ONYX Magazine March/April 2020

C E L E B R AT I NG B L AC K AC H I E V E M E N T T H ROUG H OU T F LO R I DA

Volume 9 – Number 44 MARCH/APRIL 2020

RUN, SISTER, RUN!

MORE WOMEN VYING FOR THE VOTE IS A GOOD THING

SPECIAL WOMEN ’S EDITION

2020 WOMEN ON THE MOVE MAKING WAVES, BLAZING TRAILS

ARE YOU EATING ON THE RUN?

TAKE OUR QUIZ FOR BETTER HEALTH

XERNONA CLAYTON

ONYX MAGAZINE’S WOMAN OF THE YEAR: IN HER OWN WORDS $3.50 onyxmagazine.com

contents 6 – From the Publisher 7 – Elevate: The hurdle and the finish line 8 – Run, sister, run: more women are moving to politics 12 – Ms. Xernona Clayton: Woman of the Year 14 – Dame Constance Mitcham – International Woman on the Move 15 – Trailblazers – women who keep going 17 – LaTasha Barnes 19 – Joli Cooper 22 – Dawn Curtis 23 – Tanisha Nunn Gary 25 – Business – becoming debt free 26 – Mildred Graham 28 – Joan Holmes, Ed.D. 29 – ONYX Reads – books for trailblazers 30 – Eddie Jackson: First black librarian in Orange County 32 – Valerie Hendriex Jenkins 33 – LaTonya Johnson-Gill 34 – Janie Lacy 35 – Sonya Mallard 36 – Money Matters: Medicare for all?

38 – SAGE: 5 questions for long-term care 39 – Chanta Miller 40 – Health and Wellness – Mindful eating

FEATURE

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Ms. Xernona Clayton: ONYX Magazine’s Woman of the Year Photos courtesy of Xernona Clayton

42 – Heidi Otway 43 – Sylvia Perry 45 – Caleta Scott 46 – Medically Speaking – Girl, it’s fibroids 49 – Tamara Shamburger 51 – Entertainment 52 – Kathy Times 54 – Dr. Brenda L. Walker 55 – Crystal Warwell Walker 56 – Bridge Williams, Ed.D. 58 – Community Impact Award – Black Business Investment Fund 60 – Real Estate – Energy efficient homes 62 – Entrepreneurship – Pop Wiz 64 – Technology – Protect your data 65 – Black History: A look at black beauty queens 66 – ONYX on the Move 67 – Fashion – I am woman, hear me roar 68 – The Quad 70 – Food and Wine – a taste for champagne

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FROM THE PUBLISHER

PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Richard “Rich” E. Black MANAGING EDITOR D. Shenell Reed, M.B.A. EXECUTIVE STRATEGIST Lena Graham-Morris

RICHARD “RICH” E. BLACK

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Maria Barnes

MARCH/APRIL 2020

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Gayle Andrews Laura Dorsey Sharon Fletcher Jones

Dear Friends, Welcome to Women’s History Month. Given the theme “Valiant Women of the Vote” by the National Women’s History Project, this month will honor every woman who uses her tenacity and courage to stand up for what she believes at the polls and champions her community—like our 2020 Women on the Move honorees.

We exchange with these women every day: at work, at church, in our neighborhoods. We are in awe of their magnetic power and inspiring presence, and that’s why in this issue of ONYX Magazine, we celebrate the most influential black women in Florida; those who are making a positive impact every day!

Our Woman of the Year, Ms. Xernona Clayton, is known for trailblazing, knocking down walls and crashing through glass ceilings. As a civil rights activist, she led giant department stores to hire more black people. As a television personality, she was the first black woman in the South to host her own network talk show. And as an entertainment mogul, she created the Trumpet Awards to honor the outstanding accomplishments of black people.

We are in awe of her success.

There are others following in her footsteps. Each of these honorees embody grace and strength in every walk of their lives—as mothers, sisters, wives, corporate executives, and community icons. It is befitting that we would recognize them during Women’s History Month.

There are more empowering stories in this issue of ONYX Magazine. Such as, why women should run for office; how to slow down and be intentional about eating; and what to do about a condition that hinders so many black women: uterine fibroids. We encourage you to peruse these pages and be inspired to share the stories with others.

DESIGN DIRECTOR Jason Jones BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Matt deJager

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Keisha Boyd Jasmine Browly Curtis Bunn Patricia Brown Denis

Laura Dorsey Lena Graham-Morris Ida Harris Elizabeth Tippet

Erin Sullivan Roniece Weaver Dr. Kevin Washington

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Ricky Roberts

ONYX ADVISORY COMMITTEE Deidre Parker, Chair Michelle Tatom, Immediate Past Chair Dick Batchelor Bob Berryhill Dr. Lavon Bracy Bryon Brooks Marva Brown Johnson Hon. Mable Butler Yolanda Cash Jackson Dr. Cynthia Chestnut James Clark

John Crossman Gary Hartfield Barbara Hartley Tony Hill Alma Horne Rodney Hurst Ann Jenkins Connie Kinnard Larry Lee, Jr.

Brenda March Nancy Port Schwalb Margaret J. Thompson Gail Thomas-DeWitt Hon. Alan Williams Carla Williams Dr. Samuel Wright Lady Dhyana Ziegler

FOUNDERS

As always, we are committed to bringing you stories and events that inform, inspire and entertain. We thank you for your years of support.

Sincerely Lester and Lillian Seays

Richard “Rich” E. Black

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ONYX Magazine is published by ONYX Communications and Media Group, Inc., Address: P.O. Box 555672, Orlando, Florida 32855-5872. Phone 321-418-7216. Subscription rate is $19.95 for six issues. For subscriptions and notification of address change, contact ONYX Magazine at the above address or e-mail us at info@onyxmagazine.com. Letters to the editor are encouraged. Copyright 2018 by ONYX Magazine.

All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced without written consent of the publisher.

Opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the writer or interviewee and not necessarily those of the publisher. Manuscripts, photos and art should be submitted with a self-addressed stamped envelope. The publisher does not assume responsibility for any materials not submitted in manner advised. Unsolicited materials are not subject to payment from ONYX Magazine.

ELEVATE

The Hurdle and the Finish Line

By Kevin Mwata Washington, Ph.D.

I

n life it is imperative for people to distinguish between occurrences and goals.

Occurrences happen, however, you must remain ever clear about your goal which supports your Divine Purpose for being at this time. As we traverse past occurrences, we become skilled and useful. The track event of hurdling provides a wonderful example of this.

For the hurdler, the goal is to cross the finish line—first in order to win the race.

The hurdles are mere obstructions or sub events that are presented as the runner strives to cross the finish line. Whereas the hurdles are a part of the race, they are smaller events that, once mastered, can be taken in stride. Often, we get concerned with the hurdles in life and fail to cross the finish line. We acknowledge the encounter with the sub-goal but fail to identify the real desired outcome. Then we get upset when we are not selected to be one of the team members or do not get the raise or promotion or even get positive feedback from friends, family members and loved

ones. As a result, we want to give up rather than identify the desired outcome of our participation on the team, on the job, or showing up in life.

For example, for some, the lack of acknowledgement by an elder or authority figure is demeaning; spurring them to lose emotional control and feel hopeless, useless and unappreciated. For them, the recognition is the ultimate goal. In this case, the goal has been misappropriated. If a hurdler stopped after the first hurdle then s/he would never cross the finish line. Getting external recognition is a mere hurdle.

A question becomes, what do you want to be acknowledged for?

The true question is what is your purpose, power and passion in life? What is the power of your presence? Why should you be included on the team? What is it about you that will improve the organization or family?

You must know the power and purpose of your presence and not be satisfied with just being present. You should seek

to enhance the situation where you find yourself. You must know you are here to answer a call which does not reside within other people; rather it is found in the universe as you live your purpose.

Answering the Call Note to self: I acknowledge that I have been sent to earth to manifest greatness.

In recognizing that the All Powerful Creator divinely ordained my creation, I must equally recognize that I am called to do great things. It is imperative that I recognize my existence is for the sole purpose of being great. My creation was mysterious to humans and monumental in history as well as magnificent in the universe, and so I am mysterious, monumental and magnificent. I have been sent to right some wrongs, to elevate life to an all-time high. I am here to be great, live greatly and to have greatness. I will not deny humanity this—just as I will not be denied the same. I am answering the call to manifest my greatness ONYX MAGAZINE 7

POLITICS

RUN, SISTER, RUN A study shows the more women run for office, the more likely they are seen as candidates

By Elizabeth Tippet

W

hen Victoria Woodhull ran for president in 1872, she was depicted as “Mrs. Satan” in a political cartoon.

When Sen. Margaret Chase Smith sought the Republican nomination in 1964, one columnist labeled her too old—at 66— while others insisted she was attractive “for her age.”

When Hillary Clinton sought the Democratic nomination in 2008 and the presidency in 2016, she was unable to escape gender-based tropes characterizing her as “calculating” and “power hungry.”

But in observing the 2020 Democratic presidential primary—which has featured as many as six women—it seems possible that this time might be different. Not because sexism has left the building, but because the critical mass of women candidates may have changed the dynamic.

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A lone woman in a crowd As a researcher who studies the workplace, I was reminded during the debate of an influential study of female representation in the office.

In the 1970s, business professor Rosabeth Kanter studied the group dynamics in a corporate sales division where women represented a tiny part of the sales force. When women found themselves “alone or nearly alone” in a sea of men, they came to be seen as “tokens”—a constantly scrutinized stand-in for all women, viewed by others in terms of their gender and gender stereotypes.

Every action these saleswomen took had “symbolic consequences,” Kanter wrote. “In short, every act tended to be evaluated beyond its meaning for the organization and taken as a sign of ‘how women do in sales.’”

The women were subject to exaggerated scrutiny of their physical appearance and became “larger-than-life caricatures.” Their presence also affected the men, who behaved in a hyper-masculine way to “reclaim group solidarity” and emphasize the women’s outsider status.

This was, essentially, the predicament that Clinton faced as the lone female contender in her unsuccessful 2008 primary bid and as the first woman within striking distance of the White House in 2016. She never had the chance to be one of many female candidates whose qualifications, benefits and flaws could be evaluated in a measured way.

Even before Donald Trump arrived on the scene, she was a lightning rod and a caricature. During the 2009 primaries, a poster depicted her as a witch. Others used various gender-based epithets. A T-shirt said “bros before hoes”—a hyper-masculine expression of in-group solidarity. Fox News compared Clinton with a “nagging” wife, while a host on CNN apparently thought “scolding mother” was the better analogy.

In the 2016 election, Trump gleefully piled on, interrupting her in the final debate to call her a “nasty woman.”

As the wife of a former president, Clinton was portrayed as the ultimate undeserving “token.”

Critical mass theory Kanter believed that the group dynamics would change if women were better represented in the office.

She hypothesized that once women made up 35 percent or 40 percent of the group, they would be liberated from their token status and others would start to see them as “individuals differentiated from each other” as well as differentiated from men.

This idea would later be popularized as the theory of the “critical mass.” It inspired, among other things, gender quotas in legislatures. Universities would also use the idea as a legal justification for affirmative action policies on the basis of race.

I was reminded of the critical mass theory in watching the Nov. 20 debate in Atlanta, which was moderated entirely by women. Among the candidates, it featured the same female to male ratio—40 percent—that Kanter predicted would make a difference.

And it did.

The four women on stage freed each from being the perfect woman, the “you’re likeable enough” trap that left Clinton in a bind. It meant Sen. Elizabeth Warren isn’t a nasty woman – she is a populist, as some have described her, like Bernie Sanders.

It meant Sen. Kamala Harris can attack colleague Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s record without it being portrayed as a “catfight.”

Freed to be funny But what I noticed most from the female candidates were the sly jokes and subtle digs. Humor is difficult when you’re alone in a crowd. Garnering a laugh can be as much about solidarity as wit.

During the Atlanta debate, Sen. Amy Klobuchar was in particularly fine form. She bragged about having “raised $17,000 from ex-boyfriends” in her first Senate race. She also doubled down on a past comment that a female version of Mayor Pete Buttigieg would never have made it this far with his meager political experience. “Women are held to a higher standard,” she said, “otherwise, we could play a game called Name Your Favorite Woman President.”

Harris even used humor to good effect when former Vice President Joe Biden claimed he had the endorsement of the “only African American woman … elected to the United States Senate” – apparently referring to Carol Moseley Braun.

“The other one is here,” Harris quipped. The audience guffawed.

Power in numbers Kanter observed that women’s isolation in these settings not only affected how they were perceived by others. It also affected their own behavior.

Aware of their symbolic status, women felt extra pressure to perform and “prove their competence” while simultaneously trying not to make the men “look bad” and “blend noticeably into the predominant male culture.”

I wondered how Hillary Clinton would have looked up there alongside the others in Atlanta. It’s possible she would have come across as wooden or boring. Even so, the stakes would have been lower – an inference that this particular person is boring, not that women can’t cut it.

This story originally appeared in TheConversation.com.

ONYX MAGAZINE 9

Xernona Clayton: In Her Own Words ONYX Magazine’s Woman of the Year

By D. Shenell Reed

I

t is an experience most of us can only imagine.

Early in the 1950s, four young, ambitious black college students were exuberant about the evening ahead. Two guys and two girls slid into the car one of them owned— they had been looking forward to this double date. They welcomed the opportunity to slip away from Tennessee State Agricultural and Industrial College’s campus (now Tennessee State University). As the night progressed, they decided to stop into a local Krystal for a burger.

Among them was Xernona Brewster, a student who was studying music and education. She had been raised by a prominent minister and a nurturing homemaker in Muskogee, Okla., and

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her father’s clergy status in the community made him loved by blacks and whites alike. They frequented his home, so, Xernona knew no fear of white people. But this night left her shuddered.

“We got out of the car and had money in our pockets,” she remembers. “And that guy had a long butcher knife.” Then, the white man confronted the four.

‘You niggers know better than to come in here. You know we’re not going to serve you,’ he sneered. ‘You’re just trying to start trouble and if you don’t get out of here, I’m going to take this butcher knife and cut all your heads off.’

“That, of course, scared us to death,” she took a deep breath as she recalled that pivotal moment in her life. “What he said is we didn’t belong. I never forgot that.”

The moment was the impetus of a life with shattered glass ceilings, unabashed stands against injustice and fearless promotion of black people as major contributors to every part of the American landscape. At 89 years old, Ms. Xernona Clayton still dons the shield of justice. She spoke exclusively with “ONYX Magazine” about how that harrowing experience fueled her to take her seat at the table on issues that directly impact the black community, and how she brought others with her.

