Jazz musician John Richard Handy III was born on February 3, 1933 in Dallas, Texas to Pauline Elizabeth Conner and John Richard Handy II. He graduated from McClymonds High School in Oakland, California in 1951. He went on to earn his B.A. degree in music from San Francisco State University in 1958.

In 1953, Handy served in the U.S. Armed Forces during the Korean War and was stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco. Handy signed to Roulette Records, based in New York City, and released his first album, In the Vernacular in 1958, where he played the alto saxophone. His second album, No Coast Jazz, was released in 1960 followed by Jazz in 1962. Handy signed to Columbia Records and his album, Recorded Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival, which featured the songs "If Only We Knew" and "Spanish Lady", was released in 1966. Handy recorded three more albums with Columbia between 1966 and 1968. Then, in 1975, Handy and Indian classical musician, Ali Akbar Khan, recorded their album Karuna Supreme. The following year, Handy recorded and released the album Hard Work with Impulse! Records; its title track became one of his most popular songs. Handy released two albums with Warner Records Inc. in 1978: Where Go the Boats and Handy Dandy Man. His album Centerpiece, with female vocalist and violinist group CLASS, was released in 1989, and he led the group for over twenty-three years. Handy performed at various jazz clubs including the Five Spot Café in New York, Bop City in San Francisco, and Yoshi’s in Oakland, California. In 1996, his live album Live at Yoshi’s Nightspot was released by Boulevard Records.

Handy also worked with jazz musician Charles Mingus between 1959 and 1964. He played the alto saxophone on Mingus’s albums Jazz Portraits: Mingus in Wonderland, Mingus Ah Um, Mingus Dynasty, Blues & Roots, and Right Now: Live at the Jazz Workshop. In 1968, Handy joined the faculty of San Francisco State University, and he taught music history. He also held faculty positions with UC Berkeley, Stanford, and City College of San Francisco.

Throughout his career, Handy received numerous awards and honors including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Jose Jazz Society in 1995 and a Bill Graham Lifetime Achievement Award from Bay Area Music (BAM) in 1997. He was an artist in residence in the Jazz Studies Program at San Francisco State University in 1998, 1999, and 2002. He was also honored by then-Mayor Willie Brown with a declaration of August 28, 1999 as "John Handy Day in San Francisco." Handy was nominated for two Grammy Awards, in 1966, for his album Recorded Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

Handy has a son named John Richard Handy IV. Handy and his wife, Del Anderson, reside in Oakland, California.

John Richard Handy III was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on June 14, 2025.

Medical scientist and surgeon Dr. Carla Pugh was born on February 3, 1966 to Edye Abram and Tillman Pugh in Berkeley, California. She earned her B.S. degree in neurobiology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988. She went on to earn her M.D. degree from Howard University College of Medicine in Washington D.C. in 1992. Pugh completed an internship in general surgery at Howard University Hospital in 1993, followed by a residency in 1997. In 2001, she went on to receive her Ph.D. degree in curriculum studies and education from Stanford Graduate School of Education, making her the first surgeon to receive a Ph.D. degree in education.

In 1998, Pugh received her board certification in general surgery and worked at Kaiser Permanente Medical Group as a staff surgeon until 2003. From 2001 to 2003, she worked as a research assistant professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She worked as an associate professor of surgery and education at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois between 2003 and 2012. In 2004, she joined Chicago Lakeside VA’s Department of Surgery as a staff surgeon, where she worked until 2010. Between 2012 and 2018, Pugh worked as a professor of surgery and a professor of industrial systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin. She was also the Susan Behrens Professor of Surgical Education. In 2018, Pugh returned to Stanford University as a professor of general surgery and director of the Technology Enabled Clinical Improvement Center. In 2019, she spearheaded the Surgical Metrics Project, and she became the Thomas Krummel Professor of Surgery in 2021.

Pugh is a pioneer in the field of medical education. In 1998, she developed the E-Pelvis, an electronic pelvic mannequin attached to a computer monitor that collects data on student performance. She received a patent for her medical examination teaching system in 2002, and the E-Pelvis gained a licensing agreement the following year. In 2014, Pugh received a patent for her clinical assessment and training system. In 2019, she was issued a patent for her training system for tourniquet application. She was also issued a patent for her method of documenting haptic manipulation data using wearable sensors in 2023, and her method of analyzing a medical procedure using wearable sensors in 2024.

Throughout her career, Pugh has received numerous awards and honors. In 2011, she was the recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Barack Obama. She also received the Vilas Faculty Mid-Career Investigator Award in 2017. In 2019, she received the Olga Jonasson Distinguished Member Award. Pugh became a Castle Connolly Top Doctor and received the Society of University Surgeons Trailblazer Award in 2023. Then, in 2024, Pugh received the inaugural President’s Fellowship for Healthcare Quality and Safety from the Joint Commission.

