For years, Black women have been told that education, adaptability, and professionalism would create economic stability. But new labor data suggests that even being highly educated and deeply embedded in the workforce is not enough to shield them from economic instability when systems shift. According to analysis published by the Feminist Majority Foundation, Black women’s unemployment had climbed to 6.4% in April 2025, well above the national unemployment rate reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, white women’s unemployment remained significantly lower at 3.8%. Now in 2026 those numbers have reached 7.3% and 3.7%, respectively. How AI And DEI Rollbacks Are Impacting The Workforce The numbers arrive at a moment when companies are aggressively integrating AI into workplace operations while simultaneously scaling back Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. Together, those shifts are creating a labor market where Black women...

A directory that helps people connect patients to Black doctors is being sued. Find A Black Doctor is an online directory founded by Dina D. Strachan, a graduate of Harvard University and Yale School of Medicine, and a board-certified dermatologist. According to its website, its directory features U.S.-based Black physicians and dentists in active clinical practice. It is driven by a mission to provide patients in the Black community with access, education, and resources to improve health outcomes. According to a statement on Find A Black Doctor’s website, “Having access to Black doctors has been shown to improve health outcomes — particularly for Black men.” The American Medical Association reports that African Americans make up approximately 13% of the U.S. population, but are only 5% of practicing physicians. “This underrepresentation adds a challenge to potential patients seeking a physician of this kind. Just like women have been shown to prefer access to female physicians,...

Kountry Wayne didn’t originally plan to pursue comedy, but his gift led to an empire that brought him millions of dollars. The Georgia native admitted that when he entered the content and entertainment space, business was always his priority “from day one,” he said on the “Earn Your Leisure” podcast. He acknowledged comedy “was just a gift” that he knew “how to monetize.” Wayne began recording comedic videos as far back as 2014. He went viral in October 2014, and by March 2015, he had 1 million followers and was touring as a comedian. He claims he was making “like a million dollars a year at the time” on the podcast. He stopped sharing video content on social media by 2017. However, COVID-19 halted his live bookings, and he turned back to social media to share content. Facebook was one of the early platforms that paid him for uploading videos. His first video led to a $70 payment from the company. “When the pandemic came, I got back to it on Facebook cause I had built that Facebook...

MacKenzie Scott has built a reputation for her generosity, reportedly donating roughly $7.2 billion in 2025 alone — including well over $1 billion to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Despite her significant contributions and ongoing philanthropic work, Scott’s name was notably absent from the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s latest ranking of top donors. According to the International Business Times (IBM), limited public disclosure around her philanthropy played a key role in her omission. Scott, her representatives, and Yield Giving — the organization that oversees her donations — declined to provide sufficient information about donor-advised funds to meet the publication’s inclusion criteria, the outlet notes. “MacKenzie Scott is among the notable absences on the Philanthropy 50 list,” The Chronicle said, per IBM. “While it is possible she made gifts to her donor-advised funds that would have earned her a spot on the Philanthropy 50, she and her representatives...

Chris Rock reveals how much money he missed out on with the film “Shrek.” Rock is a South Carolina native raised in Brooklyn, New York. He dropped out of high school, earned a GED, studied broadcast journalism for a year at a community college, and worked various jobs to sustain himself, including as a busboy at Red Lobster, according to Oprah. He held on to his aspirations for a career in comedy. “By the time I was 7 or 8, I wanted to be a comedy writer. When I’d see the credits roll after a comedy show, I’d say to myself, ‘I’m going to write for one of these shows one day,'” he said, per Oprah. While in line for a ticket to comedian Eddie Murphy’s stand-up show at Radio City Music Hall in 1985, he stumbled upon a newspaper ad promoting an open-mic session at comedy club Catch a Rising Star. He auditioned and performed there as part of his entry into comedy. Rock credited Murphy as the first to inspire him “to be in front of the camera as a comedian” during a conversation with...

