Author: Dorcas Onasa

If you only know Alex Toussaint through a screen breathless, high energy, pushing you past the point you thought you could go  you might be surprised to learn that he describes himself as laid back. Off camera, he is quieter. Calmer. But he is quick to point out that there is no real separation between the two versions of himself. The energy his riders experience during his classes does not come from performance. It comes directly from how he unwinds and recovers when no one is watching. The intensity people witness in his Peloton sessions is a byproduct of the…

For Xavier Beloved, landing a role on HBO’s new comedy series Rooster was not simply another credit to add to his résumé. It was, by his own account, the kind of moment that makes the years of work feel worth it a full-circle experience wrapped in nerves, gratitude, and a growing sense of purpose. Beloved plays George Heitman, a college athlete at Ludlow College whose imposing physical presence is balanced by a quiet, compassionate interior. It is a pairing that gave the actor room to do something he had not been asked to do quite so fully before: slow down,…

When George Floyd was murdered in May 2020, corporations, foundations and individual donors responded with an unprecedented wave of financial commitments to Black-led organizations. It felt, for a moment, like a turning point a reckoning that would translate into lasting structural change for communities that had long been underfunded. Five years later, a report from nonprofit research group Candid and ABFE tells a different story. The funding, for the most part, did not stick. What arrived as a surge receded like a tide, and the organizations left behind are now navigating some of the most difficult financial terrain of their…

Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, two of boxing’s most durable heavyweights met for what turned out to be a milestone moment for both men. Deontay Wilder, 40, and Derek Chisora, 42, each stepped through the ropes for the 50th time in their professional careers a rare symmetry that gave the bout an undeniable sense of occasion before a single punch was thrown. When the final bell rang, the judges handed Wilder the victory by split decision, with scores reading 115-111, 112-115 and 115-113. It was a win that extended Wilder’s record to 45 wins, 4 losses and…

A24’s latest release is already turning heads  and not just at the box office. The Drama, starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, debuted as the third best-selling film of its opening weekend, pulling in $28 million globally after hitting theaters on April 3. The numbers reflect something audiences have been responding to in a deeply personal way: a love story that does not flinch. Set in Boston, the film centers on Emma, played by Zendaya, and Charlie, played by Pattinson, a couple on the brink of their wedding day. When Emma reveals a long-held secret during a dinner with close friends,…

When Olympic track star Junelle Bromfield walked down the aisle to marry fellow sprinting champion Noah Lyles on April 4, she did so in a look that had been years arguably a lifetime in the making. The Jamaican-born two-time Olympian embraced a deeply personal beauty philosophy for the occasion: keep it natural, trust the team, and let the joy do the rest. Bromfield, who describes herself as someone who rarely wears much makeup in everyday life, leaned into a luminous, skin-first approach for her wedding day. Her glam was handled by Tia Codrington of YSBeautyCo, who worked with a carefully…

Skye P. Marshall was standing on the Golden Globes red carpet when she made a quiet but deliberate decision. She had planned to save parts of her story for a larger platform, but the moment felt right so she gave it freely, on her own terms. The Chicago born actress understood exactly what she was offering and who it would reach. Stories like hers breaking into the entertainment industry in her 30s after years of survival jobs, military service, and corporate cubicles rarely get told at that level. For women of color still finding their footing in the industry, she…

It is a Monday and Emma Grede is home in Los Angeles, which almost never happens. For a woman who is a founding partner of SKIMS, co-founder and CEO of Good American, chairwoman of the Fifteen Percent Pledge, a board member of the Obama Foundation, and a mother of four, a quiet weekday at home is practically a foreign concept. She has been traveling for the launch of her debut book, Start With Yourself, out April 14, and the timing feels right not because the world needed another business book, but because this one is something different. It does not…

The first day Kareem Edwards arrived at DePauw University in 2003, he was two weeks early, homesick, and quietly wondering whether he’d made a mistake. A kid from Far Rockaway, Queens, raised by a first-generation Trinidadian-American mother who believed in preparation over daydreaming, he had earned his place there through a Posse Foundation scholarship and sheer will. When the rest of the freshman class finally moved in, he spotted a young woman across the dorm with her family and told his friends he was going to marry her someday. He didn’t even know her name yet. Two decades later, that…

Prostate cancer does not affect all men equally. For Black men in America, the disease carries a weight that goes far beyond a medical diagnosis  it reaches into families, reshapes communities and cuts lives short at a rate that demands urgent attention. The numbers are clear and they are hard to sit with: Black men are more than 70% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer compared to white men, and they are more than twice as likely to die from it. One in six Black men will face this disease at some point in his lifetime. Behind every…