Martha Stewart...American Businesswoman,Writer,Television Personality,Former Fashion Model

Martha Stewart was born Martha Helen Kostyra on August 3, 1941, in Jersey City, New Jersey. Stewart rose to prominence as the author of books on cooking, entertaining and decorating. She then expanded her brand to include a magazine and television program, serving as CEO of Martha Stewart Omnimedia. Stewart resigned her post in 2002, following charges of insider trading of which she was subsequently convicted

Lifestyle guru and businesswoman Martha Stewart was born Martha Kostyra, on August 3, 1941, in New Jersey. The second of six children, Stewart grew up in Nutley, New Jersey, a working-class community near New York City. She worked as a model from the age of 13, appearing in fashion shows as well as television and print advertisements.

Stewart attended Barnard College in Manhattan, where she earned a degree in European and architectural history in 1962. While at Barnard, she met Andy Stewart, a Yale law student, and the two married in 1961. Six years later, after the birth of their daughter, Alexis, Stewart went to work as a stockbroker for the boutique firm of Monness, Williams, and Sidel. She worked on Wall Street until 1972, when the family moved to Westport, Connecticut.

After the Stewarts restored the 19th century farmhouse they had bought, Martha decided to focus her energy on gourmet cooking, having trained herself by reading Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She started a catering business in the late 1970s, and soon became known for her gourmet menus and unique, creative presentation. Within a decade, Martha Stewart, Inc., had grown into a $1 million business serving a number of corporate and celebrity clients.

Stewart expanded into the world of publishing with her first book, Entertaining, which became a bestseller and was followed in quick succession by such publications as Martha Stewart's Quick Cook Menus, Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres, Martha Stewart's Christmas and Martha Stewart's Wedding Planner. Her newfound fame took its toll on her personal life, as her marriage to Andy Stewart ended in divorce in 1990, after a bitter three-year separation.

In 1991, Martha Stewart, Inc., became Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc., with the release of her magazine, Martha Stewart Living. Stewart's lifestyle empire soon grew to include two magazines, a checkout-size recipe publication, a popular cable television show, a syndicated newspaper column, a series of how-to books, a radio show, an Internet site and $763 million in annual retail sales.
On October 19, 1999, America's most famous homemaker returned to Wall Street to see her company through its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. At the end of the day, the price of each of 72 million shares in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. had jumped more than 95 percent and raised almost $130 million. Stewart herself controls 96 percent of the voting shares in her company and is worth $1.2 billion.

In June 2002, Stewart again made financial headlines, this time for rumors of insider trading. Stewart was under investigation for selling hundreds of shares of ImClone Systems just prior to the Food and Drug Administration's refusal to approve the company's new cancer drug. The value of the stock dropped markedly after the FDA's announcement. Due to the investigation, Stewart resigned from the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange in October, just four months after she had joined.
In June 2003, a 41-page indictment charged Stewart with securities fraud, obstruction of justice,conspiracy and making false statements to prosecutors and the FBI. She pleaded innocent to all charges and stepped down as chair and CEO of her Omnimedia empire. In February 2004, a judge dismissed the securities fraud charge, but a jury found her guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements. Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison and fined $30,000 that July. She served the first part of her sentence at a minimum-security prison in Alderson, West Virginia, in October 2004.

Stewart was released from prison on March 4, 2005, just after NBC announced she would host two new shows: a daytime talk and how-to show and a spin-off of the reality show The Apprentice produced by Mark Burnett and Donald Trump. Stewart finished her sentence by serving five months of house arrest at her home in Bedford, New York.

While Martha Stewart's version of The Apprentice failed to attract enough viewers, her self-titled syndicated daytime program has been on the air since 2005. The company she established, Martha Stewart Omnimedia, continued to grow in new directions. The business added several non-Martha Stewart publications, including Everyday Food and Body + Soul.

Stewart's syndicated show moved to the Hallmark Channel in 2010, but it failed to develop enough of an audience to sustain the expensive-to-produce program. Hallmark canceled the show in 2012 because of low ratings. That fall, Stewart launched a new series on PBS called Martha Stewart's Cooking School.
In 2013, Stewart found herself inside a courtroom once again. Her company was engaged in a lawsuit with the department store chain Macy's over a contract dispute. Macy's sued Stewart and its retail rival J.C. Penney over Stewart's plan to open Martha Stewart brand boutiques inside Penney's stores.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Stewart

http://www.biography.com/people/martha-stewart-9542234

Serena Williams...Author,Fashionista,American Professional Tennis Player,Holder of 29 Grand Slam Titles,Olympic Gold Medal Winner

Serena Jameka Williams was born on September 26, 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan. illiams began playing tennis at an early age, enduring daily two-hour practices with her father at age three. In 1995, Serena turned pro, and, along with her sister Venus, enjoyed a run of high-profile victories. In 2009, Serena was fined and placed on probation for allegedly threatening a lineswoman, but she quickly moved past the incident. After a series of health scares in 2011, Williams beat Agnieszka Radwanska at Wimbledon 2012, claiming her fifth Wimbledon singles title. At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, she won two gold medals, in women's doubles and women's singles—her first singles gold medal. In June 2013, Williams won her second French Open title against defending champion Maria Sharapova. She picked up another U.S. Open title that September.

The youngest of Richard and Oracene Williams's five daughters, Serena Williams, along with her sister Venus, would eventually dominate the sport at various times throughout her career, capturing 15 Grand Slam singles and 13 Grand Slam doubles titles.

