- Kimberley Guillemet
- Dec 5, 2025
Roger Airliner Young was born August 20, 1899 in Clifton Forge, Virginia. In 1916, Young enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C. to study music. She wrote in the yearbook: "Not failure, but low aim is a crime." Though her grades were poor at the beginning of her college career, her teachers saw promise in her. One such teacher was Ernest Everett Just, a prominent Black biologist and head of the Zoology Department at Howard University. Young eventually graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1923, and earned her master's degree from the University of Chicago in 1926.
The following summer, Just invited Young to the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, as his research assistant. The first Black woman admitted to the lab, Young would spend ten research seasons at Woods Hole conducting research. In 1929, Just left for Europe, leaving Young to take over his duties as head of Howard’s Zoology Department with no official recognition or title.
In 1930, an overburdened and underprepared Young took qualifying exams for the doctoral program at the University of Chicago. She failed the tests. Undeterred, she returned to teach at Howard. During the 1930s, she authored and coauthored several papers on different aspects of marine biology.
Young was passed over and was not named Just’s official successor as head of the Zoology Department. One of her colleagues suggested she enter the doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania, and helped her secure a grant to fund her studies. In 1940, Young earned her PhD, becoming the first African American woman to earn a doctorate in zoology.
After obtaining her doctorate, Young became an assistant professor at the North Carolina College for Negroes and Shaw University. Later in her scientific career, Young held teaching positions at Bishop College, Paul Quinn University, and at colleges in Mississippi and Louisiana. In 1960, Young became a science professor at Jackson State University.
Young died on November 9, 1964 at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Young contributed a great deal to science. She studied the effects of direct and indirect radiation on sea urchin eggs, on the structures that control the salt concentration in paramecium, as well as hydration and dehydration of living cells. She was recognized in a 2005 Congressional Resolution along with four other African American women "who have broken through many barriers to achieve greatness in science.” A consortium of environmental and conservation groups established the Roger Arliner Young (RAY) Marine Conservation Diversity Fellowship in Young’s honor, to support young African Americans who want to become involved in marine environmental conservation work.
- Kimberley Guillemet
- Jan 1, 2025
“A voice that can reach the stars.” -The Washington Post
Born in Piet Retief, Mpumalanga, South Africa, Pretty Yende, grew up in a close-knit family where singing was interwoven into the fabric of the familial culture. A timid child, Yende would reluctantly sing in church at the insistence of her grandmother.
One day at age 16, after seeing a British Airways television advertisement that featured the Flower Duet from Lakmé, Yende became intrigued by the sound of the singers’ voices. She went to her high school teacher the next day to ask what the sound could have been. “Opera,” he responded. Yende’s next question was, “‘Can human beings do it?’ because it didn’t sound like anything I’d known.” Her teacher answered by telling her she’d never sing like that. Yende insisted on being taught. At that moment, she knew what she would do with her life.
We are so glad that she did.
Today her career as an operatic coloratura soprano has taken her around the globe many times over and has earned her too many accolades and awards to name. Some of the most notable include the Mbokodo Award in the category of opera, the Best Recording Solo Recital Award in the International Opera Awards, the International Achiever Award in the 23rd South African Music Awards, the Readers' Award in the International Opera Awards, and the Cologne Opera Award. In 2023, she sang at King Charles III’s coronation in Westminster Abbey, further solidifying her elite standing in the opera world and making her the first black woman and first African citizen to sing at a British monarch’s coronation. An avid human rights activist, Yende has a passion for serving youth from the marginalized sections of society and to that end, has founded a youth foundation in South Africa.
This text is excerpted from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Yende, https://prettyyende.com/biography/ and https://www.dorchestercollection.com/the-edit/pretty-yende-trailblazing-soprano.
To hear Yende’s amazing voice, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtdLk-78MUA, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar7HGBg5o3k, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvkMvmaYyfc and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG5MujmmSnk.
- Kimberley Guillemet
- Jan 1, 2025
Dr. Anita Phillips, LCSW-C is a trauma therapist, life coach, spiritual teacher, and the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Garden Within. Widely recognized as a thought leader at the intersection of mental health, faith, and culture, Dr. Anita’s mental health advocacy work has reached hundreds of thousands and her podcast, In the Light with Dr. Anita, is transforming lives around the globe.
A New Jersey native, Dr. Anita is the daughter of Pastor David Graham and Evangelist Shirley Graham. She had early exposure to the importance of the intersection of mental health and faith as her older sister suffered from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and addiction throughout her entire life. Dr. Anita writes, “I asked for divine revelation about mental illness that would change and save lives. I’m so grateful He granted my request. My sister’s illness broke me in too many ways to explain, but like the child who gave Jesus his tiny lunch to feed the masses, I put myself in the savior’s hands. I asked Him to make me an answer; to multiply my broken pieces for those starving for understanding and deliverance. Now, God is doing exactly that in ways I never imagined possible and I am deeply grateful.”
Dr. Anita holds degrees from the University of Maryland and the Regent University School of Psychology & Counseling, and she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also serves as a fellow at Concordia University. Her dynamic voice has been heard from some of the largest faith platforms in the world. As a media personality she has been relied upon as an expert consultant by Tamron Hall, The Talk, Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Red Table Talk, and the Today Show.