Pugh has been a member of numerous organizations. She joined the Society of Black Academic Surgeons and the Association of Women Surgeons in 1999. In 2014, she joined the American Board of Medical Specialties and gave a TEDMED talk about technology’s role in medical education. She became a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2018. Pugh is also a member of the American Board of Surgery, the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, and the American Surgical Association.

Pugh is married to Dr. Joseph Towles. They have one son named Caleb Towles.

Dr. Carla Pugh was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on June 12, 2025.

Magazine beauty editor Marielle Bobo was born on August 4, 1978 in Brooklyn, New York to Sheilah and Jean-Claude Bobo. She earned her B.A. degree in journalism from Howard University in Washington D.C. in 2000. She went on to receive her B.A. degree in fashion merchandising from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, New York in 2001.

Bobo joined Wilhemina Models as an agent in 2000. The following year, she was hired by Allure magazine as an associate fashion market editor. After nearly four years with Allure magazine, she worked as the accessories editor of CosmoGIRL! at Cosmopolitan magazine in 2005. She then served as an accessories market editor with Women’s Wear Daily in 2006. From 2007 to 2010, Bobo was a contributing market editor and contributing accessories editor with Vanity Fair, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, Self, Us Weekly, and OK! magazines. Bobo went on to serve as the senior fashion editor for Essence in 2010; and in 2011, she became the fashion and beauty editor of Ebony magazine, where she worked until 2017. In 2008, she was the executive director of style and creative partnerships at Interactive One, a digital media platform launched by Urban One, Inc., formerly Radio One.

Bobo returned to Essence magazine in 2019, where she worked as the fashion director. That same year, she launched BoboHaus, LLC, a fashion and beauty consultancy and production firm. Bobo also worked as the founding editorial director of Ayesha Curry Brands, the lifestyle group of Ayesha Curry, as well as her magazine, Sweet July. In 2021, Bobo returned to EBONY Media as the editor-in-chief and senior vice president of programming, and she oversaw the magazine’s digital cover experience and return to print. In 2024, Bobo served as a programming and editorial consultant for The Costume Institute, a collection of accessories and costumes dating back to the fifteenth century, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, New York. That same year, she became the vice president of content at Shoptalk, a retail-focused media company.

Bobo served on the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), the Fashion Institute of Technology alumni advisory council, and the advisory board of RAISEfashion, a non-profit organization that supports underrepresented designers and members of the fashion community. She became a member of the Women’s Media Group in 2024.

Throughout her career, Bobo has received numerous awards and honors including on Hello Beautiful’s “30 Most Powerful Black Women in Fashion” list and a recognition as one of “150 Caribbean Boss Ladies” from Carib Biz Network in 2024.

Bobo resides in New York, New York.

Marielle Bobo was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on March 14, 2025 and May 12, 2025.

Corporate lawyer Jason M. Murray was born on December 13, 1966 in Miami, Florida to Eula and James M. Murray. He attended Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where he earned his B.A. degree in history, political science, and English in 1988. In 1991, he received his J.D. degree from the University of Virginia Law School in Charlottesville, Virginia. That same year, he was admitted into the Florida Bar Association.

In 1994, Murray clerked for Judge Joseph Woodrow Hatchett, a United States Circuit Judge in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The following year, Murray became an associate at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP. Murray worked as a shareholder at Carlton Fields, P.A. in 1997 before opening his own law firm, Murray Law, P.A., in 2013. Murray was elected president of the Miami-Dade Bar Association in 2016, becoming the organization’s the first African American president. In 2018, Muray served as a shareholder, franchise and distribution group leader at Gunster. He became a partner at K&L Gates in 2020. In 2024, Murray joined Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough as a partner.

Murray, a lifelong member of The Soul Saving Station of Christ’s Crusaders of Florida, became an assistant pastor of the church in 2013. He was promoted to lead pastor in 2019. Murray is also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Murray has received numerous awards and honors including the Ronald McDonald House Twelve Good Men Award in 2001, the Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division’s Diversity and Gender Sensitivity Award in 2003, on the Florida Super Lawyers list in 2006, 2013, and 2014, on The Best Lawyers in America’s Commercial Litigation Franchise Law “Best Lawyer” list between 2007 and 2025, the Top Franchise Legal Player recognition from Top Franchise Magazine between 2018 and 2021, the Legal Eagle recognition from the Franchise Times between 2011 and 2024, the Franchise Law Lawyer of the Year Award from Best Lawyers in 2013 and 2019, a Distinguished Honoree Award from the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Bar Foundation in 2016, and an induction into the Legal Eagle Hall of Fame in 2020.

