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The public release of ChatGPT in 2022 marked a massive milestone in the popularity and global interest in AI. It showed off impressive capabilities in natural language, and sparked hundreds of projects that fueled a boom in the advancement of artificial intelligence. It’s natural, with AI creeping into everything from online shopping to healthcare, that it would eventually find its way into education. Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing education by enhancing teaching methods, improving accessibility, and personalizing learning experiences. As technology continues to advance, its integration into the educational sector has the potential to reshape how students learn, educators teach, and institutions operate. AI In Education Isn’t Exactly New The term ‘artificial intelligence’ was coined at Dartmouth College in 1953, but it wasn’t until 1960 that we saw the birth of computer-assisted instruction (CAI). These programs were built on the massive, expensive computer systems of...
Almost everyone is familiar with the mermaid branded barista coffee chain offering a premium brew with faux Italian charm. Founded in 1971 in Seattle, Starbucks Coffee has long since been an international sensation. From humble beginnings at its flagship store in Pike Place (the first Starbucks location), to outposts in far-flung locales around the world, almost everyone is familiar with Starbucks. Today, Starbucks boasts over 38,000 locations serving more than 80 countries with its signature brews and even customized treats unique to the cultural tastes of each region. From airports to hotels, dabbling in the venture capital world , and even consumer packaged goods for coffee lovers to enjoy favorite items at home, there’s no stopping this iconic brand. And this leads to the inevitable question, just how much is Starbucks’ net worth — or in the case of a business, market cap? Humble Beginnings Starbucks Coffee logo is seen in Manhattan, New York, United States of America, on July...
Ariane Kirkpatrick was undeterred by the limited presence of Black entrepreneurs in the cannabis sector. In 2017, she made her official foray into the space, according to WKCY-3. “We made the decision that we, despite the barriers, despite the obstacles, despite being Black and female, we were going to make this work and we did,” Kirkpatrick told the outlet. Per Kirkpatrick’s LinkedIn page, she served as the CEO of several large-scale medical, cannabis cultivation, and dispensary companies, such as Harvest Grows, Harvest of Ohio, and Harvest Processing, which had operations in the Ohio cities of Ironton, Beavercreek, Columbus, and Athens. She mentioned that her aim was to transform lives and strengthen economies by providing jobs and economic development opportunities through marijuana. However, Kirkpatrick would hit a major roadblock after falling out with her business partner, multi-state operator Harvest Health and Recreation, when it was acquired by national cannabis and...
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...
When it comes to having a lucrative business, it’s crucial to be descriptive when selecting a name; being descriptive can be effective in appealing to the fantasies of your audience. A descriptive name clearly explains what your business does, making it easier for potential customers to remember your brand identity and envision its value. Take a cue from successful businesses in the same industry and follow how they use descriptive names and wordplay to name their brands and businesses. Your business name should remind your target market of your brand promise and provoke the right emotions toward your business. For example, “Crunchies” for a snack brand resounds the promise of an ever-crispy savory fresh snack that keeps giving. With that in mind, let’s explore some unique business name ideas across industries to inspire creativity as you coin yours. Tech Startups The tech industry is about innovation, reliability and continuous product delivery, so the name should align with your...
TikTok is a social media app that truly requires no introduction. Unless you’ve been in a coma for the last 5+ years, you’ve either used the app yourself, or had extensive exposure to it from friends, family members or reposts on other websites. Now that the United States government is mounting a full-scale attack on the Chinese app, more members of the public are looking into TikTok’s background and earnings than ever before. TikTok has an estimated worth of anywhere from $20 billion to $100 billion in 2024, according to the Wall Street Journal , making it the biggest social media app on the market by a wide margin. Given that TikTok is worth such a staggering amount, it only seems fair that we examine and investigate the source of this income. The app has seen over 3 billion downloads since hitting the international market in 2018, and maintains an estimated 1 billion daily active users, meaning TikTok has access to one of the largest audiences in the history of web development....
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...
Wu-Tang Clan’s own Raekwon has scored another win. In a press release announcement, it was revealed that the legendary rapper’s Lambrusco — which he calls “Licataa” — is now being distributed through Legacy Wines & Spirits, a Black-owned distribution company based in Kentucky. The union between Raekwon and Legacy was, in fact, a natural one. Licataa was inspired by the “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx” rapper’s love of Italian culture and heritage. To bring the Lambrusco into the United States, the Chef (born Corey Woods) teamed up with Cantine Ceci, a family-owned winery with 80 years of history to produce a rich, bold, sparkling red wine. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Licataa (@licataawine) Situated in the rolling hills outside Parma, Italy, Cantine Ceci farms in the traditional way, with vineyards planted to catch the sun, carefully monitored throughout the growing season before each grape is harvested by hand at the perfect moment of ripeness. While the wine, itself, is...
Designed to make Africa’s payment system as simple as a phone call, MFS Africa has coined the title of the continent’s largest digital payment gateway. According to TechCrunch, the fintech has received funding totaling $100 million in a Series C round distributed between $70 million equity and $30 million debt. The round was led by private equity fund AfricInvest FIVE alongside Goodwell Investments and LUN Partners Group. CommerzVentures, Allan Gray Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Endeavor Harvest, and ShoreCap III also participated in the round. The recent funding marks a new chapter for founder and CEO Dare Okoudjou, who has never had funds reciprocated from their personal acquisitions and investments by fintech on the continent. The London-based company was backed by the principle of making the transaction of money simple and easier for Africans. Combining over 320 million mobile money wallets throughout over 35 African countries and 700 corridors, the payment giant facilitates the...
