Real Life YBFers are doing big things and we're stanning out over their accomplishments. Go inside to read up on how Kristine Guillaume and Kalin Bennett are changing the game...
Raise a glass to the college grads...or, in this case, soon-to-be grad.
Before Kristina Guillaume walks across the stage to accept her diploma, she's making her mark at Harvard.
For the first time in The Harvard Crimson's 145-year history, a black female editor will lead the student's esteemed paper. Woot!
20-year-old Kristine E. Guillaume will lead The Crimson’s “146th guard,” reportedly making her the third black president and first black woman to helm the organization since its founding in 1873. And with the state of our society, this is MUCH needed.
“If my being elected to the Crimson presidency as the first black woman affirms anyone’s sense of belonging at Harvard, then that will continue to affirm the work that I’m doing,” Kristine told the New York Times.
Many, many thanks to @amychozick for this story — and to all family and friends who have supported me. Can’t wait to started next year! https://t.co/3Y3oAiBTuj
— Kristine Guillaume (@krisguillaume) November 25, 2018
Kristine Guillaume is a junior majoring in literature, history and African-American studies. It's the perfect combo for Harvard's most coveted poition on campus.
Becoming editor-in-chief is a HUGE deal as former editors have gone on to do BIG things like landing CEO positions at top companies and even president of the United States (John. F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt). Kristine landing this position could open up a world of opportunities for the next generation of leaders.
The NY Times explains the grueling process of becoming the lead editor and shares a few details about Kristine's life:
Nearly 40 of Ms. Guillaume’s peers at the paper had deliberated over who would get the job in a grueling, monthslong process — known as the “Turkey Shoot” — that can be rife with political allegiances and backstabbing. She said she was appreciative of the heft of the position, and hoped to lift up different types of journalistic voices and perspectives.
Born to a Chinese mother and Haitian father, both physicians, Ms. Guillaume, 20, said she took an interest in journalism while growing up in Queens. On Sundays, with her mother on hospital duty, her father took her and her younger sister — along with the weekend edition of The Times — to a diner for breakfast. As part of the ritual, he would ask his daughters to read columns by David Brooks and Paul Krugman “to get a conservative and a liberal view,” Ms. Guillaume said.
But Ms. Guillaume’s parents did not want her to spend so much time at The Crimson, hoping she would pursue medicine or law. “It’s the classic immigrant parent narrative,” Ms. Guillaume said. She let out a sigh. “There’s a lot of tension that I don’t take more science classes.”
Ms. Guillaume said she planned to pursue a doctorate in African-American studies and a career in academia, with some writing on the side. She cited the author Ta-Nehisi Coates as a role model.
We see a BRIGHT future for this YBF chick. Congrats!
Another young, black superstar making waves...
Major congrats to to Kent State basketball player commit Kalin Bennett, the first prospect with autism to ever receive a D1 basketball scholarship!
The 18-year-old Arkansas teen, who was once told he would never walk or talk in his life, will be joining the Kent State University's basketball team, defying all odds that were stacked up against him since birth. He's making history as the first student-athlete with autism to sign a national letter of intent to play a team sport at the Division I level.
And guess what? He wants to use his platform to inspire others! Gotta love it.
"I'm always trying to figure out what I want to do better," Bennett told NBC News. The YBF teen revealed he did not walk until he was 4-years-old and did not begin speaking until he was 7-years-old.
Committed pic.twitter.com/ZLQGsSJdsZ
— Kalin Ktech Bennett (@Ktech50) September 29, 2018
Oh, and get this. In addition to killing it on the basketball court, Bennett is also gifted in music and math. He plays four different instruments, with percussion being his fave. Nice!
Congrats Kalin!
Photos: Kristine's IG/NBC News
