MINORITY SPEAK

Minority Speak Magazine would like to extend you the opportunity to send in your ideas for articles, success stories, resources, and other content that you would like to see in the magazine here online.  Minority Speak is growing and needs you to help it continue to grow and provide the kinds of information that you want to read about when it comes to inspiring, uplifting, educating, and informing minorities all over.  It is important that you realize that if you don’t speak out about the great things you are doing, the positive things the organizations you’ve created or participate in are doing, and so forth…who will? If you don’t inform others about the steps you took which helped you be successful in any form or fashion, how will they know?

Everyday I cross paths with outstanding minorities who are regular people doing great things worthy of great headlines, but that story is never told.  However if something negative happened to any one of these people, the word would travel endlessly fast.  You have a choice to be part of something better.  Minority Speak believes in you and your greatness.  You don’t have to be perfect.  You don’t have to be without issue.  We all live in the same world filled with adversity that invokes highs and lows.  Don’t minimize your own greatness.  Shine your light and allow those without to see the way.

Examples of Things You Can Contribute:

• A story about a positive organization or event helping minorities
• Positive statistics about minorities
• News about a hard earned promotion on a job you recently received or any awards/recognition for your efforts
• Information to promote resources available to minorities seeking to better themselves such as scholarships, programs, etc.
• Anything positive, useful, or to be proud of big or small regarding minorities

Thank you for visiting the site and be sure to use the link in the lower right of the page to register if you haven’t already to show your support. It’s free and the support keeps us motivated towards an important cause. For interview templates, guidelines, any questions, and more information on how you can contribute, contact us using the info below:

Contact: Samuel Pittman
Email: samuel@thepittmaninc.com

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Minority Speak supports a Detroit family’s effort to turn the loss of one bright future into an opportunity for many other’s to succeed. Please support the Cedric Ellington Gill 1st Annual Scholarship Foundation Banquet. God Bless and Kindest Thanks!

You are cordially invited to attend the Cedric Ellington Gill, I Scholarship Program Banquet. All proceeds from this program will help to sponsor Youth in their quest to enter college, universities, or trade schools.

This Scholarship can probably help your Children, Sisters, Brothers, Cousins and Friends to enter college, universities, or trade schools. The more people this Scholarship can help. The more we keep this young man Cedric name and dreams alive.  So please come join us at this event we will greatly appreciated it. This can also be a blessing for you and your family.

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Online education has certainly become huge with the prominence of the Internet and its access becoming increasing commonplace.  What is certainly noteworthy however, is that those who always wanted access to education provided by some of the world’s elite institutions such as Yale, Stanford, and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) can now get it through the Internet for FREE.

These institutions and many others are providing lectures and courses online for free for virtually all or a subset of their courses.  Lecture notes, exams, and more are also available.  There is even a new section on iTunes called “iTunes U” providing the coursework of these institutions and making it easy to download.  There isn’t any credentials offered with reviewing the material but at least it can be utilized to learn, compliment, and enforce any other avenues of education being pursued.

Check out the Wired News link to learn more, the iTunes online store, the OpenCourseware Consortium.

Happy Learning 😉

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Recently, Minority Speak subscriber Nija, shared with us her personal success story and we wanted to share it with you! Enjoy and congrats to Nija for being a true role model with the courage to share a story of strength, determination, positivity, and success!

From Nija:

I was born in Decatur, Ill to Leroy and Opalene, as the second of four children. Raised on the east side of Detroit in the 80s and 90s, I didn’t have the kind of leadership that was needed to direct me on the right path. Being amongst the street hoodlums and having friends that were parts of gangs and drugs, life as I knew it had to change.

I eventually enrolled and received a “highest honors” certificate as an Office Specialist from the Detroit Business Institute and immediately landed a job working for the city. Though I had made one decision for the better, I still felt that I needed a change of scenery. There was life beyond Detroit and I wanted to see it.

In 1999, I joined the United States Air Force where life as I knew it changed dramatically. I became one of a handful of women to pursue a career as an Automated Integrated Flight Controls/Navigation (AFIN) electronics technician. My primary task was on/off maintenance of the electrical gadgets/indicators/controls for the 2nd largest cargo aircraft carrier in the world. In addition to being one of the few women who didn’t mind wearing a grimy uniform, scuffed boots, and getting her hands dirty, I was also one of even fewer black women to do this job.

The result of my hard work has developed me into a driven, results-oriented professional with a proven record of accomplishment in leading and motivating others.

As a proud veteran who has come back with extensive technical, supervisory, and trainer experience, I am in the process of changing careers. As a Human Resources Management major, I am currently attending Baker College with a future desire to provide leadership to ensure that human resources practices are fair & maintain integrity among the diversity of all people. Currently working towards obtaining my BA, I will eventually excel toward my MA.

I know that it will take a lot of hard work and dedication and I look forward to networking with others who are striving and have come out of hard times and have grabbed onto the baton of prosperity without letting go.

Today, I am a single, proud mother of a son with autism. Through my trials, I have become a stronger woman, of perseverance, and committed to the kind of life I desire for me and my child. I desire a comfortable, stable lifestyle and relationships with others based on professionalism, spirituality, and mutual respect.

Personally, I am frank, expressive, and don’t disguise my intentions. My love for others is sincere which comes from the depths of my heart though I am not a push-over. I am somewhat of a perfectionist and I hold high expectations of others (I demand a lot, but I also give a lot).

