Category: Racial Justice

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

Nova Twins are an English rock duo formed in London, England, in 2014, consisting of vocalist/guitarist Amy Love and bassist Georgia South.^[2] Their debut album, Who Are the Girls?, was released in February 2020. Their second album Supernova, was released in June 2022. Supernova was shortlisted for the 2022 Mercury Prize and led to the band receiving two nominations at the BRIT Awards in 2023.^[3] Their most recent album, Parasites & Butterflies, was released on August 29th 2025.

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/06/g-s1-87241/nova-twins-tiny-desk-concert

I don’t know what my colleagues expected when these ladies set up to play their Tiny Desk concert, but I bet it wasn’t a mega-distorted bass line over a hip-hop beat and raspy yowls. Meet Georgia South and Amy Love, the rock duo known as the Nova Twins.

The ladies from London had no intention of easing into this performance. They launch right into “Cleopatra,” a song that plainly tells haters to kick rocks, then dive headfirst into “Monsters,” a fierce confrontation with their shadowselves. As they duck below the Desk to make adjustments to the “massive pedalboards back here, like, the size of spaceships,” South explains that they are “massive pedal nerds.” (We set up a “pedal cam” just for this show.) Love adds a Harp Blaster microphone to the entourage, giving “Hummingbird” a supernatural quality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havoc_(musician)

Kejuan Waliek Muchita (born May 21, 1974), known professionally as Havoc, is an American rapper and record producer. He was one half of the hip-hop duo Mobb Deep with Prodigy.

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/11/nx-s1-5605547/mobb-deep-havoc-infinite-interview

For Mobb Deep’s Havoc, love for Queensbridge is ‘Infinite’

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

Ulysses Owens Jr. (born December 6, 1982) is an American drummer and percussionist.

He was the drummer on vocalist Kurt Elling‘s Grammy-winning album Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman, and on bassist Christian McBride‘s Grammy-winning The Good Feeling.

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

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim is a Chadian environmental activist and geographer. She is the Coordinator of the Association of Peul Women and Autochthonous Peoples of Chad (AFPAT) and served as the co-director of the pavilion of the World Indigenous Peoples’ Initiative and Pavilion at COP21, COP22 and COP23.

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

Jason Bolden (born February 27, 1982) is an American entrepreneur, creative director and fashion stylist. Bolden is a co-founder of JSN Studio, along with his husband, interior designer Adair Curtis.^[1][2][3]

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/24/nx-s1-4526570/jimmy-cliff-obituary-reggae

Jimmy Cliff, the Jamaican musician and actor who helped propel reggae into the international spotlight, has died at 81 years old. The singer-songwriter was known for hits such as “Many Rivers to Cross,” “You Can Get It if You Really Want” and the title track in the 1972 crime film The Harder They Come, in which he also starred as the main character.

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

James Chambers (30 July 1944 – 24 November 2025), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and actor. At the time of his death, he was the only living reggae musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievements in the arts and sciences.

Cliff is best known among mainstream listeners and audiences for songs such as “Many Rivers to Cross“, “If I Follow My Mind”, You Can Get It If You Really Want“, “The Harder They Come“, “Reggae Night“, and his covers of “Hakuna Matata“, Cat Stevens‘s “Wild World“, and Johnny Nash‘s “I Can See Clearly Now” from the film Cool Runnings. He starred in the film The Harder They Come, which helped popularise reggae around the world,^[2] and Club Paradise. Cliff was one of five performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

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

Christian Happi is a Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Director of the Institute of Genomics and Global Health^[1] (formerly African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases),^[2][3] both at Redeemer’s University. He is known for leading the team of scientists that used genomic sequencing to identify a single point of infection from an animal reservoir to a human in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.^[4] His research focus is on infectious diseases, including malaria, Lassa fever, Ebola virus disease, HIV, and SARS-CoV-2. Christian Happi has been described as a force of nature in TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025.^[5]

https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2023/09/25/1200568742/macarthur-foundation-prize-pandemic-warning

Sentinel, an infectious disease and pandemic detection, warning, and prevention program, has won the MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change competition. The $100 million prize will enable Sentinel to fortify its training and approach within Nigeria and Sierra Leone and expand to other countries in Africa.

The initiative is co-led by Pardis Sabeti at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Christian Happi at the Institute of Genomics and Global Health at Redeemer’s University in Nigeria (formerly ACEGID).

https://www.spiritandimage.org/our-team

The Spirit and Image Entertainment start-up staff includes a core staff of the President/Executive Producer and Director, Sponsorships & Investor Relations, operating on a full-time basis leading up to and during production and training cycles.  An outreach coordinator and a workshops coordinator, working on a freelance contractor basis, complete the core staff team.

Florene Wiley, President /Executive Producer

Florene “Flo” Wiley currently works as the Operations Manager at Snap Judgment Studios in Oakland CA. Reporting directly to the owner/executive producers of this nationally acclaimed podcast production studio (Snap Judgment, Spooked), recently acquired by KQED Inc., Flo is primarily responsible for finance, administration, human resources, production contracts, retreats, and annual events.

A veteran arts administrator, she has worked with non-profit arts and social service organizations such as the Apollo Theater (Director of Marketing & Communications), Scholastic Inc. (Manager, Employee Relations), Uniworld Advertising (Account Executive), the City College of New York (Instructor, Public Speaking), and the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce (Producer/Writer, HarlemWeek 45) among others. 

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/16/nx-s1-5598472/iraq-war-bond-recovery-veteran-deployment

The first I saw of Dave Carlson was his back, in a prison jumpsuit on Sept. 3, 2015. Carlson had been calling me from the cellblock payphone for a few weeks for an NPR story about incarcerated combat veterans and PTSD.

I just spoke to Dave Carlson last week, and he was at the courthouse again. He passed the bar, and he’s now a practicing attorney.

https://www.markingramatelier.com/meet-mark

Upon graduating from prestigious NYU with a business degree, Mark Ingram’s fashion career began at the legendary Fifth Avenue specialty stores, Bonwit Teller and Bergdorf Goodman. As a young merchandising executive at these venerable institutions in the early 80’s, Mark was exposed to the world’s top designers and arbiters of style.

Mark’s interest in fashion, however, dates back to his childhood. As a youngster barely out of the stroller, Mark was introduced to fashionable Fifth Avenue shops by his grandparents, who were avid shoppers and style setters. Custom-made clothes and Saturday fittings at such stores as B. Altman and Best & Co. remain fond childhood memories.