VOTE for the 2010 IMPACT Leader of the Year!!!
Posted by jhill in Impact Leaders, Main on September 1st, 2010
August 2010 Alisha Thomas Morgan
Posted by admin in Impact Leaders on August 31st, 2010
Alisha Thomas Morgan is respected throughout her home state of Georgia, and throughout the United States, as an impassioned political leader, rousing motivational speaker, fearless ambassador for youth and role model for female leaders and young professionals. Ms. Morgan is also our IMPACT Leader of the Month for August!
She began building her profile as a trailblazer and at the young age of 23, when she defeated the odds (and scores of naysayers) to become the first African-American to serve in the Georgia House of Representatives for Cobb County. Elected to her fifth term in July 2010, winning over 73% of the vote, at age 32 Morgan remains the youngest female member of the entire Georgia General Assembly.
While she is known and respected for many things, many of Morgan’s most noteworthy accomplishments are in the area of her key passion: education. Blazing trails in education, Morgan has become a state and national leader in the movement for education reform–forging a bipartisan coalition to pass a law in 2009 that empowers parents to access more options within the public school system. In February of 2010, Morgan was selected to participate in a national bi-partisan group of legislators to work under Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and with senior staff at the US Department of Education (DOE) on the reauthorization the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, formerly known as “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB). She is also a newly appointed board member of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO), a national education advocacy organization.
Morgan has been named, one of “America’s Young Civil Rights Heroes” by AOL Black Voices, one of fifteen women of the “New Power Generation” by Essence Magazine, and one of the Nation’s 30 Leaders who are under 30 by Ebony Magazine. She’s been featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post, and on both CSPAN and BET. In Fall 2010, she will release her highly-anticipated debut book, No Apologies: Powerful Lessons in Life, Love & Politics.
Morgan is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga. where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Sociology and Drama. She resides in Austell, GA with husband David, a member of the Cobb County School Board, and daughter Lailah.
July 2010 Darius Graham
Posted by admin in Impact Leaders on August 31st, 2010
Darius Graham is author of the award-winning book, Being the Difference: True Stories of Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things to Change the World. Darius received a B.A. summa cum laude from Florida A&M University in 2006 and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley - School of Law in 2009, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Berkeley Journal of African-American Law & Policy and as an editor of the California Law Review.
In 2006, USA Today named him one of the top 20 college students in the country and the governor of Florida awarded Darius a Points of Light Award for his community service. While in Florida, Darius created Books All Around, Inc., a non-profit youth literacy organization that has created small libraries in community centers and distributed over 3,000 new books to children in several states. Darius has served on the board of directors of the McCullum Youth Court in Oakland, CA and currently serves on the board of trustees of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship in Washington, DC. Darius is originally from Charlotte, NC and is currently an attorney in private practice in Washington, DC.
Hip Hop to Hope
Turn Hip Hop Into Less Hype & More Hope
July 1, 2010
By Brian S. Yeldell
As a person who has seen the beginning of hip hop and all of its different manifestations and permutations and people who have come and gone (can somebody say Orin Juice Jones, Vanilla Ice & Tonya Gardner?!?!?!), it is a good culture for young(er) people to embrace and have their voices heard. Music has always been good for that. People have something to say and they can reach a mass audience by putting messages to music and have it “go down” or digested a lot easier than, say, a speech or a book or a poetry sessions or even a lesson at school. Music allows people to hear what you have to say and if they like it, they will listen and begin reciting it over and over and over again. Unfortunately, there has been some negativity associated with rap and hip hop. Some of it has been deserved and some of it, not, at least in my opinion. One way or the other, let’s turn Hip Hop into less hype and more hope!
