South African billionaire Elon Musk is known for his desire to swallow up companies and rebrand them with his own trendy vision. The Tesla CEO previously used his familial wealth to purchase stakes in such businesses as PayPal, SpaceX and of course, X (formerly Twitter). Now, according to official statements made by the Trump administration cabinet pick, the emerald mine profiteer is considering buying the rights to Vine, a defunct app which predates TikTok . This would be a major development in the world of social media, since the latter is still potentially facing a long-term ban within the United States, unless the app’s parent company ByteDance can agree to divest to American financial interests. When prompted by a fellow X user about bringing Vine back into the fray to fill in the power vacuum left by TikTok, Musk simply responded, “We’re looking into it.” So, now seems like as good a time as any to examine what Vine is (or was), how Elon could bring it back to compete with...
Increase Divine-Wisdom has been crowned the grand prize winner of the 2024 AFROTECH™ AI Hackathon. And he went great lengths to secure the “W.” Increase Divine-Wisdom traveled all the way from Nigeria to attend AFROTECH™ Conference, held in Houston, TX, where the winner was named. AFROTECH™ hosted innovators on Day 2 who collaborated on solutions for community impact, leaving with the tools to drive change in their industries and communities. Increase Divine-Wisdom took first place with his user-friendly health management app “designed for people dealing with chronic conditions.” The winner, who himself has chronic inflammatory response syndrome, shared that with the app, individuals are able to track symptoms, mood, and recovery tasks. Increase Divine-Wisdom has expertise in DevOps, CI/CD, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and mobile development. According to his LinkedIn profile, he oversees projects from concept to delivery, utilizing the necessary tools to create...
Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine are opening a school in Inglewood, CA. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the duo partnered to open a South Central Los Angeles public school in 2022 to provide opportunities for students from underserved communities. “This is for kids who want to go out and start their own company or go work at a place… like Marvel, or Apple or companies like that,” Iovine expressed at the time. Now, they have scaled their commitment to education, announcing the Iovine and Young Center, a high school that will be coming to the community in partnership with the Inglewood Unified School District, the Los Angeles Times reports. “We wanted to start in the inner city because Dre and especially me, I owe a lot to the inner city of Los Angeles, and we intend to pay it back,” Iovine said, per the outlet. The school is projected to open in the summer of 2025, beginning with a ninth-grade class and adding a class each year until it serves freshmen through seniors. It will take the...
Theodora Lee is the first Black vineyard owner and wine producer in Mendocino County, CA. Lee’s introduction to wine began when she was 8 years old, while she was helping her grandfather on his cattle farm in Texas. By the 1980s, she had developed a personal interest in wine. ”My dad picked wild Muscadine grapes and made home brew,“ she told The Press Democrat. ”Given that Muscadine was my first introduction to wine, I found that sweet and syrupy wine nasty. I really had no taste for wine until I moved to California in the ’80s and learned about fine wine.“ Lee chose a path in law , working more than 36 years at the Littler Mendelson, P.C. law firm and splitting her time between Yorkville Highlands, CA; Oakland Hills, CA; and Dallas, TX. However, her passion for wine led her to add a new title to her resume: wine producer. “My first introduction to a grape farm was in Healdsburg, [CA], and specifically Dry Creek Valley,“ she said. “Walking that vineyard made me want to become a...
Dexter and Marilyn Meadows are not only united in marriage but in business too. Love Story The couple of 52 years grew up in a small town in Tuskegee, AL, attending the same church and high school. They would establish a steady friendship and begin dating when they attended Tuskegee Institute, now known as the Tuskegee University. By their junior year of college, the two officially tied the knot. Upon graduating in 1972, they packed their bags and moved to the University of Michigan so Dexter could advance his education in landscape architecture. “All we had with us was our ambition to succeed and a few hundred dollars,” Marilyn, a biology graduate with a minor in chemistry and mathematics, told AFROTECH. Dexter would ultimately obtain another degree and land a job offer at the Forest Service in Southern California. Marilyn recalls working several jobs at the time, which included a role at a Steward Pharmaceuticals in quality assurance and as a substitute teacher in math and science...
Many people are unable to reflect about the college experience without remembering the impact of fraternities and sororities. From the parties to the homecoming step shows, men and women from Black-Greek Letter organizations have been making social and societal impacts for over a century. Referred to as the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) or “the Divine Nine,” the historical organizations have collaborated with the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) to address the wealth gap through Black entrepreneurship.
When all else fails and you can’t locate the market for a need, the best bet is to create a lane yourself. That’s what one Black retail executive did after the realization that she could not find her sorority’s colors in any dresses in stores. After the realization that her sorority’s colors weren’t included in dress designs, Cenetta Baker-Woods took it upon herself to present a new strategy to help Macy’s win over sororities included in the Divine Nine. Now, the line is expected to hit $10 million in sales this year, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Here’s your lesson on not only knowing your worth but adding tax! Today, Master P’s net worth sits at an estimated $200 million and he tops the list as one of the most successful rappers turned entrepreneurs in the game, but he wasn’t always worth millions of dollars. As a matter of fact, the music mogul, born Percy Miller, came from the exact opposite as a product of Calliope Housing Projects, one of New Orleans’ toughest neighborhoods which gained notoriety as one of the most violent projects in the U.S. back in the 90s. In 1994, the homicides that occurred in the area were said to be the largest factor in the death rates in the city of New Orleans. In 2009, Master P partnered with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to rebuild the projects which are now known as the B.W. Cooper Housing Projects. During his “UNCENSORED” episode on TV One that aired on March 20, Master P opened up about walking away from what seemed like the biggest deal of his life...
Dr. Dre represented for South LA when he showcased the records that have shaped his legendary career this past Super Bowl Sunday and the proof showed in the numbers. AfroTech previously reported that the Dr.Dre and Snoop Dogg -laced track, “Still D.R.E.” hit over a billion views on YouTube after their halftime performance. The record was released in 1999 and for more than two decades it’s re-appeared on the Billboard charts. While sitting in the wins of still being a long-standing force in the industry, now, he’s helping the next generation break the mold with a new partnership. The music mogul has teamed up with adidas and PENSOLE Design Academy to launch an innovative school program “that blends fashion, technology, and entrepreneurship,” according to Rolling Stone. Joining him to teach the young entrepreneurs is his longtime business and music partner Jimmy Iovine. Students located in LA County will be offered a new curriculum spearheaded by the Iovine and Young Academy, the USC...
Dr. Dre and his longtime collaborator, Jimmy Iovine, have announced that they’ve teamed up yet again. But this time, their collaboration isn’t a musical one (well, not exactly, anyway). According to the Los Angeles Times, who was the first to break the story, the rapper-turned-mogul and the music industry veteran will be launching a new public school in South Central Los Angeles. The school, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2022, will be focused on the entrepreneurial spirit that propelled both these men to success from the 1980s on. “[I want to reach] the inner-city kid, the younger me,” Dr. Dre said to the Los Angeles Times. “Here’s a place that you can go where there’s something that you can learn that you’re really interested in.” The Los Angeles County Board of Education approved the plans for the school, and Iovine was very specific about providing the prospective students an opportunity to work for some of the coolest companies in the world. What’s more, he said,...