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Thursday, February 6, 2020

A Promising Crispr Trial, Happy-ish Tesla Investors, and More News

Catch up on the most important news from today in two minutes or less.

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OWN announces three big changes for Tyler Perry shows this upcoming season

One Tyler Perry show is ending, one is just beginning and another is returning.

OWN announced this week that If Loving You Is Wrong will end following the fifth season, which premieres on March 10 at 10 p.m. The show chronicled the lives of neighborhood friends and enemies. In the promos to the final season, OWN promises the show will  reveal “some long-awaited answers to viewers’ burning questions” and will include “life-changing catastrophes that will leave the town reeling and changed forever.”

After the show ends, The Haves and the Have Nots will be Perry’s only remaining series on OWN, according to Deadline.

READ MORE: What the response to Gayle King’s Lisa Leslie interview reveals about “dragging culture”

“We are grateful to Tyler Perry and the talented cast and crew for giving us five incredibly entertaining seasons,” OWN president Tina Perry said to Deadline. “We can’t wait for fans to see the jaw-dropping storylines that are going to unfold this season. It delivers all the juicy drama like only Tyler Perry can.”

As If Loving You Is Wrong ends, a new Tyler Perry show is in the works called Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living. The new comedy series stars David Mann, Tamela Mann, J. Anthony Brown, Na’im Lynn, Courtney Nichole, Tayler Buck and Alex Henderson.

READ MORE: Janelle Monáe stars in new NYT Oscars ad for “1619 Project”

In addition, Perry’s House of Payne revival series is coming back to OWN, with original cast members returning, including LaVan Davis, Cassi Davis Patton, Lance Gross, Demetria McKinney, China Anne McClain, Larramie “Doc” Shaw, Keshia Knight Pulliam, and Allen Payne. Both shows are currently in production and set to premiere this summer on BET, Deadline reports.

The revival of House of Payne is being called the seventh season of the original series that ran from 2006 to 2012 on TBS. The series will pick up five years later, and focus on the life challenges of retired fire chief Curtis Payne (LaVan Davis), his wife Ella (Cassi Davis Patton) and their family.

The post OWN announces three big changes for Tyler Perry shows this upcoming season appeared first on TheGrio.



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OneWeb Joins the Internet Satellite Gold Rush

The company is scheduled to launch 34 satellites Thursday from Kazakhstan.

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Black Civil Rights, Political Leaders Rally To Fight Trump After Impeachment Acquittal

Donald Trump

The US Senate voted Wednesday to acquit Donald Trump, bringing the partisan, contentious impeachment trial to a close. Moreover, the verdict served to galvanize a phalanx of African American politicians and civil rights leaders as well as progressive groups, among others, to continue to combat and try to unseat the politically emboldened president.

So expect the 2020 presidential race to heat up in the months ahead.  

Calling the acquittal “a betrayal” in her address to more than 200 protesters outside the Capitol, Rep. Ayanna Pressley asserted: “I will focus my ire on Senate Republicans. Shame on you, Mitch McConnell.”

According to MSN, the Massachusetts congresswoman’s invective leveled at the majority leader of the GOP-controlled Senate came after Trump was cleared of both charges—abuse of power and obstruction of Congress—as Democrats and Republicans voted along party lines: 48- 52  and 47-53, respectively. To remove Trump from office, 67 senators from the 100-member body needed to vote to convict him on at least one article of impeachment. The only Republican senator to break ranks was one-time presidential candidate Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who voted to convict Trump on abuse of power related to seeking foreign interference from Ukraine for the 2020 election.

The third president to be impeached by the House and the first in modern history to seek re-election, Trump, who feels vindicated from proceedings he characterized as a “witch hunt,” will spend the next nine months in campaign mode. He apparently launched his bid during the State of the Union Tuesday night, gaining a pep rally-like reception from GOP lawmakers chanting “four more years” upon his arrival and delivering what amounted to be a stump speech.

