Shamontiel Vaughn

Some facts about Black History Month have been well-established: Carter G. Woodson was a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. His frat created Negro History and Literature Week in 1924. Woodson sent out a press release to announce the first Negro History Week. He chose February to honor another historical legend, a formerly-enslaved-man-turned-activist Frederick Douglass, who had chosen February 14 as his birthday without knowing his real birthdate. Negro History Week was also chosen to honor former President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on February 12. And on its 50th anniversary, in 1976, younger members of the Association for the Study of African American History extended Negro History Week to Black History Month. While all of these facts are inarguable, there’s one point that remains vague: What exactly are you supposed to do during Black History Month? Like Juneteenth , there were never any established rules. For employees who want to honor this month, are there tips for how to...

Gmail users may have been confused when they opened their email accounts and saw pop-ups about Gemini . Instead of Google sending out big “coming soon” announcements about their next-gen flagship artificial intelligence (AI) model, Gmail users just saw a subtle star in the right-hand corner of their screens. With Gemini, ChatGPT and China’s DeepSeek, along with plenty of other programs, it’s clear that AI is sticking around for the long haul. So is it worth newbie investors investing in AI, and how is this possible to do anyway? African-American Investors Are Getting Younger A new report from Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) confirmed that African-Americans tend to be much younger than white investors, with 49% of African-American investors between the ages of 18-34 while 51% of white investors were ages 55 and older. Growing up in a tech-dominant age, African-American investors are using social media to get their investment education and to learn about trading...

We’ve all left a grocery store and saw someone pushing a shopping cart. One group pushes the shopping cart into cart corrals or marches over to the store employee who is collecting carts in the area. The other group pushes the shopping cart far enough away from them to be able to back their car out of the parking space and drive away. The latter group couldn’t care less whether the wind moves that cart along, denting someone else’s car, running over someone’s foot or causing a car accident by an unsuspecting driver. They’ve gotten what they needed, and they’re going about their day. In their mind, it’s the store employee’s problem to fix the shopping cart havoc. Observers watching this person are often participating in the shopping cart theory , judging those who don’t return carts as vigilantes who don’t care about others. How Does The Shopping Cart Theory Relate To A Business Owner Or Employee? The shopping cart theory is often brought up with the phrase, “If no one was looking.”...

Midway through the pandemic , in 2022, there were a small amount ( 19% ) of American workers who were working in jobs that were exposed to artificial intelligence (AI). Meanwhile, almost one-quarter (23%) of workers had the least exposure to AI. The remaining job industries varied with AI exposure. And while there are differing opinions about whether AI is taking away jobs from American workers or helping them to skip monotonous tasks, job seekers would arguably agree that they’d love to have an AI program that automatically filled in all of those little boxes in job applications. Even with a functional resume that focuses exactly on what the job description is looking for, some companies will still require filling out traditional job applications with your job history in sequential order. And this can quickly get tedious. Autofill sorta helps but not enough to avoid job seekers having to edit the automated info afterwards. So with all the extra work involved in using automated...

Financial changes can be stressful, especially when you’re nervous about a pay cut or job loss. You know you need to do something to make yourself happier, but execution isn’t always there. You might want a career change altogether with your current employer. Or, maybe you want to start your own business and are feeling confined in your current industry . New Year’s resolutions are a common time when people reflect on both. No one wants to start the year with an employer that they don’t like or at a job where they feel unfulfilled. Could asking motivational interviewing questions be what you need to figure out your career long-term? What Are The 6 A’s Of Motivational Interviewing? Motivational interviewing questions started off with a connection in the health care industry. In the clinical trial report Do the five A’s work when physicians counsel about weight loss? from 2011, physicians would often participate in the Ask and the Advise but rarely continue on with the Assess, Assist...

