Latest news with #Blavity
New York Times
2 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
First Came Forbes' ‘30 Under 30.' Then Came Love.
Morgan Rose DeBaun never had a lot of time for pickup artists. Then she went dancing in Nashville and changed her tune. It wasn't with a cheesy line that Joshua Lamar Shaw picked her up on Aug. 20, 2021, at the speakeasy nightclub Dirty Little Secret. It was with his hands. 'He just picked me up and moved me,' Ms. DeBaun said. That no man had been brazen enough to do this before had less to do with her immovability — she is a compact 4-foot-11 — than her reputation. Ms. DeBaun, 35, is a founder and the chief executive of the digital media company Blavity and an adviser to brands including American Airlines and PepsiCo. In 2016, two years after she started Blavity, she was on the Forbes '30 Under 30' list alongside Aaron Samuels, her fellow founder. She is now a serial entrepreneur at the head of companies including AfroTech, a platform for Black technology executives, and an author. This spring, 'Rewrite Your Rules,' her mantra, became a book about the path to personal fulfillment. A rejection of hustle culture for something more authentic is at its foundation. So was the path that led her to go dancing that night in Nashville. Binge more Vows columns here and read all our wedding, relationship and divorce coverage here. Ms. DeBaun grew up in St. Louis with an older brother. Their parents, Sandra and Michael DeBaun, raised them with what she called solid Midwestern values. 'Everything at home was consistent and stable,' she said. 'My mom and dad were high school sweethearts, my grandma picked me up from school every day.' In Los Angeles, where she moved in 2015 to grow Blavity after graduating with a bachelor's degree in political science and entrepreneurship from Washington University in St. Louis, she wasn't meeting men who shared those values. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Social Security Payments For February 2025: What Beneficiaries Need To Know
Social Security beneficiaries can expect their monthly payments this week. The payments, scheduled for Wednesday, will provide thousands of dollars to many recipients, Fox Business reported. These payments are distributed on four different dates each month. The specific payment date depends on the beneficiary's birthdate and how long they have been receiving benefits. Payments are sent on the second, third, and fourth Wednesdays of the month: If your birthday falls between the 1st and 10th, you will receive your payment on the second Wednesday. If you were born between the 11th and 20th, you will receive your payment on the third Wednesday. If your birthday falls between the 21st and 31st, your payment will be sent on the fourth Wednesday. For retirees who have been receiving benefits since May 1997, payments arrive on the third day of the month. Those who also receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) will get their payments on the first of the month. The maximum monthly Social Security payment depends on the age at which a person claims benefits: Retirees who claim at the full retirement age of 67 can receive up to $4,018 per month. Those who opt for early retirement at 62 receive a smaller maximum benefit of $2,831 per month. Individuals who delay benefits until age 70 can receive up to $5,108 per month. Social Security benefits are adjusted annually based on the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), which reflects inflation. In 2025, the COLA increase is 2.5%, making it the smallest adjustment since 2021. 'The 2025 COLA will be the lowest received by Social Security beneficiaries since 2021, at the same time inflated prices persist on key essentials such as housing, meats, auto insurance, any type of service and repairs,' said Mary Johnson, an independent Social Security and Medicare policy analyst, Newsweek reported. 'Despite it being the lowest COLA since 2021, a 2.5% COLA would be considered about average.' This version maintains clarity and formatting while removing bold text as requested. Let me know if you need any more refinements!The post Social Security Payments For February 2025: What Beneficiaries Need To Know appeared first on Blavity. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kanye West, Bianca Censori, And The Dark Underbelly Of The Modern Muse Motif
A man and his muse, a pairing as old as time, has been a consistent trope in the world of fashion. The most viable 'weapon' in the arsenal of dapper men with exquisite style personas more than Celine button-downs and Richard Mille wristwatches is a woman they can 'dress like a doll' as a reflection of their style prowess. Perhaps one of the biggest purveyors of this trope is Kanye West, who infamously crafted Kim Kardashian's style rebrand back in 2012. Kardashian herself has gone on the record stating that West 'totally picks out my looks' and did a complete overhaul of her closet when they first began dating. His most recent sartorial takeover took place at the 2025 Grammy Awards on Sunday, where he urged wife, Bianca Censori, to shed her fur coat on the red carpet, revealing her fully nude body, covered with a completely see-through mini dress. But like many of West's recent stunts, this outfit reveal didn't land as innovative or boundary-pushing. It was just dehumanizing. Many describe Censori's assumed cooperation in this dynamic as some sort of humiliation ritual, while others are calling out the signs of abuse reflected in their interactions. This isn't the first time West has urged Censori to bear it all in attempts to farm engagement and reel in the attention that fuels the social media tirades, anti-Black interviews and anti-semitic rants that have marked much of the last 10 years of West's life. Beyond this being a gross display of objectification and another tack on the board for West's history of abhorrent and dangerous behaviors, it also sheds light on the harm enacted by the muse trope. While it may seem cute and even romantic to have a partner so dedicated to your aesthetic advancement, appearance surveillance, like any other controlling behavior, is post Kanye West, Bianca Censori, And The Dark Underbelly Of The Modern Muse Motif appeared first on Blavity.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
No-Buys Are Trending On TikTok: What Can It Teach Us About Consumerism?
The start of the year has a way of bringing societal fatigue to the surface. From recovering from the financial strain of the holidays to managing the weight of lofty resolutions, the beginning of the year is the perfect time for our societal grievances to come to a head. Said frustrations are what make 'no-buy' months the peak of all New Year's Eve resolutions. No-buys are exactly what they sound like — a period of time dedicated to not buying anything. And post-holiday spending, no-buys serves as a glamorous way to cut back. We're tired of the compulsive spending and ready to cut back. But seeing video after video of users on TikTok clinging to this trend as a way to glamorize not buying things shows just how desperately normalized consumption just for consumption's sake is. Because on its face, not buying items you don't need shouldn't be a revolutionary concept. If you don't need it? Don't get it. But when hyper-consumption is the norm, not purchasing unnecessary items requires conscious effort and, in many cases, an audience. This is not to disparage no-buys in any way, to be clear. More so, this is a perfect example of how social media trends shed light on the ills of society, similar to the way gyms and at-home walking pads indicate how capitalism has disrupted our natural movement so much we have to work it around our schedules. We have become so accustomed to buying things in hopes of getting a quick taste of dopamine as a means to cope with the demoralizing realities that come with living under a capitalist regime. Hopefully, these no-buys will serve as a factory reset for the internalized materialism we've all been forcibly subjected to and, if we're lucky, present us with a renewed sense of clarity for what really post No-Buys Are Trending On TikTok: What Can It Teach Us About Consumerism? appeared first on Blavity.