‘The President Is Not An Emperor’

“I am gravely concerned that almost every Republican voted to acquit the President of the United States today,” Congresswoman Alma Adams of North Carolina said in a released statement. “A vote tp acquit is really a vote to quit; to quit providing Congressional oversight, to quit defending the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic; and, most terrifying, to quit treating Donald Trump as someone who is subject to the rule of law. This vote sets a terrible precedent that threatens the concept of separation of powers and our constitutional government itself.”

She added:  “The president is not an emperor. It is not in our national interest to treat him like one.”

In response to what they view as a “sham trial,” more than 200 “Reject The Cover-Up” protests will take place nationwide. The demonstrators are largely focused on last week’s 51-49 Senate vote— once again, along party lines—dismissing subpoenas for new witnesses and documents. Groups like the Women’s March and Common Cause are expected to lead anti-Trump protests in 45 cities and Washington, D.C.

Acquittal is ‘Jim Crow-Style Southern Justice’

In an impassioned address during Tuesday’s Congressional Black Caucus Leadership Forum, Rev. William Barber, the North Carolina pastor who manages the Poor People’s Campaign, was prescient about the president’s acquittal, comparing the act to “Jim Crow-style southern justice.”

Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California, the first legislator to call for Trump’s impeachment, anticipated that he would not be removed from the Oval Office as well.  During her third annual Millennial Media Row which she attended instead of SOTU, the Chair of the House Financial Services Committee told Essence that the Supreme Court will address her petitions regarding Trump’s questionable financial dealings within the next few months. But she argued that the best way to get rid of the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was for multitudes of voters to exercise their power at the ballot box come November.

NAACP Legal Defense Fund President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill agrees that such voter mobilization could prove effective in defeating Trump but insists protective measures must be put in place to safeguard election systems. After the president was cleared, Ifill wrote for Slate: “Senators who voted to acquit Trump argued that the 2020 election is the appropriate forum to determine whether he should be removed from office. They contend that “the people” have the opportunity to express their will. The same senators must be called upon to prove this argument was not merely another move in a cynical shell game. And, if there are United States Senators who are prepared to fight to the integrity of our election system outside of the context of an impeachment trial, then voters need to know, sooner rather than later, who they are.” 

Says former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the only African American currently running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination: “I think we can all agree, or mostly agree, that four more years of Donald Trump and this nation will be unrecognizable as a modern democracy.”

  



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Study: To slow an epidemic, focus on handwashing

A new study estimates that improving the rates of handwashing by travelers passing through just 10 of the world’s leading airports could significantly reduce the spread of many infectious diseases. And the greater the improvement in people’s handwashing habits at airports, the more dramatic the effect on slowing the disease, the researchers found.

The findings, which deal with infectious diseases in general including the flu, were published in late December, just before the recent coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, but the study’s authors say that its results would apply to any such disease and are relevant to the current outbreak.

The study, which is based on epidemiological modeling and data-based simulations, appears in the journal Risk Analysis. The authors are Professor Christos Nicolaides PhD ’14 of the University of Cyprus, who is also a fellow at the MIT Sloan School of Management; Professor Ruben Juanes of MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and three others.

People can be surprisingly casual about washing their hands, even in crowded locations like airports where people from many different locations are touching surfaces such as chair armrests, check-in kiosks, security checkpoint trays, and restroom doorknobs and faucets. Based on data from previous research by groups including the American Society for Microbiology, the team estimates that on average, only about 20 percent of people in airports have clean hands — meaning that they have been washed with soap and water, for at least 15 seconds, within the last hour or so. The other 80 percent are potentially contaminating everything they touch with whatever germs they may be carrying, Nicolaides says.

“Seventy percent of the people who go to the toilet wash their hands afterwards,” Nicolaides says, about findings from a previous ASM study. “The other 30 percent don’t. And of those that do, only 50 percent do it right.” Others just rinse briefly in some water, rather than using soap and water and spending the recommended 15 to 20 seconds washing, he says. That figure, combined with estimates of exposure to the many potentially contaminated surfaces that people come into contact with in an airport, leads to the team’s estimate that about 20 percent of travelers in an airport have clean hands.

