Category: Black Excellence

https://www.mlssoccer.com/playerengagement/bios/chidozie-ibeabuchi

Chidozie Ibeabuchi leads a team responsible for providing holistic player care resources, creating career pathways, and spearheading player commercial efforts to advance the league. For over a decade, Chidozie has worked with professional athletes across various sectors of the sports industry for several major sports leagues including the NBA’s New York Knicks, the NHL’s New York Rangers, and the NFL’s league office.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmond_D%C3%A9d%C3%A9

Edmond Dédé (November 20, 1827 – January 5, 1901)^[a] was an American musician and composer. A free-born Creole, he moved to Europe in 1855. He worked in Bordeaux for more than forty years, first as assistant conductor at the Grand Théâtre and then as a conductor of orchestras at other local theaters.

His compositions include works for orchestra and for various voices with orchestra or piano, as well as an opera Morgiane, for which the score was unknown until 2007. Morgiane is the earliest known opera by an African American composer.^[3] It received its first complete concert performances in February 2025.

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/03/nx-s1-4868011/oldest-black-american-opera-premiere

Until recently, the music of Morgiane only existed in a single handwritten manuscript.

Composer Edmond Dédé, a Black American living in exile in France, completed the nearly 550-page score in 1887. He thought of it as his greatest achievement. But the four-act, French grand opera based on themes from the folktale “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves” would never be performed in his lifetime. Instead the manuscript was tucked away and nearly forgotten.

https://www.operacreole.org/givonna-joseph

Ms. Joseph is committed to the culture of New Orleans, the city of her birth. This is most evident in her research on 19th-century classical music of New Orleans’s Free People of Color.

As Founder and Artistic Director of the award-winning OperaCréole, Ms. Joseph’s research has recently been featured on NBC Nightly News, NPR, and in magazines such as 64 Parishes and Atlas Obscura. She was previously honored as a “Standard Bearer ” of Louisiana culture on Le Grand Tour, a documentary for French TV, and locally on Music Inside Out. She was featured in cover articles in BreakThru Media Magazine and NOLA Boomers magazine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberta_Hoskie

Roberta Hoskie is an American real estate broker, writer, and media personality based in New Haven, Connecticut. She is the author of the book Poverty Curse Broken, president and CEO of Outreach Realty Servicing, Outreach School of Real Estate, and the 1000 Black Families National Homeownership Program. She is also the founder and Chieftain of the International Millionaire Mindset Sisterhood.

How Black Americans used portraits and family photographs to defy stereotypes

https://ruddresources.net/our-team

Kimberley has 35 years of writing, strategic marketing and communications, and coaching experience. A skilled project manager, she is trusted to provide counsel, support and ideas to clients.

David is a writer and senior counselor. A communications professional with journalism, corporate communications and PR agency experience.

https://www.packlesstravel.com/about

Welcome to
PackLess Travel!

Headquartered in Boston, a city known for its casual vibe and inclusive atmosphere, we’re building a community that values a more relaxed, efficient, and eco-friendly approach to travel. We’re proud to serve a diverse group of explorers who share our vision for a simpler and more sustainable way to travel. From our Boston beginnings, we’re on a mission to revolutionize how the world travels, one bag at a time.

https://magazine.northwestern.edu/people/leave-your-baggage-behindjehana-ray-packless-travel-personalized-clothing-rental

An avid and experienced traveler, Jehana Ray ’03 first felt the freedom of traveling light on a 2022 trip to Cuba. Exhausted from lugging multiple bags around the country, she suddenly felt compelled to donate her belongings to a local resident. “I didn’t keep much other than a swimsuit and the dress I had on,” Ray says.  

It might seem impulsive — but Ray felt relieved and unburdened for the rest of her travels. And it gave her an idea.  

After breezing through U.S. customs on her way home to Boston, she scrawled a business idea on an airplane napkin, tucked it away and promised to come back to it. When the small health care company she worked for was purchased in 2021, Ray seized the opportunity to leave the corporate world, and in 2024 she created PackLess Travel, a clothing rental service for travelers. 

https://www.cftc.gov/About/Commissioners/SharonY.Bowen/index.htm

Sharon Y. Bowen was sworn in as a Commissioner of the U. S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on June 9, 2014 for a five year term. She serves as Sponsor of the CFTC Market Risk Advisory Committee.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_T._Washington

Mary T. Washington (April 21, 1906 – July 2, 2005) was the first African-American woman to be a certified public accountant in the United States.^[1]

Mary Thelma Morrison was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Daisy and William Morrison.^[2] Her father was a carpenter, and her mother passed when she was only 6 years old.^[3] Following her mother’s death, Washington was raised by her grandparents in Chicago. She excelled as a math student at Wendell Phillips High School.^[3] She earned her bachelor’s degree in business from Northwestern University in 1941.^[4][5]

https://breakthrough.org/alantha-victim-advocates-create-ripple-effect

After incidents of violence in the Garfield Park neighborhood, Breakthrough’s victim advocates respond to support victims and their families. Alantha Miles, victim services coordinator, hopes her team leaves an impression that inspires participants to show that same love, grace, and understanding to others.

https://www.cornersresearch.org/team/alantha-miles

In 2020, Alantha Miles was introduced to the field of violence intervention, gaining knowledge and understanding of the dynamics around gun violence in the city of Chicago. She saw first-hand the effects of gun violence in black communities and the toll it takes on families. Within her, a fire was ignited to dedicate her time, resources, and efforts to help those negatively impacted by gun violence while working to make a positive change in their lives. Through hard work and dedication, Alantha has also completed an associate degree in business and is currently working to complete her certification for project management. In her spare time, she enjoys roller skating and cooking different food dishes.