Actress Kerry Washington joined Equip Health, a startup that supports people with eating disorders, as an investor and advisor, Fortune reports. Equip Health has raised $110 million from other angel investors, including Katie Couric and soccer celeb Alex Morgan. Equip provides users with virtual appointments with experts, including therapists, doctors, dietitians, family, and peer mentors. Washington opened up about her eating disorder in her memoir Thicker Than Water. She spoke about her struggles with binge eating and severe food restriction, often not consuming food for several days or obsessively exercising.
Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown announced his latest initiative, Oakland XChange, which will support underrepresented business owners and creators in Oakland. This initiative follows the success of his nonprofit Boston XChange (BXC), where he also created similar opportunities for underrepresented business owners, according to Boston Celtics. What is Oakland XChange? Similar to his first nonprofit, Oakland XChange will provide underrepresented creators in Oakland with $100,000 in grant funding, workspaces, and business services valued at more than $150,000. The entrepreneurs will also be offered three years of coaching and receive assistance
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, announced it will end its commitment to DEI, according to The Guardian. Executives at CZI told staff workers on Tuesday evening that it would end its internal and external DEI efforts, as stated in an internal email and other messages. The announcement came despite Zuckerberg’s recent assurances that the for-profit charity organization’s longstanding support for DEI remained unchanged. “Given the shifting regulatory and legal landscape, we will no longer have a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility team at
At 17, Omarion Calloway received 21 college offers and $1.3 million in scholarships; it’s an achievement that any teenager should be proud of. What makes this accomplishment more outstanding is that he did it while navigating grief, instability, and the responsibility of caring for his family members since childhood. For this reason, Calloway has launched WeRiseLoud, a platform committed to giving caregivers, survivors, and marginalized communities a voice. The platform will provide caregivers with the tools they need to move forward. It will be a hub for inspiring stories and art to
Undocumented migrants were among the many workers employed to help build Telsa and SpaceX facilities just outside of Austin, TX, despite Elon Musk’s call for stricter immigration policies, a Bloomberg investigation has revealed. Bloomberg Businessweek interviewed labor advocates, contract managers, and ten undocumented workers employed by third-party contractors. To verify their ties to Tesla and SpaceX, Businessweek reviewed site photos and videos taken by employees and confirmed details through family and friends. Undocumented migrant labor at Tesla and SpaceX Undocumented workers have reportedly been a regular part of Tesla’s workforce
Shopify has removed Kanye West’s online shop because of the risk of fraud, not because it was selling swastika shirts, as stated by an internal staff announcement acquired by The Logic. Shopify’s general counsel Jess Hertz posted a message on Slack saying that West’s swastika-emblazoned T-shirt that was listed for sale was “a stunt” and “not a good faith attempt to make money.” She added that it “brought with it the real risk of fraud. It was for this reason that the store had been closed.” Shopify sells swastika shirts On
We know that Black businesses are underrepresented in the business world; however, the number of Black-owned businesses in the US has spiked, according to a study by LendingTree. The study also found that Black-owned businesses are more likely to be led by women. While women run one-fifth (22.3%) of all US businesses, they lead two-fifths (39.1%) of Black-owned businesses—nearly twice the national average. Additionally, it found that Atlanta is the hub for Black-owned businesses for the third year running. The percentage of Black businesses is growing in the US. The
DEI is the buzzword in America as more companies continue to scale back on their DEI policies. Big retailers and companies started announcing their removal of DEI last year. However, Trump’s revoking a six-decade-old executive order that prohibited workplace discrimination by federal contractors has further impacted companies’ stances on DEI. But how much impact have these initiatives had on diversity in the workplace? According to a Wall Street Journal analysis, not that much. The Wall Street Journal examined 13 million workers at S&P 500 companies and found that DEI efforts haven’t significantly
The fourth annual Fifteen Percent Pledge gala has raised $3 million for Black-owned businesses amid a growing trend of companies scaling back their DEI efforts. On Saturday, 1st February, the Los Angeles-based event was filled with A-list celebrities like Ciara, Kim Kardashian, Kelly Rowland, Teyana Taylor, Jesse Williams, and Keke Palmer. All proceeds from the activation ticket sales go to businesses affected by the recent LA wildfires. “We are nobody’s DEI hire,” said the founder, Aurora James, according to WWD. “This country, in its best form, is a product of
Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has hired Daniel Penny, the former Marine who made national headlines following the killing of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless Black man, on a New York subway. The news was first reported by The Free Press. Penny was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide in December 2024. Although he has no prior investment experience, Andreessen Horowitz plans to train him for his new role. Jordan Neely’s Death Jordan Neely was known for being a Michael Jackson impersonator who performed in Times Square. During
