Category: Black Excellence

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Multi Sport Ultra Endurance Athlete. Writer. Body Politics Activist. William, Jr.’s Mama.

Noted by The Root 100 as one of the most influential African Americans ages 25 to 45, Latoya Shauntay Snell is a sponsored endurance athlete, content creator, body politics activist, motivational speaker and the food and fitness blogger of Running Fat Chef. Featured on multiple platforms such as 3rd Hour Today, Good Morning America, Huffington Post, The Cut and SELF, Snell is quickly making a name for herself by changing the narrative of ideal body types and fitness stereotypes. She is a contributing writer for several notable platforms, a Runners Alliance ambassador in partnership with Runner’s World about runner safety, collaborated with over 20 brands and a well versed content creator.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/11/26/1134432335/climate-change-gave-a-kenyan-youth-a-crazy-idea-become-a-world-class-ice-sculpto

Climate change gave a Kenyan youth a ‘crazy’ idea: Become a world-class ice sculptor

Michael Kaloki

I still remember a headline in one of Kenya’s daily newspapers from 2002: “Climate Change Threatens the Snow and Ice Caps of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya.” Mount Kilimanjaro, next door in Tanzania, is Africa’s tallest mountain, followed in height by Mount Kenya, my country’s pride and glory.

Even the word “Kenya” is said to have come about when a German explorer, Johann Ludwig Krapf, asked local Chief Kivoi about a mountain he’d seen. Kivoi described the mountain as “kiinya,” in reference to it looking like an ostrich – with the snow resembling the white patches of the flightless bird. So, my country’s name is linked to snow and ice, yet we were in danger of losing it.

From our village in eastern Kenya, in the bright early morning you could look in one direction and see Mount Kilimanjaro and in the other see Mount Kenya. I had often wondered what snow felt like and how lucky we were to be able to wake up and see it. When we sang Jingle Bells at church over Christmas, I would think of the snow on those mountains – the only glimpse I had of what snow looked like — while holding the hem of my mum’s skirt in the pew. As I grew older, I heard that people would ski on snow in Europe. I dreamed of skiing on Mount Kenya one day, and at one point even asked my pops for skis.

Those thoughts all came rushing back to me when I saw the newspaper article. Now I was an adult and understood what climate change meant.

In 2002, I had just returned to Kenya after finishing a radio and television arts degree course at a university in Toronto. I was not sure what I wanted to do with my life. My parents thought I was taking too much time to think about it. “You are spending too much time in the house, Michael,” my dad would say.

While studying in Canada, I had seen some ethereal and majestic ice and snow carvings at the Quebec Winter Carnival. This world-famous festival had even been dubbed the “Ice and Snow Carving Olympics.” The teams taking part in event were from North America, Europe and Asia. There were no carvers from Africa. While still a student in Canada, I worked for a travel agency, which gave me a trip back to the Carnival as a parting gift when I left for Kenya.

So when I read the article about our mountains’ disappearing snow, I thought, “Now is the time to do something, Michael. You need to show the effects of climate change in East Africa.” I decided Africa should be represented at the Quebec Winter Carnival and that I would form an ice and snow carving team. I had never done any carving before, but I could always learn.

So I set out to find some teammates.

I spoke to my buddy, television producer Robert Bresson, about what I was thinking of doing. He agreed to ask around. “Everyone I have spoken to thinks you are crazy, Michael,” was his report. But we didn’t give up.

Robert took me to the Nairobi National Museum. At that time, there were some sculptors who worked on the museum grounds. I approached the first one I saw, introduced myself and asked, “Would you want to form an ice-carving team?”

“Ice?” he said.

“Yes, ice,” I said.

“Sure, why not? By the way, my name is Peter Walala.”

I now had one team member. The teams I’d seen in Quebec had three or four members. So I needed to find at least one more.

I approached the “Miss Tourism Kenya” pageant holders and told them about my idea. I felt having a title holder on the team would make it more visible. Winnie Omwakwe, who was “Miss Earth Kenya,” was glad to join in. So we had three team members and one with carving skills. However, Peter had never worked with ice before, only wood and stone.

First, we needed to gel as a team. After all, we were total strangers. So we met for a couple of teas and coffees and decided that we were all OK to work with each other.

Now we needed somewhere to practice. As we deemed it impossible to get to the top of Mount Kiliminjaro or Mount Kenya, we decided try to find a big hotel freezer. I requested to meet with a director of one of the country’s premier hotel chains, and he agreed. I told him about our team and our plan to take part in one of the world’s top ice and snow carving events. He looked shocked at first, but seemed to warm up to the idea.

About a week later, he asked to see me. “A chef at one of our hotels is really thrilled about the plan you have and he would be glad to help you,” he said. The chef gave us a place that fit about six people and left us to it. For weeks, we spent most of our days in a cold room at one of the city’s top hotels, learning to carve. We froze water in the hotel’s big urns and Peter would try to figure out the best way to carve it. Then he would teach us what to do. Winnie felt that sitting in 39 degrees was a bit cold and she also had a lot of pageant obligations to attend to. So most of the time it was just me and Peter carving away.

Then there was the matter of applying for the 2003 Quebec Winter Carnival. I found the details online. “It is just like carving ice shavings,” I remember telling Peter and Winnie. “We will figure it out as we go along.”

