Due to social distancing guidelines, restaurants have been forced to adopt takeout or delivery-only models, but the high service fees charged by the delivery apps are putting those relationships to the test.
According to the Financial Post, restaurant owner Alex Rechichi, who runs a Toronto-based burger chain, did not mince words when describing food delivery apps.
“I have three words to describe the relationship: A necessary evil,” Rechichi told the Financial Post.
Rechichi’s restaurants once got 35% to 40% of their business from apps such as Uber Eats and Postmates, but now he’s pushing customers to order through a proprietary app because it gives the company more control.
Delivery apps typically take 25% for the service they offer, which restaurants can deal with in normal times when most orders are dine-in. But when all your orders are being placed through delivery apps, that 25% can be the difference between staying open and shutting down.
“We’re an industry where our margins are very, very thin,” Rechichi told the Post. “And at a time like this when 95% of your sales are going online and your delivery partners are taking 25% for the service they offer, it’s really hard to make money.”
Last week, four major food delivery apps, Uber Eats, Grubhub, DoorDash, and Postmates were named in a class-action lawsuit brought by restaurant owners and operators arguing that the rates being charged were unfair.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Monday, takes issue with the delivery apps’ “No Price Competition Clauses” that force restaurants to charge uniform prices for menu items, even for food orders that were not generated through their digital platforms.
In turn, this “unlawful price restraint” prevents restaurants from offering discounts to customers who would otherwise order directly or dine-in, the lawsuit alleges, and ultimately leads to customers being ripped off.
The National Restaurant Association said its industry risked losing $225 billion in sales and between 5 million and 7 million jobs over the next three months.
Todd Perrin, the chef behind Mallard Cottage and Waterwest Kitchen and Meats, said he considered using delivery apps, but felt it was too much work for little to no profit.
“It’s not a money-making proposition,” he said. “You’re bringing in some cash flow, you’re able to keep some of your guys employed, but everybody is working twice as hard and you’re barely treading water.”
Some large chain restaurants received funds from the Paycheck Protection Program. Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse are just a couple that applied for and received funds, although both have now stated they will give the money back. For restaurants and businesses looking for help, several big businesses are offering to help.
The fight against climate change has been a hot topic in the news within the last few years after observations show how our waste is adversely affecting the environment. With the oceans warming and ice in Antarctica continuing to melt, governments around the world are doing their part to shrink their carbon footprint and make the necessary changes needed to heal our planet.
Now U.S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush is leading the movement in the U.S. to ensure the Trump administration is protecting its citizens amid a public health crisis.
Rep. Rush, joined by 83 House Democrats, called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure that minority and low-income communities have equal access to vital clean air protections. His call to action comes amid recent reports and studies showing that minority and low-income communities are dying at disproportionate rates from COVID-19 and that COVID-19 patients who live in areas with high air pollution have a greater likelihood of dying from the illness.
“The EPA’s sole mission is to protect human and environmental health. Yet, this Administration has been more preoccupied with protecting the financial health and wealth of polluter and profiteers,” said Rep. Rush in a press statement. “This behavior is especially abhorrent considering the countless Americans who are literally fighting for their lives against an illness with a lethality linked to poor air quality — this is especially true for minority and low-income communities.
“Under this Administration, the agency tasked with protecting us from environmental harms is on an unrelenting path to dismantle clean air regulation,” he continued. “The consequence of these actions is to the detriment of air quality generally and the vitality of our communities — particularly low-income and minority communities…I am thankful to all of my Congressional Colleagues who joined this effort and are committed to fighting for equal access to vital clean air protections.”
What makes a building great? To Rafi Segal, it is never just the form of a structure that counts. What matters is the way a building fits its surroundings and responds to its social and cultural environment.
Segal, an associate professor of architecture at MIT, has gained note as a practitioner whose refined contemporary designs interact extensively with their settings — often featuring open spaces, irregular shapes, and creative multilevel configurations on sloping sites. From museums to homes, Segal is always trying to ensure that a building’s formal space and its chosen place respond to each other.
“Architecture seeks a balance between creating its internal world and making you realize the qualities of the place you’re in,” Segal says, “whether it’s in a city, a landscape, or the places in between.”
For Segal, those places often are cities. One of his designs, the Palmach History Museum in Tel Aviv (designed with architect Zvi Hecker), which focuses on modern Israeli history, features a series of retaining walls creating courtyard space on a sloping, elevated site — while much of the museum’s display space sits underground. It is one of several museums for which Segal has developed innovative and well-received designs.
