This month’s edition of Urban Call Briefs features another group of “Role Models Beyond Beauty” who are doing wonderful things in our community.
“Role Model-Beyond Beauty” has been a Sophisticates Black Hair Styles and Care Guide magazine feature for more than 25 years. It highlights women of color who have made significant advances in their careers and who have given back to their communities. Nearing its 100th edition, the column has honored black women in a wide range of fields.
The column portrait art by commissioned artist Leo Rucker is also an art exhibition of 180 pastel portraits with the Role Model story about these accomplished women and their distinguished careers are in the personal collection of beauty industry leaders Sandra and Lafayette Jones. Visit RoleModelBeyondBeauty.org and the SMSi-Urban Call YouTube Channel (http://youtu.be/2VHP8iadIB8). In August 2013 the Role Model Beyond art portraits and editorial were featured at the National Black Theater Festival held bi-annually in Winston-Salem, NC where more than 30,000 festival participants had an opportunity to view the exhibition at The Sawtooth School of Visual Art.
The column is written by beauty industry icon Lafayette Jones and is co-authored by his daughter, Bridgette Miller Jones, who joined as co-columnist five years ago. Bridgette is a 2011 Spelman graduate and now East Carolina School of Dental Medicine candidate (2015). The “Role Model Beyond Beauty” column originally debuted as a touring 180+ piece art collection and exhibition.
The expanded exhibition opened for a second year in Winston-Salem, NC, the City of the Arts. Selected pastel portraits of the large collection commissioned by Sandy and Lafayette Jones and illustrated by Artist Extraordinaire Leo Rucker are being shown July 13—August 9, 2015 in the Milton Rhodes Sawtooth. A handful of profiles are included in this OTC Beauty Magazine edition.
Eunice Mosley Dudley
Eunice M. Dudley, Co-Founder of the DudleyQ+ brand, is one of the world’s most sought after African-American female business leaders. She currently serves as the Executive Director for the Dudley Beauty School System. Eunice Mosley was born in Selma, Alabama. She is the seventh of nine children born to Andrew M. Mosley, Sr. and Eva O. Murdoch Mosley. At a very early age she exhibited a “creative spirit” and a deep desire to learn. She got her start as a teenager in the beauty industry selling Fuller Products door-to-door in Brooklyn, New York while a student at Talladega College. It was at this Fuller branch in the summer of 1960 that she met Joe L. Dudley, Sr.; both were selling Fuller Products during the summer to earn their college tuition money. They married in 1961 and both began working for Fuller Products full-time in 1962.
By 1976, Joe L. Dudley, Sr. and Eunice Dudley had early success in the beauty industry and helped to develop a sales force of more than 400, a beauty school and a chain of beauty supply stores located throughout the Southeast. Dudley Products was deemed an entrepreneurial success.
Eunice Dudley is an award winning building designer. The design, planning and building of Dudley Products, Inc.’s new manufacturing and home office facility in Kernersville, North Carolina were personally supervised by Dr. Dudley. These efforts earned her The Energy Efficient Building Award presented by Energy User News and the ASHRAE Technology Award, an International Award given for second place in recognizing outstanding achievements in design and operation of energy-efficient buildings.
Over the past 40 years through dedication, hard work and persistence, she has helped take the DudleyQ+ Brand from very humble beginnings to a respected and world-renowned position in the beauty industry. She helped the company make the transition to the second generation of leadership. In June 2008, Joe and Eunice restructured the Dudley conglomerate and turned over all day-to-day responsibilities over to their daughter, Ursula Dudley Oglesby who began Dudley Beauty Corp, LLC. In 2009, Joe L. Dudley, Sr. and Eunice Dudley were featured in a national movie, “Good Hair,” a Chris Rock documentary about the hair care industry.
Eunice Dudley and is the mother of 3 children, all of whom are very active in business. Mrs. Eunice M. Dudley is Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of The Dudley Beauty School System. Son Joe Jr., holds undergraduate and MBA degrees from Northwestern University and is an author and entrepreneur. Daughter Ursula is a graduate of Harvard University Law School and a classmate of President Barack Obama. Youngest daughter, Genea Dudley Gidey is a graduate of Duke University’s MBA Program and operates spa locations in Greensboro, Kernersville, Burlington and High Point, NC under the Balance Day Spa name. Eunice Dudley has one grandson, Mark Oglesby, Jr.
