Raising the Glass Ceiling

by Sevetri Wilson

I know “raising the glass ceiling” sounds really cliché, but what better title for what I’m about to say.

I am so committed to the uplifting of the black community that I have started a newspaper entirely catered to our often overlooked population.

I’ve had a vision for a media source that would cover the black community in the city which I have resided in for years. However, in the last few months I have taken my vision and turned it into an execution plan and thus creating B-NOW, an acronym for Black News Our Way. The black community in Baton Rouge has been a strong presence here economically and socially, but I feel that we are underrepresented in the media.  

The idea to base the newspaper online actually came from one of my professors.  After discussing my ideas with him, I was told “why don’t you do it.” He suggested that I base it online for easy access.  

Another professor of mine once said he wasn’t the same person that he was 10 years ago. His experiences and the experiences of others had molded him into the person he is today. I have to agree with my former professor on his statement. I can not say that I’m the same person I was even 2 years ago.  Luckily for me, my experiences shaped me for the better and have made me a stronger individual.

The biggest misconception of B-NOW is that it’s a college newspaper ran by LSU students. Although I am a student at LSU, our editorial staff is comprised of a very diverse group of writers. We have undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students from both LSU and SU.  We even have students from Xavier, and other out of state schools who will be contributing to the success of the paper. I have a few professors who contribute to our paper in the specialty sections such as Hip-Hop& Religion. In the sports section Tyrus Thomas writes a journal entry entitled “From College to the Pros.”  To go even further, we have black professionals such as nurses who contribute to our “Black Health” column and attorneys who will write for our “Black Legal Advice” column.  To say at the least we have a wide variety of writers with different backgrounds and we’re always looking for more.

As a culture, I believe we must begin to help and support each other through our endeavors, whatever they may be. The fear of failure is something very powerful in our community. That fear holds us back from taking risks and making moves to be the successful people we were destined to be. The only thing worse than fear is the absence of support, which I feel is vital for our survival. We must raise the glass ceiling and learn to stick together because united we are unstoppable.

 To my web designer’s, editorial and executive team and everyone else who has supported me in one way or another, thank you.  I thank you for trusting in me and seeing my vision for B-NOW and making it into a reality.

To the entrepreneurs, students, educators, black professionals, mothers, fathers, and everyone else that I may have not covered, you will always be a hero in my eyes because you have escaped one of the biggest drawbacks of blacks, self doubt.

Please continue to support the efforts of B-NOW as we continue to grow in order to make our publication bigger and better. We have already accomplished many of our goals but we are still striving for more and we hope you are here every step of the way.

Contact Sevetri at editor@b-now.com