Actress, singer, songwriter, poet Tsebiyah Derry has not allowed the global pandemic to slow her down this summer of 2021. In true-to-life Hot Girl summer form, Tsebiyah started off the season by releasing a sizzling love ballad “Coastline,” which is available on all music streaming platforms. On Aug. 6, 2021, Netflix released “Hit & Run,” a nine-part Original series starring Sanaa Lathan as Naomi Hicks, the ex-lover of Segev Azulai, portrayed by Lior Raz, who is searching for his wife’s killers.
Filmed prior to the pandemic, Tsebiyah nabbed the role of a receptionist at the magazine that Lathan’s character works for. Says Tsebiyah, “My character is a dicey hipster.” Adding to the success of “Coastline” and “Hit & Run,” the Brooklyn resident is also a recipient of a $5,000 grant from New York City Artist Corps. The $25 million program supports artists who live and work in NYC, while giving New Yorkers opportunities to experience cultural programming across the city starting this summer.
Tsebiyah, who made her Broadway debut in 2018 in “Rocktopia,” will be using the funds to put on a free concert presentation of original performances in October, which she plans to record and release on YouTube. With all of this multitasking of endeavors, Tsebiyah also found time this summer to publish a new poem, “Home Is Earth.” The autobiographical work of prose will appear in the third issue of Spoken Black Girl Mag!
Flo Anthony.
Fashion designer B Michael will be honored by the National Congress of Black Women at their annual awards ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021. The 37th annual anniversary virtual event is titled, “Through It All, Still Standing.” Other honorees include Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett (lead developer of the Moderna vaccine), Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO), Renee Montgomery (VP and co-owner of the Atlanta Dream) and Dr. Rebecca S. Pringle (President of the National Education Association). B Michael became the first Black American designer in luxury fashion to dress an Oscar recipient, the late Cicely Tyson, in the 91-year history of the Academy Awards.
Jean Shafiroff, Susan L. Taylor and Khephra Burns. Photo by Jared Suskin for Patrick McMullan
The first Annual Southampton African American Museum Benefit took place at Blu Mar in Southampton, New York on Aug. 12. Hosted by Martin and Jean Shafiroff, the esteemed attendees included Brenda Simmons, Essence Magazine icon, Susan L. Taylor and her husband Kephra Burns, L. Marilyn Crawford, Loida Lewis, Sharon Lopez, Aisha Christian and Michael Steifman. The media sponsors included Dan’s Papers, while Bloomberg Philanthropies was among the corporate sponsors.
This Black business month, American Express and the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. (USBC) are announcing the expansion of ByBlack with the first national certification program exclusively for Black ownership designation. Actress and entrepreneur Issa Rae recently certified her haircare business, Sienna Naturals, on ByBlack. She says, “We have only scratched the surface of the collective power of Black businesses, so I am excited to join American Express and the USBC to shine a light on the opportunities ByBlack presents. ByBlack is a powerful platform that connects Black business owners with new revenue streams. Together we can spread the word to support small Black businesses.”
