Abess Makki created CityInsights, an app that gives Detroit residents an easier option for paying their water bills. His technology runs the portal, allowing customers to register accounts; make or schedule payments; use a guest pay feature; monitor payment and account history; view and track water usage; and arrange a payment plan. This helps cities collect more revenue by improving communication with their customers. It also helps both parties by promoting better consumer habits.
After the passing of her father in May 2014, a then seven-year-old, Amaya wanted to help kids deal with grief. That help came in the form of a picture book co-written by herself and her mother, Angela. “A Place Far Away” features an eight-year-old named Mackayla, who found out about the death of her father directly after a dance recital. Mackayla refuses to dance ever again but after a mystical journey led by a lightning bug named Sparkie to find the rest of the charms to a bracelet left by her father, she finds the strength to continue on.
Bianca Vobecky has become one of the most sought-after entrepreneurs in Los Angeles after turning a trucking business that she operated out of her house into a multi-million-dollar construction company. The construction company builds commercial buildings along with federal government buildings, including court houses and homeland security. The company also builds for utility companies.
Real estate, banking, working on Wall Street, broadcast journalism, creator of non-profit organization, Mother of Many, 2007 Apple Distinguished Educator, 2011 Microsoft Innovative Educator, 2012 Microsoft Innovative Trainer and recognized by former President Obama as a White House Champion of Change, Daphne Bradford is an official presidential candidate for 2020. Bradford’s primary focuses as a 2020 Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party are healthcare, education and women’s rights. She also wants to tackle issues of police violence, immigration reform and to inspire her students and young people of color to get politically involved and make their voice heard.
Dawn Patton is the owner of Try My T, which has made a name for itself as a powerhouse brand after receiving the People’s Choice Award at the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas, defeating 13 other iced teas on the market. Try My T also took home the Bronze Medal at the Global Tea Championship in 2017. Prior to Patton taking over the company, her daughter, Darrah, was the owner. Darrah created Try My T in 2014, so that she could have money as a college student to offset some of her college tuition and living expenses. Patton is the first and currently the only local Black female iced tea vendor to secure a placement in two Los Angeles sports stadiums. She is joining the wave of women of color who are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in America. Try My T has been invited to sell the tea during the Los Angeles Rams football games at the coliseum for the 2018-2019 season.
Media entrepreneur Dévon Johnson celebrates Black culture with his digital and print magazines. His first publication, Bleu Magazine, came out of some frustration in Johnson’s career in the music industry. Bleu Magazine was a magazine that would celebrate Black men who are entrepreneurs, creatives and professionals. There is also content on men’s style, grooming and current events. Bombshell celebrates women for being smart, creative and bold entrepreneurs. There are aspects of beauty and style on the website, but the mission is to celebrate women for their inner-qualities and brave actions. Bleu Magazine is online and on social media outlets including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Johnson spreads his network further with his Connect-Us panel events. These events connect creatives with people who work behind the scenes like lawyers, marketers and branding agents. It also has a goal to connect Millennials and Generation X.
In 2010, Dr. Bill Releford had made incredible strides in his medical career: nationally known as a foot and ankle surgeon, invited by former President Barack Obama to the White House Superbowl Party after learning about Releford’s Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program, being featured on CNN, “The View,” “NBC Nightly News” and in Black Enterprise. Unfortunately, he was indicted for falsely acquiring a business loan 13 years earlier and sentenced to federal prison for 24 months. Releford took full responsibility for his actions and since his release from prison, regained his medical license with his practice intact and growing, thanks to the assistance of his business associate, entertainment executive Vanzil Burke, who managed Releford’s company during his incarceration. Releford states that his rebound was based on techniques he developed to get his life back on track. Those methods are outlined in his book, “R to the 3rd Power – Restore, Redefine and Re-launch – How to Find Peace and Prosperity Inside Adversity.”
Even with her father being incarcerated and losing her mother to illness, Ja’Nay Carter rose above the odds. After her mother’s passing, Carter and her siblings lived with their extended family, which included their godmother, grandmother, and aunt. With the support of her family, Carter used adversity as a tool to motivate and drive her to excel academically, which allowed her to rise as a top scholar in school. Over time, she maintained a 4.1 GPA all while taking care of her siblings. In December of 2017, Carter’s hard work payed off and was awarded a $10,000 Beat the Odds scholarship from the California Children’s Defense Fund to help further her college education.Carter has taken the advice of “never giving up” and applied that to setting future goals for herself.
An alumni of Dorsey high school and Washington State University, Jeremiah Allison had a passion for law. When he did not get an NFL contract, he attended Mitchell Hamline School of Law. He worked for a Washington senator, volunteered with different organizations, and played football in Italy.
