Category Archive: Lifestyle

Lil’ Ice Cream Dude: A Cold Story

Most 13-year olds haven’t entered the workforce just yet, but Victor “Beau” Shell, 13 of Athens, Georgia is going on his seventh year in business as the Lil’ Ice Cream Dude. As the owner and CEO of Lil’ Ice Cream Dude, Beau has grown and expanded his ice cream truck business and will soon be opening his very own ice cream store called, Lil’ Ice Cream Dude’s Cool World, in his hometown.

When Beau was only seven years old, he approached his parents and told them about his dreams of owning an ice cream cart and sharing his favorite treat with his community. Thinking it was only a passing phase, his parents did not rush out to buy ice cream carts. But Beau’s passion for ice cream and being an entrepreneur was not fleeting and Beau was persistent.

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Kareem “Biggs” Burke: Sowing Seeds

“In all that I do, I look to honor and obey God.”

Kareem “Biggs” Burke, a powerful entrepreneur, revealed his purpose in an interview with Black Enterprise. Whether it is through his work on the fashion scene and business world or with his philanthropic work with humanity, through his organization New Canaan Society, Biggs has found many ways to impact the lives of people around the world through his mission.

Burke has been active in the business world since the mid-1990s, with his former business partner, rapper and businessman, Jay-Z. Biggs and Jay-Z co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records and Rocawear Clothing, which are both a part of the Roc-A-Fella empire. With Jay-Z being the face of the companies and Biggs working in the background, their companies have been very successful in both the fashion and music industries.

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Lena Waithe: Game Changer

Chicago has been synonymous with gun violence for a very long time. The stories you hear about the Windy City have always been told by outsiders, though. You know, the people who've never hung out at the 31st street beach during summertime  time Chi, or the people who don’t know that there's a difference in the mild sauce you get from Harold's, and Uncle Remus opposed to anywhere else.

The negative imagery that surrounds the city is depressing and scary, but that's because it's being told by people who aren't from Chicago. Emmy Award-winning writer and Chicago's very own, Lena Waithe, has fought tooth and nail to bring a more humane depiction of the city we Chicagoans love so much, with her drama series "The Chi.”

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Georgia Dawkins: Chasing Purpose

Just four months after leaving her dream job, Georgia Dawkins celebrated the release of her first book, Everybody Knows: The Power of Being in Position. Although she’d only been the Producer at Sister Circle Live (a daily talk show on mission to inspire and empower black women) for seven months, she knew it was time to move on. “The entire process was just so spiritual. God had been telling me [to leave] for months, but I was afraid,” she told me as cars zipped past the coffeehouse with the same zeal and purpose she had in her eyes. “Afraid of failing. Afraid of being broke and afraid of what people might think,” she explained. But when I saw her again just two weeks later as she sat in front of an excited audience at The Vault Art Gallery on April 22, 2018, reading excerpts from her memoir, there was no fear, failure or poverty to be found. Instead, there was purpose. The very purpose Dawkins has been chasing her entire life.

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Hassan Johnson: Take the Good with the Bad

The talent an actor possesses can be great for a role.  You can get so caught up in an actor’s character that you could very well believe it’s how that person is in real life.  It’s almost as if you don’t expect to see them in anything other than what you consider “the norm.”

Hassan Johnson, most notably known for his role as “Wey-Bee Brice” on The Wire, most certainly fits this scenario.Being in the industry for over 20 years, appearing in movies, music videos, television shows and even modeling, he has a robust resume in the entertainment world.

Johnson always knew he wanted to be on television, he just didn’t know how to achieve his goal.  He first got his start with acting when a high school friend challenged him to go to an open audition in New York, resulting in landing a role to be in Spike Lee’s film, Clockers.

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Vivian Eyo-Ephraim: Changing the Face of Beauty

With only seven months of modeling experience, Vivian Eyo-Ephraim has the internet buzzing. As part of a campaign to help promote ASOS 2018 swimwear collection for plus-sized girls, the 20 year old University of East London student posed in a bright yellow bikini for the advertisement

What happened next was nothing short of a dream as social media users from all over the world praised ASOS and Ephraim for positively representing plus-sized women. “I had no idea it would go viral,” she told Refinery29. “But I’m so grateful and excited that so many people all over the world are supporting me.” At 5 feet and 9 inches tall and wearing a size 14 (18 in the UK), Ephraim is living proof that beauty is not determined by size. The outburst of praise she’s received for her brown eyes, black skin, Nigerian accent, 37 inch waist and 49 inch hips is proof that representation matters. Within a matter of months, plus-sized model, actress and everyday woman Vivian Eyo-Ephraim is changing the face of beauty.

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