Month: March 2020

To commemorate International Women’s Day 2020 (under the theme Each for Equal), the STEMi Makers Africa in collaboration with the U.S. Consulate General, Lagos and MainOne Communications organized the inaugural “i-be-lady-o” in Nigeria.

The “I-be-Lady-o” Workshop program is an expression of STEMi Makers Africa and the STEMi Women initiative to raise young girls and women participation in STEM, learning outcomes and retention in STEM careers, it happened in the first week of March.

This project is an outgrowth of the organization where they offer an extensive range of career and personal development talk, enlightening discussions and inspiring conversations from trailblazing Advocates in Science and Technology who are speaking out to challenge the status quo.

The program was held at the U.S Consulate General, Walter Carrington, Victoria Island in Lagos. Amanda Obidike, the Strategy Lead of STEMi Makers Africa shared that the “i-be-lady-o” Summit is meant to correct the negative perceptions that females develop in STEM fields and to improve focus by motivating women to explore typically male-dominated fields. She said “reducing the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education areas could help reduce the skills gap, increase employment, help productivity of women, and reduce occupational segregation. Ultimately this would foster economic growth via both higher productivity and increased labor market activity.”

Alice Seddon, the Country Consular Coordinator of the U.S Consulate General in Lagos gave a Keynote address encouraging participants to celebrate themselves as women who are breaking the barriers and participating in STEM. She said whether at home or abroad, “promoting women in the STEM fields is a priority of the U.S Government.“

The Summit brought together a variety of influential women in STEM, offering the participants an opportunity for valuable networking and mentorship. The program had Engineer Charlotte Essiet, the Director Corporate and Regulatory Affairs of AOS Orwell Oil and Gas Limited; Dr. Ibukun Afolabi, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Covenant University, Otta; Engineer J.O Maduka, the First Female COREN Engineer in Nigeria and Yewande Thorpe, a Senior Associate in Marketing and Communications, Africa Finance Corporation.

The rest are Mojolaoluwa Aderemi Makinde, Head of Brand and Reputations for Google, Sub-Saharan Africa; Tinuola Ipadeola, Head of Corporate Services and Development, MainOne Communications; Ugo Okafor, an Architect, Design Director, and Prototype Engineer; Anthonia Agbonifo, the Executive Director of Food Concepts Plc and the Chicken Republic.

Key Partners of the event were the USA Consulate General – Lagos, MainOne Communications, Chicken Republic, TheAfricanDream.net, ThisDay Live, Google, and Calal Global.

ABOUT

TheAfricanDream LLC® is about telling the African story from an African perspective to awaken humanity. We are an African affairs news media and communication consultancy.

We tell the stories of Africa and Africans from an African perspective in a way that is devoid of unnecessary, accidental or ill-intended adulteration. By so doing, TheAfricanDream LLC project seeks to share Africa’s stories in a way that makes it more candid and appealing to the African and also leaves the non-African more enlightened and informed about the continent.

The Children’s Guild Alliance, a nonprofit organization serving children, families and child-serving organizations, will honor Guy E. Flynn and Nupur Parekh Flynn with the 2020 Sadie Award for their leadership in innovation and philanthropy.

The Sadie Award recognizes people who embody the organization’s spirit and vision of making the seemingly impossible possible.

Guy E. Flynn practices law at DLA Piper, one of the world’s largest law firms, where he serves as chairman of the firm’s Maryland real estate practice and partner-in-charge of the firm’s Baltimore office.

Nupur Parekh Flynn is considered among the foremost women in the Baltimore area whose skills in board leadership have gained respect throughout the region. She serves as a trustee of LifeBridge Health; a trustee of the Baltimore Museum of Art; and a trustee of the Open Society Institute – Baltimore. She is actively involved with the United Way of Central Maryland.

“The Sadie award is very special,” Guy Flynn told the Baltimore Times. “My wife and I are very philanthropic people, particularly when it comes to issues involving children. We think there’s a tremendous need around those issues and the well-being of children, and, in addition to the arts, we’ve focused our philanthropic efforts on children’s issues.”

Flynn noted that, initially, The Children’s Guild wasn’t a familiar organization to him and his wife. But, after researching the nonprofit, the couple was “blown away by the depth of the work they do and how long a period they’ve been in this space.”

“We really thought that this is a worthy organization and one that has done a lot of good work in the community, so we are thrilled,” Flynn said.

Recognized globally as a top lawyer, Guy Flynn serves as a trustee and board president of The Walters Art Museum. He also serves as a trustee and executive committee member of the Baltimore Community Foundation; a trustee of the Living Classrooms Foundation; a director of Maryland Legal Aid; a governor of The Center Club; and a member of the Baltimore City Ethics Board.

“Part of the legacy of DLA Piper, and I’ve spent my entire career at the firm, is the tremendous legacy of giving back,” Flynn said. “While being an extraordinary group of lawyers and civic leaders, we have to set an example of finding the time to practice law at the highest level but also taking our roles as leaders in society very seriously. We live, work, and play in the city in which the issues that we all confront exists. It would be folly not to address them head-on to the best of one’s capability.”

Flynn and his wife were raised in a similar fashion, which included the inculcation of philanthropy.

“I was raised by people who were professionals. My father was an immigrant from Jamaica, who came to the U.S. to attend medical school at Howard University,” Flynn said. “He became a successful radiologist in Howard County, and my mother was very successful in business. In both cases, they instilled the idea of excellence, the same characteristics at DLA Piper. They also demonstrated the need to give back and help people.

“My wife’s parents immigrated from India, and they raised her and her sister as very philanthropic people. My late father-in-law worked at Morgan State University, and he was very much a part of that circle of African American men and women who contributed to a lot of good civic works.