I sent in our application. At the back of my mind, I thought it was a crazy, uncalculated move. This was like applying to run the 100-meter race at the Summer Olympics, but never having run 100 meters before. But, it was worth a try. After all, there was a first time for Carl Lewis, too.

After several weeks, I received a response from the Carnival. We had been accepted! I showed Peter and Winnie the document – we could not believe it! We were going to take part in a major global event!

But there were more hurdles: getting flight tickets and visas. Visas turned out to be no problem. We sent in our applications and were approved. It seemed the Canadians were giving us a chance to prove ourselves to the world!

But what about flight tickets? At that time, Peter was a member of a local arts trust. They offered him a ticket under one of their grants. He left for Canada, while Winnie and I tried to figure out what to do. I had done some freelance video work for a local production company and they owed me a bit of money. It wasn’t enough, but I would try to figure out where to get more. While waiting at the production company to pick up my check, the company’s owner, Moses Nderitu, happened to see me.

“Michael, you had told me about wanting to start an ice-carving team. Whatever happened to that idea?” he asked. I told him I had started the team and had been accepted into the Quebec Winter Carnival, but did not have enough money for a flight. “Let me take care of the rest of the money for a ticket,” he said.

I could not believe it! Here was someone who believed in me! My parents and many of my friends had thought what I was trying to do was absurd. Moses arranged for me to get my ticket, and we decided that Winnie would see what she could do to get a ticket. Sadly, she never made it to the event.

Arriving in Quebec was like arriving for the premier of a Hollywood movie, starring Peter and me. The Canadian press had heard about us and had decided that our story was something their audience would be interested in.

When I got to our working area of the Carnival, Peter had already started on the snow sculpture we’d decided on: a mother rhino shielding her baby. Before his arrival at the Carnival, Peter had never touched snow. We had practiced in the cold room using ice, now here we were facing a large mound of snow. We had a few days to work on it. We did the best we could, learning also by watching other snow sculptors use their carving tools, many which we had never seen before.

In the meantime, during our press interviews, we talked about the impact climate change was having on Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya. On the last day of carving, we finally saw that we had done, well, an amazing job. To our delight, we were informed that the Kenyan government was sending a team from the embassy in Ottawa to attend the final day of the event. We felt like VIPs!

On that final day, it was announced that we had won a prize. “The Volunteers Award” went to Team Kenya! As we walked across the snow field to receive our prize while members from the Kenyan embassy shouted in jubilation, I looked across at Peter and saw that tears were freely flowing down his face. We had done what many thought was unachievable. The first Kenyan ice and snow carving team had been recognized by the world on their very first try – and we were also getting our message out about our beloved East African mountains.

In the years that followed, Peter and I participated in a number of other international ice and snow carving events. After a few years, Peter took a hiatus. I decided to try my luck for a bit longer with the goal of winning a major global event before taking a break. In 2011, I teamed up with Finnish sculptor Timo Koivisto at that year’s Helsinki Zoo International Ice Carving Festival. Our team won first prize. I then decided to take a break. Kenya was finally on the ice and snow carving global scene, and the message about the impact of climate change in East Africa had been passed on.

Michael Kaloki lives in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a freelance reporter with a keen interest in matters related to community development and climate change.

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/20/1124142614/how-hbcus-are-spending-their-covid-19-relief-money

After a couple of difficult semesters during the pandemic, Elijah Love, a computer science major at North Carolina A&T State University (N.C. A&T), was determined to graduate on time.

“Whatever came with that — summer classes, double-load courses — I was willing to do it,” Love says.

This summer, that meant continuing to take classes on top of teaching computer science to middle school girls and enrolling in a summer learning program at IBM.

He was prepared to pay for the extra summer credits, but then he got the bill: The classes were free. His school, a historically Black university, had used federal COVID relief funding to pay for the summer courses.

“I got right back on track,” Love says. “I thought it was great. It was a great opportunity for the people struggling right now.”

HBCUs have long been underfunded by federal and state governments. But this time, because of the way federal COVID relief money was allocated, these schools got a lot of it. For one thing, much of the funding targeted schools that serve more low-income students, which HBCUs do. And there was a whole other pot of money — $5.2 billion — just for HBCUs.

“By far, it’s the most amount of money we’ve ever received,” says Kenny Spayd, the business director of Fayetteville State University, a small public HBCU also in North Carolina.

Spayd says the nearly $80 million his university received is equal to more than half of Fayetteville State’s annual operating budget.

“So it’s been incredibly helpful and transformative, not only for us, but for our students as we navigate this continuing pandemic.”

It’s been incredibly helpful and transformative, not only for us, but for our students.

Kenny Spayd, Fayetteville State University

The federal money did come with rules on how it could be spent, but some schools got more than enough to cover those requirements, pay for COVID safety precautions and still have plenty left over.

The money also came with a deadline: It needs to be spent by the end of this school year, June 2023.

HBCUs around the country told NPR they’re using the funds in ways that will affect students for years to come, including canceling student debt, upgrading campus infrastructure and helping retain students who struggle because of financial barriers.

Paying for students’ housing, food and textbooks

N.C. A&T is the nation’s largest HBCU, and it received one of the largest federal relief packages of all HBCUs: $188.6 million, more than the university’s current endowment.

It wasn’t the only HBCU to offer free summer courses — in fact, all five public HBCUs in the UNC system paid for their students’ summer classes this year using federal relief funds.

