All results / Stories / Jo-Carolyn Goode
The Winning Formula for Black Businesses
Winning takes work. One has to put in some real sweat equity in crafting a plan, executing it and seeing it through for any hope of positive results. Going at it alone is possible but success will be harder to come by doing it that way. The ultimate reward will take the combined efforts of many to overcome.
Business Style: Meet Ashley Odom, Owner of Omazing Occasions
One lick, two licks, three licks were all it took to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. Knowing how the flavors would combine in your mouth, slow licking was not an option. You wanted the satisfaction now. However, I have found one lollipop that you will want to lick slowly to really savor and enjoy it. Ashley Odom, the owner of Omazing Occasions, talks to us about how she turned the everyday lollipop into an adult only experience.
Unlock Delicious Surprises Every Monday with Secret Menu Mondays at The Locker Room
The Locker Room Sports Bar & Grill, nestled in the heart of Houston near Texas Southern University, is about to make Mondays your new favorite day of the week with the launch of 'Secret Menu Mondays.' This exciting initiative promises a tantalizing surprise menu item at an exclusive price, available all day every Monday from 5pm to 12am!
Celebrating the Newest Honorary Members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.®
Delta Sigma Theta Welcomes New Members Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Debra Lee, Rashida Jones, Ambassador Bonnie Denise Jenkins, Channing Dungey, Tamika Catchings, and Phyllis Newhouse
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated® announced their newest Honorary Members during the sorority's 56th National Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ladies now proud to represent crimson and cream are Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Debra Lee, Rashida Jones, Ambassador Bonnie Denise Jenkins, Channing Dungey, Tamika Catchings, and Phyllis Newhouse.
Boyce Family Values
Nothing brings more excitement to people than the news of a couple having a baby. Between all the congratulations, gifts, and advice the couple stands in the middle of it all in complete fear with questions swirling in their head. Are they ready for a baby? Do they have everything they need? Will they do a good job? Their shoulders are heavy because molding and shaping the life of another human being is a huge responsibility.
Early Voting Comes to a Close As Election Day Approaches
The pavement is being worn out with campaign workers hitting the streets to knock on doors and voters standing up for what they believe in at the polls. Only a few more days are left to vote before the November 8th Election when we find if Texas will remain a red state under the Greg Abbott administration or if the tide will turn blue with Beto O’Rourke at the helm.E
Reginald DesRoches Named 8th President of Rice University
One hundred and nine years after its founding and 56 years after the first African American graduate, the prestigious Rice University has named its first African American president. How ironic that a university established by a white rich slave owner would now have at the head an African American from one of the poorest countries in our nation. Talk about progress and achieving the American dream.
Justice Served: Louisiana Man Receives Life Sentence for Double Shooting Tragedy
In a somber culmination of a tragic case, a Louisiana man has been sentenced to life in prison for a heinous act that resulted in the death of an innocent woman and left another victim seriously injured. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced the verdict on Wednesday, underscoring the gravity of the crime and the pursuit of justice for the victims.
Priscilla Shirer: Ministering Through Acting in Overcomer
Call her an author. Call her an actress. Ask Priscilla Shirer what she is and she will say a minister, a teacher, someone trying to bring souls to know Jesus Christ. That is who she is at her core. Everything she does centers around that sole purpose. Connecting ministry to acting seems like a stretch when thinking of it in the mainstream of pure entertainment. However, changing your perspective to focus on the content of material rather than the entertainment factor and connecting the dots between the two is easy.
GregAlan Williams Tapping Into the Heart of Women
Every time GregAlan Williams takes on a role he has the same goal every time, to be believed. “If I am believed, I’m good,” said Williams. With the encompasses over 20 films, more than 30 television shows, and even some video games, we have been believing Williams as an actor for years. Just as long as he has been acting, he has been writing. And he now merges his talents in his re-released book, Heart of Woman.
