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IN THIS ISSUE

Page 6 The Illusion of Inclusion

Page 9 How Students Can Get Ahead: What

Colleges And Companies Want

Page 11 3 Tips to Help Small Businesses Save at

Tax Time

Page 9 New Martin Luther King Jr. Biopic “Selma”

Due in Theatres December 25th

Page 17 2015 Vacation Ideas

Publisher/CEO Sharon S. Gordon Editor-at-Large Alicia (“A.C.”) Dunlap V.P. Sales & Marketing Lisa Freeman-Williamson Sales Leonette Robinson Contributing Writers Delois R. Wright Brenda Spencer Mykayla Bryant Production/Graphics Mayda Sanchez Online Ashley Corry Distribution Cobre’ Gordon UTS Grind & Go Street Team Copyright Urban Trendsetters is published monthly and distributed the first Thursday of every month as a comple-mentary publication by Myshbre’ Media and Communication, LLC,5773 Emporium Square, Columbus, OH 43219. Publisher reserves the right to edit, reject or cancel any advertisement or editorial

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Publisher ’s Message

The holidays are a great time to play catch up and celebrate with family and friends. Dur-ing this time we are reminded of what we are thankful for as well as anticipate what we want accomplish in the new year. For retail-ers, the holiday season means something so much more. Retailers recognize the holiday season as the opportunity to increase their business bottom line and end the year with a BANG!

The holiday season accounts for between 20 percent and 40 percent of typical retailers' total annual sales. The busiest shopping days, Thanksgiving Day (after the dinner has digested), Black Friday, Small Business Sat-urday (powered by American Express) and Cyber Monday have the ability to create a massive amount of sales for retailers both big and small, with the right amount of planning and an aggressive advertising. Here are the four day weekend sales re-sults from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday Week November 28 - De-cember 1, 2013: •141 million shoppers visited stores or web-sites from Thanksgiving Day November 28th through the Cyber Monday Eve, December 1st, according a survey by the NRF (National Retail Federation (NRF) survey). Based on consumer survey responses, the NRF esti-mated that $57.4 billion was spent over the four-day Black Friday weekend, which, if correct, is 2.9% less than 2012. •59 million consumers shopped online be-tween Thanksgiving Day and the Sunday after Black Friday and spent an average of $177.67 per person, according to estimates

based on the NRF consumer survey. •Between Thanksgiving Day (November 29) through Black Sunday (December 1st), 76.4% of shoppers purchased something for themselves, according to consumer survey data collected by the NRF. •ShopperTrak reported that total sales in physical stores for the four-day Black Friday weekend, starting with Thanksgiving day were $22.2 billion, which is an increase of 1%, compared to the same time period in 2012. Last year, consumers spent around $5.7 Bil-lion at independent merchants around the country on Small Business Saturday. Cyber Monday Sales Results and Statistics for November 28 & 29, 2013: •Cyber Monday, December 2, 2013 was the single biggest day for e-commerce sales for U.S. based Internet retailers, according to ComScore. Cyber Monday 2013 sales were $1.735 billion, which represents an 18.4% increase compared to 2012. •Visa card holders spent $2.6 billion on Cyber Monday 2013, which was 28% more

than they spent on Cyber Monday 2012. •Cyber Monday 2013 sales rose 20.6%, com-pared to Cyber Monday 2012, according to IBM Benchmark reports. •Mobile devices were used to make 17% of Cyber Monday 2013 purchases, which is an increase of 55.4% compared to sales that originated from mobile devices on Cyber Monday 2012, the IBM Benchmark reported. Don’t miss the opportunity to increase your sales and services during this holiday season. After holiday sales are an additional way to boost end of the year revenue. Sharon S. Gordon

Founder / Publisher sha-ron@urbantrendsetters.com

Is Your Business Ready for the 4 Busiest Shopping Days of the - Don’t Miss the MOMENT!

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TRENDSETTER SPEAKS

The Illusion of Inclusion: Raven-Symoné and the Politics of Racial Dis-Identification

Nationwide — Recent comments made by Raven-Symoné may have been igno-rant and self-depreciating, but were not, by any stretch of the imagination, un-common. On national television she stat-ed, “I’m an American, not an African-American. I don’t know where my roots go (in Afrika), I don’t know how far back they go, and what country they go to… but I do know that I have roots in Louisiana.” As if this wasn’t insult enough to her ancestors, and all self-respecting Black people in this country, this African-American actress, who is undeniably of African ancestry, goes on to say, “I’m an American, and that’s a colorless person… I have a lot of things running through my veins.” Increasingly we are seeing more and more politically undereducated and self-hating African-Americans attempting to dis-identify from their Blackness.

However, this behavior is not without

precedent. Histori-cally, even es-teemed scholars such as W.E.B. Dubois have, at one time or anoth-er, attempted to dis-identify from their Blackness, ridiculously claim-ing that they were the sum total of far too many different racial genotypes to affirmatively iden-tity with their pre-dominate Afrikan-ity. Although dis-identification has been a problem for Blacks since the end of slavery, we have seen a dra-matic increase in this strategy since the election of President Obama and the birth of the

alleged, and defi-nitely hypocritical, “post-racial socie-ty.” How can a so-ciety that proclaims to be post-racial explain the record-breaking suspen-sion and expulsion rate of kindergarten

Black boys, or the highest incarceration rate in the world that disproportionately targets Black men and women.