Improving handwashing at all of the world’s airports to triple that rate, so that 60 percent of travelers to have clean hands at any given time, would have the greatest impact, potentially slowing global disease spread by almost 70 percent, the researchers found. Deploying such measures at so many airports and reaching such a high level of compliance may be impractical, but the new study suggests that a significant reduction in disease spread could still be achieved by just picking the 10 most significant airports based on the initial location of a viral outbreak. Focusing handwashing messaging in those 10 airports could potentially slow the disease spread by as much as 37 percent, the researchers estimate.

They arrived at these estimates using detailed epidemiological simulations that involved data on worldwide flights including duration, distance, and interconnections; estimates of wait times at airports; and studies on typical rates of interactions of people with various elements of their surroundings and with other people.

Even small improvements in hygiene could make a noticeable dent. Increasing the prevalence of clean hands in all airports worldwide by just 10 percent, which the researchers think could potentially be accomplished through education, posters, public announcements, and perhaps improved access to handwashing facilities, could slow the global rate of the spread of a disease by about 24 percent, they found. Numerous studies (such as this one) have shown that such measures can increase rates of proper handwashing, Nicolaides says.

“Eliciting an increase in hand-hygiene is a challenge,” he says, “but new approaches in education, awareness, and social-media nudges have proven to be effective in hand-washing engagement.”

The researchers used data from previous studies on the effectiveness of handwashing in controlling transmission of disease, so Juanes says these data would have to be calibrated in the field to obtain refined estimates of the slow-down in spreading of a specific outbreak.

The findings are consistent with recommendations made by both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. Both have indicated that hand hygiene is the most efficient and cost-effective way to control disease propagation. While both organizations say that other measures can also play a useful role in limiting disease spread, such as use of surgical face masks, airport closures, and travel restrictions, hand hygiene is still the first line of defense — and an easy one for individuals to implement.

While the potential of better hand hygiene in controlling transmission of diseases between individuals has been extensively studied and proven, this study is one of the first to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of such measures as a way to mitigate the risk of a global epidemic or pandemic, the authors say.

The researchers identified 120 airports that are the most influential in spreading disease, and found that these are not necessarily the ones with the most overall traffic. For example, they cite the airports in Tokyo and Honolulu as having an outsized influence because of their locations. While they respectively rank 46th and 117th in terms of overall traffic, they can contribute significantly to the spread of disease because they have direct connections to some of the world’s biggest airport hubs, they have long-range direct international flights, and they sit squarely between the global East and West.

For any given disease outbreak, identifying the 10 airports from this list that are the closest to the location of the outbreak, and focusing handwashing education at those 10 turned out to be the most effective way of limiting the disease spread, they found.

Nicolaides says that one important step that could be taken to improve handwashing rates and overall hygiene at airports would be to have handwashing sinks available at many more locations, especially outside of the restrooms where surfaces tend to be highly contaminated. In addition, more frequent cleaning of surfaces that are contacted by many people could be helpful.

The research team also included Demetris Avraam at the University of Cyprus and at Newcastle University in the U.K., Luis Cueto-Felgueroso the Polytechnic University of Madrid, and Marta Gonzalez at the University of California at Berkeley and MIT. The work was supported by startup company Smixin Inc and MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives.



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Gigi Bryant’s jersey number retired at her Newport Beach, California school

The No. 2 basketball jersey worn by Gianna “Gigi” Bryant, 13, was retired on Wednesday in a ceremony at her Newport Beach, California school.

READ MORE: Gigi Bryant, 13, killed with father Kobe in helicopter crash

Gigi’s picture was featured on a projector screen during the Harbor Day School ceremony. Her teammates, friends, basketball coaches, teachers, and school administrators took turns coming to the podium to share reflections— remembering her as a humble and beautiful person.

“She never came to school and bragged about anything,” Yunga Webb, her music teacher, and former adviser, said, according to TODAY. “She was one of the most humble people I’ve ever known.”

Webb said that Gigi’s eighth-grade classmates are leaning on each other to cope with the loss. An example of this, the teacher shared is evident in little things like taking attendance every day.