Texas Renaissance Festival Celebrates 50th Anniversary with Community Giving
The Texas Renaissance Festival (TRF) gears up for its golden jubilee by extending its tradition of philanthropy through various charitable initiatives leading up to the milestone celebration. As a cherished icon in the region for half a century, TRF remains committed to giving back to the communities that have fueled its success and nurtured its growth.
Avelo Airlines Now Taking Flight From Houston to Southern Connecticut
Avelo Airlines Expands Service from Southern Connecticut to Three Exclusive Nonstop Destinations: Houston, St. Louis and Traverse City, MI
Adoption: Expand Your Family This Holiday
Three to four million children are born in the United States each year. Of that number approximately 7,000 plus are abandoned. Having no family to love them or a place stay they grow up in the foster care system. On average a child stays in the system 2 to 5 years and some longer than that. Feelings of not being wanted and what is wrong with them cloud their judgment and damage their self-esteem. Foster parents can change that outlook for children with the basics of love, shelter, and food and expand their family this holiday season.
Exceeding Carnival Guests’ Expectation with a Listening Ear
As a child, my mother often said the phrase, “You have two ears and one mouth because you need to listen more than you speak.” Well, Arnold Donald, Carnival Corporation’s CEO, must have heard the same thing as a kid since he counts having a listening ear as one of the keys to his success.
Is There A Black Doctor in the House?
Where are all the Black doctors? They are hard to find. On average, about 5.7% of all the doctors in the US are Black according to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Although enrollment of African Americans in medical school is on the rise, 5.7% is still low when considering that there are 66.1% of active physicians with a US Doctor of Medicine degree.Where are all the Black doctors? They are hard to find. On average, about 5.7% of all the doctors in the US are Black according to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Although enrollment of African Americans in medical school is on the rise, 5.7% is still low when considering that there are 66.1% of active physicians with a US Doctor of Medicine degree. Looking back at the history of Blacks in medicine, it's easy to see why the numbers are so low. However, new data suggests that more black doctors are needed now than ever, and for some, it could mean the difference between life and death. On average, when put in a crowd of a diverse population with no identifying connections, a person will gravitate toward those of their own race. It's a natural behavior because people are more at ease with who or what they know. Generally, being of the same race is an easy commonality to draw towards. This same kind of thinking works in medicine as well. According to studies, Black Americans who have black doctors have more trust in them, practice preventative care, and ultimately live longer lives. "I think we as blacks relate more to people who look like us. Often, we have unspoken similar backgrounds that bring us to a common place of understanding when we have difficulties in our quests for higher education," said Dr. Creaque Charles, Pharm. D. at an accredited HBCU school of pharmacy. How to Improve Representation of African Americans in Medicine? The answer to that question lies in the problems that Blacks have with medicine. To understand the concerns, one must go way back in history to when enslaved men and women were forcibly brought over on ships to America. Those men and women were treated less than humans and stacked on top of each other like property. On that journey, they had to exist in deplorable conditions that were filled with human fecal matter, urine, and other forms of human waste. This resulted in them becoming gravely ill, and some died. None received medical care. The feeling continued when slave owners subjected their Black female slaves to forced sterilization to stop reproduction. Women were also exploited for their bodies to produce more strong slave labor. These women did not also receive any medical care. When the truth about an unethical experiment with Tuskegee men and Syphilis (dubbed the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis) came to light in 1972, prejudices grew.vDuring the era of the Civil War, Blacks were "doomed to extinction" by the medical community of the time, which thought the mental, moral, and physical deterioration of Blacks would send them to an early grave. The distrust of the medical community continues to this day as some doctors of other races may have prior biological beliefs about Blacks that can result in doctors thinking Blacks have a high tolerance for pain, so they may undertreat them for pain. Incidents like the above led some Blacks to believe that they receive better treatment than their own because they know the point of view from which they are coming. They understand it. "When people look at me and they can see themselves in me, that commonality serves as the foundation for a bond of trust," said Dr. Robbyn Traylor, chief medical officer of an urgent medical care clinic, who