All results
Ramatu Kandakai wants to help you level up ahead of AFROTECH™ Conference 2025. The personal brand consultant leading her own agency attended the annual tech mecca for the second time, but her appearance at its Houston, TX, debut in November 2024 marked her first time attending in person. She invested in her ticket, and through her AFROTECH™ Insider membership at the time, she received a corporate ticket discount. Photo Credit: Ramatu Kandakai Now, Kandakai shares tips and strategies to help future attendees stand out and make lasting impressions. Pre-Planning Before stepping into the conference arena to secure your badge, it is essential to set a clear intention and pathway to success. This includes researching panels and events that align with your career goals, networking opportunities, and personal branding. The AFROTECH™ Connect app is a valuable tool to maximize your experience, offering access to events, tickets, and the ability to create a personalized schedule. “I wouldn’t...
If you spent any time tuned into the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, you’re likely already familiar with the name Gabby Thomas. The young athlete has been turning heads for a few years now but truly established herself as a force to be reckoned with in the world of athletics by scoring a whopping three gold medals in the sprint and relay categories. Like some of her U.S. Olympic teammates , Thomas serves as the subject of the newly-released Netflix docu-series Sprint: The World’s Fastest Human’s Part 2 . The series, which premiered on the streamer on Nov. 13, showcases a few of the most prolific athletes currently competing for the title of fastest human being of all time as they outline their painstaking training regiment ahead of their Olympic performances. Given that Gabby Thomas is currently such a hot topic in the pop culture zeitgeist, now seems like as good a time as any to take a look at her career history, revenue streams and overall net worth to see what we can...
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...
Marcus Gram started from the bottom. Now, he is earning top dollars. CNBC Make It reports the 31-year-old started with $10,000 and a dream. Gram was making $30,000 per year and originally aspired to become a music producer. He later moved back home to find footing and saved money by living with his mother. He then moved to Philadelphia with aspirations to jumpstart an entrepreneurship journey. Marcus recalls seeing a woman retrieve money from a vending machine. That brief snapshot in time sparked his interest and his side hustle began. He invested $4,400 into two vending machines with two card readers in 2018. Gram earned $4,000 in his first year. Soon, his side hustle became a business, and Joyner Vending was born. One year later, his earnings soared to $25,000, and the year after that, $200,000. In 2021, Gram racked in $300,000. Fast forward to now, and Gram projects he is on track to earn half a million dollars this year alone. Gram shared his tips for success.
Viola Davis may be one of the most successful actresses in the world today — but she didn’t always have it easy. In an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal — whom she sat down with to promote her new Showtime series, “The First Lady,” in which she plays Michelle Obama. T he actress revealed that her humble upbringings forced her to go to extremes to avoid going hungry. “I mean, her Hunger Free program for kids,” Viola Davis said to the outlet, referring to Michelle Obama’s advocacy for the passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. ” I mention that because I was a kid who was hungry. I grew up in abject poverty. I dumpster-dived. I stole money for food. And I think Michelle Obama, coming from the South Side of Chicago, was very aware of [that kind of poverty].” First Lady Michelle Obama’s advocacy for the act resulted in her husband, President Barack Obama, signing the act into law in 2010. While Davis herself, couldn’t take advantage of the act when she was growing...
Awarded for their efforts in making the world a better place, two trailblazers have received a global award. Created in 2015, the Global Teacher Prize is a $1 million award granted annually to a teacher who is making a prolific impact in the lives of their students. This year a new sister award was launched to highlight a student who is making a difference for their peers and society. Jeremiah Thoronka — a 21-year-old Durham University student — became the first recipient of the inaugural Chegg.org Global Student Prize receiving $100,000 U.S. dollars. “Words can’t express how I feel about this,” Thoronka said. The master’s student stood out from a selection of over 3,500 nominations across 94 countries due to his work centered on sustainability. Growing up in a slum camp with his mother on the fringes of Freetown, they would burn charcoal and wood to be used for light and heat, SwitSalone reports. Here is where Jeremiah Thoronka’s passion for climate change advocacy was birthed. The...
The City Girls are here to stay, whether their haters like it or not. In a recent report for Rolling Stone, it was revealed that Summer Walker was enlisting the aid of JT for her newest album, “Still Over It.” The outlet confirms that in the teaser video for the album — which is set to drop in November 2021 — Walker is featured on the phone with JT. While arguably controversial, it’s also just in the City Girls style to flip a negative into a positive (since the video was dated two years ago, it’s meant to imply that it was recorded during JT’s incarceration). Since they first burst onto the mixtape scene in 2017, JT (born Jatavia Shakara Johnson) and Yung Miami (born Caresha Romeka Brownlee) have been making waves everywhere they go. They’ve certainly come a long way from their humble beginnings — born and raised in poverty, JT and Yung Miami worked in fast-food joints and Whole Foods Market before making it big. From appearances on hit songs (Drake’s “In My Feelings) to...
When Darryl Finkton, Jr. started his career, he worked in the world of asset management. He was “that guy” who made sure that the super-wealthy were able to keep their hard-earned money and to have it work for them and not the other way around. But he realized, at some point, that there had to be more. And with that in mind, he set up a fund which he ended up calling the EPMT Fund (or the End Poverty, Make Trillions Fund ). Darryl Finkton, Jr. — who started in the projects of Indianapolis, IN, and ultimately went to Harvard to study neurobiology — told TechCrunch that his ultimate goal with the fund was to help people who were like him, but didn’t have the luck, the means, or the opportunity to get themselves out of their dire situations. “In my household, we often struggled to make ends meet and put food on the table. More family members than I care to count have died from the dire circumstances that extreme poverty creates,” he said to TechCrunch. “Although I was able to overcome...
