Jonathon Romain: Fine Artist Envisions A Better Tomorrow For His Community

BE Modern Man: Jonathon Romain

Fine artist, master framer, art gallery owner, photographer, speaker; 53; Co-Founder/Director of Development, Artists ReEnvisioning Tomorrow, Inc.

Instagram: @jromainart

My wife and I recently purchased a 50-thousand-square-feet school building that we have turned into a community art and cultural center. Our objective is to have a fun, creative, and safe space for our young people. Along with art programs, we will offer a variety of STEM projects in partnership with Illinois State University’s Center for Mathematics, Science and Technology (CeMAST).

We recently won the State Farm Neighborhood Assist Grant. It’s a national competition among 2,000 applicants that ultimately garnered over 4.5 million votes from the community. In addition to that, we were awarded a half-million-dollar capital fund grant and raised another $350,000, all in just north of one year.

I’m happy to say that we just completed our first summer camp that consisted of filmmaking, drama, dance, coding and visual arts.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF IN LIFE?

The thing I’m most proud of is having the opportunity to reach so many young people and share with them my testimony in hopes of making a difference in their lives, as both a fine artist and a leader in my community.

HOW HAVE YOU TURNED STRUGGLE INTO SUCCESS?

Two weeks after graduating from college, I was sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling drugs. I served seven-and-a-half-years of that sentence. Instead of allowing it to define me, I completely turned my life around. As a fine artist, I’ve spent the last two decades trying to build my community through the art that I create and the lives I impact through lectures, workshops and now, a community art center.

WHO WAS YOUR GREATEST MALE ROLE MODEL AND WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM HIM?

My stepfather was my greatest role model. I learned that you had to work hard every day and you had to educate yourself. He shared with me over and over again that his life would have been so much better had he just went to school.

He was uneducated, but he was a hard worker, and he worked until the day he died.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED?

The best advice I was ever given happened when I was 14-years-old. I was at a party with older cousins while visiting out of town. I was afraid to talk to anyone because I was so young. My cousin recognized my trepidation and said, simply, “After next week, you won’t see these people again, so what difference does it matter what you say?”

He erased all of my fears in that one statement. From that day on, I never feared to go after what I wanted. I stopped caring about what people thought and moved on whatever agenda I had.

HOW ARE YOU PAYING IT FORWARD TO SUPPORT OTHER BLACK MALES?

I have spoken to young black men from colleges to prisons all over the country and would like to think that my words have been just what some of them have needed at that moment.

My wife and I have committed our lives to making a difference in our community as well.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE MANHOOD?

Manhood is accepting full responsibility for your actions, assessing your situation as realistically as possible, and manifesting your destiny with every fiber of your being. Start with what you have, right here, right now, and build from that.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT BEING A BLACK MAN?

I love our swagger!

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BE Modern Man is an online and social media campaign designed to celebrate black men making valuable contributions in every profession, industry, community, and area of endeavor. Each year, we solicit nominations in order to select men of color for inclusion in the 100 Black Enterprise Modern Men of Distinction. Our goal is to recognize men who epitomize the BEMM credo “Extraordinary is our normal” in their day-to-day lives, presenting authentic examples of the typical black man rarely seen in mainstream media. The BE Modern Men of Distinction are celebrated annually at Black Men XCEL (www.blackenterprise.com/blackmenxcel/). Click this link to submit a nomination for BE Modern Man: https://www.blackenterprise.com/nominate/. Follow BE Modern Man on Twitter: @bemodernman and Instagram: @be_modernman.

 

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Teenager might have staged kidnapping because she didn’t want to move

The 16-year-old Bronx girl who was reportedly kidnapped late Monday night could have staged the kidnapping after her mother discussed moving the family back to her native Honduras, police sources said.

Karol Sanchez knew at least one of the four men who allegedly “kidnapped” her, according to CNN. No further details or motive were provided.