Joann Boyd is a nurse in the Neurology Department at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center, meeting the needs of the community every day. She was the recipient of the Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nurses in 2013 and 2015.
Jordan Peele stepped into the record books when he took home his first Oscar for “Get Out,” marking him as the fourth African American to be nominated for Best Original Screenplay and first to take home the coveted trophy.
From working as an attorney to serving as the director of the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Reentry, Kimberley Baker Guillemet was appointed to a judgeship in the Los Angeles County Superior Court by California Governor Jerry Brown.
Kinyah Bean is the 9-years-old CEO of her own company, B Chill Lemonade, LLC and author of “Chillin’ My Way To Success,” a story that follows her life, family, the origin of her business and how her faith has helped her to pursue her dreams. Challenged by her father Demetrius Braddock at 6-years-old to start a business by the age of ten, Bean rose to the occasion, becoming an entrepreneur. At eight years-old, she began taking guitar lessons when her mom, Valerie Braddock, reminded her of the family’s tight budget. Kinyah took it upon herself to earn money to take the lessons by making lemonade with her own special recipe. Bean manages her education with honor roll grades.
Kyle-Kyson Clark is one step closer to becoming the “modern day Dr. Seuss.” The 26-year-old, Florida native and children’s book author is the 2018 winner of the 2nd annual Hyundai and Taste of Soul giveaway. The journalism major began working with youth after getting certified. Clark felt the kids in the classroom weren’t receiving the proper motivation and he saw how much they gravitated towards his instruction and interaction. Clark wrote a children’s book last year and has been sharing it with friends, family and kids around Los Angeles ever since. Clark’s book, titled “Yes!You Will Be Great!” is a rhythmic and inspirational read that even teens and adults can relate to. Clark is already receiving good feedback from his supporters and officially release the book in November.
Lamont Carey served 11 years in prison for armed robbery along with selling guns and drugs. Despite this, he turned his situation around to share lessons with others. His first book, “The Hill,” was a hit in prison and when Carey was released. A poet, he started recording his poetry and became popular on the poetry scene, so popular that he received a call from Russel Simmons, himself, to be on the television show, “Def Poetry Jam.” Spoken word poetry became Carey’s first major platform. Once Carey had a following, he decided to publish “The Hill,” which became a three-part fiction series about life in prison. Carey also worked with a school district in Albany, N.Y. to publish a poetry book for students to use in class along with a book about using art to be an entrepreneur. His latest novel, “Dead Before 18,” guides young men in finding positive ways to handle anger and stay out of trouble. Carey also does motivational speaking and runs two companies: LaCarey Enterprises, focuses on helping youth express themselves though art, literature and spoken word and Contact Visits, which helps formerly incarcerated people transition back into society. One of Carey’s main goals is to improve the criminal justice system. While he has been fortunate with success, he realizes everything that is stacked against criminals, even after serving their time.
Lauren Simmons is the only full-time, female stockbroker working on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange and is the second African American woman to sign the book that contains the constitution for the New York Stock Exchange.
Lizzy Morris has been through ups-and-downs, but has persevered in becoming the first Black woman to be a certified Scrum Trainer. Overcoming depression after the company she worked for went bankrupt, Morris started a method that she teaches today, which is making affirmation cards. Morris went on to build her own training company, Bearded Eagle, and is now a certified Scrum trainer. This gives Morris the ability to train people on project management all over the world. She has been to India, Dubai, Singapore and more training businesses, coaching individual lives and giving her life testimony.
App developer and HI-TAPO (pronounced hi-toppo) company CEO, Martin Whitehead, is changing the game when it comes to criminal justice with the HI-TAPO app. HI-TAPO is a new and free mobile app for Android phones, which recently launched as a pilot program. It is an innovative monitoring and social networking system designed to provide immediate support for individuals interacting with law enforcement, promote safety during stops, protect against potential rights violations, foster greater law enforcement accountability and assist in community-building.
Milan Zoe is the owner of her own production company, Liform Film-N-Sound, which has produced content for brands such as BET and its Genius Talks platform, The Shade Room as well as music videos for celebrities such as Kenny Lattimore and Tisha Campbell-Martin. Known as the “Olivia Pope of Entertainment” for her keen ability to connect people and brands, Milan Zoe certainly has grounds to boast as the young entrepreneur making money moves in Hollywood.
Mona Clayton, MSN, RN and CEO of Nurses 2 Rock Pub and The Nurses Pub Foundation held the “Walking the Red Carpet to A Successful Nursing Career,” which aimed to promote success in the job market and get away from the mentality of getting a job and more about having a career. Clayton wants to introduce the community to the lucrative world of nursing and how lives are transformed for families— especially single mothers.
