by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors

October 20, 2023

Netflix Increases Subscription Prices After Record Subscriber Growth

Netflix announced price increases for some of its streaming subscriptions, citing the recent crackdown on password sharing as one of the factors behind the decision, reported Money Week report.

The streaming giant recently reported substantial subscriber growth, with nearly nine million households joining worldwide between July and September, the outlet reported. This surge in new subscribers is the most significant since the pandemic-fueled growth in 2020. Additionally, Netflix is anticipating an additional nine million subscribers by the end of the year.

The price hikes will primarily affect premium plan subscribers, with an annual increase equivalent to a 13% rise in the UK. The United States and France will also experience price increases on their Netflix subscriptions. These adjustments took effect for new customers in the UK on October 18th, 2023. Existing customers will receive notification of any impending price changes via email within the next month. However, it remains uncertain whether this notification means they will be charged the new rate from their next billing date.

Standard plan subscribers will not experience any price changes.

Despite the recent Netflix price increases, viewers have several alternative streaming options to consider. If you’re on a premium plan, it’s important to know how the cost of similar subscriptions with other popular streaming services compare.

Furthermore, some streaming services can be even more budget-friendly when you explore potential discounts offered by your mobile provider or bundled bank account. For example, certain mobile providers offer a year of Disney Plus for free with specific account types. Additionally, it’s a good time to consider switching to a Lloyds Club account, as they provide a reward when you transfer your account to them.

For dedicated Netflix enthusiasts who wish to retain their subscription, there’s an option to switch to a more cost-effective plan. The standard plan (without ads) is cheaper than the premium plan, offering a more affordable way to continue enjoying Netflix content.

The streaming landscape continues to evolve, and viewers now have more choices than ever to find the perfect entertainment package that fits their preferences and budgets.

Nikki and Kelli Sumlin, Prom Queen Cosmetics, cosmetic company

by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors

October 19, 2023

Sister Duo Behind Atlanta’s Black-Owned Teen Cosmetics Brand Takes Center Stage On Macys’ Website

Originally reported by Blackbusiness.com

Nikki and Kelli Sumlin, the visionary sibling owners at the helm of Prom Queen Cosmetics, have successfully established their brand as a trailblazing, Black-owned cosmetic company passionately committed to addressing teenagers’ unique and evolving makeup requirements.

Prom Queen is a cosmetics brand focused on creating makeup products specially for teens and tweens. The brand was established by the Sumlin sister duo to overcome the lack of beauty products for teens and tweens just starting to explore the world of makeup. The brand prioritizes catering to the specific makeup preferences and requirements of teenage Black consumers.

According to the sisters, this segment of makeup enthusiasts, particularly black teenagers, has been overlooked by existing makeup companies. They are committed to stepping in and bridging the gaps, ensuring that these passionate makeup lovers receive the attention and products they deserve.

The brand is currently offering lip gloss in its collection. However, in the near future, they are hoping to provide an extensive range of makeup and beauty products for their target audience. Prom Queen takes pride in their 19 unique lip shades. These ‘glam glosses’ come in glossy, shimmer, and glitter finishes. The sister duo has laid special focus on the packaging of their glam gloss collection, keeping in mind the trends in the teen beauty and makeup world. They have diamante-studded caps for each glam gloss, adding to the aesthetic value of the product and making it unique.

In addition to this, Prom Queen also offers an ambassador program on their website. According to this program, any customer can send their submissions for becoming an ambassador. This program aims to build a community of aficionados and give them a sense of belonging and validation. The brand also addresses the concerns of parents looking for assistance with their teen or tween’s makeup journey.

With a tremendously positive response to the brand launch, the future of Prom Queen looks undoubtedly shimmering, just like their glam gloss collection.

Deion Sanders, Ja Morant, social media post

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

October 19, 2023

Ja Morant Responds To Coach Prime’s Inspirational Message Amid Suspension

The Memphis Grizzlies’ suspended and embattled player Ja Morant responded to a recent social media message that Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders sent out recently.