A Father’s Teachings Xernona and her twin sister, Xenobia, grew up during a time when segregation was prevalent. However, they had the best of the worlds, Clayton says, because of their father.

“We saw white people coming in and out of our house on a friendly basis and my father never spoke in negative terms about them. That helped me a lot when I started fighting the dragons of prejudice, because I

wasn’t afraid of white people.”

Although the Rev. Brewster was the go-to preacher for prominent whites in town, he was not naïve about racism and he prepared his daughters for what they would inevitably face.

“He said ‘there will be times when you are restricted by your mobility—you may not be able to go everywhere you want because of racism—but never let anybody restrict your ability. You’re in charge of that.’ I still hear his teachings today,” says Clayton.

His teachings also led the girls to focus on their internal selves, not external. While the rest of the world told them they were special and cute because they were twins and they had long “good” hair, their father took a different approach.

“Daddy kept us grounded.

He said, ‘you didn’t choose to be twins, you didn’t choose to be girls and everybody has good hair. What people need to be telling you is what kind of behavior you have.’ I still try to maturate my behavior.”

The Call to Fight Discrimination Clayton graduated from Tennessee State, moved to Chicago for graduate school and started working for the Urban League.

In Chicago, major stores, like Marshall Fields, Montgomery Ward and Spiegel put on a good show of supporting black folks, but they weren’t hiring them.

“They would contribute to the NAACP dinner the Urban League dinner, but not hire anybody,” Clayton recalls. So, she went under cover. When the companies ran a job ad in the “Chicago Tribune,” she would inquire about it from a phone 10 minutes away.

Always, she received an invite to apply in person.

“Within 10 minutes, I would go to the office and they would

say ‘oh we’re so sorry, we just filled it.’ In 10 minutes you filled it,” she asked. “Over the phone they can’t tell who’s black. That proved it was discrimination. The Urban League took that information and created an approach to the companies to break down discrimination and black people got hired. I just felt so accomplished that I help break down that barrier.”

When people ask her why she decided to become involved in the Civil Rights movement, her answer is firm.

“I say, ‘I didn’t decide, my country decided for me. My country decided that I wasn’t good enough…that I don’t belong here…I’m not entitled to the rights that have been granted by the Constitution.’ Do whatever you can wherever you can to rid your environment of the ugly stigma of you’re not good enough.”

That mantra is what made it easier for Clayton to later join Martin Luther King and his movement in an official capacity in the 1950s. Her then husband, the late Ed Clayton, was the first editor of “Jet Magazine” and a sought-after speech writer. The King camp reached out to him to join them and he obliged. After a long phone conversation, Xernona Clayton was convinced to join them, too, working primarily with Coretta Scott King in a fundraising capacity.

“Of course those were the best years of my life because I ended up interrelating with a man who we’re still remembering 50 years after he’s dead, and I was a part of his life for some of those years.”

Working with the Kings Coretta Scott King was an accomplished singer and she wanted to use her gift to help her husband’s efforts. She performed in concerts across the country raising money for the cause. Clayton booked her shows and organized the tours.

“After a tour, Coretta said, ‘we have been sleeping together, eating together, living together for 11 days and we haven’t fallen out.

Most women couldn’t do that. So I know this must be a genuine relationship,’ and I was her friend until her end,” says Clayton.

However, Clayton was not relegated to tours the whole time.

Eventually, she began leading charges to change the way country viewed black people. After finding out that black physicians in Georgia (and other states) could only practice in the community hospitals, not white hospitals, she thought that needed to change.

“I led the national movement to the White House and talked with the president,” she said. “All these white hospitals were getting federal funds. I said, ‘the President and the United States are funding this segregated system we’re living under.’ President Lyndon B. Johnson listened to our delegation’s plea, and maybe a month later, he issued an edict that all hospitals in the United States were now desegregated.” That meant not only could black patients choose which hospital would treat them, but also black doctors and black hospital personnel also could work in all hospitals. “That was a great moment in my life.”

Speaking Out and Getting Noticed Clayton’s popularity grew and she continued to speak out against injustice. Soon, she accepted an invitation to speak to a group of white journalists about her beliefs. She expressed her dislike of what she would see when she turned on the TV. “All I see is white reporters,” (telling stories about black people told from a white perspective.) “That’s just hypocrisy.”

One afternoon, Clayton received a call from representatives of two stations who heard her speech. They called to say they were embarrassed that she was right in her assessments, and they wanted to make a change. The Xernona Clayton Show was born in 1967 on a CBS affiliate, giving a voice to black people and making her the first black woman in the South to host her own television show.

“The show was called an instant success,” she said. “So I was responsible for the first black reporter, the first black anchor—all those firsts—and that for me is the best part of having a show when I look back on my career. The mere fact I opened the door just gives me a thrill even today.”

Big Roles in Television The Xernona Clayton Show was the springboard to the Ted Turner Network and CNN for Clayton. In 1979, she became a producer of documentary specials. She moved up the ranks, eventually becoming the vice president for Urban Affairs. In a white-male dominated environment, she saw discrimination, but she chose to view it in a productive manner.

“First, you have to have that pride in yourself,” she advises. “I never felt inadequate as a woman. In the years I was working with Ted Turner and CNN, women used to say, ‘I don’t want nobody calling me sweetheart,’ and I said to myself, ‘call me honey, darling, call me sweetheart, just call me.” Not questioning the women who find that language offensive, she went on to explain. “I feel that if you have a meeting and a problem, you call me because I can be of value. They’re respecting my mind.”

Clayton transitioned from the Ted Turner Network in 1997, after a nearly 20-year run. But not before she had the full support of Turner in producing the Trumpet Awards in 1993.

“I got tired of watching Amos and Andy on television,” she said. “We have contributed to the riches of this environment, and the show would describe the stories of African Americans and all our accomplishments. I wanted to blare the stories of those of us who had contributed,” explaining she called it the Trumpet Awards, because a trumpet cannot not be played silently.

The Trumpet Awards The Trumpet Awards actually was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King who told her we have to constantly tell the real stories of our people.

“They were the “Black Oscars,” she said. “Everyone had to be dressed. Nobody in overalls.”

In 2016, the Trumpet Awards were acquired by Bounce TV, but Clayton is still heavily involved and believes the show is going in the right direction.

What’s Next At 89 years old, Clayton has no intentions of slowing down. She has been married for more than 40 years to her husband, Judge Paul Brady, the first African American to be appointed as a Federal administrative law judge. She looks forward to spending time with him.

And she wants to continue to inspire women.

“Start with yourself – make sure you’re doing what you want to do, she says. “If you do something out of your own gratification, it’s the wrong thing to do. Don’t seek recognition at all.”

ONYX MAGAZINE 13

INTERNATIONAL WOMAN ON THE MOVE

DAME CONSTANCE VIOLA MITCHAM, DBE Founder and Head Mitcham and Benjamin, Attorneys at Law Dame Constance Viola Mitcham, D.B.E., is a former politician in Saint Kits and Nevis. She was the first woman elected to the Parliament for that country. She was also the first woman to serve as acting prime minister for the country. In 2019, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth awarded the title of Dame of the British Empire for her contribution to national development and the law.

She was born in Sandy Point in the Island of St. Kitts, and completed her education to high school in St. Kitts. She continued her education in England, earning an L.L.B. law degree from Kingston University in 1971. The following year, Mitcham completed her legal studies at the Middle Temple Inn of Court and was called to the Bar of England and Wales.

In 1972, on her return to the Caribbean, she was called to the bars of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Aguilla, the British Virgin Islands and Antigua.

Mitcham also became registrar of the High Court, chief magistrate and supervisor of elections for the British Virgin Islands, president of the Bar Association for Saint Kitts and Nevis and senior magistrate for Saint Kitts and Nevis.

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Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth awarded the title of Dame of the British Empire in 2019.

She was elected to the Parliament for Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1984 as a member of the People’s Action Movement and served as Minister of Health, Women’s Affairs and Labor until 1995, when she voluntarily left politics to return to legal practice.

Mitcham is founder and head for the legal Firm of Mitcham and Benjamin. She also serves as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and special advisor to Honourable Timothy Harris, the prime minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

TRAILBLAZERS

Ann Jenkins: For the Community

Charita Carter

By D. Shenell Reed

M

ickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, which opens March 4, is Walt Disney World’s first ride-through attraction featuring our favorite Disney characters, and its creative producer is truly a woman on the move! Walt Disney Imagineer Charita Carter, shared with ONYX Magazine how her role in this historic attraction played a part in an unforgettable experience for guests. She also chats about how important it is for African American girls to consider the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) fields.

What inspired the design of the new ride?

“We were able to take the flat, animated style of Mickey Shorts (cartoons) and bring it into a dimensional environment. We went into our vault and pulled out every theatrical tool and the latest technology and integrated them in a unique way so that we could really deliver on putting our guest in a Mickey Short. I’m proud to say the story of this attraction is a unique Walt Disney Imagineering story, and it was so important for it to sound like a short, to look like a short, to feel like a short. So, we were able to partner with the composer that writes the music for the Mickey Shorts as well as one of the early art designers to create the design language we have utilized. So, we know this is going to be loved by our guests for years to come. I want people to come off the ride and say, ‘whoa, what just happened!”

As an Imagineer, do you think girls consider fields in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics)?

Science and technology are very important.

The jobs that our young people will have in five or 10 years might even exist right now.

So, I would encourage African American (girls) to lean in—to learn opportunities, to learn technology, to learn science, and to find out what really gets them excited, because it’s so important to have a career doing something that your really love.

Expose yourself to as much as you possibly can, find out what gets you excited…and do it with all your heart and mind.”

Tampa community leader Ann Jenkins was recently named Bethlehem Grand Chapter Order of Eastern Star Grand Worthy Matron. Twenty-two chapters are under her leadership. She has been dedicated to Tampa’s youth since she retired from the Air Force in 1994 after 20 years. In 2001, she led in revitalizing Belmont Heights Little League and restoring the history of the park, where she served as the president.

In that role, she partnered with a Tampa mayor and others to get $167,000 for the park through in-kind and labor. Jenkins is the president of COACH Foundation, which focuses on after-school tutorial programs and affordable housing for firsttime homeowners. Her vision is to build a cultural complex to teach children they didn’t come from slaves—they came from kings and queens who were later enslaved.

Jenkins is a member of ONYX Magazine’s Advisory Committee.

Why is it important for African American girls to see African American women in trailblazing roles?

“It’s important for us to see ourselves and know what the opportunities are. I consider it a privilege to be an inspiration to young girls, to encourage them and say, ‘you know what, you can do anything you want to do.’ I’m in a role that I did not even know existed when I was a young child. And I was given the opportunity to come through Imagineering and really showcase what my talents are. So, I encourage young people to pursue our dreams. It’s very important for them to see that other people are doing it and we are standing by them and supporting them in their efforts.”

ONYX MAGAZINE 15

LATASHA R. BARNES Assistant Vice President/Chief Financial Officer

Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children/ Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies With 20 years of experience in healthcare finance, LaTasha Barnes oversees all aspects of financial operations at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies, including strategic and capital planning. Barnes joined Orlando Health in February 2018, after briefly working with the system as a consultant. Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children is a 156-bed comprehensive pediatric hospital and Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies is a 350-bed women’s health and neonatal intensive care hospital.

Before joining Orlando Health, Barnes worked for nearly 15 years with Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), serving most recently as Chief Financial Officer for Tampa (Fla.) Community Hospital. She is a former auditor for Arthur Andersen, LLP and Deloitte & Touche, LLP in Chicago.

Barnes holds C.P.A. licenses in both Florida and Tennessee and holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tenn. She is a member of the National Association of Black Accountants and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Barnes currently serves on the Finance Committee and Board of Directors for Central Florida Community Arts (CFCArts), is the vice-chair of Girls on the Run Central Florida Board of Directors, and is the treasurer of the African American Chamber of Commerce Central Florida Board of Directors.

In her spare time, she is a flutist in the CFCArts Symphony Orchestra, Central Florida Sunshine Flutes, and she enjoys reading, writing, playing softball, walking her beagles, Mindy and Sallie, and traveling with her mom.

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”

—Maya Angelou

ONYX MAGAZINE 17

JOLI COOPER

Executive Director, GreenLight Fund Atlanta Joli Cooper is the founding executive director of GreenLight Fund Atlanta, a venture philanthropy fund, and is responsible for partnering with community, industry, entrepreneurial, and philanthropic leaders to bring proven solutions to Atlanta that fill unmet local needs and improve opportunities and outcomes for historically underserved children and families.

Prior to joining the GreenLight Fund, Cooper was a founding partner at CSW Private Equity, LLC, a private equity firm specializing in buyouts, recapitalizations and growth capital financing in middle market companies. She also served as president and chief operating officer of Pasco Brands, once the largest private label juice beverage company in the United States and has held various leadership positions at consumer products companies including Vitality Beverages, Tropicana Products/ Seagram, and Nestle USA. Cooper was honored to serve in a two-year volunteer position as the 25th National President of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., the oldest African-American family organization in the United States. Founded in 1938, the nonprofit organization is

committed to improving the lives of all children through structured programming focused on youth leadership development, community service, social advocacy, and philanthropic giving.

Cooper has served on several non-profit boards including the United Way of Tampa Bay; The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce; Junior Achievement; The Children’s Home; the board of trustees of the Jack and Jill of America Foundation, the organization’s philanthropic arm; and the Academy Prep Center of Tampa. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. In 2002, Cooper received the Kathleen McDonald Distinguished Alumna Award, presented by the Wharton Women in Business organization. The award recognizes distinguished alumna from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business who have demonstrated professional success and who serve as role models for women in business. She received “The Network Journal’s” 25 Influential Black Women in Business Award, and she was featured in the publications “Beverage Industry” and “Working Mother.”

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

—Margaret Mead

ONYX MAGAZINE 19

WORKPLACE/OPINION

CODE SWITCHING Not trying to fit into white culture, just trying to survive it.

By Ida Harris

T

he voice that sprung from my throat was unfamiliar as I introduced myself to a classroom of White students. Its tone was high-pitched and enthusiastic—a far cry from my naturally soft raspiness.

It wasn’t the first time I was unsettled by being the sole Black person in a room, but these moments had a profound effect on me. Without thought, I’d shifted my demeanor and speech. My thoughts were calculated, quickened, and in search of the “right” things to say. The words poured from my mouth pointed and stiff. I 20 ONYX MAGAZINE

enunciated each consonant and vowel and stressed each syllable. The production of it all, though a departure from my normal self, was seamless.

It was the first time I noticed I had code-switched.

