culture
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Let’s Get 1 Thing Straight: How I Wear My Natural Hair Is None of Your Concern
“I wonder what you would look like with straight hair,” a woman commented on my Instagram page. I’d just posted a picture from an event I was attending. It was a big deal—to me, anyway. I had two-strand-twisted my natural hair that morning, then sat under the dryer that afternoon so there’d be a chance…
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It Pays to Be a Jerk? Not if You’re Black!
The prototypical corporate titan in American business is a jerk. From elementary school on, we’re taught about Andrew Carnegie’s abusive leadership; as adults we’re told that the obnoxious Steve Jobs was a genius and that Donald Trump, for all his hubris and excess, is the American dream personified. And while there was a brief period…
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Tech Pioneers: Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves
It was a pleasantly shocking moment that Dara Solomon and Fela Strickland-Smith will always remember. At Black Enterprise’s Entrepreneurs Summit last month, the magazine awarded the sisters a Small Business Award as Family Business of the Year. The recognition is especially surprising because the sisters launched Satori Interactive in 2004 without any entrepreneurial experience, business…
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How I Got Over the ‘Baby Hair’ Obsession TLC’s Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas Gave Me
Even though it’s been several years since I’ve seen TLC’s quintessential music video for their cautionary song “Waterfalls,” I remember it vividly. The ladies dissolving into liquid like T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The shoulder-shimmy dance embodied cool and was seen at the family cookout that summer. And don’t even get me started on…
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A Dollar and A Dream – Financially Planning For Your Dream Venture
Do well in school, go to college and get a good job so that you can support your family. That’s the time-honored formula for success taught to us by our parents. Most people aren’t encouraged to journey into entrepreneurship. For many, starting a business became the only option after the financial crisis of 2008 devastated…
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TV One’s Unsung Offers Redemption for Ike Turner
Ever since the release of 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do With It, the film based on Tina Turner’s autobiography, I, Tina, Ike Turner has been more infamously known as a wife beater than as a musical innovator. So it’s not surprising that some have side-eyed TV One’s decision to kick off the latest season…
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Should I Be Angry That I Might Be My Husband’s 2nd Choice?
My husband and his brother got into an argument over my husband’s disagreement with how his brother is handling some affairs in his marriage. The brother got upset and revealed to me that when my husband and I first started dating, my husband said I was cool but I would never compare to his ex,…
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Living With Debt: Stop Buying It When You Can’t Afford It
Harriette Cole is the author of the book of meditations 108 Stitches: Words We Live By and a contributing editor at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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8 Transgender Women of Color Who Are Doing More Than Just Being Visible
Caitlyn Jenner broke the Internet yesterday when she introduced herself to the world, becoming the first out transgender woman to grace the cover of Vanity Fair magazine. Undoubtedly, Jenner will give some transgender people hope that they can live as their authentic selves—a necessary and affirming message. However, her story—one in which someone can announce…