Whether at a press conference, in the locker room, or on social media, Sanders typically offers words of encouragement to anyone who views his posts. On Oct. 18, the NFL Hall of Famer inspired a response from Morant after sending this message on the social media platform X.

How do u see yourself? You’ve got to start seeing u the way God sees u. You are Fearfully & Wonderfully made. You are more than a Conqueror. You are created to have Dominion & u are Blessed! Please understand all the positivity going on in your life & stop allowing the negativity…

— COACH PRIME (@DeionSanders) October 18, 2023

Morant, whom the NBA suspended for appearing on social media holding a gun, seemed to feel like the message pertained to him when he took to the platform to reply to Sanders’ post.

right on time prime 🙏🏾🤝🏾🙌🏾💙 much needed ☮️🧘🏾‍♂️ https://t.co/yPgTnZfKQS

— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) October 18, 2023

Although the NBA player is not allowed to play for the first 25 games in the upcoming season, the league has agreed to allow the Grizzlies guard to practice and travel with his team while he serves out his punishment. He was spotted participating with the team at the Grizzlies’ home stadium, the FedExForum, on Oct. 3.

Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins revealed that Morant would be working with the bench players while in training camp to allow the Grizzlies to prepare to play without him through his suspension.

The NBA suspended the Grizzlies’ All-Star guard in June following an incident where Morant was seen on Instagram Live flashing a gun. It was the second time he had been seen on social media with a gun in his hand. The 23-year-old was first suspended for eight games in March 2023, after he was shown with a gun on an Instagram Live video at a Denver nightclub.

Cardi B, Birkin, Bag, Property, Miami, Los Angeles, Dominican republic, gift, Offset

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

October 19, 2023

Cardi B Opts For Mediation In Los Angeles Assault Suit With Female Security Guard

Cardi B wants to work out a deal with the female security guard she allegedly assaulted in 2018 while pregnant with her first child, according to court documents.

Radar Online reports that on Oct. 12, the “Bodak Yellow” rapper filed a motion in a Los Angeles court that mediation would be pursued first.

“Parties, in an attempt to resolve this matter, have agreed to a mediation with mediator John W. Shaw, Esq. at Shaw Mediations, and the parties are working on scheduling the mediation for December of 2023,” the filing stated.

“As trial of the action is scheduled for Nov. 14, 2023, the Parties have agreed to continue the trial date from Nov. 14, 2023, to Feb. 1, 2024, to accommodate the mediation and to attempt to informally resolve their dispute.”

Cardi has been in a legal entanglement since the suit was filed by Emani Ellis in 2020. The security guard claimed the Bronx native attacked her in Los Angeles in February 2018. The “I Like It” rapper was pregnant with her daughter Kulture and visiting her obstetrician’s office for a scheduled appointment.

The rapper had not yet announced her pregnancy and became enraged when Ellis started to record her. Cardi allegedly “scratched her with her fingernail, yelled racial slurs at her, and spit on her,” according to the lawsuit. The plaintiff claimed she suffered “physical, emotional, and psychological damages” and was left with a “scar” on her cheek.

However, there are no photos of the alleged injuries, and Ellis never sought medical attention after the attack. She also accused Cardi of using “her celebrity status to get [Ellis] fired from her job as a security guard.”

However, the company said it fired Ellis from her position for violating Cardi’s privacy. An eyewitness claimed to have seen Cardi and Ellis exchange words but disclosed that no physical altercation or racial slurs were used.

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

October 19, 2023

Baltimore Approves Largest Payout In Its History: $48 Million Settlement For Wrongfully Convicted ‘Harlem Park Three’

The Baltimore City Board approved a $48 million settlement for the wrongful conviction of three Black men, known as the “Harlem Park Three,” after the trio spent nearly 40 years behind bars.

According to CBS News, the settlement, which was unanimously approved on Oct. 18 by the board, is the largest payout in Baltimore’s history. The Harlem Park Three—Alfred Chestnut, Andrew Stewart, and Ransom Watkins, all 16 years old—were wrongfully convicted in 1983 for killing of their childhood friend Dewitt Duckett.