Admittedly, I was later ashamed for abandoning my native tongue—African American Vernacular English—and sense of self in an effort to assimilate into a space of teaching and learning, particularly because, as the instructor, I was an authority figure.

Code-switching is an ageold practice that is familiar to many Black people—and peo-

ple of color—in the United States. Though when sociolinguist Einar Haugen coined the term in 1954, it was to describe language alternation, or the mixing of two or more languages, or dialects. Albeit, the practice had been known since the early 20th century.

Linguists studied code-switching to examine when it occurs, while sociologists studied why it occurs. The findings differed across ethnic and racial demographics.

According to Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication, code-switching facilitates several functions: to mask fluency and memory in a second language, go between formal and informal conversation, exert power over another, and align and unify among familiar group in certain settings.

In the ’70s, the phenomenon gained traction in African-American spaces— academic and otherwise—to

describe the relationships between people of color—particularly Black people—and the colonial other. In the text, Language and Interracial Communication in the United States: Speaking in Black and White, George B. Ray describes African-American code-switching as “a skill that holds benefits in relation to the way success is often measured in institutional and professional settings.” And though, at times, the performance is superficially understood as a lingual phenomenon that often occurs vis-a-vis a range of social settings, similar to my experience in the classroom, for many African Americans code-switching is a skillset that is integral to our survival.

The late W.E.B Dubois, world-renowned scholar and civil rights advocate, alluded to the concept of code-switching more than a century ago, when he wrote about African Americans reckoning with dual identities—Blackness and

Americanness—while navigating everyday Whiteness in his most celebrated book, The Souls of Black Folk: “It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.

One ever feels his two-ness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”

Dubois speaks to how this sense of being is a testament of resilience. However, code-switching goes beyond “feeling.” For African Americans, it is a performative expression that has not only helped some of us thrive in mainstream culture—it has helped many of us simply survive.

I consider the “talk” many African American parents have with their children to warn them of, and prepare them for potential encounters with law enforcement, an element of code-switching. The conversation involves clear directives on how to switch up behavior when approached by police. It goes a little something like this: “Turn down loud music.”

“Adjust your posture.”

“Keep your hands visible.”

“Exercise good manners.”

“Speak properly.”

Such conversations are a response to the dominant culture’s attitude toward Blackness—Black people, Black culture. Unfortunately, for Black citizens, such a perverse attitude remains present during quite a few brushes with the law. A recent study conducted

by Stanford researchers revealed

that Black motorists experience traffic stops at significantly higher rates than their White counterparts, and were 20% more likely to be ticketed by authorities. Mere traffic runins can escalate and sometimes result in death for Black people.

In the case of Sandra Bland and Philando Castile— whose police encounters were recorded and publicly consumed—I often wonder how code-switching may have preserved their lives. If for one moment, like myself standing in the center of that classroom, they had ordered their words, tweaked their voice, or codeswitched in the more ironic way I’ve only read about, when the enslaved and the oppressed dumbed down their literacy and downplayed their dignity when faced with the crack of the slaver’s whip or the scrag of Jim Crow’s noose.

The ability to code-switch back into our Black selves is another way we subsist, feel whole and in some regard redeemed. Derrick Harriell, a poet who is the director of M.F.A. Creative Writing Program and associate professor of English and African American Studies at the University of Mississippi, like me, says he experienced personal disappointment when he switched up being himself.

“I know certain forms of code-switching have been responsible for saving our lives as Black people and key to our survival, so in that way I’m not judgmental,” Harriell says. “I understand that my ability to not code-switch is a privilege, but it’s also a privilege my people died for, therefore for me, I have to [be myself ] or else I feel as if I’m doing my ancestors a disservice.”

Harriell affirms that for a number of Black Americans,

For African Americans, code-switching is a performative expression that has not only helped some of us thrive in mainstream culture, it has helped many of us simply survive.

despite the conviction of “selling out” oneself in an effort to assimilate into White culture, code-switching is a form of pointed privilege and power.

The privilege speaks to the once-denied prerogative to be audibly and visibly one’s authentic self, or masked and acculturated for one’s own advantage. However, how we wield that power varies from person to person.

Dr. Dione Mahaffey, an Atlanta-based business psychologist and coach, says the very notion of code-switching is draining, but asserts that the practice has been most beneficial as she progressed in her career.

“It’s exhausting, but I wouldn’t go as far to call it inauthentic, because it’s an authentic part of the Black American experience,” Mahaffey says. “Code-switching does not employ an inauthentic version of self, rather, it calls upon certain aspects of our identity in place of others, depending on the space or circumstance.

It’s exhausting because we can actually feel the difference.”

For Mahaffey, code-switching is about exchange, a give and take of sorts. Much of her participation is predicated on

how much of herself she is willing to negotiate. She says she doesn’t share the things that make her a dynamic woman, or the remarkable professional she is.

“I save that for my village,” she says. In the professional sphere, Mahaffey flips those feelings on their head. She has mastered the performative niceties of code-switching and uses it to her own advantage, particularly when working in White spaces. The business coach says she “consider[s] double consciousness to be a part of the laws of power: Play the perfect courtier, and grace your way to the top.”

She uses it to get her way, Mahaffey says of code-switching. “[White folks] don’t see me coming because I’ve made them comfortable. I blend in enough to get my way, to learn what I need, to secure what I came for and then I go on and create and build in an unconventional way.”

While I am unsure that code-switching in a classroom of fresh-faced White students was disarming or caught them off guard like Mahaffey’s did her colleagues, I am certain it caught me off guard and complicated self-doubt.

My code-switching in the classroom occurred because I doubted that my authentic self was enough to be in the room, and that further complicated how I felt about myself.

Because I’m now more consciously aware of the impact code-switching had on me, I’m almost certain I won’t do it again. However, I realize that code-switching, for some, is not about assimilating but surviving, and well, I’m not sure how to feel about that.

Ida Harris is a journalist and cultural critic. Her story first appeared in “Yes! Magazine.”

ONYX MAGAZINE 21

DAWN CHANTEL CURTIS Supervisor Soil and Water Conservation Orlando District 4

Dawn Chantel Curtis is a native of a small urban town called Franklinton, La. Curtis received a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida State University and she earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Human Resources from the University of Phoenix. She has worked within the governmental sector for more than 15 years and, in conjunction with the governmental sector, she also worked with non-profit providers to help them build relationships and organizations within the community.

Curtis assists nonprofit committee boards in clarifying their organizational goals and identifying the leadership qualifications necessary to achieve these goals. In addition to her professional experience with governmental and non-profit agencies, Curtis is an elected official and active board member with several community organizations. On November 6, 2018, Curtis was elected as supervisor for Soil and Water Conservation for District 4. Additionally, she serves as the president of the Orange County Democratic Black Caucus.

As a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) where she serves as a member-at-large, Curtis also is the chair of the Environmental Justice Committee. She is a member of the Psi Theta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., where she serves as co-chair of the Strategic Planning Committee. Prior to her current responsibilities, Curtis is the former treasurer of the Orange County Democratic Executive Committee and the former secretary for the National Congress for Black Women.

In 2018, Congressman Darren Soto recognized Curtis for her dedication to serving the community with great humility and passion. Feeling that it is her moral obligation to give back to the community, Curtis has dedicated her life to servitude and community activism.

She is the daughter of Edith Smith and Ernest Smith and she has two siblings, Latonyette Thompson and Lavon Smith.

“Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.”

—Dr. Shirley Chisholm

22 ONYX MAGAZINE

TANISHA NUNN GARY, ESQ. President & CEO African American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida

A consummate business professional and accomplished attorney, Tanisha Nunn Gary is the president and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida (AACCCF), a leading advocate for business development and economic empowerment.

As head of the established nonprofit, she is responsible for cultivating strong relationships with key community leaders and corporate entities in an effort to enhance opportunities for members and engage partners on initiatives. Tanisha oversees all outreach efforts for AACCCF, which encompasses six counties, and she executes strategic planning to ensure its voice is included in economic, education and community conversations that impact the region.

The AACCCF boasts a varied membership and revolves around four pillars: Advocacy, Access to Capital, Contracts, and Entrepreneur Training and Development. As a former business owner, Gary is intimately familiar with what it takes to thrive as an entrepreneur and is uniquely qualified to lead the AACCCF into its next chapter of growth.

Prior to being named president of AACCCF, she was principal of a private law firm focused on all aspects of litigation for wrongful death cases and medical negligence. Her solo practice and earlier work as a senior associate with Gary, Williams, Parenti, Watson & Gary, landed multi-million dollar settlements. In addition to her legal prowess, Gary served as the executive director of The Gary Foundation, where she identified major donor prospects to help provide scholarships to Florida youth.

Gary is an active member with several civic and professional associations, including the Boy Scouts of America Central Florida Council Investment Committee, BB&T Advisory Board and Florida Association of Chamber Professionals. She is a member of Jack and Jill of America, Inc.; Orlando Chapter of The Links, Inc. and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. A graduate of Spelman College and the Quinnipiac University School of Law, she enjoys traveling, reading, cooking and spending time with her son.

“Success depends upon the second letter.”

—Author Unknown.

ONYX MAGAZINE 23

BUSINESS

A Desire to Live Debt-Free Spurs Many New Year’s Resolutions

W

ith the start of a new decade just a couple of months ago, Americans are still feeling optimistic about their current and future financial situation, but reducing the burden of personal debt will be a priority for many who acknowledge they bit off more than they could chew in 2019.

According to Fidelity Investments’ 2020 New Year Financial Resolutions Study, 82 percent of respondents said they’re in a similar or better financial position than last year. Perhaps surprisingly, most credited their success to their own good habits—saving more (47 percent) and budgeting (29 percent)— rather than their investment gains (18 percent) from a stock market that made one high after another. Less than 25 percent put it down to having been able to work more hours in a strong economy.

And, as the study makes clear, they want to keep the momentum going.

Of the 67 percent considering making a financial resolution, saving more and paying down debt; topped the list, respectively, at 53 percent and 51 percent.

Living a debt-free life was the biggest motivator for them, said Melissa Ridolfi, Fidelity’s vice president of retirement and college products.

Heck, given the choice between the classic New Year’s resolution of losing five pounds or socking away $5,000, a resounding 84 percent in the national survey of 3,012 adults opted for savings.

But you want to know some of the biggest and smallest mistakes or setbacks they fessed up to, right? See if you can relate to any of these: • Dining out too much (36 percent).

• Spending too much on non-essentials like unused apps, streaming media services, and subscription retail boxes (29 percent).

• Taking on debt or adding to existing debt (28 percent).

• Splurging on something they couldn’t really afford (28 percent).

• Unexpected medical expenses (24 percent).

• Failing to save as much for retirement as they should (18 percent).

So with all the interest in getting a grip on debt, who seems to be faring the best at it?

Boomers, the study found, with 29 percent crediting being better off financially at year’s end to having refinanced, paid off, or reduced debts or loans. Generation X, the next oldest, trailed at 21 percent, followed by 19 percent of millennials, and just 6 percent of Generation Z.

Boomers are getting the message that the closer they get to retirement, the more essential it becomes to get their debt under control to make the most out of retirement savings, Ridolfi said.

Certainly there’s no law that says you have to make a New Year’s resolution—financial or otherwise—but even a huge chunk of those surveyed who weren’t contemplating explicitly doing so still said they were planning on building up emergency funds. Fidelity has some tried-and-true tips that can help ensure your financial vows don’t wind up being among the 80 percent of all resolutions that U.S. News says fail by the second week of February.

Oh, and here’s one last thing to see if you can relate to: Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed predicted they’d be even better off financially in 2020.

NewsUSA Report

ONYX MAGAZINE 25

MILDRED GRAHAM Director of Advancement & Alumni Affairs Florida A&M University College of Law

Mildred Graham has served as director of Advancement and Alumni Affairs at Florida A&M University (FAMU) College of Law since 2002 when the school was re-established in Orlando.

Her responsibilities include fundraising, grant management, media relations, communications, governmental affairs, events, and alumni affairs.

Graham is proud to have helped FAMU Law establish itself as a community resource, connecting administrators, faculty, students, and alumni with organizations that range from the Orlando Mayor’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday Commission to the Orange County Bar Association. She has partnered with dozens of groups to host programs on campus that benefit the legal, education and broader communities. Her outreach efforts have led to law students volunteering at such locations as the Coalition for the Homeless, Second Harvest Food Bank and Levy-Hughes Boys & Girls Club. Recently, she helped establish a pipeline program at Jones High School to encourage more minority youth to pursue legal careers.

Graham has directed initiatives to raise funds for scholarships and to engage the University and College of Law alumni. Her stewardship helped grow the FAMU Law endowment to more than $6 million, providing scholarships to hundreds of law students.

Before coming to FAMU, Graham managed communications at Sprint and was a reporter and copy editor at the Orlando Sentinel. She was active in the Central Florida Association of Black Journalists, having served as president, secretary, and being named a Hall of Fame Inductee in 1996.

Outside FAMU, Graham is a member of the Psi Theta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., where she chairs the civic engagement committee, coordinating voter registration drives, voter education forums, phone banking events, and legislative advocacy visits to Tallahassee. She was a leader with Girl Scout Troop 190 for 10 years. She is a member of Saint Mark AME Church.

Graham holds a B.S. in Journalism from FAMU and an M.B.A. from Webster University. She is married to LaRon and has an adult daughter, LaRondra.

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”

—Maya Angelou

26 ONYX MAGAZINE

JOAN B. HOLMES. ED.D. President Holmes Educational Consultant, LLC

Joan B. Holmes, Ed.D., is the president of Holmes Educational Consultant, LLC. She recently retired after nine years as chief diversity officer at Hillsborough Community College (HCC) in Tampa, Fla. In that role, she was responsible for resolving student, staff and faculty equity complaints; diversity training/assessment; faculty/staff recruitment and hiring assessment; college-wide diversity programs; and overall diversity leadership for the college. Holmes was responsible for creating a HOPE Scholars Program that significantly increased retention, graduation and four-year college transfer rates for black and Latino men enrolled at HCC. She also elevated the HCC-sponsored Black, Brown, and College Bound (BBCB) National Summit to national prominence.

Under Holmes’s leadership, HCC was awarded the 2017 American Association of Community Colleges Advancing Diversity National Award based on the success of the HOPE Scholars Program and BBCB Summit; and was a finalist in the 2017 Community College Futures Assembly National Bellwether Awards. In 2017, she authored a chapter, “CuttingEdge Models for Best Practice,” in “Overcoming Educational Racism in the Community College.”

