Out On The Town: Super Bowl 50 | $75M Donation to SF General | MoAD Opening Reception and more.....

Feb. 19. Super Bowl 50 Business Connect @ Scottish Rite Auditorium, Oakland, CA.  This Business Connects links the Bay Area's diverse business community to contracting opportunities to Super Bowl 50, the largest annual sporting event in the world.  This year it takes place in our own backyard, at Levi Stadium on February 7, 2016 and there will be weekof events starting Feb. 2nd.  The Business Connect 's goal is to increase contract opportunities for minority, women, disabled veteran and the LGBT owned business enterprises to conduct Super Bowl business. The application deadline  to be considered for these Super Bowl contracts is April 30th and you must have be certified.  Details and application process can be found at Super Bowl 50 Business Connect.  And go!

 

 

Feb. 12.  Hearts After Dark, A fundraiser for San Francisco General Hospital Foundation. 

Hearts After Dark brings takes place at AT&T Park and over 1,000 young professionals gather under a covered tent with music, complimentary drinks, unlimited desserts and the best small bites from various San Francisco restaurants.  The atmosphere of celebration is in the air given the recent announcement of a $75M donation to the hospital from Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO) and his wife Priscilla Chan.

This event, in combination Heroes & Hearts, generates the Foundation’s largest source of unrestricted revenue which is used for improved patient care and have the potential to develop sustainable funding.   Read more about Hearts After Dark. {Photo: Franchesca Allan, 7x7 Magazine (Middle)}

 

Feb. 12. Ernst & Young's Annual Black History Month Executive Roundtable.  It's a rare chance to have a fireside chat with C-Suite executives to hear their journey of how they landed their positions.  EY creates a platform for young professionals and veteran executives to hear these dynamic and inspirational stories.  Through panel discussions, the audience heard stories of the career paths and achievements of several successful Black professionals, while participating in thought-provoking discussions and taking advantage of an abundant networking opportunities.  Moderator: Gracelyn Hodge – Partner, EY. Panelists: Daniel Boggan, Jr. – Interim Chief Executive Officer, Alameda Health System. Sheila Talton – CEO, Gray Matter Analytics, James White – CEO, Jamba Juice.

 

Feb. 3.  MoAD's Opening Reception - Artist Marie Johnson Calloway: Legacy of Color.  MoAD's exhibits are becoming more and more intriguing for me and certainly their opening receptions of new exhibits are 'must attend' events.  I had NO idea the legendary, talented and very graceful Marie Johnson Calloway was not only an Oakland resident, but the most exhilarating 94 years young woman I've ever met.  All the stops were pulled when celebrating Ms. Calloway's exhibit, 'Legacy of Color', during this opening reception and more than 300 attendees were thrilled to meet Ms. Calloway and happy to see many of her friends including Belva Davis, Willie Brown, Anette Harris, Pam Moore and the list goes on.

From vibrant painting to textile assemblage, Marie Johnson Calloway (b. 1920) uses various media and techniques to convey her experience as a Black female artist. Inspired by her family and the Bay Area, Calloway represents the rhythm and spirituality of Black life through color. With a life spanning over nine decades, Calloway’s contributions are celebrated as an educator and an artist.  Over the years, the artist has been actively involved in civic and civil rights activities, such as serving as president of San Jose, CA branch of NAACP, frequent lecturer and advisor on art and civil rights issues, participant in the Selma March, and serving on numerous civic and human relations advisory committees as well as public art selection committees.

Marie Johnson Calloway's exhibit is open at MoAD until April 5th. You will miss a treat if you don't see it before it's gone.  And go!

Photos from MoAD Opening Reception by Glass House Communications.

"Want more? Visit the THE BUZZ  for events and photos at theREGISTRYBayArea.com"

Dr. Sonia Bell, Owner of Avanti Sports Medicine & Fitness, Expands Services to the Theater and Music Industries

Dr. Sonia Bell, Owner of Avanti Sports Medicine & Fitness, is a San Francisco based sports medicine network of practitioners who provide performing arts medicine and therapy to the entertainment, theatrical and dance communities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.  Avanti opened its doors in 1994 and is owned and run by Dr. Sonia Bell, who has 13 years experience studying and dancing with the renowned San Francisco Ballet. 