“Today our city paid a moral, ethical, and financial debt left on us by a previous generation and decades of injustice. First and foremost, our hearts are with Alfred Chestnut, Andrew Stewart, Ransom Watkins, and their families,” Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby said in a statement. “Nothing in this world can make up for the mental and emotional trauma that has been put on these innocent men and their families. No amount of compensation can right the wrongs of 36 years of turmoil and the residual effects on these men, their families, and communities.”

After receiving lifetime sentences in 2019, the trio was exonerated in 2019 after being in prison for 36 years.

Their lawsuit against the City of Baltimore accused the police officers of coercing young witnesses to fabricate their involvement and that the detectives also presented a false narrative that placed the crime on the three individuals. They also ignored eyewitness accounts and physical evidence that was directed to a different suspect.

Mosby expressed his disappointment and said police officers should be held more accountable in cases of misconduct. He also said that the officers should be included in the settlements by taking away money from their pensions as opposed to using city funds to pay victims.

“The individual responsible should take some sort of ownership,” he said. “It’s problematic and we should look into it.”

The money will be paid through a risk management fund from the city.

Oprah, weight loss, Oprah, WeightWatchers

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

October 19, 2023

Oprah Winfrey Gladly Took $35K Salary For ‘The Color Purple’: It’s The ‘Best $35,000 I Ever Earned’

Oprah Winfrey reflected on her Oscar-nominated performance in The Color Purple film and the low salary she took to land the iconic role.

It’s a full-circle moment for the billionaire media mogul as she gears up for the premiere of a musical remake of the 1985 film in which she starred alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery, and Danny Glover. Winfrey serves as producer on The Color Purple musical 38 years after playing Sofia in Steven Spielberg’s take on Alice Walker’s famed novel.

Winfrey remembered agreeing to the low $35,000 salary to play Sofia because she knew the role and film would be groundbreaking.

“I can’t even begin to tell you what it means to me — a person who wanted nothing more in my life than to be in The Color Purple,’ Oprah shared in her Essence cover story.

“And God taught me to surrender — that was the big lesson for me. They were only offering $35,000 to be in this film, and it is the best $35,000 I ever earned. It changed everything and taught me so much. It is God moving through my life.”

Nearly 40 years later, the OWN creator could see another Oscar nomination after re-teaming with Spielberg to produce the new film alongside Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones.

Danielle Brooks takes on the role of Sofia in the musical film. It’s a role she was familiar with, having starred as Sofia in the Broadway musical and earning a Tony nomination for her performance. The Orange Is the New Black star thanked Winfrey for “leaving space for me [on set] but also being there, to hold my hand and answer that phone call when I needed you.”

For Winfrey, producing the musical adaptation of a film that changed her life and career for the better was a labor of love.

“To have all of you beautiful Black women bearing witness to the story, as the story moves forward, means so much,” Oprah said of the new film’s stars, who also include Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, and H.E.R.

“I believe that what Fantasia has said is true: Everybody who comes to see our film is going to be touched. They will be moved. And they will be healed.”

Barack And Michelle Obama Center Breaks Ground In Rochester, NY

by Atiya Jordan

October 19, 2023

Barack And Michelle Obama Center Breaks Ground In Rochester, NY

The 19th ward in Rochester, New York, has welcomed a new teen center. The Center for Teen Empowerment (TE), designed to employ, train, and empower youth, held a groundbreaking ceremony to start the construction of the Barack and Michelle Obama Youth Center on Genesee Street, an event seven years in the making.

“The resources, the expanded space, and being able to add additional programming and we are adding space that the community can access to for meetings and other things,” said Doug Ackley, executive director for Teen Empowerment Rochester.

“We’re really trying to open this up to the whole community. This has been a community project, and we want to keep it open to the community as we move along.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Teen Empowerment (@te_roc_city)

Thanks to $1 million in funding, the Obama Youth Center will offer a large community room, study areas, and a multi-media recording studio.

