Black Working Man Magazine

MODERNNOAH

Photo Credit: Jules Bss

ROUGH SEAS

“God instructed Noah to build an Ark NOT a sailboat, rowboat, motorboat or a ship that would need a captain. God’s instructions to Noah left NO room for a man made way to steer the Ark. For God, Himself would be responsible for navigating them through their rough seas.”

– ModernNOAH

“Courage to Build Again”

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

Our Brand seeks to fill the void created by the absence of strong male leadership within the African American community. Look to us for insight and for solutions to issues which have plagued Black American men for years. In addition to our engaging features which profiles outstanding role models within the national African American community. Black Working Man provides information on opportunities for personal growth and development. Take advantage of our expert advice on nurturing healthier family relationships, mentoring future entrepreneurs, and building stronger financial portfolios on family at a time.

Photo Credit: Alexandr Podvalny

WORKING MAN – FITNESS

MAKING TIME FOR FITNESS IS YOUR BUSINESS

BY ROBERT L. SELDERS, JR.

Running a small business is time-consuming, to say the least. Finding time to eat, sleep and breathe — let alone workout — is a challenge when you’ve got meetings to attend, phone calls to return, clients to please, products to make, services to render, vendors to pay, and a team to run.

Given that, most entrepreneurs know how important it is to stay healthy and fit. Operating a small business takes energy, stamina and perseverance. The healthier and fitter you are, the more mental, physical, and emotional effort you’ll be able to put into growing the business. So when it comes to choosing an hour at the gym or an important phone call you need to make, how do you make time for both? Here are a few strategies for fitting exercise into your busy business schedule.

Use your workout to plan your day. While you’re running or swimming or playing tennis, start thinking about what you need to get done that day and how you’ll approach it. Make mental notes of people you need to call and projects you need to check on. When you get to the office, you’ll already have a game plan.

health and fitness expert, author, speaker, and the owner of 3Q Fitness in Garland, TX. He helps busy professionals and business owners get the health and fitness results they want in the time they’ve got. For more information, please feel free to contact him at Robert@3QFitness. com or visit his website at www.3QFitness.com.

Find a work-out buddy who’s as busy as you — maybe even a business partner or co-worker. You’ll be able to keep each other accountable for exercising, even on your busiest weeks. Hey, if he or she can find time to hit the gym, so can you, right?

Turn your commute into a workout. If you live close enough to your workplace, run or ride a bike there. A 15-mile commute can turn into a fantastic cycling session.

We’ve mentioned this in a previous

article, but turn your employee powwows into “walking” meetings. Get out of the conference room and walk around the office or better yet, outside for some fresh air.

Invest in a treadmill desk. It may sound crazy, but a growing number of deskworkers are using combo desk-treadmills that let them walk while typing away at a computer.

Look for a fitness program that gets the best results in the least amount of time. High intensity interval training, circuit training and CrossFit, for instance, are highly effective fitness methodologies that include short, intense workouts which generate great results.

Schedule your workouts like you would a meeting. Physically put it on a calendar and treat it like any other important appointment. Don’t cancel it or move it.

Get a list of short body-weight workouts you can do in your office. Eight minutes of burpees, sit-ups, pushups, and squats will get your heart racing, your muscles quivering, and your adrenaline pumping. Consider investing in a pull-up bar you can attach in your office doorway.

Spend just 10 minutes of your day working out and moving, and you’ll start seeing the results in your waistline, stamina, energy levels, productivity and mood…and more importantly in your business performance.

BLACK

Photo Credit: Jonathan Borba

BLACK WORKING MAN – HEALTH

THE SEX WARS: CELERY VS. VIAGRA

BY KIRI COLE

When you think of ways to enhance your sex life, it’s a sure bet that, “eating celery,” is not the first thought to come to mind. The first thought might be, “swallow Viagra.” But truth be told, the green stalk provides some of the same gusto as the blue pill.