The belief that anyone in this country will cease to identify you with your par-ticular race just because you hate your membership within that particular group is ridiculous. All politics in America are race based. Every job and dollar spent is in neglect of, or support for, one racial group or the other. Raven-Symoné, and other Negro victims of white supremacy haven’t the slightest clue about the true significance of race in this country. However, their frequent comments, ex-pressing their desires not to be Black, only adds to the argument on whether “Blackness” is still relevant in a society with a Black president, and millions of African-Americans who prefer not to be identified with their most obvious physi-cal and biological characteristic, their racial background. The question on whether Blackness is still relevant in a society based on white privilege is rather

ridiculous in a country where White po-lice officers kill at least two unarmed Black men a week, without probable cause, and aren’t even brought in for questioning. If you think America is post-racial then go ask the parents of Trayvon Martin or Michael Brown their opinion. Still further, visit anyone of America’s prisons where a plethora of Black men and women await life sen-tences for no other reason than not hav-ing enough money to hire a decent attor-ney.

The recent movement spurred by many Blacks to dis-identify from their race has inadvertently supported the rise in atten-tion being paid to the political agendas of other minority groups, who don’t have a problem being who they are, most nota-bly, gays and Latinos, both of whom are aggressively championing their causes on the local, state and national level. The American social order has definitely done its part to confuse the descendants of enslaved Afrikans by recently adding to the legal nomenclature additional ra-cial categories, such as bi-racial and mul-ti-racial, which gives 21st century Blacks a false belief in the so-called “post-racial America.” These new racial descriptors do nothing more but sow even more dis-sension within a group of people whose only solution lies in their identification and unification as a distinct racial group. The psychological consequences of call-ing oneself biracial and multiracial lie in the false sense of separateness it gives the victim from the rest of their African-American in-group. Still further, it pro-motes an attitude of “less Black” and “more White,” which spells disaster for internal racial harmony amongst African-Americans still suffering the vestiges of Post-Traumatic Slavery Disease (PTSD) and light-skinned supremacy. Not to mention the fact that for hundreds of years White Americans paid to attention to the bi-racial parentage of neither its free or enslaved Afrikans, which begs the question as to why they claim to be so concerned about mixed parentage all of a sudden.

If running away from being Black is im-possible, if one’s racial identity is bio-logically fixed at birth, then why do so many Blacks try anyway? The answers to this question are too numerous to be addressed here, but for the sake of dis-cussion, we will reduce it to two simple answers: self-hatred and political decep-tion. Let it not be lost on you that Blacks are the only people in the United States

who are actively trying to be what they are not. African-Americans are the only active proponents of integration and a color-blind identity, and both are the log-ical consequences of a people not want-ing to be unashamedly who they really are. In her conversation with Oprah, a confused Raven-Symoné stated “I don’t label myself, I have darker skin, I have a nice interesting grade of hair. . .” These comments reveal her obvious hatred for self, and yet her simultaneous approval of Eurocentric standards of beauty, which is usually at the core of most Black persons’ reasoning for wanting to escape their Blackness in the first place: notably not being physically attractive according to White standards, and also not being socially desired by White peo-ple.

Since the beginning of human history most groups have valued their cultural-historical uniqueness, and most still do. When was the last time you found an Anglo-Saxon, European Jew, Asian, Ar-ab, East Indian or Native American try-ing to be something other than them-selves. These are very proud people who represent and identify with their collec-tive racial experience wherever they go. Only because of self-hatred is the Afri-kan trying to be what he or she is not. In the past, African-Americans would deal with racism by confronting it dead on. However, in the Obama era, rather than fight against racial oppression, many Blacks have simply chosen to dis-identify from being Black altogether. The politics of racial invisibility and col-or-blindness is certainly a welcomed change of tactic by the United States government as it would help to expedite their agenda of wholesale mass incarcer-ation and extermination of African-American people.

Umar Johnson is a Doctor of Clinical Psychology and Certified School Psychologist. He is author of “Psycho-Academic Holo-caust: The Special Education and ADHD Wars Against Black Boys.” As a special education expert and consultant he helps Black parents around the world advocate for their children. He is amidst a $2-Million-Dollar fundraising campaign to acquire the HBCU St.Paul’s College in Virginia to be purchased and re-opened as the Frederick Douglass & Marcus Garvey (FDMG) RBG International Leadership Academy for Black Boys. www.DrUmarJohnsonSchool.com

