Latest news with #SoledadOBrien
Associated Press
23-07-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
The Wealth Weekend: Martha's Vineyard Returns for 2025 With New Documentary Series Hosted by Soledad O'Brien
Scheduled to Take Place August 12-14, the Event is Presented in Partnership with The Saunders Firm and Nex Cubed MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MA / ACCESS Newswire / July 23, 2025 / This August, The Wealth Weekend returns to Martha's Vineyard from August 12-14, convening a powerful network of investors, innovators, policy leaders, and cultural architects to accelerate Black American wealth, ownership, and influence across generations. The high-impact experience is presented by Black Wealth Events and produced by The Coutureman LLC: Advisory, in partnership with The Saunders Firm, P.C. and Nex Cubed. This year's event marks the debut of a compelling new documentary series hosted by award-winning journalist Soledad O'Brien, spotlighting the stories, strategies, and groundbreaking contributions of HBCU leaders across finance, entrepreneurship, public policy, and creative industries. Filmed live throughout the weekend, the series will offer an unprecedented look into the real-time conversations and collaborations shaping the future of Black American prosperity. Adding to the power of this year's experience are two visionary co-hosts who bring depth and purpose to the mission. The Saunders Firm, P.C. is an estate planning law firm recognized for its leadership in changing how families approach legacy planning and generational wealth, while Nex Cubed is a venture accelerator that champions innovation from HBCU founders and diverse entrepreneurs. Together, they amplify the intersection of capital, justice, and innovation. Three Days of Power, Purpose, and Legacy: August 12 - Legacy on the Lawn An intimate reception and live fireside chats focused on legacy, trust, and the wealth preservation strategies being implemented by families, entrepreneurs and others. Our aim? To reshape your perspective on legacy and generational wealth. August 13 - Thought Leadership Roundtables Curated think tank sessions designed to elevate Black America's contribution to GDP, with a focus on investment, innovation, and cross-sector collaboration. August 14 - Access to Capital Forum In partnership with Nex Cubed, this forum highlights scalable HBCU-led ventures, connects founders with capital allocators, and explores inclusive investment vehicles. 'This is about power, scale, and impact,' said LaMar Wright, Founder of Black Wealth Events/ Principal of The Coutureman LLC: Advisory. 'The Wealth Weekend: Martha's Vineyard is where capital meets culture - and where Black American wealth becomes a national economic priority.' The Wealth Weekend: Martha's Vineyard is more than an event - it's a blueprint for generational impact. This year's programming also includes: With visionary partners, purposeful programming, and a deep commitment to legacy-building, The Wealth Weekend: Martha's Vineyard is redefining what Black wealth looks like, feels like, and accomplishes in the world. For media inquiries, sponsorship opportunities, or to request press credentials, please contact: Janie Mackenzie [email protected] 856.473.2166 About Black Wealth Events Black Wealth Events (BWE) is a premier platform dedicated to fostering economic competitiveness, investment, and innovation within Black American communities. Through its flagship event series, The Wealth Weekend, BWE connects industry leaders, policymakers, and entrepreneurs to catalyze wealth-building initiatives globally. SOURCE: Black Wealth Events press release
Fox News
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
NY Times grapples with liberal outrage over its Mamdani college application report
The New York Times was forced to spend the Fourth of July holiday defending an unflattering report about Zohran Mamdani against the outrage of its liberal readers. The Times reported Thursday that the socialist New York City mayoral candidate, who shocked the nation by clinching the Democratic nomination late last month, checked off that he was both "Asian" and "Black or African American" on his 2009 college application to Columbia University. Mamdani is of Indian descent and was born in Uganda. "Most college applications don't have a box for Indian-Ugandans, so I checked multiple boxes trying to capture the fullness of my background," Mamdani told the Times. The revelation of Mamdani's college application came from hacked Columbia University documents that were shared with the Times. The backlash from the left against the Times was swift, blasting the paper for going out of its way to make Mamdani's college application a story and for relying on a source only identified by an anonymous social media username, whom the Times described as "an academic who opposes