The StoryGraph, a Black woman-owned cataloging web platform for books, took to X, formerly Twitter, announcing they have had to take their platform offline to upgrade its servers. The StoryGraph The StoryGraph, founded by Nadia Odunayo, is a competitor of Amazon-owned social cataloging platform Goodreads as it uses a freemium model, with some features only available in a subscription plan. Founded in 2019, StoryGraph was initially a side project for tracking books. After studying at Oxford University, Odunayo went into the world of software engineering but, in 2019, decided to work
Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, Lisa Jackson, is spearheading Apple’s commitment to making all its products carbon-neutral by 2030, starting with the Apple Watch. Jackson, a chemical engineer, served as the first African American US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator before joining Apple in 2013. Meet Lisa Jackson Jackson completed a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Tulane University. Before Apple, Jackson was appointed by President Barack Obama as EPA Administrator in 2009, making her the
Porcha Woodruff, 32, was eight months pregnant when she was arrested after facial recognition technology wrongly identified her as a suspect in a robbery and carjacking. She is the sixth person, all of whom are Black, and the first woman known to be wrongfully arrested due to facial recognition technology. What happened? The New York Times reported that Woodruff was getting her six and 12-year-old daughters ready for school when six police officers arrived at her door. She had been identified as the perpetrator of a robbery and carjacking that had
The Lip Bar Inc., the holding company for the beauty brands The Lip Bar and Thread Beauty, has closed a new funding round. The $6.7 million round, led by Pendulum, will focus on expanding The Lip Bar and Thread Beauty’s distribution as well as incubating a third beauty brand. Endeavor and The Fearless Fund also contributed to the fund. Melissa Butler, the business’ founder and Chief Executive Officer, said the round came after years of consistent growth unencumbered by the pandemic. “Our lip sales were crazy during the pandemic—we sold