Continued on page 7

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TRENDSETTERS SPEAKS

The entire purpose of the “Post-Racial America” Campaign is to convince the foremost victims of white supremacy, American Blacks, that their skin color, or more accurately that their cultural-genetic uniqueness, is no longer consid-ered a threat to European ambitions, in hopes that they forego their racial identi-ty so that it can be conceptually amalga-mated into the larger imaginary political construct of simply being an “American.” This would be quite an anomaly since every other American’s identity in this country is afforded a cul-

tural prefix that anchors them some-where else in the world (i.e., Italian-American, Chinese-American, Arab-American, etc.) For the American Negro to eliminate their cultural prefix would eliminate them from the map of human geography and would paradoxically jus-tify America’s neglect of them as the only people in the country who have no clue as to where they come from, and just how they arrived in America. “Historical amnesia” as a strategy, postu-lated by Raven-Symoné and other Blacks, seeks to forget one’s history and culture as a strategy for being accepted by American Whites will not work for one primary reason: self-respecting peo-ple who embrace their culture and histo-ry cannot respect another people who do not. That is to say historical amnesia would ironically increase the contempt that America has for the Black man or woman, and not lessen it, as it under-scores racist antebellum beliefs about Blacks that have existed for centuries, chiefly that they are animals who have no history or culture. For Blacks to fall for this dangerous ploy would give the government the chance to erase Black people, and their critically important issues, from public discussion altogether. This scenario has already

played out as a consequence of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill that saw the inclusion of the words “minority” and “gender” as a replacement for “Negro” and “Black” as it related to the groups that would be protected within the scope of the soon to be new law, at that time. By allowing the public discussion to include all non-white peoples under a general descriptor of “minority,” rather than continuing to assert they were fighting exclusively for the rights of Black people, Negro leaders gave consent to the stealing of rights and incentives away from their own Black communities in deference and preference to Asians, Mexicans and other groups. Still worse, none of these other racial groups did anything to advance the cause of Blacks during the civil rights struggle. In fact, upon arrival in America, many of these ethnicities fought for the right to identify as white people, and away from Black people. Trying to blend in with other groups, all of whom practice their own unique form of prejudice against the African-American, is no solution to the Black man’s problem in America.

Simply stated, America wants the Black man and woman to abandon their racial identity in order that Black issues can be removed from the public agenda. This has been the primary purpose of biracial

and multiracial campaigns: to get enough Black people to dis-identify from being Black in preference of some new socially-acceptable racial designee so as to ren-der Black people and their issues irrele-vant altogether. Any student of military history knows that a propaganda cam-paign against a particular group in public is always the precursor to a military cam-paign against them physically. Black people who hate being Black are playing right into the extermination agenda of the United States government that seeks to remove Black issues and Black people from the political landscape altogether.

Now is not the time for African-Americans to hide behind an elusive and indescribable “American” identity that has never, and will never, apply to them. Now is the time to stand up unapologeti-cally and proclaim their uniqueness as a people, and the uniqueness of the Black plight in America.

Actress Raven Symone’

Continued from page 7

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614-526-8871

Desmon Louis Smith (DLS) Education Services is a non-

profit organization located in Columbus, Ohio. Our organi-

zation provides educational services to the local communi-

ty. We assist with developing skills in science, technology,

engineering, and math (STEM) by offering classes on build-

ing robots and designing web pages, to name a few. In addi-

tion, we help develop computer skills such as searching the

Internet, paying bills online, and using social media.

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EDUCATION TRENDS

How Students Can Get Ahead: What Colleges And Companies Want

NAPSI)—If your family is like most, you want a college education for your children—today, 75 percent of Americans have their eyes set on a college education. That's a good thing. Over a lifetime, college graduates av-erage about a million dollars more than high school graduates.

A problem is that most colleges haven't sig-nificantly increased the size of their fresh-man classes. As a result, acceptance rates are declining to as low as 5.69 percent.

What Colleges Want

Many admissions officers look at the "whole student," trying to determine character, crea-tivity, leadership, sense of humor and moral fiber. Qualities like these can't be conveyed in grades and test scores, so more weight is being given to letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities and essays.

So if you were to have, say, a compel-ling story about how you traveled the world and connected with other cul-tures, it's likely you'd get that experi-ence noticed by admissions officers.

What Companies Want

After college, the right sort of educa-tional travel can also boost your career. A recent study led by professor William W. Maddux of the international gradu-ate business school INSEAD reveals that those who travel may enjoy more job opportunities. He discovered that an MBA student's intercultural experiences predicted the number of job offers re-ceived, even when controlling for such variables as demographics, personality and the like.

Students who adapted to and learned about new cultures demonstrated more openness and initiative. They were seen as being able to bring seemingly unrelated ideas together into meaningful wholes. As a result, they were better able to navigate the interview process and received more job offers.

In an article for management- issues.com, Dr. David Livermore, president of the Cul-tural Intelligence Center, explained that some of the most promising correlations found between international travel and job pro-spects are:

1. Strong Sense of Self: Travel helps you become aware of your own values and priori-ties. Organizations want to hire professionals who are self-aware.

2. Increased Trust: Another study found that how much you trust a stranger is posi-tively correlated to the number of places you've visited. Companies want team mem-bers who can develop trusting relationships across virtual and international borders.

