90% of parents want their children to study computer science
America’s unmet need for top talent in information technology (IT) and computer science (CS) is a longstanding problem.
However, a new report from the IT + CS Business Advisory Council, Addressing America's Growing Demand for IT and CS: The Case for Change in K–12 Education, identifies what businesses, education leaders and policymakers can do to address this skills gap.
Learn more at ExcelinEd.org/ITCS.
What Others Are Saying
BYRON ALLEN ACCEPTS THE ICON AWARD AT THE 4TH ANNUAL CULTURE CREATORS INNOVATORS & LEADERS AWARDS BRUNCH
All Photos by: Jerritt Clark
Photographer/Getty Images for Culture Creators
AMY DUBOIS BARNETT, CCO, THE GRIO AND EVP, DIGITAL OF PARENT COMPANY ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS MODERATES CULTURE CHAT
(Los Angeles, CA) -- Celebrating leaders throughout the creative community and upholding a commitment to diversity, Culture Creators hosted its fourth annual “Innovators & Leaders” Awards Brunch at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in the International Ballroom on Saturday, June 22. It was hosted by Tanika Ray, co-host of EXTRA, and DeMarco Morgan, co-anchor of CBS2 News This Morning.
This year, businessman, television producer, comedian, philanthropist, and founder, owner, and CEO of Entertainment Studios, Byron Allen accepted the Icon Award. His acceptance of the honor was preceded by a Culture Chat that engaged attendees, moderated by Amy DuBois Barnett, the EVP, Digital + Chief Content Officer of The Grio—an Entertainment Studios-owned platform.
Check out photos and video of the event below!
Michael Ealy presented James Lopez with the Culture Creator Award for Film & Television Excellence, while Marsai Martin spoke directly to young girls of color who don’t feel like they belong, as she accepted her honor of Innovator of the Year.
Check out the full list of honorees, below.
The exclusive invite-only gala maintained its status as one of the most sought-after and influential events of BET Awards Weekend for the fourth consecutive year. 2019 saw the event expanded and evolved as it highlights the achievements of thought leaders, philanthropists, executives, entertainers, artists, and other pillars of African American culture in an intimate setting among key players.
Talent from this year’s gala included: Sylvia Rhone, Lalah Hathaway, Ryan Destiny, Lecrae, Chris Chalk (When They See Us), Omar Bolden, Brandon Marshall, Mona Scott-Young, Al Harrington, Lance Fresh, Van Lathan, Kendrick Sampson, and more.
These “Culture Creators” continue to set the pace for diversity in the fields of entertainment, music, sports, and beyond.
The list of 2019 honorees:
Innovators & Leaders Award 2019
Icon Award
Byron Allen
Founder, Chairman, CEO
Entertainment Studios
Innovator of the Year
Marsai Martin
Actress, Executive Producer
Film & Television
James Lopez, President Will Packer Productions
Business
Tiffany R. Warren,
Senior VP, Chief Diversity Officer for Omnicom Group
Founder & President, AdColor
Technology
Morgan DeBaun, Founder & CEO Blavity Inc.
Iddris Sandu, Entrepreneur
Finance
Phyllis Newhouse
Founder & CEO of Xtreme Solutions, Inc. and Founder of ShoulderUp
Music
Quality Control Music: CEO Pierre “Pee” Thomas and COO Kevin “Coach K” Lee
Fashion
Antoine Phillips
Vice President, Brand and Culture Engagement, GUCCI
Sports
Alexys Feaster
Senior Director Player Development, NBA
Art
Simphiwe Ndzube
SEE BELOW FOR EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS
See More Exclusive Photos HERE
Images Courtesy of Getty Images
About Amy Barnett
An award-winning content and branding expert, Amy DuBois Barnett has held senior leadership roles at ESPN, Ebony, Harper's Bazaar, Teen People, Essence and Honey magazine. She is currently the Chief Content Officer for TheGrio, a leading digital media brand that serves the African-American audience, and EVP, Digital for Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios, TheGrio’s parent company.
Barnett has appeared weekly as an on-air correspondent for CNN’s American Morning and has been featured on many national television shows including The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, The Early Show, The Katie Show, Nightline, and on various programs on MSNBC, VH1, MTV and BET.
Barnett has a B.A. from Brown University, an M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing from Columbia University and a certificate in Fashion Merchandising from Parson’s School of Design. In 2014, she served as an Adjunct Professor of Management & Organizations at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management where she taught a class on digital media and marketing. Barnett was on the board of the American Society of Magazine Editors for three terms, was a member of the Communications Coordinating Committee of the American Heart Association, and currently sits on the Brown University Media Relations Advisory Council.
For her work as a journalist and creative writer, Barnett has received the Trailblazer Award from the New York Association of Black Journalists, an Aldo award for fashion journalism from the Fashion Association, and a Hurston/Wright award for creative writing.
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Dear Editor:
Please consider this invaluable summation of Trump's patterns as he engages in risky conflict--not with lawyered-up business adversaries, but with entire heavily armed and angry nations led by other risk-takers. Dr. Gurtov encapsulates in barely more than 400 words exactly the profound problems of taking such risks with the lives of thousands, even millions. That tactic failed for Trump enough times in the business world to make this possibility starkly real for all Americans and others elsewhere. For PeaceVoice, thank you,
Tom Hastings
~~~~~~~~~`
The Trump way of war
by Mel Gurtov
436 words
Notice how similar are the Trump administration’s interactions with Iran and North Korea? The pattern in both cases is dangerous, ill-informed, and bound to fail. US adversaries by now understand the pattern; Trump is predictable. Here is the pattern:
· Trump disparages US policy in the Obama administration, determines to reverse it.
· Trump authorizes a program of escalating sanctions designed to destabilize the adversary’s government.
· Trump advisers make demands of the adversary that it quickly denounces.
· Trump threatens the adversary with total destruction unless US demands are met, and deploys US forces to the conflict area. The adversary responds with threats of its own.
· Trump ignores concerns about war powers expressed by members of Congress. Says he doesn’t want war, (falsely) claiming humanitarian concerns.
· Trump shifts gears, now says he is willing to talk directly with the adversary’s leader. Tells about the prosperous life his country will have if it gives in to US demands.
· Trump plays good cop: positions himself as a dove and his top national security advisers as bad cops whom he must restrain. (“These people want to push us into war, and it’s so disgusting” he recently said, referring to his “inner circle.”) He shifts again, asserts sanctions designed to create pressure for regime change will remain until the adversary yields.
· The adversary declares it will not yield under threat, says negotiations must include easing of sanctions. The two sides trade personal insults.
· Trump, with advisers concurring, escalates sanctions and threats, says he will talk “without preconditions.” In fact, he has a major precondition: the adversary’s agreement to surrender in advance its main bargaining asset (such as its actual or potential nuclear weapons). The adversary responds with taunts and further acts of defiance.
Thus do crises persist, with Trump alternating between stoking war talk and playing the anti-war leader. Truth is, he doesn’t want full-out war but doesn’t want to make concessions in negotiations either. He wants to win, on the cheap—the same ambition he had in his business life. It’s called brinkmanship: the “art” of getting to the brink without going over. We see it being practiced not only in the trade war with China, the tariffs on Mexico, the rift with Venezuela, and the threat to withdraw from alliances. He plays the same game with the deportation of migrant families and even the payouts to keep women silent.
Brinkmanship, Trump style, is always accompanied by bullying: threats of terrible things to come, punishing sanctions (aka economic warfare), and the coordinated pressure of willing partners. Problem is, what happens when the adversary doesn’t cave, and in fact resists even more strongly?
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Mel Gurtov, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Portland State University.