The evolution of business-to-business (B2B) advertising has changed over the decades. Previously, businesses would spread the word about their services by sharing business cards, postcards, mail brochures, newspaper classified ads, online classifieds, full-color magazine ads and pay for booths at in-person company conventions. But with the founding of Twitter by Jack Dorsey , Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams came the introduction of a new way for companies to network via digital marketing . It’s largely credited to a product designer named Chris Messina in Silicon Valley. His idea? Hashtags. Why Were Hashtags First Used? Messina observed how Internet chat rooms were using the pound (#) symbol and thought it would be useful for a “group organizing framework.” Although his 2007 idea was originally dismissed as “nerdy” and others were convinced it wouldn’t catch on, clearly Messina was right in the long run. By 2009, Twitter was using hashtags. In 2012, hashtags became popularly...

Duane Martin is one of those actors who disappears and reappears like a Maxwell album. You know he’s “ in the lab cookin ” and will pop out when he feels like it. On Election Day, he asked men to fight for women’s rights. Then, after not-so-subtly hinting at his presidential pick, he stepped out of the limelight again. Still, when his fans want to see him, it’s not hard to find him in Bel-Air , The New Edition Story , The Seat Filler with co-star Kelly Rowland , Deliver Us from Eva, Out All Night , Any Given Sunday and his longest-standing project as Robert James Sr. on All of Us . But while he’s playing the background right now, his fans may still wonder what is Duane Martin’s net worth? Kevin Winter/Getty Images Martin’s Ties To Will Smith Martin and rapper-actor Will Smith have been seen together on more than a few occasions. They’re not just co-stars or business partners. They’re also friends. Even in Jada Pinkett Smith ‘s book Worthy , the actress told a comical story about a...

Business owners are watching a back-and-forth battle that’s become tougher than playing tennis against Coco Gauff , and neither side is backing down. The two opponents? Business owners (specifically a Texas gun shop, the National Small Business Association and the state of Alabama) versus the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (USDOT). What are they debating about? Nationwide business owners being required to file the Beneficial Ownership Information Report (BOIR) before January 1, 2025 in order to avoid a $591 fine, criminal penalties of up to two years in prison and repeat offenses that could lead to them owing $10K. What Is The Beneficial Ownership Information Report (BOIR)? Effective January 1, 2024, many companies in the United States must report information about their beneficial owners (the people who own or control their companies) to FinCEN , a bureau of USDOT. Filing is free and a onetime occurrence in order to...

All too often, job seekers will notice a job that they’re fully qualified to do, but their resumes may not reflect this. There could be gaps in employment, job titles that don’t match well with a different job description or lack of experience as a recent graduate. Using a functional resume, instead of a chronological resume, can be a useful way to get past the artificial intelligence resume barriers and into a busy hiring manager’s inbox. What Is A Functional Resume? The traditional resume starts from your current (relevant) job to your first job, breaking down job titles, time of employment and job descriptions. In chronological order, this allows a hiring manager to see how you may have moved up the ladder to where you are now. The problem with this resume is there may be stagnant moments or jobs that have nothing to do with what the employer is looking for. This is when a functional resume comes into play, especially if you’re pursuing a career change. You have the chance to be...

Adidas may be one of the only companies that Cancel Culture has been unable to overtake. Before Geriatric Millennials and Gen Xers were wearing their very best Adidas shoes, courtesy of Run DMC ‘s 1986 song anthem, the brand wasn’t exactly known for embracing African-American culture. In fact, its 1949 founder Adolf “Adi” Dassler was a documented member of the Nazi Party. Although Adidas certainly doesn’t bring attention to his affiliation in the brand’s timeline , the brand doesn’t hide the founder’s name either. Dassler became the supervisor of the Hitler Youth Sports league , but there are some conflicting reports about whether he was politically enthused with his affiliation or whether his “sole purpose was to support athletes, regardless of political affiliation, religious faith or ethnicity.” Felix Reimann Then, add on images of Jesse Owens, the African-American winner of four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, who was wearing Dassler’s new handcrafted, leather...