Serena's father—a former sharecropper from Louisiana determined to see his two youngest girls succeed—used what he'd gleaned from tennis books and videos to instruct Serena and Venus on how to play the game. At the age of 3, practicing on a court not far from the family's new Compton, California, home, Serena withstood the rigors of daily two-hour practices from her father.

The fact that the family had relocated to Compton was no accident. With its high rate of gang activity, Richard Williams wanted to expose his daughters to the ugly possibilities of life "if they did not work hard and get an education." In this setting, on courts that were riddled with potholes and sometimes missing nets, Serena and Venus cut their teeth on the game of tennis and the requirements for persevering in a tough climate.

By 1991, Serena was 46-3 on the junior United States Tennis Association tour, and ranked first in the 10-and-under division. Sensing his girls needed better instruction to become successful professionals, he moved his family again—this time to Florida. There, Richard let go of some of his coaching responsibilities, but not the management of Serena's and Venus's career. Wary of his daughters burning out too quickly, he scaled back their junior tournament schedule.

In 1995, Serena turned pro. Two years later, she was already No. 99 in the world rankings—up from 304 just 12 months before. A year later, she graduated high school, and almost immediately inked a $12 million shoe deal with Puma. In 1999, she beat out her sister in their race to the family's first Grand Slam win, when she captured the U.S. Open title.

It set the stage for a run of high-powered, high profile victories for both Williams sisters. Over the next decade, Serena alone would win 23 Grand Slam titles—including 10 doubles championships with her sister, Venus Williams.

With their signature style and play, Venus and Serena changed the look of their sport as well. Their sheer power and athletic ability overwhelmed opponents, and their sense of style and presence made them stand-out celebrities on the court.

Proving to have much more than just tennis clout, Serena expanded her brand into film, television, and fashion. She developed her own "Aneres" line of clothing, and in 2002 People magazine selected her as one of its 25 Most Intriguing People. Essencemagazine later called her one of the country's 50 Most Inspiring African-Americans. She's also made television appearances, and lent her voice to shows such as The Simpsons.

In 2002, she won the French Open, the U.S. Open, and Wimbledon, defeating Venus in the finals of each tournament. She captured her first Australian Open in 2003, making her one of only five women players to have complete grand slam sets. The win also fulfilled her desire to finish off what she'd dubbed "The Serena Slam." In 2008, she won the U.S. Open and teamed with Venus to capture a second women's doubles Olympic gold medal at the Beijing Games.

But Serena has had her scrapes and losses. In 2003, her sister Yetunde Price was murdered in Los Angeles, California. Three years later, Serena seemed burned out. Bitten by injuries, and just a general lack of motivation to stay fit or compete at the same level she once had, Serena saw her tennis ranking slump to 139.

Serena credits her faith as a Jehovah's Witness, as well as a life-changing journey she made to West Africa for renewing her pride and competitive fire. By 2009, Williams had released a new autobiography, Queen of the Court, and won her place back atop the world's rankings, winning both the 2009 Australian Open singles (for the fourth time) and Wimbledon 2009 singles (for the third time). She also won the doubles matches at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon that year.

But not everything went smoothly. Williams made headlines in September of that year, when she blasted a lineswomen for a foot-fault called near the end of a semi-final loss to eventual champion Kim Clijsters at the U.S. Open. The profanity-laced outburst included finger pointing and, according to the lineswoman, an alleged threat from Serena against her life.

Williams downplayed what happened, refuting the allegation that she'd threatened the woman. But the incident did not go over well with the tennis viewing public, nor the U.S. Tennis Association, which fined her $10,000 on the spot. Two months later, she was placed on two-year probation and ordered to pay another $82,500 to the Grand Slam committee for the episode&mdashthe largest punishment ever levied against a tennis player.

By early 2010, however, Serena was doing her best to move past the incident, gearing up for the upcoming Australian Open. Sure enough, in 2010, she won the Australian Open singles and doubles matches, as well as her fourth Wimbledon singles championship.

In 2011, Williams suffered a series of health scares, after doctors found a blood clot in one of her lungs, which kept her away from tennis for several months. Following several procedures, including one to remove a hematoma, speculation rose as to whether Williams would retire from the sport. Her health had improved by September 2011, however, and Williams competed at the U.S. Open, beating Victoria Azarenka to place second overall in the singles tournament.

Several months later, Williams beat Victoria Azarenka again in the Wimbledon 2012 semfinals, 

and went on to defeat 23-year-old Agnieszka Radwanska in an emotional three sets at Wimbledon 2012, claiming her fifth Wimbledon singles title. Following the win, Williams rushed to her family in the stands, with tears in her eyes, and hugged them for several seconds. In a post-Wimbledon interview with ESPN, she was asked whether she thought she could top the win, and answered: "Are you kidding? The [2012] U.S. Open, the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon 2013."

Williams continued her winning streak to her next Grand Slam event. In September 2012, she beat out rival Victoria Azarenka to take the singles title at the U.S. Open. According to USA Today, Williams wasn't sure that she'd emerge victorious. "I honestly can't believe I won. I was really reparing my runner-up speech, because I thought, 'Man, she's playing so great.'"

By this time, Williams had captured 15 Grand Slam singles titles—surpassing tennis star Pete Sampras's record of 14 titles—as well as 13 Grand Slam doubles titles. "I would like to leave a mark," Williams once said about her standing in the tennis world. "I think obviously I will, due to the fact that I'm doing something different in tennis. But I don't think I could ever reach something like a Martina Navratilova—I don't think I'd ever play that long—but who knows? I think I'll leave a mark regardless."

