By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msaylesafro.com JPMorgan Chase’s senior business consultants in Baltimore, Beth Hehir and Hans Petit-Homme, hold more than 40 years of combined experience in commercial banking, business banking and financial services. Now, using their expertise, the pair has combined forces to mentor minority businesses across the […]
Author Archives: Megan Sayles AFRO Staff Writer
Megan Sayles is a business reporter for The Baltimore Afro-American paper. Before this, Sayles interned with Baltimore Magazine, where she wrote feature stories about the city’s residents, nonprofits and initiatives. Her love of music inspired her to be a writer. At a young age she realized it was not the melody that she was so infatuated with, but the lyrics that made up the song and connected with listeners. Sayles grew up in Pasadena, Maryland, and is a 2021 graduate of the University of Maryland, where for her senior capstone project she reported on how the coronavirus and inequality intersected in Baltimore. She also worked as a staff writer and copy editor for campus publications, including Stories Beneath the Shell and The Black Explosion. Sayles teamed up with a partner to report on how the pandemic had put many more responsibilities on the oldest child in families. The Associated Press and other news organizations picked up her story.
Posted inBUSINESS
Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance merge to create Momentus Capital to inclusively and equitably transform the financial services sector
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayle@safro.com Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance, two established national nonprofits based in D.C., recently merged and joined forces with Ventures Lending Technologies to create Momentus Capital, an organization that provides a continuum of social, financial and knowledge capital for local leaders, […]
Posted inTech
Patent prosecutor launches first-of-its-kind app to connect entertainment professionals and protect them from exploitation
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayle@safro.com Growing up, patent attorney Jean-Que Dar loved the arts. He was raised by immigrant parents from Haiti, and he was not allowed to have friends, so he turned to music. Dar could play every instrument that used the treble clef, and when the […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Maryland Legal Aid honors 98 year-old Baltimore native for decades of service and activism in her community
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com When Baltimore native Gwendolyn Johnson was a little girl, the only thing she knew was that she wanted to be able to help people. Her mother had given her up when she was six months old, and another family took her in. “My […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Philadelphia Print Works creates apparel amplifying the work of social justice movements
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com Founded by former software quality assurance engineer Maryam Pugh, Philadelphia Print Works is not like your regular T-shirt shop. It’s an independent clothing brand informed by previous and current social justice movements that designs apparel for activists, organizers and allies creating positive social […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Sistahs in Business Expo returns to the DMV
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com The Sistahs in Business (SIB) Expo, an event celebrating and educating Black female entrepreneurs, is returning to the Washington Metropolitan area this year at the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center in College Park on Aug. 13. The multi-city small business expo will boast […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Baltimore-based Hocker Dental Lab, boasts over 50 years in business
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member msayles@afro.com Born and raised in West Baltimore, Frank Hocker never imagined he would end up working in the dental field for over 50 years. Five decades in, his passion for the work has endured– even when running his own dental lab was considered a […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Inside look: the AFRO speaks with Black businesses inside Baltimore’s new and improved Lexington Market
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afrocom The Transform Lexington Market project has been underway since 2019, and soon, the new South Market and open-air, urban plaza will be open to the public. The revitalized space is set to open its doors this fall, and a community meeting to discuss […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Okoro Development revitalizes west side of Downtown Baltimore with team of minority professionals
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com Before London native Chukes Okoro traveled to the states for a job opportunity, he expected America to be full of opportunity. In England, he felt that there was an unbreakable glass ceiling preventing him and other minorities from pursuing their ambitions. In the […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Greysteel senior associate launches internal professional network to increase Black representation and retention incommercial real estate
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com Real estate has long had a diversity problem. The industry has perpetually been white- and male-dominated, with minority populations comprising just 28 percent of all real estate professions. Representation is even worse in commercial real estate, in which only 3 percent of professions […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Concentric Educational Solutions puts students at the center of its work, bridging the gap between school and home
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afrocom David Heiber founded Concentric Educational Solutions (CES) in 2010 to bridge the gap between home and the classroom. The word “concentric” means having a common center, and under Heiber’s direction, students are at the center of all of the company’s efforts. The organization’s mission […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Baltimore social change organization CLLCTIVLY welcomes first chief operating officer
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com CLLCTIVLY, a Baltimore social change organization focused on racial equity, narrative change, social connectedness and resource mobilization, recently welcomed its first-ever chief operating officer, Krystle Starvis. Starvis is no stranger to the nonprofit or the city of Baltimore. She was born and raised […]