Frank Ocean originally got his start as a member of the rap collective Odd Future. But, today, his influence is both far-reaching and undeniable. After fulfilling his contract with Def Jam Records, Ocean dropped not one, but two, projects — “Endless,” which fulfilled his Def Jam contract, and the critically-acclaimed and influential “Blonde.” These two projects alone have ensured that Frank Ocean left an indelible mark on the industry as a whole. But when you review the sum total of all that the man born Christopher Breaux in New Orleans, LA, you realize that he’s more than just a musical genius. Writing for HotNewHipHop, Robert Blair said that while Ocean was a brilliant musician, his true prowess lay in his ability to parlay his impact into successful business moves. By becoming independent of any record label, Ocean became freer to express himself in such a way that wouldn’t be possible in a more restrictive label environment. “Where others toe the line, Frank Ocean remains in a...
The cannabis industry isn’t always inclusive, but this Black woman is working to change that one dispensary at a time. Founder Ariane Kirkpatrick built Harvest of Ohio to help improve the lives of others through the use of cannabis. After a conversation with one of her sons who used the plant to cope with anxiety, she knew that they could help others reap the benefits of a resource that has been equipped with a negative connotation within the Black community for decades. “I didn’t think that they would allow someone like me to be in this business, and they didn’t,” said Kirkpatrick during an exclusive interview with AfroTech. Eventually, Kirkpatrick was able to kick down the door. Now, she is the only Black woman in the state of Ohio to be vertically integrated within the industry. What this means is that she holds all three licenses to grow, dispense and sell cannabis. She holds a cultivation license, a dispensary license, and a processing license.
The estate of Henrietta Lacks is filing a lawsuit against a biotech company that, they claim, is using stolen HeLa cells without the permission of the estate. According to HuffPost, the Lacks estate is claiming that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., of Waltham, MA, is profiting commercially off of the HeLa cells, and they’ve done so well after the origin of the cells became well-known. “It is outrageous that this company would think that they have intellectual rights property to their grandmother’s cells,” said Benjamin Crump, one of the attorneys for the Henrietta Lacks estate, at a press conference on Oct. 4. “Why is it they have intellectual rights to her cells and can benefit billions of dollars when her family, her flesh and blood, her Black children, get nothing?” Lacks was first brought to the attention of the world thanks to the book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” which was subsequently made into a movie starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne. According to the book,...
Greg Francis is an attorney who landed a $1.25 billion settlement for Black farmers, the largest settlement of its kind in American history. In his new book, “ Just Harvest: The Story of How Black Farmers Won the Largest Civil Rights Case against the U.S. Government, ” he details just how he managed to do that. “The one thing I learned from that case is that all those farmers wanted was a chance,” Greg Francis said to Black News. “They didn’t ask for anything extra. They just wanted to be treated, and to be given the same opportunities, as everyone else. That’s all any of us want.” The “Black Farmers Case,” as it’s known in legal circles, was a class-action civil rights case filed by more than 20,000 Black farmers, and their descendants. Their claim was based on the ongoing disparate treatment of Black Farmers across the United States — a disparity which the Biden administration is currently trying to take steps to ameliorate. Back in March 2021, the Biden administration announced...
As Black men and women throughout the African diaspora turn to farming as a viable career path, a Ghanaian entrepreneur and his team have created the Complete Farmer app to help more aspiring farmers achieve their dreams. Disrupt Africa is reporting that the app, founded by Desmond Koney, first debuted in 2017. Now, it’s making the news today because they recently expanded their operations to the Ivory Coast. The idea behind the Complete Farmer is for Ghanaians to own and operate their farms from anywhere in the world. Users of the app can also get exclusive access to registered cultivation protocols. Best of all, the app uses a combination of satellite, Internet of thing (IoT) big data, and blockchain technology to collect crop insights, which allows farmers to use that data to optimize crop growth and cultivation. The three-sided feature of the app also allows for commodity buyers, food growers, and digi-farmers to interact on a single platform to share best practices. How does...
Black farmers to the rescue! Ricky Dollison is a fourth-generation Black farmer who is also the owner of Dollison Farms housed in Poulan, GA, reports Black Business. In true entrepreneurial fashion, Dollison also owns Warrior Creek Premium Meats — a resource hub for responsibly raised, antibiotic-free sausage, bacon, ground beef, ribeye steaks, chicken leg quarters, and pork tenderloins. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Warrior Creek Premium Meats (@warriorcreekpremiummeats) Not only are they holding down the meats department, but the family-owned and operated business also produces tons of leafy greens, soybeans, cotton, corn, and peanuts for their livestock to eat. It’s a one-stop-shop because they also raise their signature swine, “The Georgia Dolli,” which happens to be where their premium country cut bacon, sausage, and ham comes from. While small farmers may have been feeding the world for generations, they aren’t always taken care of financially, especially...