Shonda Rhimes

 

Shonda Rhimes is a mogul television producer, screenwriter and director. Rhimes is known for her addictive hit TV series “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice,” “Scandal,” and “How to Get Away with Murder.” She is the only person who has ultimately taken over Thursday nights on the ABC Network. In her memoir “Year of Yes,” Rhimes described herself as an introvert and gave details on how she confronted her fears and allowed herself to embrace other aspects of her life. In 2015, she received the Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement from the Writers Guild of America Award.

 

 

 

Ava Duvernay

 

Ava Duvernay is a Golden Globe nominated director from Compton, California, who is knocking down barriers in the film industry. In 2012, Duvernay became the first African American woman to win a directing award at the Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film, “Middle of Nowhere.” She also was the first African American female director nominated for a Golden Globe for her movie “Selma.”

 

 

 

                                Viola Davis 

 

Viola Davis is the first African American actress to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in “How to Get Away with Murder.”  Her role also won her a Screen Actor’s Guild Award in 2015 and 2016. The actress and producer has seen most spectrums of acting from theater to the big screen. She won a Tony Award in 2001 for her role as Tonya in “King Hedley II” and another in 2010 for her role as Rose Maxon in “Fences”.

 

 

 

Oprah Winfrey

 

Oprah Winfrey is well known for her work as a talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist.  Best known for her show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Winfrey was the first talk show host, African American, and woman to have the highest-rated program of its kind in the history of American television from 1986 to 2011.  Many have dubbed her the “Queen of all Media” as she is ranked the richest African American of the 20th century, the biggest African American philanthropist in American history, and North America’s first and only multi-billionaire African American, according to Forbes.

 

 

 

Maya Angelou

 

Civil Rights activist, poet and author Maya Angelou broke barriers in several of her books of poetry, essays and autobiographies.  Her career spanned over 50 years with a credited list of plays, movies and television shows. She received endless awards spanning from a Spingarn Medal in 1994 to receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. She also was awarded over 50 honorary degrees. Her book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” told the story of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition for her literary work.  In 1993, Angelou became the first African American poet to make an inaugural recitation at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration, reciting her poem “On the Pulse of Morning”.

 

 

 

Beyoncé

 

Beyoncé has been nominated for 529 different awards and has won 185 of those nominations. Her career started off in the 1990s with her girl group “Destiny’s Child” however, her fame catapulted when she went solo in 2003.  She became one of the best-selling artists of all time since then and the first African American singer to receive an ASCAP Pop Songwriter of the Year Award in 2001. The Houston native was named the Top Female Artist of the 2000s in 2009 and the Artist of the Millennium in 2011. She is also listed as the most powerful female musician by Forbes magazine in 2015. 

 

 

 

Quvenzhane Wallis

 

Actress Quvenzhane Wallis became the first African American girl to take the lead role in the film 2014 remake of “Annie”.  She is known for her role as Hushpuppy in the film “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” for which Wallis, 12, became the youngest actress to ever be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

 

 

 

Ella Fitzgerald

 

Singer Ella Fitzgerald became the first African American woman to win a Grammy Award in 1958. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences did not deny the wondrous voice of the “First Lady of Song”.  She was noted for her purity of tone, vocal diction and “horn-like” precision in her scat singing. Her career boosted to fame when she created a rendition of the nursery rhyme “A-Tisket, A-Tasket”. She soon appeared in movies and popular television shows making collaborations with musical legends Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and The Ink Spots.

 

 

 

Tyra Banks

 

Model Tyra Banks became the first African American woman to grace the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue in 1997. The cover of the magazine helped push her career even further as a supermodel and trailblazer for African American women. The now host, producer and actress also became the first African American woman on the cover of GQ and one of the original Victoria’s Secret Angels.

 

 

 

Cheryl Boone Isaacs

 

Cheryl Boone Isaacs was named the first woman of color to be named the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The former marketing and publicity executive broke barriers in Hollywood when she was appointed the position in 2013.  Prior to her position, Isaacs made initiatives to drive over 400 new members from diverse backgrounds into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All her works come in the efforts to diversify Hollywood.

