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“Bizness Girl” Etophia Lane Brings 2025 Juneteenth Tech Conference to Brooklyn

Fern Gillespie
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“Bizness Girl” Etophia Lane Brings 2025 Juneteenth Tech Conference to Brooklyn

Fern Gillespie
Some of the country’s leading Black innovators in tech from AI to ChatGPT to online gaming will be celebrating Juneteenth at the 2025 Juneteenth Tech conference at the S. Stevan Dweck Cultural Center at Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library on June 21. Admission is free.


“Juneteenth Tech is convening Black tech leaders, influencers, and supporters of the Black tech community during Juneteenth celebrations in New York City to discuss and present solutions to the racial technology gap,” Etophia Lane, creator and executive producer for Juneteenth Tech and president of Bizness Girl, told Our Time Press. “We are going to celebrate the freedom that Black people are now experiencing in tech. Even though we’re still struggling, we’re taking much more control as you see with our different communities.”


The conference is co-hosted by LevelUp, a workforce development initiative out of the Brooklyn Public Library specifically for Black women. Lauren C. Dorvil, director of the LevelUP, works to help Black women get to the next stage professionally and build wealth. Last year, LevelUp was one of 20 grantees of Google’s 2024 Tech Equity Collective Impact Fund. Conference panels include:


Code, Culture + Community Building a More Inclusive Tech Ecosystem in New York. This panel will examine the current state of diversity in the New York tech scene, the gaps, and how to foster inclusivity. From strategies for improving representation in tech, promoting access to funding for Black tech founders, and creating spaces for Black technologists to thrive.


Future Forward Tech Education and Empowerment for the Next Generation of Black New Yorkers This panel will discuss programs and initiatives that are equipping the next generation of Black tech professionals with the skills to succeed in New York’s growing tech sector. Discussion on importance of tech exposure and tech boot camps and how tech companies provide exposure into the industry.


Transformative LeadHERship: The LevelUP Cybersecurity Experience. This panel will feature LevelUp Tech graduates and instructors in a Fireside style chat.


Navigating Tech Careers as a Black Professional in New York. This panel will share experiences about navigating career advancement in tech, the importance of networking, and advice for young Black tech professionals.


Juneteenth Tech 2025 will salute Jerelyn Rodriguez Williams, founder of the nonprofit tech education program The Knowledge House in the Bronx. “She wanted to make sure that tech education made sense for not only just for the youth, but also for adults. So it’s not just training our youth,” said Lane.

“Many people sometimes think education is about getting the kids into high school or training them when they’re in elementary school. But, what about the adults education? You have people who are just wanting to find a job, change and find the pivot. So it’s really making sure that New York has those resources for marginalized communities.”


Some of the Black women tech innovators at Juneteenth Tech include Quanda Francis, a tech entrepreneur, engineer and global leader in artificial intelligence, who created WombWatch AI, a healthcare AI for every stage of a woman’s life. Erin Reddick, AI Developer and Founder of ChatBlackGPT, an AI software providing perspectives from the Black and African American communities.

Madonna Wambua, Google Android expert and owner of Jibu Labs, a multidisciplinary digital creative lab focused on innovation, emerging technology, and creating solutions for businesses to thrive in the digital era. Jaye “letta J” Watts, a former Grammy nominee and Stanford grad, who founded CoExist Gaming, a tech firm that includes CoExist GameHouse, a Manhattan multi-level gaming space offering a variety of amenities like music studios, podcast areas, and green screens.


An entrepreneur for 20 years, Lane is the owner of Bizness Girl, a small business development consultancy company based in Brooklyn. She specializes in consulting nonprofits and small businesses on major projects in tech, education, fashion, mental health and corporate sponsorships. A graduate of the LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts and Hampton University, she is also a national advisor for ForbesBLK, Forbes Magazine’s global community for Black professionals.


“The Black tech community building is awesome. Now, how can we get the funding that actually mirrors the community building,” said Lane. “I don’t have the same community sponsors that I had last year. Google Tech Equity Collective is no longer. They were my community sponsors. They were my community partners last year. If you go to the page, it’s not existing.”


