With a keen eye for business and an open heart, philanthropist Tyrone Farley’s laser focus is to plant a seed that will affect change in the community.

Image is everything. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are pre-judged by how we look. From our hairstyles to the shoes on our feet (and everything in between), how we present ourselves makes a statement. Regardless of how you define your personal style, if you’re walking into a boardroom for an interview or down the street to a restaurant, the words that come out of your mouth and the actions you portray carry more weight than you may realize.

Since the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the world hasn’t been enamored with or followed a First Lady so closely until Michelle Obama arrived on the scene. As the first better half of the first African-American president of the United States, all eyes remain on the FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States) as she decorates periodicals and television screens with her keen fashion sense, nontraditional standard of beauty and her unique rapport with people. Several books feature the First Lady’s fashion secrets and tips, but how many dig into who she is as a person?

You’re never too young to give back and that’s one of Aaja Corinne Carr’s goals in life. The 21-year-old couples her love for her community with her passion for fashion to both empower women, and to encourage them to embrace their individuality and purpose in life. Her current campaign, “She’s in Color,” features real women with real stories to inspire people, especially other women, to conquer their personal dreams and goals.

Playwright and Chicago native Paul Oakley Stovall (of About Face Theatre in Chicago) wanted to speak truth about the black community of the South Side of his hometown, and he succeeded with his recent play, Immediate Family.

Advocacy and activism are roles Lamman Rucker doesn’t have to audition for because they’re a part of him. Born to inform and inspire, the Philadelphia-native says he realized at an early age the difference he could make in the lives of others as he watched loved ones die from a disease that continues to affect African Americans more than any other community. As he witnessed the devastating effects of AIDS in the black community, Lamman worked with his peers to fuse his passion for the arts and love for people to evoke awareness when they established W.A.I.T.T. (Washington Area Improvisational Teen Theatre). The company promoted abstinence and educated youth about safe sex, teen pregnancy and STDs, including HIV/AIDS and through the organization, Lamman became a certified peer sex counselor.

Hydeia Broadbent gives the word ‘normal’ a new meaning in Webster’s dictionary. As a part of the first generation of children with AIDS, she vowed to make it her mission to spread awareness about the disease. At the age of six, the activist started to speak out about it nationally, only a few years after her adoptive parents were told by doctors she was HIV positive-advanced with AIDS. In 1987, Hydeia’s birth mother gave birth to another child, at which time both were tested for a virus few medical experts and people knew about, except they thought the disease was only prevalent among homosexual males and drug abusers.