During her 23-year tenure, Holmes served as assistant dean of the graduate school at the University of South Florida (USF), where she created and directed successful student programs for disadvantaged and underrepresented students. She authored 11 federal grants focused on these student populations valued at more than $10 million. Holmes also served as an adjunct professor at USF in Africana Studies and received numerous awards at USF for implementing stellar programs.

Formerly, she served as a professor in Education at Spelman College and Kennesaw State University from 1977 to 1987.

She earned her Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership and Curriculum at Ball State University, and her Bachelor of Science degree from North Carolina A&T State University.

Holmes is a member of many national and local boards, such as the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE); Sickle Cell Anemia Board of Tampa Bay; Minority Health Advisory Foundation Board of Tampa; and UNCF Tampa Bay Leadership Council. Holmes has committed more than 40 years to empowering students of color in higher education.

“You can only become fully accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and do them well that people can’t take their eyes off you.”

—Maya Angelou

28 ONYX MAGAZINE

ONYX READS

Good Reads for Trailblazers Patricia Brown Denis

The Takeout With Major Garrett Podcast: Dorothy Butler Gilliam In a video podcast called “The Takeout with Major Garrett” (Dec 28, 2019), Garrett interviewed Dorothy Butler Gilliam who is the first African-American female journalist with the “Washington Post” newspaper. She is, and apparently has always been, a woman on the move especially since first cracking the barrier that placed an African American woman journalist at the highly respected daily newspaper.

Gilliam’s book “Trailblazer: A Pioneering Journalist’s Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America,” a memoir tells us her story, interwoven into the story of America, its disparities, irregularities and issues associated with race and equality. Her repeated message on the podcast was that, “All Americans need front door access to the truth and it cannot be the full truth if it only told through eyes of white reporters.” In her book, she echoes this sentiment with “The black press has been an important factor in America for almost two hundred years, since the first black-owned newspaper, “Freedom’s Journal,” was started in 1827, nearly fifty years before slavery was abolished.…” This is a must read book for a unique perspective on America’s history.

Piecing Me Together

The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women

By Elaine Meryl Brown, Marsha Haygood and Rhonda Joy McLean “The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women,” was written by three women on the move, Elaine Meryl Brown, Marsha Haygood and Rhonda Joy McLean. This book offers guidelines for empowering women in the workplace. It is a resource of tips and guiding principles to follow that, although written in 2010, certainly could be used in today’s work environment.

Their book, however, is speaking particularly to African American women seeking upward mobility in the corporate world and respect in the workplace. For example, in the chapter titled Racism Is No Excuse, but It Can Be a Motivator, the authors write, “Don’t get mad, get knowledge and experience to become the best leader you can possibly be. Turn racism into the rocket fuel that will propel you to the next level”. In 2020, this is particularly sound advice.

Renee Watson The novel “Piecing Me Together”

by Renee Watson, follows the main character, Jade, who has been chosen to attend a better school on the other side of her town. The program recognized her ability, her mother pushed her to realize her potential and the experience has shaped her artwork. As a young woman, Jade is seeking to understand her journey and gain the empowerment that comes from personal achievement. Jade states that many times young people are both, “someone’s answered prayer but also someone’s deferred dream.” Jade realizes that despite facing challenges, with the proper amount of selfconfidence and guidance from role models, she can become a leader. Get this book to follow Jade’s journey.

Successful Women Speak Differently Valorie Burton In the book “Successful Women Speak Differently: 9 Habits that Build Confidence, Courage and Influence,” Valorie Burton has crafted instructions to build habits that can change lives and says, “Talent and effort aren’t enough to move you to the next level.”

Get this book to find out what else is needed.

Patricia Brown Denis is a writer and educator in Tampa.

ONYX MAGAZINE 29

VALERIE CHESTER HENDRIEX JENKINS Vice President & Senior Community Relations Consultant Wells Fargo Valerie Chester Hendriex Jenkins is a Florida native and has been a champion for the Jacksonville community for many years. She has been a leader in the banking and community development industry for more than 30 years and has served in her current role as vice president and senior community relations consultant at Wells Fargo for 11 years.

At Wells Fargo, Jenkins serves as the local market activation leader for all Wells Fargo housing philanthropy company-wide programs. She has been instrumental in identifying and leveraging a variety of philanthropy programs that have allowed Wells Fargo to scale its outreach efforts in a more impactful way. She works to educate the internal team about potential opportunities to engage with the community and advance financial health, address housing affordability, support small-business growth, and demonstrate leadership as a corporate citizen.

In addition to her market responsibilities, Jenkins also serves in a leadership capacity across Florida, supporting community development efforts in partnership with statewide civic and trade organizations like the NAACP, Urban League, diverse

chambers, and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). She is viewed as a community development expert and has been a speaker at statewide and regional industry conferences has Florida Housing Coalition, Florida Community Development Association, and CRA Banker’s Roundtable events to name a few.

Jenkins has shown tremendous dedication to mentorship.

She has mentored many women and has made a difference by truly being intentional in guiding them. Jenkins serves on several state and local boards and advisory committees: Northeast Florida Regional Council, City of Jacksonville Northwest Jacksonville Trust Fund, Ability Housing, Inc., First Coast Business Alliance, Inc., and Florida State College of Jacksonville Foundation. While she serves on several boards, her most important love is her family. Jenkins is married to Harold. She has three daughters and seven grandchildren. During her free time, she enjoys cooking and listening to music. She earned an M.B.A. at the University of Phoenix and a B.A. at the University of Sarasota.

“The only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them.” —Michelle Obama

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LATONYA JOHNSON-GILL Senior Manager of Global Communications Events Walt Disney World

LaTonya Johnson-Gill, is a senior manager of Global Communications Events for Walt Disney World, where she leads the planning, development and production of large scale, complex and high profile media events for various Disney Parks and Resorts destinations, including Walt Disney World Resort, Disney Cruise Line and Disney Vacation Club. She is responsible for leading cross-functional teams, champion project communication and collaboration with Public Affairs/Communications and Public Relation teams locally and with the Executive Communications team in Burbank, Calif.

She has more than 12 years of extensive experience in project management and operational roles. She previously was part of the sports and entertainment industry serving as a senior event manager for ESPN Wide World of Sports, where she managed key accounts and planned high profile events such as Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), KSA Events, ESPN Orlando Classic, and Invictus Games.

Johnson-Gill is passionate about giving back to the community, especially serving our youth. She served as a Central Florida YMCA Adult Achiever for 12 years, where she was the co-chair of the YMCA Teen Achievers Post- Secondary Seminars and planned the week-long out-state college tours for 45-50 youth each year. As part of her dedication and passion of the youth, the Central Florida YMCA selected her as volunteer of the year in 2012. She was also part of the Community Outreach team for ESPN Wide World of Sports.

Johnson-Gill graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in Business Management and received her M.B.A. from Webster University. She also was a four-year collegiate basketball player for the University of Central Florida.

Johnson-Gill loves to travel and spend time with her family.

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion; some compassion, some humor and some style.”

—Maya Angelou

ONYX MAGAZINE 33

JANIE LACY CEO, Licensed Psychotherapist Life Counseling Solutions

Janie Lacy is a nationally known psychotherapist. She is also a respected television commentator and founder of Life Counseling Solutions. She has been enriching lives through her psychotherapy work and brings expert knowledge to audiences via on-air appearances.

As a television commentator, Lacy connects with viewers and is sought after for her psychological insights and practical advice on topics ranging from mental health disorders to relationship challenges. She has impacted audiences through various local and national radio, news and television programs.

Lacy is a popular professional speaker at national industry conferences and can energize a room while hosting events. She has authored numerous articles in local and national outlets on sex and love addiction, anger management and relationship and sexual trauma.

In both clinical settings and private practice, Lacy has treated all forms of mental illness, substance abuse, grieving, job stress, emotional disturbances, sexual abuse, and parenting issues.

Lacy’s Woman Redeemed Program addresses: developing great self-awareness and connection to physical needs with

experimental techniques, creating strategies to change painful and destructive behavior patterns, and learning choices for positive change.

Lacy earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Central Florida and a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Palm Beach Atlantic University. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from California Southern University.

As a faculty member with the International Institute for Trauma & Addiction Professionals, she trains professionals who are committed to specializing in the areas of addiction recovery and trauma.

Lacy was bestowed the “2018 Enterprise Business of the Year” award by the African American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida.

Lacy is one of “Orlando Magazine’s” “2019 Women of the Year,” was featured in the Spring 2019 issue and honored at the annual awards ceremony.

Lacy also co-hosts a popular podcast called “Life Unscripted” which can be found on iHeart, iTunes, Spotify, and Spreaker.

“Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be; embrace who you are.”

—Brene Brown

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SONYA MALLARD

Cultural Center Coordinator Harry T. & Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park & Museum Sonya Mallard is the cultural center coordinator of the Harry T. & Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park & Museum in Mims, Fla. She was instrumental in developing a diversity program and partnered with Walmart, where she trained and spoke to more than 125 senior managers. Mallard conducts speaking engagements at various organizations and churches, such as Storm Grove Middle School in Vero Beach, Cocoa Beach Rotary Club, South Brevard Historical Society, and FAMU Law School. She implemented the “Moore Experience” which allows guests to follow the footsteps of Harry T. Moore. The museum gives bus tours, time-line museum tours and replica home tours, and sets up guests with dining and hotel reservations for a delightful visit.

Mallard is a professional volunteer mentor for the National Museum of African American History and Culture Robert F. Smith Fund’s inaugural intern mentoring program, which partners with the Association of African American Museums (AAAM) Membership Committee. This program helps

increase intern experiences as they consider careers within the cultural and museum sector. The Robert F. Smith Fund Program attracts, cultivates and retains talented individuals of color in the museum field as they pursue career opportunities that contribute to the preservation of African American history and culture.

Mallard is a blogger for the Well Project—Voices from Our Allies, and has written more than 25 major blogs. She also is a writer for “Ebony News Today” and a contributor to “Florida Today.” She is the first vice president of National Congress of Black Women; executive board member of North Brevard NAACP; member of North Brevard Democratic Club; and a member of the Florida African American Heritage Network. As CEO of S&T Health Consulting Inc., a 501c3 organization, she provides HIV testing and education. Mallard runs a Teen Talk program with one-on-one mentoring. Mallard has been married for 38 years to Paul Mallard and has two children and two grandchildren.

“Applaud others while you await your turn.”

—Bishop Hatchett

ONYX MAGAZINE 35

MONEY MATTERS

Medicare for All? What Does It Really Mean?

By Laura Dorsey

I

t is 2020 and for many, the topic of conversation is the election.

For ONYX Magazine, our mission is not just for you to discuss the election, but to discuss it intelligently. It is our goal to make sure that you are a more educated voter. An educated voter is a phrase we hear often throughout the election season. It is a pretty simple phrase, but the action can be easier said than done. This section of the magazine has always focused on Money Matters.

For the rest of this election cycle, we will aim to make you a more educated voter, especially where your money matters. These articles will be non-partisan, providing you with the pros and cons of some of the most important issues of this election cycle. In the end, it will be your vote, and you will be able to execute it because the power will be in your hands as you head to the ballot box, a more educated voter. An educated voter is someone who takes the time to get to know the ins and outs of the issues encompassing 36 ONYX MAGAZINE

the election, regardless of how intricate they may seem. The topic for discussion this issue is Medicare-for-all.

What is Medicare-for-all? We can tell you it is not Medicare and a lot of times it is not for all. In its broadest terms, Medicarefor-all is what health care experts call single-payer: a system in which a government entity reimburses doctors and hospitals at a set rate, according to the National Memo. Many of the world’s health care systems, from France to Israel to Canada, use some adaptation of this methodology. Medicare-for-all, in the clearest sense, largely would replace private health insurance with a single, government-run system covering nearly all. It would be like traditional Medicare, the current federal health insurance program for most adults over 65 and young people meeting federal disability requirements, hence the name, according to the Medicare website.

High-quality, reasonably priced coverage remains out of reach

for many Americans, especially black Americans. There are many unique viewpoints on what the U.S. should do about healthcare in order to ease the cost responsibility on average Americans, so they do not have to drain their savings accounts.

Medicare-for-All is an increasingly widespread proposal to develop health care access. But what is being suggested and how would it operate? The Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010 during the Obama administration, was seen by many experts as a once-in-a-generation reform according to Smart Asset. Some argue it did not go far enough to provide every American with quality health insurance at a reasonable price. Others say it proves that the government is not the solution.

Core aspects of health plans—price, entry, quality, and impartiality—vary wildly depending on factors such as income, demographics, race, sexual orientation, culture and career. Creating a formula to improve everyone’s health care will be difficult. When changes are made, things may improve for many but diminish for others.

Many healthcare professionals maintain that single payer is the most efficient way to distribute medical care to the largest number of people. Making national health insurance a realism would mean revamping the country’s health care compensation

structure. It would involve going from a dispersed network that incorporates private insurers for those who can afford it and public services for a limited number of those who cannot into a single government-administered system. The role of insurance companies would be vastly reduced. By one estimate, as many two-million people who are paid to process insurance claims or argue about them would lose their jobs and a lot of those would be in our community.

This is an issue that affects, literally, every individual in this country. Even putting the medical issues aside, it’s an economic issue i.e.: your Money Matters. The way health care is financed encourages economic disparity.

Because the current system does not cover everyone, the administration would have to raise money, that is taxes, to pay for a national health care system. Economists and health experts agree that this would cost significantly more than the $3.5 trillion the nation currently spends on health care, about a third of which is spent on private insurance. A substantial sum of the nation’s health care costs goes to managing and handling insurance claims.

We know how challenging and bewildering it can be to sort through the spin of political language to get to the facts. Many black people will distance themselves as a result. That is exactly what we should not do. While the over-complication and verbose nature of the issue makes it tough to know where the truth is, familiarizing yourself with the pros and cons can be helpful to make you a more educated voter on the issue of Medicare-forAll. According to Smart Asset.com, if everything stays the same as it is right now, the combined healthcare spending by private and public sectors is projected to reach $45 trillion (with a ‘t’) by 2026. On our website, www.onyxmagazine.com, you will find a breakdown of the pros and cons in a simple chart to further your status as an educated voter.

Whatever the results on Medicare-for-All, it is crucial to keep yourself physically and financially healthy. Health is Wealth! If you are apprehensive about dealing with health care costs, you may want to investigate a financial advisor. After all, 2020 it is not about your vision, but the key is the knowledge that your MONEY MATTERS.

Laura Dorsey is one of ONYX Magazine’s associate editors.

