C E L E B R AT I N G B L AC K AC H I E V E M E N T T H RO U G H O U T F L O R I DA
VOLUME 25 ISSUE 1 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022
BLACK HISTORY MONTH FOCUS ON HEALTH & WELLNESS Michael Brown, CEO, Travel + Leisure Co.
PARTNERSHIP
THE GREAT RESIGNATION
CHECK YOUR MONEY BEFORE YOU QUIT
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
5 WAYS TO STAY ON TRACK IN 2022
TRAVEL + LEISURE JOIN EATONVILLE FOR STUDENT SUCCESS
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CONTENTS 6 Masthead/Publisher
Celebrating 25 years of Black Excellence!
7 Black History
2022 Black History theme focused on health and wellness
8 Black History
Medical pioneers
10 Florida Scope
Information from the sunshine state
12 Travel
North Florida museums
14 Relationships
Black Love
18 Music & Entertainment Razzie – Rebirth
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20 Health & Wellness
Keeping a healthy weight
23 Perspective
Stick to your schedule in the new year
24 Medically Speaking
The nursing shortage hurts patients
26 ONYX on the Move
ONYX in the community
27 The Quad
Stories that impact Black students
28 Education
Why Black male mentors make sense
30 SAGE
Tips to prepare for retirement
31 Workplace
Good company culture
33 Business
How small businesses can attract and retain employees
34 Money Matters
The Great Resignation
36 Personal Finance
Building generational wealth
38 Community
Civic engagement matters
40 Mentors
5000 Role Models stay true to vision
42 King Holiday
Tampa honors community heroes
43 ONYX Reads
New books for new year
45 Environment
Pollution found mostly in minority communities
46 Cover Feature
Travel + Leisure Join Eatonville for Student Success
49 Real Estate
What the numbers look like in 2022
51 Fashion
What to wear this winter
52 Mindfulness
How to take care of your stress
53 ONYX Profile
Fred Hearns
54 Food & Wine
Champagne vs. Sparkling Wine
COVER STORY
PARTNERSHIP
Travel + Leisure Join Eatonville for Student Success
On cover: Michael Brown, the president and CEO of Travel + Leisure Co., welcomes kids back to Hungerford Elementary School in Eatonville with backpacks filled with necessities. Cover photo courtesy of Travel + Leisure Co.
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Keynote Speaker Dr. Paulette Walker 25th National President Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
SERVICE
COMMUNITY HEROES HONORED
The Dr. Martin Luther King Parade Foundation was formed in the year 2014 to expand, improve and strengthen efforts to make the City of Tampa’s Martin Luther King Day Parade an event the city could be proud of year after year—carrying on a 33-year tradition. Each year, the Parade Foundation sets aside some portion of the proceeds from fees and donations to provide scholarships to a diverse set of deserving high school students. The Foundation also recognizes community leaders who go beyond the call to make Hillsborough County better. This year, ONYX Magazine is a sponsor of the event. The 2022 Community Honorees are: SHERRI BROWN Sherri T. Brown is the vice-president of Multicultural Sales & Development with Visit Tampa Bay. Sherri has been in the Hospitality Industry for 36 years. Sherri displays courage, selflessness, humility, patience and caring in all organizations in which she serves. Sherri’s success over the past 12 years has successfully made a strong impact at Visit Tampa Bay with an instrumental role in bringing the largest events, conventions, and meetings to Tampa. In 2019 she was award ONYX Magazine’s Women on the Move award. She is involved with her community and an Honorary Past Imperial Commandress (HPIC) of Harram Court No.96 Daughters, an auxiliary of the AEAONMS; in Leadership Tampa Class of 2022; Women in Tourism; and the National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners, and on the board of directors of Cristo Rey High School, and MLK Foundation Parade.
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY SHERIFF CHAD CHRONISTER A veteran law enforcement officer, Sheriff Chad Chronister has served with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office for the past 28 years. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy's 260th Session. He became the top law enforcement officer in Hillsborough County on September 30, 2017, upon his appointment by Governor Rick Scott, was elected by the citizens of Hillsborough County on November 6, 2018, and overwhelmingly re-elected on November 3, 2020. He is Co-Chairman of the Regional Domestic Security Task Force for Region IV Tampa Bay, Council Member of the Florida Attorney General’s Statewide Council on Human Trafficking and Chairman of the Criminal Justice Sub-Committee, Vice-Chairman of the Hillsborough County Public Safety Coordinating Council, and Vice-Chairman of Hillsborough County Public Schools Citizen Oversight Committee.