knows that any doctor can be excellent no matter their race. "There is a level of comfort that is understood and that can remain unspoken when brown and Black patients are treated by brown and Black doctors." A CNN article dives further into the issue of why there is not a surge of Black doctors. Those reasons include factors like the race being excluded from medicine, systematic racism, institutional racism, not being exposed to STEM or STEM careers as a child, and a lack of Black doctors as mentors are among the top reasons. History supports this when looking at the first Black person to earn a medical degree. Dr. James McCune Smith had to go all the way to Scotland to receive his degree in 1837 from the University of Glasgow. Dr. Traylor was fortunate as a child to be heavily exposed to the life of a Black doctor as both of her parents worked in the medical field. She was often at their heels as a child while they worked at one of the best trauma centers in the Texas Medical Center. "I was lucky enough to grow up in a community of people who made me believe that I had the intellect and attitude for medicine." Diversity Matters Diversity Matters After Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington enacted bans on affirmative action, the diversity of the medical schools in those states dropped by a third. Before Black students were wholeheartedly welcomed at these schools in the 1800s and 1900s, they had a choice of seven medical schools, according to research by the Duke University Medical Center Library and Archives. Now only two remain: Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. Black students are more likely to attend black medical schools to seek out those who look like them and have proven that their dreams are achievable. Future Black doctors want to attend schools where they don’t have to feel as if they don’t belong. They want to go to schools where they are encouraged to do well, and those who are instructors and mentors truly believe that THEY can do well. Dr. Tamiya Sam, who is a registered pharmacist and holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree, knows that whether it is medical, pharmacy, dental, or nurse practitioner school, having a Black mentor matters. "The face of pharmacy is increasingly non-Black. I believe if there were more hands on and dedicated Black pharmacists who truly mentored Black pharmacy students, it would have a higher impact on their completion because they would serve as someone who has been there and genuinely wants to help them succeed." Rosa Terrance, DNP, APRN, GNP-C, agrees with Dr. Sam. "Mentorship absolutely matters and is influential in producing more providers of color. At all times, I make sure of two things: 1) I have a mentor who looks like me, and 2) I am acting as a mentor to someone else. There is a degree of comfort and trust that is birthed out of just being present with someone of your likeness in an otherwise underrepresented space." The Next Generation of Doctors African Americans have a responsibility to expose our children to all the world can offer them. African Americans have a responsibility as a race to step up and be mentors for brown and black children in all fields, not just the medical field. To improve race relations, Blacks must educate our non-Black counterparts. A change must come, and it must start now with each of us.
Yellowstone Schools Gives Students More Than a Traditional Education
Approaching anything, in the same way, expecting different results only leads to the same tired outcomes. A new perspective with a fresh action plan puts a different spin on issues and allows for varied effects. Many schools in the private and charter systems are providing that innovative viewpoint to education by cutting through the red tape of the norm and breaking through with the change of the unexpected.
Houston’s Own Chandler Foreman Is Miss Texas 2019
A win for the US is how Miss Texas 2019 Chandler Foreman describes her historic crowning as the first reigning queen of the Miss America system to wear the crown with natural hair. For years beauty queens were put in a box to be thought of as thin, with straight long blonde hair and blue eyes.
Revving Up for Success: Celebrating 20 Years of V-Series Fandom
Buckle up, Houston! As we mark the 20th Anniversary of V-Series, it's time to honor the passionate enthusiasts who have made this journey unforgettable. From the roar of the engine to the thrill of the race, discover the heart and soul of V-Series fandom that fuels our excitement.
Elevating Southwest Louisiana: Welcome Richert "Ricky" Self and Jay Kumar to Visit Lake Charles Board of Directors
Visit Lake Charles proudly welcomes two distinguished leaders, Richert "Ricky" Self and Jay Kumar, to its esteemed board of directors. Their recent appointments underscore Visit Lake Charles' commitment to strategic growth and community engagement in Southwest Louisiana.
Twelve African American Men Achieve Highest Rank in Boy Scouting
Since 1910, the Boy Scouts of America have operated at a level of achieving nothing less than their best to honor God, serve their country, and obey the Scout Law. In doing so millions of young men have grown to be “physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”