Murray resides in Miami, Florida with his wife, Dale E. Murray. They have two children, Jason Murray Jr. and Miles Murray.

Jason M. Murray was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on February 14, 2025.

Franchise owner/operator and lawyer Vanessa L. Whiting was born on December 26, 1959 in Richmond, Virginia to Josephine and Walter Whiting. She received her B.S. degree in public policy from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 1982; her M.S. degree in urban affairs and public policy from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale in 1983; and her J.D. degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1986.

After completing law school, Whiting was hired as an associate attorney by Bryan Cave in 1986 and Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP in 1989. In 2007, she became a partner at the law firm of Roetzel & Andress in Cleveland, Ohio. Then, in 2011, she founded Vanessa L. Whiting, Esq. Law Firm and served as its principal lawyer.

In 1990, Whiting and her husband, Anthony Edward Smith, opened their first restaurant, Dock’s Great Fish. The couple opened their first Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen location in 1995 in Cleveland, Ohio under the A.E.S. Management Corporation. Whiting opened her sixteenth Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen in South Euclid, Ohio in 2020. After Smith’s passing in 2014, Whiting assumed the role of president of A.E.S. Management Corporation.

In 1995, Whiting joined the Cleveland Housing Network as a board member and later served as vice president. She began serving on the Cleveland Neighborhood Progress board in 2012 and became the president of their subsidiary, New Village Corporation. Whiting served on the board of the Greater Cleveland Partnership Chamber of Commerce as the DEI executive committee co-chair. She established the Metro Health System Public Hospital diversity committee in 2018 and became an Olympic Steel board member in 2019. That same year, Whiting joined the United Way of Greater Cleveland board, where she later served as chair. Whiting served on the board of trustees for the Cuyahoga Community College Foundation, Metro Health Systems, PlayHouse Square, and Cleveland State University. Whiting has also served as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the Links, Inc., Jack Jill Associates, Northeasterners, the American Bar Association, the NAACP, the Ohio Franchise Management Corp., and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Whiting has received numerous awards and honors including being inducted into the Women of Color Hall of Fame in 2017. She was also listed on Crain’s Cleveland Business “Women of Note” distinction in 2019. Whiting was the recipient of the Black Professional of the Year Award from the Black Professional Charitable Foundation in 2019, the 8th Annual Maltz Museum Heritage Award in 2021, the YWCA Women of Achievement Award from the Cleveland YWCA in 2021, the Norman S. Minor Bar Association Trailblazer Award in 2021, the Business Legacy Award from UBIZ Venture Capital in 2022, the J.F. Kennedy High School Community Leader Award from the JFK Alumni Association in 2023, and the Olympic Steel Diversity Leader Board Culture Champion Award in 2024. That same year, Whiting was named a Legacy Philanthropist by Soul of Philanthropy.

Whiting resides in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. She has three children: Taylor, Lorin, and Anthony Smith.

Vanessa L. Whiting was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on December 12, 2024.

Entrepreneur and healthcare administrator Connie Hill-Johnson was born on September 11, 1959 in Cleveland, Ohio to Burvina Storey-Hill and James Hill. She earned her B.A. degree in speech communications in 1980 from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She went on to receive her M.P.A. degree in health services administration in 1982 from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

After graduating from the University of Southern California, Hill-Johnson served as a healthcare administrator with Neighborhood Family Practice, where she worked until 1984. She then became an equity sales associate with Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, a banking service provider, in Detroit, Michigan. She worked there for five years before joining Kaiser Permanente as an administrative assistant in 1990. From 1992 to 2001, Hill-Johnson served as the director of management services at the Service Master Company in St. Louis, Missouri, where she also worked as a member of their hospital administrative team. Hill-Johnson then became a franchise owner of Visiting Angels Senior Homecare in Cleveland, Ohio in 2002. In 2017, Hill-Johnson began her public speaking and coaching career and launched her company, Connie Hill-Johnson Pivot2Win.

From 2005 to 2022, Hill-Johnson served as a member of the Hospice of Western Reserve’s African American Outreach Committee. In 2018, she joined The Cleveland Foundation’s board of directors and in 2022, she served as their first African American female board chair. She joined the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging’s board of directors in 2015 and The Links, Inc.’s Western Reserve Chapter in 2021.

Throughout her career, Hill-Johnson received numerous awards and honors including the Top 10 Business Owner of Northeast Ohio Award from the National Association of Women Business Owners’ Cleveland Chapter in 2007, on Crain’s Cleveland Business’ “Cleveland Crain’s Women of Note” list in 2017 and 2023, the YWCA of Greater Cleveland Woman of Achievement Award in 2020, on Cleveland Magazine’s “Most Interesting People” list in 2023, on Crain’s Cleveland Business’ “Crain’s Notable Non-Proft Board Leader” list in 2023, and the Woman of the Year Award from ECDI Women's Business Centers of Ohio (WBCs) in 2024.

