MONEY, POWER, RESPECT SUGAR AND SPICE The third and fi nal installment of Sweetest Day date ideas our ‘Evolution’ series for every relationship Black voices matter. Inside, find your guide to mail-in voting and other election coverage. OCTOBER 2020 INSIDE 4 Online at BLACdetroit.com 7 Letter from the editor FEATURES 24 LOVERS AND FRIENDS Special Sweetest Day date ideas perfect for any relationship 28 SECURING THE BAG The last installment of our ‘Evolution’ series explores the power of money and position 33 ELECTION SECTION 13 pages of election coverage including historic fun facts and voter resources DEPARTMENTS 10 DISCOVER Comforting fall recipes, Avenue of Fashion food trucks, a dapper gentlemen’s lifestyle brand and more 16 APPRAISED Ndubisi Okoye melds art and graphic design 18 IN STYLE Foxy browns 20 DETROIT PROPER Working moms struggle to separate home life 46 ACCESS 49 SEEN Parktoberfest at Campus Martius SPONSORED 8 GWEN THOMAS, FOUNDER, FRESH PERSPECTIVES SEMINARS 23 WHY IS FAMILY HISTORY AND PREVENTATIVE CARE IMPORTANT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST BREAST CANCER? 16 OCTOBER 2020 INSIDE 4 Online at BLACdetroit.com 7 Letter from the editor FEATURES 24 LOVERS AND FRIENDS Special Sweetest Day date ideas perfect for any relationship 28 SECURING THE BAG The last installment of our ‘Evolution’ series explores the power of money and position 33 ELECTION SECTION 13 pages of election coverage including historic fun facts and voter resources DEPARTMENTS 10 DISCOVER Comforting fall recipes, Avenue of Fashion food trucks, a dapper gentlemen’s lifestyle brand and more 16 APPRAISED Ndubisi Okoye melds art and graphic design 18 IN STYLE Foxy browns 20 DETROIT PROPER Working moms struggle to separate home life 46 ACCESS 49 SEEN Parktoberfest at Campus Martius SPONSORED 8 GWEN THOMAS, FOUNDER, FRESH PERSPECTIVES SEMINARS 23 WHY IS FAMILY HISTORY AND PREVENTATIVE CARE IMPORTANT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST BREAST CANCER? 16 D LIFE BLACdetroit.com D LIFE EDITOR'S LETTER Online in October CEO/Publisher: Billy Strawter Jr. Visit BLACdetroit.com for web exclusives and to stay up on what’s happening in Black Detroit Hope and Change EDITORIAL Senior Editor: Paris Giles Contributing Editor: Jackie Jones n election night 2016, I was recruited as a stringer for the Associated Press. I was Copy Editor: Kim Kovelle Oassigned to Northville and charged with collecting the ballot results for the city and Contributors: Kaye Byrd, Desiree Cooper, Sydney reporting back to the AP. It was my fi rst time doing this job, and I was excited – and a bit Kispert-Bostick, Jamilah Jackson, Sherri Kolade, nervous. I had no idea what to expect. My brain conjured images of the New York Stock Ex- D'Ara Nazaryan, Nick Pizana, Arianna Smith change, a sea of highly-strung white men in button-down shirts elbowing each other, sheets DESIGN of paper and frantic energy fl ying everywhere. I implored my then-boyfriend to tag along and Creative Director: Kelly Buren keep me company. Senior Graphic Designer: Lindsey Lawson If I was expecting a 10, the reality was closer to a 3. Just as the polls were closing, we ar- Photographer: Lauren Jeziorski rived at the precinct, the police department, where all the ballots from across Northville were being delivered to be tabulated. I planted myself in the freezing lobby and waited. I could CREATIVE AND PRODUCTION SUPPORT see people buzzing around behind a gate, one of those that the stores in shopping malls Opinion Piece use. Periodically, someone would come out and paste sheets MILO DETROIT, INC. BLAC’s former editor is back again with a of paper with the updated votes to the gate, and I’d write Chief Creative Offi cer: Mark Simon thought-provoking column. them on my chart and call them in. Creative Director: Doug Blanchard Easy and uneventful enough. Though things did get a little Director of Content: Jeremy Smith Digital Creator: Tanjae Chairse tight and moderately exciting toward the very end of the night Production/Advertising Operations: Christine Lasalle as reps from other media outlets and campaigns started to trickle in, all of us crowed around those sheets of paper trying to SALES decipher tiny, smudged numbers. My boyfriend kept a safe – but Director of Sales: Samantha Alessandri observant – distance, quietly moving in a few steps closer when Heart Health PARTNERSHIPS it looked like the boys may have been trying to squeeze me out. Partnership/Events Coordinator: Using counseling and communication to strengthen your relationship Ebony Jones But I got what I needed in the end. All the numbers were tallied CIRCULATION and my job was done. We left around midnight, stuffed our Distribution Coordinator: Meaghan Smith ravenous faces with Taco Bell in the car, and drove home. ADMINISTRATION