Category

Career Gems

Category

American singer, Jennifer Lopez, who is the judge and executive producer on NBC’s  “World of Dance,” is being sued by a man who claims he came up with the idea for the TV show.

The man named Alvin Gray-El reportedly filed a federal lawsuit this week against J.Lo, NBC and famed choreographer Debbie Allen.

Alvin Gray-El ?is suing J Lo claiming ‘WoD’ is a total rip from an idea he first pitched to renowned choreographer Debbie Allen.

According to another court documents obtained by The Blast, Gray-El claims he came up with the idea for a show called “Let’s Start the Dance” back in 2009. He claims to have faxed a letter to Debbie Allen and her production company in an effort to see if she was interested in producing the show.

Gray-El claims he never heard back from her. In 2010, Gray-El claims he had the show registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Years later  Gray-El claims he discovered “World of Dance” was in the works at NBC in 2017. He says he tried to contact NBC to notify them of the copyright infringement but says he didn’t get a reply.

Gray-El is asking for $5 million in actual damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages.

But a source told Page Six on Tuesday that Jennifer Lopez didn’t come up with the idea herself. He went on to explain that“ World of Dance” began as an organization that existed prior to the show’s creation and that NBC brought the idea to Lopez.

Based on a new ruling issued by a federal court in North Carolina, female students attending Charter Day, a school in Leland, North Carolina, will no longer be forced to wear skirts as part of their required school uniforms.

 

The ruling comes after guardians of three students who attend the school, comprised of 900 students in grades kindergarten through eighth, sued the district in 2016 on behalf of the students, CBS News reports.

In their suit, the guardians alleged that in forcing female students to wear skirts, the students have “to pay constant attention to the positioning of their legs during class, distracting them from learning, and has led them to avoid certain activities altogether, such as climbing or playing sports during recess, all for fear of exposing their undergarments and being reprimanded by teachers or teased by boys.”

As the school’s dress code previously read, the required uniform policy was enacted to “serve the School’s mission of providing a classical education by creating a traditional learning environment.” Under the previous dress code, girls were required to wear jumpers, skirts, or skorts that were knee-length or longer. Boys were permitted to wear pants and shorts.

Per a ruling by Judge Malcolm J. Howard, female students will no longer be required to wear skirts. As his ruling states, “Women (and girls) have, for at least several decades, routinely worn both pants and skirts in various settings, including professional settings and school settings. Females have been allowed to wear trousers or pants in all but the most formal or conservative settings since the 1970s.” The judge went on to say that “the skirts requirement causes the girls to suffer a burden the boys do not, simply because they are female.”

According to The New York Times, Baker Mitchell, founder of the Roger Bacon Academy, a company which operates four charter schools in North Carolina, said that following the ruling, the Charter Day School Board was “analyzing the opinion and will be meeting with counsel in the very near future to discuss their options moving forward.”

 

Credit: Teen Vogue 

For the first time in history, three black Hijabi models were featured on the cover of Vogue Arabia, the April issue. Models Halima Aden, Ikram Abdi Omar, and Amina Adan were photographed by Txema Yeste and styled by Vogue Arabia fashion director, Katie Trotter, with a focus on shattering stereotypes associated with modest fashion and Muslim women.

This is the first cover for Abdi Omar and Amina Adan, and Halima Aden’s second since she was featured on the cover of the magazine’s June 2017 issue. In the Vogue Arabia article that accompanies the cover story, Aden said, “I think it’s important to remember that wearing a hijab is a woman’s personal choice. It doesn’t make her any better or worse than another Muslim woman. To me, it symbolizes modesty and gives me a sense of power.”

They spoke about their experiences as young Muslim women and the discrimination that comes with that identity. Adan, who is the first Hijabi model signed to a Danish agencysaid, “Most people are afraid to ask questions and have a conversation about it, even if they are genuinely curious. All they know about Muslim people stems from the news or videos on the Internet about women not having the same rights as men.”

The effort to better represent Muslim women is not lost on fashion fans around the world, and many had a lot to say about the cover and its significance. Gigi Hadid praised the cover on Twitter, saying, “Vogue Arabia is really out there showing people how it’s done.” Another Twitter user said, “Somali girls singlehandedly putting Vogue Arabia on the map the power and international implications!!!” On Instagram people were posting and praising the cover, too. One user posted “Happy #MuslimWomen’s Day! Today We celebrate with the historic all-hijabi/Somali women Vogue Arabia Cover!” Another user posted the photo of the cover with the caption, “Use the power of fashion and magazines to make society more inclusive.”

