Dishin it With Dwight: A New Earth with Oprah, Jay-Z, and Abdul

UPDATE--- UPDATE--- UPDATE---IT WAS FOR OWN!!!!

Oprah and Jay-Z's "New Earth"

Rumors are flying all over the net about The FUTURE’s very own honorary member Oprah Winfrey visiting Sean “Jay-Z” Carter’s old neighborhood in Brooklyin, NY. Jay and Oprah visited Bed Stuy on Lexington Ave. & Lewis Ave. Jay’s block before moving to Marcy Projects; but then spent some time in Marcy Projects. The rumor is that Oprah was filming for an upcoming show that Jay will be featured on and Jay was showing her where he came up; if you also look closely in the photo you will see that Jay is holding in his hand “A New Earth,” which is an amazing book that Oprah has supported with her book club. A New Earth written by Eckhart Tolle assist readers in creating their life’s purpose and it challenges you to look within yourself and make decisions that truly transform your way of thinking in return creating “a new earth” for you and those around you. With this book being in his hand I wonder did Oprah bring him a copy? Is Jay currently reading it? Or was he trying to impress Ms. Winfrey? Regardless of why he is holding the book if you want an awakening in you and want to start creating new possibilities for your own life you must read “A New Earth,” it changed my life.

A New Earth
Tolle tells us there is good news, however. There is an alternative to this potentially dire situation. Humanity now, perhaps more than in any previous time, has an opportunity to create a new, saner, more loving world. This will involve a radical inner leap from the current egoic consciousness to an entirely new one.In illuminating the nature of this shift in consciousness, Tolle describes in detail how our current ego-based state of consciousness operates. Then gently, and in very practical terms, he leads us into this new consciousness. We will come to experience who we truly are—which is something infinitely greater than anything we currently think we are—and learn to live and breathe freely.

Oprah Winfrey reveals she has a long-lost half-sister

By Anne Lu
CNS


Oprah Winfrey has discovered she has a half-sister. The queen of talk announced on her eponymous show on Monday that she has learned just in November that she has a half-sister named Patricia, who was secretly given up for adoption in 1963.

When the media mogul was just nine years old in 1963, she had no idea her mother was pregnant. And because Vermita Lee couldn’t afford to keep Patricia, Oprah’s sister was secretly put up for adoption.

Oprah told her audience how Patricia, whose last name was not mentioned, learned of their connection and how they finally made contact. Their first meeting was recorded on home video in Milwaukee. She thanked her newly found sister for not going to the media with this news.

She said on her talk show that the news “literally shook me to my core.”

Coincidentally, Oprah also had another half-sister named Patricia, who passed away in 2003.

The Future Forward's Top 10 To Watch in 2011

As we celebrate the new year we decided to create a countdown, recognizing people we should look out in 2011. These individuals have been extremely recognizable in 2010. Because of their amazing success stories we can't wait to what they are going to bring to the table this year.

Here is The Future Forward's Top 10 to Watch in 2011.

Kennedy Center Honors 2010: Paul McCartney, Bill T. Jones, Oprah Winfrey honored

Winfrey has become our national confessor, our friendly, neighborhood billionaire philanthropist, the wizard who sprinkles magical dust over every author, entrepreneur, do-gooder and politician within her orbit. What Winfrey doesn't do is as powerful a statement as what she does. How dare she not interview Sarah Palin! The culture, it seems, has declared ownership of "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

Winfrey begs to differ - but only to a point. "I feel it's very much my show in that every decision you see on the show has come from that desk," she says, gesturing toward the pale green, bean-shaped table in her office. "The part that belongs to the culture is every single person who has watched . . . who has found or discovered a piece of light from it. Flecks of light, that's what I call it."

Essence Magazine Editor-in-Chief is Exiting

By Keith J. Kelly
NY Post

Angela Burt-Murray is out as editor-in-chief of Essence, the Time Inc.-owned fashion magazine for African American women, after five years at the helm.

She told staffers at a 4:30 p.m. meeting today that she is relocating to Atlanta with her family.

According to sources, the company quietly began preparing for the move a few weeks ago but wanted to proceed delicately to avoid re-igniting a controversy that flared this summer when Burt-Murray appointed a white woman to the key position of fashion director.

Sheryl Tucker, who took a buyout as an editor-at-large at Time Inc. in 2008, is being brought back to run the magazine on an interim basis.

Burt-Murray's decision to appoint a white woman, Ellianna Placas, to the fashion post incensed some readers, who argued it was difficult for people of color to make major inroads in mainstream fashion magazines and that Essence should be their domain exclusively.

