All results
Qurate Retail has a new chief executive officer (CEO). According to The Wall Street Journal, David Rawlinson II is the next CEO of the parent company of QVC and HSN as the online retailer looks to make changes that reflect the ever-evolving habits of consumers. Rawlinson will serve as president and CEO-elect of Qurate Retail, Inc. for a two-month period before taking the role on Oct. 1. Current Qurate CEO Mike George will retire at year-end before Rawlinson steps into his new role. For Rawlinson, the new role is proof that representation matters as Qurate joins other companies who have been working to diversify their boardrooms, executive suites, and workforces following the racial reckoning in the U.S. after the murder of George Floyd. “Representation matters,” said Rawlinson in an interview. “It’s important for every young person to see that their future is limitless.” The 45-year-old says that the job drew his attention thanks to his mother who watched QVC and HSN during his...
Abraxas Higgins is a sensation making a splash in the fashion, lifestyle, and social audio space, but his journey into the creative realm was not overnight. Before becoming a successful content creator, he worked for seven years in the financial sector at the largest global asset management company, BlackRock. Abraxas Higgins managed to climb toward the top starting as an intern and landing a role as a strategist on Wall Street. Arguably, Abraxas Higgins was at the peak of his game but discontent loomed in the back of his mind because he knew there was far more he wanted to pursue. Higgins believed it was time to make a shift to pursue his lifelong passions. Taking a leap of faith, he quit his well-compensated position and moved to Los Angeles to work as a digital strategist for rapper David Sabastian. In this transition, Abraxas Higgins found his footing and the confidence to branch out into the creative industry. As he branched out, he became a spectator of fashion and indulged in...
Kanye West is reportedly set to add another title to his long and storied resume. According to High Snobiety, West is gearing up to take over a role at Louis Vuitton that’s been left vacant in the wake of Virgil Abloh’s passing. “[Kanye] is being tipped to take over from Virgil Abloh,” reported the outlet, via The Sun. “The pair are said to have masterminded the move… before Virgil’s death aged just 41. They shared a similar vision and now Kanye West feels he owes it to Virgil to continue his work at Louis Vuitton.” The outlet also confirms that this claim was substantiated by The Daily Mail. However, West hasn’t responded to the outlet’s requests for comment, and neither has his camp intimated that they’d be interested in taking over the role so soon after Abloh’s death. But Louis Vuitton’s chairman, Michael Burke, also said that the brand is set until June 2022, and that the process of finding a replacement creative director will be a “slow” one. Burke told the outlet that it’s a...
If you’re a rapper and you’re looking to secure the bag, endorsement deals are the way to go. But believe it or not, the concept of rappers getting endorsement deals is nowhere near a new concept. According to High Snobiety, the rappers of today can thank a legendary Hip-Hop group for securing the first-ever product endorsement deal in the rap industry, which kicked off the trend that’s still going strong today. “You’ll likely recall Run DMC’s third studio album, “Raising Hell,” which thrust the group into the American mainstream and forever linked the genre to their iconic style and affinity for the Three Stripes,” they said. “When the album was released in 1986, one track particularly stood out: “My Adidas.” The song was more than just a powerful co-sign — it would soon become the catalyst for rap’s first endorsement deal, setting the stage for a generation of new artists to follow suit.” Run-DMC may have been just the first of many rappers to secure the bag with endorsement deals...
Pro athletes have been entering into both buying and launching non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in an effort to join the wave of investing into cryptocurrency and also to authenticate ownership and legitimacy of digital items. According to Highsnobiety, tennis player Naomi Osaka came into the NFT space last month by auctioning off original artwork signed by her and her sister, Mari Osaka, in which partial proceeds went to her charity, Play Academy. Now, Complex reports Cleveland Browns’ Odell Beckham Jr. has also recently stepped into the NFT world after purchasing a CryptoPunk 3365. Each of the 8-bit style pixelated digital characters have their own unique types, attributes, and accessories. Beckham Jr.’s Punk’s features includes a shadow beard, “wild hair,” and a smile. Plus, the wide receiver has changed his profile image across all of his social media accounts to reflect his new Punk. CryptoPunk 3365 was originally owned by NFT and Crypto Founder Soby Life. On Aug. 19 he tweeted,...
Issa Rae is the latest celebrity to forge a partnership with educational streaming platform MasterClass. The Emmy-nominated actress, writer, and producer announced this week that she’s teaming up with MasterClass — the e-learning company that offers a lineup of celebrity-led courses — to debut her first online course sharing her journey “creating outside the lines” in Hollywood, Variety reports. Through a series of 14 video lessons, Rae will discloses how she’s navigated Hollywood as a Black creator, and share an inside look behind her do-it-yourself method to help others take their creative ideas to the next level. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Issa Rae (@issarae) Lessons in Rae’s online course include finding your voice, developing your story, creating a pilot series, collaborating with others, and diversifying your skills, plus more. According to MasterClass, Rae also breaks down scenes from her breakout web series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl,” as...