Other Segal designs are not urban. A Prototype Village House for Rural Lands, outside of Kigali, Rwanda, a result of a 2017 workshop Segal led, deploys a sturdy brick construction along with natural ventilation and a flexible layout, as a model for low-cost housing in Rwanda’s rural areas.
Segal’s Kitgum Peace Museum in Uganda, meanwhile, is an open-walled, roughly rectangular structure that forms a courtyard on its interior and creates a path for displays on its exterior. The site is intended as a memorial to victims of civil conflict and a museum of cultural heritage.
On a rather different note, but in a nod to Segal’s stylistic influences, he has recently worked with Sara Segal to restore the Lauck House in Princeton, New Jersey — a classic midcentury residence by Marcel Breuer, the esteemed Bauhaus designer. As varied as all these efforts are, Segal sees commonalities among them.
“I’m looking for ways buildings can interact with their environments — using the roof as an active surface, or by incorporating open space as part of the design, creating openness within buildings, and allowing nature in,” Segal says.
For his research, design work, and teaching, Segal was granted tenure at MIT in 2019.
Segal’s current occupation might surprise people who knew him as a youngster. Growing up in Israel, Segal had a clear sense of what he wanted to do with his life — and it didn’t involve designing buildings.
“I didn’t think about being an architect,” Segal says. “I wanted to go into music.”
After he had completed secondary school and was nearing the end of his service in the Israeli army, Segal started thinking more seriously about architecture. In so doing, he received encouragement from his family, who, Segal says, was doubtful about his ability to make a living as a musician, and suddenly crafted various tales meant to convince him about his aptitude for the field.
“All these childhood stories came up, that I was destined for architecture,” Segal says. “My grandfather said, ‘When you were four, you drew in 3D.’ My mother said, ‘You always know how to organize the house.’ But growing up, I did have a strong sense of the visual arts. I did have talent for drawing.”
Segal attended architecture school as an undergraduate at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa, where he received first a bachelor’s degree in architecture, then a master’s. Crucially, Segal says, “at Technion, we studied the design of buildings and of the urban environment as one and the same … town planning was part of the curriculum.”
Segal then received his PhD in architecture from Princeton University. His career combines professional design and extensive academic research. His books include “Space Packed: The Architecture of Alfred Neumann” (2018), and he has been a co-editor of three other books.
Segal has taught architecture and urban studies at multiple institutions, including Harvard University, Columbia University, the Cooper Union, and Princeton, and has been at MIT since 2015.
“MIT is a great fit for me,” says Segal, who currently directs MIT’s SMArchS Urbanism program (the Master of Science in Architecture Studies with a concentration in Urbanism), and teaches classes about urbanism. “At MIT, students gain tools to examine the development of current cities and explore new forms of urbanity, new ideas on how and where the future city will take shape.”
In line with this thinking, Segal recently established the Future Urban Collectives Lab at MIT, which examines the power of architecture to shape new forms of collectivity in today’s “sharing economy.”
As a practitioner, Segal’s design work has been shown in Berlin, Rotterdam, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Venice Biennale of Architecture, and the Hong Kong/Shenzhen Urbanism Biennale. Recently, Segal has also been engaged in an extensive, multifaceted research project which will have a public airing at the 2020 Venice Biennale. The exhibit, which will be called “Open Collectives,” imagines ways in which digital and physical space work together to strengthen emerging communities.
Segal has been working on such collective design issues for years; he led the design of a new neighborhood for multiple kibbutzim in Israel.
“Kibbutzim were an early modernist project that can inform in many ways the increase in cooperative living and working [today],” Segal says. “We know that in today’s gig economy, structural inequities can be pronounced. I’m interested in finding ways in which the design of buildings and cities can help transform society. … Architecture can play a key role in strengthening socioeconomic equity.”
Some of Segal’s ideas that will be on display in Venice also pertain to elders and caregivers; market places for emerging economies in the developing world; and affordable co-living and multifamily housing amid dense urban centers and in the urban periphery.
“The issues I work on may seem disparate, but they all share the common thread of meeting urgent needs that call for creative, forward-thinking design,” Segal says. “Urban living and communities are evolving — this is an exciting front line that the Future Urban Collectives Lab explores, and where architecture needs to be.”
Tyler Perry is reportedly working on a plan to safely restart his TV and film production projects at his sprawling 330-acre studio in Atlanta, Georgia in wake of the coronavirus outbreak, according to TMZ.