Last year Google announced 20 grantees of its 2024 Tech Equity Collective Impact Fund. It was a $1 million commitment to organizations driving equity in the tech and creating a more inclusive tech ecosystem for aspiring Black technical talent through reskilling, upskilling and training programs. This year, Google abruptly cancelled all of its DEI initiatives.


“I don’t even know what diversity is going to look like in the next couple of years,” said Lane. “That is why Black people must take their own reigns and that is why we must empower ourselves to not just through education, but open up our own tech companies. We’re smart enough.”
To register for Juneteenth Tech, contact the Brooklyn Public Library LevelUp.

Macmillan announces N.J. Sen. Cory Booker’s “Stand” for 11/11/25 Release

David Mark Greaves
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Macmillan announces N.J. Sen. Cory Booker’s “Stand” for 11/11/25 Release

“Senator Cory Booker captivated Americans across the political spectrum in early 2025 with his remarkable 25-hour speech on the Senate floor, when he spoke out eloquently and forcefully against … relentless challenges to civil liberties, government institutions, the rule of law, and our nation’s international standing.

In the process, Booker outlasted the record for longest continuous Senate floor speech set by segregationist Strom Thurmond during a filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which was delivered at another time of great uncertainty for our country when it felt like the odds were hopelessly stacked against justice and unity.


” ‘Stand’ is a celebration of the Americans who … championed the uniquely American values central to making our nation a more perfect union, despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles. It is also a guide for today: leadership … comes from action and example.
“Cory Booker is the senior United States senator from New Jersey.

Booker earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Stanford University, attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and earned a law degree at Yale University. He served as mayor of Newark for seven years before becoming New Jersey’s first Black senator, and only the fourth popularly elected Black senator in US history.

Booker is a national leader in the effort to expand economic opportunities and reform our criminal justice and healthcare systems.”
-Macmillan Publishers

AJASS Men: Millennial Style

Bernice Elizabeth Green
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AJASS Men: Millennial Style

by NZINGHA
June is the month where we celebrate Father’s Day. It’s the day we honor men who embody the task of not only siring children but also serving as an example of responsible manhood by the character and integrity that they possess. They are ministers of change and honor.


There is a hierarchy in the making of Gentlemen and Kings. You may be born male, but time, life lessons, and wise, honorable elder men who are respectable advisors with impeccable character make males into Gentlemen and Kings. Some are Fathers, Uncles, Brothers, Future Fathers, and males who reach for that honor that only a few wear as a crown worthy of respect. They are Kings in their businesses, personal households, families, and communities.


I’ve been thinking about the qualities and characteristics that made up the Gentlemen of the African Jazz Arts Society and Studio, also known as “AJASS.” AJASS men were not just Artists but Community and Social Activists who created change through the Arts. The Civil Rights Era had more than one movement happening at the same time. AJASS Executive Produced Live Jazz performances by some of the greatest Jazz Musicians of the Century. Executive Produced The Naturally Shows, which introduced The Grandassa Models. They also founded The Black Arts Movement and coined the phrase “BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL” and turned “BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL” into not only a slogan but a movement.


The AJASS men, Elombe and Kwame Brathwaite, Robert “Bob” Gumbs, Chris, David Ward, and Frank Adu, were committed to their wives until their transition from life.
And their wives, children, nieces, nephews, extended family, and admirers continue their work. They were inspired by The Honorable Marcus Garvey and Carlos Cook’s ANPM and my Father Charles Issac Nwokkiojjii Peaker.


In 1952, a little street once named Kelly Street, located in New York, in the South Bronx, on what has now been renamed “AJASS WAY,” gave birth to AJASS. There were six young men, all teenagers, with the goal of creating great artwork. Little did they know their dreams would spark multiple movements and generations.

Their skills in graphic arts and design made them firsts in their fields, breaking into the advertising, film, theater, and animation creation world. All of this at their young age and being young black men in the 60’s during the civil rights segregation era was a first through their fluency and love for all forms of the arts and, in particular, Jazz, which springs from the Black experience as Hip Hop, at its most positive.


The Arts have long been a means of communicating what’s happening in various social sectors that convey culture and nationalism, and also mirroring what’s happening in everyday people’s mindsets.


Not all Movements are clanging cymbals announcing their arrival. Nor are some Movements arrogant or self-serving about changing the culture. Some move in silence at first, then roar as it builds steam. Moving stealthily to become movements of change. Patrons of these foundational Arts are stealth movers and shakers with a wellspring already pouring out with eyes that see and hearts that beat for what is new…the future!


