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Miami Art Week, the international art fair held annually, returns to Miami Beach, FL, from Dec. 1-7, 2025. This year continues to highlight the importance of Black art , thanks in large part to efforts spearheaded by architect Neil Hall. At Art Basel in 2008, Hall noticed a lack of representation for Black art galleries and artists, according to the Miami Herald. “It astounded me because the diaspora has so much creativity all over the world, and I didn’t see it,” Hall said, per the Miami Herald. “I decided that it was not acceptable.” A few years later, Hall and several friends hosted a Black-centered art fair in an empty parking lot in the historically Black Overtown neighborhood, known as the Harlem of the South. That event would become Art Africa Miami, reports the Miami Herald. While Hall no longer presents Art Africa in Overtown, his efforts to elevate the Black art scene during Miami Art Week have inspired others to carry on the mission. Across Miami, Black curators continue...
Miami Art Week returns to Miami Beach, FL, from Dec. 1-7, 2025, with Art Basel once again anchoring the citywide celebration and bringing culture, community, and creativity together. Art Basel is a highly anticipated event that unites art lovers, collectors, curators, and artists from around the world, AFROTECH™ previously reported. While the Miami installation is considered the premier art show of the Americas, the international fair also takes place annually in Basel, Switzerland; Hong Kong, China; and Paris, France . This year’s edition of Art Basel Miami runs Dec. 5-7, with preview days Dec. 3-4 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The 2025 fair will feature 283 leading galleries from 43 countries and territories across the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, according to a press release. Building on its vibrant cultural landscape, the show will further energize Greater Miami with a week of museum-quality exhibitions and collaborations from leading names in the...
Issa Rae has built a multifaceted career as an actor, producer, director, and entrepreneur. With a net worth that Celebrity Net Worth estimates to be around $20 million, Rae first gained a devoted following through her 2011 YouTube series “The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl,” and later cemented her cultural impact with the Emmy-award-winning HBO series “Insecure.” Despite her achievements, Rae admits she doesn’t feel successful — at least not right now. Appearing on the first episode of KevOnStage’s “Not My Best Moment” podcast on Nov. 11, 2025, Rae shared that she currently feels stagnant in her career. “I know that I appear successful to other people, but right now, no, I feel really stagnant… because I only feel successful when my sh-t is on the air. I don’t have sh-t on the air right now,” Rae said, acknowledging that creating shows is her first love. “Like I can have the 18 businesses that you said, and those are like great passion projects, but like what I do and what...
At 21 years old, Brooklyn Frost brings her creativity to her streams, social media, and music, engaging millions of fans across Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube with her voice, energy, and perspective. Streaming Success Brooklyn Frost has built an audience that spans 1.3 million Instagram followers, 2.2 million TikTok followers, over 600,000 Twitch followers, and more than 1 million YouTube subscribers. Per Essence Girls United, watching her brother create content first, she said she was drawn to the energy, creativity, and connection that streaming offered. Stepping in front of the camera herself, she realized she could tell her own story. “Streaming gave me a space to be myself in real time, to laugh, to talk, and to build a genuine community that grew with me,” Frost told AFROTECH™. Her first Twitch subathon in December 2024 was a milestone, earning her 10,000 new subscribers and averaging 13,000 views per stream, according to Complex. Frost celebrated the achievement with...
Food critic Keith Lee has launched an initiative to ensure people on SNAP benefits can remain fed. During what is now the longest U.S. government shutdown, individuals and families are not receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits as of Nov. 5, meaning some families may not have the means to buy groceries amid the holiday season. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of Providence, RI, has ordered the Trump administration to use a contingency fund for those who rely on SNAP benefits. The Hill reports the administration has agreed, but payments will still be delayed and are projected to be half the amount of what recipients typically receive. Community support is needed more than ever, and Lee is using his platform, which includes 17.3 million TikTok followers alone (at the time of this writing), to launch a relief initiative for those impacted by changes in SNAP benefits. Lee revealed that when he got his start on TikTok, he was...