Eunice Dudley is a woman of faith who survived her own personal battle with breast cancer. Today she is strongly committed to helping other women who have been diagnosed with this disease. Eunice Dudley strongly believes in giving back to the community. She frequently volunteers her time, money and resources to various boards and organizations. Some of her community service includes:
- Board Member for the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro (Gate City Housing board)
- Financial Secretary for Greater Greensboro/Reidsville club of NANPBW
- United Negro College Fund contributor
- Former member of Bennett College Board of Trustees, NCA&T Board of Trustees
- Former member of Providence Baptist Church Board of Trustees & Co.
- Direct Selling Education Foundation Board
She is the recipient of numerous awards including:
- The Ollie Chinn Porter Award from The National Association of Negro Business & Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc. [2014]
- The Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award [North Carolina 2014]
- Carolina Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, Class of 2013 from McColl School of Business, Queen’s College
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from Bennett College [1991]
- NAAWLI Legacy of Leadership [2008]
- The Athena Award from the Greensboro Area Chamber of Commerce
- The Crystal Award from the NANBPW Clubs, Inc.
- Co-Winner of The Kernersville First Citizens of The Year Award [1993]
Vivián Joiner and Chef Stephanie Tyson
Over the past 11 years a flock of noted celebrities, business leaders and entertainers have all made an odyssey to dine at Sweet Potatoes including: the late Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, R&B singers and song writers; Dr. Maya Angelou, Author, Poet and actress; Kem (Kemistry); Rev. Al Sharpton; Congressman Mel Watts; Angela Bassett; Andie McDowell; Forrest Whitaker; Natalie Dupree; Bobby and Jamie Deen; Common; Sherman Hemsley; Kim Fields; Melba Moore and James Avery; Susan Taylor, Essence Magazine Editor In Chief Emeritus; Joe Dudley, Beauty Care Products Founder and Author; Larry Leon Hamlin, Founder of National Black Theater Festival; and MSNBC’s TV Host and Wake Forest professor, Dr. Melissa Perry Harris.
Following an extraordinary odyssey that took her from Virginia to Florida to South Carolina to Arizona to Maryland, Chef Stephanie Tyson returned to her native city of Winston-Salem to start her own restaurant. What she and her partner Vivián Joiner fell in love with was a rooming house and pool hall on Trade Street that “she admitted needed a lot of work.” What the two encountered was a tough loan environment and suggestions that they dumb down the idea to a hot dog stand.
What they created at Sweet Potatoes was an acclaimed eatery, a beloved local landmark, and a business anchor on Trade Street for the Arts District. Tyson says she’s as Southern as eating dirt. Her menu reflects varied influences – distinct flavors from Joiner’s father, her own Mother’s “out of the can and into the pan” shortcuts, her culinary arts training and restaurant stints. Now readers of “Shut My Mouth” have the means to re-create in their own homes Sweet Potatoes favorites like Gullah Shrimp and Crab Pilau, spicy greens, Sweet Potatoes Bread Pudding with pecan crunch topping. A frequent Sweet Potatoes guest, the late Dr. Maya Angelou, said, “Everything about this book is correct, except the title because anyone with a taste bud should follow these recipes and open their mouth.”
