Conference season is upon us, and AFROTECH™ is gearing up for an unforgettable experience, offering intentional opportunities to learn, grow, and develop. Billed as “The Global Gathering for Innovators and Inclusive Tech Companies,” the 2024 AFROTECH™ Conference will take place in Houston, TX, from Nov. 13-16, and this year is expected to be bigger and better. View this post on Instagram A post shared by AFROTECH™ Conference (@afrotech.conference) The main stage will be the epicenter of this year’s gathering, with heavy-hitting speakers and discussions designed to ensure ticket holders have a top tier experience. In addition to the coveted main stage, the AFROTECH™ Conference has added a few new options in the Cybersecurity, AI, and Data and Engineering stages. The Women’s Summit will also be returning with some new additions in the Founder’s Summit, Health & Environmental Equity Summit, and Creative & Design Summit. This year’s speaker lineup is truly exceptional, featuring top...

DryMerge has raised $2.2 million to make automation easier with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The company was co-founded by Edward Frazer and Samuel Brashears. The pair, who first met in elementary school, made sacrifices to focus their full attention on the company. University of Wisconsin graduate Brashears walked away from a role at Hive AI while Frazer dropped out of Yale University to pursue the venture, a press release mentions. The founders recently participated in the Y Combinator Winter 2024 Batch startup accelerator program. “…I’m a pretty young founder – I dropped out of Yale to build the company and my cofounder Sam had just graduated from the University of Wisconsin,” Frazer wrote on LinkedIn . “I knew very little about how people worked, what problems they had, or how to solve those problems — and importantly, I didn’t care — I figured it’d be enough to build cool technology and watch the users appear out of thin air.” He continued, “It wasn’t until midway...

Oprah Winfrey is embracing artificial intelligence (AI). How She Is Using AI The long-time television host and founder of her own network believes “we are in for the ride of our lives.” There appears to be positive sentiments around her reactions as she has been leaning into the technology, even using ChatGPT to search for Airbnb listings, she mentions during an interview with “ABC News.” “It was miraculous to me that before you can practically finish the request, the answer has already come back to you,” Winfrey said.   Shift Towards AI Influenced By Sam Altman Winfrey’s encounter with AI did not come until after she had spoken with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, for her ABC special, “AI and the Future of Us,” which aired on Sept. 12, 2024. After learning further about its capabilities, the television mogul said there was no need to fear AI. “After he was telling me all about all the things it could do, I’m saying, ‘Okay. don’t be scared. Don’t be scared,'” she revealed in her...

The 2024 NFL season has begun, but there’s one person making noise off the field that is impacting the game. Sports agent David Mulugheta had reportedly made history as the first agent in the league to negotiate more than $1 billion in NFL contracts in one year, per his reps. According to Forbes, the 41-year-old has 86 clients and $1.3 billion in contract deals under his portfolio. As the president of team sports at Athletes First, Mulugheta has cemented himself as one of the most sought-after agents in the industry. However, this wasn’t something he had anticipated in his life. Based on a USA TODAY profile, Mulugheta never planned on becoming an NFL agent. As a kid, he didn’t play football and wasn’t even aware of what a sports agent did. His original goal was to become an entrepreneur or work in corporate law. “When kids see someone who looks like them in these roles, they think, ‘OK, that’s something I might be able to do,’” Mulugheta said. “I never saw anybody that looked like...

If you’ve been tuned in to modern hip hop in the last few years, you’re likely already familiar with the prolific works of NBA YoungBoy. The artist, who is only 24-years-old at the time of this writing, first rose to prominence in 2015 and beyond, releasing numerous rap albums and mixtapes per year ever since. YoungBoy has also amassed quite a large following through viral marketing techniques. He’s earned a dedicated listenership of just under 16 million users on Spotify alone. This behind-the-mic success gives way to an impressive financial portfolio. Celebrity Net Worth estimates his full net worth to clock in at over $10 million. Despite these major successes, NBA YoungBoy’s career is mired by legal troubles and music industry drama, keeping him from reaching his full financial potential. In fact, the young rapper has spent a significant portion of his fame on house arrest while awaiting trial for numerous alleged crimes. The situation keeps him from capitalizing on the outlets...