The actor, producer, and entrepreneur is planning to reopen his sprawling studio complex if he can implement testing for COVID-19 for cast and crew members. If cleared, actors and staff would work and live on-site as they shoot their productions. According to the TMZ report, each production could be shot in about two-and-a-half weeks.
Although Perry doesn’t have a specific time frame when he’ll actually restart his shows, it was reported that he would start shooting his own shows, which air on OWN, Nickelodeon, and BET. Among his series are The Haves and the Have Nots, Young Dylan, Ruthless, Sistas, and The Oval.
The successful filmmaker opened the Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta back in October after turning a former army base into a brand new studio. The historic feat made him the first African American to own a major film production studio of this magnitude. The studio opening gala drew top names in entertainment to the celebration, including celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Cecily Tyson, Taraji P. Henson, Jill Scott, Whoopi Goldberg, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, Michelle Williams, Kelly Rowland, Beyoncé, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, and Halle Berry.
The Tyler Perry Studio was acquired by Perry in 2015 and is located on the historic grounds of the former Fort McPherson army base. The major motion picture studio showcases 40 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, 12 purpose-built sound stages, 200 acres of green space, and a diverse backlot. His previous studio location occupied two former Delta Air Lines affiliated buildings in the Greenbriar area of southwest Atlanta and was sold in 2018 after being at this location since 2008.
REFORM Alliance, the criminal justice reform organization founded by Meek Mill, Michael Rubin, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, and others, teamed up with Madonna and Jessica Alba’s husband, film producer Cash Warren, to send 100,000 additional masks to more prison facilities.
REFORM Alliance announced the partnership with Madonna’s Ray of Light Foundation and Warren’s Pair of Thieves to send personal protective equipment (PPE) to several correctional facilities across the nation to help protect incarcerated people and staff from the COVID-19 virus. According to a press release, 50,000 masks will be delivered to the Cook County Jail and the Illinois Department of Corrections, where more than 600 incarcerated people and staff have tested positive COVID-19. An additional 20,000 masks will be delivered to the Louisiana Department of Corrections and the remaining 30,000 masks will be distributed between Vacaville Prison in California, FCI Ray Brook in New York, and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department in Massachusetts.
Other organizations making contributions include The Bail Project, The Dosberg Fund, Operation LIPSTICK, and #cut50.
This is the second PPE donation that REFORM made to correctional facilities. Earlier this month, REFORM partnered with advocate Shaka Senghor to send 40,000 masks to the Tennessee Department of Corrections; 5,000 masks to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman; and 50,000 to the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City. Another 2,500 will also be sent to a Rikers medical facility.
Leaders within the advocacy group said the masks will help protect incarcerated people, correctional officers, and healthcare workers in the fight against COVID-19. They also warned that without proper protections and provisions, the prison system can implode into a hotbed for the novel coronavirus since confined spaces make it nearly impossible to enforce social distancing guidelines.
In addition to the protective gear, last month the REFORM Alliance revealed the SAFER Plan, a proposal urging governors across the country to release elderly and nonviolent criminals to home confinement. They’ve also asked for suspended jail sentences for technical violations and better sanitary conditions in prisons to reduce the spread of the outbreak.
“Governors and people who run jails and prisons in this country need to take the pandemic in Rikers as a warning,” said Van Jones, CEO of REFORM Alliance. “We’re in danger of seeing prisons coast-to-coast turn into morgues. It is important to get medical supplies in, and it is equally important to get more human beings out.”
Ashley Peterson is used to doing it all. The former model and mother of two is married to NFL star Adrian Peterson. And since November 2018, she’s also the CEO of her own company, Elizabella Cosmetics.
Black Enterprise caught up with Peterson to talk about how she turned her longtime passion into her entrepreneurial “baby,” fulfilling a lifelong dream in the process.
How did your passion for makeup start?
I’ve always enjoyed playing in makeup and trying new and different looks. My parents bought me my first makeup kit when I was, maybe, 5, for Christmas. And I’ll never forget it. My dad came in and said to my mom, “Have you seen Ashley? She did her makeup and it actually looks good.”
My mother always enjoyed makeup as well. She did sell Mary Kay for a while. I was able to help her with her inventory, we were able to sample all her products, and it was something fun that we were able to do together.
Why did you decide to start your own company, and why did you chose to do it when you did?
It’s been a dream of mine since I was a young girl. I’ve always had a vision board, and owning my own cosmetics company has always been on that board.
I started Elizabella Cosmetics after my second son was born. As a woman, when you’re married and you have kids, I feel like you can lose yourself so easily. Being a wife and mother is absolutely amazing, but once my second son got to a certain age I began to look inside and ask OK, now what’s going to make you happy, Ashley? And in that journey of finding myself, I began to explore starting my own company and going after the other dreams that I had put on the back burner.