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is disputing claims surrounding the controversial “buy, borrow, die” tax strategy often associated with ultrawealthy investors and founders seeking to minimize taxes. During an interview on CNBC on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, Bezos called the strategy a myth. “There’s no truth to this ‘buy, borrow, die’ thing,” Bezos said. “I don’t even know where this comes from.” What Is The ‘Buy, Borrow, Die’ Tax Strategy? A 2019 study by economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman found that, for the first time in modern history, the wealthiest Americans may be paying a lower effective tax rate than middle- and working-class households, AFROTECH™ previously reported. In 2018, the study noted the average effective tax rate paid by the top 400 richest U.S. families was reportedly 23%, compared with 24.2% paid by the bottom half of households. The strategy “Buy, borrow, die” refers to a wealth-preservation tactic that allows wealthy individuals to avoid triggering capital...

Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, has a stark prediction for the future of white-collar work: AI could begin replacing large numbers of professionals, from law school and MBA graduates to less-credentialed office workers. Suleyman told the Financial Times in February 2026 that AI systems would soon achieve “human-level performance on most, if not all, professional tasks.” “White-collar work, where you’re sitting down at a computer, either being a lawyer or an accountant or a project manager or a marketing person — most of those tasks will be fully automated by an AI within the next 12-18 months,” he said. Suleyman pointed to the rapid growth of computing power as a warning sign for the labor market. As AI models continue to scale, he argued, they could outperform many human coders and knowledge workers on complex tasks. CEOs Raise Concerns About AI’s Impact On The Job Market Suleyman’s predictions echo a growing chorus of executives warning about AI’s potential impact on...

Wells Fargo has agreed to settle a lawsuit alleging discrimination in loan approvals. Banking Dive reports that a lawsuit combining multiple cases, filed by Wells Fargo shareholders in federal court in Northern California, accuses the bank giant of approving fewer than 50% of refinancing applications for Black borrowers in 2020. The banker was also accused of conducting fake job interviews with nonwhite candidates in order to meet diversity goals, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. Shareholders argue that the bank’s board of directors breached its fiduciary duties regarding Wells Fargo’s regarding the bank’s discriminatory hiring and lending practices, according to a press release shared by the office of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, which served as court-appointed co-lead counsel and was represented by lawyers Mark Molumphy, Tyson Redenbarger, Gia Jung, and Elle Lewis. Wells Fargo has agreed to a $110 million settlement. Of that amount, $100 million will be put toward a Borrower...

Football was never the end goal for two-time Super Bowl champion Justin Tuck. In an interview with Adam Glyn, who describes himself as a New York City-based comedian and street journalist, Tuck revealed that sports were always meant to be the path to a great education, then to a great career. In 2001, he earned a scholarship to the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. He became the team captain and graduated in 2005 as the program’s all-time leader in sacks, earning a management degree, according to his LinkedIn profile. “Sports for me was a conduit or a gateway to get a great education for free. My mom and dad couldn’t afford to send me to the University of Notre Dame… It was always the plan to go and do something from a career standpoint, that was very different than athletics,” he said. Tuck went on to the NFL, drafted in the third round as the No. 74 overall pick in 2005 by the New York Giants. He spent the majority of his 11-year career with the team, then...

Canadian-born streamer Agent 00 has forged his own lane. At 12 years old, he begged his mother to buy him a Kodak camera, he said in a YouTube video. He started taking pictures of his loved ones, took part in video competitions, and even began editing Call of Duty montages. He also started uploading NFL videos to a clip channel. One video in particular of Marshawn Terrell Lynch racked up 70,000 views, he said. That avenue came to a halt due to a copyright strike, he said during a live interview at the University of California, Berkeley, for the Microsoft Windows Campus Creator Tour. “Then I had to find my own hustle,” he explained. He started editing videos for others, providing commentary, and then sharing gaming content on YouTube, with NBA 2K putting him on the map. “I played The Last of Us. I was really good at that. I had some good videos there. Anything from like Watch Dogs, Call of Duty, you know, and stuff like that. Eventually, I landed on NBA 2K,” he said during the live...