This year it seems fashion’s attempts at more representation and inclusion are picking up pace.

 

Credit: Teen Vogue

28-year-old singer, Taylor Swift has a reported net worth of $280 million and huge chunk of that is parked in real estate. Swift owns more than $84 million worth of real estate across the US eight properties in four different states, to be exact according to estimates provided to Business Insider by Trulia .

Taylor Swift real estate map list
Taylor Swift real estate map list

Nashville

Let’s begin in Nashville, Tennessee, where Swift launched her country music career. It’s only fitting for her to have at least one property there, but she has two.

There’s the 3,240-square-foot condo in Nashville’s Music Row, which she bought at age 20. Swift said in an interview with Vulture , who described the condo’s aesthetic as “whimsically girlie,” that she did the interior design herself.

Worth an estimated $3 million, the condo boasts industrial-style features and skyline views of midtown Nashville thanks to its floor-to-ceiling windows.

In June 2011, she purchased a 1934 Greek Revival estate in Nashville that features a 5,600-square-foot main house with four bedrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms. Out back there’s a pool and a 2,000-square-foot guesthouse. Trulia estimates it to be worth nearly $2.5 million and that’s the cheapest property she owns.

Taylor Swift house Nashville
Taylor Swift house Nashville

Los Angeles

Ever the superstar, Swift also spends time in Los Angeles. She sold her Beverly Hills Cape Cod-style cottage of 2,826 square feet for $4 million earlier this year, but she still owns two more residences in the area at least, for now.

Her 2,950-square-foot Beverly Hills home iscurrently on the market ; Trulia estimates its value at $2.85 million.

Beverly Hills Taylor Swift Home
Beverly Hills Taylor Swift Home

Surrounded by lush greenery, mountains, a pool, and a sprawling patio area, the mod-style single-story home is light and airy with floor-to-ceiling glass, skylights, a private courtyard, and a 1,000-bottle climate-controlled wine cellar .

And then there’s the iconic 1934 Beverly Hills mansion she purchased in September 2015. It was previously home to Hollywood film producer, Samuel Goldwyn.

Taylor Swift Beverly Hills mansion
Taylor Swift Beverly Hills mansion

Swift plans to turn the 10,982-square-foot Georgian Revival estate into a historic landmark and restore it to its former status now that the Beverly Hills Cultural Heritage Commission has voted in favor of her request.

Worth nearly $30 million, it’s the most expensive piece of property in her real estate portfolio, according to Trulia’s estimates.

Rhode Island

But Nashville and Beverly Hills aren’t the only places she calls home. Across the coast, Swift owns an estate with seaside views in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, valued at $6.65 million.

The seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom mansion of 12,000 square feet overlooks 700 feet of shoreline with views of Block Island Sound and Montauk Point.

The grapevine whispers that Swift bought the home in April 2013 after breaking up with Conor Kennedy the famous Kennedy Family Compound is not far. A dream vacation home, it’s the perfect place for parties with her squad.

But that’s only one of four properties Swift has in the Northeast. The rest are all in New York City, specifically in Tribeca. As if that’s not close quarters, they’re all on the same block.

New York City

In 2014, Swift put her savvy real estate skills to work, purchasing two adjacent penthouses in a Tribeca building and renovating them into one large duplex penthouse of 8,309 square feet with 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms.

It features an expansive kitchen where Swift has baked with her squad, a billiards table, and a sweeping staircase, all at an estimated value of $20.5 million.

In 2017, she became her own neighbor when she purchased a 100-year-old, four-story townhouse next door. At 27 square-feet wideand 5,148 total square feet, it’s filled with a ton of natural light on the first floor (a rarity and a luxury in Manhattan). It also has a home theater, gym, steam bath, and bar, as well as a guest suite, and is estimated to be worth $12.5 million.

Taylor Swift's townhouse at 153 Franklin St. in Tribeca.
Taylor Swift’s townhouse at 153 Franklin St. in Tribeca.

Most recently in February 2018, she purchased another condo on the second floor of the same building as her penthouse from financier Jeremey Phillips for $9.75 million in an off-market deal, reported the New York Post . Trulia estimates its value at $6.9 million.

It’s no wonder Swifties are dubbing Swift’s Tribeca block “Taybeca,” considering she owns roughly $40 million worth of property there.

 

 

Credit: pulse.ng

Jemima Osunde is officially a graduate from the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos.

The beautiful actress took to her Twitter page on Thursday, March 28, 2019, where she shared photos from the graduation ceremony.

Jemima bagged a degree in Physiotherapy from the University of Lagos. She looked excited as she showed off her induction certificate.

Jemima Osunde joins other graduates as she bags a degree in Physiotherapy [Instagram/JemimaOsunde]
Jemima Osunde joins other graduates as she bags a degree in Physiotherapy [Instagram/JemimaOsunde]
Jemima Osunde flanked by her parents at her induction [Instagram/JemimaOsunde]
Jemima Osunde flanked by her parents at her induction [Instagram/JemimaOsunde]

 

Credit: pulse.ng

A 20-year-old Bangladeshi woman welcomed a set of twins just 26 days after giving birth to a baby boy.

Arifa Sultana gave birth to a baby boy in February according to Dr Sheila Poddar, a gynaecologist at Ad-Din hospital in Dhaka. But on March 22 she was rushed to hospital after falling ill before shocking everyone by giving birth to a baby boy and girl through caesarean section.

Poddar told local media that the woman came to the hospital complaining of lower abdominal pain. Doctors performed an ultrasound and realised Sultana was pregnant with twins. This was shocking considering she just delivered a baby only days earlier.

Sultana had two uteruses, a condition called uterus didelphys.

A uterus didelphys is a rare congenital abnormality, and the occurrence of twin gestation has an overall incidence rate of 1 in a million, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Her first baby was conceived and grown in a different womb to that holding the twins, the NZ Herald reports.

 

Woman with two wombs gives birth to twins one month after having a baby boy

 

Sultana was unaware of her condition and double-simultaneous pregnancy as she did not receive an ultrasound for the birth of her baby boy.

“It’s a rare incident. I have seen such a case for the first time. I had not even heard about such an incident before,” Poddar said.

It is understood the mother and babies are healthy and doing well, according to The NZ Herald.

 

 

Credit: LIB

Facebook’s Policy Programmes Head in Africa, Sherry Dzinoreva, says the company will intensify its female entrepreneurship training in 10 universities in Nigeria in 2019.

Speaking during the ”SheMeansBusiness” dinner in Lagos, Dzinoreva said that Facebook was collaborating with ”She Leads Africa”to intensify female entrepreneurship training in Nigeria.

She said that training would be intensified through its ”SheMeansBusiness” programme that was launched in Nigeria in 2018.

According to her, the company trained over 4,000 female entrepreneurs in the country in 2018, through the SheMeansBusiness programme.

”We are going to continue to train thousands of women as well this year. Not very different from what we did last year, the only difference this year is that we are going into university as well.

”So we are going to be crossing 10 different universities across the country, as well as continuing to train female entrepreneurs.

”The ideas of the programme is for women to come together to learn how to use digital platforms to grow their businesses, but in doing so, we also have a number of other types of engagements.

”And as they do this, there are opportunities to network and learn how to actually grow their businesses.

”This year, we are bringing financial literacy into the programme as well. it is opportunity to empower and support female business owners and aspiring female business owners,” she said.

Dzinoreva said that there was no specific criteria to engage on the programme, but just the entrepreneurial spirit of women who were either aspiring or existing entrepreneurs.

She said that Facebook felt that there was definitely a need to do something a bit different for the women.

”There is something about creating spaces for women because we know that when women are doing well, their communities are doing well.

”When women are doing well; their families are doing well, businesses, industries are doing well and ultimately, the economy is driving as well.

”So we wanted to create a programme that was exclusively for women who were either one of you or are women who are thinking about opening a business and just need a little bit of inspiration,” Dzinoreva said.

The Director, Public Policy Africa at Facebook, Ebele Okobi, said that there was the need for women to be in charge of their destinies, as it would affect the nation.

Okobi said that Facebook was interested in ensuring that women used its platforms – Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – to create economic independence.

The Co-Founder, She Leads Africa, Afua Osei, said that this was the company’s third year of working with Facebook on a programme to teach, train and support women entrepreneurs.

”And last year, we had the opportunity to work on a programme that was just focused on women, understanding the unique challenges, as well as opportunities for women entrepreneurs.

”We changed more than 4,000 women all across Nigeria. So we are so excited that our training continued to have a serious impact in helping women all across Nigeria.

”This year we are going to drive around in Nigeria, and we are going to get 10 universities all across the country.

”We know that young people are entrepreneurial, they are excited, but they don’t really have that much money. So we are going to teach them how to start getting into businesses with a little cash,

”We are going to bring the training and the expertise to them, so that they can have that experience on their campuses,” Osei said.

 

Credit: Pulse News

Former first lady Michelle Obama‘s best-selling memoir, “Becoming,” has sold nearly 10 million copies, and is set to become the best-selling memoir in history.