They are the influential people who fearlessly set thought in motion. They are community activists and supporters of community healing and growth.


They support building health conscious communities, education in all aspects of learning, they support and create community development programs and businesses. Changing the social political landscape through the Arts with a grass roots movement in their hearts that tackle community concerns and replacing it with cultural pride and the recognition of diasporic historical value.


These men understand and adhere to the assignment of protecting their women and children from harm and abuse. They are men who value the concept of legacy building in communities and shaping their children into assets that will take their family mission statement into the future to benefit the community at home and in the diaspora.

These men value their women for their intellect, beauty and spirit. They understand the importance of their marriages core values that they and their wives build. And those core values shape the social collective.
So now I present to you the millennial generation of what AJASS looks like. Tell us what you think in your comments.

Edward Enninful – (Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Magazine, Fashion Director, Designer
Ryan Coogler – (Executive Film
Producer, Director, Creative
Director, Screen Writer)
Ibrahim Traore’ – (President of
Burkino Faso)
Julius Melema – (President of
The EFF)
Kwaku Alston – (Photographer,
Director, Creative Director)
Pharrell Williams – (Louis Vuitton Menswear Fashion Director, Designer)
QuestLove – (Film and Music
Producer, Writer, Musician)



Mentioned but not shown:

Rizza Islam – (Producer, Community
Leader, Health Ambassador,
Entrepreneur, Writer and Author)

Simon Fredrick – (Executive Film
Producer, Director, Creative
Director, Photographer, Writer,
Narrator)

Steve McQueen – (Executive Film
Producer, Director, Creative Director)

John Boyega – (Actor, Community
Activist)

Daniel Kaluuya – (Actor)

Jessie Williams – (Actor,
Community Activist)

June is the month where we celebrate Fathers Day. It’s the day we honor men who embody the task of not only siring children but also serving as an example of responsible manhood by the character and integrity that they possess. They are ministers of change and honor.

  • Bernice Elizabeth Green,
    Editorial Curator

Baba Obediah Wright to Host Central Brooklyn Juneteenth Arts Festival, June 14th

Bernice Elizabeth Green
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Baba Obediah Wright to Host Central Brooklyn Juneteenth Arts Festival, June 14th

Baba Obediah Wright, founder and director of Brooklyn’s Balance Dance Theatre, is beloved in Brooklyn. A renown, choreographer, director and educator, Wright marvelously weaves dance, spirituality, education and Black culture to create uplifting edutainment. This month, he’s returning to the Central Brooklyn Juneteenth Arts Festival Saturday, June 14th at Herbert Von King Park as the host of the cultural celebration.


“Last year at Juneteenth, when I hosted, there was a young man who got an award and was going to college. So, I got all of the elder women to encircle this young man. I put them up on the stage and they prayed for him. Then I got all the teenagers to get in the circle as well,” he told Our Time Press. “It wasn’t planned. It was the cultural and African ancestral spirit.”


When working with Black youth, he likes to include some of the history of Juneteenth. “It’s hard for younger people to even grasp slavery nowadays,” he said. “So again, our history being lost, the history being misplaced, the history being hidden.”


To creatively explore Black history in America, in 2001, Wright premiered his multimedia dance and music production “Higher Ground, Still Rising!” at the Schomburg Center in Harlem. “It goes from Africa, through the Middle Passage up until the present,” he said.

“It’s spoken word. It’s a multimedia work. There’s live singing, music and dance. So,it’s also a lesson in history in African tradition and culture and a performance in African American culture.”
A native New Yorker, Wright has studied dance at the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, Alvin Ailey, Dance Theater of Harlem, and the Julliard School.


He has choreographed and taught master classes throughout the U.S, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. Wright has been mentored by dance choreographer icons Geoffrey Holder, Chuck Davis and Otis Sallid. He has performed in leading venues in New York City and around the world. He’s become known for a choreography and performance style that is an eclectic mix of his extensive training in Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Swing, and Afro-Cuban dance.

High profile choreography and directing projects include Ray Charles, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Janet Jackson, Erykah Badu, Ashanti and was assistant choreographer for the film “Harlem Nativity” with Angela Bassett.