N.C. A&T also used the funds to grant housing and dining discounts to residential students, and give free iPads to freshmen and free textbooks to all students.

Robert Pompey is vice chancellor for business and finance at N.C. A&T, the nation’s largest HBCU. The school received one of the largest federal relief packages of all HBCUs.

Liz Schlemmer/WUNC

Robert Pompey, N.C. A&T’s vice chancellor for business and finance, says these aid programs are helping students start out the school year on the right foot.

“Imagine going to the first day of class, and you not only have textbooks, but you have the iPad with you. Imagine going to your first day of class and your cost of dining and housing has been reduced by $500. That is significant,” Pompey says.

According to the school, some students have received more than $4,000 worth of benefits a year.

By reducing the overall cost of attendance, Pompey says, the university is helping students recover both academically and financially.

“When you have the students that are from the most challenging economic circumstances, they’re the ones who are the most impacted.”

HBCUs weren’t the only schools to target students who were struggling financially during the pandemic. In fact, the CARES Act required all schools to put a portion of their aid money directly into the pockets of students who faced financial stress due to COVID.

Giving students a clean financial slate so they can enroll in classes again

Another popular HBCU spending item was canceling students’ outstanding balances for tuition, fees, room and board, and other miscellaneous charges they owed their universities. That’s because when a student’s balance gets too high, they can’t enroll in classes again until it’s cleared.

At Florida A&M University, students can’t enroll if their balance is above $500. The school spent a big chunk of its relief money — more than $60 million of its $195 million relief package — on giving those students a clean slate.

“Those students, you know, thousands of them, were able to stay with us,” says Florida A&M University President Larry Robinson. “And that’s going to pay off big time.”

Fayetteville State, N.C. A&T and Morgan State University in Baltimore also canceled some level of student debt to help current students reenroll. Robinson says, as a result, Florida A&M has already seen a significant increase in its freshman to sophomore year retention rate.

Updating campus buildings and technology

Multiple HBCUs said they used the money to update technology and building infrastructure.

Morgan State University spent about $10 million to upgrade its technology and pivot quickly to online learning. The university outfitted more than 200 classrooms with cameras so students could get a better view of their classes remotely.

“And because we have invested in this technology, we are expanding our online delivery of degree programs,” says Sidney Evans, Morgan State’s executive vice president for finance.

He says that will help grow the university in the future.

Morgan State also spent more than $25 million to address mold and mildew damage in buildings that were closed for months early in the pandemic. And Fayetteville State is using federal aid to upgrade the HVAC systems in some of its residence halls for better air quality.

Construction projects like these have been popular avenues for relief spending. While most of the federal aid money expires in summer 2023, the federal government is allowing some schools, including HBCUs, to finish approved construction projects beyond that expiration date.

After the relief money runs out, the work continues

Eventually, the federal funding will run out, or hit the spending deadline. Fayetteville State & N.C. A&T are already looking for ways to continue some of these initiatives on a smaller scale, such as giving discounts on summer school and textbooks. Both schools say they see it as an investment that will help uplift students, families and their communities.

“We wake up thinking about, every day, what can we do to make a difference in the lives of our students?” says Pompey of N.C. A&T. “We consider these funds that we’ve received investments, and we’ve invested in our students.”

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/20/1124142614/how-hbcus-are-spending-their-covid-19-relief-money

Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist.

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

The 14-year-old superstar chef shares his desire to bring people together 

https://www.vegansociety.com/news/blog/meet-omari-mcqueen

How a triumphant anthem for ‘The Woman King’ brought Jessy Wilson back to music

The Woman King — director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s historical epic starring Viola Davis about a mighty army of West African warrior women protecting their kingdom — is only the second film with a Black woman director to open at number one at the box office. The film’s renown means that millions have had a chance to hear the song that plays over its closing credits, but what’s received considerably less attention is the story of life-altering triumph tied to that undaunted pop anthem, “Keep Rising.”

Jessy Wilson wrote and recorded it with producer Jeremy Lutito in the studio behind his East Nashville, Tenn. home during the summer of 2020. She barely touched a microphone after that, soon stepping away from songwriting altogether. What drew her back one day in early October to that same, small studio space — and to music — was the chance to truly embrace the song’s role in a powerful piece of filmmaking. Without a label budget behind her, she’d decided to lay down a regally deliberate, acoustic version for a simple, live-looking music video. “After all this time, I hope I’m like a pro, that it’s like riding a bike,” Wilson shared after arriving on site and stowing her bag.

She certainly seemed in her element that day on the shoot, not only the lead performer who knew her instrument and how to apply it to the supple insistence of the verses and the chorus’ more inflamed exhortation, but the one steering the backing vocal trio’s arrangement, too. Once she got the vocal takes she was looking for, finished lip syncing for the videographers and took a seat on the same couch where she’d come up with “Keep Rising,” she was a compelling narrator.

The decision to briefly give up music was a consequential one for Wilson. She’s no dabbler. At age 8, she’d already convinced her mom and an agent that she had the vocal ability, stage presence and drive to begin auditioning for off-Broadway roles. While attending LaGuardia, the Fame-famous Manhattan performing arts high school, she lied about her age to land a regular café gig. “They all thought it was weird,” she recalled, “like, ‘Why does she come with her mom every weekend?’ Eventually I told them the truth, but for a while, I just told them that I was a student at NYU, because I really wanted that experience.”

