We Are The Priority, Not The Minority
VOL 15 - THURSDAY, MAY 21
Hey Notees! We've reached the near end of another week, and another celebratory graduation as we celebrate the Class of 2020. Continuing your education – whether undergrad or grad – is no easy feat, and not having a traditional ceremony or party in your honor due to our current situation can be disheartening. We hope you all had virtual celebrations, drive-by parades, small social distance gatherings and much more to commemorate your journey. To all 2020 undergrads and grads, we celebrate you in your new season!
For our seasoned ladies who are celebrating their reunions like us (5 years as a Spelman Alumna and 1 year as a Hoya Alum), happy reunion to you. As one of Notedd's subscribers and close friends, Clarice K., reminded us: these times of year presents a time of reflection to see your growth, resilience, purpose matured since your graduation. Cheers to you for getting you there and now!
You may ask, what have we been doing during this pandemic? The response is "too damn much" 😂 but we are absolutely enjoying Arlan Hamilton's book "It's About Damn Time." Have you gotten your copy yet? If you haven't we highly recommend! In one of her chapters, "There is No Such Thing as Self-Made," she highlights how the "self-made" idea is a "damaging myth," as it presents the idea that there is a solitary founder without any support or assistance from others. Now while Arlan thrives from making decisions that affect her, she shares that she is nothing without the community that surrounds her. We here at Notedd couldn't agree more!
Each of you have been incredibly instrumental in our progress thus far. Notedd was built through and through with the support, assistance and love provided to get the trains on the track and to keep the caboose rolling every other week. For this reason, we are looking for your help (again 😊) if your time allows. We are looking for assistance to help us work through our development areas in exchange for us to support your endeavors. A one to one of service bartering 🤝 Our main focus area is our writing and would love to add an editor to read the bi-weekly newsletter before its published on Thursdays. If multiple people are interested, we'd be happy to develop a schedule to ensure that the burden doesn't always fall on one person. We'd also love to connect with someone familiar with digital advertising, app development, RSS reader and growth strategies for email marketing. If any of the above interests you, please feel free to reach out to us and we can discuss further. In exchange, let us know how we can support you from our experience in brand marketing and strategic communications. We are excited to work and collaborate with you all more closely!
This issue is packed with news you may have missed over the last week, the big news we caught for you to be aware of, a few honorable mentions to check out and a quote from Arlan Hamilton's book.
Enjoy and always: Stay Notedd!
BlackHer shares what to should keep in mind in preparation of mail-in voting for the November presidential election. It's critical election year as many of you know!
Congratulations to Jaha Dukureh for becoming L'Oreal's new international ambassador. Check out her story as a Gambian activist, a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, 2016 Time's Most Influential People, and the founder of nonprofit, Safe Hands for Girls, which works to end female genital mutilation (FGM) - a nonprofit she started at the age of 24.
Sephora launched their program "Project Care" during National Nurses week with a goal to provide 50,000 healthcare professionals workers with skincare kits. In addition, Sephora will be supporting 150 women's shelters with an additional 15,000 skincare kits. Lastly, Sephora will begin selling face masks on June 1, retailing for $10 and 50% of the proceeds will be donated to the Stronger Together Fund.
Captain Reemashay Nelson is a Howard University graduate making history as the first black female officer serving in the Air Force Thunder Birds squadron.
While prices are appearing to reduce in every other category, grocery prices increasing and here's why. There was a 2.6% increase between March and April, and here's a list of grocery items that are projected to continue increase.
We shout their name: Rest in power Ahmaud Arbery, a 25 year old black man who was gunned down by two white men in his neighborhood of Satilla Shores while jogging. Rest in Power Breonna Taylor, a 26 year old EMT and aspiring nurse who was shot in her own home eight times by Louisville police after they barged in her home illegally. What's startling the most about these deaths is that it isn't until the video goes viral where these stories receive the attention they deserve and cases are then prosecuted in court. Ahmaud was killed in February. Breonna was just a month after in March, but it isn't until months later that arrests are made and investigations are taken. Sarah Sentilles writes in her Vox article how at the time of this article, nearly 75,000 people died due to the coronavirus, but not one image of a death has been featured in the media. Yet images of innocent black people who suffered during the Ebola crisis were exposed. She shares how the video of Ahmaud reminded her of lynching photography, exposing the torture and killing of black people by white people. Activists like Ida B. Wells, who recently received posthumously a Nobel Peace Prize for her investigative reporting in lynching, exposed these violent acts where she and many others were criticized for doing just that: exposing the crimes taken against black people. Similarly these videos are bringing these stories forward, but as Sarah states: "How many more videos do people need to see to believe that this racist violence happens, every day, all the time? These images take a toll on those who view them, especially on communities of color. They send a clear message about the expendability of Black and Brown bodies and about white supremacy."