What skills did you take from your modeling career that have been able to translate into what you do now?
Modeling is so much more difficult than one would imagine. And I learned a lot of valuable lessons. You have to have an amazing work ethic; you have to learn to be fluid and versatile. I also learned how to work with different people—in those environments, you’re meeting people that same day and you’re expected to collaborate with them and work really well with them.
Also in that industry, I learned how difficult it can sometimes be for makeup artists with women of color. They didn’t always have the shade that looked good with our skin tone. I was able to learn a lot of different techniques from so many amazing makeup artists, even from photographers. And I was also so inspired by makeup artists and how I would see them mixing and blending colors. Those are things I think about when choosing shades for Elizabella; I try to choose shades that will look good on all women.
You helped your husband with some of his businesses before you became an entrepreneur yourself. What lessons did you pick up?
I learned a lot of things: being hands on, having open lines of communication, learning how to make people accountable so that when you’ve given them direction and walked away you can make sure that it’s done. Also learning things like accounting, how to look at the books, how to look at the money. Because math is not my strong suit. I’m actually a super creative individual. So learning the business side was extremely helpful to me.
But I would definitely say the biggest and most valuable lesson I learned is that no one is going to run your business how you would run your business.
How has being an entrepreneur been different than your expectations?
When I started this I was just so, like, head in the clouds. I thought I was going to launch my website and everything would be gone, you know, in 24 hours we’re selling out. Yeah, that’s not how it happened it all.
It’s not just about beautiful colors. I may have the most amazing colors, the most amazing longwear formula, but the branding and the social media have got to be on point as well. When we go to trade shows, we sell out—like our booth is full the entire time. However, that doesn’t necessarily translate when you go to online sales. Online sales and online marketing are totally different.
I was expecting it to be a lot easier and I got a rude awakening. I had to work 10 times harder than I ever would have imagined, had a lot of sleepless nights. So I had to learn so much in this process but it’s been a lot of fun learning as well.
(Image: Courtesy of Elizabella Cosmetics)
What sets Elizabella Cosmetics apart from all the other cosmetics companies?
I think of Elizabella Cosmetics as more of a boutique lip brand. I’m a lipstick girl; I’m all about lips and lashes. A bold lip has always been my thing, which is why I gravitated to just lips when I started this company. I really wanted to be true to myself and to what makes me tick.
I wanted to create a product that was versatile, that looked good on all women, and that was also affordable. You get a lot of product for the price point—actually double the product of some of these other companies, which was super important to me because when I buy a lipstick, I want to make sure that it’s worth the money, that it lasts.
We truly care about how long you’re going to be able to wear your lipstick because you’re a busy wife, you’re a busy mother, you’re busy businesswoman, you don’t have time to keep reapplying all day. Not only that, but that $26 lipstick is going to last you for months, because you only have to apply it one, two times a day.
How long did it take you to get to that perfect longwear formulation?
I tried so many different formulas, and I actually tested mine out for months.
I was always a wearer of this certain red lipstick before—it was my absolute favorite; I would not deviate from it. When I first tried our signature red, Bella, I immediately fell in love, and have not used any other red lipstick since.
That was really a huge test for me because I’ve tried all kinds of reds, and I am true to my red lipstick. But as soon as I tried our formula and I saw how it felt on my lips… . I knew that it also had vitamin E oil, so it was really hydrating. And I was able to see how long it lasted even with me eating or drinking. If this red lip could stay all day like this, I knew that this was the formula I had to go with.
A new study shows Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden has a sizable lead among young voters, who are gathering together to fight against President Donald Trump’s re-election.
According to Essence, a poll conducted by the Harvard Institute of Politics, shows 60% of 18- to 29- year-olds across the country support Biden versus 30% who support Trump. John Della Volpe, the director of polling for the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, believes the difference is due to young voters worried about the future.
“Well before COVID-19 struck, we knew this to be a generation anxious about their future. The pandemic brought these anxieties into focus,” Della Volpe, said. “In the survey, we found that stress related to debt, the cost of housing, access to healthcare, mental health resources, and concern about whether or not loved ones will survive coronavirus are the prism from which young Americans will view and engage in this campaign. Self-defense, in 2020, is one of the primary motivations for voting.”
Although this is good news for Biden’s campaign, Della Volpe warns the campaign needs to continue to appeal to young voters.