As I have gone down this odyssey over the last month and been made to think about and chronicle various forms of music, I have been made to think about the development and evolution of people…Black people, White people, Indian people, Hispanic people, all people. Because I think about progress and development as far as trying to better the human condition, music has made its way through all of life. Jazz is soothing and cool and the first true American contribution, from a music perspective. Funk was expressive in the late 70s and then, there are the ballads, which help people get through some of the pain and sorry, as well as giving understanding of many melancholy and love situations. Today, we have hip hop. It is a genre that is turning 30 years old. As a result, the artists have given us a look at their condition. As Chuck D once said, hip hop and rap is black CNN. Well, if you’re going to discuss the problem, you should try to seek the solution. So, I advocate that we try to turn hip hop into less hype and more hope.
It is rather fascinating that hip hop is thirty years old. Nobody 35 years old or older can forget “Rapper’s Delight” when it first was released in 1979, which, by all accounts, is the beginning. Now, TRUE aficionados will say, “man, what about this rapper or that rapper” from some far away or obscure “neighborhood” in the Bronx or Harlem? There is always going to be someone who did it before the commercial success of a song like “Rapper’s Delight.” Then, you are also going to have someone (probably smoking a joint…lol) to “beat you over the head” and say, “Dude, Gil Scott Heron or The Last Poets were rappin’ way before these young boys!” Well, they either didn’t have the following, the capital or the organization to take it to the masses. Or, frankly, the timing may not have been right. However, post civil rights, post –disco, pre-house, it was the right time and rap and hip hop began its explosion as the 70s were coming to an end.
My recollection of early rap and hip hop was that of fun music, in which DJs and MCs battled and made fun of each other….either through calling “fun” or joking names or talking about one’s ability or inability to rap or move the crowd. Every now and then, a guy and later, a woman, may even talk about somebody’s Momma. Again, it was all done lightly and for fun and to get and keep a party going. Fast forward through the 80s, it started taking a grittier turn with songs like “The Message.” Artists wanted to talk about theirs, as well as others’, social condition. Near the end of the 80s, the West Coast got their hands on the music and they took it to another entire level with their radical talk with NWA’s “F#$% The Police,” and Ice Cube’s “Amerikkka” and even Ice T’s “Colors,” where he starts the song out by saying “I am a nightmare walking, a psychopath talkin’!” This ushered in some scary stuff.
As rap became more a place where not only musicians talked about the situations, the audience wanted to embrace the music because the artists were talking about what they were seeing and how many of these people were living. You can certainly go outside your door and scream about poverty, bad schools, crime, and crooked police, but, again, put it on and/or in a record and you have many people hearing it and saying, “hey, that’s what I face daily!” As a result, hip hop began to be embraced by more and more people. Couple that with audiences outside of those communities that wanted to have a peak into what was happening there and you had voyeurs, on some level. Lastly, put the words on top of really nice beats and people could gain an understanding of what was going on and dance a little to it and, bam!, you got a real potent mix and formula for success.
With the music of people like Run-DMC, LL Cool J, MC Lyte, and Queen Latifa came the clever and opportunistic label heads. Many, like Russell Simmons, Andre Harrell, and later Sean “P Diddy” Combs, Master P and Suge Knight, used their own brand of entrepreneurism to take it to the masses, backed by record companies who had to embrace the music or lose out. This music led to and has led to another entire industry outside of music, in which the consumers want to be a part of everything that music people do. They want the clothes that they wear, they want to eat in the same restaurants, go to the same cities and parties, drink the same alcohol, and basically live or simulate their lifestyles. Hip hop went from music to a complete culture. This desire from the audience to be like their music makers and cultural taste makers makes for and has made for a unique and powerful position in which these hip hop “personalities” dwell.
People like Jay-Z, Queen Latifa, Will Smith, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Li’l Wayne can do like Denzel Washington’s Malcolm X character did in the movie, “X,” when he pointed in a direction and everyone went. Some of these stars have that much power and influence over their audience and companies and people who want to access that have to pay and sometimes, handsomely! On the other hand, this position is daunting and can be overwhelming, as seen in the mid 1990s when tastemakers got kids to buy certain sneakers, only to have other less fortunate or desirous kids use force to take certain coveted items. It has even caused the death of some of these youngsters. The culture has also talked about women so much that a certain disrespectful air has been created towards women that borders on and is sometimes outright mysonogistic. In addition, there has been a rise in needless and gratuitous materialism.
