March 2014


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


Cox Business Launches New Suite of Cloud Services for Small Businesses


Cox Business today announced


the national availability of Essential Cloud™, a suite of cloud-based business applications


that provides


small businesses with the solutions they need to increase operational efficiency and improve customer relationships. A Cox Business solution, Essential Cloud is designed to meet the needs of businesses in specific industry verticals.


to


"Businesses are continuing embrace


the cloud to improve


performance, while allowing them to remain customer-focused and revenue driven," said


Asheesh Saksena,


executive vice president and chief strategy officer, Cox Communications. "With this as a backdrop, we developed Essential Cloud to include the very best applications to enable customers to run their small and medium businesses as efficiently as a large enterprise."


Essential Cloud carefully


curates business solutions that can be purchased and managed through one portal, similarly to how music files are managed by consumers. It recommends three "Basic Essentials," which are solutions every business needs, and then tailors solutions by four primary verticals:


real estate,


restaurant, professional services, and personal services.


For instance,


Essential Cloud directs those in the professional services industry to a menu of options which includes email marketing, online appointment booking, proposal creation, and secure file sharing – solutions that almost any professional services company would need to run and grow.


"Essential


example of our commitment to provide technology


solutions Essential


Cloud is another that small


business need to grow," added Steve Rowley, senior vice president of Cox Business.


Cloud also features


PayLeap, a payments/merchant services platform, as its anchor business solution. Developed by a


Acculynk,


Cox Business partner, PayLeap provides small and medium-sized businesses with the ability to integrate in-store, online and mobile payment processing in one offering, thereby eliminating many of the steps and costs typically associated with card payment processing.


Customers can access their apps from anywhere, at any time, with continual backup. Essential Cloud also offers personalized service and live consultation via a concierge team to aid users in selecting the best apps for their unique business needs. To learn more about Essential www.essentialcloud.com.


Cloud, visit: Cox Business continues to go


deeper in delivering cloud solutions for customers. In 2013, Cox Business launched VoiceManager IP Centrex, a cloud-based voice solution for business designed to increase efficiencies in one reliable


In addition, Cox Business forged a partnership


communications with ViaWest


platform. to


offer


commercial customers secure fiber network connectivity colocation solutions.


CIAA Championship FROM PAGE 10


extending Livingstone's lead to 46-31 with 14:29 left in the game. Jones hit a free throw for the Rams


but Eric Dubose promptly drained a deep three, handing the Rams a 17 point deficit. After Desmore netted two free throws for Winston-Salem, but Anthony Welch and Hill teamed up to bring the Livingstone crowd to their feet using a three-pointer and layup for a 20 point advantage.


The Rams pieced together an 11-0 run to snag the momentum and cut the deficit to nine, making the score 54-45 with 9:05 remaining in the game. The Blue Bears tacked on four points using free throws while the Rams answered with four baskets of their own from the charity stripe. A layup by Jones cut the lead to seven points (58-51) with 6:40 on the clock and forced Livingstone to take a timeout.


The Blue Bears used a 10-2 run


over the next two minutes to run away 68-53. Winston-Salem State battled and scraped to come back and earn some momentum. They were unable to overcome the deficit despite their efforts and fell behind 75-61 with 1:24 on the clock before allowing Livingstone to make school history


with the 83-68 victory. The 2014 CIAA All-Tournament


Team is listed below:


• Mark Thomas, Livingstone College


• Marquez Jones, Winston-Salem State University


•


Preston Ross III, Winston-Salem State University


• Emilio Parks, Johnson C. Smith University


• Tyrell Tate, Fayetteville University


State • Jody Hill, Livingstone College


• LaMarquis Letchaw, Johnson C. Smith University


• Antwan Wilkerson, Johnson C. Smith University


• Juwan Addison, Fayetteville State University


• Emarri College


Bailey, Livingstone


• Most Valuable Thomas


Player: Mark


• 2014 John McClendon Sportsmanship Award: C. Smith University


Johnson


Read the Hampton Roads Messenger online 24/7 www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


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along with and cloud infrastructure Hollywood FROM PAGE 1


stories told? Warrington Hudlin, who produced


the comedy classic Boomerang, said the answer is clear: “Diversity in the executive


suite of decision-makers


is absolutely more important.” And when asked why diversity among film executives is such a critical issue, he explained that the answer is not black and white, so to speak.


