She’s changing the music game! Nzinga “Zing” Shaw may not be on the Billboard 100, but she continues to rise to the top in the boardroom. An accomplished diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) officer, Shaw is an alumna of Spelman College and holds a master’s from the University of Pennsylvania, Black Enterprise reports. She studied abroad at the prestigious Oxford University, eventually making a name for herself in DEI with her work for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, launching their MOSAIC (Model of Shaping Atlanta through Inclusive Conversations) symposium and making history with the Hawks as the “first professional sports team to...

Don’t all sign up at once! Mary J. Wilson was a Baltimore native who got her start working at The Maryland Zoo in 1961 when she was just 21-years-old. Although she had virtually no professional experience, Wilson had a lot of heart and passion for the animals, bypassing the normal profession for women in zoos like birds and other nursery animals and heading straight for the larger species in the Mammal House. She became especially fond of gorillas and elephants, eventually making history as the first Black senior zookeeper at The Maryland Zoo.  At the zoo is where she served...

They’re covering everything from OutKast to Octavia Butler! The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is opening a new exhibit entitled “Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures.” The 4,000 square foot exhibition will feature rare artifacts, interactive technology and artworks to narrate how Afrofuturism has played a role in Black Americans shaping who we are in history, media and popular culture.  The term was coined in 1993 by culture critic Mark Dery who described Afrofuturism as a type of movement that uses Black culture to “reimagine, reinterpret, and reclaim the past and present for a more...

And she still has more decision letters rolling in! Candace Stratford told WCCB Charlotte reporters that she knew her daughter Aniya Richardson was exceptional since she was in the 5th grade.  “I don’t think there is one thing that I can name that she tried to do that she was not really good at,” Stratford explained.  A polymath, that proclivity for excellence has continued to follow Aniya all the way through high school, the teen also becoming a self-taught musician.  “I started teaching myself guitar. I did violin my freshman year and then I tried to learn drums this year...

It was a beautiful display of Blackness for the babies! We are constantly talking about the lack of representation in the media, looking to fill those gaps through the creation of our own platforms and works of art that speak to us as a whole. The same need extends to our babies as we try to find ways to make sure they aren’t marginalized in the conversation and have the tools to see themselves fully across the spectrum whether it be in animation,  afrofuturistic visual storytelling, or the color crayon they use to draw themselves. One mom has made representation...