“Currently, they are giving him the benefit of the doubt,” Della Volpe said in an interview with USA Today. “There are a lot of young people who preferred Sanders, voted for Sanders, but are willing to say in a two-person matchup, they’d be with Biden right now. He cannot take that cohort for granted. And my read over his activities the last few weeks is that he’s not taking them for granted.
Although progressives Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have endorsed Biden, his primary victory was largely due to African American voters. Earlier this week Biden wouldn’t commit to appointing an African American woman as his vice president, which could hurt him. Biden also has been unclear about his stance on marijuana legalization, another factor African Americans will be paying attention to in the coming months.
If you’ve been following D-Nice‘s Club Quarantine on Instagram, you’ve likely been amazed by the vast catalog of music he carries around in his head. Spinning live from his Los Angeles apartment (with enviable views) he’s played across the spectrum of musical genres and eras.
But if you’ve been to a D-Nice party offline — and there have been some memorable ones- you know his specialty is the music of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. The youthful-looking DJ, born Derrick Jones turns 50 this year, so his wide range of musical tastes come as no surprise.
DJ D-Nice. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images for BET)
Whether it’s New York City club jams, album deep cuts, or the music you’d find at any backyard family barbeque, D-Nice has a special place in his musical heart for a certain mix of soul, dance, and what we’d describe as golden age hip-hop.
We’re all in need of some uplifting music right now. If listening to D-Nice inspired you to go digging into your auntie’s, uncle’s or parent’s record collection or Spotify/Apple/Tidal playlists to find out what he’s playing, we’re giving you just a little taste of some joyful/thought-provoking/inspirational/soulful albums from multiple eras just to get you started.
And don’t forget to check out the return of Club MTV with D-Nice on Saturday, April 25 at 10 p.m. ET and PT on MTV, and simulcast across VH1, MTV2, and PlutoTV.
Also, this is our personal, eclectic and admittedly leaning to the soul and old-school list … so don’t @ us. We heard what we heard! Let it be a guide, not a mandate.
Earth, Wind and Fire had so many inspiring hits, including “That’s the Way of the World” and “September” and “Reasons,” but this album epitomizes their intention to provide healing through music.
Let’s Get It On – Marvin Gaye (1973)
If you’re lucky enough to be quarantined with a significant other – and one you genuinely like – put this on, light some candles and take off your clothes. No need to press pause, just repeat. Yes, love and sex are uplifting and you should get/have as much of it as possible while on lockdown. You’re welcome.
Songs in the Key of Life – Stevie Wonder (1976)
We shouldn’t have to explain this, but for any millennials who stumbled across this post…this is, pound for pound, one of the greatest albums of all time in any genre. If SITKOL doesn’t move you in some way, well, we’re sorry that no one upgraded your musical sensibilities during your formative years.
Sign of the Times – Prince (1987)
The Minneapolis genius was ahead of his time in many ways and this album proves it. It will make you think, dance, dream, reflect and love. Not too many people can combine social consciousness and overt sexuality, but that’s why he was who he was.
The Evolution of Gospel – Sounds of Blackness (1991)
Prince put Minneapolis on the map but the city was rife with musical talents in several different genres. This underrated 80’s gospel/soul collective is responsible for music that can provide solace in any situation.
Growing Pains- Mary J. Blige (2007)
We all know Mary for her love-gone-wrong hits but on this album, she leans toward personal evolution and proclaims herself as “just fine.” It’s one of her most thoughtful releases and its one that can assist in some of the internal growth we’re all trying to enhance in this crisis.
Testimony Vol. 2 – Love and Politics India.Arie (2009)
India.Arie’s catalog is more than just hair. This album is packed with feel-good songs about the good things in life – love, self-esteem, spirituality, and family support.
A Seat At The Table– Solange (2016)
Yes, her sister’s a global superstar whose work of late has been more black-centric than ever before. But Solange’s first real grown-up album is the soundtrack for every Black girl or woman who struggles to be understood, appreciated, included, and valued.
Malibu – Anderson.Paak (2016)
Anderson.Paak had to have spent his youth taking in the greats before him. This is the result – a multi-genre masterpiece of sensual soul, hip-hop, R&B, and blues that encompasses all of what came before with an artistry that is his very own.
Black America Again Common (2016)
2016 was a tough year – that is, until 2020 came along. But in 2016, we lost David Bowie, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Vanity, “Martin” actor Thomas Mikal Ford, “Do the Right Thing” star Bill Nunn, journalist Gwen Ifill, comedian Ricky Harris and singer George Michael just to name a few! And then, Trump became president. In the midst of all this, late that year, Common released this criminally underrated album. It’s a statement on the times, life, love, transition and more and it deserves more ears.