Hip hop has ushered in a different kind of music mogul and executive. In earlier years, you had companies like Sony, Capitol, Atlantic, and even Stax and Motown. These were usually run by laid back Black men or Jewish guys and to a lesser extent, women like Sylvia Rhone. However, hip hop has created music moguls and tastemakers that look like, act like and hang out with their artists. Russell Simmons of Def Jam, Master P of No Limit Records, Sean Puffy Combs of Bad Boy, and Damon Dash of Rock-A-Fella Records all live in the culture and not just in the recording studio and board rooms. They took their businesses which was initially music and put a stamp on the culture. These music moguls have created companies that not only sell records, music, and sometimes movies. They sell all kinds of things to make themselves into people who have “lifestyle” companies. Some of the other things that they have sold and continue to sell include clothes, cologne, credit cards, shoes, restaurants, and even their charitable organizations. And, the latest thing that has been bought by a music and hip hop guy is a sports team with Jay Z’s partnership to buy the New Jersey Nets.
This is the fourth set of lists that I have written, with jazz, funk and ballads coming in previous weeks. It doesn’t get any easier. I REALLY didn’t know that I liked music this much, but I guess I do. However, I will give it a try and instead of 10, there is THIRTY YEARS OF MUSIC, so this time, I will go ahead and try my top 15:
“Summer Time” – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
“Hip Hop Hooray” - Naughty By Nature
“Roll With Kid N Play” – Kid N Play
“Player’s Anthem” – Junior M.A.F.I.A feat Biggie Smalls
“The Vapors” – Biz Markie
“Overweight Lover’s In The House” – Heavy D & The Boys
“Gin & Juice” – Dr. Dre’
“I Got It Made” – Special Ed
“La Di Da Di” – Doug E Fresh
“Eric B For President” – Eric B & Rakim
“Rump Shaker” – Wrecks N Effects
“I Get Around” – Digital Underground feat. 2Pac Shakur
“Sound Of The Police” – KRS One
“Empire State of Mind” – Jay Z feat Alicia Keys
“Show Me What You Got” – Jay Z
Due to the fact that many of the members of the hip hop community have influence on our children, we HAVE to embrace them because, in spite of their bravado, they STILL need guidance. Older members of the hip hop generation like Diddy, Russell Simmons and Jay Z, who are all over forty, may not need said guidance, but rather some of the younger people in the music and culture. We need to show them some of the love for which they are, obviously, crying out. We need to give them a feel for the way that things and situations CAN be. As rap was evolving, so was the roaring 80s with all of the bragging, bling, the negative competition, and concentration on how things are, the current state of affairs. There was a time when music was more about aspiration and ambition. Just because some situation is the way it is today does not mean that an artist, a musician, a people are stuck there.
As witnessed by the many areas in which people of the hip hop culture touch, there definitely needs to be thought and action that goes into less consumerism and materialism and more activism. The bigger names and the more visible people can make many people follow them and when they are followed it should be to a place where a difference, be it a life, a neighborhood or maybe a social condition, can be made. Certainly, there can be things that are done to celebrate various levels and instances of success, but maybe a bit more muted. In other words, there should be more concentration on the possibilities, not just the glamorization. In short, hip hop should usher in an era where there is less hype and more hope!
LE HAUTE BAGS, INC.
Le Haute Bags, Inc. was founded in 2009 by Cecily Witcher. A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, Cecily has worked in the fashion industry as a designer and merchandiser for handbag companies Guess, Kathy Van Zeeland, Charles David.
Le Haute Bags, Inc is an eco-friendly company that specializes in design and product supply of reusable bags. We work with a diverse range of clients that include non-profit organizations and also event planners, helping them build brand exposure while also contributing to the cause of environmentalism (and practicality for the consumer).
