BLERDNATION™

"At last night's Critics' Choice Awards, not only did 12 Years a Slave take home the top prize, but star Lupita Nyong'o took home the award for Best Supporting Actress. It was her first big win of the season. Still likely recovering perhaps from being nominated in the same Oscar category earlier that day, Nyong'o's speech was particularly moving."

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If you have preconceived notions about models being dumb and coders being nerdy white dudes, prepare to abandon them. Lyndsey Scott has modeled for brands like DKNY, Victoria's Secret, Gucci and Prada. But she also knows Python, Objective C, and iOS, and builds apps in her spare time.

In a profile by Carmel Diamicis on Pando Daily, Scott explains that she graduated from Amherst in 2006 with a dual-degree in computer science — and 3 years later, found herself modeling for Calvin Klein, as "the first ever African American to get an exclusive contract with the company for New York Fashion Week."

What do you do when you can’t find dolls for your children that reflect their African heritage? Well if you’re Chris and Ada Ngoforo, a Nigerian couple, living in London, you make them yourself. The entrepreneurial couple designed their own line of talking African-themed doll line called “Rooti Dolls.“

The 12 Rooti dolls are programmed to speak in several African languages. Amongst them, there’s Nina, a “vibrant girl” with Nigerian parents, who “loves watching Nollywood” and can interact in the Nigerian languages of Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, and Ibibio; there’s Ama, a “bubbling dynamic girl” whose “dream is to be a doctor someday,” and can speak the Ghanaian languages of Twi, Ga, Ewe and Krobo; and there’s also Keza, with parents from Zimbabwe and Zambia. She “loves adventures, reading and listening to beautiful music” and can communicate in Shona, Ndebele, Bemba, and Nyanja.

"Zuriel Oduwole, Nigeria’s African Girl-Child education campaigner has been appointed as the Global Ambassador of the Ethiopian Airlines. At a recent event in the United States, the Airline’s Regional Director for the Americas Kagnew Asfaw, who signed the Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of the global African Airline highlighted her astonishing achievements.

Read more: http://news2.onlinenigeria.com/latest-addition/321012-nigeria-s-influential-10-year-old,-zuriel-oduwole-named-ethiopian-airlines’-global-ambassador.html#ixzz2mHTSJEXL"

"Black scholars and scholarship are marginalised in British academia. The lack of jobs and opportunities has led to an exodus of Black British academics to the United States, where there is a tradition of Black Studies which has produced a vibrant academic African American presence. In order to redress the chronic under-representation of the Black population in British academia (for example, only 50 out of 14,000 professors are Black in the UK) the development of British Black Studies is essential. We outline the basis for Black Studies in Britain and its vital importance."

"During the 6-week exhibition, coinciding with London Design Festival and in his first presentation of new work since Milan Design Week, Yinka Ilori adds pieces to his collection by using a combination of vintage modernist furniture and traditional stories from his childhood, creating one-off pieces inspired by traditional Nigerian parables and story-telling, creating meaningful yet humorous furniture designs." @yinksdesigns

"The Atlanta-based company behind the Super Soaker water gun and Nerf toy guns has been awarded nearly $73 million in royalties from toymaker Hasbro Inc., according to the law firm King & Spalding.

Johnson Research and Development Co. and founder Lonnie Johnson have been in a royalty dispute with Hasbro since February, when the company filed a claim against the giant toy company. According to King & Spalding, which along with the A. Leigh Baier P.C. law firm represented Johnson, Hasbro underpaid royalties for the Nerf line toys from 2007 to 2012."

"The John S. And James L. Knight Foundation started the Black Male Engagement Initiative two years ago. And now thousands of African American men are coming forward to tell their stories of success. BMe provides a platform for men to connect and engage with one another online and through networking events.

“Regardless of what you’re seeing, there are Black men out there doing good things,” says Alex Peay. “There are Black men out there making a difference, they are doing their part. There’s just so much negative media out there, you just don’t see these men on a regular basis.”"

"...new businesses opening up in Detroit, and when young entrepreneurs bring their talents to try to help revitalize and re-build our city.

But, we’ve rarely reported on a business woman quite this young.

“I wanna let everyone know that I am Detroit’s youngest entrepreneur and I like to do what I like to do,” said the 10-year-old Asia.

Asia Newson is a little dynamo that’s even captured Dan Gilbert’s attention.

Newson sells candles with her dad. Her big smile is matched by her passion to get other kids involved.

“I teach young people, like myself, how to make their own money,” she said."

"Florida teen Kiera Wilmot, 16, deserved some good news after being the target of a racist legal system, arrested and expelled for causing a small explosion during a science experiment. And she received it in the form of an unexpected scholarship to attend the United States Advanced Space Academy (ASA) from former NASA engineer Homer Hickam, reports the Black Youth Project."