 

 

 

Channing Dungey

 

Channing Dungey recently became the first African American to lead a major TV network when she was named the Entertainment President of Disney’s ABC television network. Dungey has worked for Walt Disney Co. as an executive for more than 10 years and helped developed ABC hit shows such as “Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder.”

 

 

 

Simone Biles

 

At the age of 10, Simone Biles was a level 8 gymnast. She started the 2010 season with three all-around titles. In 2013, Biles represented team USA in the AT&T American Cup in Worcester, MA where she came in second place for the all-around. In 2015, Biles helped Team USA win a gold medal in Jesolo, Italy. She also won gold medals for the floor exercise, balance beam, and vault in the same competition.

 

 

 

Nneka and Chiney Ogumike

 

Sisters Nnemkadi (Nneka) and Chinenye (Chiney) Ogumike made great strides for the Stanford women’s basketball team. By the end of the regular season in 2011, they helped push the team to 2nd place in the AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Poll. Chiney was the 1st overall pick in 2014 WNBA Draft and was drafted to the Connecticut Sun. Nneka plays for the Los Angeles Sparks; she was Rookie of the Year in 2012 and a two-time WNBA All Star.

 

 

 

Simone Manuel

 

Texas native Simone Manuel is a member of the 2014-2015 USA National Swim team and a sophomore on the Stanford Women’s Swim team. Manuel earned three Pac-12 titles in 2015 for 100 meter Freestyle, 400 Meter Freestyle Relay and 400 Meter medley. The seven-time All American also set five different Stanford records, which include the 50 meter Freestyle and 100 meter freestyle.

 

 

 

Sophina Dejesus

 

This member of the UCLA Bruins Women’s Gymnastics team received media attention for her hip-hop dance-infused floor exercise this month. A senior in college, Dejesus was a member of the US national team in 2009. Dejesus is no stranger to the limelight, she has appeared in a video for Disney and Missy Elliott and also competed in the USA Championships three times. 

 

 

 

Sydney Leroux 

 

Leroux was a forward for the US national team during their 2015 World Cup Championship run. During her time at UCLA, she became a semifinalist of the MAC Hermann Trophy in 2011. She also was a member of the Soccer America’s MVP First Team. As a member of the US national team, Leroux became the highest scorer at the under-20 level.

 

 

 

Gabrielle Douglas

 

The Virginia Beach native Gabrielle (Gabby) Douglas won a state championship in gymnastics at 8 years old. At the age of 15, Douglas moved from her family to learn gymnastics under the tutelage of a world-renounced coach. That led to her historical run in the 2012 London Olympics. Douglas became the first African American to win a gold medal in the individual all-round.

 

 

 

Maya Moore

 

Moore played basketball for the University of Connecticut (UCONN) helping the team earn national championship titles in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, she was the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft, earning a spot on the Minnesota Lynx roster. Moore went on to be Rookie of the Year and a three-time WNBA Champion. In 2012, Moore helped Team USA win a gold medal in London.

 

 

 

Kristina Pink

 

Pink’s sports reporting career started while she attended the University of Florida. She provided sports features and worked as a sportscaster for the University. After graduating from Florida in 2009, Pink worked for an NBC affiliate in Maimi and an ABC affiliate in New Orleans. Pink joined FOX in 2012, working as a sideline reporter for the Los Angeles Clippers, an NFL of FOX sideline reporter, and a host for FOX Sports 1.

 

 

 

Allyson Felix

 

A competitor in three consecutive Olympic games, Felix was a standout sprinter even in middle school. Felix came in seventh place for the 200-meter dash at the CIF California State Meet during her seventh grade year. In 2003, Felix signed a professional contract with Adidas and the company paid for her tuition at USC. In 2007, she became the second women to earn three gold medals in one World Championship competition.

 

 

 

Jamele Hill

 

A Michigan State University alum, Hill started her sports writing at the Raleigh News & Observer. She  won first place for sports feature writing at the North Carolina Press Association. In November 2006, Hill became a national columnist for ESPN. She is currently a co-host of a daily sports commentary show “His & Hers” and podcast of the same name.  

 

 

 

Lucy Diggs Slowe

 

Lucy Diggs Slowe entered in the American Tennis Association’s first national tournament in 1917. She won the tournament title, becoming the first African American women to win a major sports title. Slowe was also a 17-time tennis champion. She attended Howard University and created the first junior high school in the Washington D.C. school system.

