ON THE RADAR

Terresa Hardaway says her favorite part of being a business owner is the chance to intentionally build community. In 2017, she co-founded Blackbird Revolt, a design studio focused on social justice, anti-racism and abolition. In 2024, she acquired Black Garnet Books. Blackbird Revolt helps government agencies, nonprofits and grassroots organizations with branding, animation, video and audio produc...

LeBrent Speed founded The Better Black Business (B3) Project to intentionally combine commerce and community for Black entrepreneurs and authentic allies. Just over two years in, the professional networking program has more than 100 members and is expanding to other cities. On this episode of MSR On the Radar, Speed shares how a licensed minister who always aspired to work in business became BNI’s...

Thomas Jackson’s favorite part about being a Black business owner in Minnesota is the ability to create community, perspective, autonomy and authentic experiences. On this episode of MSR On the Radar, Jackson joins host Damenica Ellis to talk about discovering golf during the COVID-19 pandemic and how that hobby became Par365, an indoor golf simulator, bar, restaurant and event space in Roseville...

Zantavious Graham came to the Twin Cities from a small town in Georgia to play football at Concordia University St. Paul. Four years later he has a college degree, a published book, and a growing wellness community reaching hundreds of people across Minneapolis. None of it was part of the original plan. Graham joins MSR Digital Editor Aaliyah Demry on MSR On the Radar to talk about FRM, Forever Re...

Tommy McNeal spent years at the top of the corporate ladder, overseeing customer experience for a Fortune 50 company. He was good at it. He climbed by letting his work ethic speak for itself. But the feeling never left him. "In the back of my mind, like most of us in our Black community, there's this sense that we're all replaceable." In this episode of On the Radar from the Mi...

"I don't want to be doing hair in three or four years... I want an empire." At just 24 years old, St. Paul braider and content creator Krowned Kenn is proving that hair was just the launching pad. In this episode of MSR On the Radar, digital host Aaliyah Demry sits down with Kenn to unpack her powerful story from starting in her mom's house, to surviving loss, launching a luxur...

MSR On the Radar host Aaliyah Demry sits down with 26-year-old Devin Boeing to explore how he turned viral online tutorials into free, community-centered tech education across Minneapolis and why mastering AI is essential for Black economic power.

Twin Cities hip-hop and R&B duo iLLism have spent years blending music, storytelling, partnership, and purpose into a sound uniquely their own. On this episode of On the Radar, Emmanuel Duncan and Fancy Lanier-Duncan of iLLism share their journey through music, marriage, creativity, and community building. From performing on stages across the country to co-founding initiatives like The Legacy...

On this episode of On the Radar, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder's series highlighting Black Minnesota creatives, host Damenica Ellis sits down with Esther Callahan, a Minneapolis artivist, curator and co-founder of the BLK Collectors, whose work spans art direction, curation, consulting, activism and community building all in service of one mission: ensuring Black artists are seen, supporte...

On this episode of On the Radar, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder's series highlighting Black Minnesota creatives, host Damenica Ellis sits down with PaviElle French, an Emmy-winning interdisciplinary artist, musician, dancer, writer, composer and arts educator whose decades of work have made her one of the most celebrated and deeply rooted artists in the Twin Cities. French grew up in the Ro...

On this episode of On the Radar, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder's series highlighting Black Minnesota creatives, host Damenica Ellis sits down with Kprecia Ambers, a Minneapolis-based visual artist whose vibrant figurative work is built around a simple but powerful intention: putting love into the world. Ambers describes herself first as a child of God, and that foundation shapes everything...

This episode of On the Radar features Sayge Carroll, co-founder of Mudluk Pottery Studio—a grassroots ceramics space redefining what it means to create in community. Rooted in South Minneapolis, Mudluk is more than a studio—it’s a sanctuary for expression, healing, and connection, built as a Black, queer, woman-owned space where artists of all backgrounds can come together.   Sayge shares their jo...

On this episode of On the Radar , we sit down with Minneapolis-based multidisciplinary artist Antione Jenkins, whose work spans from custom sneakers to large-scale community murals. From early beginnings doodling in school to creating powerful public art across the Twin Cities, Jenkins shares how he turned his passion into a full-time creative career. We talk about his journey building Skntones, c...