Le Haute Bags, Inc was formed when Cecily was directly affected by this economic crisis when the company that she was working for went bankrupt. After going on interview after interview and continuously being told the company loved her but felt she would get bored or some would flat out say with all your knowledge you should start your own company that’s exactly what Cecily did.
While on an ocean side vacation, travelers were observed using plastic bags that hotels supply for soiled laundry. These plastic bags were being used as impromptu beach bags. Le Haute Bags, Inc. was born from this experience. Cecily decided to design a collection that will not only combine a flair for fashion and handbags but also contribute to Cecily’s environmental concerns and wiser consumer choices that will benefit our Earth.
Le Haute Bags, Inc. has been working diligently to build its brand in this strained? economy. When people ask how do you market your business when you’re a start up without a lot of capital, our answer is “you really must think outside the box, move on faith not fear.” A great example that Cecily always references for ideas is an artist who put his work on canned goods and went into very prominent grocery stores placing his cans with their canned goods. This reminds her of gorilla style marketing but it brought him free press. She still has the newspaper clipping in her office for inspiration. When you’re passionate about what you are providing, you have to convey that passion and enthusiasm to anyone that you’re speaking with because they could be a potential client or refer you to a client.
Le Haute Bags, Inc. has utilized the NYC business solutions services. NYC business solutions offer FREE service for businesses, no matter how big or what stages you are in. NYC business solutions often host networking events. Other great networking resources are Twitter and Facebook. Le Haute Bags, Inc. is working with a large hotel chain, a connection made through social networking, so don’t be afraid to talk your brand to your friends and ask them for any referrals or ideas, remember people love to help.
There are so many resources available for small businesses and minority owned businesses; you just have to do your research. Here are some resources that may be of help: NYC business solutions, Chamber of Commerce, Minority and Women owned Business Enterprise Program,Accionusa.org”
When becoming certified as a minority owned business, many companies face the challenge of being able to afford to bid on a contract. You must have the capital to cover the cost of the project up front and then the city will pay you, but there are companies that buy invoices and will advance you the money so that you can accept the contract. All of this information was obtained for FREE by utilizing the NYC business solutions seminars.
It can be scary thinking about starting your own business but the question is: WHY? Why are you associating fear with perusing your dream? Never go into anything blind, so utilize the Internet for what it is “The informational highway” and start researching. After you’ve researched, look at your product and evaluate how you can make it bigger. Cecily originally designed a handbag collection for the Caribbean and once she showed it to a friend, he said “this is great but think outside the box.” This comment kept replaying in her head and the next morning, she awoke and put that collection to bed and started working on the eco friendly collection full throttle.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dream”
Cecily T. Witcher
President, Le Haute, Inc.
June 2010 Natalie Cofield
Posted by admin in Impact Leaders on August 5th, 2010
Natalie Cofield is President of the NMC Consulting Group a boutique consulting firm that specializes in business development, program management and public affairs. She operates her company with the mission of increasing entrepreneurship and business development opportunities and improving business programs for people of color, women and youth. Her firm has worked with clients including Carnegie Mellon, University of Rochester, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and the United Negro College Fund, among others.
In addition to working with external clients, the NMC Consulting Group has two signature programs to advance expertise and knowledge sharing amongst aspiring and existing entrepreneurs – Walker’s Legacy: A Women in Business Lecture Series and PROSPECTUS a nine-week entrepreneurship training program and business plan competition.
In 2010 Ms. Cofield testified before the US Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on “Assessing Access: Obstacles and Opportunities for Minority Small Business Owners in Today’s Capital Markets” alongside Robert Johnson.
She has received numerous awards, including a Certificate of Recognition from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for her contribution to economic policy in Los Angeles. Her work on entrepreneurship and business development programming has been case-studied by the International Economic Development Council. In 2006, Ms. Cofield was named one of Ebony Magazine’s Top 30 Under 30. In 2010 she was listed as one of the Top 30 Under 30 in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia by WKYS.