In August 2012, at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Williams defeated Maria Sharapova to take her first gold medal in women's singles. The next day, she and sister Venus won gold in women's doubles, against Czech Republic tennis stars Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka. Williams is now a four-time Olympic gold medalist.

In June 2013, Williams took her second French Open title—as well as her 16th Grand Slam singles title—in a 6-4, 6-4 victory over defending champion Sharapova. "I'm still a little bit upset about that loss last year," Williams said in an interview with ESPN following the match. "But it's all about, for me, how you recover. I think I've always said a champion isn't about how much they win, but it's about how they recover from their downs, whether it's an injury or whether it's a loss."

Nearly one month later, Williams competed at Wimbledon, where she suffered a shocking loss (6-2, 1-6, 6-4) in the fourth round against German player Sabine Lisicki on July 1, 2013. The upset marked the end of a 34-match winning streak by Williams, a five-time champion. Of the defeat, Williams told Sports Illustrated, "I don't think it's a huge shock. [Lisicki] is a great player. Her ranking has no effect on what she should be. She should be ranked higher. 

She just has a super, super game to play well on grass."

At the U.S. Open, Williams made a strong showing. She knocked out her younger rival Sloane Stephens in the fourth round to advance to the quarterfinals. Williams had lost to Stephens earlier in the year at the Australian Open. Continuing her winning streak,she defeated Victoria Azarenka to clinch the U.S. Open title. It was the second year in a row that the pair had faced off in the finals.

http://serenawilliams.com/about/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/157634.Serena_Williams?from_search=true

http://www.biography.com/people/serena-williams-9532901

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serena_Williams

Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner...Author,Considered the Fastest Woman of All Time,Sports Magazine Editor and Contributor

Florence Griffith Joyner 1959-1998 was not alone among athletes in burning herself into public memory. But she was alone in her sport. In 1988 she burst into the spotlight, having transformed herself from the workaday sprinter who had won silver in the 200 meters at the boycott-thinned 1984 Olympics into the fastest woman in history. She ran the 100 in 10.49 seconds in '88, a world record that wasn't even approached for a decade. The sister-in-law of Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Flo-Jo won three gold medals at the '88 Games and set a world record of 21.34 in the 200. A decade later, long retired but still a vital personality, she died of a heart seizure. It wasn't simply speed that formed Flo-Jo's legend, but also style. She wore one-legged unitards and lace attachments when other women wore shorts, melding athleticism and glamour like no one else. Sprint coach John Smith recalls watching her run in '88: "That year she had the outfits and the nails and the name, and she was in the best shape of her life. Suddenly, she had everything figured out. It was beautiful to watch.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/siforwomen/top_100/11/

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Griffith_Joyner#cite_note-2

http://www.florencegriffithjoyner.com/

Jackie Joyner-Kersee...Philanthropist,Author,Retired American Athlete, Ranked Among the All-Time Greatest Athletes in the Women's Heptathlon as Well as in the Women's Long Jump

Jacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kersee was born on March 3, 1962 in East St. Louis, Illinois, and was named after Jackie Kennedy. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those two events at four different Olympic Games. Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th century, just ahead of Babe Didrikson Zaharias.  Joyner-Kersee's childhood was set in the dark ages of women's sport, when athletic girls spent their time racing boys and playing on their teams. The second oldest of Mary and Alfred Joyner's four children, raised in the south-end slums of East St. Louis, Ill., she was first a dancer, then a cheerleader. When she discovered track and field at age nine, she and her friends would carry sand in potato-chip bags they found in a nearby playground and spread it in front of the Joyners' porch, creating a makeshift long jump pit. There were none of the elite travel teams that nurture the athletic careers of talented girls in the '90s. There was, instead, a man named Nino Fennoy, who coached a junior track team called the East St. Louis Railers and who gave Joyner-Kersee the means to learn about herself. (It is telling of Joyner-Kersee's generation that one of the most important moments in her life came at the age of 14, when she beat her older brother, Al, in a race. "He still says he won," says Jackie, "but he didn't.")

Joyner-Kersee was one of the first children of Title IX. She was 10 years old when the groundbreaking legislation was passed in 1972, mandating equal access to sports for men and women across the country. A brilliant athlete, she also became a surrogate parent to the later offspring of Title IX, her career beginning in one era of women's sport and ending in another. "When I was little, a lot of women's sports heroes were gymnasts and figure skaters, and I just could not relate to those sports," says Julie Foudy, Hamm's U.S. soccer teammate and, like Hamm, a teenager during Joyner-Kersee's finest days. "Jackie I could relate to."

In 2007,Joyner-Kersee helped establish Athletes for Hope along with such sports heroes as Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali and Mia Hamm. This organization supports and encourages athletes "to make a difference in the world," according to its website.She Co-wrote her autobiography with Sonja Steptoe,A Kind of Grace: The Autobiography of the World's Greatest Female Athlete,in 1997. Joyner-Kersee joined the board of the USA Track & Field organization in 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Joyner-Kersee

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/siforwomen/top_100/1/

http://www.biography.com/people/jackie-joyner-kersee-9358710?page=2

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/235044.A_Kind_of_Grace

http://www.athletesforhope.org/

Peggy Gail Fleming...American Figure Skater,1968 Olympic Champion in Ladies' Singles,Three-Time World Champion,Breast Cancer Survivor,Painter,Visual Artist,Winemaker,Author

Peggy Fleming's gold-medal-winning free-skate program at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, lasted just four minutes, but that was enough time, it turned out, to change everything. By bringing her new and captivating combination of athleticism and artistic expression to an international TV audience -- Grenoble was the first Winter Games to be televised live and in color -- the 19-year-old achieved a remarkable trifecta: She returned glory to a U.S. team that had been wiped out by a 1961 plane crash, turned a once staid sport into the Games' glamour event and set figure skating on a course of growing popularity in the U.S. that now rivals the NFL's.