With a growing reputation that preceded her, Naleisha Webb has positioned herself as a skilled cook and businesswoman with Nay’s Tacos Inc., which is more than a side hustle, but a business that now caters animated birthday parties for children and plans extravagant weddings and special events for adults. The L.A. eatery on wheels provides an appealing menu that fuses traditional Mexican cuisine with other gastronomic varieties.
Nyakio Kamoche Grieco opened her skin-care line, Nyakio, when she realized that the sophistication of Africa was missing in the cosmetics industry. The entrepreneur wants all women to know about the benefits of using clean and green beauty, specifically cold-pressed oils, to treat the skin. They are cruelty-free, vegan and free of parabens, sulfates, phthalates, butylene glycol, and formaldehyde.
Richard Taylor is the owner of Harrison Blake Apparel, an online company that allows customers to purchase neckties, bow ties, silk pocket squares, and much more in a variety of colors, patterns, prints, and materials. Harrison Blake Apparel offers high quality men’s accessories and a variety of products for gentlemen at a reasonable price.
Sade Meeks is the author of “One Pantry Meals,” which includes recipes that use ingredients commonly found at local food pantries. With her published cookbook, Meeks hopes to help college students learn how to effectively utilize the funds available to them to eat well. She is optimistic that the book will expose readers to different ways of preparing healthy meals. Meeks earned a Bachelor of Science in Culinary Arts from Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, Mississippi. Later, she worked for the Wesley Youth Foundation, where she taught nutrition classes to kids in a rural area. In May 2018, she earned her Master of Science in Nutritional Science from Cal State LA and plans on being a registered dietitian.
Shannon Sullivan is a Howard University College of Medicine candidate for the class of 2020. She is making a difference in the medical field of Neonatology, which is a subspecialty of pediatrics involved in the care of newborns, including those who were born prematurely and have congenital diseases, among a wide array of other illness and diseases. Sullivan is studying to help make sure new generations survive their entry into this world.
Tavere Johnson Jr. has established himself as an author, creative entrepreneur and a forward thinker. Johnson describes himself as “Your Average Genius,” or “YAG” for short, which also happens to be the title of his new book. “YAG – Your Average Genius,” is for the budding businessperson, the titan of the industry or even the everyday go-getter. At just 21, Johnson founded his first lead generation call center with a group of partners, and later he used his own capital to start a healthcare lead generation agency call center, which he said is currently valued at more than $4 million.
Terell and Marisa Johnson have put together a space for entrepreneurs and creatives of Los Angeles to bring their ideas to life in the heart of Inglewood. LA Create Sp_ce is a two story, 2600 square feet building in the Market Street District that has everything from conference rooms to cameras and green screens, along with high-speed Wi-Fi throughout the building. The couple was looking for office spaces for themselves as Terell worked as an engineer for Snapchat and Marisa worked in marketing for Apple. Originally, they were saving for a house, but after seeing different buildings in Inglewood, the Johnsons thought that they should create a business that can be an office space for multiple people.
Tia Norfleet is breaking down barriers in a sport where having sufficient finances is more of a necessity than in other sports. Being the first African-American woman to be licensed by both NASCAR and ARCA, the Automobile Racing Club of America, has helped Norfleet’s marketability in securing some sponsorship. Though there has been some controversy about Norfleet being the first African-American female NASCAR driver, what is undisputed is the fact that she is the first to be licensed.
Violet Palmer became the first ever female referee to officiate in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In fact, Palmer was the first ever female official across any major U.S. professional sport. What started out as a training experiment turned into a nearly 20-year career for Palmer as a trailblazer in NBA officiating. She debuted her NBA officiating career with a game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Vancouver Grizzlies. She went on to officiate 54 games that season. In total, Palmer has officiated 919 NBA games, which included nine postseason games over the course of her career. She became the first woman to oversee an NBA postseason game in 2006, Game 2; first-round of the Eastern Conference matchup between the Indiana Pacers and then-New Jersey Nets. Palmer’s retirement from NBA officiating in 2016 has allowed her to be present to revel in all of her accolades. Palmer is currently the coordinator of Women’s Basketball Officials for the Pac 12 Conference, the West Coast Conference (WCC) and the Western Athletic Conference.
Tahira Aliya Page is an international dancer, who uses her passion for dance as a means to give back to her community, West Los Angeles/ Little Ethiopia. With 32 years of experience as a dancer, having trained in private dance studios in California, Europe, and South America, Page now dedicates her time to mentoring, volunteering, and teaching dance lessons to young girls of color in her dance studio, Project 18Fourty.
