Business

The Black Expo: The Meeting of Houston’s Black Talent

HOUSTON FORWARD TIMES — The 16th annual Texas Black Expo was held from June 6th to the 9th, and as one would expect, it was absolutely filled to the brim with Black excellence with Black artists, entrepreneurs, writers and the like, everywhere you look. With dozens of booths all around, from afro-centric stores to health and beauty stations, there was truly something for everyone to enjoy while also making those ever important connections within your field of expertise. It featured its own events aside from housing various trades, such as the College Fair and Professional Networking Reception that served to benefit those both young and old to get their lives on track.

Published

5 years ago

June 23, 2019

Treyvon Waddy

By Treyvon Waddy

The 16th annual Texas Black Expo was held from June 6th to the 9th, and as one would expect, it was absolutely filled to the brim with Black excellence with Black artists, entrepreneurs, writers and the like, everywhere you look. With dozens of booths all around, from afro-centric stores to health and beauty stations, there was truly something for everyone to enjoy while also making those ever important connections within your field of expertise. It featured its own events aside from housing various trades, such as the College Fair and Professional Networking Reception that served to benefit those both young and old to get their lives on track.

The expo, as usual, was crowded with booths dedicated to well-known organizations around Houston such as the Ensemble Theater and Shape Community Center.

Shape Community Center, which is currently celebrating their 50th anniversary, was represented at their booth by a man named Marco, and according to him their goal was to raise awareness of the Shape Community Center and get the greater Houston area more involved in the services they provide. The Ensemble Theater on the other hand, teased their upcoming plays for the year. Starting with School Girls, an African rendition of Mean Girls set in Ghana showing September 19th to October 13th of this year, there will be five other plays to catch showings of from November of this year to late July of 2020.

General health is typically a topic of conversation at conventions such as these, with health professionals coming from all over to speak on its behalf, but it seems this year that what people were drawn to was sexual health, promoted by the Bee Busy Wellness Center, who had two booths, one dedicated to spreading awareness of HIVs and one dedicated to performing HIV testing right there at the expo.

We spoke to one member of the center, Michael Quinones, whom had this to say:

“Our goal is to test anybody who has not been tested for HIV depending on the types of things they’re doing and the types of relationships they’re having. We also provide free Syphilis testing right here at this one booth, because people should be getting tested for these things once or twice a year.”

For aspiring Black writers and authors, seven-time author and self-publishing coach Darren Palmer as well as author and article writer Joyce Johnson spoke to many young and talented writers about the steps necessary to not only publish a book, but how to generate revenue from it.

Johnson then went on to elaborate on their goal at the Texas Black Expo:

“Darren and I put together this author spotlight where we have our own stage in which we allow potential authors come and speak. We had author come in from all over the country and our goal is to just help them to expand their brand. Today we spoke on leveraging your book to a business, because every year in the U.S., six hundred thousand to a million books are published, 2.7 million are sold for a total of twenty-six billion dollars. So we just want to help authors get a piece of that pie.”

Both Johnson and Palmer also talked about their websites, iamjoycejohnson.com and selfpublishn30days.com, in which they offer advice to future publishers on both the monetary and organizational necessities of book writing.

Overall, the Texas Black Expo was a great time and an incredible opportunity for anyone, especially within the Black community to find people like them who share their passions and skills and to connect with such people in order to build oneself up to get to exactly where they need to be.

This article originally appeared in the Houston Forward Times.

Treyvon Waddy

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State Controller Malia Cohen Keynote Speaker at S.F. Wealth Conference

California State Controller Malia Cohen delivered the keynote speech to over 50 business women at the Black Wealth Brunch held on March 28 at the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center at 301 Van Ness Ave. in San Francisco. The Enterprising Women Networking SF Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA) hosted the Green Room event to launch its platform designed to close the racial wealth gap in Black and Brown communities.

Published

5 days ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

American Business Women’s Association Vice President Velma Landers, left, with California State Controller Malia Cohen (center), and ABWA President LaRonda Smith at the Enterprising Women Networking SF Chapter of the ABWA at the Black Wealth Brunch.

By Carla Thomas

The Enterprising Women Networking SF Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA) hosted the Green Room event to launch its platform designed to close the racial wealth gap in Black and Brown communities.

“Our goal is to educate Black and Brown families in the masses about financial wellness, wealth building, and how to protect and preserve wealth,” said ABWA San Francisco Chapter President LaRonda Smith.

ABWA’s mission is to bring together businesswomen of diverse occupations and provide opportunities for them to help themselves and others grow personally and professionally through leadership, education, networking support, and national recognition.

“This day is about recognizing influential women, hearing from an accomplished woman as our keynote speaker and allowing women to come together as powerful people,” said ABWA SF Chapter Vice President Velma Landers.

More than 60 attendees dined on the culinary delights of Chef Sharon Lee of The Spot catering, which included a full soul food brunch of skewered shrimp, chicken, blackened salmon, and mac and cheese.

