.” “It was miraculous to me that before you can practically finish the request, the answer has already come back to you,” Winfrey said.   Shift Towards AI Influenced By Sam Altman Winfrey’s encounter with AI did not come until after she had spoken with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, for her ABC special, “AI and the Future of Us,” which aired on Sept. 12, 2024. After learning further about its capabilities, the television mogul said there was no need to fear AI. “After he was telling me all about all the things it could do, I’m saying, ‘Okay. don’t be scared. Don’t be scared,'” she revealed in her...

Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman now holds a stake in the league where he once played. Bridgeman was drafted to the NBA in 1975 and selected by the Los Angeles Lakers as an eighth pick in the first round, Basketball Reference reports. Bridgeman continued his career in the league with nine seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks, followed by a two-year stint with the Los Angeles Clippers, before returning to the Bucks for his final season and retiring in 1987, Sports Illustrated mentions. At his highest, he earned $350,000 in a single season, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. However, his fortune greatly increased beyond the NBA, amassing a reported $600 million. His business portfolio has included Wendy’s and Chili’s restaurant franchises, although he later sold his stakes in 2016 and soon after became a Coca-Cola distributor. The basketball veteran is also the owner of Ebony and Jet Magazine as of 2020. He purchased the publications for $14 million after they filed for bankruptcy. In a...

Kevin Hart’s vegan restaurant chain has quickly closed. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the comedian launched Hart House in 2022 — with the promise of opening more — alongside what he called a premiere lineup of associates and industry pioneers. Its first location opened in Westchester, CA, near the Los Angeles International Airport, Eater reports. “I am THRILLED to announce that I have collaborated with an All-Star team of partners and industry leaders to create an industry-changing restaurant called ‘Hart House,’” Hart wrote on Instagram at the time. “This thing is going to be HUGE! We’re going to serve delicious, sustainable food, that delivers ‘Can’t-Believe-It’ Flavor in every bite!!! We’ll be opening our first few locations in the LA area, but we will be expanding quickly.” Hart House did deliver on its word to grow the business. By 2024, Hart House had extended its portfolio with three additional California locations: Monrovia, University Park, and Hollywood. The draw has...

Buying a home can be an overwhelming and expensive purchase. On Friday, August 30, 2024, the current national average interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 6.38%. The interest rates have gotten so high that John Hope Bryant , the founder of Operation HOPE , is trying to convince people that a 40-year mortgage plan is more fair. But when first-time homeowners and first-time investors are listening to Realtors, real estate attorneys and mortgage lenders discuss percentage rates, it may not seem as clear. That is, until new homeowners see property and interest (P&Is) really affect their monthly budget. (Varying property taxes can make budgeting even more complicated.) Photo credit: ArtTower Using Chicago as an example, if you bought a home in the Windy City right now (with very good credit between 700-739) for the city’s average home value of $305K , you’d pay about $1,729 per month for P&I. If that sounds high, the average rent in Chicago is $1,836 per month for a...

It’s not your imagination. Hot Girl Summer has turned into Grind Girl Summer for Megan “Megan Thee Stallion” Pete in the past few years. The Houston, Texas native has been on her grind and popping up everywhere, including introducing her “Hottie Sauce” in 2021 on First We Feast’s “Hot Ones” and sharing her Amazon Prime Day favorites in July of this year. Listed in Forbes “30 Under 30” in 2023, the 29-year-old reportedly made a guesstimated $13 million in 2022 from a combination of royalties, ticket sales, endorsements and merchandise. Clearly, this femcee is looking to be known for more than just music. Here are more details about her latest ventures and Megan Thee Stallion’s net worth. Popeye’s Partners With Megan Thee Stallion In 2021, the popular chicken franchise and the southern rapper created a chicken nugget and crispy chicken sandwich dipping sauce. (If you were around for the chicken war , you know about Popeye’s fried chicken sandwich already.) Even if you can’t get ahold...

Auntie. Unc. These nicknames came out of nowhere, and they’re not coming from your actual nephews and nieces. Birthdays are flying by, but you still feel the same age as prior years. Weird times. Photo credit: Polina Tankilevitch You may already know that starting a retirement plan early on means you’ll be ahead of the game, but it just seems like retirement is so far away. According to recent data from the Federal Reserve’s 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances , 45.6% of families are not investing for retirement. Whether you’re in the 54.4% who do have a retirement plan or not, the birthdays are going to continue regardless. Or, maybe you’re one of the few who decided to start trying to figure out the retirement savings “magic number” to strive for while Gen Z and Gen A have already assumed you get senior discount breakfasts and an AARP magazine subscription . Can You Survive On Social Security Benefits While Working? Instead of worrying about gray hair on your head ( or other places )...

Edy Lawson-Jackson has made history in the NFL alongside her daughter, Samira, according to The Baltimore Sun. Growing up in Baltimore, MD, Lawson-Jackson had many dreams, including wanting to pursue ballet, gymnastics, and acrobatics. These early aspirations fueled her activities in the band, track and field, as well as becoming homecoming queen. With discipline and creativity as part of her makeup, she developed a passion for writing, language, and history, which ultimately sparked her goal to become a sports and entertainment lawyer. After graduating from Baltimore City College in 1986, she attended Howard University, where she earned a juris doctor degree in 1993, per the outlet. The “Charm City” native also gained experience as an intern under a sports entertainment attorney at a law firm. That same year, despite being in the final stages of pregnancy and experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions with Samira, she took and passed the Pennsylvania bar exam on the first try. “Listen...