Everyday people, as well as politicians and celebrities, have been victims of deepfake technology — including the music business. Deepfake technology is often used to produce realistic audio and video using artificial intelligence along with other tools to make people appear to do and say things that they’ve never done. For example, according to NPR , the technology was able to take audio of rapper Jay-Z’s voice and place it on a hit song from the 1600s. “There are recognizable patterns in how we speak — the tone, the information, where we put the emphasis,” says UC Berkeley professor Hany Farid, according to NPR. “So there’s a way of capturing mathematically a person’s speech. And the machine-learning algorithms are simply learning that pattern of speech and then synthesizing.” Back in April, Jay-Z made it clear that he is not here for this particular AI technology filing copyright takedown notices against the deepfake videos, reports High Snobiety. Youtuber and developer who goes...
Coronavirus vaccine trials are underway and the presidents of two prominent HBCUs are urging you to participate. In a letter published in The Advocate , the presidents of Dillard and Xavier University — Walter M. Kimbrough and C. Reynold Verret, respectively — explain that they are already participating in the Ochsner Health System’s current vaccine trial. During the study, they have each been injected with the experimental vaccine and are “monitoring and reporting any symptoms and side effects.” Currently, they are both well. Given the devastation of COVID-19 on the Black community, Kimbrough and Verret urge students, faculty, staff, and other HBCU institutions to volunteer in one of the many trials in order for the vaccines to be understood among a diverse group. In short, they want the medicine to work for Black people just as well as it will for others. “Today, there are many regulations in place to assure the ethical execution of medical studies, including oversight by human...
A Black woman is in charge of The Council of Fashion Designers of America. This week, the CFDA announced that CaSandra Diggs is the new president of the not-for-profit organization. Her appointment also makes her the CFDA’s first Black president. A member since 2001, Diggs previously served as the Chief Administrative and Financial Officer and will now develop strategy and make decisions “that further the CFDA’s purpose to champion, educate, and support its membership and the fashion industry-at-large.” “CaSandra is an innovative thinker with a strong understanding of organizational and business operations,” CFDA CEO Steven Kolb said of Diggs’ promotion. “Expanding her role will provide the CFDA with more opportunity to meet the needs of the membership in a broad and diverse way. It is a critical time for our industry, and she is the right person with the right ideas to help lead CFDA into the future.” In recent years, The Council has made efforts to create a more diverse and...
With nearly 3.5 million subscribers on YouTube , and partnerships with beauty brands such as Anastasia Beverly Hills, e.l.f. Cosmetics, Fenty Beauty, and Sephora, Jackie Aina has made quite a name for herself as a Black woman in the beauty industry. And while most women follow her because she’s one of the few Black YouTubers on the platform, many also follow her because she’s guaranteed to speak up for Black women no matter what the consequences. Immediately following the death of George Floyd, Aina took aim at fast-fashion brands Fashion Nova and Pretty Little Thing, who have been known to capitalize on the Black community, and called them out on their silence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPI_6bJwbWM&feature=youtu.be In response, after talks with Fashion Nova’s CEO, Jackie Aina reveals that the brand has pledged a $1 million donation for community resources and activism, awareness campaigns, and other initiatives to help in the fight for racial equality and opportunity. Pretty...
Even during this unique time, artists are still finding creative ways to support one another. Among those supporting the music community is Pharrell, who recently announced that he’s partnering with SoundCloud to hand-pick new artists to create a charity album. “For our shared passion and vision for music, @i_am_OTHER and I are teaming up with @SoundCloud to discover the next creators. Starting today you can tag #SCxiamOTHER on your SoundCloud track for a chance to be featured on a compilation we’re working on,” he said in an Instagram post. https://www.instagram.com/p/B_SSQDBH3la/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link The SoundCloud compilation album titled, “SoundCloud Presents: i am OTHER, Volume 1,” will champion emerging musicians and provide funding for undiscovered artists’ future music releases. This partnership both calls attention to a community that’s often overlooked and shows support for their artistic crafts. “We know the rise of the coronavirus has hit creators hard with a loss...
The Top Dog Entertainment Championship Tour is bringing artists from the beloved West-coast label to fans across the country, including Pulitzer Prize-winner Kendrick Lamar. And beyond great live performances, fans can also snag exclusive shoes through the Nike SNKRS app, which is allowing fans to buy the limited-edition collaboration using an augmented reality camera. Photo: Digital Trends At select shows on the tour, fans with Nike’s SNKRS app will have exclusive access to buy and reserve a pair of Kendrick’s limited edition Cortez Kenny IIIs while attending the concert. This marks something new for the cross-section of fashion and technology — combining apps with a live concert experience in order to snag limited edition capsule collection items. Typically the SNKRS app uses augmented reality cameras in order to steer customers in the right direction to shoes that are digitally buried in secret locations. But this time around the camera will allow people to buy the shoes anywhere...
Thanks to the magic of a free and open Internet and social networking, this generation has the ability to document every day of their entire lives. On the flip side, once posted there’s no way to erase the occasional stupid comment, regretful photo or random rookie mistake…or, is there? Photo: Giphy As co-founder of On Second Thought , Maci Peterson has patented a system that allows users to recall and edit their messages in real time. The inspiration came to the 30-year-old entrepreneur three years ago, when she accidentally texted an ex-boyfriend something she later wished she could take back. I mean, who hasn’t been there? In 2014, that inspiration lead Peterson to launch an app used to recall text messages. Now she and her partner are taking it a step further and expanding the technology for use on social networking platforms. In fact, the patented recall system will be made available on all forms of telecommunications. Brilliance! No one deserves a permanent, easily sharable...