Black Excellence: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson

https://www.npr.org/2025/08/22/nx-s1-5492391/questlove-lara-downes-interview

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is a timekeeper by profession. As a drummer, he’s the co-frontman of the Grammy-winning hip-hop band The Roots. He is also a historian, an author of books and a maker of films that illuminate the ways in which music is shaped by time and culture, and shapes it in turn. So his relationship to time exists very much in the present — as a creator of rhythmic structure, controller of tempo and catalyst of energy — but also in the past, as each drumstroke recedes immediately into the echoes of history.

Black Excellence: Halima Aliko Dangote

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

Halima Aliko Dangote is a Nigerian businesswoman. She is the executive director, commercial operations of Dangote Group, an African industrial conglomerate. She is the second daughter of Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote. She is on the board of Dangote Group, NASCON Allied Industries Plc, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Endeavor Nigeria, and a member of Women Corporate Directors and president of the board of the Africa Centre in New York.[1]

Black Excellence: Mayor Brandon M. Scott

https://mayor.baltimorecity.gov

Brandon M. Scott serves as the 52nd mayor of Baltimore, the youngest person to hold his position in over a century. Mayor Scott is committed to ending gun violence, investing in our youth, restoring trust in government, and building a better, more equitable Baltimore for all. In November 2024, he made history as the first Baltimore mayor in 20 years to win re-election.

Black Excellence: Toni Scott

https://www.toniscott.com/about1

Toni Scott’s exhibitions and installations weave together artistically powerful stories presented through installations, multi-media, photography, painting, sculpture and digital ingenuity, often referencing fraught histories. “Learning of my multicultural family heritage has inspired me to give life to the lost images and stories of history.”  Scott’s “Bloodlines” series is a testament to her goals to inspire, educate, heal, engage, stimulate dialog, and bring together diverse cultures. “In every work, I create resides a commitment to themes that build and enrich humanity.” Scott’s work has been awarded and celebrated internationally. In 2012, she created a solo mixed media installation, Bloodlines, for the California African American Museum.