Cohen discussed the many economic disparities women and people of color face. From pay equity to financial literacy, Cohen shared not only statistics, but was excited about a new solution in motion which entailed partnering with Californians for Financial Education.

“I want everyone to reach their full potential,” she said. “Just a few weeks ago in Sacramento, I partnered with an organization, Californians for Financial Education.

“We gathered 990 signatures and submitted it to the [California] Secretary of State to get an initiative on the ballot that guarantees personal finance courses for every public school kid in the state of California.

“Every California student deserves an equal opportunity to learn about filing taxes, interest rates, budgets, and understanding the impact of credit scores. The way we begin to do that is to teach it,” Cohen said.

By equipping students with information, Cohen hopes to close the financial wealth gap, and give everyone an opportunity to reach their full financial potential. “They have to first be equipped with the information and education is the key. Then all we need are opportunities to step into spaces and places of power.”

Cohen went on to share that in her own upbringing, she was not guided on financial principles that could jump start her finances. “Communities of color don’t have the same information and I don’t know about you, but I did not grow up listening to my parents discussing their assets, their investments, and diversifying their portfolio. This is the kind of nomenclature and language we are trying to introduce to our future generations so we can pivot from a life of poverty so we can pivot away and never return to poverty.”

Cohen urged audience members to pass the initiative on the November 2024 ballot.

“When we come together as women, uplift women, and support women, we all win. By networking and learning together, we can continue to build generational wealth,” said Landers. “Passing a powerful initiative will ensure the next generation of California students will be empowered to make more informed financial decisions, decisions that will last them a lifetime.”

Oakland Post

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Business

Black Business Summit Focuses on Equity, Access and Data

The California African American Chamber of Commerce hosted its second annual “State of the California African American Economy Summit,” with the aim of bolstering Black economic influence through education and fellowship. Held Jan. 24 to Jan. 25 at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel, the convention brought together some of the most influential Black business leaders, policy makers and economic thinkers in the state. The discussions focused on a wide range of economic topics pertinent to California’s African American business community, including policy, government contracts, and equity, and more.

Published

5 days ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA), answers questions from concerned entrepreneurs frustrated with a lack of follow-up from the state. January 24, 2024 at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel, Lost Angeles, Calif. Photo by Solomon O. Smith

By Solomon O. Smith, California Black Media

The California African American Chamber of Commerce hosted its second annual “State of the California African American Economy Summit,” with the aim of bolstering Black economic influence through education and fellowship.

Held Jan. 24 to Jan. 25 at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel, the convention brought together some of the most influential Black business leaders, policy makers and economic thinkers in the state. The discussions focused on a wide range of economic topics pertinent to California’s African American business community, including policy, government contracts, and equity, and more.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) was a guest at the event. He told attendees about his department’s efforts to increase access for Black business owners.

“One thing I’m taking away from this for sure is we’re going to have to do a better job of connecting through your chambers of all these opportunities of billions of dollars that are coming down the pike. I’m honestly disappointed that people don’t know, so we’ll do better,” said Omishakin.

Lueathel Seawood, the president of the African American Chamber of Commerce of San Joaquin County, expressed frustration with obtaining federal contracts for small businesses, and completing the process. She observed that once a small business was certified as DBE, a Disadvantaged Business Enterprises, there was little help getting to the next step.

Omishakin admitted there is more work to be done to help them complete the process and include them in upcoming projects. However, the high-speed rail system expansion by the California High-Speed Rail Authority has set a goal of 30% participation from small businesses — only 10 percent is set aside for DBE.

The importance of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in economics was reinforced during the “State of the California Economy” talk led by author and economist Julianne Malveaux, and Anthony Asadullah Samad, Executive Director of the Mervyn Dymally African American Political and Economic Institute (MDAAPEI) at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Assaults on DEI disproportionately affect women of color and Black women, according to Malveaux. When asked what role the loss of DEI might serve in economics, she suggested a more sinister purpose.

“The genesis of all this is anti-blackness. So, your question about how this fits into the economy is economic exclusion, that essentially has been promoted as public policy,” said Malveaux.

The most anticipated speaker at the event was Janice Bryant Howroyd known affectionately to her peers as “JBH.” She is one of the first Black women to run and own a multi-billion-dollar company. Her company ActOne Group, is one of the largest, and most recognized, hiring, staffing and human resources firms in the world. She is the author of “Acting Up” and has a profile on Forbes.

Chairman of the board of directors of the California African American Chamber of Commerce, Timothy Alan Simon, a lawyer and the first Black Appointments Secretary in the Office of the Governor of California, moderated. They discussed the state of Black entrepreneurship in the country and Howroyd gave advice to other business owners.

“We look to inspire and educate,” said Howroyd. “Inspiration is great but when I’ve got people’s attention, I want to teach them something.”