For 20 years at the Balance Dance Theater, he has instructed and mentored children, teens and adults in dance and culture. It’s balancing a professional component and a community component. “There is the concept of taking people and giving them artistic lessons, but also giving them cultural and social etiquette of understanding themselves a bit better. To help them be a better and more well-rounded kind of person,” he said.

“At Balance Dance Theater, I’ve taken my children to perform at the World Financial Center, Schomburg Center, and ABC-TV’s “The Chew. I put my children in music videos. Their parents are involved in a lot of the projects.” Several years ago, on his first visit to South Africa, he brought ten children and two parents for the cultural tour.


“I like intergenerational work because it we need community around art, we need community around culture. It shouldn’t just be the teenagers or the professional dancers, it needs to be the seven-year olds, the five-year-olds and two-year-olds. It needs to be their parents, it needs to be their grandparents.”


For 16 years, he has taught special needs children on the spectrum at Long Island’s Roosevelt Union Free School District. “Some of those young men that I’ve mentored are still very close to me,” he said. “When they were not doing well in school, I would go and sit down and have meetings with the principal on the mother’s behalf when they weren’t acting right.”

Wright’s dedication has earned many accolades. In 2006, Newark’s Mayor Sharpe James presented him with a special proclamation at the city’s Juneteenth Day at NJPAC. This year, the nonprofit Global International Alliance presented him with a doctorate in humanitarianism.


Recently, Wright was invited to perform and teach in South Africa. “When I was in Johannesburg at the Johannesburg Ballet, it was like me teaching at the equivalent of the Alvin Ailey School. When I was in Soweto, it would be the equivalent of me going into a community center in Brownsville. I’ve done both.

I’ve taught at the Ailey School and I’ve taught at community centers in Brownsville. I was at home in either place,” he said. “One of my dreams of the things that I want to do is travel extensively around Africa and learn dances, cultures and begin to bring them back here.”

Kidd ‘n Play

Eddie Castro
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Kidd ‘n Play

As we went to press last week, there was some breaking news that sent shock waves through the entire New York basketball community when the Knicks decided to fire Head Coach Tom Thibodeau. As I reiterated on my podcast last week, Thibodeau took the Knicks franchise to heights they have not been able to reach in 25 years. His 24 playoff wins are the most by a Knicks coach in 25 years. The previous 12 head coaches had seven playoff victories combined. With Thibs now out in New York, the question now is who the Knicks organization has in mind to be his successor?


During the podcast, I put together a list of coaches that could fit in as a potential replacement; however, there is one name that his picked up a lot of steam, and this name was NOT on my list. According to many sources, the Knicks’ first priority is to lure Jason Kidd from Dallas to be their new coach. Both sides seem to have a mutual interest.

Kidd has some ties to some current Knicks players, more notably, he coached Jalen Brunson when he was a member of the Dallas Mavericks as a rookie. For this to come to fruition, there are a few hurdles the Knicks will have to go through if Kidd is indeed their number one option to be their next head coach. One is actually getting permission from Dallas to interview Kidd, and the fact that Kidd is under contract with the Mavs for the next 2 years.

Although it is quite rare in sports, if the Knicks were to get the green light from Dallas, they could seal the deal in a trade. To refresh all the Our Time Press, universe memories, while Kidd was the head coach in Brooklyn, he was traded to Milwaukee for draft compensation. During his playing days, Kidd was one of the best point guards to ever play the game. With his experience at point guard, could he be the one coach to unlock another level to Brunson’s game?


Along with Kidd, the Knicks will obviously be looking to improve the roster after coming up two games short of their first NBA Finals appearance since 2000. With the NBA Draft just two weeks away, could a veteran superstar possibly be on his way to New York?

Kevin Durant’s name has been linked to the New York Knicks since this year’s trade deadline. Durant 37, is still one of the most dominant scorers in the league and could mesh well paired with Brunson. Durant has one year left on his current contract. The next two weeks could answer these two questions as to whether these scenarios actually happen.

Is Jason Kidd the guy to take the Knicks back to the finals? How realistic is the possibility of Kevin Durant in a Knicks uniform? This could set up to be one of the most interesting drafts in recent memory. Stay tuned!

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