BLK took Barcade Chelsea, NYC by storm a month ago, on November 11 to do what they do best: connect locals! A month later, they’ve partnered with Maryland based, nonprofit Planet Aid to promote sustainability and of course, community.
Attention all Trick or Treaters! From now until Halloween, Kith Treats Dumbo and Miami Design District will be offering super spooky sweet treats, brought to you by Sour Patch Kids!
Since its establishment in 1666, the Four Corners intersection, once dubbed the busiest intersection in the United States, has pumped innovation throughout Newark, New Jersey.
The eclipse on April 8 marked New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts’ “biggest celebration of creative change makers to date!” As the purple carpet was rolled out in Cipriani South Street in NYC, professors, students, alum and more gathered to acknowledge honorees actor Corey Stoll, singer/songwriter Madison Love and film director Ang Lee at the 2024 Tisch Gala.
What started out as a personal investment turned into Tiffany James investing her time into a whole community through her company, Modern Blk Girl (MBG).
After her $10,000 dollar Tesla investment grew past $2 million in 2020, James earned her wings, and began to teach others to fly shortly after. Fashioned to give black women access to the stock market and lessons on trading, Modern Blk Girl has gained over 400,000 members, mainly women of color, who hope to one day follow in James’ footsteps.
On November 20, James, alongside skincare brand Topicals, spirit curator Rémy Martin and more, celebrated three years of MBG with We Rise: A Toast to Women and Financial Literacy.
Held at the exclusive 2045 Studio in NYC, the celebration introduced guests to products from Topicals stashed in the ladies’ room, mani/pedis from Laqlab, 20 different scents courtesy of Mind Games Fragrance and the honoree of the evening; Ms. James.
Hailing from Brooklyn with Caribbean roots, James opened up about her journey during a Q&A. In short, the support from her community and interest in finance fueled MBG. “Knowing how Black women supported me, I had to pour back into them,” James noted.
As for the future, James plans on opening an AI based restaurant in Los Angeles. Be sure to keep up with the CEO and get in on the financial fun @modernblkgirl and/or @tiffanyj.
Nestled into the candle lit, lower level of Champers Social Club NYC; Novara founder, Reshona Jessamy, hosted an intimate dinner to celebrate World Kindness Day on November 15.
Saved by acts of kindness during her own struggles with depression, and while overcoming a suicide attempt, Jessamy dedicates her skincare line to paying it forward. For this reason, each Novara product is packaged with affirmations.
“We created thousands of unique messages,” the gracious Jessamy noted before dinner commenced. “Those messages are really meant to spread kindness, and to uplift and inspire women.”
“Often times when we think about kindness, we think that it’s just about being nice, but kindness is more than that,” she continued. “It’s uplifting one another, it’s generosity, it’s compassion and it’s self care. So first, I implore you to be kind to yourself.”
Providing consumers with an opportunity to show themselves kindness, Novara, so far, consists of six key products know as the Waterfall Collection. The collection consists of: the soft cream Purifying Cleanser, an Illuminating Serum, their oil free Hydrating Cream; not to be confused with the Ultra Hydrating Cream, a Resurfacing Serum for texture improvement and lastly, the micro-exfoliating Revitalizing Essence treatment. Beyond gaining the benefits of each product, supporting Novara is an act of advocacy for suicide prevention since 20% of profits are donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Linking beauty and mental health as a mother, career woman, wife and entrepreneur, Jessamy continues to walk in her purpose as she uses her platform to show others why it’s important for them to do the same.
From its start in 2020, Black Ambition prioritizes mentorship and aims to empower and fund entrepreneurs of color in order to bridge the wealth gap. Founded by musical legend and Louis Vuitton’s men’s Creative Director, Pharrell Williams, and headed by CEO Felecia Hatcher, the nonprofit foundation fulfills its mission on Demo Day.
A one million dollar pitch competition, Demo Day was held on November 9 at Spring Studios in NYC. Through Demo Day, Black Ambition has awarded around 10 million dollars to small businesses since its inception.
An event that began with 50 competitors ended with 36 finalist pitching their businesses on Demo Day. Finalists went home with prizes ranging from $25,000 to $250,000 and in the end, Antoinette Banks won the million dollar grand prize for creating and heading Experts IEP, an app for parents that optimizes AI to create educational plans for children with learning disabilities.
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Some of the other prize recipients include Butter’d Bodycare ($50,000), Suds Laundry Services LLC ($75,000), Maïré Rosa’s one stop shop, Ecom Spaces ($250,000) and HBCU Grand Prize Winner, communal e-reading experience, Monocle ($200,000). In addition to funding, the winners also receive something just as important: mentorship.
In a panel discussion held before the prizes were announced, Williams, alongside Warby Parker Co-CEO David Gilboa, stressed to the audience, “Your idea of a building might be cool, but it won’t last if you don’t have the right scaffolding. The right mentorship.” This belief is why recipients were also awarded access to investors, office hours with industry professionals, life coaching and more.
Visit The Black Ambition Prize website to find out more about the nonprofit, and how to get involved next year.
