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Mariya Russel

Marius Russell is the first black woman to run a Michelin star restaurant. She has always had a huge interest in cooking, even from a young age. Cooking was very prominent in her family, and she would be in the kitchen a lot. After learning how to make eggs for herself, she decided she wanted to do it for other people, too. She was first introduced to cooking as a career in high school. After high school, she moved to Chicago to attend The Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, or the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Chicago, which closed in 2017. She interned at the Columbia Yacht Club before working at Uncommon Ground, Green Zebra, The Bristol, and Nellcote and Senza. From there she moved to Charleston, South Carolina for a change in scenery. However, after her father’s death, she and her husband moved back to Chicago so they could be closer to her mother. She began work at Oriole in 2016 as a server, and she was asked if she wanted to be a part of the future project Kumiko and Kikkō. She was promoted to the position of sous chef, and later chef de cuisine in 2018. She began her research into Japanese cuisine, which involved a lot of experimentation.

Tarana Burke

Tarana Burke was born on September 12, 1973, in the Bronx, New York. From a young age, Burke developed a passion for activism and community organizing. In the late 1980s, she joined an organization focused on youth development called 21st Century. Starting as a teenager, Burke led campaigns and launched initiatives around issues like housing inequality, racial discrimination, and economic injustice. Fueled by her passion for activism. After graduating college, she moved to Selma, Alabama to work for the 21st Century. While working with this organization, Burke encountered many young women of color that were survivors of sexual violence and abuse. Also a survivor of sexual abuse. In 1996, a young woman asked to speak with Burke privately about experiencing sexual abuse. She continued to focus on young women of color and co-founded an African-centered Rites of Passage program for girls called Jendayi Aza. This program evolved into her non-profit JustBe, Inc. which was founded in 2007. This organization was created to empower and encourage young Black girls through unique programming and workshops. Burke continued to work in the non-profit sector. She served as Managing Director of a Black arts organization in Philadelphia called Art Sanctuary. In Selma, Alabama, Burke worked as a curatorial consultant and special projects director at the National Voting Rights Museum & Institute. While at this museum she helped to organize the annual Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee to commemorate the Selma Voting Rights Struggle. Burke’s work earned her a consulting position on Ava DuVernay’s award-winning film, Selma in 2014. A few years later, Burke’s work returned to the spotlight. During the 2017 Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal, Burke’s hashtag #metoo went viral. People all over the world began posting the phrase on their social media accounts to align with the movement.

Rhianna Fenty

Robyn Rihanna Fenty, born February 20, in 1988, St. Michael parish, Barbados. R&B singer who became a worldwide star in the early 21st century, known for her distinctive and talented voice and for her fashionable appearance. She was also known for her beauty and fashion lines. As a child, she listened to Caribbean music, such as reggae, as well as American hip-hop and R&B. In 2004 she attracted the attention of Evan Rogers, an American record producer. He helped Fenty record a demo that led to an audition with the rapper Jay-Z, who at the time headed the Def Jam record label, and he soon signed the budding vocalist. For her professional career, she adopted her middle name, Rihanna. She later abandoned the tropical rhythms that had adorned her first two albums and recorded a collection of sleek R&B that presented her as a fiercely independent and rebellious woman. “Umbrella,” featuring a rap from Jay-Z, became one of the year’s biggest hits and earned Rihanna a Grammy Award. In early 2011 the album’s sexually provocative single “S&M” became her 10th number one Billboard hit, which made her, at age 23, the youngest artist ever to reach that milestone. Included in the total were prominent collaborations with hip-hop artists T.I. and Eminem that appeared on albums of theirs; many felt her vocals on the latter’s “Love the Way You Lie” (2010) lent resonance to the song’s depiction of an abusive relationship. Rihanna acted in movies also. After collaborating on several cosmetics collections in the early 2010s, She launched her own line, Fenty Beauty, in 2017. The brand was enthusiastically embraced by fans and was praised for its inclusivity in offering 40 different shades of foundation. In 2019 it was announced that Rihanna was partnering with LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton to create the fashion line Fenty. She thereby became the first woman of color to head a fashion house at LVMH, which was the largest luxury-products company in the world. Fenty’s first collection was released later that year.