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The Trump administration has repealed a Biden-era policy that guaranteed a baseline wage for workers on federal contracts, cutting the federal contractor minimum wage down from $17.75 an hour. However, the move still leaves an Obama-era rule in place that puts the minimum at $13.30 an hour. With that single change, hundreds of thousands of private-sector workers employed by federal contractors are at risk of wage reductions up to 25% — a shift that will disproportionately affect workers without college degrees and those already earning near-poverty wages, the Center for American Progress reports. The Federal Contractor Minimum Wage: A Lifeline Now Lost The now-defunct regulation, established under Executive Order 14026, raised the federal contractor minimum wage in 2021 to $15 and indexed it to inflation, bringing it to $17.75 in 2025. It was designed to ensure that janitors, cooks, maintenance workers, and other federal contract laborers earned a livable wage. More than 327,000...
Former PepsiCo President and entrepreneur Derek Lewis has added another franchise to his portfolio. Lewis secured a deal with Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks, granting him ten locations in Central Florida, AFROTECH™ previously told you. He is also the restaurant’s first franchisee, which Derrick Hayes founded. According to information shared with AFROTECH™, Lewis celebrated the grand opening of two locations at Camping World Stadium in November 2024. “This expansion represents our commitment to bringing authentic Philly-style cheesesteaks to sports and entertainment venues across Florida,” said Derek Lewis in a news release. “We’re creating more than just restaurants; we’re building community gathering spots where food brings people together.” More recently, Lewis partnered with Philly Pretzel Factory and is spearheading its expansion throughout the Orlando area. “Soft pretzels are woven into Philadelphia’s cultural fabric, and I’ve craved their distinctive taste since childhood,” said...
Black Unicorn Factory has set a historic precedent in equity crowdfunding. Black Unicorn Factory (BUF) is a business development accelerator and equity crowdsourcing platform established by Johnny Stewart in 2012. Through BUF’s Follow Me for Equity app, it uniquely allows individuals to secure stock in pre-IPO companies by simply becoming a follower of a company through the app. “Stop following for free and earn equity,” actor Anthony Anderson said in a promotional video for the company. BUF’s target audience is underserved communities who are being left out of opportunities in the venture capital space. “It is disheartening to observe that the venture capital industry only allocates funds to a mere 1% of businesses led by individuals from underrepresented communities. At BUF, we firmly believe that this disparity cannot persist, and we are committed to providing an alternative to the discriminatory practices prevalent in the traditional venture capital landscape,” a statement on...
Addressing the talent gap is essential to mitigating cybersecurity risks effectively. The United States has seen a wave of cybersecurity attacks over the years. In 2024, The Guardian reported that Volt Typhoon, a Chinese hacking group, infiltrated the networks of critical infrastructure organizations, including aviation, rail, mass transit, highways, maritime, pipelines, water, and sewage systems. U.S. intelligence revealed that the group had maintained access to some victim IT environments for over five years. Among the high-profile incidents, MGM Resorts faced a staggering $100 million loss. They were hit with cybersecurity attacks, leading them to shut down their systems in September 2023 “to mitigate risk to customer information,” according to NBC News. This meant workers could not access company emails, slot machines were inaccessible, and some customers could no longer enter their hotel rooms. Despite these measures, the hackers were still able to retrieve sensitive...
Tyler Perry understands the responsibility of leading by example when working with talent, a principle that shapes his unwavering commitment to ensuring actors receive fair and deserving compensation. Perry has received recognition from countless actors who revealed he was the first to ensure they were compensated fairly. This includes Taraji P. Henson. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Henson received her first $500,000 paycheck for a role from Perry. “I was asking for half a million. I didn’t get paid that until I did my first Tyler Perry film. He was the first person that gave — that broke the standard that I was getting paid for films, and he gave me $500,000,” Henson said during an interview on Variety’s segment titled “Actors on Actors.” Actor Cory Hardrict also revealed that Perry paid him generously during his time starring in “Divorce in the Black,” which was directed, written, and produced by Perry. “He paid me the most I’ve ever made in a film for three weeks ever [of...