ONYX MAGAZINE 37

SAGE

5 Questions to Ask When Planning for Long-Term Care

Y

ou may not want to consider a time when you might not be able to fully take care of yourself, but the reality is there is almost a 70% chance someone turning 65 today will need some type of long-term care service and support in his or her lifetime, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Even if you’ve worked hard to save for retirement and create the financial security you want in the future, the need for long-term care could throw a wrench into even the most well-thought-out plans and impact you and your loved ones’ finances.

Consider these questions as you begin the long-term care planning process.

What is long-term care?

Different from traditional medical care that treats ill-

38 ONYX MAGAZINE

nesses and injuries, longterm care includes services designed to help you maintain your quality of life and perform everyday activities even if age, illness, injury or a severe cognitive impairment make it a challenge to take care of yourself for an extended period of time.

Long-term care services help with common daily functions including dressing, bathing and eating, and even skilled nursing services such as giving medication.

When should you start thinking about long-term care planning?

Because you never know when a need for care may arise, planning for care when you are younger and healthier can provide additional options as you’re more likely to qualify for coverage. Plus, cost is based on your age when you apply, so waiting can end up costing you more.

Some people are beginning to plan as early as in their 40s.

How much does long-term care cost?

Long-term care costs vary depending on where you live, the type of care provided and the setting. Home-care services average $24-$135 per hour, according to the New York Life Cost of Care Survey, while private rooms in nursing homes can cost more than $100,000 a year.

Long-term care is generally not covered by health insurance, and government programs like Medicare or Medicaid have limitations, which often isn’t discovered until care is needed. However, New York Life offers long-term care options to AARP members and provides specially trained agents who can provide guidance. The agents can work with you and your family to create a customized plan based on your financial goals, helping protect your assets should you ever require long-term care.

Where is care provided?

Long-term care can be pro-

vided in a variety of settings, including at home, in an assisted-living facility or in a nursing home depending on the amount and type of care needed. In fact, some insurance plans cover care on a part-time basis by a family member or home health worker. Planning ahead can allow for more control over how and where you receive care.

How much coverage do you need?

The amount of coverage you need typically varies based on several considerations including budget, age, the type of care expected and how much of your assets and income you may be willing to use to offset the care costs. You don’t have to cover your entire risk— choosing a modest amount of coverage can still provide benefits and help protect other assets.

While planning for longterm care can seem daunting, you can find more benefits and information to make the process easier at aarp.org/benefits.

Content provided by Family Features

CHANTA MILLER President EHC Salon Management Services

Chanta Miller, the president of EHC Salon Management Services, an elite salon and spa provider that partners with luxury senior communities nationwide, is native to Frisco, Tex. Miller, a dynamic, results-driven sales and recruiting strategist has a 20+-year record of achievement and demonstrated success with millions of dollars in revenue growth providing visionary sales and leadership in highly competitive markets. She has been tenacious in building new business, securing customer loyalty, and forging strong relationships with external business partners.

An exceptional mentor and coach—combining business with innate leadership abilities to recruit, build and retain top-performing teams—Miller’s journey in sales and recruiting began in 2001 with Glamour Shots. Shortly after attending school at the University of Texas at Austin, she was on a path to start her career. As a regional director, Miller recruited, built and developed a top-producing team in the Dallas and Houston market managing 60 employees and supervising the opening of new stores in the region which consisted of meeting with contrac-

tors in all newly built stores in her markets. Miller was instrumental in a complete turnaround in underperforming stores and set higher expectations and instituted individual accountability resulting in $1 million in the first year of management.

Relocating to Kansas City, she accepted a position as regional elder care director with A Place for Mom, the largest eldercare referral service in the U.S. She was responsible for the direct sales processes and business development functions, including new product rollouts, key account management, customer relationships development, and contract negotiations.

EHC Salon Management Services, founded in 2010, partners with senior communities to create luxury spa experiences, providing thousands of spa services monthly. In addition to her professional responsibilities, she was the executive director of the Indian American Chamber of Commerce Orlando and helped run the organization in multiple facets. She has been married for more than 10 years to Michael Miller with two beautiful children, Myakh 11 and Michael Jr., 5.

“It doesn’t matter if a million people tell you what you can’t do, or if ten million people tell you no.

If you get one yes from God, that’s all you need.”

—Tyler Perry

ONYX MAGAZINE 39

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Mindful Eating Are you taking your time to eat, or eating on the run? Your answer determines your health.

By Roniece Weaver, M.S., R.D., L.D.

If you are tech savvy, you can try the My Plate at www.myplate.gov or just email my staff at Hebni (info@hebninutrition.org) . If you are interested in joining the Healthie app at Hebni it can assist you in tracking your eating habits. A dietitian from our office will reach out to you and help you start your wellness journey for a small fee.

I want to begin by asking our readers a few questions: Has your job or career contributed to your health habits?

Do you eat at your desk?

Do you eat on the run?

Do you skip meals?

Are you a stress eater when the work is piling up?

Do you make time to leave work and get a power walk during the day?

Do you drink beverages at your desk?

Do you drink sweet coffees and lattes daily?

Do you find yourself eating office food that is brought in from staff that may not be healthy?

Do you go out for drinks after work?

Do you live or work in a food desert and lack fresh options?

Do you live or work in communities where fast food choices are your only option to eat?

If you have said yes to several questions, there is much work for you to do to turn your life into healthier habit. So, don’t stop reading yet. Let’s creating a dining diary.

Dining Diaries allow you to document good and bad behaviors that contribute to your health. It also helps you to keep track of all meals and snacks that you eat outside of your home.

FOOD DIARY WORKSHEET DATE MEAL CALORIES CARBOHYDRATES BEVERAGES___________

40 ONYX MAGAZINE

Amounts__________oz

Diary Worksheet Ok, let’s begin with just a pen and paper: Make several copies of the diary worksheet. Now, the work begins because you must be honest and truthful about the quantities and frequency of your meals.

This assessment will help you begin the assessment of your love for food or lack thereof.

Understanding True Hunger Are you hungry, hangry, or craving something else?

When I feel a craving start to overcome me, I make every effort to pause and try to determine if this desire is a sign of real hunger or am I just craving something else and substitute the feeling with food.

Your stomach sends signals to you when you are hungry, but cravings do not necessarily match up with hunger. You must take the time to recognize both. When you are craving an item you may typically present with a slight headache or tickling feeling near your forehead.

Also, cravings also increase your ability to salivate more and you brain is screaming saying I Want It! Find substitutes for your cravings, for example: meditation, walking, exercise, reading, or call a friend that can discourage you from eating.

Mindful Eating Whether you want to avoid overeating and gaining those extra pounds, you need to consume only what your body requires; the celebrations with food can make that goal challenging.

But mindful eating might help you reach it.

Mindfulness refers to the practice of being aware and in the moment. All too often, our thoughts wander somewhere other than where we are in the moment. Perhaps we are preoccupied with what happened an hour ago, worried about what might happen tomorrow, or stressed over what we need to do next week. Mindfulness encourages us to notice these preoccupations, and then to gently bring ourselves back to the now.

Mindfulness can help you fully enjoy a meal and the experience of eating—with moderation and restraint.

Here are 10 tips for more mindful eating. Not all of these tips may feel right for you—try a few and see how they work.

nobody likes to waste food, overstuffing yourself won’t help those in need. (This is also where Tip #5 comes in handy.)

1. Reflect.

Before you begin eating, take a moment to reflect upon how you feel. Are you rushed? Stressed? Sad? Bored? Hungry? What are your wants, and what are your needs? You want to know the difference between the two. After you have taken this moment to reflect, then you can choose if you want to eat, what you want to eat, and how you want to eat.

10. Silence.

Try eating your meals in silence once in a while. When it is quiet, it is natural for the mind to wander; acknowledge these thoughts, and then see if you can gently return to your experience of eating.

Be conscious of the food’s consistency, flavor, tastes, and smells, and fully appreciate the moment. Of course, mealtime can be an important time for sharing the day when the whole household gathers, so having an entire meal in silence might be impractical or just feel awkward. But even spending the first five to 10 minutes in silence can be refreshing and set a grateful tone for the rest of the meal.

Mindfulness offers many benefits throughout the year, but can be especially helpful during the holidays, even beyond healthful eating. Purposefully focusing your attention on the present can help you embrace companionship, connectivity, and overall contentment and help make the season more meaningful for you.

2. Sit down.

Don not eat on the go. Have a seat and take your time. You’re less likely to appreciate your food when you are multi-tasking. It’s hard to track of how much you are eating when you eat on the run.

3. Get rid of the distractions, i.e. — Turn off the TV (and everything else with a screen).

Have you ever glanced down from your phone or tablet or computer, only to wonder where all the food went? These distractions make us less aware of what and how much we are eating.

4. Serve out your portions.

Resist eating straight from the bag or the box. Not only is it easier to overeat when you can’t see how much you’ve had.

5. Pick the smaller plate.

You might crave less if you see less. Smaller plates will help you with your portion control—an especially good strategy for those all-you-can-eat buffets.

6. Give grace and gratitude Be thankful and ask for the ability to resist temptations to do wrong.

Document and Track Progress Once you have identified your core health habits with food, you should also track your measurements.

Body measurements are a strong indicator that you are doing something different that is giving you the results you plan to achieve.

Use the chart below to measure your body.

BODY MEASUREMENTS BUST/CHEST WAIST

7. Chew 30 times.

Try to get 30 chews out of each bite. (30 is a rough guide, as it might be difficult to get even 10 chews out of a mouthful of oatmeal!) Take time to enjoy the flavors and textures in your mouth before you swallow. This may also help prevent overeating by giving your gut time to send messages to the brain to say you’re full.

ABDOMEN

8. Put down your utensil.

Often, we are already preparing the next morsel with our fork and knife while we are still on our previous bite. Try putting down your utensils after each bite, and don’t pick them back up until you have enjoyed and swallowed what you already have in your mouth.

CALF

9. Resign from the Clean Plate Club.

Many of us were brought up to finish everything on our plate and were not allowed to leave the table until we did. It’s okay to cancel your membership to the Clean Plate Club. Consider packing the leftovers to go, or just leaving the last few bites. Even though

Roniece Weaver, M.S., L.D., R.D., is a registered dietician and president executive director and founding partner of Hebni Nutrition Consultants.

DATE:

HIP THIGH

ARM WEIGHT BODY FAT% FAT LBS

Good luck, readers. For more information and wellness classes.

Call Hebni (Health Empowerment through Behavioral and Nutrition Initiatives) at 407-872-1333. www.hebninutrition.org.

Enjoy, Roniece Weaver MS RD LD, Registered Dietitian ONYX MAGAZINE 41

HEIDI OTWAY President SalterMitchell PR

Heidi Otway is the president of SalterMitchell Public Relations, an award-winning public relations firm recognized at the local, state and national levels. A former journalist, Otway is experienced in all aspects of communications and marketing.

She has developed and managed campaigns for Fortune 500 companies including Verizon, Bank of America, Aetna and Weyerhaeuser. In addition to leading the firm, she is also the executive producer and host of the Fluent in Floridian podcast, which showcases SalterMitchell PR’s connections to some of the most influential people in Florida.

Her passion is helping good causes win. Otway rebranded Florida’s Summer Food Nutrition Program into the widely recognized SummerBreakspot, which serves 15 million meals to kids across the state. She also served as the chief strategist behind campaigns to get public school employees to save more for retirement, prompt Florida motorists to buckle up, bring attention to the Florida Wildlife Corridor, spotlight businesses

that hire people with disabilities, and help Floridians legally obtain a medical marijuana card.

Otway graduated from Florida A&M University in 1992, is accredited by the Universal Accreditation Board for public relations, and is a Certified Public Relations Counselor. As the past president of the Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA) Capital Chapter, she served on the FPRA state board. A member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and a Girl Scouts troop leader, Otway is a member of Abundant Life and Restoration Ministries (ALARM), where she serves on the board of directors, leads the Marriage Ministry with her husband, and is the volunteer director of the Food Pantry in partnership with Second Harvest. She is a graduate of Leadership Tallahassee Class 30. Otway recently joined the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital Foundation board and was chairwoman of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce from 2018-2019.

Otway is married to her college sweetheart, Richard Otway, and they are the parents of Raven, Hailey, and Justice.

“I can’t be elevated or promoted until I pull someone up to take my place.”

—Bishop Alvin D. Stewart, Jr., Senior Pastor of ALARM Ministries

42 ONYX MAGAZINE

SYLVIA PERRY Publisher Free Press of Jacksonville

Sylvia Perry is a native of Jacksonville, Fla. She furthered her education at Florida State University completing degrees in Mass Communications and Intercultural Communications.

Perry is currently the publisher of the Free Press of Jacksonville, a weekly newspaper serving the African American Diaspora of Northeast Florida. She is the recipient of numerous awards on behalf of the publication and is actively involved in the Jacksonville community. Perry’s professional duties and responsibilities include the overall production of the weekly newspaper including procurement and assignment of articles, representation of the newspaper throughout the community, selection and assignment of photo editing, quality control and maintaining industry standards. In 2020, the Jacksonville Free Press will celebrate 34 years of providing subscribers and readers with news from around the world. A second-generation publisher, the newspaper was founded by Florida’s first founding female publisher, Rita J. Perry. The Free Press provides local, state and

national news that is of interest to its readers. Each week readers comb the pages that reflect their daily lives and lifestyles.

Readers will often find pictures and information about people they know, admire, respect and locate information of interest that can empower their future. Perry has worked at the paper since its inception while a student in high school. Through the years, her travels as a seasoned journalist have taken her to locations such as Libya, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Sudan, and The White House. In addition to serving the community through journalistic awareness, she serves as the Southern Area Director of Links, Incorporated. Her role of overseeing the premier women’s service organization’s chapters and thousands of members in seven states and the Bahamas allows her to continue her dedication to service throughout the Southeast. Perry was named co-publisher and managing editor in 1995. She maintains that continuing the legacy that began over 30 years ago is “something she was born to do.”

“Excellence is the fine line between what you can do and what you are capable of.”

—self

ONYX MAGAZINE 43

CALETA SCOTT

Grants Administration Division Manager and Lincoln Park Coordinator City of Fort Pierce Caleta Scott is a stalwart champion and catalyst who has fueled momentum for progressive change and the overall uplifting of the city’s Lincoln Park community, her native home and the place dear to her heart.

Scott holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the University of Florida and a certificate in Leadership through Leadership St. Lucie. She is a certified public pension trustee who sits on the City of Fort Pierce’s Pension Board; a certified redevelopment professional with the Florida Redevelopment Association; and a member of the City’s Economic Development team, where she focuses on community revitalization and economic development. As a founder of the Lincoln Park Young Professionals, Scott fosters avenues for networking and collaboration among professionals uplifting Lincoln Park.