“We (still) call her name. And when we call her name, I hear 40-plus kids say ‘here,’” Webb said, TODAY reported. “In honor of her. Because she’s always with us.”

Gigi, her father Kobe Bryant, and seven others died when the helicopter they were flying in crashed in Calabasas, California, on Jan. 26.

The helicopter was transporting Bryant, 41, Gigi and other players and parents to Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks for a girls’ basketball game.

One of the school’s basketball coaches, Joshua Parks, said Gianna was one of the fiercest competitors he’d ever seen.

“She definitely represented the ‘Mamba Mentality’ every time she stepped on the floor,” Parks added.

The jersey retirement ceremony was captured by Vanessa Bryant in several Instagram videos and photos. In one, Bryant wrote: “My Gigi. I love you! I miss you. You’ve taught us all that no act of kindness is ever too small.”

In another, Gigi’s mom wrote “My Gianna. God I miss you. I’ve been so lucky to have woken up to see your gorgeous face and amazing smile for 13 years. Wish it would’ve been until my last breath. Mommy loves you to the moon and back. Infinity plus 1. #2 #Mambacita #GigiBryant

READ MORE: A week after the tragic crash, the remains of Kobe Bryant, Gigi and others are released to their families

Bryant was called Mambacita and had plans of one day playing for the University of Connecticut and the WNBA.

The post Gigi Bryant’s jersey number retired at her Newport Beach, California school appeared first on TheGrio.



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South Africa's Jacob Zuma takes aim in rifle photo

South Africa's ex-president causes a row after posting a photo of himself taking aim with a rifle.

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Executives Impart “What it Takes” to Lead in Today’s Business Landscape

largest black-owned businesses

It’s fairly indisputable that a prospering company or organization wouldn’t be enjoying any notable measure of success without highly effective leadership. Potent leadership is, in fact, often a primary driver of business innovation, development, and growth overall.

Commanding a team, department, or company at-large isn’t (or shouldn’t be) about the prestige, accolades, lofty titles, or that sweet corner suite. Rather, genuine leaders are able to establish and sustain a mindset that profoundly resonates with the masses—one that galvanizes committees, groups, companies, and organizations in a common mission. Of course, there’s isn’t a one-size-fits-all leadership style that every CEO “must” adopt. In fact, much is learned by trial-and-error throughout a leader’s oft-jagged trajectory to the top.

Successful leaders certainly can—and should—play to their innate strengths and abilities. However, those that go over-and-above to recognize and parlay those of key stakeholders, recognizing (and being willing to admit) their own abilities aren’t enough, often exceed achievement expectations. To do this effectively, a leader must maintain an uber-awareness of the human resource assets at hand.

Toward this end, it’s imperative for leaders to identify their superstar players across all departments and stay in-tune with the proverbial “pulse” of their workforce. But this is easier said than done amid a widening gap among the c-suite and “everyone else” that’s sure to make doing so a bit more complex. “An important challenge facing U.S. leaders in 2020 is the growing generation gap in attitudes and capabilities between themselves and workers soon to be entering the labor market,” Rob Anthony, a professor of management at the Boston campus of Hult International Business School, recently told Forbes. The article also offered results of a study conducted by organizational advisory firm Korn Ferry, which put “the average age for CEOs at 58, chief HR officers at 55 and CFOs at 53. At the other end of the spectrum, the post-millennial Generation Z will start to turn 23 and soon command the largest share of the US labor force.”

Relative to mind-sets, this widening age gap will also surely breed emotional rifts that can further alienate an inflexible or stubborn c-suite. Another Forbes article underscored the importance of leaders ensuring every employee understands their organization’s purpose: “In the past, most employees focused on their paychecks and job titles. Times have changed. Purpose matters more than ever before. Individuals who have a clear sense of purpose are more likely to stick around and love their jobs.” The article also cited a study that found that “nine out of ten workers were willing to make less money to do more meaningful work.” So, a leader with his or her ear to the ground, with a keen understanding of what will motivate a team, can be a make-or-break differential.