People are sensitive about their phones. Want proof? Tell an Apple smartphone user to buy an Android phone, and you’ll be met with the same facial expression as hearing someone say they don’t know how to play Spades .  It’s not that 3.3 billion Android users don’t exist. It’s just that Apple has made such a name for itself that the average Apple user is chasing that brand even more than they’re chasing the actual phone. Competitors get dismissed quickly. Even though the average salary for an iPhone worker is $10 an hour , that same phone (ex. iPhone 15 Pro) they made has a price tag of $558. Are Apple Products On The Decline? Last year, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission , Apple’s total net sales were $383.3 billion and its net income was $97 billion, a small decrease of 2.79% from $394.3 billion in 2022 . While that may be alarming to founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, inflation and unemployment ( 6.3 million in 2023, up from 5.9 million at the end of 2022...

Social Security deductions are one of those topics that don’t really come up until two things happen: 1) our loved ones reach the retirement age where they can apply for benefits, or 2) we grumble about the chunk of money taken out of our (bi)weekly paychecks. With a presidential election happening now, the topic of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) has come up more often than not. Specifically, Millennials and Gen Zers are being told that only 75% of the benefits will be covered by 2035, and younger voters want to know how either candidate plans to fix this. For those who are already receiving these benefits, there’s a new discussion on the table: the 2025 Social Security COLA increase. SSI benefits for more than 72.5 million Americans will increase 2.5% next year. The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase will cover benefits payable to nearly 68 million SSI beneficiaries in January 2025. Additionally, increased payments to nearly 7.5 million SSI recipients...

There are more than 1.3 million lawyers in the United States, one-fourth of them in two states: New York (188K) and California (170K). In 2013, lawyers of color were just 11%. A decade later, that total has almost doubled to 21%. However, the biggest increase within the minority lawyer community is with Asian American lawyers, not Black ones. In 2013, Black lawyers totaled 4.8%. Ten years later, the total was 5%. But for aspiring lawyers (and attorneys ) who are interested in joining that 5% (and helping to increase the number), becoming a paralegal is one step in that direction. Deciding Between A Career As A Lawyer, Attorney Or Professional Paralegal While interested legal students will be able to make the final decision about which path they want to go into, they should have a general idea about whether they want to be an attorney, a lawyer or a paralegal. There is a common misunderstanding that you have to do all three in order to work within the legal industry. That is...

What do the third-largest Hawaiian Island and a retired defensive tackle in the NFL have in common? They’re both in support of doing what you love. Rocking a sunglasses-wearing pineapple shirt with “ Do What You Love ” across the top, Warren Sapp is a six-year ambassador for Oahu Golf Apparel . In addition to showing off his golf swing and Polo shirts, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders player has a few more things going on since retiring from football. What Is Warren Sapp’s Net Worth? According to Celebrity Net Worth, Warren Sapp’s net worth is estimated to currently rest somewhere around $500,000. Unfortunately, this is a considerable drop from what it used to be. In 2004, when he joined the Raiders as a free agent, he had a seven-year contract worth $36 million, with a signing bonus that was reported to be about $6 million. But after a torn rotator cuff the next year, he knew he was going to have to start planning his next move. By 2007, he retired....

It’s hard not to be ecstatic about a $237.75 million donation to any educational organization, especially historically black colleges and universities . Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU) president Larry Robinson was gleeful and already picturing the possibilities of what the HBCU could do with those funds. The donor, who initially requested to be anonymous, agreed to distribute 14 million shares of stock of intrinsic value plus an additional $61 million over the course of 10 years. Unfortunately, that donation from what we now know as the (former) Isaac Batterson Family 7th Trust and Batterson Farms CEO Gregory Gerami didn’t hold up. With minimal information about the CEO and even less about the company, FAMU had to pause the donation. “I take full responsibility for this matter and the ensuing fallout,” Robinson told FAMU trustees, according to a Forbes report . “I wanted it to be real and ignored the warning signs along the way. There was no personal gain, but...