Trained in trauma-informed outreach, Scott is committed to engaging her Fort Pierce, Lincoln Park community in dialogues and initiatives aimed toward producing viable solutions leading

to equity, empowerment and education in the Black community. She continues to raise the consciousness of individuals, empowering those who cross her path with her breadth of knowledge and wisdom in business, economics and care of self.

Prior to returning to Fort Pierce, her beloved “Temple of my Familiar” and the place her great-grandmother loved, Scott spent 14 years steeped in the hustle and bustle of life in the suburbs of Atlanta where she honed her professionalism and business relations prowess in successful careers in staffing and operations management.

Scott is devoted to health, wellness and wholeness. She is a devout yogi, who indulges in plant-based nutrition and believes in living a minimalist lifestyle in pursuit of all forces and venues emanating positive energy. But of all Scott’s accomplishments and her many realms of servitude, the one pinnacle for which she is most proud is the raising of her daughter, Monique, her greatest treasure.

“It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance.” —Thomas Huxley “Do good. Be good.” —Caleta Scott

ONYX MAGAZINE 45

MEDICALLY SPEAKING

Girl, It’s Fibroids What black women need to know about that uterus-stealing nuisance.

By VIVA EVE

T

here is a popular myth that menopause can cure uterine fibroids. It doesn’t. It makes sense to think that when you are no longer having periods, chronic conditions of your female reproductive organs (like fibroids) will also go away.

But that isn’t necessarily true. Women who are close to menopause are often advised by their doctors to “just hang in there,” and a lot of women do just that for many years, without seeing their fibroids shrink or their symptoms diminish.

Fibroids (non-cancerous tumors in the uterus) affect up to 80% of women of childbearing age and are most common in African American women ages 35-50. It has been reported that many women experience more severe fibroid symptoms before the onset of menopause, which is called perimenopause.

Perimenopause usually begins several years before menopause.

It’s the time when the ovaries gradually begin to make less estrogen.

It usually starts in a woman’s 40s, but can start in her 30s or even earlier. Symptoms of perimenopause can begin years before menopause, and they often continue for years afterward.

Every woman’s body is different. Some women are fortunate and their menopause does cause their fibroids to shrink, although this change does not always mean that the fibroid symptoms 46 ONYX MAGAZINE

go away completely. And, for some women, menopause does not cause the fibroids to shrink at all, and THEY MAY EVEN CONTINUE GROWING, causing these women to experience painful, uncomfortable, and often debilitating symptoms long after they stop getting their periods.

If you are approaching menopause and are experiencing symptoms caused by fibroids, here’s what you need to know: Waiting for menopause isn’t a solution. Women in perimenopause suffering from fibroid pain are often told by their doctors that because of the estrogen level decline associated with menopause, their symptoms will soon ease and the fibroids will shrink once they start going through “the change.”

However, many experts agree that waiting for menopause is an ineffective solution that can do more harm than good.

Some women wait to pursue treatment for fibroids in the uterus hoping that no treatment will be needed. Almost every woman who postpones treatment of uterine fibroids ends up with fibroids larger than when they were first diagnosed, and many of those end up undergoing a hysterectomy (the surgical removal of the uterus) that might not have been necessary.

An increase in estrogen is the

main problem. During the period before menopause officially begins, menstrual cycles are dominated by estrogen. This increase is frequently called an “estrogen bath.” This influx of estrogen has been proven to encourage the growth of uterine fibroids.

While you are waiting for menopause, the fibroids are provided with the perfect environment for growth. (Other factors can cause fibroids to grow and pain to worsen. For example, a substance given off by fat cells can encourage fibroid growth in the same ways estrogen does.)

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) can stimulate the growth of fibroids. Hormone replacement is frequently prescribed for menopausal women to lessen the uncomfortable symptoms that result from the lack of estrogen, including hot flashes, vaginal dryness, mood fluctuations, and diminished sex drive. Estrogen deficiency can also decrease bone

density, increasing the risk of fractures; adding supplemental estrogen back into the body can help maintain a woman’s bone strength after menopause.

Hormone replacement therapy can dramatically improve the quality of life for many women in menopause. However, the risks of hormone replacement can sometimes outweigh the benefits if the growth of fibroids and worsening of fibroid symptoms is possible. This happens because HRT introduces even more estrogen into the body, stimulating fibroid growth and in turn intensifying the painful symptoms.

If you have uterine fibroids, you don’t have to wait to go through menopause to alleviate the pain. Whether you’re experiencing perimenopause or have already started menopause, you can take control of your health to treat uterine fibroids: Treat uterine fibroids promptly. It’s the best course

of action, even for women who feel that menopause is approaching. If you suffer from symptoms of fibroids such as heavy bleeding, backaches, pelvic pain and pressure, bladder problems, or anemia, you should consult a doctor knowledgeable about fibroids and the full range of treatment options to have your symptoms evaluated and to discuss treatment options that are right for you.

Learn more about minimally invasive, non-surgical procedures. Many

women with uterine fibroids feel that a hysterectomy or suffering through the pain are their only options. Fortunately,

a minimally invasive non-surgical procedure called uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) can be very effective in the treatment of fibroids and their symptoms.

During the procedure, an interventional radiologist makes a tiny incision in the skin of the wrist or the thigh.

The procedure usually lasts about an hour and during that time the patient is sleepy, but not asleep.

A very thin catheter is passed through the skin incision and into a blood vessel. X-ray images are taken to guide the interventional radiologist during the procedure. When the blood supply of the fibroid is visualized, tiny particles the size of grains of sand are injected into the artery.

These particles partly block the blood flow to the fibroid tumor, causing it to shrink and eventually die, thereby alleviating the symptoms.

Why do so many women choose UFE? • UFE is an outpatient procedure that doesn’t require general anesthesia or a hospital stay.

• Patients experience a rapid recovery (just a few days) as compared to surgical procedures.

• UFE is an organ-sparing procedure: your uterus is left intact.

• UFE is effective on most sizes and types of fibroids.

• Recurrence of treated fibroids is rare.

• Multiple fibroids can be effectively treated at the same time.

• Studies have shown that nearly 90 percent of women who undergo UFE experience significant or complete

resolution of their fibroid-related symptoms.

• UFE is covered by most major insurance companies.

Stop living in pain or fearing a hysterectomy, hoping that menopause will solve your fibroid problems. Consult a doctor about dealing with your uterine fibroids. With the availability of minimally invasive procedures such as UFE, you may be able to reduce your fibroids and enter menopause more comfortable and healthier than you ever imagined.

This article first appeared in BlackDoctor.org.

VIVA EVE was founded by a team of fibroid doctors and specialists who felt that women should be able to choose their own path to health, with their doctor’s support. By providing up-to-date techniques and sound advice, the experts at VIVA EVE help you choose the most appropriate option for treating such illnesses as fibroid tumors, endometriosis and adenomyosis.

ONYX MAGAZINE 47

TAMARA SHAMBURGER Chair Hillsborough County School Board

Tamara Shamburger serves as chair of the Hillsborough County School Board. In 2016 she was elected to the Board, representing District 5, the urban core of Hillsborough County. As only the third black elected to the Hillsborough County School Board, Shamburger proudly serves primarily black, Hispanic, low-income, and high-needs communities.

She is one of seven board members responsible for making policy decisions and overseeing a total budget of $3.3 billion for the eighth largest school district in the nation with over 215,000 students; also, the county’s largest employer with more than 24,000 employees.

Shamburger’s focus on the School Board is ensuring all students have access to excellent educational opportunities. Equity is her priority. In 2019, under Shamburger’s leadership, the Hillsborough School Board received the Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) School Board Excellence award which was awarded to only one Board in the nation. In 2018, under Shamburger’s leadership as vice-chair, Hillsborough School Board received the National School Board Association’s

Recognizing Innovative Strategies in Equity (RISE) award, for the implementation of one of the nation’s first Racial Equity policies. Shamburger has been instrumental in rooting out long-standing systemic and institutional racism in Hillsborough County Schools.

Shamburger is passionate about student achievement. She also serves on the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County Executive Board, Hillsborough Education Foundation Executive Board, and the Hillsborough County Department of Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee.

An advocate for students and their families as well as the community, Shamburger also participates in several organizations with missions to strengthen the community.

A proud Tampa native, Shamburger is the product of Hillsborough County Public Schools and is a proud graduate of Bloomingdale Senior High School. Shamburger has a Liberal Arts degree from Hillsborough Community College; Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of South Florida; and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from St. Leo University.

“Fear does not prevent death. It prevents life.” ­— Nacuib Mahfouz

ONYX MAGAZINE 49

ENTERTAINMENT

What’s Up Downtown: Parramore Past, Present and Future Date: Thursday, March 5, 2020 Time: 8:00 a.m.

Location: UCF Downtown, Moot Court Room, 528 W. Livingston St. Orlando, FL 32801

About This Event Join us for our first What’s Up Downtown of the year on Thursday, March 5 at UCF Downtown. This event will focus on African American history and culture and how it shaped the neighborhood we know today and the influence it will have on the future.

Special guests include:

Raphael Saadiq and Terence Blanchard Tapped for “Genius: Aretha” National Geographic, with Fox 21 Studios and Imagine Television Studios, announced today that Grammy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated musician Raphael Saadiq has been tapped to serve as an executive music producer on GENIUS: ARETHA. Saadiq is responsible for producing, arranging and recording all of the original song elements within the series featuring live performances. The score will be written and produced by multi-Grammy Award-winner and Academy Award nominee Terence Blanchard (“Harriet,” “BlacKkKlansman”).

The third season of the critically acclaimed global anthology series will premiere over four consecutive nights, beginning Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, at 9/8c. GENIUS: ARETHA will be the first-ever, definitive and only authorized scripted series on the life of Aretha Franklin and will chart how gospel prodigy Little Re became the iconic Aretha Franklin, the indisputable Queen of Soul.

The eight-part series will explore Franklin’s musical genius and incomparable career, and the immeasurable impact and lasting influence she has had on music and culture around the world. GENIUS: ARETHA will alternate between present-day storylines and scenes from her youth, focusing on her childhood and the pivotal events that influenced her career as an adult.

“We’re serving the Queen of Soul and we’re thrilled and blessed to have deep soul brothers like Raphael Saadiq and Terence Blanchard on our team,” said Suzan-Lori Parks, showrunner and executive producer. “They’re both accomplished musicians with diverse backgrounds - both who have broken down barriers with the power of music.”

Chris Sibley via Black PR Newswire Photo of Terrance Blanchard courtesy of Black PR Newswire

• Elizabeth Thompson, Executive Director of the Wells’Built Museum of African American History and Culture • Richard Forbes, Appearance Review Official with City of Orlando and former Historic Preservation Officer • Terrence Miller, Planner II with the City of Orlando’s Planning Division Walter Hawkins, Director of Urban Development for the Downtown Development Board/Community Redevelopment Agency, will be joining us as guest emcee.

Date: March 5, 2020 Time: Networking will begin at 8:00 a.m.

The event will begin at 8:30 a.m.

Location: UCF Downtown, Moot Court Room 528 W. Livingston St., Orlando, FL 32801

Concerts, Exhibits & Shows Gladys Knight Tuesday, Mar. 3 7:30 p.m.

Ruth Eckerd Hall Clearwater Rutheckerdhall.com Wednesday, Mar. 4 8:00 p.m.

Dr. Phillips Center – Walt Disney Theater Orlando Drphillipscenter.org

George Clinton Friday, Mar. 6 8 p.m.

Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Event Center Tampa Hardrock.com

Jill Scott Tuesday, Mar. 17 8:00 p.m.

Ruth Eckerd Hall

Clearwater Rutheckerdhall.com Wednesday, Mar. 18 8:00 p.m.

Hard Rock Live Orlando Orlando Hardrock.com

African Apparel Threaded Transformations Across the 20th Century Now – May 17 Cornell Fine Arts Museum Winter Park Rollins.edu

Power, Myth, & Memory in Africana Art Select pieces from the CJ Williams Collection Now – May 31 Crealde School of Art Winter Park Crealde.org

ONYX MAGAZINE 51

KATHY Y. TIMES President Yellow Brick Media Concepts

Kathy Y. Times is the president of Yellow Brick Media Concepts. Prior to launching her public relations business in 2012, Times served as Florida A&M University’s chief communications officer from October 2016 until January 2020. She served on the president’s Senior Leadership Team and led the University’s strategic communications, which included media relations, publications, creative services, and marketing.

Times’s career includes more than 20 years of experience working in print and television newsrooms as an anchor and investigative reporter. She also proudly served as president of the National Association of Black Journalists from 2009-2011.

As an Emmy award-winning journalist, Times continues to see a story in everyone she meets and everything she experiences each day. Prior to becoming a full-time entrepreneur, Times was the primary anchor of the Fox affiliate in Jackson, Miss., and covered breaking news, courts, crime, politics and

much more in cities such as Kansas City, Mo., Birmingham and Mobile, Ala., Tampa, Miami and Gainesville, Fla. Tapping into her journalistic background and public speaking experiences, she enjoys helping people of all ages communicate effectively with news media, colleagues, and the public. Times started How To Wow One or 1,000™ media and branding seminars to give the public access to some of the best journalists and branding experts in the business. She wrote the book, “How To Wow One or 1,000™” for college students to help them become their best brands and boosts their confidence.

Times is a native of Miami and a proud graduate of Florida A&M University, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in computer information systems and journalism. She furthered her education at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where she earned a master’s degree in journalism.

The words “flawless execution” have become a mantra. A mentor and former boss, Yvette Miley, senior vice president of MSNBC, stressed the importance of “flawless execution” every day in the newsroom, and I share this aspiration with my team.

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ONYX MAGAZINE 53

BRENDA L. WALKER, PH.D., J.D. Interim Associate Dean/Professor University of South Florida St. Petersburg

Brenda L. Walker, Ph.D., is the interim associate dean of the College of Education and professor at the University of South Florida (USF), St. Petersburg. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Central Michigan University and a doctorate in Behavior Disorders and Learning Disabilities from the University of Kansas. She also earned her Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law and is a lawyer interested in civil rights, education and poverty laws.

Walker is a product of urban schools in Saginaw, Mich. She committed her career to improving outcomes for children and families in urban and high poverty communities. While at the University of South Florida, she secured more than $9 million in federal funding to recruit and retain students of color to be effective teachers in urban schools. She developed the first successful initiative to recruit and prepare African American men to teach children with behavior disorders. She also provided

research assistantships, tuition, and books to over 40 students enrolled in Ph.D. programs.