The “Circle of Life” takes on new meaning now that James Earl Jones, the legendary actor and voice of “The Lion King’s” Mufasa, has passed away at the age of 93. The Voice We Almost Never Heard Jones, a Mississippi native who later moved to Michigan, faced early childhood trauma that led to a stutter and several years of not speaking, based on a CNN profile. “I was mute from grade one through freshman year in high school — mute because I just gave up on talking,” the actor explained in a 1986 interview with KCRA-3. “I can’t cut it. You’re mute that long, you become very curious about expressing yourself.” James Earl Jones Found His Voice His interest in self-expression, shaped by his early challenges, would lead to a voice that resonated across the globe. Jones’ voice became one of Hollywood’s most iconic and recognizable, a gift to the entertainment industry that reverberated for decades. The deep baritone-voiced star would go on to hone his craft at the University of Michigan in...

Moses West wants clean water to be accessible to all. Solving An Issue Impacting Billions The U.S. Army veteran and engineer has used technology to develop an Atmospheric Water Generator that turns air into clean water. This groundbreaking invention has the potential to address the needs of more than a billion people who currently do not have clean water. Forbes reports that while water covers 70% of our planet, only 3% is fresh, and the majority of this fresh water — two-thirds — is held in frozen glaciers. It also highlights that 1.1 billion people lack water access, 2.7 billion struggle to find clean water at least one month each year, and 2.4 billion face issues with insufficient sanitation. Despite these statistics, West is looking to change these outcomes through his Atmospheric Water Generator. “The one crisis that everyone says, ‘We’re going to run out of water,’ and I’m sitting here saying, ‘No you’re not. You’re walking around in it every day. T rillions of gallons of it,...

Being funny pays. Just look to TikToker DeMarcus Shawn as confirmation. Beginnings Growing up on the outskirts of Chicago, IL, he recalls always being funny, often creating skits or playfully imitating his family members. His humor translated well to the camera, and he would toss around various skit ideas with his two older brothers. With the rise of social media, leaning into it was natural for Shawn. Ultimately, he landed on TikTok as his breeding ground for content though initially his Instagram was geared towards his creative interests. @artbydemarcusshawn #fyp ♬ original sound – DemarcusShawn “I grew up doing music and learning how to sing and photography. I’m a guy that’s heavy on drawing and painting,” he told AFROTECH™. “ Those are my hobbies that I like to do. Outside of that, when I came into TikTok, it was more of what I’ve been doing with my siblings, but on a larger front.” Full-Time Content Creation Shawn was working on building his online presence while also employed...

Allyiah Gainer is making a bag from YouTube alone. From An HBCU Student To YouTuber Gainer’s rise as a content creator and beauty guru dates back to 2015. She was briefly a student at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL, and intended to pursue a career in pharmacy. Her motivation for attending school was driven by her father, and after they had a falling out she dropped out of school, as shared during the “Big Boss Energy” podcast with Kayla Burke. However, Gainer remained enrolled to make use of her dorm and meals, which had already been covered under her full-ride scholarship. “I needed somewhere to live, right? I couldn’t just peace out,” Gainer explained on the podcast.   Her new plan was to fulfill her dreams of becoming a makeup artist, and she secured a part-time job at a MAC store located at a nearby local mall, which had been her highest-paying job at the time. ESSENCE reported she was also able to land her own clients who were her former classmates. When she realized...

Former Yale University students are making it easier to spot counterfeit drugs. Per TechCrunch, Adebayo Alonge, Amy Kao and Wei Lui launched healthcare startup RxAll in 2016. The inception of the company was in response to their own experience with counterfeit drugs. For Alonge, it was nearly fatal after he took a medicine that contained a dangerous amount of diazepam, while Kao’s experience left her hospitalized. “I survived a 21-day coma in Nigeria 15 years ago. My co-founder, Amy, was hospitalized in Thailand after taking counterfeit medicine. And Wei lost a family member due to contaminated drugs,” Alonge told TechCrunch. While students they were able to pick each other’s brains during a research and development project and found further information to validate their concerns. “100,000 Africans die from this problem every year. One million people die across the world from this problem,” Alonge mentioned . This led to RxAll’s inaugural product RxScanner, a device powered by...