She is a professional who brings years of expertise in strategic planning, program development and management, public affairs and marketing for businesses, nonprofit and economic development entities. She has worked in major global markets including: Washington, DC, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY and London, UK.
In her prior roles she has served as the Director of Industry & Business Development for the Washington, DC Economic Partnership. During her tenure she developed a number of original programs on behalf of the District of Columbia including: PremierPlan, the District’s first $100,000 business plan competition, BusinessPremier, the District’s business retention and expansion initiative, BusinessPremier Small Business Awards, and the Initial Start-Up Considerations Program, a community entrepreneurship initiative. In her role as Director, she served as a liaison to elected and government officials, community and business leaders on business development matters, as a representative of the District of Columbia before international delegations both domestically and abroad (England and China) and at national conferences related to business development and entrepreneurship.
Ms. Cofield has also served as a Special Assistant to the General Manager for the City of Los Angeles, CA Community Development Department and as a Management Consulting Services Analyst for JPMorganChase in New York where she began her career.
Ms. Cofield, is a frequent public speaker, radio personality, presenter and lecturer on topics of business, economic and community development. She is a researcher, writer and published author on topics of entrepreneurship and industry development including having served as the co-author and lead editor of the Doing Business in DC Guide Book with more than 20,000 copies published in five languages (Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Spanish, English), as author of the 2007 State of Nonprofits and Associations in the District of Columbia on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development, and has written articles that have been published in industry journals including the DC Building & Industry Association quarterly journal. In 2009, Ms. Cofield, published The Pursuit of Entrepreneurship a Guide For African American Entrepreneurs commissioned by the Congressional Black Caucus with more than 1,500 copies released at the 2009 Annual Legislative Conference.
In 2008, Ms. Cofield was appointed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty as the youngest Commissioner for the District of Columbia Commission for Women where she serves as Chair of the Public Affairs Committee and Co-Chair of the International Affairs Committee. She is a board member for the DC Coalition for Capital, and the Greater Washington Fashion Chamber of Commerce and has served on the Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development’s Nonprofit Task-force.
She is a graduate of Howard University, magna cum laude and obtained her Master of Public Affairs as a Pi Alpha Alpha graduate of the National Urban Fellows at Baruch School of Public Affairs in New York.
May 2010 Joshua Moore
Posted by admin in Impact Leaders on August 5th, 2010
Hailing from Port Saint Lucie, Florida Joshua Moore is a 26 year-old Medical Student at the University of Miami Miller School Of Medicine. Mr. Moore is the epitome of an IMPACT Leader. He is dedicated to empowering communities of color through his work in the medical field. He is passionate about working to eliminate health disparities among Black Americans and other marginalized groups, especially in regards to cardiovascular health. After medical school, he plans to pursue a career in Cardiothoracic Surgery and eventually plans to one day open a total heart health clinic providing care to the disadvantaged and medically underserved.
Mr. Moore is entering his third year of medical school and is already a rising star in the medical field. Throughout his medical school career, he has proven to be an effective student leader and has held various student government positions.
Most recently, Mr. Moore was appointed to the University Of Miami Board Of Trustees, where he will have full voting privileges. Previously, he served as both Freshmen and Sophomore Class Student Government President of at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Mr. Moore also served on the Executive Board of University Miami Student National Medical Association, a national student-run organization focused on the needs of minorities, the medically underserved and medical students of color. In this role, he organized a Bone Marrow Donor Registry Drive that successfully added over 100 potential donors to the National Bone Marrow Registry. As a member of the Executive Board, Mr. Moore co-chaired the Black History Month Celebration.
In addition to his other roles, Mr. Moore is a member of University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Department of Community Service. He has been a proven leader in this organization and served as Project Manager for the Jessie Trice Community Health Center. As Project Manager, he provided free, comprehensive health screenings – including Pap smear, Cholesterol/Triglyceride testing, Diabetes Screening, Eye and Vision exams, Dental Care, Pediatric Screenings, and Osteoporosis Screenings – to over 200 uninsured members of the Liberty City Neighborhood of Miami.