READ MORE: Teen, who prompted citywide Amber Alert, confesses she staged her own kidnapping

Karol and her 36-year-old mother were walking near 745 Eagle Avenue, which is about a mile east of Yankee Stadium in The Bronx when two men reportedly jumped out of a beige-colored sedan and snatched the teenager and dragged her into the car. The mother was pushed to the ground trying to save her daughter, New York Police initially said. The incident happened about 11:30 p.m. Monday night as the mom and her daughter headed to a train station on Jackson Avenue.

The incident was captured on video and by Tuesday morning, police had issued an Amber Alert warning that “the child was taken under circumstances that lead police to believe that they are in imminent danger of serious harm and/or death.”

Even New York Mayor Bill de Blasio got involved, taking to Twitter to plead with the public for help in finding Karol, and promising to solve this case.

“To Karol Sanchez’s family and loved ones, know that the NYPD will not rest until she’s found — and her kidnappers are brought to justice,” he tweeted.

New York City, we need your help:

If you have ANY information on the whereabouts of Karol Sanchez, contact the NYPD IMMEDIATELY.

To Karol Sanchez’s family and loved ones, know that the NYPD will not rest until she’s found — and her kidnappers are brought to justice. https://t.co/tlVM39HZGu

— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) December 17, 2019

 On Thursday, two police sources tell CNN that it appears to be all a hoax. Sanchez’s mother had recently talked about moving her family back to Honduras and police are now investigating whether this could have prompted the staged kidnapping.

READ MORE: Suspect arrested in kidnapping of UFC fighter’s stepdaughter

On Tuesday afternoon, Sanchez was found safe. Law enforcement sources told CNN Sanchez walked to an address where her family was and police were called and picked her up for questioning.

The post Teenager might have staged kidnapping because she didn’t want to move appeared first on theGrio.

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R. Kelly pleads not guilty to federal racketeering charges in New York

Through his attorney, R. Kelly pleaded not guilty to federal racketeering charges in New York. Kelly’s attorney entered the plea from a Chicago courtroom on Wednesday, alongside the singer.

READ MORE: R. Kelly charged with bribing official for fake ID to marry Aaliyah when she was 15

The Justice Department added the bribery charge against Kelly after authorities found that Kelly obtained a false identification document for a woman, back on Aug. 30, 1994. The New York Times, citing a source knowledgeable on the matter, reported the unidentified woman was singer Aaliyah Haughton, who Kelly reportedly married when she was 15 years old. According to The Times, Kelly reportedly bribed an Illinois government official to obtain a fake ID for Aaliyah so he could marry her. The fake marriage license listed her age as 18.

Their marriage was annulled in 1995 after Aaliyah’s family became aware of it, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Kelly and his attorney, Steve Greenberg, appeared remotely in the Chicago courtroom and told the judge from the Eastern District of New York that he understood the charges against him.

The New York indictment alleges that Kelly bribed and transported women and girls across state lines to take part in illegal sexual activity. Kelly pleaded not guilty in August to racketeering, kidnapping, forced labor and sexual exploitation of a child charges in Brooklyn.

After yesterday’s court proceedings, another one of Kelly’s attorneys, Douglas Anton, said the singer was maintaining well behind bars and is even writing some “uplifting” song lyrics while in jail.

Kelly, 52, faces federal and state child sexual abuse charges in several jurisdictions.

In other R. Kelly news, next month, Lifetime will air its sequel to the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries. According to Deadline, Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning, is the next series on the singer that will feature interviews with additional survivors, as well as psychologists, lawyers, and other experts.

The sequel is executive produced by dream hampton, who created “Surviving R. Kelly”; Joel Karsberg and Jesse Daniels of Kreativ Inc.; Tamra Simmons; Maria Pepin; and Brie Miranda Bryant executive producers for the network. Sudi Khosropur is the co-executive producer.

The post R. Kelly pleads not guilty to federal racketeering charges in New York appeared first on theGrio.

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Jonathon Romain: Fine Artist Envisions A Better Tomorrow For His Community

BE Modern Man: Jonathon Romain

Fine artist, master framer, art gallery owner, photographer, speaker; 53; Co-Founder/Director of Development, Artists ReEnvisioning Tomorrow, Inc.

