By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Mark Saint Juste is a man of many skills and interests, but his passion lies in teaching the next generation. Assuming roles in record deals and TV production, he definitely didn’t plan on teaching. But that’s where he found himself, working with students at Deerfield Park Elementary. Though it was an unexpected turn, the two-year stint is a point of pride and significance to Saint Juste. For him, it was important to give students the confidence in themselves they need to go through life successfully. “Love is natural, hate is taught,” he remarked. Saint…
Author: Ashley Benkarski
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Women of color are more likely than their white counterparts to start their own business, but receive less access to funding, data shows. JPMorgan Chase and Company’s Head of Business Partner Diversity, Ted Archer, said diversity on both sides of the supply chain should be a major focus for industries going forward. “Women-owned businesses are not only businesses that tend to hire in diverse communities but to hire other women, and who are also the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs that we have in our country,” Archer said. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN— It’s been 36 years since Nathaniel “Nate” Harris opened his framing shop, Woodcuts, along the historic Jefferson Street corridor. Now, it’s official: Woodcuts, a staple of North Nashville, has its own historical marker at 1613 Jefferson St., unveiled Friday, March 24, to a crowd of community members and representatives. Speakers included Bishop Jerry Maynard, Sr., Deputy Mayor Brenda Haywood, Councilman-at-Large Sharon Hurt, District 19 Councilman Freddie O’Connell, former Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, Mr. Moses W. Fisher, Jr., and Mr. Anthony Lipscomb. The Harris’s also took to the podium to share their heartfelt thanks to the…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Sharon Reynolds is a highly successful serial entrepreneur, but she’s never forgotten where she came from. A five-generation Nashvillian, she’s a scion of her forebears. Her grandfather, a Black man, owned an automotive detail shop, T. H. Williams and Sons Automotive Repair, in the 1950s and early 1960s. Reynolds remembers hearing stories of him sitting outside the shop at night in those days, keeping vigilant watch over his family and business from those driven to violence by hatred, ignorance and fear. Her father worked three jobs to care for his family and successfully integrated…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Cassandra Easley’s family legacy includes many firsts. Her father, Billy Easley, was the first Black news photojournalist for a major state newspaper in the 1960s with Gannett, which owned the former Nashville Tennessean (now known as The Tennessean). His work led to a portfolio of more than 8,000 photos and the development of articles covering stories important to the Black community. Publications Ebony and Essence would reach out to him to take photos for them. His pictures have been shown all over the world, even as far as Norway, Cassandra said. He won numerous…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias disproportionately affect the Black community, and more consideration is being given to this disparity among researchers. But traditionally low participation rates in clinical research trials and biases among medical professionals have given an incomplete picture of results. “The question of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in the African American community is a very serious issue,” said Dr. Paul Newhouse, M.D., Director of the Center for Cognitive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “This is an unusual paradox we’re in,” he said. “We don’t know as much as we should, but…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Your dreams can manifest in unexpected ways, as long as you never give up on them. That’s the sage advice offered by Victoria Green, whose love of the written word has led to poetry-writing and now a series of children’s books based around PJ, a kind and adventurous little boy inspired by her own son, Patrick Junior. Green had been writing individual children’s books for about two decades when a team of creatives helped her focus the stories into a series, beginning with what is now PJ’s Jungle Adventure. Green credits Michael McBride, a…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN —Vanderbilt University’s AHEAD 3-45 Study team is seeking eligible participants for clinical trials of a drug that may offer a preventative solution to symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease, and it couldn’t be at a more appropriate time; November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. “Dementia is the overarching term for cognitive deterioration that is seen with various disorders. Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common cause of dementia,” explained Dr. Paul Newhouse, Director of the Center for Cognitive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He’s also the Clinical Core Director of Vanderbilt’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Changes in the…
By Ashley Benkarksi NASHVILLE, TN — Nashville’s Kingdom Cafe´ will be the site of a social justice symposium hosted November 15-17 by Vonda Page, Radical Results Mentor. The symposium, coined DUMP DEI, is built around the core concept that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs aren’t working as advertised, and often aren’t led by the voices they claim to include. Further, Page said, DEI programs should not only look like their workforce but should agitate on behalf of workers’ interests, such as receiving living wages. “DEI work is disruptive (in nature), and there’s at least some distribution of power, “ she…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Much of Black history has been left out of American History courses, which has fooled the public into assuming the historic coal mining strikes in the Appalachian region—truly a workers’ movement against the oppression of the state-backed power structure—were an achievement of white men. Regardless of skin color, Appalachians are not the stereotype of poverty-stricken, uneducated, bigoted ne’er-do-wells that other Americans so falsely cling to. The region was critical to the labor movement and securing workers’ rights, but more than that, it is and has been a microcosm of the wage-earning class’s way of…