According to the center’s website, these positive opportunities intend to empower young people to find their voices and talents to involve large numbers of their peers and adults in building peace, tolerance, and community. The Center for Teen Empowerment currently has chapters in Boston and Somerville, MA, and Rochester.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Center for Teen Empowerment (@teenempowerment)

Since 2003, Teen Empowerment Rochester has provided opportunities to hundreds of kids ages 14-19 in the central New York City. The goal was to help to lower the violence that crippled urban neighborhoods.

After three teens were shot and wounded, Rochester’s Mayor Malik Evans announced last June that he had to shut down entire streets and businesses that had been “overrun by violent crime as part of the city’s gun violence state of emergency.” Police say that these crimes are often committed by youth.

“While youth are often seen as part of the problems facing urban communities, they are rarely engaged as part of the solution,” according to the Youth Center.

by Derek Major

October 19, 2023

Ejiro Ajueyitsi Empowers Black Wealth-Building Through Real Estate With The Brooklyn Funding Group

Brooklyn-born and -raised Ejiro Ajueyitsi says he has always been driven to help the Black community. He’d initially planned for a medical career, but the 2008 recession led him in a completely different but still worthwhile direction.

Today, Ajueyitsi owns the only Black brokerage for private lending in the U.S., the Brooklyn Funding Group. Unlike a traditional bank, which requires tax returns, income verification, and W-2s when applying for a mortgage loan that takes between 45 and 60 days for approval, the Brooklyn Funding Group approves loans within days for fix-and-flip projects, new construction projects, multi-family bridge loans, and rental properties.

“So if somebody needs a 30-year loan and doesn’t want to show their taxes or have it show on their credit report and mess up their debt-to-income ratio, we only take the income of the rentals and if someone wants to build a one-family house or a 100-floor skyscraper we provide capital for that,” Ajueyitsi told BLACK ENTERPRISE.

Additionally, the Brooklyn Funding Group has given out loans on dilapidated properties, something Ajueyitsi says banks do in a limited capacity.

Originally a student on the medical school track in the early 2000s, Ajueyitsi took a year off and got into graphic designing, making flyers for parties in Brooklyn to make ends meet. Eventually he began building websites for artists as well as doing postproduction and music videos.

However, the 2008 housing crisis put an end to his business, and Ajueyitsi began consulting for websites and home care agencies before venturing into real estate by helping business owners find new properties.

A decade later, he tried to get a loan from several banks for distressed properties he was interested in but was denied. However, one of his clients, a Black woman who owned a pharmacy, told him about the world of private lending.

“She put me in touch with a mortgage broker, and right there on the spot he got me preapproved for a house that I wanted,” Ajueyitsi said. “I had about $300,000 and the house was about $500,000.”

After doing several deals on his own, he realized the people who were making these deals weren’t Black, so he began brokering deals himself for people who fixed and flipped houses.

Ajueyitsi eventually met with a financial group and was shocked to discover they were already familiar with his previous work. This fateful meeting led to the group giving him access to $20 million to lend for real estate projects.

From this, Ajueyitsi created the Brooklyn Funding Group, which in 2022 gave out almost $50 million to people to fund their real estate projects. Ajueyitsi notes that 90% of the people who come to the Brooklyn Funding Group are people of color, and they were able to avoid being affected by the downturn in the housing market last year.

“We’ve had people who walk into our office or find out about me and say, ‘I’m coming to you because I know you’re going to listen to me instead of just looking at paperwork and saying you don’t qualify,’” Ajueyitsi told BE. “And it’s not that they don’t qualify, they just don’t know. I’m willing to listen to them and say ‘I know exactly what you mean,’ and then I find out they are not beginners, they have more experience.”

Ajueyitsi wants to see more Black private lenders who can close the racial wealth gap. His future plans include teaching free courses on real estate and lending, where he will provide capital for new college graduates to become lenders. Additionally, Ajueyitsi wants to start his hedge fund to raise between $200 million and $300 million to be a capital provider for smaller funds and to assist Black and brown developers.