3. Creativity and Problem Solving: In a new environment, everyday tasks have to be done differently and you might even pick up new approaches to common problems. A proven ability to innovate makes for a strong advantage in a job search.

Travel by itself, however, won't ensure im-proved cultural intelligence (CQ™) or in-creased job offers. There are important varia-bles:

• The nature of the experience: Those who venture out to discover the food, transporta-tion and people of the places they visit are likely to enhance their CQ.

• The number of experiences: Individuals with multiple experiences in a variety of places see more of the benefits of travel.

• Age: Exposing kids to other places can be very influential, helping them build their sense of self and a unique worldview.

• The cultural interpreter: If a trip's leaders focus on the negative aspects of a culture, CQ can actually decrease. The individual who interprets what's going on plays a large role in bringing about positive effects from travel.

• Reflection and debriefing: Many study abroad programs emphasize pre-trip training but the most important insights come from reflecting in the midst of the experience and upon returning home.

Simply listing international travel as a part of your résumé is unlikely to yield many bene-fits. But using travel to expand your view of self, integrate ideas from different cultures and creatively solve problems helps you to stand apart from other candidates.

Business leaders seem to agree. An IBM

survey of 1,500 CEOs worldwide found the quality they most prize—and that's most lacking in the workforce—is creativity or innovation.

Stephan Turnipseed, president emeritus of LEGO Education North America, advocates fusing the traditional 3 Rs with the 4 Cs: critical thinking, communication, collabora-tion and creativity. Those skills, Turnipseed says, often blossom beyond the classroom. In particular, he cites People to People Ambas-sador travel as an activity uniquely suited to spark students' global thinking and creative problem solving.

Turnipseed notes, "To be successful in Peo-ple to People, you're going to need to collab-orate—not just with your peers and leader, but with host families," as well as service providers, experts and other students encoun-tered during travel.

People to People has been a leader in guided educational student travel for over 50 years, helping students experience new cultures and encounter new places.

Learn More

To learn how your child can be a People to People Ambassador, check out an infor-mation meeting near you. Visit www.PeopletoPeople.com or call (800) 669-7882 for meeting dates and locations.

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BUSINESS TRENDS

New York, NY — Multicultural con-sumers are expected to drive this year’s increase in holiday spending with Afri-can-Americans making up the largest percentage of the increase, according to the 2014 Holiday Sales Forecast released today by Nielsen, a leading global pro-vider of information and insights.

Trends such as rising con-sumer confi-dence in the economy, lowered in-flation and falling gas prices indi-cate that con-sumers over-all are eager to spend more this holiday sea-son than last year. Multi-cultural households are projected to account for 43% of the increased

spending this holiday season. African-Americans are expected to be the heavier spenders this season, accounting for 17%, spending more than other multicul-tural groups.

Twenty-two percent of shoppers have already begun shopping compared to 65% of the general population who plan

to delay their holiday shopping excur-sions. While African-Americans, plan to spend more, 70% plan to shop later dur-ing this holiday season.

So where are African-Americans shop-ping? With multicultural households driving this year’s online growth, Afri-can-Americans plan to spend 20% more online compared to last year. African-Americans also plan to spend 15% more at electronics retailers and grocery stores this season.

African-Americans’ holiday lists are di-verse as well. Electronics including smartphones, TVs and laptops will ac-count for 17% more spending by African-Americans compared to 10% of total households. Other product areas where increased spending is planned include 17% more on food and 15% more on apparel.

African-Americans – at 44 million strong and approximately 14.2% of the coun-try’s population – make up a powerful group with a growing impact on Ameri-can culture and business. This demo-graphic is largely young—53% are under the age of 35 – giving them an oversized influence on the latest trends, especially

with music and pop culture. In addition, higher academic achievement has trans-lated into increases in household income – 44% of all African-American house-holds now earn $50,000 or more and 23% earn above $75,000. And these higher household incomes, coupled with overall population growth, are driving the substantial purchasing power of the African-American consumer, which is expected to reach $1.3 trillion in a few short years.

The 2014 Holiday Sales Forecast in-sights were derived from two custom studies: a consumer survey of more than 25,000 U.S. households in September 2014 and sales forecasts from an analysis of 92 categories covering five depart-ments representing more than $100 bil-lion in sales.

To read more about this year’s holiday shopping findings, please visit www.nielsen.com.

Nielsen 2014 Holiday Forecast Shows Multicultural Consumers Drivers of Increased Spending This Season – African-American consumers expected to spend the most of all three groups –

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BUSINESS TRENDS

3 Tips to Help Small Businesses Save at Tax Time

While running a small business and be-ing your own boss can be satisfying in-deed, it can also be tricky come tax time. To ensure that you keep more money in your pocket than the government’s, check out the following tax tips:

1. Deduct everything. The IRS has giv-en dozens of concessions to small busi-ness owners, but many don’t take full advantage of all that they can claim. For instance, if there’s a space in your home dedicated exclusively for business, you can deduct some of your housing costs. For a 2013 return, you can claim $5 per sq. ft. of your office up to 300 sq. ft. Ad-ditionally, you can also deduct monthly Internet charges, electricity, gas and phone (cell or land line) expenses.