With the modern business landscape changing so profoundly, I connected with a few business leaders who are known for being particularly progressive to get some perspective. Below, they share some philosophies on “what it takes” to lead in this competitive and transformative new decade.

Nimble, Organized, and Ready

Leadership requires influencing others to accomplish the company’s mission, and a key is to provide employees with adequate tools to be flexible, organized, and purpose-driven. This is according to Ken Thompson of AlignOrg, who believes that experienced leaders curate great and well-equipped teams through strategic planning, organizational design, and change management.

“Organizations today don’t have the luxury of stability since there’s an ever-increasing change in markets, customers, and technology,” Thompson noted. “Organizations who are ready for this change, who are organized enough to respond to these changes and who can operate as a tight cohesive unit will not only better survive seismic shifts in the market, but also actually thrive in the face of such profound competition and other evolution.”

Leaders are Activists

In our brave new world of rapid change and complexity, there is no single person who can really direct an intricate business. An individual can only encourage those involved to think differently, which is a key argument as to why leaders can be considered activists. This is particularly true for those who promote change and coordinate the efforts of others to help them achieve goals without actually “controlling” them.

Chris Stewart, CEO of brightbeam, is a deep-rooted leader, activist, and 20-year supporter of charitable and education-related causes. As a parent, Stewart leads brightbeam’s network of education activists under a single mission: to demand better education and a brighter future for every child.

When asked how he gained such a powerful voice fighting for the educational opportunities of all children, Stewart remarked, “It’s because 29 years ago, when I had my first child, I became a parent with a problem. I didn’t have a great education myself and I didn’t have many resources. But, I had a kid that I loved and I was determined to give him a better life than what I had.”

Today, Stewart fights to provide millions of families with the tools, knowledge, skills, and confidence to fight for their children’s ability to receive a quality education. As far as Stewart is concerned, the future of education in this country shouldn’t be grounded in empowering parents, but rather by putting them in power.

Stewart upholds that same premise when it comes to leading his organization, which he does through a distributive leadership model. “If leadership provides direction, it should come from many where the collective wisdom prevails, rather than just one dictatorial voice,” Stewart said. This mind-set led Stewart to establish a chief leadership team at brightbeam. “Operationally, of course, it was important to have a group of smart, influential individuals leading the work of the organization, but it was also important for external stakeholders to recognize the power of a strong bench,” Stewart noted. “I am attempting to change the world. That’s a big mission and I can only achieve it by building relationships with top-notch people.”

To lead today, in a world where there is an abundance of passionate, talented people who want to make a difference, Stewart knows he doesn’t have to be the smartest person in the room just because he holds the title of CEO.

A Leader’s Key to Success

Andrew Wyatt, head coach at Andrew Wyatt Leadership, LLC, acknowledges that the modern business landscape has clearly shifted but notes that, as the saying goes, “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” That is why he feels it’s vital for a leader to avoid focusing on trends or sentiment that are ever-changing but on principles, which largely remain constant. This, he asserts, is the foundation of winning leadership.

According to Wyatt, winning leadership requires a ruthless application of one key leadership principle in particular: that effective leaders guide from the inside-out. Meaning, before any leader can successfully lead others, one must lead themselves. Wyatt offers these three ways to accomplish this: 1.) establish your credibility; 2.) build your following; 3) lead with impact. The order of execution is apparently vital.

Here’s Wyatt’s advice:

Like building a skyscraper, leadership first requires excavation before elevation. This is how one establishes credibility. It starts with an inward look. The leader must know the truth before taking the next step to build a following. People follow truth, and most have a natural ability to discern it.

Building a following requires the leader to look outward to draw followers inward. This is the principle of servant leadership through which a leader must “engage” their followers in order to build a genuine and certainly impassioned following.

Finally, to lead with impact, the leader will need to be not only engaged but also current and relevant, and willing to adapt to the changing landscape without compromising the truth. Winning leadership understands and employs this cyclical process.

