November 19, 2022

BUSINESS • Homage Year (US) - Every piece, accessory, and object we create is charged with socio political intention. Each creation is an activation, an HOMAGE to our people, our culture, to our environment, and acknowledging where we stand in the midst of all of that. https://homageyear.com/ • Brandon Blackwood -New York based designer Brandon Blackwood launched his business in 2015 but rose to prominence in 2020 when he created a mini-tote with the words End Systemic Racism in support of Black Lives Matter. He donated a portion of the proceeds to fund legal representation for minorities and at the same time became one of the most desirable brands. His designs have been seen on Zoe Kravitz and Kim Kardashian, and according to a recent study by money.co.uk his purses are making a tidy profit just sitting in your closet. They currently resell for a 100.4 percent premium, that’s twice the amount of your original investment. There is a UK website and the products are sold in Selfridges. https://brandonblackwood.com/ • Teflar Bags - Founder Telfar Clemens and his business partner Babak Radboy launched Telfar in 2005 with inclusivity at the forefront of the marketing strategy and the tagline: “It’s not for you, it’s for everyone.” Telfar quickly turned the luxury fashion business “on it’s head”, Ashley Mason-Greene, founder of Evergreene PR Firm says. The bag was soon seen on the arms of stars and influencers around the world – dubbed the Bushwick Birkin after the hip Brooklyn neighborhood and Hermes’ famous – and infamously expensive – handbag. Sold in Harrods and they have an EU website. https://telfar.net/collections/shopping-bags EVENTS • African and Caribbean People in Britain Book Launch Professor Hakim Adi (December 1st, Africa Centre) - Hakim Adi is Professor of the History of Africa and the African Diaspora at the University of Chichester. The first historian of African heritage to become a professor of history in Britain, he has been researching and writing about the history of African and Caribbean people in Britain for decades. He is the founder and consultant historian of the Young Historians Project. Despite the best efforts of researchers and campaigners, there remains today a steadfast tendency to reduce the history of African and Caribbean people in Britain to a simple story: it is one that begins in 1948 with the arrival of a single ship, the Empire Windrush, and continues mostly apart from a distinct British history, overlapping only on occasion amid grotesque injustice or pioneering protest. Yet, as acclaimed historian Hakim Adi demonstrates, from the very beginning, from the moment humans first stood on this rainy isle, there have been African and Caribbean men and women set at Britain's heart. Libyan legionaries patrolled Hadrian's Wall while Rome's first 'African Emperor' died in York. In Elizabethan England, 'Black Tudors' served in the land's most eminent households while intrepid African explorers helped Sir Francis Drake to circumnavigate the globe. And, as Britain became a major colonial and commercial power, it was African and Caribbean people who led the radical struggle for freedom - a struggle which raged throughout the twentieth century and continues today in Black Lives Matter campaigns. Charting a course through British history with an unobscured view of the actions of African and Caribbean people, Adi reveals how much our greatest collective achievements - universal suffrage, our victory over fascism, the forging of the NHS - owe to these men and women, and how, in understanding our history in these terms, we are more able to fully understand our present moment. - The New Black Vanguard features 15 international Black photographers contributing to a new vision of the Black figure and reframing representation in art and fashion. This exhibition is a celebration of Black creativity both in-front of and behind the camera. Featured works include Black stylists, models, make-up artists and creative directors who are bringing a radically new set of references and experiences to image making. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is a British artist and writer acclaimed for her enigmatic portraits of fictitious people. This exhibition brings together around 70 works from 2003 to the present day in the most extensive survey of the artist’s career to date. The figures in Yiadom-Boakye’s paintings are not real people – she creates them from found images and her own imagination. Both familiar and mysterious, they invite viewers to project their own interpretations, and raise important questions of identity and representation. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/african-and-caribbean-people-in-britain-book-launch-professor-hakim-adi-tickets-456896940047?aff=ebdssbdestsearch •Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth 2022 (26 November, Rock Tower)- Miss Caribbean and Commonwealth as a non-profit organisation has continually sought to redefine the way pageant competitions are conducted. You are invited to the most glamorous event of the year. The Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth organisation will be choosing its newest Queen to undertake Charity work in the UK, Africa, the Caribbean and the countries united in our commonwealth. Come and witness as 17 ladies from the Caribbean, African and Commonwealth realms compete to take the Title as the 25th Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth. • TREVOR NELSON'S SOUL CHRISTMAS WITH THE BBC CONCERT ORCHESTRA (Monday 19 December, Royal Albert Hall) - Urban music pioneer Trevor Nelson curates a live soul show for the Royal Albert Hall this Christmas. The award-winning BBC Radio 2 and Radio 1Xtra DJ is a household name across the UK and is a champion for RnB music worldwide. After bringing the house down in 2019 Trevor returns to our spectacular auditorium for a second time round, bringing together a host of special guest including Chic’s Kimberly Davis, Basement Jaxx vocalist Vula Malinga, soul singers Tony Momrelle and Omar, Ivor Novello-winning producer Troy Miller, award-winning singer Corinne Bailey Rae, singer-songwriter Andrew Roachford and British gospel group the Kingdom Choir. They’ll be performing re-imagined and re-scored iconic tracks, with a little help from the incomparable BBC Concert Orchestra. https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2022/trevor-nelsons-soul-christmas/ • Mandela the Musical (Young Vic 29 November - 4 February 2023) - It's 1960. Young activist, Nelson Mandela, rallies the people of South Africa to protest against the racial segregation of apartheid. In 1962 he is arrested and sentenced to life in prison, where he will spend the next 27 years, taken from his wife and children, as the fight for freedom sweeps his country. Infused with the rhythms of South Africa, this soaring new musical tells the extraordinary story of a man who changed the course of modern history - the sacrifices he made as a husband and father, and the global movement that inspired him and his comrades to keep fighting. The production is presented in proud partnership with Nandi Mandela, Luvuyo Madasa and the Mandela family. https://www.youngvic.org/whats-on/mandela?gclid=CjwKCAiAmuKbBhA2EiwAxQnt75EDmLVI_DG7c-bBzHzfKDv2UgnMn--FIEWcVyRjXg0ZR1e-GjDJ5BoC5NUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds • Africa Centre Christmas Market The Africa Centre 66 Great Suffolk Street, London (17/18 December) - Our annual Christmas African Market returns and this year we are excited to announce a new partnership with Inspired by Africa, who we are working with, to bring brands together and curate exciting family-friendly activities over the weekend of 17 - 18 December. You can expect a diverse range of contemporary Afrocentric fashion, food, art, and entertainment including workshops catering to specific interests. https://www.africacentre.org.uk/event/the-africa-centre-christmas-market/ don WC2N 5BY BOOKS • The Hive Scarlett Brade - A feminist thriller for anyone who's ever sworn revenge on an ex. Perfect for fans of You, Clickbait and Blood Orange. 'Lively, shocking ... A fresh, modern take on the revenge story' THE GUARDIAN 'Tense, topical and stylish' TM LOGAN 'An addictive read!' ALICE HUNTER 'Dark and gripping' CASS GREEN Charlotte Goodwin looks directly at the camera and reveals a chilling truth to the thousands watching her Instagram Live broadcast. She has killed her ex-boyfriend's new partner in cold blood. But she is not finished yet. The viewers must now vote to decide whether he should live or die. 3.9 out of 5 Amazon 3.2 out of 5 Goodreads • The Minister Primarily: A Novel) - A major literary event—the eagerly anticipated publication of a long-lost novel from legendary writer and three-time Pulitzer Prize nominee John Oliver Killens, hailed as the founding father of the Black Arts Movement and mentor to celebrated writers, including Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Arthur Flowers, and Terry McMillan. Wanderlust has taken Jimmy Jay Leander Johnson on numerous adventures, from Mississippi to Washington D.C., Vietnam, London and eventually to Africa, to the fictitious Independent People’s Democratic Republic of Guanaya, where the young musician hopes to “find himself.” But this small sliver of a country in West Africa, recently freed from British colonial rule, is thrown into turmoil with the discovery of cobanium—a radioactive mineral 500 times more powerful than uranium, making it irresistible for greedy speculators, grifters, and charlatans. Overnight, outsiders descend upon the sleepy capital city looking for “a piece of the action.” When a plot to assassinate Guanaya’s leader is discovered, Jimmy Jay—a dead ringer for the Prime Minister—is enlisted in a counter scheme to foil the would-be coup. He will travel to America with half of Guanaya’s cabinet ministers to meet with the President of the United States and address the UN General Assembly, while the rest of the cabinet will remain in Guanaya with the real Prime Minister.