Mileage is often another overlooked ex-pense. You can deduct the miles you drive for business, such as client meet-ings or picking up supplies. Every trip counts, even the short ones, so it pays to keep track of your mileage. Small busi-nesses are allotted 56 cents for each mile travelled.

Other deductions you might be eligible for as a small business owner include travel expenses like tolls and parking, 50 percent of meals with clients, as well as supplies, and furniture for your office.

2. Use the right business structure. There are various ways to structure a small business, and how you do so will

dictate how much or how little you pay in taxes. Most small businesses choose to operate as a sole proprietor, limited lia-bility company, or corporation. A tax specialist or accountant can advise you as to which structure is best for your business, but as a rule of thumb, if your business generates more than $50,000 in profit, you save taxes by incorporating.

3. File on time. Many small business owners end up paying more than is nec-essary because they file late, resulting in the IRS charging interest, late fees, and penalty fees. Missing deadlines in any circumstance is inexcusable (be it for a customer or a government agency) and is likely due to an owner being disor-ganized and more focused on their cus-tomers than their books.

To this end, many owners are using tech-nology to their advantage and using cloud-based systems like FreshBooks (www.freshbooks.com), which makes it easy to stay on top of accounting tasks like invoicing and expense tracking. Such systems also allow the owner to send their accountant all the reports and information they need with the click of a mouse.

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BUSINESS TRENDS

Acting is a business that has proven to be profita-

ble for quite a few actors and actresses, some of

them black. One thing to notice about this list is

that Tyler Perry is at the top of it, but he ’ s proba-

bly been famous for the shortest amount of

time. For example, if you compare him with Mor-

gan Freeman and Denzel Washington, there real-

ly is no comparison.

Also, if you were to lay out a list of the wealthiest

people in Hollywood, these numbers might be

dwarfed by those who either make their own films

or run their own businesses. For example, Byron

Allen isn ’ t nearly as well known as anyone on

this list, but he ’ s earned several hundred million

dollars by making his own television shows and

distributing them nation-wide.

Check out the list and ask yourself: Where does

this money come from, and who ends up getting

paid the most?

The 35 Richest Black Actors in the World:

#1: Tyler Perry Net Worth – $400 Million

#2: Bill Cosby Net Worth – $350 Million

#3: Will Smith Net Worth – $200 Million

#4: Samuel L. Jackson Net Worth – $170 Million

#5: Morgan Freeman Net Worth – $150 Million

#6: Denzel Washington Net Worth – $140 Million

#7: Ice Cube Net Worth – $140 Million

#8: Martin Lawrence Net Worth – $110 Million

#9: LL Cool J Net Worth – $100 Million

#10: Jamie Foxx Net Worth – $85 Million

#11: Eddie Murphy Net Worth – $85 Million

#12: Chris Rock Net Worth – $70 Million

#13: James Earl Jones Net Worth – $45 Million

#14: Ice T Net Worth – $40 Million

#15: Forest Whitaker Net Worth – $40 Million

#16: Danny Glover Net Worth – $40 Million

#17: Don Cheadle Net Worth – $35 Million

#18: Sidney Poitier Net Worth – $25 Million

#19: Eriq La Salle Net Worth – $25 Million

#20: Dennis Haysbert Net Worth – $22 Million

#21: Laurence Fishburne Net Worth – $20 Million

#22: Terrence Howard Net Worth – $20 Million

#23: Michael Clarke Duncan Net Worth – $18

Million

#24: Ving Rhames Net Worth – $16 Million

#25: Cuba Gooding Jr Net Worth – $15 Million

#26: Idris Elba Net Worth – $12 Million

#27: Djimon Hounsou Net Worth – $10 Million

#27: Charles S. Dutton Net Worth – $9 Million

#29: Blair Underwood Net Worth – $8 Million

#30: Billy Dee Williams Net Worth – $7.5 Million

#31: LeVar Burton Net Worth – $6 Million

#32: Robert Guillaume Net Worth – $5 Million

#33: Larenz Tate Net Worth – $4.5 Million

#34: Dule Hill Net Worth – $3.5 Million

#35: Michael Ealy Net Worth – $3 Million

35 Richest Black Actors

Will Smith Jamie Foxx Martin Lawrence

Tyler Perry

Ice T

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DIET FREE LIFE PROUD SPONSORS OF THE NEW UTS

FITS & TRENDY MAGAZINE Health and Wellness

7 Fitness Myths, Debunked

(NAPSI)—With the New Year rapidly ap-proaching, there’s no shortage of advice on the best ways to achieve your resolutions. Yet, when it comes to fitness and weight loss goals, it can be difficult to tell fact from fiction.

Stay on the fast track to keeping your New Year’s resolutions. Here are Bowflex Fitness Advisor and author of “Beat the Gym,” Tom Holland’s top seven fitness myths exposed:

Myth #1: You need to spend at least an hour in the gym to see results.

