August 25th, 2022

BUSINESS • AMCK Models - AMCK Models was born in 2008 and since then, has established itself as one of the leading players in the fashion industry. AMCK has secured exclusives and campaigns for international labels such as Prada and Givenchy, and editorials in fashion bibles such as Vogue Hommes, GQ, I-D and AnOther Man. http://www.amckmodels.com/ • Two Three Active -Two Three Active is a London based activewear brand designed for the everyday girl who wants to feel comfortable & confident whilst achieving their health goals. Est. since 2018 the brand was created by sisters Stefanie & Naomie who are the second and third born of 4 girls. The sisters found a passion for living a healthier lifestyle when they had faced their own personal battles of Depression and Hypothyroidism. Whilst on their individual journeys they both found it hard to find quality gym leggings or sports bras at affordable prices and so the brand was born. Enter, Two Three Active. We’re building a collection of 100% Squat-proof, sculpting workout staples to support your body - and we’re not making any compromises on quality, craftsmanship, or design. We want your gym wear to be affordable and forgiving so you can focus on the end goal. Welcome to the world of comfortable gym clothing, made just for you. https://www.shoptwothree.co.uk/ • Just Pharmacy - We live in a world where many people suffer from various health conditions, whilst trying to carry on with the challenges of life. Just-pharmacy is an online pharmacy store powered by Popsons Healthcare Ltd, we are registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council. We are dedicated to helping you find your health in this world of disease and challenges. We bring you some of the biggest brands straight to your door, at affordable prices, so you don’t have to worry. Just-pharmacy believes in a patient-centric approach, we place you at the centre of everything we do. Our compassion is what fuels our team and helps keep us dedicated to bringing you a high-quality service. Our company is run by a team of expert pharmacists who have dedicated years to ensure you have a great experience whilst taking your medication https://just-pharmacy.co.uk/ EVENTS • Black Owned Hackney A Carnival Warm-up (26th and 27th August) - Black-Owned Hackney returns for the 2022 series in collaboration with Black Eats LDN! Catch us opposite Hackney Central station showcasing London’s best Black-owned street food, artisan traders. • Yellowman (Orange Tree Theatre, 8th to 10th September) - Alma and Gene have grown up together. She dreams of a life beyond the confines of their small town. But when their friendship develops into something more serious, Gene’s fate becomes tragically intertwined with hers and they can’t escape the legacy of racism and the tensions within their own community. Twenty years after it premiered and received a Pulitzer Prize nomination, Dael Orlandersmith’s Yellowman, set in the 1960s Deep South, is a moving and deeply pertinent play for now. “Beautifully written… this is what theatre is all about” New York Post “A beautiful coming-of-age tale... both heartwarming and ultimately heartbreaking” Varietyhttps://orangetreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/yellowman • London Community Gospel Choir (Hackney Empire, 3rd September) - An evening of music celebrating 40 years of the London Community Gospel Choir plus special guests. The event will see this ‘National Treasure’ of a choir light up the stage in their known fashion with powerful vocals, exciting musical arrangements and a high-energy performance, showcasing their most popular songs and new collaborations like we’ve never seen or heard them before. LCGC will share the stage with guests. Get ready to feel uplifted and inspired! https://hackneyempire.co.uk/whats-on/lcgc-make-this-a-night-to-remember/?action=book Ave, London WC2N 5BY BOOKS • The Catch Me If You Can: One Woman's Journey to Every Country in the World -In this inspiring travelogue, celebrated traveler and photographer Jessica Nabongo—the first Black woman on record to visit all 195 countries in the world—shares her journey around the globe with fascinating stories of adventure, culture, travel musts, and human connections. It was a daunting task. But Jessica Nabongo, the beloved voice behind the popular website The Catch Me if You Can, made it happen, completing her journey to all 195 UN-recognized countries in the world in October 2019. Now, in this one-of-a-kind memoir, she reveals her top 100 destinations from her global adventure. 4.80 out of 5 Amazon 4.17 out of 5 Goodreads

• The Scent of Burnt Flowers - Fleeing persecution in 1960s America, a Black couple seeks asylum in Ghana, but fresh dangers and old secrets threaten their newfound freedom in this hypnotic debut novel. "I am truly blown away by this novel."--Jacqueline Woodson, New York Times bestselling author of Red at the Bone When the windshield of his Chevy Impala shatters in a dark diner parking lot in Alabama, Melvin moves without thinking. A split-second reaction marrows in his bones from the days of war, but this time it is the safety of his fiancé, Bernadette, at stake. Impulse keeps them alive, and yet they flee with blood on their hands. What is life like now that they are fugitives? Pack passports. Empty bank accounts. Set their old life on fire. The couple disguise themselves as a pastor and a reluctant pastor's wife who's hiding a secret from her fiancé. With a persistent FBI agent on their trail, they travel to Ghana to seek the help of Melvin's old college friend who happens to be the country's embattled president, Kwame Nkrumah. 3.9 out of 5 Amazon 3.6 out of 5 Goodreads