“I want to be able to do that for others — that’s my goal within the next 18 months,” said Ajueyitsi. “I love the versatility in my journey; I feel like it made me a well-rounded person to speak to many different people. I feel like I can do anything now.”

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

October 19, 2023

Music Producer Mike WiLL Made-It To Set The Beat Again For The NBA on ESPN

Music producer Mike WiLL Made-It will again curate music for ESPN’s NBA telecasts during the 2023-24 season.

The first song released by ESPN via Giant Music is the new single “Different Breed” featuring Latto and Swae Lee. The track was released as the initial NBA tip-off TV spot to promote the upcoming NBA season on the Oct. 16’s Monday Night Football. It will continue to air across the network’s various platforms until the season-opening game on Oct. 25.

“This is the perfect partnership because I make the music people want to ball to,” said Mike WiLL Made-It in a written statement.

This is the third year that the network is using this initiative that features music artists and producers in remixing and producing music around NBA moments with ESPN. Mike WiLL Made-It will be producing tracks during the season, in particular, highlighting the inaugural NBA In-season Tournament, the Christmas Day slate of games, Saturday Primetime match-ups, as well as the NBA Play-in Tournament, NBA Playoffs, and the NBA Finals.

“It didn’t take us long to figure out that Atlanta music, Mike WiLL, and NBA on ESPN were a strong cultural fit,” said Curtis Friends, vice president of sports marketing, ESPN. “Mike WiLL Made-It” is cooking up his recipe for the NBA on ESPN custom music strategy that will set the tone for fans throughout the season.”

Mike WiLL Made-It has worked with the likes of Lil-Uzi Vert, Kendrick Lamar, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, and Future.

Matt LaMotte, managing director of Giant Music, said, “As an independent record label, nothing excites us more than collaboration and creativity. We couldn’t ask for better creative partners than Mike WiLL and ESPN.”

Last year, the NBA on ESPN custom music strategy featured Ty Dolla $ign, Janelle Monáe, G Eazy, Myke Towers, and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie.

by Stacy Jackson

October 19, 2023

Trey Songz Sued For Allegedly Having ‘Nonconsensual’ Sex With 2 Women

Trey Songz has been sued by two women who claimed the rapper performed nonconsensual sexual acts on them at his August 2015 birthday party in his Los Angeles mansion.

The singer is accused of sexual assault and battery according to legal documents, TMZ reported. Songz allegedly took advantage of the women after inviting them to his mansion in June 2015 after they attended his concert.

Songz’s attorney, Michael Freedman, called the suit “yet another example of nearly decade-old allegations being repurposed to take advantage of California’s constitutionally questionable new lookback window.”

The women maintained contact with the hitmaker, who invited them to attend his birthday party at his Los Angeles home in August. According to the lawsuit, there were fewer men at the event than women at the birthday bash.

Upon arriving at the birthday party, the plaintiffs claim Songz confiscated their cellphones and locked them away in a safe after they gave a password to enter the building. They accused the “I Invented Sex” crooner of forcing them to drink alcohol “under duress.” The women noted that the liquor bottles weren’t sealed and could have possibly been spiked with drugs based on how they felt after drinking a “moderate” amount.

Songz allegedly led them to a bedroom, where they claimed they woke up to see the naked singer forcing himself on them. One woman claimed he performed nonconsensual oral sex on her. The other woman alleged Songz forced his fingers inside her vagina and bit her nipple.

The plaintiffs said they declined to shower with Songz following a demand to get in the tub with him. According to the lawsuit, Songz was enraged by their rejection and yelled for them to leave the mansion.

“You are little f****** girls, get the f*** out of my house.”

“We look forward to vindicating Trey on the merits in court,” Freedman said. Songz has faced similar allegations, including one involving Keke Palmer in 2015.

The Virginia native has been off the music scene since his Back Home album in 2020. His net worth is around $12 million, according to Sportskeeda.