Research shows you can actually achieve bet-ter results doing 15 minutes of interval training three times a week than by jogging on a tread-mill for an hour.

Not sure where to start? Consider this: The new Bowflex Max Trainer® (www.bowflexmaxtrainer.com) burns up to 2½ times the calories as do other cardio exer-cise equipment in 14 minutes and engages the upper body 80 percent more than a traditional elliptical. Plus, it’s designed specifically for the home, so you can work out anytime.

Myth #2: As long as you exercise, you can eat whatever you want.

Whether you want to maintain, gain or lose weight, you need to make sure your caloric intake matches your goals. To lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories than you burn. For example, if you burn 500 calories during your workout and then eat two or more slices of pizza (topping 500 calories), you’ll end up gaining weight.

You can determine how much to eat by testing your metabolic rate, since your metabolic rate is the energy you use in order to be alive plus the energy needed for daily activities. You can use this measurement to accurately identify how many calories your body needs.

Myth #3: Organic or gluten-free foods are best for weight loss.

There are many benefits of eating organic or gluten-free foods. For example, they have more antioxidants, less pesticides and food additives. However, overeating is still overeat-ing. Make sure to evaluate your overall caloric intake and expenditures to stay within the bounds of your goal.

Myth #4: Fitness shakes are just for people who want to bulk up.

Many people confuse fitness shakes with “mass gainers”—products used to aid in bulk-ing up. Protein shakes, however, can actually be a great way to achieve the healthy diet nec-essary to reach fitness goals.

For instance, the new line of Bowflex Body™ (www.bowflexbody.com) fitness shakes acti-vates the metabolism and helps build muscle, burn calories and boost energy, all while refu-eling the body.

Myth #5: Do cardio on an empty stomach to burn the most fat.

Many people believe if you work out on an empty stomach, your body will use its stored fat supply to fuel the exercise. However, re-search shows fat burn is consistent whether you eat before a workout or not.

If you’re looking for cardio motivation, the new Nautilus® 616 cardio series (www.nautilus.com) includes a treadmill, el-liptical, upright bike and recumbent bike. Fea-tures include groundbreaking technology for better connectivity and customizable workouts with the innovative Nautilus® Trainer™ app.

Myth #6: Crunches are best for getting great abs.

No matter how many crunches you do, you won’t see six-pack abs until you lose the lay-ers of fat covering your abdominal wall. The best way to lose fat is to stick to a strict diet and scorch major calories with interval train-ing and compound weight-lifting exercises—which use more than one major muscle group.

Myth #7: I can’t reach my fitness goals be-cause I can’t afford a trainer.

Personal trainers are a great resource to help motivate and take you to the next level. But if you can’t afford a personal trainer, don’t be discouraged. There are many great (free!) re-sources online you can use to aid your fitness regime, including the Bowflex Insider blog at www.bowflexinsider.com.

“Don’t let yourself be fooled by these common fitness myths,” advises Holland. “The tips above can help you reach your fitness New Year’s resolutions.”

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“Making pretty faces is my specialty"

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Charlotte, NC — Mr. Sylvia is the name that many call him; however, designer Gregory Sylvia is not a single designer at all. Founded by a husband and wife duo, Gregory Sylvia is the brain child of Gregory and Terri “Sylvia” Pope. The Popes offi-cially started sales in 2012 and has experi-enced a steady growth ever since.

After a year and a half, company sales sur-passed $350K and the couple has been busy implementing new growth strategies to con-tinue the incline.Gregory and Terri “Sylvia” started their brand as a means to fill a gap that they noticed in the marketplace. After noticing a lack of presence of African

Americans producers in the leather goods industry they felt that it could be a place where they could be successful and make an impact. Soon after, the couple went to work on their brand- developing a vision, establishing a brand name, drafting logos, designing products, etc.

The Gregory Sylvia brand focus has been the mid to high end handbag and accesso-ries market with current sales exclusively

online.

For the company, there are now plans to embed their brand further and into more markets. In addition to continued expansion initiatives for online growth, the company is also looking to expand its sales channels with offline sales to retail stores and bou-tiques. As stated by Gregory, “From our start we saw the lack of black-owned pro-ducers in this arena and we wanted to bring some diversity…and not just diversity, but excellence along with the diversity.” Terri adds “We also saw us doing this together as a means to encourage people to follow their

dreams and bring marriage and family to the forefront.”

Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, Gregory Sylvia is a designer brand of leather goods and accessories namely handbags and wal-lets. Officially starting sales in 2012, Greg-ory Sylvia products are now featured on the official Gregory Sylvia website as well as 2 e-tail websites. Furthermore, the company has been featured in several blogs and digi-tal lifestyle magazines. The company is dedicated to providing beautifully designed pieces that uphold high standards of quality craftsmanship while providing excellent customer service. For additional infor-mation about Gregory Sylvia, call 980-272-8770, email admin@gregorysylvia.com, or visit www.GregorySylvia.com.

