 Hi, I'm Darren Thomas here on City Talk, President of Thomas Media Group, host of the annual Columbia Black Expo, and I'm here today to talk about the 2018 Columbia Black Expo Economic Empowerment Summit. Power of Praise, this is a partnership with a local church and this year we're fortunate to have a relationship with Word of God Ministries and Pastor Eric Davis. We invite you to come out and fellowship as we lift up praise and we talk about our spiritual connection as associated with the Black Expo event. Expo officially kicks off on Thursday morning with our Black Expo Empowerment Breakfast. This is the first time we've done an Empowerment Breakfast in past years. We've done a kickoff reception, doing things a little different. Our guest speaker is a young lady, Miss Miles, who is a very powerful, high profile African American female with dominion power. We're all familiar with Dominion NG and their quest to help us in this community with the transition with SCANA, SCNG, and we invited them to be a part of the Black Expo Empowerment Weekend and really talking about how Dominion as an entity will empower all of South Carolina's citizens, particularly those in the Midlands, particularly those from the minority community. So we will kick off our Black Expo Weekend with our Empowerment Breakfast, Brooklyn Baptist Church from 7.30 until 9.00. This will be the 14th annual Black Expo Charity Golf Tournament. This year we've moved the tournament to Wood Creek Farms. They're in Northeast Columbia. Again, a great event as we raise money for the Judge Matthew Perry Scholarship Fund as well as the Clyburn Golf Center and the First Tea Program. Very excited this year. This year we will actually be honoring with the Trailblazer Award Dr. Charles Waddell, who's Associate Athletic Director at the University of South Carolina for his efforts. We welcome Coach Don Staley and USC football coach Will Muschamp, who will be there at this golf tournament. This is a great event, a great tournament. I think one of the highlights for us in having put on this event for many years. After the golf tournament ends that day, we go into the eighth annual Taste of Black Columbia. This event has grown tremendously over the years and thankfully to a partnership with Jack Daniels, as well as the South Carolina Department of Agriculture. Friends, we will welcome over 30 chefs, chefs, caterers, and restaurants who will be participating. This event will be at the South Carolina State Museum from 7.30 until 11. This will be reviving for four awards, the best dessert, the best savory dish, the best display, and the Certified Grown SC Award. This is the award given to the chef that produces the best dish using South Carolina based agricultural products. Each category carries a $1,000 prize. It's a great event, a great networking event, lots of fun, lots of excitement, and to top it all off, we've got great entertainment. Turnbee Sensation Silk will be performing at that event. It's just a wonderful time to come out, take part in the Jack Daniels Lounge, sample food from 30 different restaurants, and just have a great evening. So this year our focus is more of an empowerment. We have five pillar areas, health, because your health is your wealth. We'll be looking at health disparities and how we as a community can look at our health to really lean towards longer living, healthier living, which is also more economical living. Then we've got our jobs, our jobs fair, looking at career opportunities. We empowered the same event down in Charleston, was very excited, young lady who came to the Charleston Black Expo Empowerment Summit and got hired on that day at the event. We're looking for those same kinds of successes with this event, but our job fair is a huge part of the Black Expo Empowerment Summit. Then you've got your, our education. You've got several colleges from around the Southeast, all there talking with young people about their college choices, but it's really beyond just their higher education. We've got friends there talking with folks in school just about how to better prepare our kids for the SATs, standardized tests, but we're also doing FAFSA assistance onsite, helping families get over the hurdle and the intimidating factor of completing FAFSA forms and whatnot. Then there's the wealth generation side. Thanks to our partnership with Merrill Lynch. We're doing, we're teaching individuals the basics of investing, understanding the stock market, but then long-term planning. How do you build generational wealth? How do you build generational wealth for your families? How do you employ strategies to move your family forward? It's bigger than just wills and trusts, but how do you set things in motion that your children and your grandchildren down the road can make better economic decisions based on the economic processes that you put in place for your family. Then the fifth component is, of course, entrepreneurship, business. We're doing everything from helping people start business, eight steps to starting a business, thanks to our partnership with the SBA, but also how to grow your business through federal contracting. We've got representatives from the Office of Business Opportunities with some of the new strategies that the Office of Business Opportunities with the city has in place. We have several different elements that will make up our pillars. In the top of the law, we've got two great speakers, Dr. Dennis Kimbrough, professor at Georgia State University, and as our keynote speaker, young lady that we are excited about. You know, you see her on CNN, Angela Rye, political commentator. She'll be there as our keynote speaker at the Black Expo Empowerment Summit. When the expo is over at 2 o'clock, final phase, the Black Expo Day Party. We thought we'd do something a little different this year as the expo ends at 2 o'clock from 3, from 2 o'clock to 5 o'clock, the Black Expo Day Party all there at the Columbia Convention Center. Go to our website, blackexpo-south.com, blackexpo-south.com. Please follow us on Facebook. We're doing a lot of campaigns, a lot of special promotions on Facebook. Black Expo South is our Facebook page, our own Instagram, our own LinkedIn, as well as, of course, you can give us a call in the office at 254-6404.