I hope to read about your lives and how every path you’ve taken thus far has molded you into who you are today. Thanks for reading and God bless.

–Nija

Have a success story of your own you’d like to tell? Be sure to register to Minority Speak to show your support and then email us for more info.

-Minority Speak

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – The College of Engineering at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has named the recipients of its Clare Boothe Luce Doctoral Fellowships. The fellows, Ebonni Adams and Khaliah Hughes, have each received four year fellowships to pursue Ph.D. degrees in engineering at N.C.A&T.

Adams, originally from Southfield, Mich., obtained her B.S. degree in industrial engineering from A&T and her M.S. degree in mechanical engineering from The University of Michigan. She will be coming from industry at Kennedy Space Center to pursue a doctorate in mechanical engineering. Hughes graduated this spring from A&T with a B.S. degree in industrial engineering. The Burlington, N.C. native will proceed directly from the B.S. to the Ph.D. in industrial engineering.

Eligibility requirements for the Clare Boothe Luce Graduate Fellowship include:

• female U.S. citizen
• newly admitted Ph.D. student in a doctoral engineering program at A&T
• entrance into the doctoral program in fall 2007
• plans to pursue an academic career in a university setting after completion of the doctoral program.

The Clare Boothe Luce Program is the single largest private source of funding for women in the sciences (including mathematics) and engineering in the nation. Luce was the wife of Henry R. Luce, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time, Inc. Also, she was a very accomplished person in her own right. She was a successful playwright, journalist and Ambassador to Italy for the United States of America, the first woman in the nation to hold such a position. Although Luce’s accomplishments were in other professional fields, she believed that all women faced obstacles in their professional careers and she especially wanted to increase the representation of women in the science and engineering.

An excerpt from the “News & Record” Newspaper:

NEWS RELEASE
Contact:
Nettie C. Rowland
(336) 256-0863
August 3, 2007

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Chavon, a young filmmaker, journalist, and Hollywood resident recently shared some FAQ’s on acting with Minority Speak. For those of you aspiring to get into the industry and make it big, we hope Chavon’s insight gets you going in the right direction! While your in Hollywood be sure to catch a screening of “Played”, a film directed, produced, and written by Chavon herself!

– Minority Speak

1. Do I have to move to Hollywood to become an actor?

Answer: The auditioning process for the majority of television and film roles takes place in Los Angeles. If you are not physically in Los Angeles, you will not be available to go in and audition for the parts that are being offered. Continue Reading »

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Today our youth are blinded by materialism and fast results. They want it now and they want it big. Perhaps the media has fooled our young into believing that success is measured by your ‘bling’ and your things, and that the only great role models are those who received record deals or sports scholarships. Neither should be the case.

Not every person will become the next multi million dollar recording sensation or the next basketball phenomenon, so we must keep in mind that success is not defined so narrow. Our definition of success needs to evolve and expand to facilitate the rest of us; the majority. Many will go to college, contribute to the workforce, or the professional world, but we never hear their stories, nor shed illumination on their success. Their process and products deserve the same recognition and applause, so perhaps we as a society need help re-shifting our focus to ALL possibilities. Continue Reading »

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Welcome to Minority Speak, an online publication from The Pittman Inc. Many of you visiting this site for the first time probably learned of it through word of mouth through an email, a friend or family member, a community website, or even myself personally. Regardless of how you found Minority Speak your support and time spent here are greatly appreciated. It is our intent that you will visit often for great information, inspiration, and even as a contributor towards making this a great online publication for yourself and others. Continue Reading »

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It’s pretty easy to identify those who have made a majority of poor decisions and good decisions but many people fall right in the middle of the spectrum. We’ve all made decisions that we could be proud of and others we’d soon enough forget the moment we get done dealing with the consequences….

Although we all inherit this wonderful blessing, many people are inept to handle it and the responsibility that comes with it. They misunderstand its utmost authority over our lives by touting things they HAVE to do rather than respecting they are only required to choose. In that choice lies the power to everything or nothing at all. Those who believe in God say “he has a plan” for each and everyone of us. I believe one must think about this carefully as it relates to your ability to choose. I would say that God has an infinite number of plans for each of us. When plan we end up implementing is again, based on the decisions we make each moment – including the decision to spend time reading these thoughts…. Continue Reading »

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So you haven’t traveled to all the fantastic places around the world such as Bora Bora or the Bavarian Alps, or even beyond your state for that matter…. Here’s some simple tips to help even the most budget-minded folks get far and not spend a ton of dough broadening your horizons.

1. Get In A Car and Go! Notice that we didn’t necessarily mean your car. Weekend car rental prices can really be affordable if you make a reservation via the Internet or take advantage of discounts you perhaps qualify for such as AAA (Triple A). If you have a decent car, drive it and don’t be afraid to put some miles on it! Investing in a reliable car and avoiding putting miles on it by keeping in your garage is somewhat counterproductive ;).Traveling by car can be somewhat time consuming and even discouraging considering today’s gas prices, but I personally believe its still one of the easiest ways to get out of town with little planning (for you spontaneous bunch) and minimal money in your pocket. If you travel with friends and share the expenses, memorable trips become even more affordable. Start by identifying a range of time you are willing to drive such as 4-5 hours to arrive at your destination. Then use a map to figure out what places of interest may be within that distance. Continue Reading »

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