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DR. MARK T. JONES Dr. Mark T. Jones Sr. is the senior leader and founder of Manifestations Worldwide, Inc., Dr. Jones was born again in 1992, called and licensed to the gospel ministry in 1994, ordained as a church Elder in 1997, and consecrated as an Apostle in 2004. Dr. Jones was directed of the Lord to establish a church, and the first service was held on July 15, 2001. Dr. Jones has been in upper-level management for over 32 years, and teaches leaders how to live debt-free, and to operate debt-free corporations. Armed with an anointing to destroy the spirit of religion, to break the vice of traditionalism, and determined to make a difference in the lives of people, Dr. Jones launched “The Center for Manifestation” and the local outreach of the church, Manifestation City. Manifestation City is a sprawling operations campus currently comprised 14 buildings serving educational, housing, spiritual, and social service needs in the community.
CELESTE ROBERTS Celeste Roberts is the president and executive director of The Skills Center, a nonprofit organization she co-founded with partners Chris Ward and John Arroyo in 2007. The sport-based youth development & education non-profit organization intentionally utilizes the power of sports to create change through academic success, life skills, and mentoring for youth ages 3 to 18. Roberts is eager to help young people learn how to transfer lessons learned through athletics to everyday life—just as she learned by participating in high school sports. Roberts is scaling the organization and spearheading a $13M+ development facility project to create equity in education, health and job training for young people in Tampa. Roberts has received the Tampa Bay Lightning Community Hero Award and was recognized as Tampa Organization of Black Affairs (TOBA) Martin Luther King Jr.’s Unsung Hero, and Bay News 9’s Everyday Hero.
ONYX READS
NEW YEAR, NEW READS BOOKS WE ANTICIPATE IN 2022
WHAT THE FIREFLIES KNEW By Kai Harris After her father dies of an overdose and the debts incurred from his addiction cause the loss of the family home in Detroit, almost-eleven-year-old Kenyatta Bernice (KB) and her teenage sister, Nia, are sent by their overwhelmed mother to live with their estranged grandfather in Lansing. Over the course of a single, sweltering summer, KB attempts to get her bearings in a world that has turned upside down: with family and friends keeping secrets. Pinballing between resentment, abandonment, and loneliness, KB is forced to carve out a different identity for herself and find her own voice. As she examines the jagged pieces of her recently shattered world, she learns that while some truths cut deep, a new life—and a new KB—can be built from the shards.
YONDER By Jabari Asim They call themselves the Stolen. Their owners call them captives. They are taught their captors’ tongues and their beliefs but they have a language and rituals all their own. In a world that would be allegorical if it weren’t saturated in harsh truths, Cato and William meet at Placid Hall, a plantation in an unspecified part of the American South. Subject to the whims of their tyrannical and eccentric captor, Cannonball Greene, they never know what harm may befall them: inhumane physical toil in the plantation’s quarry by day, a beating by night, or the sale of a loved one at any moment. It’s that cruel practice—the wanton destruction of love, the belief that Black people aren’t even capable of loving—that hurts the most.
NONE BUT THE RIGHTEOUS By Chantal James “None But the Righteous” is a southern gothic fever dream, a voodoo-laced journey through the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Set adrift when the storm ravages his hometown of New Orleans, 19-year-old Ham struggles to find himself. He’s in limbo on a Greyhound somewhere between the Atlanta home of a childhood friend he’s idolized and the rural Alabama home of the young woman he met—the mother of his child—as they scrambled to find shelter. Ham navigates his new circumstances under the influence of a saint whose relic was given to him by his foster mother when he was very young. He seeks the answer to a question he cannot face: did his foster mother survive? Soon, Ham catches sight of a freedom he’s never known–and he must reclaim his body and mind from the spirit who watches over him, guides him, and seizes possession of him.
THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY By Brenden Slocumb Ray McMillian loves playing the violin more than anything, and nothing will stop him from pursuing his dream of becoming a professional musician. Not his mother, who thinks he should get a real job, not the fact that he can't afford a high-caliber violin, not the racism inherent in the classical music world. And when he makes the startling discovery that his great-grandfather's fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, his star begins to rise. Then with the international Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music—fast approaching, his prized family heirloom is stolen. Ray is determined to get it back. But now his family and the descendants of the man who once enslaved Ray's great-grandfather are each claiming that the violin belongs to them. With the odds stacked against him and the pressure mounting, will Ray ever see his beloved violin again?
PAGE TURNER CELL TO SUCCESS By Chance Boyd Florida author Chance L. Boyd gives readers an intense glimpse into his life with the release of his debut book, “Cell To Success: A Journey of True Liberation.” The action-packed, page turner offers 62 chapters of vivid imagery and addictive story telling right out of the gate. The readers follow Chance’s life as a child, discrete criminal, eventual prisoner and finally what he describes as a success. While Chance understands the consequences of his actions, he doesn’t regret them. “Potential wasn’t keeping my mama’s heat on, my hustle was” he said. Chance was the man of the house and ultimately succumbed to the pressures of society.
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