Walker enhanced the research capacity of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving and Native American-serving institutions. She founded a USF Center for Action Research on Urban Schools and Effective Leadership (Carousel Center). Walker’s research and scholarship focus primarily on African American learners and ways that schools and juvenile justice systems can be more culturally responsive. She has published several journal articles, book chapters, a textbook, and a children’s book, “One Love.” Her publications focus specifically on school suspensions, special education overrepresentation, and the school to prison pipeline. Walker provides service to K-12 schools by delivering motivational and educational speeches and workshops to students, teachers, and principals.

“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.”

—Zora Neale Hurston

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CRYSTAL WARWELL WALKER Principal Walker & Walker Associates

Crystal Warwell Walker is the principal at Walker & Walker Associates, a firm that offers services to help organizations accelerate outcomes of importance to sustainable success. Walker’s vast expertise includes corporate communications; public, media, community and government relations; financial, legal, crisis, executive, brand, internal, and digital communications; corporate social responsibility and diversity & inclusion experience in both entrepreneurial and highly matrixed global environments. Her background includes tenures in consumer packaged goods, healthcare, energy, business-to-business, not-for-profit, and journalism.

In 2018, Walker was named the vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility, Diversity and Inclusion at WellCare Health Plans in Tampa. She led cross functional alignment and execution on strategy and practices to serve the company’s 6.3 million members. Walker also served as executive director of the WellCare Foundation. She will start a new executive communications role in March. Walker serves on the advisory board for EmpowerHer Network, a national organization that collab-

orates with self-determined human trafficking survivors on a path to independence. She is on the host committee of Women on Boards 2020 N.Y.C., a national campaign to increase the percentage of women on U.S. company boards to 20+ percent in 2020. She served on the Board of Trustees for Corbett Preparatory School of IDS in Tampa.

She received numerous awards for her work. She graduated from the University of Florida with a master’s degree in Public Relations, spending two years in Japan in support of her international concentration. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Florida A&M University, where she became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She and her husband, Eric, a Morehouse graduate, are proud to be raising son, Eric, Jr., 10, and daughter, Klein, 7. Recently, the family temporarily relocated to New York City to support Eric, Jr’s., run on Broadway’s “Kinky Boots.” He is now the singing voice of Goby on Nickelodeon’s “Bubble Guppies.” Klein recently was cast in her first role on ABC’s new series “For Life.”

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”

—Maya Angelou

ONYX MAGAZINE 55

BRIDGET WILLIAMS, ED.D. Chief of Staff Orange County Public Schools

Bridget Williams, Ed.D., is chief of staff of Orange County Public Schools (OCPS), the eighth-largest public school district in the nation and fourth-largest in Florida. Since becoming chief of staff, the Human Resources Division has earned and received national and local recognition for its enhanced marketing and recruitment strategies and efforts. Born in Orlando, she is a home-grown product of OCPS, attending Richmond Heights Elementary School, Eccleston Elementary School, Robert E. Lee Middle School, and Edgewater High School.

Over the last 30 years, she has served and led the children and families of Orange County as an alternative education teacher; guidance counselor; dean; assistant principal; and district administrator. She also served as principal of Robinswood Middle School and earned the school’s first “A” rating from the Department of Education. At Jones High School, Williams moved the school to a high performing “B” rating and established the International Baccalaureate Program. As associate superintendent of Specialized Student Support, she guided the services of more than 180 schools of testing assessments and

accountability, grants, and fully funded Title I programs. She also served as area superintendent of the West Learning Community, supervising principals and serving as a liaison to the school board.

Williams is a proud alumna of Florida A&M University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree. In addition, she received a second master’s degree from the University of Central Florida and doctorate from Nova Southeastern University.

She was honored to be inducted into the Edgewater High School Foundation Hall of Fame and has received numerous awards for her commitment to excellence in public education.

She received awards from the international educational organization Phi Delta Kappa, Inc.; the Drum Major Award from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; ONYX Magazine; the Council of the Great City Schools; and the Educator of the Year Award from Junior Achievement of Central Florida.

Williams and her husband, Dexter, are the parents of two exceptional young men, Joshua, a graduate student at Florida State University and Elijah, a junior at Duke University.

“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit.

We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.”

—Wilma Rudolph

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COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD

BLACK BUSINESS INVESTMENT FUND FLORIDA Black Business Investment Fund (BBIF) Florida, Inc., is a mission-driven Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that specializes in providing loan capital and business development training to Black and minority businesses.

BBIF Florida is passionate about supporting small business owners and getting them the funds and training they need to be successful. Since becoming a New Market’s Tax Credit awardee in 2016, BBIF has received $60 million in allocations, attracting $175.8 million in additional capital to be invested in community projects throughout Florida.

Created over 30 years ago through a state statute, BBIF Florida has emerged as Florida’s premier non-profit financial institution that specialized in providing loans and technical assistance services to a target market of black businesses, minority businesses and underserved communities throughout Florida.

The mission and vision have guided BBIF Florida unfailingly over the decades. To date, the organization has invested $89.8 million into black and minority businesses as well as underserved communities thought Florida, creating/sustaining 16,178 jobs. As it continues to create financial strength for bor-

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rowers and provide them with the training they need to grow, BBIF Florida remains proudly committed to building healthy and sustainable communities.

BBIF Florida is led by Inez Long. Since joining BBIF as a lender in 1992, and being named president in 1991, Long—a fifth generation Central Floridian—has helped thousands of black and minority business owners. She started her career in commercial banking during a time when the industry was predominantly run by white men. Never one to back away from a challenge however, Long became a well-respected force as a credit manager and commercial lender with First Union and SunTrust banks.

Long takes great pride in helping black and minority business owners throughout Florida achieve their dreams, and it’s especially rewarding to see the ripple effects of those dreams becoming a reality. Her background in commercial lending afforded her the opportunity to understand the dynamics at play when a business is getting started and being able to help others turn what used to be considered a disadvantage into an opportunity fuels her and the BBIF Florida team every day.

ONYX Magazine Salutes the life and legacy of its First Lady Lillian Brown Seays, Co-Founder of ONYX Magazine.

REAL ESTATE

4 Home Upgrades That Are Good for the Environment

C

onsumers today are more mindful about the environmental impact of everything they do, from driving and traveling to energy usage in their homes. Fortunately, there are a few simple steps homeowners can take to save energy and help the environment.

1. Boost your insulation You may already know what areas of your home are poorly insulated, simply by how you feel when it’s cold or hot outside. You can have a professional home energy audit conducted to help pinpoint areas that need improvement. Many energy companies provide an audit free of charge.

Start with the attic: If your attic is insufficiently insulated, you could be losing a lot of heat over the winter, which means your home is wasting energy - and money. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that boosting attic insulation can save 10-50 percent on heating costs.

2. Upgrade your heating and cooling system Heating and cooling your home uses the most energy, so investing in Energy Star certified HVAC products can make a big difference when it comes to cutting energy costs and your home’s impact on the environment.

For a new HVAC system in a variety of styles to fit any décor that can be easily installed by a contractor, you might consider wallmounted duct-free systems from a trusted brand like LG. They offer a variety of ultra-quiet “Art Cool” options (the sleek Mirror, stylish Premier and unique Gallery, which looks like a picture frame and allows you to display your own artwork). These systems are smart-enabled, allowing homeowners to adjust the temperature from their LG ThinQ app for Android and iOS users, or with simple commands via Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

The most eco-conscious consumers will want to look for “Energy Star Most Efficient” HVAC solutions. For example, the Art Cool Mirror earned the 2019 designation and also features advanced “Reliable to Extreme Degrees” LGRED, heating technology that delivers 100 percent heating capacity down to 5 degrees Fahrenheit and continuous heating down to -13 degrees Fahrenheit. This will keep you warm and comfortable all winter long with remarkable energy efficiency.

3. Replace doors and windows You may be losing a lot of heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer through your doors and windows, especially if 60 ONYX MAGAZINE

they’re older. The latest energy-efficient models of windows and doors not only reduce leaks around the frames, but they’re made from materials that enhance insulation.

Doors: According to EnergyStar.gov, energy-efficient doors not only fit better and have improved weather stripping to reduce air leakage, but also use improved core materials for superior insulation. Where glass is used, they reduce heat flow via double- or triple-paned insulating glass.

Windows: Energy Star qualified windows use superior framing materials, including multiple panes of glass, with air- or gasfilled space between for additional insulation. They’re made from Low-E (low emissivity) glass, with special coatings to reflect infrared light. Warm edge spacers keep the glass panes the correct distance apart reducing heat transfer through the window.

4. Go solar While most people are aware that solar power harnesses the sun’s energy to create electricity, many don’t know how easy and cost-effective it is to go solar.

The newest technology behind solar energy has made it increasingly accessible and appealing for homeowners. For example, new energy solutions such as LG’s “NeON R ACe” are high-efficiency solar panels that incorporate a built-in micro-inverter (that converts DC electricity to AC) instead of a separate traditional inverter. Recessed into the frame of the solar module, the micro-inverter simplifies the installation process and allows more flexibility to create a solar array that looks attractive on your roof.

When going solar, it’s important to seek out a brand you trust, one like LG that offers solar panels covered by a 25-year limited product, part and performance warranty.

Choosing just one area to upgrade will save energy, reducing your home’s carbon footprint. You’ll also feel more comfortable throughout the year, as you better regulate the temperature of your home.

Content provided by Brandpoint. It has been endorsed by Deidre “Dee” Parker of Parker Realty and chair of the ONYX Magazine Advisory Committee.

This article has been endorsed by Deidre “Dee” Parker of Parker Realty and the chair of the ONYX Magazine Advisory Committee.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Software Engineer Turns Childhood Passion into a Thriving Business

By Curtis Bunn

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K

aren Young always believed she was following her passion during a long successful career as a software engineer.

Then, at 50, a chance opportunity ignited a fresh business idea that took her back to her childhood.

Her inspiration was ignited in 2015 when a close friend asked her to coordinate a dessert bar at her wedding reception. Young tapped into a creative side that she generally suppressed by recalling her youth in South Central Los Angeles where lollipops were soothing treats in an environment that often was uneasy and besieged by gangs. Then she added a twist, deciding to infuse them with libations she already had at home.

The adult version of her childhood favorite was a success. The guests enjoyed them so much that Young took several orders for the unique treat at the wedding. And thus, the idea for Gourmee Bars was born.

But Young knew that a business requires more than just a good idea. Over the next four years, she conducted research and experiments in her Atlanta home, learning about and sampling edible fruits and flowers. She mixed herbs and spices in multiple combinations and used friends as taste-testers.

Young sampled more candy than she cares to remember to get where she is and went to school on mixing elements with sugar.

“It was important that I learned the chemistry of creating candy,” she said. “If not done properly, hard candy can turn out grainy or too soft. So I had to learn through trial and error what happens with the ingredients while they are cooking and to understand how slight variations of cooking temperatures or adding flavorings could completely change the result. Those were my challenges.”

All the while, she continued to work her day job.

“Mom, this is your passion,” her 23-year old daughter, Issa Clark, told her this summer as she eagerly mixed dessert concoctions over her stove. Young who had just finished an eight-hour day at her regular job was startled by the comment.

“I hadn’t thought about it that way,” Young said. “But she was right. I would do my job at work, but every free moment I thought about getting into the kitchen and making lollipops. The mere thought of it excited me. So the next step was natural.”

Her hobby turned into a passion, which turned into a business that has earned loyal fans who find in her treats a sweet mix of both nostalgia and flavor.

“I created more than 1,000 lollipops of different flavor pairings, testing to see if the ideas I had in my head would create both beauty and flavor that adults would enjoy displaying and eating,” she said.

They did.

“The sentiment I hear most is that the lollipops are works of art,” Young said. “I put a lot of time and effort into researching to make them look worthy of a display while also tasting good.”

Young markets Gourmee Bars to people holding weddings or birthday parties; and for companies hosting events, the pops can carry a logo or message—they are infused with edible paper and can be customized using edible ink. Some are layered with edible flowers and glitter.

Additionally, for adults only, she makes margarita lollipops that are infused with tequila, lime zest, and are topped with margarita salt and mango or habanero peppers.

“ The sentiment I hear most is that the lollipops are works of art. I put a lot of time and effort into researching to make them look worthy of a display while also tasting good.”

—Karen Young

Young said she has managed to make the treats in her kitchen and fund her business through her savings, but as word of her “suckers” spread, she knows production costs and bandwidth to produce in bulk will require partnership.

She often makes 500 lollipops a week in her home to meet demand. However, production becomes a challenge during busy periods when outstanding orders can call for 5,000 candies.

“Future expansion includes partnering with florists to include as an option with floral arrangements and also joining forces with a candy manufacturer that has a track record of mass production,” she said.

In the meantime, she and Clark carry on. They take orders via their website, https://www.gourmeebar.com/ or word-of-mouth, and business has been steady. But there has been an immeasurable gift out of creating the business.

It’s rewarding to work side-by-side with my daughter. And as an African-American mother, it’s important for me to leave a legacy for her,” she said. “I feel that way about my nieces and nephews as well. We have to build businesses to create generational wealth for our families and communities. Then they can leave it for their children. It’s the only way we can carry on a legacy in business and overcome the institutional racism that often holds us back.”

Curtis Bunn writes for Urban News Service, a Division of Zenger News ONYX MAGAZINE 63

TECHNOLOGY

Protect Your Data

I

s your data secure? Whether you’re a typical consumer gearing up with smart home technology or a business owner with dozens of clients, understanding the latest trends in cybercrime can help you protect what matters.

Enter the latest updates from the SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, which provide key insights into current threats based on real-world data from more than one-million international security sensors in over 200 countries. While the report found that global malware volume is down 20 percent, a spike in other forms of cyberattack means that consumers and organizations need to stay vigilant. Here are a few key findings and what they could mean for you: • A 15 percent increase in ransomware attacks globally highlight criminals’ new preference of ransomware-as-a-service and open-source malware kits as means of attack.

• There’s nothing “smart” about it when connected devices become a target for cybercrime. In the first half of 2019, there was a 55 percent increase in Inter64 ONYX MAGAZINE

net of Things attacks, a number that outpaces the first two quarters of 2018. These findings are a good warning to businesses and consumers to never connect home or office devices to the internet without first taking proper security measures.

• Cryptojacking experienced a 9 percent increase over the last six months of 2018.

Though a rise in bitcoin and Monero prices is great for cryptocurrency investors on its face, it also makes cryptojacking a more lucrative option for cybercriminals.

• Cybercriminals have their sights set on non-standard ports for web traffic as a manner to deliver viruses undetected.

