On January 24th, 2017, director of photographer Bradford Young became the first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award in Best Cinematography (Arrival). This marks the first Oscar nomination for Young, but hardly the first award or nomination. The four-time Sundance winner (Middle of Nowhere, Pariah, Mother of George, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) was raised in the town of Louisville, Kentucky and moved to Chicago as teenager to live with his father, according to Young’s Wikipedia.

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Brian Gerrard, the CEO of a new tech company, BAE app is curated and targeted for people of color. Bae is a mobile app connected through Facebook, however, it’s goal is to take the quest for meaningful connection to this overlooked and demographic. With his brother, Justin Gerrard and CTO Jordan Kunzika, Brian hopes to change the market for Black men and women who are among the most technologically active but the least desirable group

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