Most important, perhaps, Fleming established a new standard for artistic elegance on the ice. Delicate and subtle yet unmistakably athletic -- she had played baseball and surfed in her youth -- Fleming flowed seamlessly through her elements, making even the most demanding maneuvers look easy.

In 1998, Peggy celebrated another victory: surviving Breast Cancer. Peggy’s cancer was detected early and she underwent surgery and radiation. She is a grateful survivor who became a spokesperson for Breast Cancer Awareness. After her recovery, she retired from the spotlight and ventured into winemaking, launching Fleming Jenkins Wines with her husband, Dr. Greg Jenkins. Together they ran a tasting room in their hometown of Los Gatos, California. Both retired from winemaking in 2011 to enjoy their own schedule and make time for painting, friends and family.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/siforwomen/top_100/19/

http://peggyfleming.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Fleming

Wilma Glodean Rudolph...American Athlete,Author,Activist,Humanitarian,Olympic Champion

Long before becoming the world's fastest female, Wilma Rudolph 1940-1994 beat her greatest odds by learning to walk on her own. As a child, Rudolph (the 17th of 21 children) was afflicted with polio, scarlet fever and double pneumonia and grew up wearing a brace on her right leg. To her doctor's shock, she removed the brace and walked unassisted at age nine. By 13 she was outracing neighborhood kids. By 16 she had qualified for the 1956 Olympics (she won bronze in the 4x100-meter relay). In Rome four years later she became a beloved figure when she won the 100 and 200 meters and in the 4x100. She never shied from a cause. She participated in sit-ins at whites-only restaurants, ran a community center and established the Wilma Rudolph Foundation, which sends schools tutors and books about American heroes, a category that surely includes Rudolph.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/siforwomen/top_100/8/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilma_Rudolph

Sheryl Denise Swoopes...Retired American Professional Basketball Player,Head Coach of the Women's Basketball Team of Loyola University Chicago,First Player to be Signed in the WNBA When it was Created

Sheryl Swoopes may best be remembered as the woman who once played one-on-one against Michael Jordan. But her basketball legacy will run far deeper than that. Swoopes, a forward, began hooping it up at age seven with her two older brothers, James and Earl. In 1989, as a high school senior in Brownfield, Texas, she was named the state's female high school player of the year. In 1991, after two years of juco ball, Swoopes moved on to Texas Tech where in her two-year career she led the Red Raiders to a 58-8 record, two Southwest Conference titles and the 1993 NCAA title. She was named 1993 National Player of the Year and NCAA Final Four MVP after setting an NCAA championship game scoring record (for men or women) with 47 points in Tech's 84-82 win over Ohio State.

In 1994, Swoopes landed a spot with the U.S. national team, a squad that won all 52 international games it played in preparation for the 1996 Olympics. In Atlanta, Swoopes averaged 13 points per game and helped the U.S. team win the gold medal. The following year, Swoopes signed with the WNBA's Houston Comets and helped the team to back-to-back-to-back championship wins. In 1999, Swoopes logged the WNBA's first-ever triple-double in a game against Detroit with 14 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. As if that's not enough to impress basketball historians, Swoopes was the first woman to have a basketball shoe named for her, the Nike Air Swoopes.

They said it: "It didn't matter how good I was. It was always, 'You're a girl. You can't play with the guys.' It's always been motivation for me." --Swoopes

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/siforwomen/top_100/87/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheryl_Swoopes

Althea Gibson...American Tennis Player,Professional Golfer,Teacher, First Black Athlete of Either Gender to Cross the Color Line of International Tennis

Althea Gibson 1927-2003 brought grace, dignity and power to the world of tennis in the 1950's. She intimidated opponents with her powerful serve, pinpoint volleys and thundering overhead. But she is best remembered for having the courage to take on major tennis' all-white establishment. Gibson was a pioneer who broke several racial barriers in the sport and paved the way for future stars such as Arthur Ashe, Zina Garrison, and Venus and Serena Williams. The first African-American to win the Wimbledon singles title (she did it twice, in 1957 and 1958), she also won the French Open and U.S. Open singles titles.

Born to a South Carolina sharecropper who moved his family to New York City in 1930, Gibson grew up in Harlem during the great Depression. She shot pool with the local sharks and played basketball with the boys in her neighborhood -- but she was especially adept at paddle ball. During the summer of 1941, a Police Athletic League supervisor watched Gibson win a local tournament and suggested she take up tennis. Gibson began taking lessons, beating all comers and rapidly rising through the ranks of New York's all-Black American Tennis Association (ATA). In 1947, Gibson won the first of her 10 consecutive ATA national championships. She continued to dominate the ATA circuit while remaining shut out of all-white United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) events.

After years of lobbying on the part of ATA officials and contemporaries such as former Wimbledon champion Alice Marble, Gibson made tennis history when she stepped onto Court 14 at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York on August 28, 1950 to compete in women's singles at the U.S. Championship. Gibson became the first African-American -- male or female -- to play in a major USLTA event. She defeated England's Barbara Knapp in straight sets, but lost to former Wimbledon champion Louise Brough in the second round. She made history again at Wimbledon that year, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Over the next five years, Gibson continued to win ATA titles, but her success in USLTA events was somewhat uneven until she returned from an exhibition tour of Asia for the U.S. State Department in 1955. She won 16 of 18 USLTA matches during the 1956 season, including the French Championships on May 20, becoming the first African-American to win a major tennis singles title.