Instagram: @jromainart

My wife and I recently purchased a 50-thousand-square-feet school building that we have turned into a community art and cultural center. Our objective is to have a fun, creative, and safe space for our young people. Along with art programs, we will offer a variety of STEM projects in partnership with Illinois State University’s Center for Mathematics, Science and Technology (CeMAST).

We recently won the State Farm Neighborhood Assist Grant. It’s a national competition among 2,000 applicants that ultimately garnered over 4.5 million votes from the community. In addition to that, we were awarded a half-million-dollar capital fund grant and raised another $350,000, all in just north of one year.

I’m happy to say that we just completed our first summer camp that consisted of filmmaking, drama, dance, coding and visual arts.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF IN LIFE?

The thing I’m most proud of is having the opportunity to reach so many young people and share with them my testimony in hopes of making a difference in their lives, as both a fine artist and a leader in my community.

HOW HAVE YOU TURNED STRUGGLE INTO SUCCESS?

Two weeks after graduating from college, I was sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling drugs. I served seven-and-a-half-years of that sentence. Instead of allowing it to define me, I completely turned my life around. As a fine artist, I’ve spent the last two decades trying to build my community through the art that I create and the lives I impact through lectures, workshops and now, a community art center.

WHO WAS YOUR GREATEST MALE ROLE MODEL AND WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM HIM?

My stepfather was my greatest role model. I learned that you had to work hard every day and you had to educate yourself. He shared with me over and over again that his life would have been so much better had he just went to school.

He was uneducated, but he was a hard worker, and he worked until the day he died.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED?

The best advice I was ever given happened when I was 14-years-old. I was at a party with older cousins while visiting out of town. I was afraid to talk to anyone because I was so young. My cousin recognized my trepidation and said, simply, “After next week, you won’t see these people again, so what difference does it matter what you say?”

He erased all of my fears in that one statement. From that day on, I never feared to go after what I wanted. I stopped caring about what people thought and moved on whatever agenda I had.

HOW ARE YOU PAYING IT FORWARD TO SUPPORT OTHER BLACK MALES?

I have spoken to young black men from colleges to prisons all over the country and would like to think that my words have been just what some of them have needed at that moment.

My wife and I have committed our lives to making a difference in our community as well.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE MANHOOD?

Manhood is accepting full responsibility for your actions, assessing your situation as realistically as possible, and manifesting your destiny with every fiber of your being. Start with what you have, right here, right now, and build from that.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT BEING A BLACK MAN?

I love our swagger!

---

BE Modern Man is an online and social media campaign designed to celebrate black men making valuable contributions in every profession, industry, community, and area of endeavor. Each year, we solicit nominations in order to select men of color for inclusion in the 100 Black Enterprise Modern Men of Distinction. Our goal is to recognize men who epitomize the BEMM credo “Extraordinary is our normal” in their day-to-day lives, presenting authentic examples of the typical black man rarely seen in mainstream media. The BE Modern Men of Distinction are celebrated annually at Black Men XCEL (www.blackenterprise.com/blackmenxcel/). Click this link to submit a nomination for BE Modern Man: https://www.blackenterprise.com/nominate/. Follow BE Modern Man on Twitter: @bemodernman and Instagram: @be_modernman.

 

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Make Money In The Stock Market: Military Vet Tony Elion Jr. Shares How He Did It

Make money in the stock market.

It sounds so simple. Yet, realizing this wealth-creation goal intimidates many people, in part due to the perception that you need to be a Warren-Buffet-level financial genius and/or already wealthy to make this particular American dream come true. And, too often, books aimed at teaching ordinary people about investing in the stock market are similarly intimidating, especially for beginners who are quickly overwhelmed by investing jargon. Even books for investing novices seem to assume a basic level of knowledge that fails to meet enough people where they are—namely, still living from paycheck to paycheck. As a result, making money in the stock market is easy to say, but seems, to many, nearly impossible to actually do.

Therein lies the value of Sailor to Student: How I Made A Quarter of A Million Dollars In The Stock Market, And You Can Too by Tony Elion Jr. This book, in simple, everyday language, meets people where they are—not in the penthouses of sophisticated, high-income investors showcased in bank and investment company commercials, but in the basement apartments of regular people struggling with credit card debt, rising costs of living and stagnant wages. Elion shares, step by step (and in less than 100 pages), how he earned more than $300,000 in the stock market in 13 months, not as some kind of investing savant, but a military veteran and graduate student with no background, formal training, or licensure in finance.