She was hungry to learn the studio side of her craft when John Legend hired her as a backup vocalist right after high school. “I think I had only been singing with him for, like, four weeks. And I said, ‘Can I come with you to the studio, please? I’ll be a fly on the wall. I won’t make a sound. I just wanna come,’ ” Wilson said. “He was like, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ “

That’s Wilson supplying some resplendent, cooing echoes on Legend’s bossa nova-tinged 2006 track “Maxine.” She got into songwriting with his encouragement, eventually supplying cuts to other major R&B stars. Wilson thought she might become one of those herself, but kept coming up against colorism in the industry: “Being a dark-skinned Black woman, you know, being told that that wasn’t marketable, being told that that’s not worldwide, being told that no one would really be able to relate to me because of my complexion.”

“That was a concept that was very new to me, because in my home, my mother and my father taught me to love my complexion, to love my Blackness, to love my features that look like African features,” she went on. “It was a rude awakening when I realized that that isn’t the worldview and that somehow Black people are true victims of white supremacy when it comes to how we view ourselves, even in the mirror. When you have so much inside of you, that’s very painful as well, because you’re waiting for someone to give you that [professional] shot, and you’re waiting for someone to see you in that way [as an artist].”

After accompanying Legend to Nashville on a songwriting expedition, Wilson decided to give the city a try, relocating in 2013. In writing circles there Wilson was introduced to white musical partner Kallie North, and their soul-steeped, roots rock duo Muddy Magnolias was a revelation to a country-adjacent scene that made more room for Black musical influence than Black music-makers. “Those first two months of living here,” said Wilson, “I circled Music Row over and over, and I said, ‘God make me a pioneer.’ “

With Muddy Magnolias, Wilson finally got the record deal she’d been working for, a success she thinks was twofold. “The [vocal] blend was unmatched. It does something to the heart when you see a Black girl and a white girl up there singing in harmony, what it means to the spirit,” Wilson said. “But then also, you’ve got to think about the business side. It wasn’t a gimmick to us, but I think the industry found it easy to latch on to.”

Country singer-songwriter Brittney Spencer took note of the mark made by her Black predecessor back when she was a health food store employee who routinely filled Wilson’s juice orders, and recently called her to tell her so. “The opportunities that a lot of artists like me are able to get right now, I think, is because little by little people have been sowing seeds,” Spencer observed during a separate interview. “And even if this space wasn’t necessarily ready five, seven years ago, man, I was there and I watched it and I didn’t forget.”

When Muddy Magnolias broke up, Wilson started finding her voice as a solo artist on the sensually sophisticated, atmospheric side of rock and soul with the Patrick Carney-produced album Phase. She wanted to complicate the perception of her as “just this big singer.” “Phase gave me an opportunity to get quiet,” Wilson reflected. “People underestimate the power in getting quiet. I made an intentional decision to never open up my voice past a certain place on my album, because I had been singing full out my whole life and I wanted to hear the subtleties in my voice on record. … I wanted people to hear what I had to say.”

Around that same time, Tyler, the Creator tracked Wilson down on social media, urging her to sing on his album IGOR; he hadn’t been able to get her voice out of his head since he heard it billowing through “Maxine.” But those professional landmarks gave way to a string of personal losses. Wilson’s beloved grandmother died, and her New York healthcare worker dad barely survived COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic. Then she and her husband lost a pregnancy.

“Unfortunately, after four months, we lost our child,” said Wilson. “It felt like I was just down in a hole. I kept looking for things to grab on to, but nothing was pulling me out. It’s even hard to really communicate or even think about those times, because the despair was just…” She trailed off, unable to find sufficient words.

In her compounded grief, it grew difficult for Wilson to deliver the songs she owed her publisher. One that she did submit was “Keep Rising.” “When I wrote the song, I was talking to Black people,” she explained. “There’s a part of the lyrics that I’m also talking to myself about myself: ‘Been marching so long. How far is it to get to where we’re going?’ Like, how long do we have to wait in America? How long does Jessy have to wait? When will we be seen as enough? When will I be seen as enough?”

At the time, Wilson didn’t have much hope that anything would come of that song, or any others she wrote. She lost her publishing deal in early 2021, and turned to making visual art. But on what would’ve been her baby’s 2022 due date she received big news. The director of The Woman King, Prince-Bythewood, had initially envisioned Terence Blanchard‘s score soundtracking the entire film, but her search for just the right music to carry the audience out of the closing scene had led her to “Keep Rising.”

Sent a collection of unreleased tracks to listen to, Prince-Bythewood found in Wilson’s “exactly what I wanted the audience to feel. It makes you stand up and move. It was as if it was written for the movie.”

“When I wrote the song, I was talking to Black people,” Wilson says of “Keep Rising.”

“One of the things I’m most excited by,” she added, “is I love hearing Jessy’s story and who she is as an artist, where she was at the moment that this call came. I love that we have the power to elevate artists who deserve it. And Jessy, her voice, the depth that she brings to her work, absolutely deserves this opportunity.”

Prince-Bythewood asked Wilson to adapt two lyrics to the film’s time period and agree to a feature from legendary singer Angélique Kidjo, who’s from the region where the film takes place, then known as the kingdom of Dahomey. “She is the first lady of Benin, essentially,” the director notes, “so important to the empowerment of girls in Africa, an incredible activist. I wanted her voice and I wanted to kind of bridge the two, America and Africa.”