 

 

 

Althea Gibson

 

Harlem, New York was the first place where Althea Gibson learned how to play paddle tennis. In 1943, she won the New York State Negro Girls Singles title. Gibson became the first African American to play in Wimbledon in 1950. Later that decade, Gibson earned back-to-back singles championship titles in Wimbledon. She also won the U.S. Open Women’s Singles title.

 

 

 

Wilma Rudolph

 

As a child, Wilma Rudolph survived scarlet fever, polio, and the disability of being able to only use one leg. As a high schooler, she broke the girls state basketball record in Tennessee by earning 49 points in one game. Rudolph attended Tennessee State University and set the world record for the 200-meter dash. After winning three gold medals at the Olympics, Rudolph earned the name the “World’s Fastest Woman.” Associated Press named her the U.S. Female Athlete of the Year in 1960.

 

 

 

Jackie Joyner-Kersee

 

During her teenaged years, Jacqueline (Jackie) Joyner-Kersee won the National Junior Pentathlon championships for four consecutive years. The St. Louis, Illinois native earned two gold medals at the 1988 Olympic Games. In the early 1980’s, Joyner-Kersee was a member of the UCLA Bruins track and field team and won two NCAA heptathlon titles. She also earned a bronze medal for the long jump during both the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.

 

 

 

Angela Davis

 

Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, academic scholar, and author. She emerged as a prominent counterculture activist and radical in the 1960s as a leader of the Communist Party USA, and had close relations with the Black Panther Party through her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Her interests include prisoner rights; she founded Critical Resistance, an organization working to abolish the prison-industrial complex. She was a professor (now retired) at the University of California, Santa Cruz in its History of Consciousness Department and a former director of the university's Feminist Studies department. Davis was prosecuted under federal law and acquitted at trial of conspiracy in the 1970 armed take-over of a Marin County, California, courtroom, in which four persons died.

 

 

 

Mary McLeod Bethune

 

Born on July 10, 1875, in Mayesville, South Carolina, Mary McLeod Bethune was a child of former slaves. She graduated from the Scotia Seminary for Girls in 1893. Believing that education provided the key to racial advancement, Bethune founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute in 1904, which later became Bethune-Cookman College. She founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935. Bethune died in 1955. (biography.com)

 

 

 

Marva Collins

 

Marva Collins was a former substitute teacher. Her success at educating poor black students in a private school she founded made her a candidate for secretary of education and the subject of a television movie. She began with four students, including her daughter, charging $80 a month in tuition. Enrollment at the school, on Chicago’s South Side, grew to more than 200, in classes from prekindergarten through eighth grade. It remained in operation for more than 30 years. (biography.com)

 

 

 

Sojourner Truth

 

Sojourner Truth was born Isabella ("Bell") Baumfree in 1797. She was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, Ulster County, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son, in 1828 she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man. She gave herself the name Sojourner Truth in 1843. In 2014, Truth was included in Smithsonian magazine's list of the "100 Most Significant Americans of All Time"

 

 

 

Phillis Wheatley

 

Born in Senegal/Gambia in about 1753, poet Phillis Wheatley was brought to Boston, Massachusetts, on a slave ship in 1761 and was purchased by John Wheatley as a personal servant to his wife. The Wheatleys educated Phillis and she soon mastered Latin and Greek, going on to write highly acclaimed poetry. She published her first poem in 1767 and her first volume of verse, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, in 1773. (biography.com)

 

 

 

Angela Black

 

Television news anchor and reporter, Angela Black, is an African-American news figure, known primarily for her work for KABC-TV in Los Angeles, CA and for being the second female African-American news anchor in Los Angeles history. Born in Jacksonville, Florida to Army Major Bennie L. Canty and Bess Canty, a schoolteacher, Angela spent her childhood on Army bases Camp Sullivan in Whittier, Alaska and Fort Eustis in Virginia before settling with her parents and siblings in Jacksonville. After graduating from Bishop Kinney Catholic School, Angela traveled to Nashville to attend Vanderbilt University, ultimately transferring to and graduating from Jacksonville University with a BA in English. Angela is primarily known for her 12-year career spent at KABC-TV, becoming the second African-American female news anchor in Los Angeles history. Anchoring alongside Jerry Dunphy, Angela was a member of the “Eyewitness News” team of the late 1970s and 1980s. (America Pink.com)