“My mother-in-law was a beautiful Indian woman who taught at Coppin State, Baltimore City Community College, and in prisons. She was an artist who enjoyed donating art to those less fortunate.

“My wife and I were raised the same way, and we view each other as amplifiers of this mission of ours where the idea is to do as much good for as many people as we can.”

Carla Joelle Brown is nearing completion of a new film that documents her grandparents’ journey in a RV around the country in the 1960s— during the heart of the civil rights movement when racism and discrimination made such travel nearly impossible for African Americans.

Grahams

Carla Joelle Brown retraced steps of her grandparents’ journey around the country. Above left, Carla revisited Hermits Rest, Grand Canyon, Arizona in 2018. (Photo: Thomas A. Huggins). Above Right: Frances Graham at Hermits Rest, Grand Canyon in 1989

Growing up, Brown says she was riveted by stories from her grandparents, Baltimore residents Benjamin and Frances Graham, about their travels. She knew it was unusual for them to traverse the nation because they were African American.

When the Graham’s started their journey, President Johnson had just signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Watts Riots had erupted in California.

“My grandparents were unintentional civil rights pioneers when they traveled across the country by RV,” said Brown, who received her bachelor’s degree in 1998, and a master’s in fine arts in 2001 from the University of Maryland, College Park. “This was a year after the signing of the Civil Rights Act [of 1964], which prohibited racial segregation in public accommodations, and the same week of the signing of the civil rights Voting Rights Act and eruption of the Watts riots.”

Photo Coutesy

Benjamin and Frances Graham, in 1970.

To put the complexities involved in the journey into further perspective, Brown’s grandparents had no prior camping experience.

They were accompanied by their three small children and embarked on their maiden voyage to the New York World’s Fair in their newly purchased 17′ Stardust RV Trailer.

In the end, they traveled for 35 years, in three trailers, while racking up more than 94,000 miles, spending $32,600, and visiting every state but two.

Brown captures the adventure in the new documentary titled, “Everyone But Two: The Life, Love & Travel of Benjamin and Frances Graham.”

“My grandfather kept a travel log, and I decided that I wanted to retrace their steps,” Brown said, adding that she plans to complete the journey by going to the few places her grandparents didn’t.

The film will examine how the RV lifestyle allowed her grandparents to break barriers and travel to predominantly white spaces of the outdoors in a racially divided America.

“My grandparents met a lot of friends who were white and they have managed to stay in touch over the years,” said Brown, who has worked for nearly 20 years in Baltimore, examining themes of gender, race, and family. “It was a counter-narrative to what you might think.”

In retracing her grandparents’ journey, Brown noted that she wanted to see what it was about their travels that made the couple inseparable, and also discover what inspired them to throw caution to the wind as though they were the only two people in the world.

“Most importantly, I wanted to truly understand how the simple act of physically being in the predominantly white spaces of the outdoors broke barriers in a racially divided America,” she said.

Today, the notion of African Americans traveling across the country in an RV remains unusual, Brown said.

“I want people to take away from this film that there are people out there that look like me, people of color, and see themselves out there doing this,” she said. “There is so much out there in this country to see, and we’re paying tax dollars for it. There are some African Americans traveling by RV, but you really have to be in the right place at the right time to witness it. And in general, I don’t see that many people of color exploring the outdoors.”

To view the trailer for Brown’s documentary, visit: www.everyonebuttwo.com.

Baltimore based photographer Kyle Pompey has been capturing photos around the city of folks and how they are managing city life during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Kyle Pompey

Social Distancing – 2020 COVID-19

“During times of crisis and hysteria I find myself leaving my fears behind me and engulfing myself in the world as it’s known at the time. Photography is for documenting moments whether they are good or bad, either way they have to be recorded. When I go out, I think to myself, “What or ho is being overlooked?”, and then I go and capture the essence of whatever “that” is. In almost every crisis I’ve lived through in Baltimore, the homeless, mentally ill, and the drug addicted individuals are looked over. I always tell myself to take the realest images I can and that usually means taking an image without them knowing (my goal is not to exploit, so I try not to make their faces too visible). I posted these images in hopes that it will spark something in someone to want to do something about it. We all have our super power and mine is capturing life as I see it. Be safe y’all and remember your super power is no good if you don’t use it”, says Kyle.

Kyle Pompey

Untitled – 2020 COVID-19

About Kyle Pompey

Kyle Pompey, owner of Nice Shot Media, LLC. considers himself an “organic photojournalist.” Whether photographing in his studio, for a shoot, or in the street, Kyle avoids posed or planned pictures. Instead, he perceives the energy of his subject, which then guides the story Kyle captures in each moment. Baltimore born and raised, Kyle takes pictures of what he knows, and what feels like home to him. He notes that this means he photographs the sides of life, particularly in Baltimore, that people want to overlook. “People don’t want to acknowledge it,” Kyle says. “So nothing’s happening. I use photography to stop time. I want to let people see what’s going on through the pictures.”

On November 12, 2017, Kyle, in collaboration with Ms. Nikiea Redmond and Mr. Sadiq Ali, published and realesed a photo journalism book in conjunction with poems entitled ‘Perspective: Baltimore’.

Courtesy Photo/Kyle Pompey

‘PERSPECTIVE: BALTIMORE’

Courtesy Photo/Kyle Pompey

‘PERSPECTIVE: BALTIMORE’

‘PERSPECTIVE: BALTIMORE’. Kyle describes it as “A collection of street photos used to promote free thought and perspective.”

You can purchase book here:

https://www.amazon.com/Perspective-Baltimore-Mr-Kyle-Pompey/dp/0692970673

WANT TO BE FEATURED?!?!?

Kyle Pompey

Untitled – 2020 COVID-19

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