Wilson didn’t at all mind making those adjustments. “I feel so connected to the intention in their mission for what they want this movie to accomplish in our industries,” she said with serene conviction. “I want to see more opportunities for women who have a message, who are dark-skinned. And so if I can somehow open any doors, then I feel like I can hold on to that, the possibility of that, as my newfound purpose.”

https://www.npr.org/2022/11/05/1134296014/jessy-wilson-the-woman-king-keep-rising-interview

Nnenna Lynch is the New NYRR Chairwoman Nominee

Nnenna Lynch is having a full-circle moment: She has been nominated to take the post of chairwoman of the New York Road Runners (NYRR) board of directors, the organization announced earlier this morning. 

Lynch has been on the NYRR board since 2014 and currently serves as the chair of the NYRR Youth and Community Impact committee. 

Lynch’s appointment is historic: She becomes the first woman and the first Black American at the helm of the board. It’s a watershed moment for NYRR, whose roots start with Ted Corbitt, a Black Olympic marathoner and the organization’s first president.

“There’s a wealth of very deep talent among women; there’s a wealth of incredibly talented African Americans, and certainly there’s a wealth of very talented African American women. It’s really exciting to be one of them and to have the opportunity to lend my experience and talent to a phenomenal organization to the extent to which it inspires others,” Lynch told Women’s Running during a recent interview on a bench in Central Park. “I’m still getting my head around this piece of it, that I represent more than just who I am.”

As chairwoman, Lynch will help set high-level strategy and ensure that the organization continues to work toward its mission of inspiring people to run and building up communities through running. 

In addition to serving on NYRR’s board, Lynch is the founder and CEO of Xylem Projects, a mission-driven real estate and development firm focused on creating sustainable and affordable housing and developing mixed-use projects in transitioning neighborhoods. She started her career in developing affordable housing and served on the board of the New York City Housing Authority. Prior to Xylem, Lynch worked for former Mayor Mike Bloomberg to set economic development and policy.

“I think it’s such a happy fit because so much of what we do [at NYRR] really ties in with what I’ve done prior to Xylem when I was working in government, doing affordable housing, and working in communities. It draws so much of my experiences. It’s the intersection of impact and business,” she says.

Lynch will succeed George Hirsch, who has been chairman of the board since 2004. She officially takes the position in June 2023, after the board approves her nomination at the annual board meeting. 

RELATED: New NYRR Historian Fellowship Highlights the Need for Sharing Untold Stories of the Sport

A Lifelong Love of Running

Lynch’s ties to running go back to childhood. Lynch, who went to school in the Upper East Side, started running at the age of 10 in Central Park, which she lovingly calls her childhood track.

“It was a classic sort of schoolyard experience where I realized I could beat all the boys in my grade. I always knew I was fast,” Lynch says.

“I have an older sister who started running and the father of a friend of hers wanted to get them into a running program. He found a coach who worked with youth. My sister first joined the team, and I would follow her to practice but wasn’t signed up so I waited around. The coach noticed me and said, ‘Hey, you’re able-bodied. Get out there.’” 

At first, Lynch’s parents and sister were adamantly against her joining the team and even encouraged her to do ballet and tennis instead. Although she had given them both a try, she knew her place wasn’t on the court or on stage, but out on the track. 

“The way they saw it was that this was my sister’s thing. But I had a taste of what it was—the team, the coach—and knew this is what I wanted to do, and eventually, everyone accepted it,” Lynch says. 

Lynch thrived on the track and that “schoolyard experience” quickly flourished into a decorated collegiate running career. Lynch attended Villanova University, where she won five NCAA titles in track and field and was a seven-time All-American distance runner. Lynch went on to compete in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Trials and was a finalist for the 3,000-meter and semifinalist for the 1,500-meter. 

Running remains a big part of Lynch’s life. As a busy mom of two and CEO, Lynch manages to pound the ground five to six days a week. Except she isn’t focused on time or distance during this season in her life. 

“Honestly, it’s not about performance. It’s mostly about health and well-being. My favorite runs are ones that are long and slow,” Lynch says. “What I love most about running is the experience of being outside. I find it incredibly relaxing and meditative.”

That’s not to say that Lynch hasn’t had some harder-effort runs under her belt, too. She recently ran the NYRR Brooklyn Half Marathon in May and the New York Mini 10K—the first official women-only road race—which celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this month. 

Serving on the Board of New York Road Runners

Lynch became involved with NYRR through Mary Wittenberg, former president and CEO of NYRR and race director of the New York City Marathon, who recruited her to join the board. Although the organization’s deeply rich history in running and the iconic New York City marathon were major selling points to get involved, Lynch says it was their youth programs was what cinched it for her. 

“One of the things that I wasn’t aware of when I originally sat down with Mary and what really pulled me in was this focus they had on youth and community. As someone who started running as a youngster, that was the appealing piece of getting involved in an organization that had that community and wanted to foster youth,” Lynch says. “So over the time I’ve been on the board and as chair, we’ve been focused on deepening and furthering our impact.”

During her time as chair of the youth and community impact committee, Lynch helped lead the transition of the Mighty Milers program, in which kids had a goal of running a total of 26.2 miles throughout the school year, to Rising NYRR, a nationwide program that helps kids from Pre-K to 12th grade become lifelong athletes. The Rising program provides age-appropriate education to help kids build physical literacy.