A Texas man who was in intensive care for weeks and very close to becoming a part of the rising coronavirus death toll is now back home and on the mend.
Christopher Marshall, 37, spent nearly three weeks on life support during his battle with COVID-19 and his road to recovery was a hard one, as documented by WFAA in Dallas.
After testing positive for the respiratory disease in March, Marshall was informed he had to be intubated and put into a medically induced coma for lack of oxygen. Marshall noticed symptoms earlier that month, but he initially dismissed the signs as allergies.
Marshall’s condition worsened. He soon developed pneumonia in his lungs and did not get tested for coronavirus until his wife convinced him to go to the Methodist Hospital emergency room.
When told that he needed to be placed in a coma, Marshall, a University at North Texas at Dallas grad student, was understandably nervous.
“On the outside, I was calm, but, on the inside, I was very fearful because I’ve never been put to sleep like that before,” Marshall recalled.
After being treated with hydroxychloroquine, Marshall’s condition became grave. He suffers from diabetes and, as a result of the underlying condition, he grew weaker. He was then airlifted from Methodist Hospital to Medical City in Plano, Texas.
Doctors at Medical City had to oxygenate Marshall’s blood from outside his body with an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, life support machine. He was also given fentanyl. After this aggressive treatment, Marshall woke from his come on March 31, his birthday.
After emerging from the coma, Marshall was stunned to see how high the death toll had spiked.
In Texas, more than 23,600 people have tested positive for the disease and 624 have died from complications as of Saturday morning, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
“For the first couple of days I did have survivor remorse and I was like, ‘Lord why me,'” Marshall said. “Why did I live and all these other people pass away?”
The U.S. death count topped 52,000 on more than 906,000 confirmed cases as of Saturday. New York, New Jersey and Michigan are among the hardest hit states across the country.
Marshall was discharged on April 16 and went home to his family.
His wife also tested positive for coronavirus, but is asymptomatic.
Danika Berry, founder and president of DB Agency, is known for helping celebrities and entrepreneurs make their mark in their respective industries. Over the span of her career, Berry has worn many hats. She has created, sold, and produced TV shows for OWN and USA Network and is also the founder of Glam Body, a beauty brand that sells natural body scrubs and promotes self-care and wellness. And while many have tried to quantify her success by measuring how well she does her job, Berry is proud of her ability to bounce back and pivot.
While sitting at a kitchen table with divorce papers and three kids under the age of 11, Berry made the decision to keep going.
“I got to the point in my life where I realized, I was depressed. Due to stress, I had bad acne, hyperpigmentation, stretch marks (my war wounds from giving birth), and I just didn’t feel beautiful,” said Berry. “I put all my energy into other people’s companies, which left me having to be ‘ON’ all the time. I’m human, I was tired.”
She went on to say, “I never thought I would ever be a single mom, but overcoming divorce personally taught me to not let fear be my chauffeur.”
Nevertheless, she persisted. With over 20 years of entrepreneurial experience, Berry was used to making life work for her. Earlier in her journey, Berry took a number of calculated risks that came with her experiencing homelessness and great rewards like working with Mathew Knowles and Destiny’s Child; David Beckham; Don Cheadle; and major brands such as Coca-Cola, Cartoon Network, NASCAR, and General Mills.
“I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit, the hustle, and drive. I strongly feel and will tell everyone, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. I’m a firm believer in having multiple streams of income,” said Berry.
Formulating Success
For Berry, one of those streams of revenue has always come from the beauty industry. Now, she’s making her mark on the industry with Glam Body.
(Image: Glam Body)
While searching for skincare products to treat her stress breakouts and beauty aids to make her stretch marks less prominent, Berry began to devote her time and energy to creating a solution for herself.
After learning about coffee’s abilities to clear acne, smooth skin, remove blackheads, cure hyperpigmentation, treat cellulite, and soothe eczema; Berry began mixing and testing out recipes for nearly eight months. And in 2017, Glam Body was born.
“Prior to Glam Body, I had a few other online companies that did very well for me. Glam Body wasn’t necessarily about putting my dreams first, I created the company because my son was on steroids for eczema and I wasn’t comfortable with him being in contact with those chemicals. I heard about coffee scrubs and used a few from other companies. When I tried them, I didn’t really like them and said, ‘I can create this myself.’ When the product worked on my son, being the businesswoman that I am, I decided to sell it.” said Berry
Showing Up in Business
Successfully launching Glam Body was a testament to Berry giving things her all.
