At SJR, we thrive on creating spaces where our dedicated employees can feel heard and supported throughout the year. In celebration of Black History Month, we wanted to give them an opportunity and platform to honor inspirational figures in the Black community.
Staff in the U.S. and Canada were asked to nominate individuals who were important to them, who have made a difference, and whose work, personality, or commitment they wanted to highlight and celebrate.
From civil rights activists, scientists, sportspeople, and politicians, to artists, writers, or musicians, the nominees were virtually limitless. In fact, out of the near dozen nominations we received, a couple of our very own SJRers were among the prominent group. Just a reminder that we all have the ability and power to impact our communities and the people around us in our own ways.
Each week in February, we featured several nominees, giving our broader team an overview of their significance, impact, and other noteworthy information that warranted their recognition.
We’ve rounded up all the nominations to share with you because we believe that education fosters tolerance and empathy. Here’s our list of nine noteworthy individuals.
Issa Rae
Nominated by Karla Pope, Senior Editor
Who they are:
Issa Rae is a multi-talented actor, writer, producer, and entrepreneur.
Why they’re being nominated:
She’s an inspiration for many, especially Black people in creative fields. From starting her own independent web series to starring in and writing her hit HBO show, Insecure, Issa Rae is a force to be reckoned with. She’s employed and extended opportunities to young Black writers, directors, costume designers, and producers who are typically overlooked in Hollywood. I think she should be honored during BHM and beyond for paving the way for so many people who aspire to create and flourish in spaces where they’re not always seen or welcomed.
Christina Joseph Robinson
Who they are:
Deputy Executive Editorial Director and lead of our Global DE&B committee
Why they’re being nominated:
Christina is the embodiment of leading by example. She protects her team and gives us the tools to grow and excel. And as an alumna of a Historically Black College, she’s always educating others about the important contributions of Black Americans and showing us that social activism is not an annual calendar event, but a way of life and of thinking.
John Coltrane
Who they are:
John Coltrane was a pioneering jazz saxophonist, a spiritual thinker, a social activist, and a sometimes saint who was active from the late ’50s to his untimely death from liver cancer in 1967. Not only one of the greatest musicians in history, but also a figure of profound spirituality and humility, John Coltrane is an inspiration in his struggles and triumphs—both with himself and with the injustices he saw around him.
Why they’re being nominated:
I first heard Coltrane when Spotify shuffled his 1960 recording of “My Favourite Things” in my unassuming direction. For the next 12 minutes, I sat pinned to my seat by a hurricane of music—terrified and exhilarated. Lots of people have written music about spirituality; Coltrane wrote music /as/ spirituality: as the direct, ecstatic encounter of, and attempt to understand, the divine soul of the universe. His eclectic personal beliefs grew from a religious experience that he credited with rescuing him from heroin addiction, and from fused philosophies from East and West and from the Bible to the Buddha to the Quran. And these beliefs informed not only his pulverizing music (this is, assuredly, not your piano-bar jazz), but also his social activism, which encompassed everything from the civil rights movement (listen to the haunting “Alabama”) to the victims of the atomic bombings in Japan. His later music became, to many, almost unlistenably extreme, but he never had a compromising moment in his career. Most of the time, he hits highs of intensely bracing beauty that few other musicians, in any tradition, have ever hit.
Ketanji Brown Jackson
Supreme Court Justice
Who they are:
Ketanji Brown Jackson is an American attorney and jurist who served on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. On April 7, 2022, she was confirmed as an associate justice-designate of the Supreme Court of the United States by the Senate.
Why they’re being nominated:
As the first Black female justice on the Supreme Court, she’s an inspiration to many young women and girls. Her historic appointment signals that representation is important.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Nominated by Christina Joseph Robinson, Deputy Executive Editorial Director, US
Who they are:
She was a prominent journalist, activist and truth-teller who shed light on the conditions of African Americans throughout the South. Wells-Barnett was born an enslaved person during the Civil War and was influenced by her parents who were politically active during Reconstruction. While working as a teacher in Memphis, she wrote a weekly column and gained national recognition for her writing on racial injustice. But widespread reports of lynchings in the 1890s launched her career as an investigative journalist when she began researching each death and reported on the causes, ultimately leading to the publication of “Southern Horrors” and “A Red Record.” She was also active in the women’s suffrage movement and one of the founders of the NAACP.
Why they’re being nominated:
When I was a young girl, I learned about Ida B. Wells-Barnett through Black history books my family had at home. I greatly admired her tenacity and dedication to exposing racial injustice no matter the personal peril. Wells-Barnett was chased from her home, her office was burned down, she was physically threatened, she moved across the country, and still, she did not back down. When I became a journalist and started covering underrepresented communities in my hometown and throughout my region, I was determined to give a voice to the voiceless because as Wells-Barnett once said, “the way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”
Maya Angelou
Who they are:
American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist.
Why they’re being nominated:
Maya holds the first in several categories, made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African American woman and was the first Black woman director. Her works addressed racism which gained national attention. She was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama. Her unbreakable spirit inspires many to never be silent against injustice.
Hoover Alexander
Nominated by Elizabeth Westlake, Editor
Who they are:
A family friend and Austin native, Hoover has been serving up Texas-grown, farm-fresh food for over 20 years, and in a city where Black-owned businesses are rare. But even greater than his interest in food is his passion for his community. He promotes urban gardens and more-balanced eating habits, has helped organize several food and wellness programs, and is an active member of several boards in town. People may first come for Hoover’s legendary Southern cooking, but they return for his magnetic personality and belly laughs.
Why they’re being nominated:
As the longtime best friend of my late uncle, Hoover has been in my life and at family reunions (that he also catered!) since before I can remember. I’ve been inspired by his entrepreneurial spirit and humbled by his graciousness—he even gave me one of my first jobs as a hostess at his restaurant. Whether we were gathering for a birthday or a funeral (or I was taking his bobblehead with me to Vietnam), Hoover has been a staple in my family, and in the community.
Michael Scott
Who they are:
Michael Scott is the Head of Post Production at Group SJR working on a variety of engaging projects across our business functions. When he’s not creative storytelling, Michael enjoys basketball, creating music, and dodging any The Office quotes you have for him.
Why they’re being nominated:
Although Michael works tirelessly behind the scenes in the madness that is post-production, he remains front facing and highly communicative with his own team. He is someone that you’re excited to have on your project, meeting your own ideas with equal parts excitement and know-how. Michael is a quick-thinking problem solver and an all-around positive team player. SJR is lucky to have him!
Viola Desmond
Who they are:
A Black woman beauty shop entrepreneur, Viola Desmond became famous for being pulled out of a movie theater because she would not follow the venue’s segregation rules. She was a successful businesswoman and believed she should have the same rights as everyone else—and that her money was just as valuable.
Why they’re being nominated:
Viola is one of Canada’s first-ever equal rights activists and is from Nova Scotia, which is where the Underground Railroad ended for many people escaping slavery. She was recently honored with having her face on Canada’s newest 10-dollar bill.
