By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com African Americans have long faced discrimination as a result of their hair. School, workplace and U.S. military policies have prohibited or restricted natural hairstyles, including locs, afros, braids and bantu knots, and they have been used to justify the removal of African Americans […]
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
Survivor created organization to empower women and families impacted by domestic violence
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com South Carolina native was 14 when she encountered her first abusive relationship. Her boyfriend at the time was a few years older than her, and she characterized their relationship as “teenage love.” The abuse started with face grabbing and eventually escalated to her […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Mondawmin Mall will become the next setting for JPMorgan Chase community branch
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com JPMorgan Chase, joined by Mayor Brandon Scott and Baltimore City officials, on Tuesday celebrated the groundbreaking of the firm’s newest community branch, which is set to open this fall, at Mondawmin Mall. The new community branch is a part of JPMorgan Chase’s latest […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Home care agencies call for more funding to support staff
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com Nurses are often recognized as the backbone of hospitals. They spend more time with patients than doctors do, and they ultimately have the power to advocate for their patients to ensure they are given the highest level of care. Friday kicked off National […]
Posted inCoronavirus
Baltimore Community Foundation urges community organizations addressing racial disparities in vaccination coverage to apply for new COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Fund
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afrocom The Baltimore Community Foundation (BCF) has opened applications for the COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Fund, a $900,000 grant program for Baltimore community organizations that have programs and projects seeking to boost vaccination specifically among Black and LatinX adults aged 18 to 24 in Baltimore […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Black-woman-owned Seed2Shirt is bringing production back to the African diaspora
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com A few years ago, Air Force veteran Tameka Peoples was looking to buy T-shirts for an event that she was holding for her California-based nonprofit, People’s Foundation for Connecting Community Military and Veteran Services. Not only did Peoples want to buy the shirts […]
Posted inHBCU
HBCU-led marketing firm ABCD & Company proves philanthropy is just as important as earning a profit
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com Fellow Howard University alumni and best friends Brittanye Briscoe, Amber Dozier, Durecia Moorer and Corey Briscoe established full-service marketing and events firm ABCD & Company in Rockville, Maryland back in 2014. Though all of them had personal motivations for becoming entrepreneurs, there was […]
Posted inBUSINESS
30 Black men join forces to create Kioba Business Ventures, a development company fostering generational wealth for Black families through homeownership
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com According to the Abell Foundation, the homeownership rate in Baltimore City dropped from 51 percent to 47 percent from 2007 to 2017. The Black homeownership rate plunged to 42 percent. The decline of Black homeownership is not special to Baltimore. In fact, the […]
Posted inHBCU
HBCU Grads and fraternity brothers team up to launch QuikLiq, the first Black-owned alcohol delivery app
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com Business partners Navarr Grevious and Mikael Pyles consider themselves brothers. Blood wouldn’t make them any closer, and their brotherhood has become their secret weapon to entrepreneurial success. The duo met in college while attending Clark Atlanta University and happened to pledge Kappa Alpha […]
Posted inTechnology
First-of-its-kind African-American STEM Doll inspires youth to explore computer science
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com It’s not often that people choose a major without knowing anything about the subject, but in the 10th grade, that’s just what Bukola Somide did. A friend at the time, who was senior, told Somide about computer science, and while she had zero […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Baltimore beautician becomes entrepreneur with launch of beauty supply store
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com Although Baltimore native Stacia Dashiell now runs her own beauty supply store, A Beautiful U Beauty Supply, she got her start in the beauty industry as a young girl. Her mother struggled to maintain her and her sister’s hair between beauty appointments, so […]
Posted in!Front Page
Nation’s first Black-woman led community solar company forges partnership with University of Maryland Medical system to build Baltimore solar farm
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member msayles@afro.com WeSolar, Inc. (WeSolar) in collaboration with the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) announced a new partnership on Thursday to build a solar farm in Baltimore City that will provide power to UMMS facilities and city residents. UMMS will pay $10,000 per month […]