Founder Craig J. Lewis is revamping his mission to empower the gig economy. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Lewis leads Gig Wage, a fintech platform aimed at improving payroll for 1099 employees. With his background in payroll sales at Payroll Plus Inc. from 2009 to 2010 and a two-year stint as a payroll technology consultant at CyberPay, Lewis has a deep understanding of the industry, as mentioned on his LinkedIn profile. “I helped to sell ADP’s [the largest payroll company in the world] first cloud-based product called ADP Run, and that’s where it all started for me,” he told AFROTECH™ in a 2021 interview. “I’ve seen the impact that technology has on the payroll space. After reading an article about the global independent workforce, aka the gig economy, I realized that there wasn’t a payroll space for that group, meaning, people who do work for a company but the companies aren’t really designed or don’t have access to the technology to pay these type of people. These are your...
Sony Music had a successful quarter, reportedly driven by the success of popular artists like SZA. The St. Louis, MO-born artist is still basking in the success of her sophomore album “SOS,” which was released on Dec. 9, 2022. Billboard reports the album claimed the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart when it debuted, selling 318,000 equivalent album units and setting a record for the best streaming week for an R&B album. Hit singles on the album included “Kill Bill” and “Snooze.” Speaking to the album’s inspiration, SZA told Rolling Stone, “I think this album was partially inspired by love lost, but mostly inspired by my departure from attempting to be a nice girl. I’ve tried to be a nice girl for so long and it’s just not who I am, inherently. And I think I’ve done nice things and I am a kind person, but I’m not a nice girl. And that’s okay. And I think coming to terms with that and really expanding upon that and exploring that is kind of like this new chapter in my life.” “SOS”...
Industry veteran Taye Diggs has come a long way in the entertainment industry. In an email interview with AFROTECH™, “The Best Man” actor reminisced on his early career, sharing how he spent his first paycheck as an actor. With three decades in the industry, his first role was “Carousel” in 1994, with his big break coming four years later in “How Stella Got Her Groove Back.” “I remember I bought a tailored suit from the then fashion icon, Barney’s. It took me a while to switch my mindset from so-called immediate needs and wants to having more of a ‘full picture’ perspective that takes the future into consideration,” he recalled. Portfolio He acknowledges that financial management is an ongoing learning journey. However, his strengthened understanding of long-term planning has paved the way for him to step confidently into investing. “I’ll be the first person to admit I’m still learning when it comes to managing money. I’m excited to extend my finances into the real estate space. It...
The visibility from “Shark Tank” led to remarkable growth for The Transformation Factory founder Alexiou Gibson. Gibson is behind the sea moss brand, which was inspired by his personal health journey that resulted in a 300 pound weight loss from taking the algae in his daily lattes, CNBC reports. “Like most teens, I believed that I was invincible,” Gibson shared on “Shark Tank.” “I thought I would be fine and had time to get healthy later. It wasn’t until my doctor told me that I wouldn’t live to see my 30th birthday that I understood how serious I needed to be about living.” Recognizing the great power of sea moss through his 10-year health battle, the company website notes, The Transformation Factory now sells various sea moss gels in flavors dragon fruit, pineapple, mango, and strawberry banana. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Transformation Factory (@seamosstransformation) Gibson pitched his company while on “Shark Tank” in 2022 and scored a $600,000 deal from...
Da’Vinchi, 28, has been on quite a roll in Hollywood. From shows like “Grown-ish” to “All American,” the Haitian-American actor has been stacking roles. However, Da’Vinchi’s starring role and portrayal as Terry “Southwest T” Flenory on 50 Cent’s “BMF” (or “BMF: Black Mafia Family”) on Starz is his biggest gig to date. Although Da’Vinchi, born Abraham D. Juste, has made a name for himself in the acting world, he is transparent about coming from humble beginnings. In an interview on REVOLT’s “The Blackprint,” the Brooklyn, NY, native was open about the way he grew up. “I grew up in poverty,” Da’Vinchi told host and REVOLT CEO Detavio Samuels. “A very normal situation that most of us grow up in, but of course while you’re in it you don’t really know it because everyone else is like that around [you] until you switch environments. And then, you start realizing the depths of the lack that you were in.” He added, “The poverty that I faced was you don’t have all the meals throughout the...