The fi rst thing I did upon hitting the door and dropping my Director of Business Operations: Victoria Webb bag was turn on the TV. Donald Trump was in the lead – and Accounting Associate: Judy Stewart in a few key states. Interesting. My ex went to bed soon after we got in. I stayed up watching as long as I could but passed Get BLAC Mail PRINTER out somewhere along the way, on the fl oor at that, my legs Photo by Lauren Jeziorski Sign up for our weekly newsletter LSC Communications sprawled in the bedroom and the top half of me in the living at BLAC.media/BLACmail. room, where I’d had a view of the television. When I stirred at dawn, the results were con- crete. I sat on the fl oor a while longer in the glow of the screen and the rising sun consider- CONTACT US ing what this would mean, for the country and for my people. I felt a lot of things, but I tried 6200 SECOND AVE., DETROIT, MI 48202 to wrangle a sense of hopefulness. Maybe we’d be OK. 313-312-1611 Four years later and we kids are certainly not all right. A pandemic, record joblessness, PUBLISHER: [email protected] challenges to whether Black lives matter – and, while you’d think all that would bring us SALES: [email protected] closer as a nation, instead we’re more fragmented. Talk amongst yourselves about whether DESIGN: [email protected] the occupant of the White House is to blame and about what should happen next, but what’s EDITORIAL: [email protected] certain is that on Nov. 3, we’ll all be draped in front of our TVs once again. COVID makes this CALENDAR: [email protected] election especially tricky, but within 13 pages of election coverage (Page 33) we look at mail- DISTRIBUTION: [email protected] in voting and efforts to mitigate confusion and disruption to ensure a safe and accessible election. And we’ve got your Sweetest Day date ideas (Page 24), because, now more than BLAC Detroit magazine is published 12 times a year. ©2020 ever, we need somebody to talk to us nice. Boo-zy Good Time SEEN Galleries by BLAC INC. All rights reserved. Any reproduction in whole Halloween-themed cocktails or part without the express written consent of BLAC maga- Enjoy the issue. Check out the full digital gallery. zine is prohibited. Did we spot you? Paris Giles Fb.com/BLACdetroitMagazine @BLACMagazine @BLACdetroitMag Senior Editor 6 BLAC • OCTOBER 2020 • BLACdetroit.com D LIFE BLACdetroit.com D LIFE EDITOR'S LETTER Online in October CEO/Publisher: Billy Strawter Jr. Visit BLACdetroit.com for web exclusives and to stay up on what’s happening in Black Detroit Hope and Change EDITORIAL Senior Editor: Paris Giles Contributing Editor: Jackie Jones n election night 2016, I was recruited as a stringer for the Associated Press. I was Copy Editor: Kim Kovelle Oassigned to Northville and charged with collecting the ballot results for the city and Contributors: Kaye Byrd, Desiree Cooper, Sydney reporting back to the AP. It was my fi rst time doing this job, and I was excited – and a bit Kispert-Bostick, Jamilah Jackson, Sherri Kolade, nervous. I had no idea what to expect. My brain conjured images of the New York Stock Ex- D'Ara Nazaryan, Nick Pizana, Arianna Smith change, a sea of highly-strung white men in button-down shirts elbowing each other, sheets DESIGN of paper and frantic energy fl ying everywhere. I implored my then-boyfriend to tag along and Creative Director: Kelly Buren keep me company. Senior Graphic Designer: Lindsey Lawson If I was expecting a 10, the reality was closer to a 3. Just as the polls were closing, we ar- Photographer: Lauren Jeziorski rived at the precinct, the police department, where all the ballots from across Northville were being delivered to be tabulated. I planted myself in the freezing lobby and waited. I could CREATIVE AND PRODUCTION SUPPORT see people buzzing around behind a gate, one of those that the stores in shopping malls Opinion Piece use. Periodically, someone would come out and paste sheets MILO DETROIT, INC. BLAC’s former editor is back again with a of paper with the updated votes to the gate, and I’d write Chief Creative Offi cer: Mark Simon thought-provoking column. them on my chart and call them in. Creative Director: Doug Blanchard Easy and uneventful enough. Though things did get a little Director of Content: Jeremy Smith Digital Creator: Tanjae Chairse tight and moderately exciting toward the very end of the night Production/Advertising Operations: Christine Lasalle as reps from other media outlets and campaigns started to trickle in, all of us crowed around those sheets of paper trying to SALES decipher tiny, smudged numbers. My boyfriend kept a safe – but Director of Sales: Samantha Alessandri observant – distance, quietly moving in a few steps closer when Heart Health PARTNERSHIPS it looked like the boys may have been trying to squeeze me out.