Celery acts like Viagra because it contains the amino acid, arginine, which causes blood vessels to dilate and in turn increases blood flow to the genitals. Moreover, celery contains two steroids, androsterone and androsternol, which act like pheromones and emit a subtle odor that attracts the opposite sex!

And you thought eating your vegetables was boring.

Celery contains a perfect combination of sex-enhancing vitamins and minerals, including vitamin E, magnesium, niacin or vitamin B3, potassium, and zinc. To make crystal clear how those nutrients boost your bedroom performance read the following: Vitamin E, an antioxidant, protects the body from free radicals that decrease sperm count. Vitamin E elevates testosterone levels that help sexual stamina and desire. Studies show that men who take vitamin E experience greater sexual energy, longer lasting erections, intensified libidos, and more potent orgasms.

Magnesium, a trace mineral, aids in producing androgen and estrogen, the male and female sex hormones, as well as neurotransmitters that regulate the sex drive with the chemicals dopamine and norepinephrine.

Niacin works to enhance sex in two specific ways: First, like magnesium,

it assists the adrenal glands to create sufficient androgen and estrogen. Second, it enhances circulation, ensuring ample blood flow to the genitals.

Potassium, both an electrolyte and a mineral, also helps produce the aforementioned sex hormones. Plus, it boosts energy!

Zinc, another essential trace element, is particularly imperative for testosterone and sperm production. Research also shows that it increases sperm motility.

So yes, celery helps you attract your mate and build stamina and virility, but just as there’s more to life than sex, there’s more to celery too. Studies show that celery’s store of acetylenics, helps stop the growth of cancer cells. Celery helps maintain your body’s electrolyte balance and produces hydrochloric acid – critical for proper digestion and the body’s absorption of nutrients. And celery boosts your immune system, with its store of vitamin C, lowers blood pressure and reduces stress hormones in the blood.

So crunch a stalk and live a better life!

entrepreneur, a writer, a model, and a health and fitness enthusiast. She has been a student of health and nutrition and a raw foodist for nearly two decades and is an avid runner. Kiri is a Certified Wellness Coach and holds an M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Through Kiri’s nutrition consultancy, she educates others about diet and nutrition and empowers them to achieve optimal health.

MODERNNOAH

“Courage to Build Again”

BOOK RELEASE

COMING SOON

Photo Credit: Ingo Stiller

“Inspiring Others to Build”

Noah was a master builder with over 1,051,200 estimated hours invested in building the Ark, dealing with people, overcoming objections, building a dream, and living by faith. As we share Noah’s life experiences our hope is that our digital, quarterly publication will inspire you to build a better life for yourself, TODAY!

BECOMING A MASTER BUILDER

NOAH AND THE ARK

Photo Credit: Ingo-Stiller

FOCUS

BY: RODERICK GRAY

“God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. God said, “I’ll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds—the works. I’m sorry I made them.” - Genesis 6:5-7 (MSG)

As we look at the life of Noah we discover that undisciplined, unchecked and wicked imaginations can cost you your life. Noah was born in a time where the imaginations of the people were unconstrained and wicked continually. Their imaginations caused them to manifest behavior contrary to God and produce an environment, culture, and society that would be unsafe and unhealthy to thrive in. This caused a loving God to grieve and repent that He had even made mankind. The intellectual framework of the people’s mind was bad. You can’t build any solid, strong and sound structure with poor framework. Whether you are building a marriage, career, business, ministry or community they all need strong frameworks. Noah didn’t allow the world’s way of thinking and doing things to manipulate his views towards God nor allow them to derail the plans that God had set for him and his family. In the midst of a world of vain imagination, moral and spiritual decay, Noah’s commitment and strong mental focus caused him to

become a world changer, a trailblazer, and a master builder. As we learn today from Noah’s life, let’s make mental health a priority. Committing to ourselves to become more disciplined in thought and action. The scripture below is a good template for us to use to assist in cultivating good mental health.