A list of the 36 winners can be found below –
$20,000 General Track Prize Recipients:
BarBella Co., www.barbellaco.com
Bea’s Bayou Skincare, www.beasbayouskincare.com
Hamilton Perkins Collection, www.hamiltonperkins.com
The Jefas, www.thejefas.com
KT Winery Inc., www.momjuicewine.com
$50,000 General Track Prize Recipients:
kweliTV, www.kweli.tv
Clymb, www.clymbup.io
Healthy Oceans Seafood Company (brand: Pescavore), www.pescavoreseafood.com
Boxtown Team, www.boxtownproducts.com
IndiGenius LLC (CDIAL AI), www.cdial.co
Saint Miles, www.saintmiles.co
Cerobrand / Singular Care, www.singular.care
Rektify AI, www.rektify.ai
Redress, www.myredress.com
$75,000 General Track Prize Recipients:
Katapulte, www.katapulte.io
Gently Soap, www.gentlysoap.com
Compensate Community Powered By WorldSafe1st Inc. www.compensatecommunity.com
KIN Apparel, www.kinapparel.com
UnDelay, www.undelayapp.com
Therapeutic Innovations, www.therapeuticinnovations.org
$100,000 General Track Prize Recipients:
MOODEAUX, www.moodeaux.com
The Renatural, www.therenatural.com
Uncle Waithley’s Beverage Company, Inc., www.unclewaithleys.com
$250,000 General Track Prize Recipients:
ECOMSPACES, www.ecomspaces.com
$1,000,000 General Track Prize Recipients:
Expert IEP, www.expertieps.com
$20,000 HBCU Track Prize Recipients:
Tendaji, Inc., www.tendajiinc.org/
WENITE Inc, www.weniteinc.com
$25,000 HBCU Track Prize Recipients:
Parking Pin, www.parkingpin.io
$50,000 HBCU Track Prize Recipients:
DoctorFlow, www.mydoctorflow.com
Scholist App, www.scholistapp.com
Venture for T.H.E.M., www.venture4them.com
Darknore, www.darknore.com
Butter’d Bodycare, www.butterdbodycare.co
$75,000 HBCU Track Prize Recipients:
Suds Laundry Services LLC, www.sudslaundryservices.com
$100,000 HBCU Track Prize Recipients:
Rejuvenation, www.drinkrejuv.com
$200,000 HBCU Track Prize Recipients:
Monocle, www.readonmonocle.com
Empire Steak House welcomed Mayor Eric Adams, long time supporters, Fox 5 and more to celebrate the opening of their newest location on October 25th.
Snuggled between Times Square and Rockefeller on West 49th Street, at the Pearl Hotel, the family owned restaurant was filled with a sentimental crowd, many of who supported the Sinanaj brothers since the beginning of their journey; or the part most were able to witness.
A 40 year labor of love, Jack, Russ and Jeff made their way from Montenegro to Brooklyn’s Peter Luger where they were able learn the restaurant business before opening their own: NYC’s Chazz Palminteri Italian Restaurant and Empire Steak House, which also has a location in Tokyo.
Over cocktails and bite size servings of the restaurant’s chops, steaks and skewers New Yorkers celebrated the restaurant alongside Broadway stars, including Purlie Victorious cast members, New York City Hospitality Alliance Executive Director Andrew Rigie, and more. Commemorating Broadway, resilience and good food, Mayor Adams, a plant based eater, came out to support the restaurant for what it symbolizes. “Their story is our story,” the Mayor said in a speech prior to the ribbon cutting.
Giving us all a well needed disconnect from reality, ROLL THE BONES (RTB) theatre company transformed audience members to simpler times with immersive theatre experience, No. 9.
A delightful excuse to bond, No. 9 is designed for pairs who are willing to unplug for an hour to escape into one of three worlds: Asheville, North Carolina in 1986, Redding, Connecticut in 2007 or where we ended up; in 1993 chilling outside of a trailer in Twentynine Palms, California with our host, Lynne. Before the experience began, each pair received a watch preset to go off after an hour; which marked the end of our visit.
It was a starry night in Twentynine Palms on October 13, and friends and partners were kicked back on lawn chairs with a cooler full of beers and powdered sparkling cider. In addition to the dim lighting, sounds of crickets and life like set; Lynne’s nomadic and welcoming spirit ignited an eclectic mix of conversations ranging from constellations, the vibrations crystals and humans share and the emergence of TLC.
Created and directed by RTB Artistic Director, Taylor Myers, and Michael Ryterband, No. 9 is “ a human-centric answer to the loneliness epidemic of the digital age.” The production was accompanied by a seamless shift to the Dead Letter Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge where audience memembers were served chili, pizza, and other comfort foods and cocktails.
Opened to the public on October 14, No. 9 is set to run through early November. Tickets can be purchased on their website.
The Parsons MFA fashion show, “We Dem Kids,” celebrated art and time in almost all its forms at the historical Brooklyn Museum during NYFW on Sept. 11.
Before deep diving into an exploration of three chapters: “Heritage,” “2113,” and “Generational,” Sean Slaughter set the show off with a spoken word poem that set the tone for the journey ahead.
Designers Anna Roth, Chang Liu, Fabiola Soavelo, Hsiao-Han Kuo, Mel Corchando, Nan Jiang, Natsumi Aoki, Lorena Pipenco, Ren Haixi, Story, Siri, Sunny Ning, Yamil Arbaje, Ying Kong and Yu Gong got to show off their skills during “Heritage” portion of the show which featured pieces that required the designers to use various crafts, techniques, and traditions for completion.
From appreciating the past, straight to the future; 2113 showcased each designers visions for the year. A chapter dedicated to being experimental, the pieces spanned from whimsical to structured and 3D until the transition to “Generational” where the garments seemed to band together. 
Throughly depicting interconnectivity through the mixture of different trends, shapes and textures; the “Generational” chapter was the cherry on top of such a refreshing show where very little was conventional.