“You don’t have to start with running. When you look at what kids do, some of it is running-based, but it’s really games like tag. So we created curriculum that teachers and parents can use that help kids develop physical literacy but doing it in fun ways,” Lynch says. 

RELATED: 360 YOU: How to Serve the Running Community

Looking Ahead: What’s Next for NYRR

When Lynch becomes chairwoman next June, she plans to take that same forward thinking into all of NYRR’s programs and events, which includes 37 races. In addition to overseeing executive management and high-level strategy, Lynch’s job is to ensure that the organization continues to stay true to its core mission of inspiring all runners and building up communities through running. 

But more importantly, Lynch is thinking more broadly on how NYRR can improve accessibility and inclusivity.

“When you think of the overall history of the organization—[it] started in 1958 and the marathon started in 1971—it took a while for the marathon to become this iconic event, so if I think about where we are in the evolution of our community events, I would say we’re still pretty early on,” Lynch says. 

“The larger goal is to broaden and deepen our impact, so it’s about thinking through that lens for every event we do. How can we deepen our impact with youth, with seniors, with otherly abled athletes? That’s something as chairwoman, I will continue to beat the drum on.”

For example, one area of focus for Lynch is expanding NYRR’s Open Run program, which are community-led runs and walks held at parks in all five boroughs, and how they can widen their reach within different communities in New York City and elsewhere. 

“We’re always thinking about what is New York? Who is New York? How can we broaden our reach to New Yorkers and beyond,” says Lynch. “We’ve had interest from other cities about replicating Open Run. Our youth programs are national. We’re cultivating relationships here, but we have mechanisms to support remotely.”

The pandemic has also forced the organization to innovate ways of building community. NYRR partnered with the running app, Strava, in 2018 to allow runners from all over the world to take part in their races wherever they are. Creating and cultivating a community through technology is an area Lynch is also hoping to grow. 

“As the world’s premier running organization, there’s a lot of work that goes into maintaining that status. So we are always looking for new ways of reaching people, new ways of expanding our efforts. I think we’ve done quite a good job of embracing technology, so continuing to leverage what’s out there is one of the ways we want to connect and build a community,” Lynch says.

Lynch’s nomination signifies a period of rebirth for NYRR, which has received criticism in recent years for failing to address diversity issues within the organization and the running community. 

When former CEO and president Michael Capiraso was forced to resign in 2020, it brought a reckoning within the organization to take a closer look at ways its events and programs can do a better job of promoting diversity and representation. This is also top of mind for Lynch when she becomes chairwoman. 

“I think it starts with listening and making sure we have strong, deep ties with organizations and people within the community. Some of the feedback really was a wake-up call that we need to reinforce those efforts and deepen those efforts with various run clubs. It was an opportunity to reflect on how we can do better. There’s no doubt that there’s a commitment—from me personally and the board,” Lynch says. 

NYRR started taking some steps to create a more diverse and inclusive environment for their staff and the broader running community before Capiraso’s exit. It hired Erica Edwards-O’Neal as the senior vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion in 2020. In early 2021, the organization put in place a new diversity, equity, inclusion, and social responsibility framework. It’s also launching a community council for staff and community members who can weigh in on how to make its platforms a more inclusive environment, particularly reaching the Black running community.

“We’re going to be doing more listening and more acting, and the greater infrastructure we’ve created with both the committee on the board and the SVP role will help further those efforts,” Lynch says.

While Lynch is 12 months out from her official start date, she is already working closely with Hirsch and the rest of the board to hire a new CEO to replace Kerin Hempel, who became interim chief executive and president in 2020. They hope to select someone in the next few months and have a new CEO by the end of the year. 

“We’re looking for a really energetic individual who can build on the amazing strength of the organization and take us to the next level,” Lynch says.

As the gatekeeper of NYRR’s mission, Lynch doesn’t see the organization’s fundamental mission changing in any way, but looking at what it can do better. 

“The question is how we can continue to grow, amplify, and deepen the work we do.”

When Uganda’s very first satellite was launched into space last week on Nov. 7, Bonny Omara, the lead engineer on the satellite development team, was filled with emotion.

“I was watching it on TV, together with my Honourable Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation,” he says. “It was really amazing and we hugged each other! To see my baby takeoff from the ground headed for the International Space Station — it’s really a great feeling of my life.”

The satellite developed by Omara and his team, named PearlAfricaSat-1, was launched aboard a Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply spacecraft, which lifted off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. In addition, the rocket was also carrying ZimSat-1, Zimbabwe’s first satellite.

Both satellites were developed through the Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Project 5, BIRDS-5, in collaboration with the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan. Omara, when asked about collaborating with engineers from Zimbabwe and Japan, says, “I feel really great to work with our neighbors in Africa … to have a team of engineers and great men joining hands to work together towards attaining a common goal.”

Uganda and Zimbabwe join an ever growing number of African countries that are building up their space technology capabilities. To date, 52 satellites have been launched by 14 African countries, including the two launched last week.

The satellites, which have by now reached the International Space Station, are set to be deployed over the next few weeks, depending upon environmental conditions.

It is a historic moment for the two countries, who now hope the data collected by the satellites will help improve life on the ground.

Big things come in small packages

Many of the modern devices we use every day function because of satellite technology — something that’s often taken for granted.