“When it came to my business, divorce taught me to be my authentic self. I used to hide behind my business, no one knew I owned Glam Body—and I launched the company in 2017. It took me three years to reveal myself as the owner because although I was instilling confidence in my every day clients as a publicist behind the scenes,” she added.
She went on to say, “The crazy thing is that I didn’t have that confidence within my own self. I had to practice what I preached. Now, I believe in myself like never before. And, realized that I can do anything the I put my mind to.”
Berry has worked with beauty moguls Mahisha Dellinger, Jenelle Stephens, and countless others who now encourage her to show up and shine.
“Janell Stephens, CEO of Camille Rose is a very good friend and she has given me awesome advice regarding Glam Body. Janell has been extremely inspiring, attentive, and very forthcoming regarding the moves that I make. Mahisha Dellinger, CEO of Curls, who is also a good friend has been super supportive. She has her Black Girls Making Millions Academy, where she helps women at all stages of their business empower, educate, and elevate the next generation of entrepreneurs. Mahisha was actually ready to introduce me to retail, but I wanted to pull Glam Body together first prior to taking that huge step,” said Berry.
She continued to say, “It feels good to have these beauty vets who run multimillion-dollar companies believe in you and share the business lessons they have learned. As black women, we all need to stick together and Janell and Mahisha are both giving back and helping those like myself, who are also trying to achieve entrepreneurial success.”
Faith, affirmations, and envisioning herself where she wants to be has helped Berry build her confidence. And she hopes to encourage other women to be fearless in their pursuits.
To other women looking to start a business of their own with confidence, Berry said, “Manifest your dreams by setting clear goals and intentions. The first step in manifesting something is to get crystal clear on exactly what it is that you want. Do this by setting concrete goals and intentions in and around the business you want to create. Find that inner strength and appreciate life and realize that you have control over your future. You can achieve success on your own terms.”
Anything you want to know about the show In Living Color can be found right in the title. In Living Color: an indication of the abundant, kinetic power of Black life.
Comedy is a unique language, and this show spoke it through the dialect of Black-born wit, irreverence and grace.
This month marks the 30th anniversary of the premiere of the Emmy-winning sketch comedy series. The brainchild of director/writer/comedian Keenen Ivory Wayans, the show immediately exploded. For five seasons, In Living Color stood out from every comedy show before it and has without a doubt influenced every comedy show since.
In 1988, Wayans was approached by executives of the then brand new Fox Network looking for edgy shows that would make it stand out among its competitors. After seeing Wayans’ I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, they felt he was up to the task and gave him total control — and he took full advantage.
The backbone of the show’s success was its cast. Previously unknown forces of nature such as Jim Carrey, Kim Coles, Tommy Davison, David Alan Grier, Jamie Foxx and the talented well-spring of Wayans siblings (Damon, Kim, Shawn, and Marlon) exhibited on-set chemistry that can only be explained by extrasensory perception.
Wayans once said of the cast on HBO’s The Blacklist, “everyone that Hollywood didn’t know what to do with, I knew what to do with.” This ragtag rogues’ gallery of actors and comics turned out to be what Hollywood had been missing.
Right from the jump, each cast member’s iconic pre-show intro illustrated vibrant art in a chaotic, exuberant way that was savvy enough to praise their individuality as well as imply a collective unity. You didn’t know what to expect, but you knew that’s why you tuned in every Sunday.
Characters like Tom & Tom, the Brothers Brothers hilariously examined the difference between the woke and the un-woke. Homey D. Clown was an ironic look at the Black man who viscerally, and sometimes violently, defended his self-respect. The ‘Hey Mon’ sketches were middle America’s exaggerated introduction to West Indian families who have to work multi-jobs to live in America.
The show was more than just a sketch comedy. It created culture just as effortlessly as it commented on it. It was the offspring of ‘The Richard Pryor Show,’ ‘Soul Train’ and ‘Mr. Magic’s Rap Attack.’ It was a platform for hip-hop, it challenged social taboos and showed what fearless television could be.
Today, In Living Color‘s influence is still strong, evident from its former cast becoming box office phenomenons, winning Grammy, Academy and Tony Awards, or when Bruno Mars and Cardi B paid homage to the show’s intro in the music video for their hit song “Finesse.”
Here are five ways that In Living Color made a difference in show business:
Black creative ownership
Seeing Black people on television has always sparked pride for Black audiences. Being able to see someone that looks just like you has been an important source of inspiration from The Nat King Cole Show right on down to The Cosby Show. But oftentimes, it’s non-Blacks who pull the strings behind the scenes, whether it’s Norman Lear writing for Good Times, or Kelsey Grammar producing The Game.