What could go wrong?

3.6 out of 5 Amazon • Light We Carry: Overcoming In Uncertain Times Michelle Obama - Her life. Her learnings. Her toolkit to live boldly. How do we build enduring and honest relationships? How can we discover strength and community inside our differences? What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much? Michelle Obama believes that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress.

4.8 out of 5 Amazon 4.2 out of 5 Goodreads

PODCASTS • BBI You're On Mute - BBI ‘You're On Mute’ is a new podcast series conceived by the UK’s first Black Business Institute, an organisation which aims to boost prospects for underprivileged Black entrepreneurs, by promoting equivalent access to the UK’s funding structures and essential business networks. Our hosts June Sarpong, Bianca Miller-Cole and Lord Michael Hastings interview an incredible line-up of leaders, icons and change makers, to ascertain how they balance the importance of commercial performance versus societal impact. •What's Going On? Eyes on Africa and the Caribbean Moronke Oshin-Martin & Grace Oshin - What’s Going On? Eyes on Africa and the Caribbean" brings a biweekly conversation with people who know and work extensively and at the ground level in African and/or the Caribbean to the people of the African diaspora to keep us connected to the events and the places we love and left behind. Join us as we follow social and economic development issues in and around Africa and the Caribbean, including issues about youth, health, education, business, and emerging entrepreneurs. "What’s Going On? Eyes on Africa and the Caribbean" wants you to stay connected to the people and places that you love. Podcast cover photo by Etty Fidele on Unsplash https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-going-on-eyes-on-africa-and-the-caribbean/id1511214761 RADIO • IMovie with Alli Plumb (BBC Sounds) - Ryan Coogler the Black Panther director talks to Ali about Creed, Fruitvale Station and the new Marvel movie Wakanda Forever, and reflects on working with his friend, the late Chadwick Boseman. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0ddtpwy/movies-with-ali-plumb-the-story-so-far-ryan-coogler#xtor=CS8-1000-[Discovery_Cards]-[Multi_Site]-[GR03]-[PS_IPLAYER~N~~P_Movies%20WithAliPlumbRyanCoogler]

FILM/TV • Is That Black Enough for You?!? (2022) NETFLIX - Film critic Elvis Mitchell directs and stars in this Netflix Original documentary about the history of Black cinema. Focusing primarily on a Black revolution in ’70s cinema, Mitchell uses archival footage and new interviews with key players from the area to analyze and celebrate the diversification, politicization, and star-making turns of the era. New interviews with luminaries like Harry Belafonte, Samuel L. Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery, Laurence Fishburne, and Charles Burnett make this doc a must-see for cinema lovers. • See You Yesterday (2019) NETFLIX - This heartfelt little indie just won an Independent Spirit Award this year and yet it still doesn’t get enough love. See You Yesterday tells the story of two smart, young Black teens who are working on a time machine. Director Stefon Bristol and co-writer Fredrica Bailey’s script is both authentic, hilarious and, eventually, heartbreaking. Newcomers Eden Duncan-Smith and Dante Crichlow are charismatic as two nerdy best friends trying to change the world. The less I say about this film the better; its melancholy tonal shift and poetic ending speak for themselves. •Wendell and Wild (October 28, 2022)) NETFLIX -Animation • Comedy • Fantasy • Horror With Jordan Peele • Keegan-Michael Key • Angela Bassett • Tamara Smart • Ving Rhames • Lyric Ross • David Harewood. Two demon brothers face off against a nun and a pair of goth teens in order to earn their way out of hell. Run Sweetheart Run (October 28, 2022) Amazon Prime - With Ella Balinska • Ava Grey • Charm La'Donna • Aml Ameen.A woman runs for her life though the streets of Los Angeles after her blind date suddenly turns violentHorror WHO is WHO? • Dean Forbes CEO, FORTERRO, PARTNER, CORTEN CAPITAL - A transformational leader with expertise in enterprise software and technology, Dean has successfully turned around a clutch of tech firms. In the past year, he traded Forterro to Partners Group for €1bn, making it a new UK technology unicorn and the country’s sixth-largest privately held tech company. According to Bloomberg, there are just over 1,100 privately held companies in the world valued at $1bn or more, with only seven of them being led by black men and women, making Dean one of a very small group of ‘Unicorn leaders’. According to Bloomberg, there are just over 1,100 privately held companies in the world valued at $1bn or more, with only seven of them being led by black men and women, making Dean one of a very small group of ‘Unicorn leaders’. The Forterro transaction takes Dean’s total exits to $2.2bn, making him one of Europe’s most proven, investment-backed CEOs. Dean continues as CEO with Forterro, a group of ERP software companies that serve SMEs in Europe, North America and around the world (the Powerlist). •Anne Mensah VICE-PRESIDENT CONTENT UK, NETFLIX- IAnne Mensah is at the forefront of Netflix’s goals to scale up in the UK, sitting in the powerful position of Vice President of Content. Her role is to source UK content that can achieve huge global reach. Anne is also an independent governor and chair of the Diversity Committee at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, as well as sitting on the board of the schools-based educational charity Into Film. Mensah’s Netflix content has included The Crown, After Life and Top Boy, comedy Man Vs Bee with Rowan Atkinson, Anatomy of a Scandal starring Sienna Miller, erotic thriller Damage – starring The Hobbit’s Richard Armitage and Peaky Blinders’ Charlie Murphy – superhero drama Supacell, an adaptation of David Nicholls’ novel One Day and Abi Morgan’s Manhattan-set. (the Powerlist) •Tunde Olanrewaju SENIOR PARTNER AND MANAGING PARTNER, MCKINSEY & COMPANY - As the Managing Partner for the UK, Ireland and Israel at McKinsey & Company, Tunde works with a range of institutions to make them resilient and position them for sustainable, inclusive growth – with particular expertise in digital and analytics. He started at McKinsey in 2002 and was appointed to the top job in 2022. He is one of the global leaders who helped create McKinsey Digital – building design, engineering, analytics and product capabilities within the firm to support clients in the digital transformation of their organisations, the launch of disruptive attacker propositions and exploiting data analytics at scale. Successful projects have included supporting a European defence authority on the end-to-end transformation of its major IT contracts to transition to the cloud, including systematic identification of cost reduction opportunities, creation of a new contracting model to fund transformation, and ongoing commercial and delivery support to execute the change. Nigeria-born Tunde is also a leader of the McKinsey Black Network, a global community for black client service staff committed to recruiting a fair share of black talent and facilitating connectivity and mentoring relationships. (The Powerlist) WHAT I AM PERSONALLY RECOMMENDING? 1. The Woman King - In my household, this was much more popular than the Black Panther 2 movie. More action, more Viola Davies!!! 2. Afori Books (Brighton & Online) - An independent bookstore in Brighton with an online store. They have created a bookstore with the largest wholesaler in the country offering their customers one of the biggest selection of books by black authors in one place. They have also put together a team of reviewers who review the books they read; you can find them on the YouTube channel Afrori Reads.