Placas, who had previously worked at O, the Oprah Magazine, had been freelancing in the job for several months without incident before Burt-Murray appointed her as the permanent fashion director in late July.

But reaction was heated and immediate, even if it did attract a fair share of supporters.

"It's with a heavy heart that I learned that Essence magazine has engaged a white fashion director," Michaela Angela Davis, a former Essence fashion director and one-time editor in chief of Honey, wrote on her Facebook page, sparking a lively debate on the topic.

No mention was made of it in the official memo from Time Inc. Editor-in-Chief John Huey, in which he heaped praise on Burt-Murray for her contributions to the magazine, including the Essence Book Club and Essence Music Festival Seminar Series.

Huey said the company was "beginning our search for a new editor."

GLO TV's Show The Gayest Sh*t EVER hit YouTube This Week

This week GLO TV Network premiered it's official YouTube Channel - www.youtube.com/glotvnetwork and the internet got it's first taste of the first season of the show, "THE GAYEST SH*T EVER!"



Outrageous! Outlandish! Overt and Over the top. It's funny, raw, in your face and uncensored comedy and commentary at it's best. No one is safe...from Beyonce to Oprah to dudes waring "skinny jeans"...it's all some of "The Gayest Sh*t" you've ever seen! (LOL) Check out the funniest comedians and celebs in this episode, then GO TO www.GLOTVNETWORK.com today to get the best in Urban LGBT Entertainment, News and Events!

OPRAH!!! I wanna JOB!

Companies thank their hard-working employees in variety of ways from end-of-year bonuses to paid vacations to discounts on coveted, and sometimes, not-so-coveted, items. But with continued economic troubles, a pat on the back is sometimes all that's given.

But what about a surprise $10,000 check? Or heck, how about one of those iPads?

That's exactly what the entire O: The Oprah Magazine staff received this past Tuesday. Long known for her "random acts of kindness" (remember when she gave each member of her studio audience a car in 2004?), Oprah struck again at the Hearst headquarters in NYC to surprise O staffers (no matter how long they'd been with the company) with the gifts in honor of the magazine's 10th anniversary.

"These were personal gifts to the staff from Oprah to thank them for their hard work and dedication to the magazine," a Hearst spokeswoman told The Future, confirming the visit and gifts.

The Recycle in the of GREEN -- Art of Negotiation

The MEGA World of Lil Mogul
by Lil Mogul


This month The Future focus is GREEN and recycle. Every Tuesday, I post the MEGA World of Lil Mogul and on Tuesday, August 1, 2009, I posted the Art of Negotiation. Like it or not, life is a giant negotiating trading room floor. As participants, we come into conflicts with others: family members, business partners, sales clerks, competitors, customers or “The MAN” daily. How we handle these encounters can determine not only whether we prosper but whether we can enjoy a full, pleasurable, satisfying life or find business success.

Let's Make A Deal. Negotiation is a field of knowledge and endeavors that focuses on gaining the favor of people from whom we want things. It’s as simple as that. We want all sorts of things: prestige, freedom, money, justice, love, security, recognition and/or power. In the past, rewards presumably go to those possessing the greatest talent, dedication and education. But life has disillusioned those who hold the virtue and hard work will triumph in the end. The winners seem to be people who not only are competent but also have the ability to negotiate their way to get what they want. -Photo: Lil Mogul at the NYSE with Ashanti & Nefertiti Strong

I remember watching a Barbara Walters Special and she interviewed Sally Jesse Raphael. Barbara asked Sally, “What is the difference between you and Oprah, “and Sally replied, “Nothing; however, Oprah had better attorneys when negotiating her TV show deal. They had a line that included she would own her show.” After hearing that, I started researching the Art of Negotiation. I discovered, when David Robinson was signed to the San Antonio Spurs, he negotiated in his NBA contract that he would ALWAYS be the 2nd highest paid basketball player in the league. The mid to late 90’s basketball players were setting historical salaries. Getting what you want and understanding how to get it.

Negotiation is the use of information and power to affect behavior within a “web of tension.” If you think about this broad definition, you’ll realize that you, in fact, negotiate all the time both on your job and in your personal life. As entrepreneurs, we have to negotiate for survival. I call Sprint every month to extend my pay period to be able to collect invoices from clients; with vendors to pay them for services on 30 or 60 day terms and with bank managers to clear holds on checks or reverse bank fees for overdrawing the account.

To get to the Promised Land you have to negotiate your way through the wilderness. Stay in the Game – Richard E. Pelzer Sr.