The parent company of publisher Penguin Random House announced Tuesday.

“We believe this could be the most successful memoir in history,” said Thomas Rabe, the chief executive of Bertelsmann, a parent company of Penguin Random House, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The candid memoir, which was released in November, quickly became a best-seller and one of the most popular books in the World.

In its first week, “Becoming” sold more than 1.4 million copies, Penguin Random House said in November.

 

Credit: LIB

Doctors, teachers, and complete strangers from across the Bay Area, California,U.S, are rallying behind Atsade Nigese from Ethiopia, who survived a brutal act of domestic violence when her husband poured acid all over her face and body.

Speaking through her friend who served as an interpreter, Nigese says her husband, who was a federal police officer in Ethiopia, regularly beat her and broke her teeth.

But one night, a year ago, after she told him she wanted a divorce, she said he threw acid on her.

 

Photos: Community rally behind Ethiopian woman disfigured, blinded by acid attack by her abusive husband after she asked for a divorce

 

Nigese is now blind with scarred skin. Her body is disfigured and even her own son initially rejected her, saying he knew her by her voice but could not identify anything else about her.

 

Photos: Community rally behind Ethiopian woman disfigured, blinded by acid attack by her abusive husband after she asked for a divorce

 

Menbere Aklilu of Richmond said she wanted to help. Two years ago, she helped another Ethiopian woman, who had also been burned by acid, something she said her ex-fiance had thrown on her.

Because of that experience Akilu, who also survived an abusive relationship,  knew how to get Nigese a visa. And she flew to Ethiopia to retrieve Nigese and invited her to live with her and get some medical help. Akilu said she’d love it if Nigese could one day see again.

“I want her to get her vision, that’s my dream,” Aklilu said.

 

Photos: Community rally behind Ethiopian woman disfigured, blinded by acid attack by her abusive husband after she asked for a divorce

 

For nearly seven months, Nigese has been living with Aklilu. The two women, both from Ethiopia, share another special bond, one they don’t wish on anyone else. Both have survived domestic abuse.

“I see myself through her,” Akilu said. “I’m lucky I run from him. So today I have the ability to help others.”

In her short time living in the Bay Area, Nigese is slowly learning to become independent once again. She’s learned to get around using a cane. Three hours a day, five days a week, Nigese learns Braille and English, with volunteers at her side.

On top of that, doctors from the University of California at San Francisco are donating their time and talents to reconstruct her ears, eyelids nose and mouth.

 

Photos: Community rally behind Ethiopian woman disfigured, blinded by acid attack by her abusive husband after she asked for a divorce

Photos: Community rally behind Ethiopian woman disfigured, blinded by acid attack by her abusive husband after she asked for a divorce

Photos: Community rally behind Ethiopian woman disfigured, blinded by acid attack by her abusive husband after she asked for a divorce

Photos: Community rally behind Ethiopian woman disfigured, blinded by acid attack by her abusive husband after she asked for a divorce

Photos: Community rally behind Ethiopian woman disfigured, blinded by acid attack by her abusive husband after she asked for a divorce

Credit: LIB

Adeagbo joins a network of 346 Fellows representing 91 countries.

Also included in the list is Kenya’s Wanjiru Mukoma, a health and wellbeing advocate who particularly works in HIV prevention and care, and cross-cutting issues of human rights, sexual, and gender-based violence.

Evan Mawarire, a Zimbabwean clergyman who founded #ThisFlag Citizen’s Movement to challenge corruption, injustice, and poverty in his country, is also included in the list. The movement empowers citizens to hold government to account.

Announcing the class of 2019, Emma Sky, director of the Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program said: “Their courage, ingenuity and passion will be an inspiration to us all at Yale.”

The World Fellows program is Yale University’s signature global leadership development initiative and a core element of Yale’s ongoing commitment to internationalisation.

Each year, the University invites a group of exemplary practitioners from a wide range of fields and countries for an intensive four-month period of academic enrichment and leadership training.

The mission of World Fellows is to cultivate and empower a network of globally engaged leaders committed to making the world a better place. The program is part of the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, which prepares Yale students for global leadership and service through its master’s program in global affairs, master of advanced study in global affairs and undergraduate major in global affairs.

World Fellows is committed to three main goals:
• Leadership: To strengthen the knowledge and skills essential for global leadership

• Service: To provide opportunity to serve others through sharing knowledge and
experience, and collaborating on initiatives

• Network: To grow a global community of people with shared values, connected to each other and to Yale.

See the full list and biography here.

 

 

Credit: Bella Naija