Damson Idris is a British actor best known for his roles in projects such as “Snowfall” and “Outside The Wire,” as well as a few other front-and-center placements in productions such as “ Black Mirror .” Despite having amassed only a handful of prominent roles, Idris seems to be playing his cards right in his career, taking a real quality over quantity approach. This is evidenced by his impressive net worth, which is said to clock in at $10 million to $13 million, according to a write-up in Tuko . With under 2 dozen screen acting credits on IMDb, this nest egg is clearly an impressive feat. But Damson Idris hasn’t amassed his entire fortune on salary alone, as he has also made a large sum off of endorsement and brand deals , his modeling career, and a few other key investments along the way. Let’s take a moment to examine the multiple streams of income developed by the 32 year old actor, and better understand how he’s developed this generational wealth in such a brief period of...
Fans of 50 Cent’s “Power” franchise may have been first introduced to Michael Rainey Jr. in 2014 for his breakout role as Tariq James St. Patrick, but his acting days started years before. In an interview with Forbes’ “New Money” podcast, the actor recalled landing his first movie, “Un Altro Mondo (Another World),” at age 9 in 2010. Before the starring role, Rainey’s acting journey began when a talent agent approached his mom to consider placing him in the business. “She literally just walked up to my mom and said, ‘Your son has a great face for acting or modeling. Does he do any of that?’” Rainey told host Rosemarie Miller. “And she was like, ‘No.’ And then, like a week after, they had a meeting in the office and after that, they just started getting me auditions.” The auditions that rolled in included TV time for shows like “Sesame Street” and more. The progression of Rainey’s gigs led to landing his bigger role on “Power.” However, prior to the hit Starz show, he says that his...
A long-time factor for a medical test for kidney transplant evaluations has been rectified, which has lessened a massive barrier for Black patients in need of a new kidney. Previously, the eGFR (estimated glomerular filtration rate) test that is used for kidney transplant waitlist evaluations included race and outdated studies that inaccurately showed that Black patients’ kidney function was different than other racial groups and underestimated the extent of their illness, according to ABC News. Today, race is no longer taken into consideration. This came after reassessment from the National Kidney Foundation and the American Society of Nephrology in 2020, which determined race had no connection to kidney function. As a resulted, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network enacted the update in 2023. “That really was problematic, but it was very widely accepted,” said Martha Pavlakis, former chair of the kidney committee with the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network,...
From movements like #OscarsSoWhite to constant stories about pay inequity in the entertainment industry, it is no real surprise that when Forbes released a list of the 2023 highest-paid actors in Hollywood, CA, there was a lack of diversity. The lone Black indigenous person of color (BIPOC) named on the list at number 10 was veteran actor Denzel Washington. Financial earnings for marginalized groups compared to their white counterparts is not a new social justice issue. However, due to some public knowledge regarding celebrity salaries, it is hard to ignore the significant differences in pay that Black actors receive. The most noticeable pay gap is the gender inequities between actors who identify as men or women. According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, Black actresses typically make an estimated 64 cents for every dollar white, non-Hispanic male actors make. This number increases to 68 cents for Black women producers and directors. While advocates for Black...
Nearly five decades ago, Ernie Hudson first made his entrance into Hollywood. Out of the veteran actor’s countless film and TV appearances, one of his most widely known roles is Winston Zeddemore in the “Ghostbusters” franchise. According to IMDb, the first installment of the “Ghostbusters” films alone made over $297 million worldwide. What’s more, among the later installments, “Ghostbusters II” grossed over $215 million, and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” grossed over $204 million — all starring Hudson. Before being a part of box office smashes, Hudson experienced his fair share of receiving low pay. During the promo run for 2024’s “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” he revealed to The Root what he earned from his first big payday as a Hollywood actor. “[My] first big check was $10,000 for one day’s work,” Hudson shared in the interview. “I was behind on rent and I told my landlord that I was waiting for the check to come.” However, Hudson was unaware of just how much of his check was going...