Sweet Potatoes-a restaurant with Southern inspired cuisine with a flare is not only a restaurant; it is an atmosphere. Jazz notes float through the air mixed with the aroma of Southern cooking at its best. Open for eight years in downtown Winston-Salem, it has been successful in that it is popular with a reputation for great consistent food and service. The restaurant started with an almost instant success with long lines and wait times for seating exceeding up to two hours at times within a few months of opening. The pace of business has continued over the years while several restaurants in the neighborhood have opened over the past two years. The owners Stephanie Tyson and Vivián Joiner are the magic behind this unique, Southern inspired, uptown, down-home cooking. Created with their hands-on approach to the daily operations, the two owner’s team well in creating an environment that brings both comfort and excitement to dining. Stephanie Tyson is a creative chef who has turned to her Southern roots to bring some staples from the Southern pantry back into the forefront. Her culinary training started in her grandmother’s kitchen reaching to far corners of Ireland. This unique blend of training has added to her expression of Southern cooking. She insists that food encounter all the senses in an enjoyable way. This experience coupled with years cooking in hotels, country clubs abd chain concepts in addition to independent restaurants have benefited her passion, focusing on Southern food. Vivián Joiner has a strong background in guest relations, spending more than 30 combined years in retail and restaurant service. Her genuine care and concern for people helped to strengthen her eye for detail allowing her to function well in many aspects of guest service. Vivián has managed restaurants from fast food, independent, casual to extremely high volume, all helping add to her success in the industry.
Sweet Potatoes-a restaurant has been mentioned in several publications outside of Winston-Salem including Our State Magazine, Southern Living and The New York Times. Sweet Potatoes is a great addition to the Triad Community, not only providing a great place to enjoy a wonderful meal, but also by giving back to various organizations such as the Amani Foundation, Hope De Jour, Make a Wish Foundation and several others. The owners have worked with Youth Opportunity teaching cooking to community youth and have provided internships at Sweet Potatoes.
Dorothy Height
Dorothy Height was a civil rights and women’s rights activist focused primarily on improving the circumstances of and opportunities for African-American women.
Born on March 24, 1912 in Richmond, Virginia, African-American activist Dorothy Height spent her life fighting for civil rights and women’s rights. The daughter of a building contractor and a nurse, Height moved with her family to Rankin, Pennsylvania in her youth. There, she attended racially integrated schools. In high school, Height showed great talent as an orator. She also became socially and politically active, participating in anti-lynching campaigns. Height’s skills as a speaker took her all the way to a national oratory competition. Winning the event, she was awarded a college scholarship.
Height had applied to and been accepted to Barnard College in New York, but as the start of school neared, the college changed its mind about her admittance, telling Height that they had already met their quota for black students. Undeterred, she applied to New York University, where she would earn two degrees: a bachelor’s degree in education in 1930 and a master’s degree in psychology in 1932.
After working for a time as a social worker, Height joined the staff of the Harlem YWCA in 1937. She had a life-changing encounter not long after starting work there. Height met educator and founder of the National Council of Negro Women, Mary McLeod Bethune when Bethune and U.S. first lady Eleanor Roosevelt came to visit her facility. Height soon volunteered with the NCNW and became close to McLeod.
One of Height’s major accomplishments at the YWCA was directing the integration of all of its centers in 1946. She also established its Center for Racial Justice in 1965, which she ran until 1977. In 1957, Height became the president of the National Council of Negro Women. Through the center and the council, she became one of the leading figures of the Civil Rights Movement. Height worked with Martin Luther King Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, John Lewis and James Farmer—sometimes called the “Big Six” of the Civil Rights Movement—on different campaigns and initiatives. In 1963, Height was one of the organizers of the famed March on Washington. She stood close to Martin Luther King Jr. when he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Height joined in the fight for women’s rights. In 1971, she helped found the National Women’s Political Caucus with Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan and Shirley Chisholm. While she retired from the YWCA in 1977, Height continued to run the NCNW for two more decades. One of her later projects was focused on strengthening the African-American family. In 1986, Height organized the first Black Family Reunion, a celebration of traditions and values. The event is still held annually.
Height received many honors for her contributions to society. In 1994, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She stepped down from the presidency of the NCNW in the late 1990s, but remained the organization’s chair of the board until her death in 2010. In 2002, Height turned her 90th birthday celebration into a fundraiser for the NCNW; Oprah Winfrey and Don King were among the celebrities who contributed to the event.
In 2004, President George W. Bush gave Height the Congressional Gold Medal. She later befriended the first African-American president of the United States, Barack Obama, who called her “the godmother of the Civil Rights Movement,” according to The New York Times. Height died in Washington, D.C., on April 20, 2010.
* Dorothy Height. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/dorothy-height-40743.