Gibson was nearly 30 when she won her first Wimbledon title in 1957. She returned to a hero's welcome and ticker-tape parade in New York. She won her first U.S. Championship later that year and became the top-ranked female tennis player in the world. After winning her second U.S. title in 1958, Gibson retired from amateur competition. She took up golf and broke another color barrier by becoming the first African-American woman to compete on the LPGA circuit. She won one tournament during a seven-year career.

After retiring from professional competition in 1971, Gibson taught tennis and also served as athletic commissioner for the State of New Jersey from 1975 to '77. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971 and to the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.

They said it: "Ain't that a blip, that a Harlem street rebel would go on to become a world tennis champion?" -- Gibson

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/siforwomen/top_100/30/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Althea_Gibson

Carrie Mae Weems...Visual Artist,Author,Photographer,2014 BET Honors Award Recipient

Storytelling is fundamental in Carrie Mae Weems’s work. For three decades, Weems has created socially engaged, conceptual work in photography, video, mixed media and installation. Using narratives both personal and universal, Weems addresses what scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. calls “the complex web of gender, race, sexuality, class, family and community that catches us all.”

On April 20,Carrie Mae Weems is born in Portland, Oregon
She is the second child born to Carrie Polk and Myrlie Weems and is a Contemporary photographer. At the age of 16 she gave birth to her first and only child, a daughter named Faith C. Weems. Later that year she moved out of her parent's home and soon relocated to San Francisco to study modern dance with Anna Halprin at a workshop Halprin had started with several other dancers, as well as the artists John Cage and Robert Morris. She decided to continue her arts schooling and attended the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia. She graduated at the age of 28 with her BA in 1981 and an MFA in Photography from the University of California, San Diego in 1984. From 1984 until 1987, Weems studied folklore at the University of California, Berkeley. 

While in her early twenties, Carrie Mae Weems was politically active in the labor movement as a union organizer. Her first camera, which she received as a birthday gift from her then boyfriend,was used for politics rather than for artistic purposes. She was inspired to pursue photography only after she came across The Black Photography Annual, a book of images by African-American photographers. This book contained the work of photographers Shawn Walker, Beuford Smith, Anthony Barboza, Ming Smith, Adger Cowans, and Roy DeCarava, which Weems found inspiring. This led her to New York, and the Studio Museum in Harlem, where she began to meet other artists and photographers such as Frank Stewart and Coreen Simpson, and they began to form a community. In 1976 Weems took a photography class at the Museum taught by Dawoud Bey. She returned to San Francisco, but lived bi-coastally and was involved with the Studio Museum and a community of photographers in New York.

She is best known for creating installations using photographs, text, captions, and audio recordings. Weems'' work often confronts viewers with the issues of racism, identity, and gender and frequently explores these themes through the lenses of both personal and national history. Weems cites Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston as writers who had a significant impact on her interests and artistic style. In 1983,Carrie Mae Weems completed her first collection of photographs,text, and spoken word called,Family Pictures and Stories. The images told the story of her family,and she has said that in this project she was trying to explore the movement of black families out of the South and into the North, using her family as a model for the larger theme. Her next series, called Ain't Jokin', was completed in 1988. It focused on racial jokes and internalized racism. Another series called American Icons, completed in 1989, also focused on racism. Weems has said that throughout the 1980s she was turning away from the documentary photography genre, instead "creating representations that appeared to be documents but were in fact staged" and also "incorporating text, using multiples images, diptychs and triptychs, and constructing narratives." Gender issues were the next focal point for Carrie Mae Weems. It was the topic of one of her most well known collections called The Kitchen Table series which was completed in 1990. About Kitchen Table and Family Pictures and Stories, Weems has said, "I use my own constructed image as a vehicle for questioning ideas about the role of tradition, the nature of family, monogamy, polygamy, relationships between men and women,between women and their children,and between women and other women—underscoring the critical problems and the possible resolves."  She has expressed disbelief and concern about the exclusion of images of the black community,particularly black women,from the popular media,and aims to represent these excluded subjects and speak to their experience through her work. Other series created by Weems include: the Sea Island Series (1991-92),the Africa Series (1993),From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried (1995-96),Who What When Where (1998),Ritual & Revolution (1998),the Louisiana Project (2003),Roaming (2006),and the Museum Series, which she began in 2007.She currently lives and works in upstate New York.

In her almost 30 year career,Carrie Mae Weems has won numerous awards. She was named Photographer of the Year by the Friends of Photography. In 2005, she was awarded the Distinguished Photographer's Award in recognition of her significant contributions to the world of photography. Her talents have also been recognized by numerous colleges, including Harvard University and Wellesley College, with fellowships, artist-in-residence and visiting professor positions. She was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2013

Carrie Mae Weems: “The Kitchen Table Series"

http://radicalpresenceny.org/?page_id=379

https://www.artnet.com/artists/carrie+mae-weems/

http://carriemaeweems.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Mae_Weems

PAULA WHITE, pastor, teacher, author, international evangelist, inspirational figure, popular TV personality…woman of God.

Paula Michelle White was born on April 20, 1966 into a storybook life to an upper-middle class family in Tupelo, Mississippi, Paula's world shattered when, at the age of five, her father senselessly and suddenly died. The tragedy threw her family into dire straits, and her childhood became marred by poverty and feelings of abandonment, confusion, and betrayal. She experienced periods of abuse from the hands of strangers. As a teenage girl, Paula experienced deep feelings of shame and rejection. She coped by becoming an overachiever in school, winning the approval of her teachers, trying at every juncture to gain the approval of everyone around her. But nothing seemed to work. Around age 9, Paula’s mother remarried and the family moved to Maryland.