For more than 14 years, Dr. Bell, owner of Avanti, has remained the go-to physician in the sports industry.  Dr. Bell understands, first hand, the challenges the talent and production companies face in identifying practitioners that are able to service the unique needs of their performers, musicians and production staff while on the road. 

Dr. Bell is a Stanford Hospital trained sports medicine and performing arts physician with a stellar reputation for providing the industry with its medical and therapeutic needs. 

Avanti's team has provided services to members of: Dance and Theater: Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Cirque de Soleil, Dance Theater of Harlem, Dreamgirls, Metro Park Ballet, Motown the Musical, ODC Dance Collective, San Francisco Ballet, Scottsborough Boys and Smuin Ballet 

Sports Industry: ProCamp International Youth Camps sponsored by-49ERS-Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis, Giants- Buster Posey, Warriors- Stephen Curry and New York Yankee-CC Sabathia, USA Olympics, USA Track and Field, USA Gymnastics, US national Figure Skating League, Special Olympics, NCAA Track and Field, Stanford University Track and Field, UC Davis Rugby and AVP Pro Volleyball. 

Avanti Sports Medicine & Fitness can bring its team to you or allot time within the clinic schedule to accommodate your needs.  They are committed to keeping the performer healthy while on tour. 

Medical and Therapeutic Services:

·         Sports Medicine - Orthopedic and Non-Surgical Performing Arts Medicine

·         On-Call performing Medical Coverage

·         On-Call Chiropractic Therapy

·         On-Call Physical Therapy

·         On-Call Massage Physical Therapy

·         Personal Trainers and Athletic Trainers

What makes Avanti Sports Medicine & Fitness the ideal company to provide these services?  The Avanti physicians and therapists have all been former athletes, dancers, and/or performers themselves. Many of the providers are the appointed physicians or the therapists for the local dance and theater companies.

For more information visit www.avantifitsportsmed.com.  For media relations contact Y'Anad Burrell, Glass House Communications, yanad@glasshousepr.com, (510) 691-8687

 

19th Annual Art of Living Black - Over 75 Artists Featured - Exhibiting in Richmond and Oakland, CA

The Art of Living Black (TAOLB) Exhibiting at the Richmond Art Center.  TAOLB was founded 19 years ago by the late sculptor Jan Hart-Schuyers and late painter Rae Louise Hayward after their realization that black artists were not being represented by galleries in any significant way. This year’s exhibition at the Richmond Art Center (RAC), located at 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA, will showcase a broad range of works by more than 75 artists from throughout the Bay Area.

Artist Talks Sat, Feb 14, noon – 1:30 pm: Artists: Dania Frink, Alix Magloire, James Knox, Julee Richardson, Hilda Robinson, Arthur Norcome. Moderated by Raymond L. Haywood

 The Art of Living Black Open Studio Sat, Mar 7, 11 am – 5 pm.  A unique opportunity to meet a selection of artists and purchase their work in our main gallery.

Several artists will also be exhibiting at Oasis Gallery @ American Steel Studios, 1960 Mandela Parkway, Oakland (enter on 20th Street) on the follow days and times: Feb. 28th & Mar. 1st, 11 am - 6 pm, Mar. 6th - 6 pm - 9 pm and Mar. 7th, 11 am - 6 pm

Artists featured in the 19th Annual The Art of Living Black: Dana King, Latisha Baker, Doug Blanc, Timothy Bluitt, Lorraine Bonner, Cedric Brown, Marguerite T. Browne, Stephen Bruce, Lawrence Buford, Melanin Buford, Sydney “Sage” Cain, Claude Lockhart Clark, Duane M. Conliffe, Courageous, Kelvin Curry, Bill Dallas, Paula de Joie, Jim Dennis, Cheryl Patrice Derricotte, Gene Dominique, Ann Edwards, Jimi Evins, Dania W. Frink, Anjuelle D. Floyd, Naomi Floyd, Donna Gatson, Delores Gray, Renata E. Gray, Nannette Y. Harris-Jones, and many many more.