It’s crucial for Black professionals to not just follow technological advancements but to drive them. Jeff Nelson, co-founder and chief operating officer (COO) of Blavity Inc., embodies this approach. With over 10 years of pioneering work at the company, now reaching millions of users each month, he has contributed significantly to its technology and software development. As the former chief technology officer, he was responsible for development, data analytics, and technical infrastructure, his LinkedIn mentions. In 2022, Nelson stepped into the role of COO, tasked with responsibilities centering data, product, engineering, and audience development, as well as furthering the support for Black professionals through AFROTECH™ and Talent Infusion, which is designed to connect top diverse candidates with employers. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Talent Infusion (@talent.infusion) AFROTECH™ AI Hackathon With the upcoming AFROTECH™ Conference set to return on Nov. 13-16,...

Method Man has hesitations around the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). During an interview on Hot97, the rap artist had several reasons for his heart posture toward the technology. One of his reasons include Drake’s single “Taylor Made Freestyle,” which was a shot at Compton’s Kendrick Lamar. It also featured AI-generated audio using the lyrics of the late Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg. “Kendrick we need ya, the West Coast savior/Engraving your name in some Hip-Hop history/If you deal with this viciously … Call him a b-tch for me/Talk about him liking young girls as a gift for me,” a AI-generated Tupac Shakur lyric read at the song’s intro, per Rolling Stone. The song was later removed by Drake after Shakur’s estate stated they were willing to move forward with legal action, per NBC News. Method Man expresses the song is one of the reasons he is raising an eyebrow toward AI. He also mentions challenges around intellectual property (IP) and streaming, which he says complicate...

Rolanda Brandon has filed a lawsuit due to North Carolina’s NIL restrictions. She is the mother of Faizon Brandon, a quarterback at Grimsley High School and the nationa’s top-ranked recruit in the 2026 class, according to ABC11. The high school player intends to play for the University of Tennessee upon graduating in the fall of 2025, which he affirmed through a verbal commitment, per CBS Sports. The journey toward higher learning is often met with great excitement for athletes and name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals have further energized the sports arena for both college and some high school students. However, this may not have been the case for Faizon. The Athletic Narrative states that while high school students can engage in NIL deals, the eligibility is subject to state laws and the specific rules of their schools or sports teams. Rolanda is now suing the state of North Carolina due to the barriers around NIL deals, The Charlotte Observer reports. This has prevented Faizon...

Sony’s agreement with Michael Jackson’s estate will remain intact despite pushback. As AFROTECH™ previously mentioned, Sony Music Group reportedly closed a sale related to the late “Rock With You” singer’s legendary catalog, which encompassed half of his publishing and recorded masters catalog. In total, the assets were worth between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion. Sony Music Group reportedly paid at least $600 million in the deal to claim its portion of the stake in Michael’s assets. However, there was allegedly some pushback surrounding the deal from his mother, Katherine Jackson. Billboard reports that she attempted to stop the deal. This was because his executors, John Branca and John McClain, had appeared to privately go to Judge Mitchell Beckloff to get the green light for the deal. Katherine argued that it would “violate Michael’s wishes” and that the catalog’s valuation would still rise if the estate maintained its ownership. Beckloff turned down the notion in April 2023 and...

Khalifa Aminu, at 18 years old, is reportedly behind a groundbreaking invention. It all started in Aminu’s childhood when he grew interested in building things after watching movies, he explained to DailyNews24 TV. That led him to build his first project, a canoe, and it opened his eyes to building intentionally to help out his community. Born in Kano, Nigeria, he cites other works, including a radio station, a bomb detector, and an automatic water spray for farmers. “All these inventions were made by me alone, without any support or materials provided for mass production,” Aminu told the outlet. Aminu’s next invention is now sensory glasses, which can help the visually impaired navigate their steps safely and unassisted. Infrared sensors attached to the glasses are able to detect approaching objects, according a video shared on TikTok by The 77 Percent. “I grew up in an area where there’s visually impaired people, and I understand what they’re going through. This is why I began the...