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious— the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.” - Philippians 4:8-9 The Message (MSG)

TODAYS BLACK WORKING MAN RAY SCHUFFORD

BY: LORRIE IRBY JACKSON (REVISED BY: CALEB TURNER)

CCompassion, flexibility, and a willingness to problemsolve—these particular traits not only serve Dallas’ Ray Schufford in his life as a retired firefighter but also in his quest to serve the community as an author, mentor, public speaker, and ordained minister. A former Chaplain for the City of Dallas, Fire and Rescue Department, Schufford carries nearly three decades of experience as a veteran First Responder.

“What Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said about coming together as one and making the world a better place, that’s what I always strive for,” Schufford stated during a recent phone interview with BWM.

A prolific author, Schufford has penned five books—Bells Beneath My Pillow: The Fireman’s Chronicle (2006), Bells Beneath My Pillow 2: The Rookie Experience (2021), Take It Off: Unmasking the Hero in You (2012), Raymond, You’re My Hero (2010), and Choosing Your Passionate Life Now (2014). He has earned numerous awards for his work on and off duty, including a 2002 Hometown Hero Award, 2005 Salute a Texan Award from Fox 4 News, a 2006 Community Service Award from the Dallas Fire and Rescue Department, and various other recognitions from WFAA-TV, Citibank, Bank of America, the Texas National Guard, the Dallas Mavericks and prominent churches across the nation.

“Whether it’s boys without father figures or newly hired firefighters asking about what to expect on the job, I’m always eager to help out,” says Schufford. His dedication extends to his nonprofit, 2 the Next Shift, which he founded soon after his retirement in 2021. The organization ¬provides first responders with support, solutions, and a plan for success at work and home. Schufford also runs a mentorship program, Mentoring Brother 2 Brother (mb2b.org), which pairs disadvantaged young men with solid male role models.

“My friend was a teacher and I didn’t have children at the time,” Schufford says, “So we started by using office space at Concord Church in Dallas on every second Saturday of the month. We get calls on a weekly basis and there’s now a waiting list for the boys, but we’re always accepting applications for new mentors. It can be harder to find those because some men feel like they have too much baggage to help out, but you can always pull something out of there to say, ‘I wouldn’t do that. Let me tell you why from my own experience.’”

For those not yet old enough for one-on-one mentoring, Schufford visits schools as a motivational speaker and sometimes in his “Shoe-Perman” gear, sharing tales from characters appearing in his children’s book, Raymond, You’re My Hero. “For me, it’s been easy to be a servant in my mentoring organization, with the other heroes on my staff, sharing stories

Putting Life Lessons to Work and Meeting Your Goals

that my own late mother shared with me. It’s great to get with the kids and give them those messages.” A University of Central Missouri graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management, and a Deacon at Concord Church, Schufford draws on his education, faith, and personal experience to inspire young minds.

Pushing forward through setbacks is also a subject Schufford has had plenty of experience with. The sale of his long-running business, Nice Look Barbershop, the dissolution of a marriage, and the experience of co-parenting two young women – all has given him valuable insight into overcoming challenges.

“All good things come to an end, you gotta roll with the punches and keep fighting,” says Schufford. “Disappointments are gonna happen, you know? You can’t just lay down and stay down, it’s about striving to do more and become better.”

Currently residing in Mansfield, Texas with his wife, Schufford is a proud father of three adult children. He’s brought the babershop back in a new form post-COVID with Ray’s Nicelook Mobile Lounge. Schufford continues to seek out new ways to serve his community – especially through his primary mission and passion of supporting those who are dealing with the challenges of the First Responder lifestyle.

BLACK WORKING MAN – SPOTLIGHT

BRAND YOU: HOW TO NETWORK AND BUILD A SUCCESSFUL, PROFESSIONAL BRAND

ARTICLE FROM BLACK

WRITTEN BY YOJI COLE

Your professional brand is a set of traits that identify you – your calling card. It is what people think when they think of you.

