Black Intel

Abel Habtegeorgis: Politics & Culture Contributor

Abel Habtegeorgis

Abel Habtegeorgis has been working around issues of social justice for more than 10 years. He has advocated for better recruitment and retention for people of color on college campuses, immigrant’s rights, and a greater investment in education for our disenfranchised youth. He has used his knowledge of public relations to highlight issues around discrimination and social justice while working in the areas of media communication and outreach strategy development for the Mosaic Cross Cultural Center and the Cesar Chavez Community Action Center. Abel has also spoken at the Tommie Smith and John Carlos “Fists of Freedom” ceremony, Young Leaders Summit, and The Conference of Indigenous Peoples. He is also a graduate of the NCCJ Leadership Today program, the Center for Third World Organizing, and has been inducted into the Associated Students “A.S. 55 Club” for his work in student activism.   In addition, Abel has participated in a PBS Documentary Series in the summer of 2006 entitled ““Roadtrip Nation”.  Abel is also a proud member of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Incorporated.

Albert Gibbs: Business & Culture Contributor

Albert Gibbs

Who is this guy Albert Gibbs II you might ask????? This 26 year old dapper gentlemen from Ft. Lauderdale, FL currently lives in Oakland, Ca. He lives a double life as a Sales Account Management for a document management company in Silicon Valley during the day and a spoken word artist/freelance journalist at day. Professionally Albert has garnered several awards, including being a member of the 2007 Tampa Bay Business Journal 30 under 30 class, he is a two time INROADS intern of the year for his work at Citrix Systems. He is currently a freelance writer for several black own newspapers and is contributor to the Black Press of American association. He has bachelor degrees in Marketing and Creative Writing from the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL and an International Business certificate from Imperial College in London, England. Albert published a collection of poems entitled “Observations” in 2006. He has shared his words with audience worldwide in international cities like London, Paris, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Rio and of course at the Air Lounge in downtown Oakland. More infomation about Albert words can be found on his website www.albertgibbs.com.  He is currently planning his fall semester book tour with several dates in the Bay area. He is a mentor in Big Brothers Big Sisters, a member of the 100 Black Men of Tampa, FL, A Toastmaster, and Proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Eve Adams: Entertainment, Arts and Culture Contributor

Eve's Adams

This self proclaimed “Bombshell” has had a sample of both the East and West attending college as a student studying at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and now residing in the Bay Area.  After an extended hiatus due to her blossoming modeling career, she has returned to the marvelous “student life.”  Currently she is in pursuit of her B.A. in Public Relations, which she will follow up with law school to dive right into her dream career in Entertainment Law.  Having been described as sharp, raw and witty she plans on bringing  the same smart and sassy point of view she currently dishes out on her blog, the-bombshell-affairs.blogspot.com.  Known to be quite the “party-girl,” she enjoys going out, laughing, reading and traveling.  Being a music-enthusiastic she believes the way one’s heart and soul is through music!

Jean Yves Brunache: Music & Culture Contributor

Jean Yves Brunache

So what is the test of a man? Jean Yves Brunache was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Through out his life he’s had a passion for music. From back in middle school heading the music selection for all the school functions to being a Co-Founder to Music/Gossip based website SHAMELESSHYPE.COM. While a Junior in High School he hosted and DJ’ed his own radio show at 90.1 KZSU Stanford for two and a half years. Where he was apart of a nine hour block of Hip-Hop where his show followed the longest running Hip-Hop show in the world. That experience was the lone catalyst for him to get into radio in any capacity. After graduating high school he enrolled into San Francisco State University where he majored in Radio & Television with an emphasis on radio programming and production. Again feeling the call for being on air he took on the internet airwaves for San Francisco State’s radio station, KSFS, where he did three different radio shows. Not only did he hold the position of on-air personality and DJ, but he also commanded the reigns of Music Director. Now he co-founded and runs a music/gossip based website, SHAMELESSHYPE.COM, and is in the works to doing a podcast supplying the public with the best music available. Jean Yves Brunache is also a very proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Jamon Douglas: Culture & Politics Contributor & Founder

Jamon Douglas

Terril Jamon Douglas has been a computer geek ever since he crossed the plains with his oxen in the game “Oregon Trail.” His father and mother basically raised him around computers since both of them came from this occupation, his father as a network engineer and his mother as a programmer. While attending school at San Francisco State he held an internship with Charles Schwab for two years which gave him much needed experience in his field. From then on he was a certified NERD. From graphic design to programming in Java Jamon has done it all. As one of  two Blacks from the Information Systems department at SFSU, he graduated with a degree in Computer Information Systems and Electronic Commerce Systems. He is now utilizing his education while working at AT&T as an IT analyst. Coming full circle he is realizing the role technology plays in society and how by harnessing the power of technology via the Internet society is now able to shape its own perception of the world through connections made especially with social networks.

Joel Bridgeman: Culture & Politics Contributor

Joel Bridgeman is a native of Richmond, California, a former Obama Campaign staffer and Panetta Institute Congressional Intern. Joel has been heavily focused on higher education policy for the last six years.  While in college, he served as an advocate for student rights in a number of positions.   In addition, he founded a college tour program, Iota Shadow Day, with the Delta Chi Chapter of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. of which he is a proud member.  He is also a recent graduate of San Jose State University, where he currently works as an Outreach Specialist helping light the pathway to college for underrepresented students.

