Monica May's Point Of View

Guenet Gibbons-Roberts and her husband Sam are the visionaries and managers of the new and improved Orlando Carnival. Starting Friday May 24th Orlando comes alive through Sunday May 26th. Throughout the city there will be festive attributes to the Caribbean culture. Roberts gave the history of Carnival, “Stating that it is based on the Catholic religion. It is Mardi Gras but with an African undert...

Chris Surrey, the owner of Paintbox Laboratories, an AI and technology company has collaborated with several other companies and has become the most sought after black man in this industry. He is bringing an Ai and tech conference, F3Fest March 23-25th to Hard Rock Live @ Universal Studios. Thursday, May 23rd, 3p-6p is Free and open to the public and all are invited to be a part of the documentary...

Happy Mother's Day! Guests: Pastor Sharon Riley of Agape Church, Lady Deborah Wiggins of Hope Church, Lady Taja McRae of Experience Christian Center, Lady Chenise Thompson of The Worship Center, Bishop Derrick McRae of ECC, Kyle Larue, and Dr. Marcelline Girlie www.vividmindscare.com.

Dwight Dale, Insurance Solutions Specialist with his company SOAR Health Advisors helped us navigate why we need healthcare and how to obtain insurance. He shared that the average age to obtain insurance is 26, as that is when most young people are no longer insured through their parents. Mr. Dale made it clear that the Marketplace for Affordable Healthcare is easy to navigate but it is easier wit...

In the first hour, we spoke with Dr. Kathleen Plinske, President of Valencia College, which was named the best “community” college in the nation as the inaugural winner of the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The college has the big idea that “anyone can learn anything under the right conditions”. Their mission is to create the right conditions to allow students to learn; part of this...

April is National Minority Health Month, and we took this Sunday to speak with some notable black men within our community. We began our first hour with Jonathan Gustave, licensed mental health counselor and Executive Vice President of No Limit Counseling and Education. We talked about childhood trauma and healing the negative intergenerational ways of teaching within our community that have long-...

The 20th Anniversary of the Opening of the Harry T. & Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park & Cultural Center/Upcoming Elections in Orange County/Financial Literacy Month continues: This commemorative event is for the entire family Saturday, April 20th at 2:00pm – There will be tours of the facility, food trucks, African Dancer & Drummers and more. A panel discussion of historic proportions is open to...

The Orange County Library is More Than Just Books. Our first guest, Steve Powell, the C.E.O. and Library Director of the Orange County Library shared that this week (April 7-12) is designated as National Library Week. They will have a library card drive. You can go into any library and sign up online www.ocls.info or call 407/835-7323. “Summer at Your Library” kicks off June 1st and focuses on sch...

Bishop Derrick McRae - Experience Christian Center will host a $1,000 Easter Egg Hunt and Health Fair on their new grounds 2425 Hiawassee Road Saturday March 30th starting at 9:57am. Bring the entire family and your neighbors to fellowship and take advantage of the FREE health care provided. For more information www.eccorlando.com LaShea Reaves - 8 Cents in a Jar invites high school students to on...

Clerk of the Court, Tiffany Moore Russell expounded on Operation Green Light and Sunshine Week. Both are activated throughout the year, but attention is being drawn to them now. OGL gives Orange County residents the chance to pay outstanding parking tickets (or other fees/fines associated with your license) in order to be able to drive legally. Sunshine Week allows you to view legal documents pert...

March is Women's History Month: Today in fact, March 10th is National Women and Girls HIV Awareness Day. We spoke with Dr. Andrea Dunn, Executive Director of Let's BeeHIVE - an HIV Education non-profit organization that serves our community. Let's BeeHIVE provides a variety of resourceful groups for women and girls infected and affected by the HIV virus. They now offer PrEP - which is a Pre-exposu...

2 Orange County Attorneys Face Possible Discipline from the Florida Bar Attorney Jerry Girly of The Girly law firm represented Dr. Baiywo Rop in a racial discrimination case against Advent Health. A Florida jury awarded Dr. Rop $2.75 million in his suit, but merely a week later the Judge overturned the jury's verdict. Girley, a civil rights attorney talked about the outcome on social media and his...

