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Most people probably want to ask Courtne Smith about her time spent as Drake’s personal assistant and member of his management team. Working closely with one of the biggest pop stars and successful businessmen as his friend and right hand probably yields some inspiring, lifelong knowledge (and we get to that). But the more interesting thing about Courtne Smith, the co-founder and CEO of the polling app NewNew, is her ability to evolve her businesses and fearlessly meet new challenges along the way. It should be noted, this isn’t Smith’s first rodeo in business or tech. A serial entrepreneur, Smith previously launched the prize giveaway app Suprize in 2018. Users were given chances to win cool items, including concert tickets, Kylie cosmetics, and Nike sneakers. Then, Smith and her business partner Filip Diarra decided brands wouldn’t give away free goods forever, so they evolved Suprize into NewNew, which allows users to personalize polls around various topics using videos, popular...
PepsiCo representatives met with civil rights leaders from the National Action Network (NAN) after Reverend Al Sharpton threatened to lead a boycott over the company’s decision to scale back parts of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives . After sending a letter to the food and beverage brand on April 4, 2025, outlining details of the intended boycott, Sharpton issued a statement on Tuesday, April 15, saying that he and several members of NAN had a “constructive conversation” lasting over an hour with PepsiCo Chairman Ramon Laguarta and PepsiCo North America CEO Steven Williams. During the meeting at PepsiCo’s global headquarters in Purchase, NY, they had a chance “to discuss our grievances over reports they were rolling back nearly $500 million in DEI commitments .” “We agreed to follow up meetings within the next few days,” Sharpton wrote. “After that continued dialogue, NAN Chairman Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson and I, both former members of the company’s African...