Dr. Sheila S. Walker is a cultural anthropologist and documentary filmmaker. She has done fieldwork, lectured, and participated in intellectual and cultural events in most of Africa and the Global African Diaspora. Her goal is to educate the public about this diaspora. Her book, African Roots/American Cultures: Africa in the Creation of the Americas, resulting …
Mariya Russell is the chef de cuisine of Chicago’s Kikko and Kumiko. She is credited as the first Black woman to earn a Michelin star in the Guide’s 94-year history. The Michelin Guide is one of the oldest guide books, published by the Michelin tire company first in 1926, rating restaurants and hotels. The Michelin …
Allyson Michelle Felix (born November 18, 1985) is an American track and field athlete, who specialized in the 200 meters sprint from 2003 to 2013 and then gradually shifted to the 400 meters sprint later in her career. At 200 meters, Felix is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion (2005-2009), a two-time Olympic …
Ryan Kyle Coogler is an African-American filmmaker and producer who is from Oakland, California. He is known for directing the Black Panther film series, Creed, a Rocky spin-off and Fruitvale Station. He frequently casts Michael B. Jordan in his works. He produced the Creed sequels, Judas and the Black Messiah and Space Jam: A New …
Chiwetel Ejiofor is an English Actor, Film director and Screenwriter. He is renowned for his portrayal of Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which he received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations, along with the BAFTA Award for Best Actor. He is also known for playing Okwe in Dirty Pretty Things (2002), …
Mimi Kalinda is the Group CEO and Co-founder of Africa Communications Media Group, a pan African public relations and communications agency headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa with offices in Kigali, Rwanda; Harare, Zimbabwe; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and Abidjan, Côte D’Ivoire. One of the most satisfying accomplishments of Mimi’s career is the part she played in …
Eric Marlon Bishop, known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer who is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA award, a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Jamie Foxx was born in Terrell, Texas, to Louise Annette Talley and Darrell …
Michelle Ballantyne is the COO, Recording Industry Association of America. She is also a British politician and former nurse who served as Leader of Reform UK Scotland from January 2021 to February 2022. She was a Member of the Scottish Parliament for the South Scotland region from 2017 to 2021. Born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Ballantyne studied …
Ava DuVernay is a director, producer, writer, marketer and film distributor. She made her feature film debut with the documentary This is the Life (2008), a history on hip hop movement that flourished in Los Angeles in the 1990’s. This was followed by series of television music documentaries which included My Mic Sounds Nice (2010) …
Margareth Menezes is an axé, Afrobeat, samba reggae pop singer and songwriter. She was born in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil on October 13, 1962. She is best known for the hits “Me Abraça e Me Beija” (1988), “Elegibô (Uma Historia De Ifa)” (1990), and “Dandalunda” (2003). Now considered one of the most popular internationally recognized Brazilian artists of the twentieth century, her recording …