 

 

 

Ida B. Wells

 

A daughter of slaves, Ida B. Wells was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on July 16, 1862. A journalist, Wells led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s, and went on to found and become integral in groups striving for African-American justice. She died in 1931 in Chicago, Illinois. (biography.com)

 

 

 

Coretta Scott King

 

Coretta Scott King was an American civil rights activist and the wife of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. She established a distinguished career in activism in her own right. Working side-by-side with her husband, she took part in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and worked to pass the Civil Rights Act. After King's death, she founded the Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta.

 

 

 

Betty Shabazz

 

Betty Shabazz, also known as Betty X, was born Betty Dean Sanders. Although her birth records have been lost, she was likely born on May 28, 1934. Shabazz married Nation of Islam spokesman Malcolm X in 1958. After her husband’s assassination in 1965, Shabazz went on to a career in university administration and activism. She died from injuries sustained in a fire on June 23, 1997. (biography.com)

 

 

 

Juanita Millender-McDonald

 

Juanita Millender-McDonald (September 7, 1938 – April 22, 2007) was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1996 until her death in 2007, representing California's 37th congressional district, which includes most of South Central Los Angeles and the city of Long Beach, California. She was a member of the Democratic Party. On December 19, 2006, Millender-McDonald was named Chairwoman of the House Committee on House Administration for the 110th Congress. She was the first African-American woman to chair the committee. She was also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and of the New Democrat Coalition and was considered a front-runner for the job of Secretary of Transportation if John Kerry had been elected President in 2004.

 

 

 

Kamala Harris

 

Kamala Harris has been the Attorney General of California since 2011 and re-elected in 2014. A product of both Howard University and UCLA’s Hastings College of the Law, Harris worked as the Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County from 1990 to 1998, San Francisco’s District Attorney’s Office from 1998 to 2000 and City Attorney’s office in 2003. Harris is the first female and the first African American to hold the position of attorney general in California. She will be running for the United States Senate in the 2016 election.

 

 

 

Maxine Waters

 

U.S. Representative for the 43rd congressional district Maxine Waters has served three districts since 1991. She holds seniority over the 12 Black women currently serving in the United States Congress and is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Before her Congress days, Waters served in the California Assembly starting in 1976 to 1991.  While in the assembly she worked for the divestment of state pension funds from businesses that were active in South Africa operating under the apartheid. She is also known for her support and work during the Rodney King trial when she helped bring national attention to the riots happening in South Los Angeles.

 

 

 

Karen Bass

 

U.S. House Representative Karen Bass represents California’s 37th congressional district since 2010. Prior to her House position, Bass represented the 47th district in the California State Assembly 2004 to 2010 and was the second woman, third African American speaker for the State Assembly from 2008 to 2010. Before her work as a politician, Bass received her bachelors in health sciences from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 1990. She first worked as a clinical instructor at the USC Keck School of Medicine physician assistant program before she moved on to the political world. In the start of her political career, Bass founded the Community Coalition, an organization in South Los Angeles geared towards the betterment of South L.A. residents.

 

 

 

Aja Brown

 

Aja Brown is the youngest mayor ever elected in the history of Compton. At the age of 31, Brown beat out 12 candidates in 2013 to receive the mayoral position in Compton. Her career started at the University of Southern California where she received her bachelors in public policy and masters in urban planning with a concentration in economic development.  In 2006, she began working for the city of Inglewood as an urban planner and soon made her way to the cities of Pasadena and Compton. During her time as mayor, a decrease in Compton gang crimes dropped by 65 percent in 2014.

 

 

 

Holly Mitchell

 

Senator Holly Mitchell has served in California’s Legislature since 2011 and was elected as the representative for the 30th Senate District in 2014. She has prided herself in focusing on reducing poverty and working with health and human services to help govern the people of her district. Prior to her work in the district, she was the field deputy in the Los Angeles district office of Senator Diane Watson. Mitchell founded the Senate Select Committee on Women and Inequality and is a member of the Black, Democratic and Women’s Caucuses.