“Space technologies are essentially the backbone of the modern economy,” says Kwaku Sumah, founder of SpaceHubs Africa, a service company that helps stimulate the African space ecosystem. “You sometimes don’t even know that you’re using them. But for example, if you’re using Google Maps … or even things like Zoom, or broadband communication, that’s all powered by satellite services.”

Sumah and SpaceHubs Africa were not involved in the development of the recently launched satellites.

However, Uganda and Zimbabwe’s satellites won’t be providing wireless services to anyone. Instead, they’ve been developed for the purposes of earth observation.

“[The satellites] have a multispectral camera, which allows the satellite to essentially take pictures of the Earth,” says Sumah. Multispectral cameras can take pictures that capture information from wavelengths of light not visible to the human eye.

What this does is provide data that can help determine the health of land for the agricultural sector, among other things. Omara says the multispectral camera will be used to “perform analysis of water quality, land use cover, and soil fertility.” That information will then be provided to citizens so that they can make the best use of the natural resources in their countries.

But there are still possibilities to do even more with the satellites. Sumah says that one of the main purposes of a satellite Ghana launched in 2019 was to “monitor illegal mining that was occurring in the north of Ghana.”

And all of those capabilities are made possible by a satellite that only measures 10cm in each direction. They’re called CubeSats — and their small size and low cost to develop makes them perfect first satellites for nations developing their space technology sectors. But don’t let their size fool you. While small – only a bit larger than a Rubik’s cube — CubeSats can still pack a big punch.

However, there is one downside to CubeSats. Their lifetime of operation is only about 24 to 30 months. So unless Uganda and Zimbabwe commit to building and launching more of these satellites, the benefits will be short-lived.

One small step for Africa, but giant leaps still needed

The satellites launched by Uganda and Zimbabwe aren’t the first satellites launched by African nations, and they won’t be the last. According to Sumah, “Ethiopia is looking to launch a new satellite, as well as Nigeria and Ghana,” all hopefully within the next year.

Despite plans for future launches by African nations, Sumah is a bit hesitant to suggest bigger things are unquestionably on the way. “I’m hoping that these are not just one-off events that are just used for PR, but that there’s a sustained momentum that helps lead the charge for Africa to really maximize the use of these new technologies,” he says.

At least with respect to Uganda, Omara believes one thing will help make sure this new foray into space will be sustainable. “A couple of countries have launched their first satellite, or even many, by paying money to other institutions who then give them the satellite,” he says. “But Uganda is unique in the sense that we participated, we have now got three engineers who are fully grounded in the process of developing satellites.”

Even though the human capital is there to provide sustainable development of satellites, Omara thinks there’s still more political and social investment needed before space technologies in Africa can fully mature.

“In the field of science and technology on the African continent, we are still limping,” he says. “The reason is very simple — it’s because we do not believe in ourselves. I always tell everyone that we can make it, we have every single resource that we need. The only thing is us believing in ourselves.”

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/11/20/1137657845/the-first-satellites-launched-by-uganda-and-zimbabwe-aim-to-improve-life-on-the-

New York’s first Black Latina-owned movie theater is ready to grow, owner says

Stuart Cinema & Cafe owner Emelyn Stuart is a solution-oriented person. If there’s a problem, she says there has to be a way to fix it. That’s what led her to start the first Black Latina-owned movie theater in New York – and why she’s now preparing to build a multiplex in another location.

Having produced films for a decade, Stuart was frustrated with the obstacle of getting distribution. She said the higher-ups who would decide her projects had no audience, like when she met with a “gatekeeper” while trying to get her movie The Turnaround into theaters.

“I remember walking out of there and thinking, so that’s it. So my entire investment, the investment of all these people, the work of all these writers, directors, actors, is void. Because this one guy in this one place made this decision, why does he get to decide that?” she said. “I said, I’m going to build my own movie theater, and I will decide what people should watch.'”

She found a warehouse in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Greenpoint that had trucks parked in it, signed the lease in April of 2018, built her theater from scratch and opened by Sept. 1 that same year.

“The electricity, the floor, the carpeting, the walls – everything I built from scratch,” she recalled. “I could have bought a theater that was already built that was going out of business that was vacant. But I didn’t want that […] Because I’m essentially buying somebody else’s dream, right?”

Stuart struggled to get a loan, and investors who had supported her past films weren’t interested in contributing. So she liquidated her assets – houses, cars, she said – and paid for everything with cash.

Stuart, who is Dominican, had a vision for her theater to be different. She wanted to be able to eat empanadas, a lamb burger and tres leches cake. “I like to eat dinner, I don’t want to have a hot dog,” she said.

Her contractors and architect were doubtful, saying her building plans wouldn’t work for a theater and this was going to be “different.”

“Yeah, that’s the point,” she said.

The project was a massive learning process, she explained. She had to learn how to get movies from studios and how to serve food. But she could tell people liked what Stuart Cinema was doing.

The 50-seat theater does more than just show movies in English and Spanish. It has seen five film festivals, including Stuart’s own Ocktober Film Festival. It also hosts church services, meditations, panels, meetings, video game sessions and comedy shows.

Now, Stuart said her single screen at Stuart Cinema is maxed out. There’s a waitlist for the space, so she’s decided to build a multiplex.

“I’ve accomplished the things I wanted to accomplish with the space,” she said. “I’m ready to expand and do it, you know, four times over – because I’m going from one screen to three screens, one location to two locations, a cafe to a full restaurant, and I’m even including a bookstore, because I love books.”