Lindsey Renee: Politics and Health Contributor

Lindsey Renee

Lindsey Renée is a driven 24-year-old artist and native of Champaign, IL, dedicated to being an advocate for women of color. Currently a Master’s degree candidate in Women’s Health at Suffolk University in Boston, Lindsey completed her Bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Outside of the classroom, Lindsey works at the Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights and is highly interested in the intersectionality of Black women’s lives.  As an artist she rages from her love of abstract painting to her interest in capturing the essence of a subject in a single photograph, but what she loves most is interacting with people.  She’s never met a stranger.

Nourbese Flint: Politics & Health Contributor & Founder

Nourbese Flint

Nourbese graduated from San Jose State University with a B.S. in Journalism and a B.A. in African American Studies. Now she is  currently pursing her Master of Arts in Women Health at Suffolk University, Class of 2010. While in undergrad, she worked as a Program Director at Black Women For Wellness creating and facilitating STD/HIV prevention education. In addition, she published via the web, a collection of interviews with alternative health professionals across Los Angeles. Currently she works as the new media manager at BWW as well as at the Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights in Boston. Prior to her current profession, she worked at KPFK Pacifica news as an evening news reporter and she studied the art of broadcast news writing at NBC Universal in San Jose. Nourbese  has studied British Journalism in Edinburgh  and was one of the production editors of the 2005 spring edition of Impulse magazine. In 2007 she continued her international studies in Cuba, learning about Black Latino health, education and culture. On her free time, she continues to work with Women’s Intercultural Network , a consultant of the United Nation and studies Spanish. Her favorite past time is watching sci-fi, 90’s cartoons and traveling.

Rosezetta Upshaw: Culture Contributor & Founder

Rosezetta Upshaw

Rosezetta Upshaw began studying law at the University of Southern California in 2008 and will receive her J.D. in 2011. She graduated early from the University of California, Berkeley in December 2007 with a B.A. in Rhetoric and a B.A. in Ethnic Studies. Besides being a scholar, Rosezetta is also a musician. She began studying electric bass, upright bass, composition, and music theory at the Young Musician’s Program at U.C. Berkeley at age nine. Although she is classically trained, Rosezetta adores jazz. She has performed throughout the United States and internationally in Mexico and Cuba. Rosezetta has traveled to Cuba twice: once to study African culture, Cuban history, education, healthcare, and politics. The second time to perform on tour with Hip-Hop Without Borders.

In addition to being a scholar and a musician, Rosezetta is an activist. She has performed in juvenile detention centers and K-12 schools in the San Francisco Bay Area in an effort to supplement the lack of music education for youth. She has worked at legal clinics in the Bay Area and on Indian Reservations, providing free legal services.  She also cared for developmentally challenged youth in Solano County and tutored underprivileged inner-city girls in Richmond, California. Rosezetta is a founding member of Hip-Hop Without Borders, a political group deeply rooted in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, Liberation Theology, and the Anti-Imperialist movement. Rosezetta recently returned from Brazil, where she networked with other leaders, artists and activists and laid the roots for a 2010 American/Brazilian/Cuban cultural exchange conference.

Currently Rosezetta works for District Court Judges James A. Parker and C. LeRoy Hansen. Rosezetta is also the Attorney General of the National Black Law Students Association’s Western Region. In her down time, Rosezetta enjoys spending time with her dad, siblings and pets, eating authentic ethnic foods, traveling, studying Spanish, driving, physics, and tennis.

Angela Hughes: Politics & Culture Contributor

Angela Hughes

Exceptional writer, James Baldwin once said, “Ignorance allied with power is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” Once Ms. Hughes’ adolescent eyes read those words, they would forever be embedded in her psyche. Angela Hughes is a San Francisco native that has a passion for learning as much as she can, whenever she can, in hopes of spreading knowledge to whoever she can. A graduate of San Jose State University, where she received her B.S. in Advertising, Ms. Hughes strives to make her mark as the copywriter to properly represent people of color through advertising campaigns. In addition to fulfilling her childhood dream of working in the advertising industry, she has had the opportunity to hone her journalistic skills. Ms. Hughes was one of 12 students who embarked on a historical civil rights trip through the south en route to the Inauguration of President Barack Obama. From seemingly impossible deadlines and countless interviews to meeting participants and witnesses of the Emmitt Till murder, Woolworth’s counter sit-ins, “Bloody Sunday” protests, and the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, her experience was nothing short of life-changing.

As a result, Ms. Hughes has done media packages that have been aired on CNN, Good Morning America and local Bay Area news stations KTVU and CBS. Her articles have been published in the San Jose Mercury News and featured in JET Magazine.

She is a member and volunteer of the Physician’s Organizing Committee and serves as a writer for their bi-monthly newsletter, The Diagnosis. She is also an active member of the NAACP San Francisco chapter, where she advocates for the availability of quality education for the African American youth in her community. An inimitable intellectual, Ms. Hughes self-indulges in reading, enjoys writing, attending live musical performances, and is a fervent enthusiast of street fashion.