 

 

 

Autumn Burke

 

Autumn Burke (D) is a California State Assembly member representing the 62nd district. Her district is home to some of Los Angeles popular beaches, LAX and the Los Angeles Forum. Assemblywoman Burke is a Los Angeles native who started her career off as a realtor and businesswoman before she entered into politics. Her biggest initiatives consisted of green technology provision, health care, education and solid job formation for active seekers. Burke is a member of the Yvonne Burke Foundation, which provides scholarships for young people in Los Angeles County to attend colleges, universities and career training programs.

 

 

 

Barbara Lee

 

Democrat Barbara Lee is the U.S. Representative for California’s 13th Congressional District. She’s been serving the people of East Bay from 1998 to 2013 when the district was then called the 9th congressional district. Lee was the first woman to represent the 9th and 13th district. Notable for her work with the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus, she was the only member of Congress to vote against the authorization of use of force during the September 11th attacks. This contributed to the anti-war movement in America.  Her early college year’s consisted of working with some of Oakland’s Black Panther Party’s community centers. Her experience in these areas shaped some of her strongest initiatives on quality housing, homelessness and healthcare.

 

 

 

Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke

 

Yvonne Brathwaite Burke was the first African American woman to serve in the California Legislature and the first Black woman from California to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.  She served in Congress from 1973 to the end of 1978. She was also the Los Angeles County Supervisor representing the 2nd District from 1992 to 2008. Her early legislative efforts centered on juvenile issues and limiting the garnishment of wages.

 

 

 

Diane Watson

 

Diane Watson is a former U.S. Representative for California’s 33rd congressional district, which she served from 2003 until 2011. The entire district, which includes much of Central Los Angeles, re-elected Watson four times.  When Watson was elected to California State Senate, she was known to be an advocate for health care for underserved children. Her experience as a teacher in Los Angeles public schools and the California department of education played a pivotal role in her advocacy for children. Throughout her 35 years in public office, Watson established a reputation for improving the plight of women and diverse legislative interests in welfare reform, civil rights and foreign aid for African countries.

 

 

 

Jackie Lacey

 

District Attorney Jackie Lacey has spent most of her career as a prosecutor, manager and executive in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.  Since 2012, she has been the 42nd District Attorney.  Her known priorities for the city of Los Angeles are keeping the community safe from violent and dangerous crimes.  Her many initiatives include human sex trafficking, seniors financial and physical well-being, and environmental issues that affect health and livelihood.

 

 

 

Brittany “Bree” Newsome

 

Activist and filmmaker, Brittany “Bree” Newsome scaled a metal pole using a climbing harness and removed the confederate flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol. Her daring act of civil disobedience sent shockwaves of courage and inspiration through a nation reeling from numerous injustices committed against the African American and Black community. She refused law enforcement commands to stop the act and was arrested along with James Ian Tyson, who is also from Charlotte, North Carolina.

 

 

 

Areva Martin

 

There probably isn’t anyone locally that you could find that has brought more attention to autism than Areva Martin. The attorney and president\founder of the Special Needs Network (SNN) has worked tirelessly to turn the tide against autism in South Los Angeles. In March, a 13-member board was established by the SNN and UCLA CART (Center for Autism Research and Treatment), to support the research the genetic causes of autism in African Americans in underserved communities, particularly South LA residents. SNN also celebrated 10 years in October of service to L.A.’s special needs citizens and their families.

 

 

 

Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi and Alicia Garza

 

In 2013, after George Zimmerman's acquittal for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Black Lives Matter (BLM) started with a hashtag (#BlackLivesMatter). The movement was co-founded by three black community organizers: Patrisse Cullors, (left), Opal Tometi (center) and Alicia Garza(right). BLM draws inspiration from the African-American Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power movement, the 1980s black feminist movement, Pan-Africanism, Anti-Apartheid Movement, Hip hop, LGBT social movements and Occupy Wall Street. Black Lives Matter has made its presence known across the nation with the continued killings of Black men and women with past few years. In the summer of 2015, Black Lives Matter began to publicly challenge politicians running for election in 2016. The movement has been become bold and unwavering in their protest and opposition to issues that undermine or inhibit the African American and Black community.