Once again, Paula’s world would change - this time for the better. At age 18, Paula was introduced to the Gospel, and became a Christian. The crushing weight of shame and rejection she’d carried as long as she could remember were gone. Paula held the Bible and said, “God, I don’t know you and I don’t even know myself. But I know the answers are in this book.” From there, her life began to transform radically as she studied the Bible and became involved in a local church. Then, she had a vision that she was to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.

Paula was moved by the plight of those who Jesus called “the least of these” and deeply yearned to touch those most in need. In the late 80s, she began ministering in the inner cities of Washington, D.C. By the early ’90s, she was in post-riot Los Angeles, sharing Jesus with children whose neighborhoods had been hardest hit by violence. In 1991, God called Paula to help co-found Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Florida - a ministry that went on to touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. In 2001, she founded Paula White Media Ministry to reach the world with the message God had given her: a message that would “transform lives, heal hearts, and win souls.” Paula White Ministries had become definite in form and started to grow.

Passionately devoted to outreach, the ministry began by supporting the local community, holding feedings and giveaways, and vigorously seeking innovative ways to reach those in need. Today, Paula White Ministries supports hundreds of local and international outreaches and spearheads global mission outreaches. Paula White Ministries provided food, clean water, clothing, toiletries and transportation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and supported ongoing rebuilding efforts. Just hours after the devastating January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Paula White Ministries worked through the orphanage in Haiti to provide food, clean water, and clothing, later providing tents as the masses continued to arrive during the rainy season, looking for help and shelter. The ministry provides ongoing, substantial support to many orphanages globally and is also a robust supporter of Feed the Children and Churches Helping Churches. Paula White was on the board for Safe Horizons non-profit organization, advocating for women and children who are victims of domestic violence. She partnered with Harlem’s Northside Center for Child Development, supporting their efforts to provide social services to underprivileged children and families.

Presently, Paula White Ministries is at work with its partners: building orphanages, schools, churches, clean-water wells, and feeding stations around the world; providing desperately needed medical care and ministerial training internationally; and organizing crusades, focusing on the most deprived areas, such as Haiti, Africa, and India.

Paula White continues to be an inspiration to millions around the world. She was featured as one of the five most innovative and effective church leaders of today in the book Holy Mavericks, Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace (Lee & Sinitiere, New York University Press). Her voice resonates loudly for the voiceless as she brings a message of salvation to the privileged as well as the destitute. Reaching beyond cultural and socioeconomic barriers, she fervently shares God’s transformative Word to touch the person within. Her message is for those seeking to discover their purpose in life, and designed to launch them into a destiny they could never have imagined. It’s obvious that "she understands, she’s been there, and she knows how to get out.” Her television program, "Paula Today,” reaches a potential viewing audience of 2.3 billion people worldwide, and she has been listed as one of the Top 50 "Most Influential Christians in America,” by The Church Report (2006).

Paula White received the 2011 Impact Leadership Award during the 5th Annual International Financial and Leadership Summit in Houston, Texas; the 2009 Humanitarian Award by the Trumpet Award Foundation; the 2007 Behind the Bench "Mind, Body Spirit Award” from the NBA Wives Organization; and the 2006 "Trailblazer Award” by Jesse Jackson and Rainbow Coalition. In 2008, she performed the Invocation for the 40th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, and was a presenter at Maya Angelou’s 80th birthday tribute in Atlanta, Georgia. Paula White has received endorsements from T.D. Jakes, Joel and Victoria Osteen, General Colin Powell, Donald Trump, Joyce Meyer, Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, Kim Kiyosaki, Ebony Magazine, and many others

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Today, as a much-in-demand speaker and proclaimer of the gospel, she continues to travel extensively to fulfill her mandated mission: transform lives, heal hearts, and win souls. Known for her profound and dynamic Bible teaching, she is the host of the nationally syndicated program Paula Today. Transcending socioeconomic and denominational barriers, her powerful message of hope resonates among people from every walk of life.

With a faith undaunted by the task at hand, this mother, humanitarian and beloved mentor is also the Senior Pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Florida, a non-traditional church with a multi-cultural mission whose membership ranges in the thousands. A gifted exhorter and motivator, the core of Paula’s message is “delivering spiritual truths that transforms lives”.

http://www.paulawhite.org/about/paula-white-ministries/paula-whites-story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_White

Rev. Joyce Meyer...Minister,Author,Televangelist,Teacher

Joyce Meyer, born Pauline Joyce Hutchison; June 4, 1943, is a Charismatic Christian author and speaker. Meyer earned her doctoral degree from Life Christian University, in Tampa, Florida. Meyer has been given an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity by Oral Roberts University,  in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Meyer and her husband Dave have four grown children, and live outside St. Louis, Missouri. Her ministry is headquartered in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri.

Joyce Meyer is one of the world's leading practical Bible teachers. A New York Times bestselling author, her books have helped millions of people find hope and restoration through Jesus Christ. Through Joyce Meyer Ministries, she teaches on a number of topics with a particular focus on the mind, mouth, moods and attitudes. Her candid communication style allows her to share openly and practically about her experiences so others can apply what she has learned to their lives.

Joyce hosts a TV and radio show, Enjoying Everyday Life®, which broadcasts worldwide to a potential audience of 4.5 billion people. She has authored 100 books, which have been translated into more than 100 languages. More than 12 million of her books have been distributed free of charge around the world, and each year millions of copies are sold.

