2020 March/April

Cheslie Kryst Sets an Example

By Hope Yancey Photo courtesy of “The Miss Universe Organization.” Cheslie Kryst was born in Jackson, Mich., moved to Charlotte at about age 4, then South Carolina as a teenager. She graduated from high school and college in South Carolina, before earning law and MBA degrees at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem and returning to Charlotte to practice law.…
2019 November/December

The Shaping of Black Charlotte

By Fannie Flono   Charlotte is often listed among the best places for African Americans to live and work. It placed sixth on the 2018 Forbes magazine list of cities where Blacks are doing best economically. And, with more than 13,000 Black-owned businesses, Black Enterprise has called the city a mecca for Black entrepreneurs.…
2019 November/December

Pushing Black Homeownership One Question at a Time

By Tonya Jameson At a recent Tuesday Morning Breakfast, a weekly community meeting, Winston Robinson stood up during the Q&A and asked the question. It’s the question he often asks: Do you have a specific agenda for Black people to create a more equitable Charlotte?…
Lifestyle

Crowning the Beauty Within

  By Angela Lindsay   In a social media climate that glorifies eyelash extensions, lace front wigs, claw-like artificial nails and butt implants, a local program is celebrating all-natural beauty and empowering young women to embrace their own. Founder Vernisha Crawford saw a need for such a program when she realized how much time and money she was spending on her external appearance.…
2019 September/October

Promoting the Power of Philanthropy

  By Angela Lindsay August is Black Philanthropy Month, created in August 2011 by Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland, co-founder of the Pan-African Women’s Philanthropy Network as an annual global celebration of African-descent giving. While these facts may be news to some, Foundation for the Carolinas (FFTC) is well aware of the occasion, and chose to observe it this year by celebrating and highlighting the work of one of its special programs that has been serving the Charlotte community for a quarter of a century.…
2019 September/October

Seniors Stay Healthy with Friends and Fitness

By Tonya Jameson Inside the community room at Greater Bethel AME Church, music blared as arms reached toward the ceiling and bodies swayed. Laugher rang out as the group’s leader called out the steps. “Push it away,” Mitchell Smith-Bey called out, “hot dogs, push it away, hamburgers, push it away.”…