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Ahmaud Arbery's Mother Wanda Cooper-Jones Says Oprah Surprised Her With a Phone Call for Her Late Son's Birthday

Ahmaud Arbery’s mother Wanda Cooper-Jones has undoubtedly received an outpouring of love and support ever since the brutally tragic video of her son’s killing was released.

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Jay-Z Backed, Black-Owned Vegan Cookie Company Expands Into Target

Denise Woodard never imagined that her daughter’s food allergies would lead her down a pathway toward entrepreneurship.

Back in 2016, she was a corporate executive at The Coca-Cola Co. when a peanut and corn snack almost took her daughter Vivienne’s life when she was just a year old.

“My daughter was born in 2015, and in 2016, right after her first birthday, on a Wednesday afternoon at 3’o clock, I remember clear as day, I was on a conference call,” said Woodard recalling the terrifying encounter on an episode of The Startup Podcast. “Immediately after she takes a tiny bite, her lips start swelling up, her tongue starts swelling up, it’s clear she’s having trouble breathing. She turns blue in our living room.”

Fortunately, Vivienne survived the frightening incident and Woodward realized that she was allergic to corn. After taking another allergy test, she discovered that Vivienne had a tree nut allergy as well. In order to keep her young daughter safe, Woodard went on a mission to find allergy-safe snacks.

“Naturally, I set out to find the healthy, allergy-friendly snacks we’d need to fuel our active lifestyle,” Woodard writes on her website. “I came away from the stores frustrated and mystified. Nothing on the shelves met our dietary needs and my healthy standards.”

As a result, Woodard resorted to making snacks for her daughter from scratch. That same year, she launched Partake Foods, a vegan food startup that specializes in allergen-free cookies. All Partake cookies are free-from the top eight food allergens: cow’s milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soybeans, and wheat.

In 2017, Woodard left her job at Coca-Cola and sold cookies out of her car for six months. In 2019, she secured a $1 million investment from Marcy Venture Partners, a venture capital firm co-founded by hip hop billionaire Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter. Not only did the investment help take Partake to the next level, but it also made Woodard the first black woman to ever raise over $1 million for a food startup company.

Fast-forward to 2020 and the vegan cookies inspired by Vivienne are now being sold in over 1,600 Target stores nationwide. Partake revealed the partnership with the mega-retailer on Monday in a press release. In addition, Partake is expanding its cookies into Sprouts, The Fresh Market, and additional Whole Foods Market regions across the country, making the vegan snacks available in over 2,700 stores.

The announcement comes in the middle of Food Allergy Awareness Month. Studies reveal that food allergies affect 1 in 13 children and are expected to impact up to 1 in 10 kids this year. Additional research shows that African American children are more likely to have food allergies and suffer from food-induced anaphylaxis. Black and Hispanic children also visit the emergency room more due to food allergies.

 

 

 

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Jay-Z Backed, Black-Owned Vegan Cookie Company Expands Into Target

Denise Woodard never imagined that her daughter’s food allergies would lead her down a pathway toward entrepreneurship.

Back in 2016, she was a corporate executive at The Coca-Cola Co. when a peanut and corn snack almost took her daughter Vivienne’s life when she was just a year old.

“My daughter was born in 2015, and in 2016, right after her first birthday, on a Wednesday afternoon at 3’o clock, I remember clear as day, I was on a conference call,” said Woodard recalling the terrifying encounter on an episode of The Startup Podcast. “Immediately after she takes a tiny bite, her lips start swelling up, her tongue starts swelling up, it’s clear she’s having trouble breathing. She turns blue in our living room.”

Fortunately, Vivienne survived the frightening incident and Woodward realized that she was allergic to corn. After taking another allergy test, she discovered that Vivienne had a tree nut allergy as well. In order to keep her young daughter safe, Woodard went on a mission to find allergy-safe snacks.

“Naturally, I set out to find the healthy, allergy-friendly snacks we’d need to fuel our active lifestyle,” Woodard writes on her website. “I came away from the stores frustrated and mystified. Nothing on the shelves met our dietary needs and my healthy standards.”

As a result, Woodard resorted to making snacks for her daughter from scratch. That same year, she launched Partake Foods, a vegan food startup that specializes in allergen-free cookies. All Partake cookies are free-from the top eight food allergens: cow’s milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soybeans, and wheat.

In 2017, Woodard left her job at Coca-Cola and sold cookies out of her car for six months. In 2019, she secured a $1 million investment from Marcy Venture Partners, a venture capital firm co-founded by hip hop billionaire Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter. Not only did the investment help take Partake to the next level, but it also made Woodard the first black woman to ever raise over $1 million for a food startup company.

Fast-forward to 2020 and the vegan cookies inspired by Vivienne are now being sold in over 1,600 Target stores nationwide. Partake revealed the partnership with the mega-retailer on Monday in a press release. In addition, Partake is expanding its cookies into Sprouts, The Fresh Market, and additional Whole Foods Market regions across the country, making the vegan snacks available in over 2,700 stores.

The announcement comes in the middle of Food Allergy Awareness Month. Studies reveal that food allergies affect 1 in 13 children and are expected to impact up to 1 in 10 kids this year. Additional research shows that African American children are more likely to have food allergies and suffer from food-induced anaphylaxis. Black and Hispanic children also visit the emergency room more due to food allergies.

 

 

 

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Howard University Hospital Opens Free COVID-19 Testing Site In Northeast Washington D.C.

Since the spread of COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus, there has been a fight for states to provide more testing in order to contain and combat the virus. The United States has been lagging behind when it comes to providing proper testing for its residents as compared to other countries that have made efforts to make the test readily available and free of charge. In one of the country’s epicenters for the viral outbreak, an HBCU institution is stepping up to provide COVID-19 testing for the local community.

Last week, Howard University announced its Faculty Practice Plan in partnership with Bank of America with the opening of a free COVID-19 testing center to serve communities located east of the river. The testing site opened a few weeks back at the newly-repurposed Benning Road Center.

“Many of our patients travel great distances to come to Howard University Hospital, which makes it challenging to seek medical attention at the first sign of illness,” said Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick in a press statement. “Our goal is to meet the community where they live so their access to care greatly improves and hopefully we can reduce the spread of the coronavirus.”

“You will not need to have a doctor’s prescription in advance to get tested at our location,” said Dr. Hugh E. Mighty, Howard University vice president of clinical affairs said in a statement reported by FOX 5 DC.

“We want to eliminate the obstacles so more people can be tested because we believe everyone should be tested. We want to screen our community neighbors in the areas where there are higher incidents of hypertension, heart disease and diabetes because those pre-existing conditions are linked to the higher incidents of coronavirus that we’ve seen in African American communities.”

Testing will be available on Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the next three months with no prescription needed. The Howard University team will see patients who are “showing symptoms or who believe they are asymptomatic.” D.C. residents can sign up for an appointment by calling 202-865-2119, option 3.

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