Page 28 - Florida Sentinel 6-11-21

National
In his latest step towards leveling the playing field for Black entrepreneurs, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Combs En- terprises has teamed up with Salesforce to launch SHOP CIRCULATE, a digital plat- form serving as a one-stop marketplace for black-owned businesses.
Debuting later this year, the platform will be designed and built by respected experience consultancy Deloitte Digital, and feature businesses across several categories including beauty, fashion and art, health, wellness, and home. Coincid- ing with the one-hundred-year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the announcement doubles as a reminder of our responsibility to build genera- tional wealth and financial freedom within the Black com- munity, a mission that is near and dear to Combs’ heart.
“Building Black wealth starts with investing in Black-owned businesses and giving entre-
Sean "Diddy" Combs attends Black Tie Affair For Quality Control's CEO Pierre "Pee" Thomas at Fox Theater on June 02, 2021 in Atlanta, Geor- gia.
preneurs access to the con- sumers needed to build sus- tainable companies that can thrive,” says Combs, Chair- man of Combs Enterprises. “I’m excited to partner with Salesforce to create a platform that will advance our collective pursuit of economic justice.”
Clarence Williams, III,
who starred as the brooding un- dercover cop Lincoln Hayes on the countercultural 1968-73 ABC drama The Mod Squad, has died. He was 81.
Williams died Friday in Los Angeles of colon cancer, his rep Allan Mindel told The Hol- lywood Reporter.
An actor of uncommon inten- sity, Williams began his career on the stage and earned a Tony nomination in 1965 for best fea- tured actor in a play for his work in the powerful three-person drama Slow Dance on the Killing Ground. Decades later, he returned to Broadway to star opposite Maggie Smith in the original 1979 production of Tom Stoppard’s Night and Day.
On the big screen, the Harlem native portrayed Prince’s troubled father in Pur- ple Rain (1984) and was Wes- ley Snipes and Michael Wright’s drug-addled dad in
A$AP Rocky speaks on- stage at Featured Session: Using Design "Differently" to Make a Difference during the 2019 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 11, 2019 in Austin, Texas.
While A$AP Rocky’s whirl- wind romance with Rihanna has generated its share of head- lines, the rapper’s new business endeavor looks to generate more dollar signs in his bank account as he becomes the lat- est investor in Klarna, a pri- vately-held Swedish fintech company with a valuation north of $31 billion.
Aside from his monetary in-
Congratulations are in order as comedian Mike Epps is expecting baby no. 2 with his wife, Kyra Epps. The Upshaws star made the announcement by posting a photo of his wife, who posed holding a small baby bump while wearing a hot pink dress by Hanifa. "God bless My beautiful wife," he wrote in the caption. "We prayin' 4 a
From left: Michael Cole, Clarence Williams III and Peggy Lipton on 'The Mod Squad'
Sugar Hill (1993). In Giuseppe Tornatore’s The Legend of 1900 (1998), Williams tapped into his family’s musical roots to appear as jazz legend Jelly Roll Morton.
Known for his prodigious afro and gap-toothed smile, Williams also worked regularly with famed director John Frankenheimer, first on El- more Leonard’s 52 Pick-Up (1986) and then on The Gen- eral’s Daughter (1999), Rein-
A$AP ROCKY
vestment, which the rapper de- scribed as “a no-brainer,” the 32-year old will also be person- ally involved, using his expert- ise and experience within the
MIKE AND KYRA EPPS
deer Games (2000) and two telefilms, the Attica-set Against the Wall in 1994 and George Wallace in 1997.
Williams also displayed a flair of comedy, playing a former leader of the People’s Revolu- tionary Army in Keenen Ivory Wayans’ blaxploitation parody I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) and the maniacal drug lord Samson Simpson in the clas- sic Half-Baked (1998), starring Dave Chappelle.
fashion industry as a curator of content for Klarna’s smart- phone app. His alliance with Klarna also doubles as an op- portunity for the A$AP Mob member to connect his reputa- tion as a style icon with his pas- sion for creating financial empowerment and freedom among minorities and residents of low-income communities.
“It’s a radical way to approach the crediting system,” the Harlem native shared with Forbes. “It helps people with fi- nancial literacy...There’s no sys- tem that helps us deal with things when it comes to student loans, the IRS, banking or credit.”
son."
Friends of the comedian
like Deon Cole as well as his Upshaws co-star Kim Fields sent along their congrats and well wishes for the happy cou- ple. "Congrats!!! God is Amaz- ing," comedian Deray Davis said in the comments. Actor Clifton Powell shared a number of prayer hands emo- jis underneath the photo.
Diddy Launches ‘Shop Circulate’ Platform For Black Businesses
Clarence Williams III, Linc On 'The Mod Squad,' Dies At 81
A$AP Rocky Invests In Klarna, Sweden’s Most Valued Fintech Company
Mike Epps And Wife Kyra Are Expecting Baby No. 2
PAGE 16-B FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2021