By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer Report for America Corps Member msayles@afro.com Growing up in Seat Pleasant, Maryland, the only food that Mario Minor had access to was from corner stores and fast food restaurants. His options comprised frozen and fried meals with high sodium, fat and sugar. While working out kept Minor looking healthy […]
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 in!Front Page
Three Keys Coffee pairs cups of joe with jazz
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer Report for America Corps Member msayles@afro.com Tio and Kenzel Fallen have long been coffee lovers. Tio works in the oil and gas industry as a mechanical engineer, while Kenzel specializes in risk management for banks. When the couple traveled internationally, they made it a point to visit coffee-producing countries. […]
Posted in!Front Page
Deadline for Reimagine Main Street and The WELL’s Backing Black Business grant closes Wednesday
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer Report for America Corps Member msayles@afro.com The Women’s Entrepreneur Leadership Lab (The WELL) recently partnered with Reimagine Main Street, a multi-stakeholder, cross-sector initiative focused on the recovery of small business from COVID-19, to launch the Backing Black Business grant program. Backing Black Business will award $2 million worth of […]
Posted inNEWS
Knight Foundation study finds lack of representation in asset management industry for diverse-owned firms
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer Report for America Corps Member msayles@afro.com #AFRONews@Noon The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (Knight Foundation) on Dec. 7 released a new study about diversity in the asset management industry, which found that although diverse-owned asset management firms perform just as well as their White competitors, they manage […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Deluxe’s Small Business Revolution backs local journalism by revitalizing Black-owned Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer Report for America Corps Member msayles@afro.com #AFRONews@Noon For Tracey Williams-Dillard, running a newspaper was a birthright. Her grandfather, Cecil Newman, founded what’s known today as the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder in 1934 to serve as a trusted voice for the African American communities living in the Twin Cities. Today, Williams-Dillard is […]
Posted in!Front Page
Enterprise Community Development launches accelerator program to benefit BIPOC, community- and faith-based developers
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer Report for America Corps Member msayles@afro.com Baltimore-based Enterprise Community Development recently launched the Let’s Build Accelerator to address the equity gap in the real estate and development industries. With its initial $5 million equity investment, the nonprofit will partner with Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) community and […]
Posted in!Front Page
Woman-owned clothing brand D’IYANU celebrates African heritage
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer Report for America Corps Member msayles@afro.com When working as a buyer for a lab supply company in 2013, Addie Elabor grew increasingly unhappy with her career. She needed a change. During this time, she and a friend reflected on how African print clothing was becoming more popular in fashion. […]
Posted inBaltimore Community
Baltimore Together report lays out economic development strategy that prioritizes building an equitable economy for BIPOC communities
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer Report for America Corps Member msayles@afro.com The Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) recently released its final Baltimore Together report after two years of gathering insights, feedback and recommendations from over 300 diverse stakeholders. The report serves as the city’s comprehensive economic development strategy for the next five years. A major […]
Posted in!Front Page
Greenbar addresses Prince George’s County’s need for healthy food options
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer Report for America Corps Member msayles@afro.com In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brandon Barksdale and Sharisse Barksdale-Lane, developed the concept for Greenbar, a fast-casual restaurant committed to providing healthy, fresh and whole foods. The brother and sister duo decided to dive into entrepreneurship with the eatery after they […]
Posted in!Front Page
Inez Augins-Watson proves there’s no age limit to staying active
By Megan Sayles msayles@afro.com If there is one thing that Inez Augins-Watson embodies, it’s that age is merely a number. No matter how cliché the phrase is, she proves it to be true. The 83-year-old spends her days teaching fitness classes and swimming lessons to members of her community when she’s not enjoying the company […]
Posted inBUSINESS
Justis Connection serves as the only Black lawyer referral service
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer Report for America Corps Member msayles@afro.com As soon as Kisha Brown started law school at Georgetown University, people began reaching out to ask her how they could find a lawyer. It dawned on Brown that many members of the Black community do not have access to legal representation. As […]
Posted inBUSINESS
JPMorgan Chase and Youth Guidance partner to provide better access to economic opportunity for young men of color
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer Report for America Corps Member msayles@afro.com JPMorgan Chase and Youth Guidance announced on Wednesday that they would team up to expand their respective programs, The Fellowship Initiative (TFI) and Becoming a Man (BAM), to D.C. for young men of color. Both programs will target male students of color from […]
