Conservative group American Alliance for Equal Rights, founded by Edward Blum, has brought a lawsuit against Fearless Fund, which supports women of color who own small businesses. Reuters reports that the lawsuit accuses Fearless Fund of violating Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which bars racial bias in private contracts by opening its grant competition to Black women alone. Lawsuits brought by Blum and the conservative group led to the June Supreme Court’s ruling to shut down affirmative action, barring universities and colleges from considering race in their
Pryce Adade Yebesi is the 23-year-old co-founder and COO of Utopia Labs, a startup on a mission to bridge the gap between crypto and traditional payment systems, and ultimately, create a new internet economy. Recently, Utopia Labs raised an impressive $23 million, making Yebesi one of the youngest Black founders to achieve such a milestone. Driving the adoption of crypto payments Utopia Labs’ founders Pryce Adade Yebesi, Kaito Cunningham, Jason Chong, and Alexander Wu first met on Discord and Twitter. The quad was brought together by an interest in Decentralized
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
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
Content creator and entrepreneur Ashley Grayson, formerly Ashley Massengill, is facing RICO charges of racketeering and murder alongside her husband, Joshua Grayson. Who is Ashely Grayson? Grayson is a content creator and entrepreneur who became widely known after claiming to have made $1 million within 40 minutes through her online platform, Digital Course Recipe. In a now-deleted Facebook post, she labeled herself a #MillionaireMentor and had become an inspiration for many young Black girls online. However, several TikTok users accused Grayson of scamming people through her online courses last year.
Amanda Rajkumar, Adidas’ global head of human resources, is the latest HR lead to depart from her role following the pattern of women leaving DEI roles at major companies. Rajkumar, a British national with parents from the Caribbean, joined Adidas in 2021 to stem an internal uproar over the company’s handling of racism, diversity, and inclusion. However, the company announced last week the departure of their sole remaining female executive board member. Her predecessor Karen Parkin also resigned from the company in 2020 after she described internal discussions of racism as “noise.” Although
We all know the importance of connecting with like-minded folks, and conferences are a key way to do just that with professionals in your industry. In particular, conferences for people of color in tech provide a safe space for professionals to network, grow in their careers, and learn from industry leaders and executives who understand their unique challenges and opportunities. It also allows Black and Latine professionals to build their professional brand and increase visibility within their chosen industry. Getting past the cost barrier People often cite cost as one
Spill, a new social platform, has recently launched in beta on iOS and has quickly gained popularity within the Black community. Its surge in users can be attributed in part to Elon Musk’s announcement to limit the number of daily tweets visible on Twitter as well as several technical mishaps in recent months. What is Spill? The platform is invite-only while in beta and has been described as a visual-first, multimedia microblogging app with an interface similar to Tumblr. The app has a live news feed and allows people to
Squire, the Black-owned all-in-one barbershop management platform, has surpassed $1 billion in payments processed, according to co-founder Songe LaRon. “It took two years to reach our first $1 million, 5.5 years to $100 million, and now we surpassed $1 billion,” said LaRon. “Every dollar reflects the hard work of our team and the dedication of the barbers we serve, and I’m deeply grateful to every shop owner, barber, and team member who’s been part of this journey.” What is Squire? Founded in 2015 by Songe LaRon and Dave Salvant, the
The regulation and ethics of AI image generators have been a topic of conversation for several years, with EU lawmakers considering proposals for safeguards to address some of the issues. In March, more than 31,000 people signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause in AI research and development to answer questions about regulation and ethics. Recently, the free-to-use graphic design tool Canva came under fire after DEI Thought Partner Adriele Parker prompted its text-to-image app to generate a Black woman with Bantu knots. An error appeared and told
