{"id":2508,"date":"2019-06-04T12:43:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T12:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=2508"},"modified":"2025-04-29T12:44:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T12:44:59","slug":"mc-lyte-making-dreams-a-reality-for-our-scholars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2019\/06\/04\/mc-lyte-making-dreams-a-reality-for-our-scholars\/","title":{"rendered":"MC Lyte making dreams a reality for our scholars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A social media post recognizing African-American scholars has gone viral and it\u2019s all because of a hip-hop legend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua Williams posted his status as a co-valedictorian at historically Black, Dillard University to Instagram, saying that the achievement was thanks to the $50,000 scholarship he received from the Hip Hop Sisters Network that allowed him to jump-start his college education and gain a foothold into a successful career in journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCollege was nothing short of a red-carpet experience for me,\u201d Williams said. \u201cFour years ago, I never imagined an undergraduate experience in which my passion would later turn into a profession that has allowed me to photograph 150-plus celebrities within four years while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since matriculating at Dillard, Williams\u2019 work as a freelance photographer has been featured in Billboard Magazine<\/em> and he\u2019s received credentials to cover such major events like the BET Awards and the Essence Music Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach accomplishment is generally hard to obtain as a freelance photographer \u2013 and even more so as a full-time student,\u201d Williams said. \u201cHowever, once I received the MC Lyte #EducateOURMen<\/a> Scholarship to Dillard, I knew that I was destined to have a fulfilling college experience that was beyond my wildest dreams and I cannot thank MC Lyte, Lynn Richardson and the Hip Hop Sisters Foundation enough for investing in me and being one of my strongest support systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded by legendary hip-hop pioneer MC Lyte and a leadership team, board of directors and advisory board that includes Felicia Shaw, Diseree Clay, Alesha Renee, Jada Pinkett Smith, Kelly Price, Faith Evans and NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. \u2013 the Hip Hop Sisters Network is a non-profit foundation that promotes positive images of women of ethnic diversity, bringing leaders from the world of hip-hop, the entertainment industry, and the corporate world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foundation offers national and international support to women, men and youth around the globe on the topics of cultural issues, financial empowerment, health and wellness, mentorship and educational opportunities. MC Lyte said her vision includes providing resources to support community based and grass roots organizations that further the advancement of the missions and goals set forth by the organization. The #EducateOurMen is the signature Initiative of the Hip Hop Sisters Foundation that supports and develops African-American Men. #EducateOurMen supports African-American men by providing need-based scholarships to obtain undergraduate degrees primarily from HBCUs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scholars also have included Justin Matthews of Georgia; Deven Berry of Las Vegas and John Lawson of Louisiana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHip Hop Sisters Foundation has impacted my life tremendously \u2026 not many are afforded the opportunities that I have and I\u2019m forever grateful,\u201d said Lawson, a mass communications major with a concentration in public relations. \u201cIt is not only a scholarship, but also a mentoring program and they\u2019re helping me every step of the way to achieve my goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawson, who minors in Film was a 2017 Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders attendee at the University of California-Riverside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first verse of MC Lyte\u2019s song \u2018Dear John,\u2019 provokes the thought of not being afraid to take the first step to get where you want to go,\u201d said Berry, a computer science major. \u201cI have to be fearless when I approach a task that I want to complete. Going to college is a big step that I plan to take and it will take a lot of strength for me to move beyond my comfort zone to do bigger and better things with my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more about the scholars and the Hip Hop Sisters Foundation, visit www.hiphopsisters.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A social media post recognizing African-American scholars has gone viral and it\u2019s all because of a hip-hop legend. Joshua Williams posted his status as a co-valedictorian at historically Black, Dillard University to Instagram, saying that the achievement was thanks to the $50,000 scholarship he received from the Hip Hop Sisters Network that allowed him to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1448,1561,510],"class_list":["post-2508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-hip-hop","tag-mc-lyte","tag-social-media","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2509,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2508\/revisions\/2509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}