AFROTECH™ Conference 2025 closed out with a bang. The annual celebration of Black technological innovation once again delivered an unforgettable experience. This year’s conference offered an unmatched range of learning opportunities across sectors, including marketing, advertising, engineering, product, and design. And with the debut of the Blavity Creators Summit presented in partnership with Dream Con, esports and streaming officially entered the mix to cap off the week. “I heard a lot about AFROTECH™ just from co-workers, friends… I came for the full experience, and it definitely fit the bill in terms of the programming,” shared Kamsiyochi Nwaiwu, a Nigerian cybersecurity engineer at Visa who flew from Virginia to attend the conference for the first time. Programming on Friday, Oct. 31, included a “GirlTREK x Blavity Health Morning Walk” at sunrise with GirlTREK co-founder Vanessa Renae, before doors opened at 8 a.m. Sessions started with helpful insights for creators to leverage...
Qatar Airways is breaking new ground in the world of art and culture. The airline has teamed up with Grammy Award-winning producer and entrepreneur Swizz Beatz to launch the Qatar Airways Creative 100, a global initiative celebrating 100 of the world’s most influential creatives, according to a press release. The partnership was unveiled during Art Basel Paris 2025, where Qatar Airways serves as a Premium Partner across all five of the art fair’s international exhibitions. The Creative 100 is the first platform of its kind for an airline, designed to highlight visionaries shaping global culture across music, fashion, technology, design, sports, and more. The initiative will debut with a flagship event at Art Basel Qatar in February 2026, showcasing the work of creatives whose ideas cross borders and influence multiple industries. The first inductees include Grammy-winning South African DJ Black Coffee, Olympic fencing champion Miles Chamley-Watson, and Kristian Teär, CEO of luxury...
Toni Bravo grew up playing with makeup and is now finding success as a beauty creator. The Long Beach, CA, native’s foray into the industry was not an overnight switch. She attended the University of California, Irvine, to pursue film and media studies and at the time she did not have a big interest in beauty, she told AFROTECH™. However, she did begin ramping up content and sharing it online during her sophomore year, which she attributes to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. She moved home from college in spring 2020, per Buffer. Her family has played a major role in her interests as well, from her dabbling in her mother’s makeup with her fraternal twin sister to roller skating. In 2020, she started sharing videos of her roller skating on TikTok. “As I became an adult and got into roller skating and documenting it for the internet, that was fully my thing,” Bravo recalled. @bonitravo Replying to @Mel Oliva yes i am a sagittarius who has lived a million lives!!❤️ #rollerskating ♬...
Twenty-four-year-old Quenlin “Quen” Blackwell has never lived a life without the internet. She’s A Content Creator The Dallas, TX, native was raised in a predominantly white suburban neighborhood and began posting on Facebook when she was eight years old, she reflected during an interview with Complex. Her personality can be described as witty and spontaneous. In 2015, she went viral at age 14 due to her content on the short-form platform Vine — which shuttered in January 2017 — under the nickname “Quensadilla.” She has entertained and maintained audiences while transitioning to other platforms such as Instagram, X, TikTok, and YouTube, where she has collectively garnered more than 19 million followers, Cosmopolitan reports. Authenticity remains her superpower. @quenblackwell IM FEELING THE SPIRIT TODAY ♬ Praise Break – Claflin University Gospel Choir “I know that I’m very authentic to myself. I know that I am a true person when I look at myself in the mirror … My parents raised me...
Dr. Bernice A. King is raising concerns about the use of AI videos. Sam Altman’s OpenAI launched Sora 2 on Sept. 30. According to a description in a press release, it is an AI-powered video generation model that promises to be “accurate, realistic, and more controllable than prior systems.” It claims to offer clear improvements in background soundscapes, speech, and sound effects. Furthermore, users can place “elements of the real world into Sora 2.” “For example, by observing a video of one of our teammates, the model can insert them into any Sora-generated environment with an accurate portrayal of appearance and voice. This capability is very general, and works for any human, animal or object,” a description of Sora 2 reads. Already, the platform has been used to create content featuring copyrighted characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants, South Park, Pokémon, and Rick and Morty, according to The Guardian. Users have also used it on real historical figures such as Malcolm X and...