In The Bag — Budding Black-Owned Handbag Brand Grows Sales Beyond $350K in a Little Over a Year Gregory Sylvia Handbags, created by husband and wife duo, Gregory and Terri “Sylvia” Pope

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ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo Deliver Amazing Performances in New Martin Luther King Jr. Biopic “Selma” — Due in Theatres December 25th

Nationwide — Media mogul/actress Oprah Winfrey and actor David Oyelowo are starring in an amazing new biopic about the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The film, Selma, is due in theaters on Christmas day December 25, 2014, and critics are already giving the film two thumbs up. Directed by Ava DuVernay and produced by Oprah Winfrey herself and Brad Pitt, the film is already creating an Oscar buzz. It’s being co-produced by Harpo Productions and distributed by a division of Paramount Pictures. Winfrey and Oyelowo co-starred together already in the hit 2013 film The Butler, which starred Forest Whitaker. But this time, the two are the stars themselves. Oyelowo plays Dr. King, one of the most well-known civil rights leaders in history, and Winfrey plays one of his avid supporters. Actor Tom Wilkinson plays President Lyndon Johnson, rapper Common plays Bev-el, and actress Carmen Ejogo plays the character of Coretta Scott King. The film al-so co-stars Cuba Gooding, Jr. as famed civil rights attorney and activist Fred Gray, and Niecy Nash who plays Richie Jean Jackson, the wife of Dr. Sullivan Jackson. Selma focuses on a time period just 2 years after Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech. The film covers three civil rights protest marches that all took place in March 1965 in Selma, Alabama, and essentially paved the way for the historic Voting Rights Act to be successfully passed. Because the film will be released this year, it will be eligible for a 2015 Oscar nomi-nation. WATCH THE TRAILER ONLINE

In Selma, Oprah Winfrey’s character is seen struggling with police as she is restrained on the ground.

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TRENDY PALETTE

NAPSI)—Whether you’re welcoming last-minute guests in from the cold at Christ-mas, ringing in the New Year, or gathering round the grill to watch the fireworks on July 4th, here’s a hint from Registered Die-titian and lifestyle expert Erin Palinski-Wade on how to have a successful holiday party in nearly no time, at any time of the year:

“Be sure to stock your freezer with conven-ient and delicious options like Matlaw’s Stuffed Clams, that won’t leave you stuck in the kitchen while your guests are cele-brating in the other room.”

An excellent party finger food, the Stuffed Clams come elegantly served in a natural clam shell and in a variety of delicious fla-vors including Bacon and Cheese, Chili Lime, Chorizo, and classic New England

Style.

They’re even easy to prepare. Simply place on a baking sheet into a preheated 450° oven and cook for 30 minutes; or wrap clams in a foil pouch—leave it open for a crispy top or closed for softer, moister clams—place on the grill preheated to me-dium and heat until hot throughout. Serve with butter, lemon and hot sauce and let the party begin.

Discover more great recipes, food pairing ideas, menu recommendations, special of-fers and coupons at www.Matlaws.com/setsail.

Stuffed clams make a great party appetizer or main dish

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CROSSING CULTURES TRAVEL AND TOURS

Julialynne Walker Owner

614.214.6277 crossingculturestt@gmail.com

www.ytbtravel.com/crossingcultures Twitter: #CCTTJW

Vision Statement Crossing Cultures Travel and Tours’ vision is to be the most creative gate-way to the African Diaspora for all.

Mission Statement To celebrate the African Diaspora, to grow eco-tourism and to ensure com-fortable travel though regular end-to-end service for all.

Commitment Statement Crossing Cultures Travel and Tours commits to share our knowledge freely while respecting your specific desires and to do so in a manner that encour-ages a long-term commitment from both parties. All of our services meet the highest standards of professionalism and are delivered in a personable man-ner at all times

TRAVEL TRENDS

Are you interested in taking a Hawaii trip? If so, do you know how much you should have to pay for that trip? Unfortunately, a large number of individuals try and answer that question. Of course, you could probably gen-erate an estimate, but you are advised against doing so, especially if you have yet to start making your Hawaii vacation reservations. If you have yet to make your reservations, you are advised to take everything that you know or may assume about the cost of a Hawaii vacation and throw it right out the window. Instead of searching for what you believe to be a good deal, you are advised to search for the lowest costing deal.

One of the reasons why you are advised to search for low-cost Hawaii trips is because they are out there; they do exist. Unfortunate-ly, there are some individu-als who just don’t try hard enough to find them. These individuals are likely the ones who thought that they knew how much a Hawaii trip should cost. Many times, what happens is that vacationers find what they believe to be a good deal and they snatch it up. Of course, there is always a chance that it really was a

good deal, but, without looking any further, you never really know. That is why you are advised to get it in your mind that low-cost Hawaii trips do exist and that you can find them. If you are interested in finding low-cost Ha-waii trips, you are advised to use the internet. Although your first impulse may be to use the services of a professional travel agent, you will, almost always, have better luck with the internet. This is because online you can find an unlimited number of online travel websites. These online travel websites spe-cialize in selling vacation reservations and vacation packages to travelers. Since you are