Not only is Joshua Moore a leader in his medical school, he has also taken his passion for medicine abroad. He recently participated in a medical Mission to Saraya, Senegal at the Saraya Health Center Pharmacy. . On this trip, Mr. Moore provided multiple life saving medical services, which included Polio vaccinations, Tuberculosis and Malaria prophylaxis to children, HIV testing, Obstetric care, and Labor and Delivery services to pregnant women, acute care to the severely ill (mostly from Malaria.) In addition to medical care, he also assisted in organizing and modernizing the Saraya Health Center Pharmacy and provided insecticide-treated mosquito nets to villages throughout rural Senegal. His trip to Senegal spurred his passion for international work and he has already made plans to attend a medical Mission trip to Port Au Prince and Tomonde, Haiti with University of Miami Caneshare in June 2010.
It goes without saying that Mr. Moore is using his passion for medicine to make significant contributions to his community. As a proven leader, future doctor and public servant, Joshua Moore is our IMPACT Leader of the month.
April 2010 Jonathon Prince
Posted by admin in Impact Leaders on August 5th, 2010
Jonathon Prince, the youngest of three boys, was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. The product of a single mother household after the divorce of his parents, Prince excelled academically, earning acceptance into Clark Atlanta University (CAU). While at CAU, Prince became homeless, was robbed at gunpoint and was the victim of a hit-and-run accident. In spite of these challenges, Prince refused to give up on his dreams of entering the television and film industry.
Upon completing college, Prince moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dreams. However, in 2005, he became overwhelmingly inspired by the effect Hurricane Katrina had on the residents of New Orleans. He decided to make a cross-country run to inspire those residents as their stories had done to him. First, Prince ran from Studio City to Atlanta. Months later, he continued his running from Atlanta to New York City. Prince has also run from California to Washington, DC with the hope that President Barack Obama would run the last mile of his journey with him and while that did not happen Prince continues on. Through these experiences Prince raised $100,000 in-kind donations that he used to support organizations rebuilding the Crescent City.
However, Prince was not done with his empowering movement. Throughout his life, Prince has been in tune with his community, but he has used this motivation to build his philanthropic spirit. Prince has inspired a physical and social movement—one that should be celebrated and supported.
March 2010 Melanie Rousell
Posted by admin in Impact Leaders on August 5th, 2010
Melanie N. Roussell is currently serving as the Press Secretary for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan. Specializing in crisis communication and management, Roussell has spent nearly seven years inside the Beltway crafting messages and developing communication strategies for political principles.
Roussell first came to Washington, DC as a CBCF intern in 2001 for former Rep. William Jefferson and returned as his staff assistant in 2002. She later served as Public Information Director for the New Orleans District Attorney, where she began to specialize in daily crisis management.
In 2004, she returned to Washington as Communications Director for Jefferson. During her tenure, Roussell further developed her crisis communications specialty while dealing with dual crises: the response to Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, and the public bribery scandal Jefferson faced that same month. In addition to her press responsibilities, Roussell also managed Small Business, Education, Social Security, Women and children’s policy issues for Jefferson.
Roussell moved to the House Judiciary Committee in 2007, where she served as Communications Director, leading all message development and print media relations efforts during the U.S. Attorney scandal, the related contempt of Congress charges against Karl Rove and Harriet Miers, and other high profile committee activities.
In 2008, Roussell was named Southern Regional Communications Director for the Barack Obama campaign, responsible for managing communications for three battleground states – Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. Her work on the campaign helped turn all three red states blue. Following the campaign, she worked on the Presidential Inaugural Committee as a spokesperson. She was named Press Secretary for HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in February 2009.
Roussell, a native of New Orleans, LA, received her Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Florida A&M University and her M.A. in Public Communication from American University.