Joyce conducts close to a dozen domestic and international conferences every year, teaching people to enjoy their everyday lives. For 30 years, her annual women's conference has attracted more than 200,000 women from all over the world to St. Louis for specifically themed teachings by her and guest speakers.

Through her teachings, God has provided opportunities to meet the needs of the suffering and bring the Gospel in a practical way. Joyce's passion to help hurting people every day is foundational to the vision of Hand of Hope, the missions arm of Joyce Meyer Ministries. These outreaches around the globe include feeding programs, medical care, homes for orphans, and programs combatting human trafficking. In her hometown of St. Louis, Joyce and Dave, her husband, founded the St. Louis Dream Center (SLDC) in 2000. The SLDC serves the inner city through hands-on programs targeted at reaching the lost and hurting with the love of Christ.

Over the years, God has provided Joyce with many opportunities to share her testimony and the life-changing message of the Gospel. Having suffered sexual abuse throughout her childhood, as well as just dealing with the struggles of everyday life, Joyce discovered the freedom to live victoriously by applying God's Word to her life and in turn desires to help others do the same.

Joyce is and continues to be an incredible testimony of the dynamic, redeeming work of Jesus Christ.

http://www.joycemeyer.org/AboutUs/JoyceBio.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Meyer

Kandi Burruss is an American singer-songwriter, actress, record producer, and television personality.

Kandi Burruss was born on May 17, 1976, in Atlanta, Georgia and grew up the younger of two. Kandi has stated she was definitely a daddy's girl before her father left the family when she was 4. Kandi was very close to her brother Patrick, who was older by 7 1/2 years and later died in a car accident when Kandi was a young teenager. Her first major appearance, on BET's Teen Summit, introduced her to the public and helped launch her career. Kandi attended Tri- Cities High School in East Point, Georgia.

Kandi Burruss puts a brand new spin on the term “POWERHOUSE.” Being phenomenal at taking her career to the next level, the beautiful risk taker entered the entertainment business a teenager as a founding member of the iconic multi-platinum selling girl group, Xscape. Now twenty years later, Kandi is a “fan favorite” on Bravo’s #1 Housewives show, “Real Housewives of Atlanta.” That’s not it: this superstar has catapulted her success of the last few years as a “housewife” into creating and executive producing her own TV show on Bravo, “The Kandi Factory,” a much talked about online weekly relationship show, “Kandi Koated Nights,” and a top- selling iTunes app, “Kandi Koated Spades.” Kandi is also the owner of two trendy boutiques, T.A.G.S. and T.A.G.S.II in her hometown of Atlanta, and the award winning intimate toy line, “Bedroom Kandi,” where she has added an in-home multi-level marketing service as well.

“I’ve always believed that if you can dream it, you can achieve it. I’ve been blessed with a lot of success. To some, it seems that it has happened overnight, but after 20 years in entertainment, that’s hardly the case,” states Kandi.

Having helped to sell more than 60 million records worldwide for iconic recording stars such as TLC, Destiny’s Child, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and more; Kandi has also amassed a number of high profile awards in music that includes: winning a Grammy, being nominated for an American Music Award and making history as the first woman to win the ASCAP “Songwriter of the Year” award in 2000 in addition to being awarded with a “Living Legend” award. Her ability to write hit songs for some of the most contemporary artists in the business gave her the necessary confidence to think outside of the box, broaden her audience, and experience. She recently worked with double Grammy Award-nominee and multi-platinum country sensation, Jo Dee Messina and Gospel great Marvin Sapp on a duet that hit number 1 on Billboard’s “Gospel Digital Songs” chart. Both in-studio sessions were shown on Kandi’s hit TV show, “Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

“Working on country songs, in particular, is so different from R&B and Pop,” states the prolific songwriter. “You truly experience the whole recording moment with live instrumentation and records being cut on the spot with one take.”

Kandi showcases her innate skill for creating hit records and turning seemingly unskilled people into stars with her new show, “The Kandi Factory.” Successfully transforming RHOA cast mate, Kim into a diva, Kandi remembers being constantly approached by people on the street that would say, “If you can do that for Kim, I know you can do that for me!” Not too long after, with the help of Bravo, “The Kandi Factory” was born from a special and immediately green lighted to become a series.

In 2012, Kandi surprised even herself when her Midas touch took home one of the top awards in a different industry: adult entertainment. “I won the AVN award in less than a year of conceiving the product. I truly wasn’t expecting the win but was really excited that I did,” exclaims Kandi. She recently was nominated for five of AVN’s O Awards that recognize the companies and products that raise the bar for the novelty and pleasure products industry.

After partnering with Ohmibod in 2011 for “Bedroom Kandi,” together they thought up the most ingenious designs the industry had seen. “I wanted to make something discreet that women would be comfortable owning,” Kandi states. Many of the products are made to look like make-up containers. “Make Me Over” is designed as a compact, while “Kiss Me” is made in the shape of a lipstick. With over 2000 people signed up as ambassadors for Bedroom Kandi, Kandi is ready to take the line to the next level: door to door.

Forever spontaneous, Kandi spawned her weekly online relationship show, “Kandi Koated Nights,” during the uStreaming promotion of her last CD release, “Kandi Koated” (2010 — Warner Bros.) after a fan began making risqué comments that Kandi didn’t deem appropriate. She simply told him to wait until after 10PM and she would have those conversations with him then and she did just that. The after-hours conversation was SUCH a HIT that Kandi decided on doing a weekly show and has been doing such for more than three years.