 

 

 

Misty Copeland

 

Ballerina Misty Copeland  became the first African-American woman to be a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre and recently made her debut on Broadway revival of “On the Town” playing Miss Turnstiles, a love interest for one of three sailors enjoying a few hours of shore leave in 1940s New York. Copeland has been named by Time magazine one of the most influential figures of 2015, and written both a children’s book, “Firebird,” and a best-selling memoir, “Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina.” She’s also performed in a music video with Prince and was featured in a hugely popular online ad for Under Armour sportswear.

 

 

 

Gabby Maiden

 

Gabby Maiden is recognized as the first black female competitive snowboarder, but that is just one of her many hobbies. She is from Los Angeles and began skiing at an early age, but she never felt comfortable doing it.  When she was 12 she saw a few of her friends snowboarding and she decided to give it a try and she was hooked on it. Maiden has competed in the 4th Annual Supergirl Jam event, which featured surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding.  She ended up taking 5th place out of 21 participants in the Snowboarding Rail Jam.  She was in the top three for most of the event. She also models, acts, writes songs, plays the accordion, speaks a little bit of four languages, and travels throughout the world.

 

 

 

Sheila Crump Johnson

 

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Sheila Crump Johnson is the only African-American female to enjoy ownership in three professional sports teams: the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals. Furthermore, as CEO of Salamander Hospitality, a company she founded in 2005, Ms. Johnson oversees a growing portfolio of luxury properties, including Woodlands Inn, in Summerville, SC, which is one of only a handful of properties to receive both a prestigious Forbes Five Star rating and a AAA Five Diamond rating for lodging and dining. In addition, Johnson is a partner in ProJet Aviation, a company specializing in aviation consulting, aircraft acquisitions, management, and charter services based in Winchester, VA. And she is a partner in Mistral, a maker of fine bath, body and home products.  Johnson has long been a powerful influence in the entertainment industry as a founding partner of Black Entertainment Television (BET) and as a film producer. In partnership with other investors, her first film, “Kicking It”, premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. She executive produced her second film, “A Powerful Noise”, which premiered at the 2008 TriBeCa Film Festival in New York, as well as her third film, “She Is The Matador”.

 

 

 

Mae C. Jemison

 

Mae C. Jemison became the first African American woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992. Jemison has a background in both engineering and medical research. She has worked in the areas of computer programming, printed wiring board materials, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, computer magnetic disc production, and reproductive biology.

 

 

 

Sizakele Petunia Mzimela

 

South African businesswoman, Sizakele Petunia Mzimela is making history as the first black woman to launch her own airline. The power woman, who is widely referred to as Siza, kicked off operations for Fly Blue Crane at the O.R. Tambo International Airport in South Africa. The airline currently has two 50-seat ERJ 145s and offers low-cost domestic flights within the South African region. Siza hopes to expand destinations to Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the near future. In addition to her new airline, Siza is also the founder and executive chairperson of Blue Crane Aviation, which is an aviation services company that focuses on African airlines and provides them with airline consulting, aviation legal services, and aircraft management services in an effort to give them access to the global market.

 

 

 

Shirley Chisholm

 

Shirley Chisholm became the first African-American congresswoman in 1968. Four years later, she became the first major-party black candidate to make a bid for the U.S. presidency. She began her professional career as a teacher. She served as director of the Hamilton-Madison Child Care Center until the late 1950s, then as an educational consultant for New York City’s Bureau of Child Welfare.

 

 

 

Beverly Johnson

 

Beverly Johnson originally planned  to pursue law, she decided to pursue modeling. She got a modeling job at Glamour and would go on to appear on 500 magazine covers including her groundbreaking American Vogue cover being the first African American to appear on the publication. Johnson’s appearance on American Vogue changed the course of the fashion industry in the mid-1970’s and onward, opening doors even wider for Black models.

 

 

 

Sharon Pratt Kelly

 

Sharon Pratt Kelly was the third mayor of the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1995. She was the first African American woman to serve as mayor of a major American city. In 1994, she lost her bid for re-election as mayor to Marion Barry. From 1997 to 2001, Pratt served as the President of @ The Center, a start-up electrical marketplace for Africa. In 2002, Pratt began Pratt Consulting, working with companies and governments developing Homeland Security/Emergency Management Plans. She is also the Executive Vice President for BI Solutions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• < Prev
• Next >