Corporate Executive Justin Grant wants to see more Black executives sponsor people within their community. Sponsorship allows an individual in a higher position than you to advocate for you in rooms with the goal of helping your career reach new heights, unlike mentorship , which typically is intended for skill building and obtaining more knowledge. “You want your boss’s peers in other departments to know who you are and to be in your network and to be folks that will, when your name comes up, when they’re deciding who to promote or who to give the bigger bonus to. ‘Yeah, I know that person. I vouch for them.’ So I think that’s the distinction,” Grant said on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast hosted by AFROTECH™ Brand Manager Will Lucas. Grant credits three white individuals for serving as executive sponsors throughout his career and speaks to an alarming trend that he witnessed that has prompted a call to action. He notes that Black executives have been less inclined to open...

Dr. Bernard Harris will be inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame. The Temple, TX, native graduated from the University of Houston in 1978 with a bachelor of science degree in biology. He then attended medical school at Texas Tech University and completed his residency at the Mayo Clinic in 1985, followed by a fellowship at NASA’s Ames Research Center, according to a news release. Dr. Harris joined NASA as a clinical scientist and flight surgeon. He remained with the agency from 1990 to 2010, and during his tenure, he became an astronaut and served as a mission specialist on STS-55 (1993) and the groundbreaking STS-63 flight in 1995, which made him the first African American to walk in space. In total, Dr. Harris has spent 18 days in space and has flown seven million miles, he notes on his LinkedIn. “Space exploration has always been about pushing boundaries, inspiring future generations, and proving that the impossible is achievable,” Dr. Harris said in a news release. “I am...

Happy wife, happy life is how the saying goes. Tracy McGrady will agree. The basketball legend, nicknamed T-Mac, was drafted into the NBA by the Toronto Raptors in 1997. He was just 18 years old at the time and had played high school basketball for North Carolina’s Mt. Zion Christian Academy. He signed a three-year rookie contract valued at $4,689,480, per Spotrac. This was not, however, his first lucrative contract. Just ahead of the 1997 draft, his talents landed him a $12 million shoe endorsement deal with Adidas, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. Making that kind of money at 18 came with its learning curves. McGrady grew up in a household with his mother working as a custodian at Disney while his grandmother was a custodian at his elementary school for three decades. No one in his family earned over $40,000. “You can only imagine I’m 18 years old. I don’t have a family that has taught me financial literacy. I don’t know anything about it. So all of this is just trying to figure...

Travis Scott has launched a new program that will fuel the design and creativity of students. In 2020, the rapper and songwriter extended his impact in his hometown of Houston, TX, by launching the Cactus Jack Foundation in November 2020, providing the next generation with educational and creative resources, Variety notes. One year after its inception, the foundation launched the 60,000-square-foot Cact.us Design Center at TXRX Labs, serving at-risk middle and high school students. It offers training, mentorship, and exposure to career paths in graphic design, fashion, and music, according to information shared with AFROTECH™. The foundation also provides $10,000 scholarships to college students in partnership with the Fashion Scholarship Fund through the Design Ethos Program. It has awarded scholarships to two cohorts since 2024. Recipients include: Gerald Baano-Stewart II (Morehouse College, 2024) Amanda Kerr (Savannah College of Art and Design, 2024) Satchel Smith (Thomas...

U.S. District Judge Linda Taylor has halted the Trump administration’s proposal to freeze federal loans and grants. In a ruling delivered on Tuesday, January 28, Judge Taylor condemned the policy as “arbitrary and capricious,” pointing to language from the administration’s memo that failed to sufficiently justify the freeze or address its potential impact on millions of Americans. This decision is a significant development in a case closely watched by students, homeowners, and small business owners nationwide. According to the Associated Press, the White House memo, dated earlier this month, proposed suspending federal loan and grant disbursements to “mitigate fiscal risk” and “streamline budgetary concerns.” Judge Taylor, however, pointed to specific language in the memo that acknowledged the policy would lead to “temporary disruptions” in funding for programs supporting vulnerable populations. In her decision, she highlighted that the administration’s justification failed to...

Rutgers University has canceled its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) conference following changes in the White House administration. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, President Donald Trump placed federal employees in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) roles on paid leave that went into effect immediately and “no later than 5:00pm EST” on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. This followed Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 as “the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs,” CNN reported . Now Rutgers University, a predominantly white institution, has stated they have been asked to “cease all work under the auspices of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility HUB at Jobs for the Future, which the U.S. Department of Labor funds,” NorthJersey.com reports. This was confirmed by the school’s spokesperson, who stated it “was canceled at the direction of the U.S. Department of Labor, which ceased all work that it funds through the Jobs for the...

Fani Willis is a prominent American attorney, best known for her role as the District Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia. She has gained national recognition for her involvement in high-profile cases, including the investigation into former President Donald Trump’s alleged interference in the 2020 election. With her legal career spanning decades, many wonder what Fani Willis’s net worth is and how she has accumulated that amount over the years. In this article, we will break down Fani Willis’s net worth, how she made her money, and the career path that led her to become one of the most influential prosecutors in the country. Fani Willis’s Career And Background Willis was born on October 27, 1971, in Los Angeles, California . She is the daughter of retired judge, Denise Lockwood Willis, and has had a strong connection to the legal field from a young age. She graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., with a degree in political science before going on to earn her law degree...

Students and borrowers waiting on President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan may soon breathe a sigh of relief. According to NBC News, the president’s plan can move forward after a judge ruled Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, for a temporary restraining order against it to expire. U.S. District Judge Randall Hall, in his order from the Southern District of Georgia, said Georgia lacked standing to challenge the plan because it did not demonstrate any “concrete” or “imminent” injury. “Without standing, the Court finds it proper to dismiss Georgia as a party to the suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and turns to Defendants’ arguments related to venue,” he wrote, per NBC. Hall also concurred with the federal government’s stance that the venue was improper, stating that a plaintiff without standing cannot create a venue where it wouldn’t otherwise exist. He determined that the “most equitable result” would be to transfer the case to a district with the proper venue,...