Black Innovator Talks at BSU Celebrates Entrepreneurial Spirit

Echoing Green Teams with Bowie State to Highlight Black Influencers

MEDIA CONTACT: Damita Chambers, dchambers@bowiestate.edu, 301-832-2628 mobile 

(BOWIE, Md.) – With black entrepreneurship on the rise in recent years, finding early and consistent support for these innovators becomes even more critical to ensuring their success. That’s the motivation behind the Black Innovator Talks at Bowie State University on Feb. 20, sponsored by Echoing Green, which brings black movers and shakers to the campus to discuss how to elevate aspiring entrepreneurs.

The Black Innovator Talks, part of the university’s Black History Month events, will take place on Thursday, Feb. 20 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. in the Fine and Performing Arts Center, Main Stage. Panelists include social innovators from Echoing Green’s Black Male Achievement Fellowship program, alongside leaders from the tech, funding, media, social and business sectors. The Maryland Center at Bowie State University partnered with Echoing Green to bring the event to the university.

The theme of the discussion is Education as Innovation, highlighting ways to help identify and develop new ways to find connections across sectors and disciplines to support black entrepreneurs. One of the panelists is Brittany Ireland, president of HBCUBuzz, a popular online source for news about historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Ireland and Bowie State alumnus Luke Lawal Jr. began the news site in 2011, while they were undergraduate students. Starting as an event coordinator, Ireland worked her way up to become president of HBCUBuzz. The site’s popularity has grown exponentially since it began, enjoying a readership community of 390,000+ Facebook followers, 207,000+ Instagram followers and 95,700+ Twitter followers. 

Other confirmed panelists include:

• Rashiid Coleman, founder, Black Male Educators for Social Justice 
• Austin Martin, CEO & founder, Rhymes with Reason
• Hadiyah Muhid, CEO & founder, HBCUvc
• Lyzz Ogunwo, director of programs, NBA Players Association
• Chey Parker, radio host, WKYS
• Derrick Pearson, CEO & founder, Black Tech Week
• Darrell Scott, CEO & founder, Push Black
• Hope Wiseman, CEO & founder, Mary & Main

Bowie State University is the perfect host for the Black Innovator Talks as Maryland's first historically black university and because of its growing focus on helping students across disciplines to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and become innovators. The Bowie State Entrepreneurship Academy[BROKEN LINK] provides workshops, mentors and activities, like pitch competitions, to help students jumpstart their own businesses. In addition, Bowie State recently partnered with social impact and coffee company Saxbys to launch an experiential learning program that empowers students to run a successful campus café, led by a student CEO.

On the horizon, a $42 million Entrepreneurship Living-Learning Community is set to open in fall 2021, which will house 500+ students, student businesses and public retail space. The building will also become the new home of the university’s Entrepreneurship Academy and the Bowie Business Innovation Center (Bowie BIC), the first business accelerator located at a Maryland HBCU.

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About Bowie State University
Bowie State University (BSU) is an important higher education access portal for qualified persons from diverse academic and socioeconomic backgrounds, seeking a high-quality and affordable public comprehensive university. The university places special emphasis on the science, technology, cybersecurity, teacher education, business, and nursing disciplines within the context of a liberal arts education. For more information about BSU, visit bowiestate.edu.