Based on a sample size of more than 210 million malware attacks recorded through June 2019, Capture Labs monitored the largest spike on record since tracking the vector, when one quarter of malware attacks came across non-standard ports in May 2019 alone.

• Some of the most ubiquitous and trusted types of files you download could actually be dangerous. In February and March 2019, 51 percent and 47 percent

of “never-before-seen” attacks, respectively, came via PDFs or Office files.

For full report data, visit sonicwall.com/ ThreatReport.

“Individuals and organizations continue struggling to track the evolving patterns of cyberattacks, making it extremely difficult for them to defend themselves without assistance,” says SonicWall president and CEO, Bill Conner. “Being proactive against constantly-changing attack strategies involves harnessing innovative technology, such as machine learning.”

To that end, consider breach detection and prevention services that use machine learning to adapt and proactively guard against attacks, such as SonicWall, which has been fighting the cybercriminal industry for over 27 years and is backed by research from SonicWall Capture Labs. For more information, visit sonicwall.com.

As cybercrime evolves, be sure your means to protect yourself has too. With vigilance, staying connected fearlessly is possible for any organization, individual or household.

StatePoint report

BLACK HISTORY

Black Queens of Beauty A new book explores black pageant queens in the Civil Rights Movement

By Keisha Boyd

F

our global pageant titles are currently held by women of African descent.

While the world is celebrating the well-deserved representation, Kimberly Brown Pellum, Ph.D., is taking a deep dive into what pageantry has meant to the African-American culture in some of its most trying times. “Black Beauties: African American Pageant Queens in the Segregated South” explores the social activism of pageantry and how it was used to uplift racially oppressed communities of color. The literary work gives an inside look into dozens of queens and their journeys.

Brown Pellum is extremely passionate about the outcome and revelations discovered while working on “Black Beauties.” The women featured in the book represent various generations, professional backgrounds and societal echelons.

While the women share those differences, they all had something in common: they represent the longstanding cultural resilience and ingenuity of African American communities.

“These women are leaders. Pageantry requires a very high level of confidence. For these women to do this in the face of racial and class adversities displays their resilience and strength,” says Brown Pellum.

These black beauty queens offered a great sense of pride for their communities when the world was intentionally demeaning and destructive. They resisted by embracing and being themselves—wearing Afrocentric styles, natural hair and bold fashion statements. “Black Beauties” is a useful reference for all, especially Black women and girls. It shares stories of empowerment, fortitude and pride. The foreword for the

book is written by Ericka Dunlap, Miss America 2004.

With a terminal degree in United States history from Howard University, Brown Pellum specializes in the history of women’s images, southern culture and the Black Freedom Struggle. Her contributions to publicly accessible history include work at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, the Rosa Parks Museum and Google’s Arts & Culture series. She is the director of the digital archives project “The Museum of Black Beauty” (TheMuseumofBlackBeauty.com ONYX MAGAZINE 65

ONYX ON THE MOVE ONYX Sponsors Mentoring/Scholarship Breakfast ONYX Magazine was the Title Sponsor of the 26th annual Joseph C. Andrews Mentoring Celebration, presented by the Black Faculty and Staff Association (BFSA) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando. Keynote speaker and award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien drew from her life and career to stimulate thoughtful conversation about how essential mentoring can be to spur success. She used two powerful stories she covered on “Black In America” and “HBO Real Sports” to illustrate her points. BFSA began in 1978 and still serves to promote an environment that fosters cultural awareness and enrichment through advocacy, mentoring, professional networking, and quality programming. In 2006, BFSA, in collaboration with the Office of Diversity Initiatives, launched ONYX Magazine representatives with Soledad O’Brien the Legacy Leadership and Mentoring Program. BFSA is committed to and scholarship recipients nurturing a more inclusive and responsive environment for underrepresented students at UCF by enhancing the successful development of personal educational, professional and career goals. Named after the UCF’s former head of library collections, the event awards students with scholarships provided by benefactors. Recognized in 2020 were Chanyra Johnson, Dr. Cheryl Green Service Scholarship; Savon Crumity, Dr. Tee Collins Scholarship; Asia Lurry, Mentee of the Year; Jeremy Jones, Mentor of the Year; and Aniya Barclay, Past Presidents Legacy Scholarship.

ONYX Magazine Publisher Rich Black, Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, ONYX Magazine Advisory Committee Chair Dee Parker, and Nadia Anderson.

5000 Role Models of Excellence Program Hosts Annual Breakfast The 5000 Role Models of Excellence Foundation presented its 27th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Scholarship Breakfast in Miami, and ONYX Magazine was there. This breakfast is the largest of its kind in the nation with more than 2,000 guests. The 2020 theme was 400 Years: Our Legacy, Our Possibilities. The breakfast attracts a large mutli-cultural, cross-section of the community. The guests range from corporate representatives, elected officials, community organizations, religions institutions, Role Model mentors and scholarship recipients, the Wilson Scholars. Each year, the event focuses on unity, peace and to strengthen the village raising our children. During the service, guests commit to live the creed of Dr. King’s dreams throughout new year.

The 2020 headliners were Larenz Tate, actor; and Tom Joyner radio personality and philanthropist. The 5000 Role Models of Excellence Program is the creation of Congresswoman Frederica Wilson.

Community Leader Celebrates 50 Years in Action Attorney and former Florida State Senator Arthenia Joyner, Esq., was joined by more than 300 guests at Tampa’s T. Pepin Hospitality Centre in celebration of her 50 years as lawyer. The first African American female attorney in Hillsborough County, Joyner also was the first African American minority leader to serve in the Florida Senate. During the event, Joyner received the Key to Tampa from Mayor Jane Castor and immediate past Mayor Bob Buckhorn. When WFLA’s Rod Carter asked Joyner if she was finished, she answered simply, “maybe.”

Joyner was adorned with gifts by many community organizations, including Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., represented by her Sorors Charnell Williams and Janette Spencer Davis.

ONYX Magazine Honoree Receives Award Founder of the Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa, Chole Coney, is the first African-American to receive the Tampa Chamber’s prestigious Parke Wright III Award. It is presented annual to a member of Leadership Tampa Alumni who has demonstrated exceptional leadership and made a significant difference in the Tampa Bay community. Coney is a 2019 ONYX Magazine’s Woman on the Move honoree.

Chloe Coney with The Tampa Chamber President Bob Rohrlack.

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FASHION

I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar!

Three areas to unleash your inner beauty beast

By Lena Graham-Morris, The Entreprenista®

Case of the Claws – Nail frenzy is all the rage this spring Sporting Stilettos — Stiletto nails bring the drama with their extra sharp shape and incredible length.

Classic Beauty - A classic French manicure will never go out of style. Always enhance the nail to look just a hint smoother and the tips just a bit whiter.

Round the Way Girl — Short and naturally round nails work…in some instances, not even extending past the fingertips.

Positives Attract — Experiment with minimalism or negative space. Perhaps even decorate with a single line of metallic nail polish going down the middle.

Red Red Wine — Absolutely the sexiest of the 2020 nail colors is obviously red, which is timeless and seductive. Luscious and dark wine red was one of the big spring 2020 nail ideas.

50 Shades of Gray — All hail the gray polish, still an edgy shade, but it’s a little lighter and softer.

Shape Shifters – Don’t skirt the issue Wrap Skirts and Asymmetry — This season is about arches and edges. Skirts created with diagonal cuts and side cuts on the side to gives a tinge of charm. It will provide a new life to pencil skirts, maxi, and even tulip skirts. Add a shiny or metallic color.

Head of the Class — A-shaped skirt patterns bring life to spring and summer wardrobe. Plaid and monochrome skirts, straight or embroidered, matching with blouses, high-mesh sweaters, blazers, and crop-tops, will create that perfect look.

Ballet Bombshell — The tutu skirt has taken the spotlight and will continue to be a staple. Toss the ballet shoes and add platforms, bulky heels or cowboy boots.

Saturday Night Fever — The return of the disco era will blind you! Gloss and metallic are some of the boldest trends of the season.

Combine them with asymmetrical tops, and oversized retro tops.

Birds of a Feather — Only if you are ready to turn heads venture out with feathers and fringes. An ideal option for a cocktail party if you want to be the topic of conversation.

Partners in Crime – Some of this season’s most fierce accessories Sharp Edges – Rough-cut crystals and gems are in—perfectly polished is out- and the bohemian, raw look is where it is ladies.

Put a Pin in It — Boutonnières might have begun as a menswear trend in, but they’ll prove to be a must-have for women’s suiting next spring. You can also get a little flower power to add to your blouse or brim.

My Bucket List — Bucket bags, have come full circle for the new decade. They tend to be smaller than oversized shoulder bags, and a practical option for women on the go.

Under wraps - Silk scarves for the hair are gracing the runways.

Vintage-style silk scarves are replacing infinity scarves with various patterns and retro-inspired shades. Loop them around handbags or combine them with your favorite glasses to spice things up.

Chain Gang — Chunky chains; gold and bulky jewelry have made a comeback matte or brushed for less shine create an elegant finish.

However, you decide to make your mark on this decade, be fierce and fabulous as you unleash your inner beauty beast.

Lena Graham-Morris, The Entreprenista®, is the executive strategist of ONYX Magazine.

ONYX MAGAZINE 67

ON THE

QUAD A Florida A&M University (FAMU) history professor served as the model for a Rosa Parks sculpture unveiled in Montgomery, Ala., on the 64th anniversary of the day Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus. A former Miss FAMU, Kimberly Brown Pellum, Ph.D., was the model for a sculpture of Parks, whose act of civil disobedience sparked the yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott, which began Dec. 1, 1955.

“Mrs. Parks’ work is central to everything I teach. This moment was symbolic of all I hope for in preserving black women’s stories,” Brown Pellum said. “No one can ever again walk past that spot without acknowledging her. And I got to be a part of it. It’s truly a dream, but also a profound reminder that we all have an unending role in safeguarding and narrating the journeys of our ancestors.”

An assistant professor of history in the College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Brown Pellum was working at the Rosa Parks Museum at Troy University in Montgomery last summer when sculptor Clydetta Fulmer asked Museum Director Felicia Bell, Ph.D., to recommend a model to help her create a monument to the late civil rights icon.

Trying to get Parks’ distinctive hairstyle was one of the trickiest aspects of the project, Fulmer said. She looked at “Life Magazine” photographs from the day Parks took her victory ride on the Montgomery public bus to decide the hairstyle for the monument. She also got help from an 86-year-old Montgomery hairdresser who used to style Coretta Scott King’s hair in the 1950s.

The monument was unveiled at a Dec.1 ceremony in Montgomery.

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Kimberly Brown Pellum, Ph.D., stands with the statue of Rosa Parks.

photo courtesy of FAMU

FAMU Professor Serves As Model For Rosa Parks Sculpture

B-CU President Featured on FOX Business News FOX News Contributor, television personality, and author Charles Payne, hosted Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) President E. LaBrent Chrite, Ph.D., on “Making Money with Charles Payne,” which aired Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, during the 2 p.m. EST hour. Chrite shared his perspective on the role that B-CU and other HBCUs continue to assume in contributing to economic wealth creation for tens of thousands of students and families across the U.S. and around the world.

Payne’s highly rated show gives viewers an end-of-day wrap and provides an insider’s look at tomorrow’s moneymakers. Payne joined FOX Business Network (FBN) in October 2007 as a contributor. He frequently appears on shows such as Your World with Neil Cavuto and Fox & Friends. He began his career on Wall Street as an analyst at E.F. Hutton in 1985. In 1991, he founded Wall Street Strategies, an independent stock market research firm where he serves as chief executive officer and principal analyst. He published his first book titled “Be Smart, Act Fast, Get Rich” in May 2007. Payne attended Minot State College and Central Texas College during his time in the United States Air Force.

UNCF Applauds Passage of Student Borrower Credit Improvement Act Act would provide greater flexibility for private student loan borrowers

By Khalilah Long In January, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3621, the Student Borrower Credit Improvement Act. This bill was led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both who serve on the House Committee on Financial Services. The Act, passed on the House floor by a vote of 221 to 189, seeks to safeguard a borrower’s credit by not allowing any consumer reporting agency to furnish a consumer report containing any adverse item of information relating to a delinquent or defaulted private education loan of a borrower, as long as certain requirements are met.

“The passage of H.R. 3621 is a good step in the right direction for creating flexibility for our private student loan borrowers,” said Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF. “Black student loan borrowers take out more loans, and at higher rates, due to the inequities found in the black community. For instance, the black community is continually faced with being paid lower salaries in the job market and being employed at lower rates, even with a college degree, leading to higher defaults on their loans compared to their white peers. This reality impacts household incomes of black families, resulting in the increased need of their children to rely on student financial aid. In addition to that, because a larger percentage of students at HBCUs are low-income and first-generation, they take on more debt than their peers at other institutions, to include private student loan debt. In fact, a report released by UNCF found that 12 percent of bachelor’s degree recipients at HBCUs borrowed a combination of federal, state and private loans, compared to only eight percent of non-HBCU graduates.” The report can be found at cdn.uncf.org.

“Student loan borrowers should not be penalized for financing their education, especially if they are low-income and have no outside support. Federal student loans provide greater flexibility for borrowers when it comes to repayment and the private student loan industry needs to step it up,” said Lomax.

H.R. 3621 was introduced in July 2019 and will allow borrowers who are delinquent or have defaulted on a private loan to rehabilitate their credit by making nine on-time monthly payments within a period of 10 consecutive months. Grace periods are given to borrowers who encounter certain unforeseen circumstances.

The text of this piece of legislation can be found on Congress.gov.

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FOOD AND WINE

A TASTE FOR CHAMPAGNE Usually, when you think of champagne, a special celebration comes to mind—wedding, birthday, anniversary. But many like sipping the bubbly for no special reason at all. According to The Spruce Eats, champagnes can be categorized this way: Extra Brut - made with extremely low levels of sugar, resulting in a bone—dry style Brut - tastes quite dry on the palate Extra Dry - usually slightly sweeter than brut Sec - French for “dry” or “lean,” has a slightly sweet taste Demi-Sec - Literally “half-dry,” tastes moderately sweet Doux - “Sweet” in French, this champagne style is quite sweet No matter your style, you can always get with your girls and make it a party with champagne. Today, wineries are adding special flavors to champagne to give it an extra saucy flair: berries and spices usually do the trick. If you want to take it up another notch, try this fun champagne cocktail for an evening in with your friends!

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Champagne Cocktail Ingredients 9cl Champagne 1 cl cognac 2 dashes Bitters 1 sugar cube Preparation Add dash of bitters onto sugar cube and drop it into a champagne flute.

Add cognac followed by gently pouring chilled champagne. Garnish with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry.