(BALTIMORE – April 16, 2025) – Back in February 2024, we hosted a Black Wall Street event at HOODFELLAS—now rebranded and relocated as Soul Street. That evening, we honored Ertha Harris, Carde Cornish, and Sheree Rogers with the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Award.
Ertha is deeply engaged in a wide range of community-building efforts, all aimed at uplifting our people. Carde, a young legend from Druid Heights, is not only a master behind the camera but also an outstanding father and a shining example of Black excellence. And Sheree? I’ve seen her with my own eyes, handing out food to neighbors right around the corner from my home in Sandtown.
In March of that year, we took the ceremony to Prim & Proper, where we honored more phenomenal leaders: Nia Valentine, a rising entrepreneur in the health space; the dynamic Monesha Phillips; and Nikkie Stevens, my go-to engineer at Career Communications Group’s STEMCITYUSA.com, where I serve as News Director. We also celebrated Rayondon Kennedy, who provides critical tech support for BMORENews.com on the STEMCITYUSA platform.
Since then, we’ve taken Black Wall Street far beyond Baltimore—even as far as Harlem. The list of honorees continues to grow. To date, we’ve recognized nearly 3,000 trailblazers in 9 major US cities since launching in 2011, including New York, Washington, D.C. Richmond, Atlanta, New Orleans, Mobile, Las Vegas, and Tulsa. I should mention that Mr. Lee Vaughan, our national President, has been a tremendous help in this expansion. My hope? That BMORENews.com has left a meaningful and lasting impact on every entrepreneur, professional, and supporter we’ve encountered.
Special thanks, I should note, to Rondy Griffin of G. Grant Griffin Media.
If there’s one lesson in all of this, it’s this:
We don’t have to be best friends. We don’t even have to like each other.
But if I see a Black man or woman out here creating jobs for our people, I have a responsibility—an obligation—to support their efforts. And if not them, then the next Black-owned business.
No excuses. Period. #blackwallstreet