About The Richmond Art Center (RAC)

RAC is the largest visual arts center in the East Bay. Their four galleries and sculpture courtyard allow them to mount rotating exhibitions that display the works of emerging and established Bay Area artists. Throughout their long history they have showcased artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, Jasper Johns, Jay DeFeo, Wanxin Zhang, Hung Liu, Ed Rossbach and Peter Voulkos.

Post by Glass House Communications.

X's and O'x - A Football Love Story - It's A Collision Sport (Not a Contact Sport)

What does the Berkeley Repertory Theatre (BRT) and the National Football League (NFL) have in common?  Both institutions LOVE football. One week from today, the NFL will host its biggest party of the year, the 49th Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona; and for the next five weeks, the Berkeley Rep will run its world premiere of X’s and O’s (A Football Love Story), written by playwright KJ Sanchez and co-creator Jenny Mercein.  While gridiron gladiators--the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks--battle it out on the field, the Berkeley Rep Theater will present a “hard-hitting docudrama that examines our country’s passion for a game that is both generous and dangerous, life-giving yet lethal,” noted Sanchez. Photo: Raymond Chester (Raiders), Tim Anderson (49ers), Delvin Williams (49ers) and Guy McIntyre (49ers)

During opening night, Jan. 23rd, X’s and O’s, sprinkled with minor bits of profanity, takes its audience through a football time capsule which begins in the early 1800’s and travels to present-day.  The play offers a different view of America’s favorite and most idolized sport, and focuses on what professional football and its long-term consequences are really about.  Directed by Michael Leibert Artistic Director Tony Taccone, X’s and O’s (A football Love Story) is as “visceral, emotional, and highly theatrical as the game itself.”  While we {the public} are entertained by the ‘thrill of victory and agony of defeat’ of teams pitted against each other in sometimes gruesome, physical combat, this play performance looks at football through the lens of the players, their families and the fans, to fully examine our cultural values around the game.  “It’s a story that presents both the beauty and brutality of the game and how it ties so profoundly into our identity as Americans.”

A major portion of the play emphasizes how the’ wear and tear’ of football takes a toll on athletes’ bodies, particularly when players suffer head trauma.  While football may be a way out of poverty for some, and is known to relieve stress for others, it’s also a sport that has lifelong physical challenges on the players themselves.  Concussions, considered contusions to the head, takes a devastating toll on these players, especially those who have had several concussions throughout their career.  Over 20 years ago the average weight of a linebacker was 235 and now it's 325.  Having that much more weight landing on a player's body can be unbearable, however you dare not show the feeling of pain on the field.  X's and O's describes a situation where a player was on the field wearing a cast for a broken arm, and a hit by that player caused a kidney rupture, given the hit was with the casted arm. {Photo: Khary L. Moye, Actor and Understudy)

The full-contact sport (referred to in this play as a collision sport) can bring riches to some (the industry now boasts annual revenues of $9 billion dollars--the most lucrative in the world) and misery, depression and even death to others.  X’s and O’s examines the philosophy of football and its effect on life itself.  Mercein, the daughter of Chuck Mercein, a Super-Bowl winning former professional player, noted that she sees a lot of parallels between live theatre and live sports. {Photo: Eric Wright, 49ers}

X's and O'x runs through March 1, 2015 at the BerkeleyRepertory Theatre, 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley.
 

Written by: Y'Anad Burrell and Clifford L.  Williams

Judy Smith - The REAL Olivia Pope of ABC7 Scandal

I have been a fan of ABC7's Scandal and the lovely Kerry Washington since the season started. However, meeting the real Olivia Pope, that would be JUDY SMITH, made the excitement much for enticing. I met Ms. Smith about 5 months ago at an event and was so happy to see how engaging, unassuming, delightful and unapologetic she was about her wit and intelligence.  

