World War II nurse and inventor Bessie Blount is best known for creating a device for disabled veterans to feed themselves. Not only did Blount give away her invention, but her work spearheaded the development of assistive devices for people with disabilities for years to come. Who is Bessie Blount? Bessie Blount Griffin was born in Hickory, Virginia, in 1914. She attended Diggs Chapel Elementary School, established at the end of the Civil War, to educate the children of free Black people, formerly enslaved people, and Native Americans. Blount’s early
Kenyan content moderators who removed harmful content produced by OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, have petitioned the country’s lawmakers to investigate the nature of their work. The petitioners are calling for an investigation into the “nature of the work, the conditions of the work, and the operations” of the Big Tech companies that outsource services in Kenya through companies like Sama. Sama has been hit with several litigations on alleged exploitation, union-busting, and illegal mass layoffs of content moderators. The workers are asking lawmakers to “regulate the outsourcing of harmful and dangerous
OnlyFans CEO Amrapali “Ami” Gan took to Twitter to announce she is leaving OnlyFans and launching a new venture. Who is Ami Gan? Mumbai-born marketing expert Ami Gan spent 18 months as the CEO of OnlyFans, an online adult platform where people can pay for content (photos, videos, live streams) through a monthly subscription. During her time there, the platform reached the landmark milestone of paying $10 billion in creator earnings. During Gan’s tenure as CEO, from December 2021 to June 2023, the company saw its global user base increase
A Black TikToker has built a machine-learning algorithm that translates Kenyan sign language into audible language. What Has She Developed? The TikToker, under the username @Mrembo, uses mathematical instructions to translate different sign language dialects. She took to TikTok to show a quick demonstration of the process. “First things first, I had no idea about anything to do with machine learning,” she explained, as she was initially unfamiliar with the type of AI. With the help of YouTube and a machine-learning course, the creator learned to build her machine-learning model. “We
Atlanta’s Black-founded and centered membership club, The Gathering Spot, has allegedly fired one of their Black co-founders, TK Petersen. What Is The Gathering Spot? The Gathering Spot is a private membership network focused on the Black community and was created to support its members in making connections while gaining business experiences. Ryan Wilson, a Georgetown Law School attendee, and TK Petersen, a former Portfolio Manager at Fannie Mae, co-founded the Gathering Spot. Their goal was to foster a community that would gather a diverse mix of individuals, including entrepreneurs, creatives,
Capital One Business is partnering with Boss Women Media for the Black Magic Reimagined Summit Pitch Competition, providing $50,000, $30,000 and $20,000 grants to three women-owned small businesses. What is Black Girl Magic Summit? The Black Girl Magic Summit is a prominent digital summit for start-up entrepreneurs and thriving women in the corporate world who plan to elevate and make an impact. Produced by Boss Women Media, they aim to equip, empower and educate Black women for the changing business and leadership landscape. The in-person event will occur in Dallas, Texas,
Seven months after terminating the contracts of almost all its staff in Accra, Ghana, Twitter has yet to provide its African former employees with severance pay or benefits. What Happened? At the end of last year, Musk laid off employees of Twitter Africa as part of a global cost-cutting measure. The Twitter team in Ghana had just opened their first-ever physical office when the team woke up to find they had been locked out of their emails and work laptops. They were also told over email that their contracts were being
A new study by Communia has revealed that Black women are twice as likely to experience cyber-flashing as white women. Cyber-flashing is the act of sending obscene pictures to people online without their consent, usually through messaging or social media apps. In addition to feeling upset and unsafe, victims of cyberflashing report longer-term impacts on their mental well-being. The extent of Cyber-flashing Over 2,000 women and marginalized genders in the U.K. who use social media were surveyed to find out their experiences online. The report, The exposé on women’s and marginalized
According to a survey by ResumeBuilder.com, 72% of Black Americans feel that going back to the office has improved their productivity. Nevertheless, the majority (65%) said they prefer to work from the office less frequently. The Return to Office Some companies and businesses in the US are allowing their employees to continue working from home following the Covid-19 pandemic. However, there has been an increase in companies requiring workers to return to the office. In June, ResumeBuilder.com surveyed 1,500 full-time, corporate workers and found that 85% of workers go to the
Acting White House National Cyber Director Kemba Walden has been told she won’t be considered to serve the role permanently, due to personal debt issues, despite praises and recommendations from key lawmakers and her predecessor. Who is Kemba Walden? Congress created the Office of the National Cyber Director in 2021 to advise the president on cybersecurity policy and strategy. Walden joined the office the following year and has acted as the national cyber director since February. In her role, she oversaw the rollout of the administration’s national cyber strategy and
