PART 3: THURSDAY APRIL 30TH
- BIOS & SESSION TIMES -
Aris Latham
Sunfired
JUICING FOR LIFE
Thursday, April 30th - Video Session @ 1:05PM - 1:10PM EST
Dr. Airs LaTham studied at the University of Legon in Ghana, as well as New York University, and graduated from the College of Staten Island (CUNY) with a B.A. in Education and Spanish. He also completed graduate studies at California State University Fullerton with majors in Linguistics and Bilingual Education. Under the tutelage of Dr. Ernie (Sweet Ernie) Smith he was a polyglot scholar of Swahili, Sanskrit, Italian, Arabic, and Ebonics. Professor LaTham taught Spanish, Swahili and English as a Second Language (ESL) at the secondary school level in New York City and New Jersey. He taught at California’s College of San Mateo, Fullerton Community College, Sullivan Language Institute, Cornell University and Brown University. Dr. LaTham was an administrator at the Tanganyika International School in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. He also served as a Bilingual Curriculum Writer and Second Language Specialist for the San Francisco and San Bernardino Unified School Districts in California. Dr. Aris LaTham was the keynote presenter at the 2009 International Vegan Festival in Rio de Janeiro and lectured in the School of Nutrition at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil.
Dr. Aris, ‘The Sunfired Gourmet’, has been a complete vegetarian for 50 years and has eaten Sunfired Foods exclusively for the past 44 years. Dr. Aris was voted one of the top vegetarian chefs in the USA by Vegetarian Times Magazine. He has been featured in Essence, Jamaican Eats, Vegetarian Gourmet, Health Quest, Upscale, UK’s Balance, and Japan’s Tarzan Fitness Magazines. Newspapers, including the Washington Post, Philadelphia Enquirer, Harlem’s Amsterdam News, Jamaica’s Gleaner and Observer, have reviewed the Sunfired Ra Cuisine. Dr. Aris was the featured chef at the Raw Food Masters Culinary Showcase at Swept Away Resort in Negril. He has served as an Executive Food Service Consultant to Island Outpost’s Strawberry Hill Resort in Irish Town, The Cave (Negril) and the Kingston Hilton Hotel in Jamaica. In 2014 Dr. LaTham conducted an intensive Sunfired Ra Cuisine - on the job chef training workshop for 65 chefs of the South India Culinary Association in Chennai, Tamilnadu, India (click here). He has developed the menu concept and recipes for Ital café in Fern Tree Spa at Half Moon Resort, Montego Bay, Jamaica. He is currently engaged as a food scientist/artist in residence at Palm Heights Hotel in the Grand Caymans, Cayman Island. His focus is the training of vegetarian and raw food chefs for other major international resorts and hotels, as well as receiving students from all walks of life from around the world. ‘Sunfired Edible Arts’, education, nutrition, detox, catering, and consulting services are available through www.sunfired.com
Eric Watson
The Kaleidoscope Group
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION BUSINESS RESOURCES
Thursday, April 30th - Webinar Session @ 1:10PM - 1:40PM EST
Eric Watson, Executive Consultant for the Kaleidoscope Group, is responsible for developing client strategy, chief diversity officer coaching, advisory board, and serving as a liaison and thought leader at associations and conferences. A credible industry voice and innovator, he is also accountable for market and talent development.
The former President and CEO of the Carolinas-Virginia Minority Supplier Development Council (CVMSDC), Watson was responsible for the development and execution of strategy to advance business opportunities between major corporations and minority business enterprises in North Carolina, South Carolina and Central Virginia. His responsibilities included membership and funding outreach, and
leadership of day-to-day operations related to services, programs, education, staff and fiscal management.
With over 38 years’ experience in operations management, including more than 25 years in diversity, equity and inclusion, Watson has developed strategy, created vision and designed leadership mentoring programs to promote diversity and establish accountability within business.
Jovan Goldstein
JT Goldstein Accountants & Business Advisors
FUNDING FOR SMALL BUSINESSES & HOW TO PIVOT FOR GROWTH
Thursday, April 30th - Webinar Session @ 1:40PM - 2:10PM EST
Jovan Goldstein is founder and Managing Principal of JT Goldstein Accountants and Business Advisors, a full-service, certified public accounting and business advisory firm, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The firm specializes in performing auditing, tax, accounting, business consulting and engagements.
Prior to establishing JT Goldstein, Goldstein worked at a regional CPA firm, where he was partner-in- charge of the Assurance and Tax Departments, and was responsible for successfully leading all firm third-party peer review quality control efforts, performed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), without findings or comments. Goldstein’s industry-specific experience includes A-133 audits, individual and business taxation, real estate construction and development, employee benefit plans and tax credit engagements, including low-income housing, new market and film tax credits. Goldstein began his career with a leading Fortune 500 pharmaceutical firm, where he was responsible for accounting and financial reporting.
Goldstein is a member of the AICPA, the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA). He has published several articles in industry-related publications such as Accounting Today, the Philadelphia Business Journal and the Pennsylvania CPA Journal. As a frequent speaker and participant of the AICPA’s CPA Ambassador Program, Goldstein conducts various training sessions on construction accounting for Temple University Small Business Department/Fox School of Business, and has taught risk management for the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
Goldstein graduated with honors from Cheyney State University with a degree in Accounting. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Pennsylvania, New York, District of Columbia . He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Youth Network, Logan Community Development Corporation and AIDS Law Project of Philadelphia. He also served on the Philadelphia Bar Association Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention and is a member of PICPA’s diversity committee
Megan Smith
Brownstone PR
HOW CRISIS LEADS TO COLLABORATION
Thursday, April 30th - Webinar Session @ 2:30PM - 3:00PM EST
A native of Washington, D.C. and 2005 graduate of Temple University with a B.A. in Journalism, Smith is the principal of Brownstone PR. Founded in 2007, Brownstone PR is a full-service media/public relations, strategic partnership development, and community relations firm.
Despite the rough economic climate, the firm has continued to grow since its inception in 2007, averaging 3 new client acquisitions per calendar quarter, and boasting an 82% rate of continued and renewed contracts with existing clients. A large part of Brownstone PR’s success has been the relationships the firm has built over the years with key individuals in the business, political and media communities. A little over 50% of new client acquisitions have been the result of third party referrals. What’s more, Smith and Brownstone PR have received great media attention – with Smith positioned as an expert on items ranging from business development and finance, to community relations outreach, and Brownstone PR mentioned in conjunction with nationally recognized companies and brands.
Smith herself has been quoted by such media sources as The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Business Journal, The Washington Post, and Essence, along with being profiled in the Philadelphia Business Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the March 2010 issue of Black Enterprise. Smith currently serves on the Boards of the National Academy Foundation, Green Tree School, the African American Chamber of Commerce, PA,NJ,DE, and Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, and is a member of the Friends of the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and the National Urban League.
David Brown
The Marketing Collaborative
HOW CRISIS LEADS TO COLLABORATION
Thursday, April 30th - Webinar Session @ 2:30PM - 3:00PM EST
David W. Brown has owned or managed five advertising/public relations firms throughout his 30+ career in Philadelphia. He has the distinction of being the only person to have served over his career as both the President of PRSA’s Philadelphia chapter and the Philadelphia Advertising Club. He is also the only living African American inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) Hall of Fame. He was named a “Champion of Change” by the Obama Administration for his communications work around empowering non-profits to make a difference in the
communities they serve. In 2018, Brown was awarded the Harris Wofford Active Citizenship Award by the Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service Committee for his “dedication and longtime support” of the King Day of Service --- the largest single day of service in the country. He also co-founded the “Bridge Walk for Peace” which includes a sunrise walk across the Ben Franklin Bridge and is the nation’s longest such observance marking the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4th. He is a published author and has served as the General Manager for 900 AM WURD (Pennsylvania’s only African American-owned talk radio station).
He is an ordained Reverend in the United Methodist Church and is currently leading an effort with Wharton-Wesley United Methodist Church to transform the 175-year-old congregation and its historic (but underused) property into a vibrant community
resource. Brown is currently serving as the Diversity Advisor to the Office of the Dean at the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University where he is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations and has also pursued coursework in the PhD in Media and Communication program.
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Cashmere Williams
Jazz Musician
Thursday, April 30th - Half Past 6 Digital Concert @ 7:30PM - 8:30PM EST
Cashmere Williams is a seasoned professional al experience in the music business, he started in church at the young age of seven years old. At eight years old, he won his first talent show playing an old gospel song his uncle taught him later winning a partial scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston,
Massachusetts.
In 1999, Williams stepped out as a full-time musician entertaining at corporate events, private parties and the occasional jazz festival , he knew then that’s what he wanted to do for a living. In 2003, he got the call to back American Idol winner Ruben Studdard from Birmingham, AL. They toured the nation and performed on shows like The David Letterman Show, The Ellen Degeneres Show, The View, The Jay Leno Show and many more.
After three years on the road, Cashmere recorded “New Birth”, a dedication to his daughter Harmonie which debuted on the “Smooth Jazz Top 20 Charts” Recently,
Cashmere was honored by his fans and voted “Best Male Jazz Artist” two years in a
row for the years of 2016 & 2017 in addition to a recent nomination this year 2018!