The best part about Sailor to Student is that Elion focuses most of the book on the single most important key to successful investing—establishing a healthy financial lifestyle before you actually buy your first stock. This is the perfect first book on investing in the stock market for the person who has never purchased stocks before but is willing to make short-term sacrifices to build long-term wealth.

If that’s you, here are some of the tips and “mindset hacks” to get started with investing in the stock market shared by Elion in Sailor to Student:

TRACK YOUR MONEY

To make money in the stock market you must already have money to invest. Most people believe they don’t. However, Elion says that money you could be investing in the stock market is likely being spent on something else.

“The first thing you have to do is track your money,” Elion says. “Do a quick look at your bank statements and your pay stubs. Find out what is the biggest bill you have and where you can eliminate expenses. Figure out where your income tax refund was spent. Figure out if you have disposable income (money to use on whatever you like), and what you have been buying with it. The quicker you track your money, the quicker you will know what is either draining or increasing your finances.

“More than likely, this means you will have to create a budget (if you don’t already have one), and you’ll need to actually start watching the budget to see where your money is going,” Elion continues. “If you can tell where your money is going, then you can see what needs to continue to be spent and what can be saved or invested.”

MAKE ELIMINATING DEBT YOUR FIRST INVESTMENT

“I never tell people to invest money when they have car notes, credit card bills, furniture bills, etc. Your priority should be to get free of that debt, and only then should you look toward investing,” says Elion. “Getting out of debt is not impossible. It’s hard as hell, but it’s not impossible.”

Elion also includes paying for insurance (including health, life, home, and auto), and earmarking monthly contributions to retirement, a savings account (“at least a couple grand”) and an emergency fund equal to about six months salary. “You don’t have to have the savings and emergency fund fully stocked overnight,” he explains. “Save a bit here and there, grow them over time.”

The goal is to prepare yourself to invest in the stock market without putting yourself at unnecessary financial risk. “Using the strategy that I laid out,” says Elion, “if your investment goes bad, you will not suffer as much. Yes, money might be lost from the investment, but you will still be covered in your daily life and your retirement until the stocks regain value, or in a worst-case scenario, you have to write them off as a loss.”

COMMIT TO THE FUNDAMENTALS OF WEALTH CREATION

To make money in the stock market requires rejecting the “get rich quick” mentality and embracing two critically important fundamentals of wealth creation: delayed gratification and discipline.

“The reason why the foundations of delayed gratification and discipline are so important is that you have to have your personal finances in proper order, so that you have money to invest,” Elion insists. “If you are sinking in debt, then you won’t have money to invest. If you are living check-to-check, then you won’t have money to invest. You have to sacrifice in the beginning, so that you can have disposable income to invest in the end. If you already have disposable income, but you are using it to get your hair and nails done, go to the club, take vacations, etc., then you have to be willing to stop that, to delay the gratification of those personal luxuries, and use that money for investing.”

“You have to be willing to be uncomfortable a little so that you have extra money for climbing out of debt and eventually for investing,” says Elion. “Once you have invested that money and start to watch it grow, then you can take the money from the investments and buy that new phone or new car or go on that vacation. You have to delay that happiness until you can enjoy it debt-free and worry-free.”

NEVER INVEST MONEY YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE

It is not possible to make money in the stock market without losing money in the stock market; it’s how the stock market works. The consistently positive returns historically delivered by the stock markets happen over time, as in years, not weeks or months—or before your next mortgage payment is due.

Related: 10 Top Personal Finance Books by Black Authors 

“I always tell people: Do not buy stocks with money you need!” Elion stresses. “You should be investing in stocks after you have your finances in order and not as a way to make a quick buck. If you want to try your luck at making a quick buck with your paycheck, then you should try the Powerball or a casino. Stocks should be approached as long-term investments, especially when you are first starting out and learning about the market.”

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