MEDASE Cocktails has expanded to another retailer. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the Los Angeles-founded venture was cofounded by Inga Dyer and Monica Cornitcher. The two were inspired to launch the company in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic when Cornitcher relocated from Atlanta to California, allowing her to spend more time with Dyer, who was already based there. “Then we started to talk about, ‘Hey, it wou ld be nice to have a cockt ail, right?’ Because we did drink cocktails throughout college, after college, but we were kind of slowing down on drinking . And Inga’s reason for not drinking was that she was battling breast cancer at the time,” Cornitcher said in a previous interview with AFROTECH™ . “ And during her battle with breast cancer, she was not drinking at all . And we were starting to experiment with mocktails in the space . We probably tasted everything out there at the time.” In 2023, MEDASE Cocktails launched as a premium, zero-proof, organic,...

Social Security insolvency has become a growing concern among Americans, many of whom worry their benefits could be unavailable by the time they reach retirement age, Yahoo! Finance reports . The 2025 Social Security Board of Trustees report noted that “the fund’s reserves will become depleted,” with the program able to pay 100% of scheduled benefits only through 2033 — three calendar quarters earlier than projected in last year’s projection. After that time, the program would still be able to pay about 77% of the scheduled benefits through the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund, per the report. The Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund should be able to pay 100% of benefits through 2099. However, combined trust fund reserves are projected to become depleted in 2034 and will not be able to pay 100% after that. The programs two other funds, the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund and the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund, could also be affected. Still,...

Data centers continue to use public water supplies without authorization, leaving residents in water-stressed communities to bear the consequences. During the first week of May, two separate data center developments were found using restricted public water sources in areas already struggling with limited water availability, Fortune reports. Residents were the first to notice the problem and alert regulators, reporting issues such as low water pressure in Fayette County, Georgia, and dust suppression efforts in Tucson, Arizona. Data Center Water Disputes Emerge in Georgia and Arizona In the Annelise Park subdivision in Fayette County, GA, residents began noticing declining water pressure last year, per Fortune. An investigation by county utilities uncovered two industrial-scale water connections serving Project Excalibur, a 615-acre data center campus owned by Blackstone and developed by Quality Technology Services (QTS). County officials notified QTS in May 2025 that one meter had...

Folorunsho Alakija built her fortune through bold decisions and strategic timing in Nigeria’s oil sector. She co-founded Famfa Oil Limited in 1991, stepping into an industry dominated by global giants and complex regulatory frameworks. Her entrepreneurial instincts led her to secure an oil prospecting license in 1993, positioning her company for exponential growth and long-term influence. But what is Folorunsho Alakija’s net worth ? By 2000, Alakija strengthened her foothold through a partnership with Texaco (now Chevron), transforming Famfa Oil into a major player. That deal unlocked access to deep-water exploration and global expertise. It also laid the groundwork for what would become one of Africa’s most compelling wealth stories, with Folorunsho Alakija’s net worth rising alongside Nigeria’s oil economy and global energy demand. How Did Folorunsho Alakija Become Wealthy? Folorunsho Alakija built her wealth through persistence, calculated risk and a clear understanding of...

GreaterHealth Pharmacy & Wellness is putting the community first. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, GreaterHealth Pharmacy & Wellness filled a need for more than 45,000 St. Louis, MO, residents who had been without a pharmacy. For founder Dr. Marcus Howard, the opening also marked a return home, as he left St. Louis to pursue a bachelor’s degree and Ph.D., while maintaining a drive to eliminate health care disparities. “I went to North Carolina to pursue my undergrad degree and my Ph.D., and I returned home to really take all the things that I learned out in the community in other places and bring them back home because I know St. Louis is a great place. It’s my home. I just wanted to bring something back and make a difference,” he said in an interview with Nine PBS. His pharmacy officially opened its doors in 2022 at 5503 Delmar Blvd., Suite B, St. Louis, Missouri 63112, and adopted business models similar to those of Walgreens and Amazon. It delivers medication, over-the-counter...