interested in planning a Hawaii trip, it is ad-vised that you turn to a Hawaiian travel web-site. These websites are like all other online travel websites, except for the fact that they have a focus on Hawaii, including all of the popular Hawaiian Islands. If and when you decide to use a Hawaiian travel website, to find low-cost Hawaii trips, you will need to start searching for what you will need. For instance, if you would like to stay in a vacation home, you will want to tailor your search to vacation homes and so on. What is nice about most Hawaiian travel websites is that many not only allow you to pick which Hawaiian Island you would like to visit, but many also allow you to set a price range for yourself. If you do choose to use the price range feature, you are advised to start as low as you can go. As mentioned above, it is important to seek out the lowest costing Hawaii vacation deals, not necessari-ly the ones that you think are the good deals. If your low price search does not return any results, you can continue to up your price range until you find something that meets your expectations. Another mistake that many vacationers make, when booking a trip to Hawaii, is thinking that they need to book all of their reservations separately. While you may be able to find great deals by purchasing your airline tickets, hotel reservations, and car rental separately, you may also be able to

find great deals by purchasing them all to-gether. You can do this with a Hawaii vaca-tion package. It, honestly, all depends on what you need while on vacation. Regardless of what you want or need to get out of your vacation, it may be a good idea to just take a few minutes and examine Hawaii vacation packages. Since your goal is to find a low-cost Hawaii trip, you are advised to give it a shot; you really have nothing to lose. Whether you examine booking all of your Hawaii trip reservations separately or with the purchase of a vacation package, it might be best to record all of your findings. By writing down all of the offers that you are given, you could easily compare those offers and find the lowest costing Hawaii trip around. Taking a few extra minutes to do this may very well save you hundreds of dollars or more. To plan your next holiday call Delois Wright at Wright Way Travel at 614-891-5293.

2015 Vacation Ideas: Hawaii

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URBAN TRENDSETTERS BUSINESS DIRECTORY “Let Us Put Your Business in the Streets”

Christa Payne Area Manager 614-778-1958

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CLASSIFIEDS

FINANCIAL ADVISOR Registered Investment Advisory Firm is currently expanding throughout Ohio. We are in search of Independent Investment Advisor Representatives. Must be self-motivated, professional and willing to take direction. If you have a financial or insurance back round we en-courage your response. We work with Globally/ Recognized Money Manag-ers. Strong Ethics and complete transpar-ency with clents relationships is essential. Please contact: Hardiman Investment Management, Inc., @ 614-209-9748 or submit a resume via e-mail to him4inc@gmail.com.

FREELANCE WRITERS Do you love to write? Urban Trendsetters is growing and we are looking for writers. If you are good writer, love con-necting with people and enjoy relay-ing empowering information, UTS is the place for you. Contact Sharon S. Gordon at 614-526-8871 for more information or send email to sharonsgordon@gmail.com

UTS Online Classifieds

The Urban Trendsetters allow our customers the opportunity to submit their classified ads and pay online. You may add photos, videos and links to your

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MEDIA SALES

Earn Extra Income for the Holidays Urban Trendsetters wants to increase your sales staff. We offer a variety of media services and we serve many different indus-tries. If you are a professional individual seek-ing unlimited income potential give us a call today at 614-526-8871 or email

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CAREERS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Nationwide — A USA Today report says that only 2% of technology workers at seven ma-jor tech companies in Silicon Valley are Black, and just 3% are Hispanic. This is so despite the fact that thousands of Black and Hispanic students graduate with computer science and computer engineering degrees every year from the top universities.

So who is to blame? -The tech companies say the pool of job applicants are insufficient, but Darrick Hamilton, professor of economics and urban policy at The New School in New York, says that doesn’t hold up. “If you look at the empirical evidence, that is just not the case,” he said.

Ebay, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo and Apple all declined to comment on the issue, but many of them have released data in the past year showing that they have very few tech workers among their staff. Even LinkedIn says that they are “[addressing] the need for great-er diversity.”

So what’s the solution? -According to Wired Magazine, tech companies usually only re-cruit at major universities such as Stanford, UC-Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, UCLA and MIT. Meanwhile, the elite computer science departments that graduate larger numbers of African-American and Hispanic students get less visits by recruiters. Experts say that the solution is obviously to recruit more at universities where minority students attend and grad-uate from.

And why should tech companies care about diversity? -It’s simple. If you lose touch with an ethnic group and they start to view you as bias or discriminative, they will stop support-ing your brand as customers. That could cost any one of the tech giants billions of dollars in annual revenue if it were to happen.

Who’s making changes? -Google, whose popular search engine is used by millions of Afri-can Americans and Hispanics daily, was the first major tech company to admit their lack of diversity. They were also the first to publicly release a workforce demographics report earli-er this year. They were commended for doing so, and so far, experts say they are the most aggressive at addressing the issue.

Meanwhile, Apple recently broke headlines by pledging $100 million to President Obama’s ConnectED initiative which aims to bring cutting-edge technologies to schools in low-income areas.

Blacks and Hispanics Not Getting Hired For Tech Jobs — Even Those With Tech Degrees

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