Tyra Banks is introducing her “Hot Mama” hot ice cream to the United States, with the dessert’s debut planned in New York City this winter, Parade reports. The product, part of Banks’ SMiZE & Dream ice cream brand, was first released in Australia, in late September. Unlike traditional ice cream, “Hot Mama” is served warm and designed to be sipped rather than scooped, according to the outlet. The dessert’s smooth, creamy texture and unexpected temperature quickly gained attention online following its international debut.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by SMiZE & DREAM (@smizeanddream)   “At first, we tried just heating standard ice cream bases, but they turned sticky, gloopy, or too thin,” Banks said in a press release, per Business Insider. “The breakthrough came when we found the perfect viscosity — not too thick, not too thin — where hot ice cream still felt as dreamy as cold ice cream.” Parade notes that Banks and her team are working with several partners across...

Issa Rae is opening up about a pivotal moment in her career that nearly drained her savings. In her new essay collection, “I Should Be Smarter Now,” the 40-year-old “Insecure” creator reflects on how her impulsivity has influenced her career in Hollywood. “My impulsivity, the character trait I’ve benefited from and paid dearly for, is both a gift and a curse,” Rae wrote, according to Us Weekly. “The gift is that I can be fearless in the pursuit of anything I want to achieve…The curse is, of course, that I don’t properly think through the consequences of my actions,” Rae continued. Rae pointed to 2014 as one of the toughest periods, when she and producing partner Deniese Davis tried to launch three TV pilots at once, per Us Weekly. Despite having an early interest, they didn’t secure investors before moving forward. “I was so excited about our undeniable idea and confident that we eventually would [find investors], so we proceeded anyway,” Rae shared with Us Weekly. “We found some...

The LaunchPad, a new platform by Alami Capital with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will debut at GITEX Nigeria 2025, spotlighting women founders and addressing Africa’s funding gap for women-led startups, according to a news release. Across Africa, women own 27% of businesses and contribute 13% of the continent’s GDP, per the release. Yet, they only receive 7% of total venture capital funding. The LaunchPad aims to change that by deploying $250,000 in catalytic capital to five selected ventures after the event, per the release. Along with funding, founders will receive mentorship, regulatory readiness, and connections across the ecosystem to help their companies scale. “Who gets funded determines what gets built, and what gets built will define the economic future of Africa,” Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general of NITDA, said in the news release. “The LaunchPad ensures women founders are not just...

When Jo Opot was just 13 years old, she spent her school holidays managing her family’s small roadside food shack in Nairobi, Kenya. She’d start her days before sunrise cleaning vegetables and end them late, balancing the books and paying workers. “I have never worked so hard and earned so little,” she said in an interview with AFROTECH™. Those early days taught her about grit, resilience, and the struggles that small business owners face, especially women trying to make ends meet with limited support. Fast forward to today, and Opot is Founding Director of Gather Ventures, an impact fund with a mission close to her heart: investing in “ventures that both create climate resilience and drive asset creation for women and girls across Africa.” With a background that spans the United Nations, social innovation fellowships, and roles at TerraCycle and Acumen, she’s combining global experience with deep local understanding to make a difference. Why Climate Action And Women’s Empowerment...

HarbourView Equity Partners just landed a major financial boost to supercharge its growing empire. The Black-founded investment firm, led by Sherrese Clarke Soares, has secured $500 million in debt financing from KKR, according to a press release. The funds will be used to expand the firm’s portfolio of music, media, and sports-related intellectual property. The financing was structured by Barclays, with Barclays and KKR Capital Markets serving as placement agents and Fifth Third Bank as passive placement agent. “We are thrilled to have KKR’s continued support as we further scale the firm,” Soares said in the press release. “This additional capital will help us accelerate our strategy to align with where the media, sports, and entertainment markets are headed. We see a tremendous opportunity to continue investing in evergreen intellectual property, which we believe is historically uncorrelated to broader market volatility and forms a powerful diversification tool.” The new capital...

Savannah James — podcast host, entrepreneur, and mother of three with husband LeBron James — is expanding her growing portfolio with Reframe, a skincare brand backed by two years of research and proven results. Released on May 15, 2025, Reframe enters the beauty space with three core products: the Pigment Processor, a daily brightening serum priced at $115; Compression Complex, a facial sculpting moisturizer for $95; and Circadian Cream, which is an overnight collagen moisturizer that costs $135. In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE Magazine, James shared that her passion for skincare dates back to at least middle school, when she would watch her mother apply Noxzema to her flawless skin. Reframe was born from a desire to shift how clinical skincare is seen, experienced, and presented.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by The Cut (@thecut) “I really love clinical skincare. But it’s not always cute, and it’s not always really innovative,” James told PEOPLE. “So I think...

Dr. Christine Izuakor is making it easier for people in technology to forge meaningful connections. The Houston, TX, native is a cybersecurity professional with over a decade of experience leading cybersecurity functions at Fortune 100 companies. Her career journey could have looked very different had she pursued the medical field, a path favored by her Nigerian parents. However, she “failed miserably” in her attempt to become an eye doctor. Her pivot came after taking a course on encryption, which sparked her interest in cybersecurity. “I immediately switched my major and went on to earn a Ph.D. in security engineering. From there, I spent about 10 years leading different security functions at United Airlines, was a graduate cybersecurity professor, and so that’s what really kind of got me into this space and then allowed me to grow,” she told AFROTECH™ in an interview. Cyber Pop-up Today, Izuakor works part-time as an adjunct professor in cybersecurity at various schools and...

Costco is doubling down on its decision to maintain its DEI policies. This comes amid several major companies retracting their commitments, such as Google. CNBC reported that Google had established new programs to empower Black staffers following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. At the time, its CEO, Sundar Pichai, stated the intention “to build sustainable equity for Google’s Black+ community, and externally, to make our products and programs helpful in the moments that matter most to Black users.” The company aimed for a benchmark of 30% of leadership being composed of underrepresented groups by 2025. However, in the years since, Google has fallen significantly short of that goal by reducing staff and shrinking programs related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), as has its parent company Alphabet. By mid-2023, DEI job postings by companies in general were showing a downward trend. Job site Indeed offered data that revealed a drop of 44% in postings compared to the...