affirmative action." "Scoop of the century here that a man from Africa with South Asian heritage said so on his college application. They put 3 authors on the byline for this trash fed to them by a eugenicist," reacted "Breaking Points" co-host Krystal Ball. Former CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien called the report "pathetic," adding, "Also good indication that the @nytimes needs to hire more multi-racial people so maybe this stuff will make sense to you guys." There has also been internal strife at the Gray Lady. "People are really upset," one Times journalist told Semafor. New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie lashed out at the report, writing on the liberal-centric platform Bluesky, "I think you should tell readers if your source is a nazi." Bouie even attacked contributing Times reporter Benjamin Ryan, who had the lead byline on the Mamdani report, suggesting Ryan has "little to no actual brain activity" and that it's "no surprise that one of the biggest dumbasses in journalism is involved in this." Bouie later took down the posts, saying they "violated Times social media standards." Meanwhile, Times columnist Lydia Polgreen sympathized with Mamdani, writing on X, "I can see why a political young man like Zohran might fill out his college application the way he did. Because if you are like me, you struggle to be known in this country. Our visual sorting is so simplistic and quite brutal." The controversy mounted so much so that Patrick Healy, the paper's assistant managing editor for Standards and Trust, issued a lengthy July 4 statement responding to the "reader feedback." "Our reporters obtained information about Mr. Mamdani's Columbia college application and went to the Mamdani campaign with it. When we hear anything of news value, we try to confirm it through direct sources. Mr. Mamdani confirmed this information in an interview with The Times," Healy wrote Friday. "We believe Mr. Mamdani's thinking and decision-making, laid out in his words, was newsworthy and in line with our mission to help readers better know and understand top candidates for major offices." Healy went on to defend running with the hacked material while keeping the source anonymous, adding, "We heard from readers who wanted more detail about this initial source. That's fair feedback. We printed his online alias so readers could learn more about the person. The purpose of this story was to help illuminate the thinking and background of a major mayoral candidate." However, liberals on X continued hammering the Times. "The @nytimes continues its self-invalidation tour…" former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said. "How many Ivy League degrees does it take for you to figure out Uganda is in Africa?" "Your absolute abrogation of the NYT standards would in a better era there have led the full range of you in management to resign. Utter failure," wrote ex-MSNBC host Keith Olbermann. "Then again, if you don't realize NYT is perceived as actively campaigning against Mamdani, you're all lost anyway." Meanwhile, conservative critics accused Healy of "groveling" and offering an apology-like statement. "Stop apologizing for saying something critical of a Democrat," top Trump ally Richard Grenell reacted to Healy. "Your problem is that you have thin-skin and too many lefty readers. You aren't an outlet for everyone - you are an outlet for just the left." It was also revealed Sunday by Times insiders that the paper rushed its Mamdani report to avoid getting scooped by conservative activist Christopher Rufo. Rufo offered his "kudos" to the Times on X. "We publish stories once newsworthy information is confirmed and our reporters and editors have completed their work," a spokesperson for The New York Times spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "That was the case with this story; we went to Mr. Mamdani, he confirmed our information as true, and our colleagues had done thorough reporting. We don't hit publish because others may be working on a story." The New York Times is no stranger to the left's viral outrage machine, which erupted in 2020 over the now-infamous "Send in the Troops" op-ed penned by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., in response to the George Floyd riots. The op-ed sparked intense uproar among its staffers and resulted in multiple personnel changes and a giant mea culpa from the paper. Bari Weiss, who resigned from The Times in protest and has since founded The Free Press, penned in her exit letter that "Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor." "As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions. I was always taught that journalists were charged with writing the first rough draft of history. Now, history itself is one more ephemeral thing molded to fit the needs of a predetermined narrative," Weiss wrote.