Education is so important in the African American communities. In the first half, we spoke with the Henley Family, Robert Henley Jr., Robert Henley III, and Dr. Tanya Henley. Robert Henley Jr. is the director of education for the Florida Conference of Seventh-day Adventist. He emphasizes the importance of reimagining education in the school setting. Their son, Robert Henley III, was diagnosed with...

Carver Middle School has been vilified in the past, but things are turning around because of the hard work of Samuel Danner, Principal, and Dr. Sheila Windom, Principal Leader at Orange County Public Schools. Principal Danner shares that he’s led to “fights for the poor’. He found that the middle school was lacking structure, and the culture was out of place. He emphasizes the importance of words...

February is Black history month! This month we are highlighting the important figures that use their efforts to support our black community. In the first hour we spoke with Clarence Reynolds, the CEO of Black Men’s Health Alliance. He found that information about help for black men was unavailable and saw that the men in our community were dying from preventable and treatable diseases. The organiz...

It's all about Men’s Health and Awareness! In the first hour, we spoke about the importance of Prostate Cancer Awareness with the men of Omega Psi Phi and their health event. The Basilus, Terry Strickland spoke from firsthand knowledge as a prostate cancer survivor. Dr. Justin Emtage promoted the significance of frequent screenings, while Darrick Adams from Advent Health stated the purpose of the...

Charlyce Simmons is a two-time kidney transplant survivor and now provides for other patients and their families through her non-profit Michal’s Hope. They provide education, respite and social services like groceries, gas, mortgage, rent and utilities for patients dealing with dialysis and transplant surgery. Kia Blair from Our Legacy which is a transplant educational service through Advent Healt...

Cassius Butts – The Edgewater H.S. graduate is a phenomenal Speaker, Strategic Advisor and a 2-Time Presidential Appointee. The Author of the book “Exceptional,” talked about growing up and what it took for him to become successful! Connect with him on Linkedincom/in/cassiusbutts On Instagram @CassiusFButts and Twitter @CassiusButts Actors from the movie, Color Purple: ShellitaBoxie (Actress/Stunt...

Celebrating the Life and Time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the City of Orlando’s MLK Commission guest Courtney Powell shared their calendar of events. Go to www.orlando.gov/mlk or mlkorlando.com Orange County’s MLK Initiative representative Dr. Earl Mowatt shared their calendar of events…search www.ocfl.net In the second hour, we spoke with Cendie Stanford, the President of ACEs Matter. ACEs, Adv...

Monica May's Point of View on STAR 94.5. The show that focuses on ALL things pertaining to our vast community - however, our focus narrows down to the African American family. It is our goal to educate through this weekly discussion and focus on getting our audience to interact within the conversation. Topic: Giving Thanks through Giving - Pathlight Home; Learning the Meaning of Celebrating Kwanza...

Making “Brighter” Money Moves in the New Year/ Information on the Inflation Reduction Act It’s common knowledge that many of us overspend during the holiday and some may even spend February bill money to make sure presents are under the Christmas Tree. What if we planned? What if we taught our kids better money skills? What if we learned how to create generational wealth. Our 3 money mavens droppe...

Dr. Tracy MacIntosh is an Associate Professor as well as the Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the UCF College of Medicine. As an Emergency Medical Doctor, she started the residency program @ UCF COM to address the shortage of physicians in Central Florida. The goal is to give every doctor graduating, the foundation for the social & structural factors and barriers to care that e...

N.O.B.L.E. is the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement and has been at the forefront of providing solutions to black law enforcement issues since 1976. In the first hour we spoke with 4 respected members of Orange County Law Enforcement: Retired Captain Mike Doby, Deputy Chief Lovetta Quinn Henry, Captain Don Woods, and Former Chief of Corrections Cornita Riley. N.O.B.L.E is committed to...

Dr. Amanda Wilkerson, a UCF Professor shared "The Other Black Voter." The 19-page document outlines how HBCU students from 4 Florida colleges view the political landscape. It also shares how to talk with them about voting https://cmsi.gse.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/The%20Other%20Black%20Voter_0.pdf And Dr. Treshonda Baucom shared how to "Lean into Holiday Grief."

Ministry was the one word, interweaved throughout the morning – Our topic was education. We spoke with 2 leading Florida HBCU”S about their acceptance and admissions processes. Billy Dajuste, Director of Recruitment representing Bethune Cookman University (BCU) and LaShawnda Swanigan. Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions from Florida A&M University (FAMU) told us their schools look at ed...