What Keenen was able to do was take from the book of TV producers Ellis Haizlip (PBS’ ‘Soul!’), Don Cornelius (‘Soul Train’) and Gil Noble (PBS’ ‘Like It Is’), who used the full control of their shows to uplift and address their community. For Wayans to do it in a comedic space with a cast comprised primarily of people of color was revolutionary.
Controlling the narrative of your own people’s stories is rare, and Keenan Ivory Wayans achieved just that. A Black producer, with Black writers making stories told by Black actors. He is responsible for today’s crop of unapologetic Black TV creatives like Donald Glover, Issa Rae and Terrance Nance.
LGBTQ’s transition from tolerance to acceptance
It’s amazing how much one sketch has helped assimilate the LGBTQ community in pop culture. ‘Men on Film,’ the popular reoccurring sketch of two gay men reviewing movies on public access TV walked a razor-sharp line between funny and offensive.
Sure, Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier played wildly on the effeminate stereotypes of the gay Black man, but it was done so confidently, and their characters were utterly unapologetic about their identity. It became less about their sexual preference and more about their chemistry and hilarious commentary.
They were able to sneak in slang like, ‘don’t make me read you,’ to a national audience that had no idea what that meant, but somehow got them to understand, and got the whole country saying ‘hated it,’ and doing ‘two snaps up.’
The door for acceptance for LGBTQ culture in mainstream media had opened and was never to be closed. Shows like Ru Paul’s Drag Race and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy owe a debt to Blaine Edwards and Antoine Merriweather.
Rap music goes prime time
By the end of the 1980s, rap was well in the midst of a golden era of creativity, but a show like In Living Color sprung the music and culture of hip-hop on its path to the crest of American influence and popularity.
Just a year prior to In Living Color‘s premiere, hip-hop had boycotted the Grammy’s. Rappers had Yo! MTV Raps in the afternoons, but if you wanted to see them perform live, you’d be lucky to catch them on late-night talk shows.
In Living Color put hip-hop in prime time living rooms every Sunday night thanks to an infectious theme song from Heavy D& The Boyz and the dancing of the Fly Girls. By season two, the show became a showcase for rappers to perform new music.
Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest all are among the many who got to unleash their versatile brand of rap that inspired a nation. Without ‘In Living Color,’ the assimilation of hip-hop into the mainstream may have taken much longer.
All comedy shows before 1990 followed the template of a live studio audience with a host and a band, from Saturday Night Live to The Arsenio Hall Show. But for In Living Color, the DJ was the band.
DJ SW-1, Shawn Wayans, and later DJ Twist, was such a staple to both the show intro and the Fly Girls’ dance interstitials, they eventually began contributing in sketches. It was such a different look and feel for the viewing audience. They captured a glimpse of the energy of hip-hop clubs and park jams that fit the contemporary aesthetic of the show’s cast and content.
Soon, many shows would follow suit. In 1992, HBO launched Def Comedy Jam, featuring DJ Kid Capri to preside over the music. Chris Rock pegged legendary DJ Grandmaster Flash is his musical director for his eponymous HBO talk show in 1997. Dave Chappelle‘s Comedy Central smash Chappelle’s Show in 2002 featured a DJ as well.
Changed the Super Bowl Halftime show
Today, the Super Bowl is hefty performance real estate for an artist. And believe it or not, In Living Color is a significant reason why.
Before 1992, the halftime entertainment of the Super Bowl was conservative, inoffensive content meant for the entire family, and was often not compelling. Past performers included college marching bands and nostalgic tributes with acts like Chubby Checker.
For Super Bowl 26, Fox produced a live edition of In Living Color as an alternative to that year’s halftime show, which was a salute to the forthcoming 1992 Winter Olympics, featuring Gloria Estefan and figure skater Dorthy Hamill.
Reoccurring sketches like ‘Men on Football,’ Fire Marshall Bill,’ ‘Homeboy Shopping Network’ and a performance from R&B group Color Me Badd garnered 22 million viewers. This promoted the NFL to rethink its strategy. So, who performed at 1993’s Super Bowl 27 Halftime? Michael Jackson.
Since then, the halftime show has featured superstars like Prince, Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, and Janet Jackson. In 2020, things came full circle when Super Bowl 54’s halftime featured Jennifer Lopez, who got her start dancing as a Fly Girl on In Living Color.