PODCASTS • The Circle - Hosted by award-winning duo Executive Producer/Screenwriter Leon Mayne, and journalist/media chronicler Akua Gyamfi, The Circle features the two friends waxing lyrical with the hottest Black British talent across Television and Film - discussing weekly topics, their career journeys, the creative process, and what the future of TV, Film, and Digital holds. Informal, fun, and conversational, the 60-90 minute episodes are a way to keep edutained, and get otherwise open and new perspectives from ... https://player.fm/series/series-2852937 •The Day After TNB- THE DAY AFTER (TDA) is ’the home of popular culture’. The first of its kind; TDA is a UK based daily show emerging from within Black British culture dedicated to bringing you original, fresh & up-to-date content. Unfiltered, undiluted and with no holds barred! Dropping every weekday from 7pm, tune in to stay up to date with current news, trending topics and experience the very best interviews with your favourite artists, entertainers, educators, celebrities and influencers. Prepare to be entertained by a fearless, engaging & cohesive lineup of hosts; Margs, Qoy, Esther and Yusuff, who promise to deliver the most creative & freshest take yet on The Culture’s news and entertainment. For those of you who are visual and want that immersive experience, head on over to our Patreon (patreon.com/thedayafterTNB) as we are building an interactive community there, with exclusive access to the hosts and opportunities to grow your social media presence amongst our global audience. You will have a front-row seat whilst THE NEW BLXCK renaissance is documented DAIL https://player.fm/series/the-day-after-tnb RADIO • Desert Island Discs (John Legend) - The American singer and songwriter John Legend has won two Emmys, 12 Grammys, an Oscar and a Tony award – making him one of only 16 living artists to have won all four honours. One of his songs, All of Me, written for his wife, the model Chrissy Teigen, has been streamed more than four billion times on digital platforms. He was born John Stephens in Springfield, Ohio into a musical family. His father played drums in church, where his mother conducted the choir. John took piano lessons from an early age and soon became involved in arranging music for the church. He attended university at the age of 16 and after graduating worked as a management consultant for four years, while pursuing his interest in music out of office hours. He signed his first record deal after working with Kanye West early in his career, and took on the stage name John Legend, releasing his first solo album in 2004. Alongside his musical career, he has acted on TV and film, including a role in the highly successful La La Land. He has performed at three Presidential inauguration ceremonies – for President Obama in 2009 and 2013, and for President Biden in 2021. John lives in the USA with his wife and their two children. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0019yvx

FILM/TV •Jazzman Blues (Netflix) - Today, Netflix released the trailer for the upcoming film, A Jazzman’s Blues. Written, directed and produced by Tyler Perry, A Jazzman’s Blues tells the story of the forbidden love between Bayou (Joshua Boone) and Leanne (Solea Pfeiffer), and will uncover four decades of secrets and lies set to the backdrop of traditional blues in the deep South. The trailer and film features “Paper Airplanes” from singer-songwriter Ruth B., songs arranged and produced by multi-Grammy winner & two-time Academy Award nominee Terence Blanchard, music by Aaron Zigman and choreography by Debbie Allen.A Jazzman’s Blues will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, September 11, and debuts on Netflix September 23. • Afrobeats the Backstory (Netflix) - In Netflix’s new acquisition, Afrobeats: the Backstory — directed by filmmaker, manager, and lawyer Ayo Shonaiya — the legacy of the booming music industry on the African continent gets a lengthy and industrious reframing through the lens of its pioneers and change agents, who contextualize the recent explosion of Afrobeats as less of a phenomenon and marketing push and more of a decades-long labor of love. The series curates an extensive archive of legends past and present, as well as the harbingers of Afrobeats’ evolution to chart out the intercontinental journey of West African popular music from the turn of the century to present-day. This provides time to clarify commonly held misconceptions and introduce nuanced sonic relationships that have been established, both consciously and subconsciously, throughout the diaspora as West Africa has risen to the forefront of the global market. •The Black Hamptons (BET Youtube) - In Carl Weber’s The Black Hamptons, we follow a bubbling feud between two affluent Black families, the Brittons and the Johnsons, where the difference of old money v. new money is only the tip of the iceberg. From the “glitz and gloss” of the Black elite to the “underbelly of wealth and prestige,” the new series shows the many layers of this 1%. Series premiere July 1st. Starring: Lamman Rucker WHAT AM I PAYING ATTENTION TO? • UK Black Business Show -Through exhibits, deep-dive workshops, interactive panels, and seminars, delivered by industry pioneers, this event will enable personal, professional and corporate development. To celebrate UK Black History Month, The UK Black Business Show will be taking place in October. The show will highlight the achievements and contributions Black businesses have made to the economy. Attendees will gain cutting-edge insight and advice in entrepreneurship, leadership, soft skills and cultural development from some of the UK’s leading Black business owners. https://www.ukblackbusinessshow.co.uk/ •Oliver & Alexander Kent-Braham, - Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Marshmallow -Oliver and Alexander Kent-Braham are the co-founders of the UK-based insurtech business Marshmallow. The identical twins founded the business in 2017, and since then, Marshmallow has grown to become the second Black-owned company in the UK to reach “unicorn” status (the first was WorldRemit, co-founded by fellow honoree, Ismail Ahmed). The VC space is especially challenging for Black founders in the UK, with just 0.2% of venture capital funding going to Black entrepreneurs during the period 2009 – 2019. Oliver and Alexander are not only revolutionising the insurance industry, they are also using their success to highlight and address the ongoing lack of diversity in the broader tech industry. At their own firm, Marshmallow is committed to making a more equitable world: 20% of the company’s workforce are from BAME backgrounds and 50% are female. WHAT I AM PERSONALLY RECOMMENDING? 1. Chuku's Nigerian Tapas -Laid-back restaurant offering traditional Nigerian tapas, including meatballs & chicken wings. 4.7/5 Google reviews https://www.chukuslondon.co.uk/ 2. Queen and Slim - Queen and Slim go out for a date. However, their romantic adventure takes an unexpected turn when a police officer catches them for rash driving.

Have a great weekend!