Blair Matthews, a Howard alumnus from Zanzibar, and Giuliana Zaccardelli founded a digital health startup with a mission to provide fertility services to families. Zuri Fertility Zuri Fertility was launched in honor of Infertility Awareness Month as a personal digital fertility clinic in June, Zuri meaning good and beautiful in Swahili. They provide personalized fertility care with an online questionnaire to meet each individual need, a home testing tracker for both partners involved, a message center, and a larger community for the couple to get support from others. It also
Maria Watkins, a 64-year-old HBCU graduate, and former social worker, founded RightThereCorportation and has launched the first ever Black-owned app, RTC ProTech, with a 24/7 call center to minimize police brutality and hate crimes. RTC Protech App RightThere Corporation advocates that both innocent citizens and police officers return home safely. While they support Law Enforcement in their duties to serve and protect communities, they are firmly against police misconduct and the lack of transparency between the Police Departments and the community, along with the lack of de-escalation training. “All individuals
Isaac Hayes III has launched Fanbase, a social media platform designed to enable Black creators to cultivate their audiences and monetize their contributions effectively. An often-observed reality in the social media world is the lack of acknowledgment and monetary reward for Black creators, even when they are the originators of significant trends. A notable instance is when the viral TikTok renegade dance was mistakenly attributed to TikToker Charli D’Amelio, overlooking the actual creator, Jalaiah Harmon. Unfortunately, this extends beyond viral dances. From fashion trends and online ideas to music, the
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent halt to Affirmative Action in college admissions, 13 Republican attorney generals have turned their sights towards corporate diversity programs, with tech giant Microsoft amongst their targets. The Lead-Up Tech industry titans such as Apple, Microsoft, and Uber are facing potential legal ramifications as Republican state prosecutors target their workforce diversity programs. This comes in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, a tragic event that catalyzed these companies to publicly commit to enhancing diversity within their ranks. Their ambitious commitments include plans to
A trio of Black fraternity members have teamed up to create Greektory, an app to help members of Greek organizations connect, interact, and collaborate. Building relationships through Greektory Greektory founders Ronard Green, Matthew Plunkett, and Bruson Ovil, all members of prominent Black fraternities, wanted to bridge communication gaps within and between chapters. Their digital app is aimed at networking, event planning, and community engagement. For example, the networking feature enables users to filter members based on information gathered during onboarding, such as industry, location, and year they joined the organization.
The ALIVE Podcast Network and Riverside.FM have partnered to launch the Riverside Black Creative HUB – Powered by ALIVE. Drawing on the expertise of both companies, the new platform aims to empower Black creatives to form a community and innovate. The home of Black voices The ALIVE Podcast Network is the first Black-woman-owned podcast network to build its own tech stack with production, distribution, and training to help Black podcast creators monetize, amplify and maintain ownership of their content. “ALIVE is to Podcasting what Tyler Perry Studios is for film
Virgin Galactic’s spaceflight “Galactic 02” will fly three passengers to space, including the first Caribbean astronauts, mother-daughter duo Keisha Schahaff, 46, and Anastatia Mayers, 18. Galactic 02 Virgin Galactic is an aerospace and space travel company pioneering human spaceflight for private individuals and researchers with its advanced air and space vehicles. Its seventh spaceflight, and second commercial spaceflight, Galactic 02, will fly three private passengers to space, Jon Goodwin, Keisha Schahaff, and Anastasia Mayers. Mother-daughter duo Schahaff and Mayers won seats in a draw that raised funds for the non-profit
The Washington Post has sparked controversy after publishing an article based on an “interview” with an AI Harriet Tubman. While seen by the creators as an innovative way to engage with history, many have labeled the move unethical and exploitative. AI Article Writer Gillian Brokell interviewed an AI version of American abolitionist and social activist Harriet Tubman using the online educator Khan Academy’s new AI learning tool Khanmigo. Khanmigo uses Chat4 technology to enable live chats with multiple simulated historical figures, such as Winston Churchill. “I was curious to see what would
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