She’s working to build the new project in the neighborhood where she grew up in Sunset Park.

“When I was looking to open the multiplex, I thought, ‘Well, why not build it in my childhood neighborhood?” she said. “They haven’t had a movie theater in over 30 years in that neighborhood, and it’s predominantly Latinos.”

Stuart said that as much as she’s a business owner, she’s a community leader, and she’s a servant at heart.

“I’m Black-Latina. I’m a woman, I’m also a veteran,” she said “Like, I can’t be any more of a minority. But I feel like in many ways, it’s transparent. And that’s what I want, right? Yes, I’m a Black owned business. And yes, I’m Latina. And yes, I’m a veteran, and all these things. But most importantly, it’s a business that you enjoy coming to.”

During Stuart Cinema’s Black history month series, she said she was honored that the theater was filled with white people there to see great films like Malcolm X.

“I love the fact that despite the fact that I am a Black-owned business in a white neighborhood, the people in the neighborhood embrace the business because of the service that we provide,” she said.

On Wednesdays, movies are $8 and popcorn is $3, because she feels everyone should have access to watch movies on the big screen. There are also special “mommy and me” movies for young kids who might be disruptive during other movies. Stuart worked out a way to pick up seniors in the community to come to the theater for their own screenings.

Especially since COVID, Stuart said, the number of people going to the movies has decreased. If there weren’t other sources of income built into the business, like offering affordable catering services, it would be struggling.

During the pandemic, Stuart Cinema & Cafe upgraded its filtration system and hand sanitizers. It made computers publicly available for people to file for unemployment. People could also rent the theater to watch their loved ones’ funerals and burials via livestream.

“There was nowhere else where people could safely get together like that. And so I didn’t charge people. I said, whatever you can afford,” she recounted. “Some people can only afford $50. Other people could afford $5,000.”

Stuart Cinema also hooked up DVD players in the homes of senior citizens, and dropped off DVDs to keep them connected to movies.

The businesses ended up making more in 2020 than the year before.

“Nothing prepares you for success,” Stuart said. Growing up without a lot of money and with English as her second language, Stuart said she felt she didn’t have everything needed to be successful, but she could work hard.

“I certainly feel a sense of responsibility. Because I feel like if I fail, it’s not going to be like, ‘Oh Emelyn failed, I feel it’s going to be like Latinos and Blacks and small businesses […] and veterans because I check off so many boxes,” she said. “Sometimes I have to just check myself and say, ‘You know what, you’re going to make mistakes.'”

There are moments that remind Stuart why she created the theater. She recalled when a program brought in a group of kindergarten-age children from an underrepresented neighborhood. For some kids, it was their first time ever in a movie theater.

“And they were so happy,” she said, remembering what it felt like to watch them. “I was just like, ‘Wow, this is – this is what it is. It’s these experiences that they get to have.”

https://www.npr.org/2022/11/18/1137580684/new-yorks-first-black-latina-owned-movie-theater-is-ready-to-grow-owner-says

Name: Jerome Avery

Sport: Track and Field

Discipline(s): Track and Field

Event(s): 100m, 200m

Classification: Guide Runner

Height: 5-9

Weight: 170

DOB: 12/22/1978

Birthplace: Lemoore, Calif.

Hometown: Lemoore, Calif.

High School: Lemoore High School (Lemoore, Calif.) ‘97

College: Fresno City College ‘01, Kinesiology (Associates)

Paralympic Experience

• Four-time Paralympian (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016); Three-time Paralympic medalist guide runner (2 gold, 1 silver)
• Paralympic Games Rio 2016, gold (100m – David Brown)
• Paralympic Games London 2012, 12th (200m – Josiah Jamison)
• Paralympic Games Beijing 2008, gold (100m – Josiah Jamison)
• Paralympic Games Athens 2004, silver (Long jump – Lex Gillette)

World Championship Experience

• Most recent: 2019 – semifinals (100m – David Brown)
• Years of Participation: 2006, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019
• Medals: 6 (3 gold, 3 silver)
• Gold – 2017 (100m – David Brown), 2015 (100m – David Brown), 2006 (100m – Josiah Jamison)
• Silver – 2017 (200m – David Brown), 2013 (4x100m relay – Josiah Jamison), 2006 (Long jump – Lex Gillette)

Personal: Jerome Avery has been a guide runner with U.S. Paralympics Track & Field since 2004, guiding Paralympians such as Lex Gillette, Josiah Jamison and David Brown. He is currently the guide for Paralympic champion and world record holder David Brown, nicknaming themselves “Team BrAvery”. An Olympic hopeful himself, Avery finished in the top 20 in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials and in the top 15 in the 2004 Olympic Trials. In high school, Avery was his school’s MVP all four years, and he was ranked fifth in the state of California in the 100-meters. He competed two years at Fresno City College before training at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Center (CVEATC) under Brooks Johnson. Bound by a tether, Avery and Brown sprint in lanes side-by-side, communicating by touch and sound with every synched stride as Avery tugs the tether to keep Brown in line to reach the finish line. They train at the CVEATC where they are coached by Brazilian Olympic middle distance champion Joaquim Cruz…Son of Bonnie and Jerome Avery…Has four siblings, Dominque, Jacques, Jaelin and Zonyea…His hobbies include shopping, watching movies, running, relaxing, beach, fishing, making music and dancing.

https://www.teamusa.org/para-track-and-field/athletes/Jerome-Avery