Olandria Carthen said she is finally experiencing financial freedom. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, the Decatur, AL, native previously worked as an associate sales specialist at Otis Elevator until July 2025. She is now living out her dreams, including modeling down a runway, and is booked and busy with a slew of brand deals as a result of her time on “Love Island USA” Season 7. As keynote speaker during the Her Conference “Butterfly Tour” stop at Texas A&M University, Carthen credits her friends for running her social media and creating a professional email on her behalf while she was in the villa. With brands reaching out during the show, she was able to come back to thousands of requests for partnerships. Friends Set Her Up For Success “My friends even made a professional email for me for brands to contact me while I was in the villa. They were emailing them back… Handling all of that,” Carthen said during the Her Conference event. “I came back to an inbox with over thousands...
The creator economy is growing stronger, so now is the time to position yourself for success. Creator Summit Goldman Sachs’ 2023 Creator Economy report projects the sector will reach $480 billion by 2027, nearly double its current size. To ensure Black digital entrepreneurs and creators are positioned to benefit, AFROTECH™ Conference 2025 attendees may want to keep their itinerary open for the Blavity Creator Summit in partnership with Dream Con, which will be hosted by Slug Global Founder Brittany Bosco. Dream Con brings together those interested in arenas including gaming and anime and was created by the members of RDCWorld (Real Dreamers Change the World), aligning with the AFROTECH™ Conference, which targets various sectors and caters to tech innovators, entrepreneurs, and professionals. View this post on Instagram A post shared by AFROTECH (@afro.tech) “The foundation of Dream Con was built off of creators. That’s the No. 1 part on why it even started or to get things,” John...
Amaya Espinal is collaborating with a billion-dollar soda brand. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Espinal rose to fame after her appearance on Season 7 of Peacock’s “Love Island USA,” where she ultimately won. The New York native is also a cardiac nurse who earned a degree from a two-year program in 2021. In a TikTok video, she sits in the same car her mother purchased for her 21st birthday, and she admits that life looked very different just a year ago. She’s right, since now she has more than 7 million followers across TikTok and Instagram alone after appearing on the show. She also gained a slew of brand deals, which include Hourglass Cosmetics, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Fenty Beauty , Garnier USA, and her latest Poppi. Pepsi acquired this prebiotic soda brand founded by Allison Ellsworth for $1.95 billion earlier this year. At the Clover x Shark Tank Summit, held in September at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Ellsworth explained that the brand follows an 80/20 rule: allocating most...
Johnathan Newton had a dream, leading to a conference that is now attracting thousands of creators. Newton is a member of RDCWorld “Real Dreamers Change the World,” a Texas-based group of online personalities founded by longtime friends Mark Phillips and Affiong Harris. The group produces skits, vlogs, and short films. A YouTube video confirms that the group’s first viral video was titled “Anime People Take Anime Too Far.” Fast-forward to today, and the group has built a platform that has reached more than 12 million subscribers and followers collectively. Newton has been instrumental in helping creators expand into new territory with Dream Con, a conference that draws people from gaming, anime, sports, film, music, and pop culture, its website mentions. On the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast hosted by AFROTECH™ Brand Manager Will Lucas, Newton stated that he had emailed the group about an opportunity to appear in a news segment about Black creators, which his sister with PR...
Kai Cenat, Druski, and Kevin Hart are proving to be a dynamic trio with a lot in store for fans. Mafiathon 3 Cenat is a popular Twitch streamer with $8.5 million in earnings, named to Forbes’ top creators list in 2025. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, he is in the midst of Mafiathon 3, his third 24/7 stream running for a month. He made history after 27 days by breaking the Twitch subscription record, surpassing 1 million active subscribers. “I could have stopped, but something told me to keep going. If I didn’t have Jesus in my life, none of this would be possible,” Cenat said during Mafiathon 3. In the midst of the subathon, Cenat released a trailer promoting another sleepover with comedians Hart and Druski. Cenat is known for releasing cinematic trailers, which is not a coincidence. “I want to have my own production company and I want to direct and act in my own films,” Cenat said during Mafiathon 3 in conversation with singer, actress, and entrepreneur Teyana Taylor, who made a...