Customer Speed

Hari Abburi is a transformative thinker and leader who believes in centering leadership “at the speed of the customer.” This is a non-ego-driven approach that directly concentrates on what a customer is thinking and experiencing in the present. “When leaders stay focused on anticipating customer needs and keeping their teams’ customer-centric, a better product or service is produced,” he said.

In this chase to understand how customers transfer their experiences from an unrelated situation on to a company, Abburi narrows leadership down to a few critical elements, including curiosity, visual thinking, and the ability to articulate a clear purpose.

“I have worked and lived in several countries and with responsibilities for over 50 countries and have seen patterns emerge,” Abburi said. “Curiosity and imagination are two universal key elements shared by leaders across cultures, ethnicities, and industries. Curiosity is the best attribute a leader can have, as it drives the kind of imagination that solves problems and spurs innovation.”

Pursuing New Markets

Great leaders throughout history are known for not shying away from new processes, technologies and, most important, new markets. Instead, they have an inherent ability to “see” emerging trends that others miss. Not only that, they take action to collaborate with key creative partners to realize early-stage success in these newly emerging sectors.

Orna Azulay did just that. As founder and president of Abington Speech Pathology Services, Inc. and the RemoteSpeech.com teletherapy platform, she significantly expanded the reach of her company—now a global powerhouse—by approaching an existing therapy protocol in a new and more effective way.

An experienced business development professional, when Orna opened the business 20 years ago, she saw a business opportunity in a big HMO provider who was looking to have relationships with satellite clinics. Although speech teletherapy was still a new idea in the market compared to traditional therapy, Azulay knew the potential and convinced more clients to share her vision and come on board.

Filling in gaps is how great leaders realize great businesses. Thinking outside the box, trying new things (even amid naysayers), and trying to fulfill that empty niche in sustainable and scalable ways can catapult one’s company to incredible heights.

It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Great leadership is an art that requires a combination of several skills and qualities to be successful. Castle Negotiations CEO Ruth Shlossman urges the importance of thinking long-term as a leader. “Developing a ten-year plan to withstand any expected or unexpected circumstances is how great leaders stay afloat,” Shlossman said. “Keeping the bigger picture in mind will help create a culture that believes, plans, and aptly executes.”

Now that we are entrenched in a fresh new decade, it’s a great time to recalibrate your leadership approach into one that’s more aware, sensitive, and adaptive to those inevitable threats, weaknesses, trials, and tribulations. Being an agile, opportunistic, customer-centric, and activist-oriented leader with planning prowess makes the difference between realizing success versus true greatness.

 




As the executive editor and producer of “The Luxe List,” Merilee Kern, MBA, is an internationally-regarded brand analyst, strategist, and futurist. As a prolific branding and marketplace trends pundit, Merilee spotlights noteworthy industry innovators, change makers, movers, and shakers. This includes field experts and thought leaders, brands, products, services, destinations, and events across all categories.

Connect with her at www.TheLuxeList.com / Instagram www.Instagram.com/LuxeListReports / Twitter www.Twitter.com/LuxeListReports / Facebook www.Facebook.com/LuxeListReports / LinkedIN www.LinkedIn.com/in/MerileeKern



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Does Facebook Need an ‘Understand’ Button?

Mark Zuckerberg has decided it's not important to be liked, only to be understood. What the hell does that even mean?

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12 Best Laptop Backpacks for Work (2020): Tom Binh, Incase, and More

Whether you're commuting on your bike or schlepping around a camera, these 12 professional backpacks do the job right.

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'1917' Might Beat the Blockbusters for the VFX Oscar

Usually, the special effects award gives flashy genre flicks their time to shine. This year, a World War I thriller could steal the spotlight.

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Former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns Donates $1 Million to Preserve an Oral Archive of Black History

black history

In honor of the preservation and legacy of black excellence, Ursula Burns, the first black woman to serve as CEO of a Fortune 500 company, donated $1 million to The HistoryMakers, a video oral history archive that collects the stories of extraordinary African Americans.