Known as one of Rolling Out Magazine’s Top 25 Renaissance Women in Atlanta, Kandi’s willingness to go beyond marginal barriers, and her entrepreneurial spirit has allowed her to delve into other business fields as well. Her trendy and expanding Atlanta- based boutique, T.A.G.S., is known for providing affordable, quality threads for style-conscious women. She has also moved into providing apps for smartphone users. Feeling like African American consumers that buy apps outweigh companies that create apps, Kandi joined Konsole Kingz to make Kandi Koated Spades.

“They reached out to me asking how to play the card game spades,” says Kandi. “I told them how I play and the way most of my friends play, where the deuce is wild and people can call you out on reneging. I’ve put all of that in my game.”

Even with so many projects underway, Kandi is also working on her actor’s reel, having guest starred on the TBS television comedy, “Are We There Yet?” and BET sitcom, “Let’s Stay Together.”

Kandi says, “Since I was in high school, it’s been my dream to be an actor. I’ve been going forward in making that happen. Now I have an agent and I’ve made a few cameos. If someone doesn’t pick me for his or her movie, I’ll produce my own,” she says, chuckling. “That’s just one of my aspirations for 2013.

Kandi Burruss is always looking ahead, planning her next move — it’s the stamp of a mogul. “So many people are afraid of failure, but not me. The only way you’re going to be successful is if you’re fearless. I try to go into everything with that state of mind.”

http://kandionline.com/bio/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandi_Burruss

E Lynn Harris...Cheerleader,Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Member,Former Computer Salesman,Novelist,Editor

Everette Lynn Harris (June 20, 1955 – July 23, 2009) was an American author. Openly gay, he was best known for his depictions of African American men who were on the down-low and closeted. He authored ten consecutive books that reached The New York Times best seller's list, making him among the most successful African-American or gay authors of his era.

Born Everette Lynn Jeter in Flint,Michigan, Harris moved to Little Rock,Arkansas, with his mother at the age of 3. Upon his mother's marriage to Ben Harris,his surname was changed to Harris. By the time he was 13 years old, his mother divorced his stepfather who had abused Harris for years. Harris also had homes in Houston,Texas,Atlanta,Georgia and Fayetteville,Arkansas.In his writings, Harris maintained a poignant motif, occasionally emotive, that incorporated vernacular and slang from popular culture.

E. Lynn Harris was raised, along with three sisters, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville where he was the school's first black yearbook editor, the first black male Razorbacks cheerleader, and the president of his fraternity. He graduated with honors with a degree in journalism.

Harris sold computers for IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and AT&T for thirteen years while living in Dallas, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. He finally quit his sales job to write his first novel, Invisible Life, and, failing to find a publisher, he published it himself in 1991 and sold it mostly at black-owned bookstores, beauty salons, and book clubs before he was "discovered" by Anchor Books. Anchor published Invisible Life as a trade paperback in 1994, and thus his career as an author officially began.

Invisible Life was followed by Just As I Am (1994), And This Too Shall Pass (1996), If This World Were Mine (1997), Abide with Me (1999), Not A Day Goes By (2000), Any Way the Wind Blows (2001), A Love of My Own (2002), I Say A Little Prayer (2006), Just Too Good To Be True (2008), Basketball Jones(2009), and Mama Dearest(2009),all published by Doubleday, and In My Father's House(2010), published by St. Martin's Press. Ten of Harris's novels hit the New York Times bestseller list, and his books have also appeared on the bestseller lists of the Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, USA Today,Entertainment Weekly, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. In 2003, Harris published his first work of nonfiction, a memoir entitled What Becomes of the Brokenhearted, which was also a New York Timesbestseller. Today, there are more than four million copies of his books in print.

Harris's writing also appeared in Essence, Washington Post Sunday Magazine, and Sports Illustrated, as well as in the award-winning anthology Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America, Go The Way Your Blood Beats. His novella, "Money Can't Buy Me Love" was published in Got To Be Real: Four Original Love Stories. Freedom in This Village, a collection of short stories edited by Harris, was released in the fall of 2004. His short fiction appeared in Gumbo: A Celebration of African American Writers (Harlem Moon), a 2002 collection he edited with writer Marita Golden.

Harris won numerous accolades and prizes for his work. Just As I Am was awarded the Novel of the Year Prize by the Blackboard African-American Bestsellers, Inc. If This World Were Mine was nominated for a NAACP Image Award and won the James Baldwin Award for Literary Excellence.Abide with Me was also nominated for a NAACP Image Award. His anthology Freedom in this Village won the Lambda Literary Award in 2005. In 1999, the University of Arkansas honored Harris with a Citation of Distinguished Alumni for outstanding professional achievement, and in October 2000 he was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. He was named to Ebony's "Most Intriguing Blacks" list, Out Magazine's "Out 100" list, New York Magazine's "Gay Power 101" list, and Savoy's "100 Leaders and Heroes in Black America" list. Other honors included the Sprague Todes Literary Award, the Harvey Milk Honorary Diploma, and The Silas Hunt Award for Outstanding Achievement from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

Harris was a member of the Board of Directors of the Hurston/Wright Foundation and the Evidence Dance Company. He was the founder of the E. Lynn Harris Better Days Foundation, a nonprofit company that provides support to aspiring writers and artists.

Harris died on July 23, 2009, while in Los Angeles for a business meeting. He was found unconscious at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills,California, and was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. An autopsy determined that the cause of death was heart disease. That same day, Harris had fallen ill on the train to Los Angeles and blacked out but was fine after, according to his publicist Laura Gilmore

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/81011.E_Lynn_Harris?bf=500&from_search=true

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Lynn_Harris