By Ashley Benkarski Before joining the Air Force in 1995, Colonel Dion R. Flynn grew up in Chattanooga where she attended Our Lady of Perpetual Hope in her adolescent years. As peers were considering careers in law and emergency services, Flynn aspired to be a fighter pilot. “My dad raised me to believe I could do anything I set my mind to. That option wasn’t limited due to being a woman.” She admired her father, Emmanuel, and his work as an air traffic controller. Setting her sights on the Air Force Academy, she prepared by getting involved in track, basketball…
Author: Ashley Benkarski
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN— There’s just no stopping Kierra Perkins. Whether racing her blue Spider-Man junior dragster car or running a thriving candle business, the 13-year-old entrepreneur has seen her brainchild, Kandles by Kierra, take off since she decided to capitalize on her candle-making skills years ago. The young CEO was honored with the Entrepreneur on the Rise Award last year by Hustle N Heels and has been nominated again for this year’s award. She also joins her publicist and Modernoire founder Taiisha Bradley in the nomination for the Women Who Rock Nashville Award and has previously received the…
By Ashley Benkarski ANTIOCH, TN — Local resident Pauline Marable Hall has many life achievements, and she’s just gained another by celebrating her 100th birthday last year on Oct. 15. She’s called Nashville home for eight decades and has served in various leadership and service positions throughout her life, especially in the faith and health realms, taking on roles in supervisory positions and as Assistant, Interim and Acting Director of Nursing and education programs at Hubbard Hospital and Tennessee State University. She was an instructor in Psychology and Nursing education at TSU in the 1960s and 1970s and has also…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is celebrating 100 years of African American contributions to the agency’s mission to protect the citizens of the United States. James Wormley Jones, the first African American to join the organization’s ranks, was appointed Special Agent Dec. 2, 1919. Since then, hundreds of African American agents have walked the path he treaded all those years ago. “To hear the FBI is recognizing our contribution, it makes me really proud,” said Supervisory Special Agent Lowanda Hill, who handles equal employment opportunity and discrimination cases. “To know that those before me…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Victor Chatman’s story is one of intention, influenced by early exposure to sound and rhythm through his mother who’d play blues, R&B and Motown hits on the 8-track on Saturdays. He won his first dance contest at a party where he saw a deejay spinning live. Watching Soul Train and American Bandstand as a kid, he thought, “Man, I’d love to be an emcee and deejay, to have people dancing and having fun like that,” he recalled. Chatman began his entrepreneurial foray at 15. Noting he “never wanted to be limited in a nine…
By Ashley Benkarski HENDERSONVILLE, TN — Women of Focus members gathered last month for a discussion of “Love in Catalina Cove” by Brenda Jackson, exploring themes of love, betrayal and forgiveness with lively banter in a sisterly space. But it’s more than a group of women sitting together and talking about what they’ve read since their last meeting–it’s a cadre of community-focused ladies who support each other and take action. Borne out of a conversation in a beauty salon about financial management, the eight- member group began by reading “Girl Get Your Money Straight” by Glinda Bridgeforth. The club now…
By Ashley Benkarski MT. JULIET, TN — Cyntoia Brown-Long talked to the public at Greater United Methodist Church Dec. 3 about her experiences as a child sex trafficking victim caught in the criminal justice system and her mission to spread awareness about stories like hers. End Slavery TN reported that on average 94 minors are trafficked in the state each month. The median age of victims is 13. Brown was 16 when sentenced for the murder of realtor Johnny Allen, who she said picked her up for sex and she killed in self-defense. Sentenced to life, she was granted clemency…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Music City is full of hidden gems, if you know where to look. One of those jewels is tucked off busy Jefferson Street, a neon sign the only eye-catching decoration that Barbara Toms’s pie bakery, Sweet Creations, boasts outside its doors. But upon entry, the senses of smell and taste become heightened and visitors quickly realize what’s behind the shop’s outstanding reputation. Sweet Creations is a “known unknown” to Nashville residents, and it’s making headlines for its signature pies made fresh with natural ingredients. Taste of Home magazine awarded her apple pie as best…
By Ashley Benkarski MURFREESBORO, TN — Modernoire presented the Fall Small Business Showcase at Patterson Park on Nov. 30, this time including a voter registration drive with the NAACP. The second installment of showcases saw a widening of its vendor circle since Modernoire launched earlier this year. Modernoire will take the place of Rutherford County Black Business Network at the start of the new year. Carolyn Cox of the NAACP said the organization partnered with Pi Gamma Gamma chapter of Omega Psi Phi to register potential voters and distribute information. Ten people registered to vote at the event, but Cox…
By Ashley Benkarski ANTIOCH, TN — Mt. Zion’s Bishop Joseph Walker, III has led his congregation to the service of Nashville and beyond, guided by a deep passion to restore and unite the ever-changing community. He’s led the historic church for nearly three decades, he said, growing its membership from 175 to over 30,000 people. “Thirty-two years I’ve been in ministry,” he said of his calling to preach. “Isn’t that something? I started when I was two. Just kidding,” he joked. It may sound like an anomalous achievement but an open mind, empathetic drive and a keen eye for opportunity…