Housed in the Library of Congress, The HistoryMakers is the largest collection of African American stories told on video in the nation. According to a press release sent to BLACK ENTERPRISE, Burns’ generous gift will allow the project to significantly expand. It will specifically be allocated toward the production of 180 interviews of leading African American women in a variety of disciplines—including the arts, business, civic engagement, education, entertainment, law, medicine, STEM, the military, and religion—who will be added to The HistoryMakers collection. As of now, there are 800 more men featured in the collection than women.

Burns presented the donation on Friday during a luncheon in New York City that convened more than 100 distinguished African American female leaders, including former senior White House advisor Valerie Jarrett; philanthropist Loida Lewis; investment banker Carla Harris; and former Essence magazine Editor-in-Chief Susan L. Taylor.

“The HistoryMakers has been at the forefront of recording the history of African Americans for many years. We must continue to support their efforts and help provide the resources to ensure that the legacy of black women is preserved and presented with truth, honor, and integrity,” said Burns, who retired as the CEO of Xerox in 2017. She currently serves as CEO of VEON, a multinational telecommunication services company based in Amsterdam. Burns added that the gift was made in honor of her late husband, Lloyd F. Bean, a retired Xerox scientist and inventor.

“African American history and culture is at a critical crossroads. We are at risk of losing 20th-century documentation within 10 to 15 years. Burns’ million-dollar gift has made it possible for us to move forward with the selection process to secure many significant interviews with black women,” said The HistoryMakers founder and president Julieanna L. Richardson.

The HistoryMakers

Julieanna Richardson, Founder and President of The HistoryMakers

The luncheon celebrated the launch of The WomanMakers Initiative and Advisory Board, which Burns chairs along with its Honorary Chair Johnnetta Betsch Cole, the president of the National Council of Negro Women. The committee, which is still in formation, will also include lawyer and professor Anita Hill; former president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Cheryl Boone Isaacs; and Grammy Award-winning singer Dionne Warwick. BLACK ENTERPRISE’s very own Caroline Clarke, the chief brand officer of the Women of Power Summit, will serve as a consultant of the WomanMakers Initiative.

“Often, African American women and their lives, careers, and stories have not been well documented in society,” said Richardson at the event. “In recent years, this problem has been highlighted with the popularity of historical works like Hidden Figures and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Both have unearthed little-known contributions of African American women in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. But they, and increasingly more stories like them, prompt people to wonder: What other African American female accomplishments are missing from the historical lexicon?”

Founded in 2000, 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of The HistoryMakers. To date, the Chicago-based nonprofit has interviewed over 3,300 African Americans, including former American Express CEO Ken Chenault, BLACK ENTERPRISE founder and publisher Earl G. Graves, and Eartha Kitt.



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DJI Mavic Mini Review: The Best Drone for Most People

DJI's latest small drone is lightweight, small enough to fit in your pocket, and tons of fun to fly.

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Coronavirus Fears Will Leave Empty Seats at a Top AI Conference

The event, organized by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, will be missing hundreds of leading Chinese researchers who are hampered by travel restrictions.

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Tesla Is Finally Cruising, and Investors Are Going for a Joyride

The electric automaker is valued more highly than Volkswagen, which makes roughly 20 times as many cars. Tesla's stock is also up 71 percent this year alone.

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A Code-Obsessed Novelist Builds a Writing Bot. Plot Thickens

Vikram Chandra, the author of Sacred Games, created Granthika to keep track of complex narratives. It could change the future of storytelling.

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Travel Bans and Quarantines Won't Stop Coronavirus

The US announced travel restrictions on Friday. But some public health experts worry that a ban won't work—and could create new problems.

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Uefa outlines plans to help women's football in Cameroon

Former Netherlands international Hesterine De Reus explains what needs to be done to develop women's football in Cameroon and how Uefa is helping.

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Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai on Maps, AI, Ads, and Ambient Navigation

On Google Maps' 15th anniversary, the CEO underscores the importance of machine learning, while downplaying Google's dominance in advertising.

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Google Maps's Jen Fitzpatrick Says the Future of Maps Goes Beyond Driving

In a WIRED Q&A, the mapping chief celebrates her team's decade and a half of work, and plots a course for the next phase.

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