Best known for his portrayal of tough, sassy Madea Earlene Simmons, Tyler Perry has joined the ranks of Black celebrity billionaires like Jay-Z, Oprah Winfrey, and Michael Jordan. The brilliant actor, writer, producer, playwright, and director went from being raised in poverty to building an empire. So what is Tyler Perry’s current net worth and how did he earn his fortune? Let’s dive right in. According to Forbes, Tyler Perry’s estimated net worth is $1 billion. The actor and entrepreneur’s success has earned him a spot in The Forbes 400, which annually lists the 400 richest Americans.So how did he do it? Throughout his career, Perry has directed over 30 movies, 20 plays, and eight TV shows. In the late 1990s, the self-made tycoon wrote and produced his very first play called “I Know I’ve Been Changed.” While living in his car, Perry made the play a hit. From there, he kept going, until he gained a huge following that led him to make his first film, “Diary of a Mad Black Woman, “...
Flau’jae Johnson is making a difference off the court by helping wipe out $5 million of debt for 5,000 Louisiana families. On March 14, 2025, global data and technology company Experian announced that the Louisiana State University women’s basketball guard would serve as spokesperson for its initiative to help relieve impoverished families following reports of record-high consumer debt. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Louisiana has one of the highest poverty percentages in the country. Johnson will promote financial literacy and share her experiences managing finances as one of the leading college athletes with a name, image, and likeness (NIL) deal , per a news release. “You know what’s bigger than basketball? Financial empowerment,” Johnson said in an Experian commercial. “Finances are tough, and Experian is helping the next generation pursue their dreams. … Money isn’t everything, but you need it to live a good life. The Experian app can help you save time and money, build...
Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown remains committed to supporting Black-owned businesses, empowering communities of color, and fostering generational wealth along the way. On Feb. 14, 2024, Brown announced the launch of OaklandXChange, a sister project to his nonprofit, BostonXChange (BXC). Jaylen Brown announces a new business district and incubator program as part of his Xchange fund in a speech at a community luncheon at Oakstop in Oakland pic.twitter.com/kZwpd0HYEM — Celtics on CLNS (@CelticsCLNS) February 14, 2025 Founded in 2024, BXC aims to create $5 billion in generational wealth within Boston, MA’s communities of color, AFROTECH™ previously reported. The organization provides funding, resources, workplaces, and mentoring from seasoned individuals to Black and minority entrepreneurs, helping them launch businesses that contribute to sustainable economic growth . According to Sports Illustrated, OaklandXChange, which launched in partnership with Jrue and Lauren Holiday’s JLH...
A Black-owned pharmacy has opened in Toledo, OH. After seeing health disparities within communities during his residency with Kroger, pharmacist Anthony Pattin was driven to provide better access to underserved citizens. At the time, Pattin had already completed an undergraduate degree in pharmaceutical sciences and a PharmD from the University of Toledo, Toledo Blade reports. “One of my first projects was looking at African-Americans’ perceptions of vaccines,” he told the outlet. “I learned a lot. One thing is, not everyone feels the same way. I had a group of people who wanted vaccines but said ‘As a matter of fact, when I go to the pharmacy, they don’t offer it,’ and that’s how I found out that there are some pharmacies, even in their community, that didn’t offer that service. So that was a disparity — that you were saying that maybe they don’t want the service, but they don’t have it available.” While Pattin took note, the idea for a pharmacy was catalyzed by an elderly neighbor...
A small, private Mississippi school that opened nearly three years ago with just six students has grown to approximately 50 in grades prekindergarten through 12th. Leora Hooper founded Abundance Educational Academy in a neglected storefront in Yazoo City, according to The New York Times. She had taught special education at a local public school and sixth-grade social studies at another. However, Hooper’s work in the impoverished community and struggling public school system took its toll and she quit in 2021. Since she left in the middle of the school year, her public-school teaching license was suspended. Inspired to start a new chapter and offer students an alternative as well, she started Abundance, becoming its executive director. Hooper wears many additional hats too: She is a math, social studies, and language arts teacher, an after-school tutor, the registrar, a guidance counselor, co-director of the drum line, a janitor, and receptionist. “I was born to do it,” Hooper said...
If you’re tuned in to the world of early 2000s hip hop , or the world of modern Belizean politics, you may already be familiar with the name Shyne Barrow. The former rapper and current Opposition Party leader in Belize’s House of Representatives has one of the most fascinating backstories in all of pop culture and politics. Though he may not be as well known as his contemporaries like Busta Rhymes and Jay-Z, Shyne’s story is finally being told with the recent release of the Hulu original “The Honorable Shyne,” which dropped on the streamer earlier this month. In the documentary, Shyne outlines the untold truth about his time laboring under Bad Boy Records , his lengthy incarceration and his pivot into politics within his home country. Given that the 46-year-old politician has led such a storied life, fans are justifiably wondering about other personal details, including his net worth, investment portfolio and various streams of income. Luckily, we’ve got you covered, with a quick...
Malcolm Jenkins is not slowing down in the fast-casual food space. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the former NFL player leads Disrupt Foods, a multi-unit franchise developer and operator of quick-service restaurants. According to his LinkedIn, the goal is to create franchising opportunities for Black and brown communities. “If there’s a mission for me and how I’m moving now, what I want to have an impact on is really educating people on the power of group economics. People when they have success, most of the time they do it as a collective family, as a community. Owning businesses in their own communities,” he said. “When you look at [Black communities] we don’t own the majority of the businesses in it. We don’t own homes most of the time. It just continues to push us into pockets of poverty that are harder and harder to climb out of as an individual,” he told WHYY News. Leading by example, he established Disrupt Foods in 2016 alongside his business partner, Joe Johnson. “In 2016...