On Jan. 20th, Ken Coleman, technology giant and Special Advisor to Andreesen Horowitz, hosted a fireside chat with Judy Smith in their Menlo Park, CA office.  The chemistry between Ms. Smith and Ben Horowitz during the Q&A was the best I've seen in a long time.  When asked about how her career started, Judy shared that she had to be reminded by her childhood friend, affectionately known as 'beanhead', that her conflict resolution skills began at the age of 15 as she was always the neighborhood 'we can all work this out' negotiator. 

Judy's career in conflict resolution went through the roof right after her tenure as special assistant to the press secretary during President George H.W. Bush administration in 1991.  During her time with President Bush, some of her major work included PR guidance during the Clarence Thomas nomination, PR consulting during the Gulf War and dealing with US Kuwaiti relations.

While many saw the writing on the wall that President Bush would not be reelected, Judy stayed the course until the very end instead of leaving and looking for employment like many.  It was that tenacity, dedication and loyalty that lead to President Bush making several phone calls to key influentials in the political arena, sharing the stellar work Judy performed under his administration, that her phone began to ring constantly with requests for her services.  Since that time, Smith & Associates has been the most sought after crises management firm in the nation and beyond. 

Judy's most fascinating client was former Mayor Marion Barry.  According to Judy, even in light of his indiscretions and 6-month federal prison sentence for drug possession and use, Mr. Barry remained a 'people' person and very much connected to the community. Despite his history of political and legal controversies, Barry was a popular and influential figure in the local political scene.  After his release, he was elected to the Council of the District of Columbia in 1992, and ultimately returned to the mayoralty in 1994, serving from 1995 to 1999. 

Judy Smith's book, "Good Self, Bad Self: How to Bounce Back from Personal a Crisis is a must read.

 
And go!

Post by Glass House Communications.

Grammy Award Winner and Songbird DENIECE WILLIAMS - Feb. 8th

Intel Invests $300M Towards Diversity in Technology while Microsoft Struggles With an Inclusive Workforce

"It's time to step up and do more. It's not good enough to say we value diversity," says Intel's CEO Brian Krzanich.  Intel will aim for its U.S. workforce at all levels to mirror the talent available in America in the next five years, and Krzanich said the compensation of Intel leaders would be directly tied to the progress they make in reaching that diversity goal.  "This isn't just good business. This is the right thing to do," he said.

While Intel should absolutely be applauded for this initiative, a huge red flag is their first step, according to Krzanich, which is putting together the structure for connecting managers' pay to diversity stats and that part of the program will be implemented for 2015 pay.  Money certainly talks so who is to say the managers' efforts will be truly a party of Intel's 'culture of diversity' as opposed to keeping their monetary compensation steady and growing.  Anything tied to money will influence behavior so does it become a game of just 'filling in the numbers', as opposed to truly believing that Diversity & Inclusion is 'just good business sense'.    Read More About Intel's Initiative!

In mid-December, Microsoft quietly released its EEO-1 form, a federal filing that outlines employment data by race and gender according to job type. While Microsoft has diversity in its highest ranks, including an African-American Board Chairman, an Indian CEO and a female CFO, the overall statistics are less flattering: the company is 60.6% white and 71% male, according to its EEO-1 form.  Read more!

I have been passionate about Diversity & Inclusion (affectionately called D&I) since my graduate studies at Golden Gate University when I chose to do my thesis on Change Management.  It's been a 'lifestyle' and not just the hot topic of the year or month.  While D&I can be challenging to grow in any industry (i.e. technology, art, education, etc.), it's the consistency of the effort that brings the most impact and not an effort that has a 'designated time period'.  If there is not an 'intentional plan in place that is part of a business model, company goals, human resource training, then results will come more fluidly and organically.  This is the best approach to building any effective and impactful culture of diversity and inclusion.

Diversity is being invited to the party.  Inclusion is being asked to dance at the party.  It's time to dance more!  And go!