It is more than your particular area of expertise. It is more than who you know. Your brand is everything that defines you in the minds of your colleagues, supervisors and senior leaders. It is not only defined by your work ethic and work product, but also by who knows your positive traits and can champion them on your behalf.

“You have to think of yourself as a brand,” says James Wright manager of talent acquisition pipeline development at NBCUniversal. “When people hear your name they should think of excellence especially for minorities. If you’re a minority you get one shot and if that shot isn’t of caliber you may ruin it for yourself and other minorities.”

That is a heavy weight for executives of color to shoulder. But in the corporate world, especially the corporate media world, the reality is that people hire people they like, know and respect.

“In this [media] industry it’s almost always who you know,” says Wright. “Most people of color don’t understand the importance of not only having a good education and resume, but also and sometimes more importantly, networking and building relationships.”

Wright himself is an example of an excellently credentialed executive who took the time to network and develop relationships, without which, NBCUniversal would never have called him.

“I cite networking solely for my landing my current role at NBCUniversal,” says Wright.

Wright, without knowing it, started networking for his current position in 2002 when he was working at AOL/Time Warner. During those years he met Deb Langford, who was making a name for herself as a Fortune 500 executive recruiter through her success as Vice

President Strategic Sourcing at AOL/Time Warner.

Wright left AOL, and while looking for work, volunteered as the vice president of the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR). One of his responsibilities was to develop for members a panel discussion on the importance of networking in business and specifically the entertainment industry. Langford was his first choice for keynote speaker.

At the event, Wright, when introducing Langford to the NAAAHR crowd, mentioned he was looking for work. Langford took to the lectern and told Wright she expected to receive his resume. Along with his resume Wright sent three cupcakes – Langford’s favorite dessert.

Moreover, Wright helped Langford. Langford was also president of the National Association of Multiethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) and organizing her own event sponsored by the Walt Disney Co. For it to be a success she needed at least 100 more executives to attend. Wright immediately engaged his social networks and delivered more than the 100 executives Langford needed. In doing so he demonstrated gratitude, resourcefulness, proactive willingness to help and executive execution. Most importantly he created his brand in Langford’s mind.

Langford, following her time at Time Warner, became NBCUniversal’s Vice President Inclusion and Business Diversity. She championed Wright to her senior leaders. He wasn’t hired immediately. It took several months and at least eight “get to know you” interviews before NBCUniversal executives created his current position, manager of talent acquisition, pipeline development.

“Before asking anyone for anything, you should always provide support and/or services at least two to three times before asking for one favor,” says Wright. “I believe it’s imperative to understand that a key component of networking is helping – not taking. In that process of helping

someone, you in turn develop a relationship that inspires that person to introduce you to internal leaders at companies that could later become your employer.”

So network strategically. Learn the areas in which your mentors and senior leaders need help and showcase your abilities by lending a helping hand. Establish a significant presence on professional social networking Websites, such as LinkedIn and others that are specific to your industry of choice. Utilize the Web sites to contact recruiters and/or executives who work for a desired employer.

Also, to meet people of influence at other companies, join professional organizations specific to your industry and those organizations that are not specific to your industry, but may feature executives you want to know. And don’t be afraid to join organizations that seem to be for “other” people.

For example, if you are African American and the National Society of Hispanic MBAs is holding a mixer in your area, then you should attend. If you are an engineer and the local National Association of Black Journalists is holding an event at which representatives from your desired employer will be attending, then you should attend.

“Don’t think that you shouldn’t go because you’re not of the ethnicity represented at the event,” says Wright. He remembers an executive he recruited at a National Black MBA conference two years ago. That executive was Asian American.

“I don’t care where we find you,” says Wright. “We want to find you. But you have to be in the place where people are looking for diverse talent. It’s about the human factor. Your success will come with the cosigning of others who say, ‘I like this person. I trust this person. You should hire them.’”

WORKING ARCHIVES

ALWAYS MOVING FORWARD