“There’s a presumption in your


question and my answer,” Hudlin noted, “that there is going to be a sensitivity to stories that comes from your cultural and racial membership. Now, that’s a presumption. I’m not sure it’s true.” He paused before adding, “Quite frankly, we thought having an African-American president was going to make some changes, but some things didn’t change.”


He then recounted a friend’s


oft-repeated analogy, that “there might one day be a black man named head of the Ku Klux Klan. That doesn’t mean they’ll stop lynching blacks.” His friend’s point, Hudlin explains, is that in movies, “the bottom line is the business is the business is the business.”


But he noted that when minorities


who are “conscious” ascend within the industry and gain clout, it can have a profound impact on which projects get made and which stories get told. Hudlin, who co-founded the Black Filmmaker numerous career


Foundation, instances throughout


recounted his


in which having a minority


in a senior executive post made a difference.


For instance, Hudlin recalled that


when Richard Parsons, who is African American, became chairman of Time Warner, he convened a meeting of Warner Bros. executives


so that


Hudlin and other minority filmmakers could personally meet with them about potential projects. “Clout means, do they have money at their discretion? That’s what clout means,” Hudlin said. “There’s a pool of money to get projects made, and someone says yes and no.” To Hudlin’s point, it was only when box office superstar Brad Pitt stepped in and agreed to produce and appear in 12 Years a Slave that the film was able to get made.


“Whenever you have a person of


color who is conscious, they can pull the trigger to make things happen,” Hudlin added. He also explained that if more people of color are in decision- making positions, awards for minority stories will come naturally and may not be a once-every-decade rarity. “I think having the people in positions who can make those calls and have that discretion can actually lead to more critical acclaim.”


He’s likely right. A recent analysis of Academy Award voters


The Hampton Roads Messenger 11


found that they are 93 percent white and 76 percent male. Nominees have to be invited to join, which means that ensuring that minorities have a foothold in the industry is crucial to diversifying the academy’s voting ranks. The Los Angeles Times recently reported that the academy extended invitations to a new class of members that


constitutes its most diverse


group in history—underscoring the academy’s current lack of diversity.


According to the Times, John


Ridley, who won a screenwriting Oscar for 12 Years a Slave, said that the academy’s recent efforts to change that have “been a terrific time for people of color, but black people especially have a long way to go" in gaining better representation behind the scenes. He said that the academy data prove “it will take a long time to change.”


executives


It’s worth noting that film of


color also played a


crucial role in bringing 12 Years to American audiences. Zola Mashariki, who is black, is a senior vice president of production


at Fox Searchlight


Productions, and she helped shepherd not only the slavery-era epic to screens but also the recent romantic comedy Baggage Claim and the musical Black Nativity, both featuring predominantly black casts.


among ers, Hudlin


If we want to see more diversity Hollywood decision-mak- said,


the commitment


to diversifying the executive ranks has to come from those at the top within the industry. Nicole Bernard, a Jamaican American, has made such a commitment her focus in her role as senior vice president of audience development at Fox Entertainment, where her diversity efforts are hands-on. Hudlin mentioned others, but if we really want to see our stories told on the screen, he emphasized, we need many more.


But I would argue that there


is something we can all do at the grassroots level. The next time a young boy or girl of color tells us that he or she wants to act, maybe we should ask if he or she has ever considered owning a studio as a career.


Former Republican National


Committee Chair Michael Steele has said on occasion that the original civil rights movement was about integrating lunch counters but that today, African Americans need to strive to own the


diners. The same philosophy


could be applied to racial equality in Hollywood.


It’s great that 12 Years a Slave


won. Let’s celebrate that. But now that we’ve had the chance to celebrate how beautiful Lupita looked on Oscar night, let’s focus on figuring out what we can do to ensure that there’s someone in a position at a major studio, in years to come, who can make sure that she keeps working and doesn’t become yet another black Oscar winner whose promise fades away.


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