Re-opening the nation: All 50 states are now re-opening with each state approaching their re-opening processes and procedures differently. Certain states like Florida and Georgia re-opened earlier this month with reports of their coronavirus cases going down, but now reports are showing that data is incorrect. States like New York and Maryland are taking phased approaches, while DC enacts their stay-at-home order until mid-June. As this process continues, employers are evaluating how their businesses will continue. Tech companies like Microsoft, Google and Zillow issued work from orders for the rest of the year. Twitter will allow their employees to work from home indefinitely. After an employee survey found that the vast majority of their workers want to continue to work from home, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman shared in a recent Bloomberg interview that her staff are able to return to their physical workplaces voluntarily.
We're curious to hear from you! We want to know which of the following would you prefer?
New Title IX Regulations: Earlier this month, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced new provisions to the federal law Title IX that allows those accused of harassment or assault to question evidence and cross-examine their accusers. CNN reported that the new rules will go into effect this August, and will narrow the definition of sexual misconduct on college campuses. The new provisions define sexual harassment as a "school employee conditioning education benefits on participation in unwelcome sexual conduct," "unwelcome conduct that a reasonable person would determine is so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the school's education program or activity" or "sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking." The regulation will expand to apply to the school's programs or activities on and off campus, including fraternity or sorority houses, but excludes allegations that occur during study abroad programs. Many are in favor of the new regulations saying that the new provisions will make schools and institutions take sexual harassment more seriously. However, victim advocacy groups and women's rights organizations are arguing that these new regulations diminish survivors and discourage them from reporting sexual assault and harassment. President and CEO of the National Women's Law Center Fatima Goss Graves shares that "if this rule goes into effect, survivors will be denied their civil rights and will get the message loud and clear that there is no point in reporting assault."
The trickle effect of one very important decision: We reported in an earlier issue on the important Supreme Court decision on the ruling of June Medical Services v. Russo that if proceeds one way could close all three Louisiana clinics that provide abortion procedures. The Supreme Court is evaluating a 2014 Louisiana law that requires doctors who provide abortions to have privileges to admit patients at nearby hospitals. Supporters of the law say this will improve patient safety, while those against the law argue that this law will close clinics and shut down abortion access. The Guttmacher Institute identified 15 states that could be impacted by the Supreme Court decision. Currently, these 15 states have limited abortion access, where many were reported to restricting access amid the coronavirus pandemic. This year marks the 47th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling which set the precedent that a woman has the right to choose have an abortion is constitutionally protected, and yet we are exploring a woman's right again. Speaking of the Roe v. Wade ruling, FX is releasing a documentary on Jane Roe or Norma McCorvey's story, serving as FX's first ever documentary series.
Check out these honorable mentions, and drop us a note of what you think if you are able to check it out this weekend or next!
Seeing Janelle Monae join season two of Amazon Prime show "Homecoming" peaked our interests when we watched the trailer! We're planning to binge watch the first season which focuses on how military veterans are tricked into signing up for a government-contracted program. Unknowing to the veterans, the program eradicates their violent memories, which may lead to post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. Season two with Janelle reigning as the protagonist (Julia Roberts was featured in season 1) focuses on how PTSD is not color blind, and the season shows PTSD affecting Black communities. Janelle's character opens the season waking up on a boat with no prior memory of who she is or how she got there. Let us know if you will be tuning in too!
ZORA's new series, The Burnout Effect, is a collection of stories that focuses on the pressures and peace of productivity and performance during our current times. The stories are written by women of color who are experiencing the highs and lows, and provides expert advice on how to continue what you are doing while placing yourself first. Check out the first three stories here.
We are excited to tap into our productive side this weekend. We are challenging ourselves to try two new methods: the SAVER morning routine and bullet journaling. SAVER stands for Silence, Affirmation, Visualizations, Exercise, Reading and Scribing. Since we started working from home in March, we have yet to establish a morning routine other than switching into one set of pajamas into the next🤦🏾♀️. We read the reviews on this method, and now have an interest to test it out. Similarly, bullet journaling was shared as a "productivity grace" where all you need is a little time, a good pen, journal and a few prompts to get you started. We'll provide a progress report of what worked for us in our next issue. Drop us a note if you have tried these two methods or have an interest in trying them out with us!
Be True to Yourself & Stay Notedd ✌🏾
1. Please share your thoughts on what you enjoyed and how we can improve here at Notedd.
2. Share with your friends who want to stay in the know and join the “Stay Notedd” community.
3. Content ideas? Launching a product or service? Major accomplishments to share with the group? Reach out to us and we'll add it to our next issue.