Hill-Johnson and her husband, Kevin K. Johnson, reside in Cleveland, Ohio.

Connie Hill-Johnson was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on December 10, 2024.

Library director Felton Thomas, Jr. was born on December 18, 1965 in Las Vegas, Nevada to Virginia Ann Rainey and Felton Thomas, Sr. He received his B.A. degree in psychology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1990. He went on to earn his M.L.I.S. degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1993.

Thomas began his career working at the West Las Vegas Library as the youngest library page in the Las Vegas-Clark County District. Then, Thomas was hired as a circulation clerk at the West Charleston Library. After graduating from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he served as a library assistant in various libraries before enrolling in the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he interned at the William S. Richardson School of Law Library. In 1996, Thomas joined the Rainbow Library in Las Vegas, Nevada as a librarian before returning to the West Las Vegas Library as the assistant branch manager. In 2004, Thomas became the regional branch services director at the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, where he worked for four years while also serving as president of the Nevada Library Association. In 2009, he was hired as the executive director and CEO of the Cleveland Public Library system, one of the largest library systems in the United States.

In 2022, Thomas was the president of the Cleveland School of the Arts’ board of directors, and he also served as the board president of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. He has served on the boards of the Aspen Institute Task Force on Learning and the Internet, The Cleveland Museum of Art, DigitalC, the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, Lyrasis, the Sisters of Charity Foundation, the United Way of Greater Cleveland, University Circle, Inc., the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland, the Public Library Association, and the Digital Public Library of America.

Throughout his career, Thomas received numerous awards and honors including the Isaiah Award for Human Relations from the American Jewish Committee (AJC), the Mover and Shaker Award from the Library Journal in 2002, the White House Champions of Change Award in 2016, the Community Leader of the Year Award from Cleveland Magazine in 2019, the Homer C. Wadsworth Award for Exceptional Community Leadership from The Cleveland Foundation in 2023, and the American Library Association (ALA) Equality Award in 2024.

Thomas resides in Shaker Heights, Ohio with his wife, Linda. They have two daughters.

Felton Thomas, Jr. was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on December 9, 2024.

Engineer Rickey J. Shyne was born on July 15, 1960 in Dayton, Ohio to Melba and Johnnie Shyne. He received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1983. He went on to earn his M.S. degree in mechanical engineering in 1988 and his Ph.D. degree in engineering science in 1998 from the University of Toledo in Ohio.

While attending Tennessee State University, Shyne worked in the Inland Manufacturing Division of General Motors between 1979 and 1982. In 1983, he served as an engineering intern with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Lewis Research Center, later renamed the Glenn Research Center, in Cleveland, Ohio before becoming an aerospace research engineer the following year. Shyne served as the chief of the Nozzle Branch and supervised a team of researchers studying experimental nozzle aerodynamics. At NASA, Shyne also held the positions of deputy director of safety and mission assurance, deputy director of engineering and technical services, and director of the facilities and test directorate. In 2005, he was appointed to NASA’s Senior Executive Service (SES). After nearly ten years in senior service, he was appointed as the director of research and engineering at NASA's Glenn Research Center in 2014.

Shyne joined the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 1981. The following year, he became a life member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. He served as a member of the Pi Tau Sigma Mechanical Engineering Honor Fraternity, the Tennessee State University (TSU) college of engineering’s industrial advisory committee and doctoral advisory committee in computer information systems engineering, the Central State University Advisory Committee, and the National Technical Association. Shyne also became a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in 2005 and the chair of the Southwest General Medical Center Board of Trustees in 2015.

Throughout his career, Shyne received numerous awards and honors including the Engineer of the Year Award and the Technical Achiever of the Year Award from the National Technical Association in 2003, the Exceptional Service Medal from NASA in 2003, the Black Engineer of the Year Award for Government Service from the U.S. Black Engineer of the Year Awards in 2008, the Golden Torch Award for Career Achievement in Government from the National Society of Black Engineers in 2008, the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service from U.S. President Barack Obama in 2013, the Federal Professional Engineer of the Year Award in 2014, the University of Toledo’s Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award and College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015, the Exceptional Achievement Medal from NASA in 2022, and on Crain’s Cleveland Business’ “Notable Black Leaders in Northeast Ohio” list in 2024.

Shyne and his wife, Eulanda Shyne, reside in Strongsville, Ohio. They have two children: Rickey Shyne II and Eric Shyne.

Rickey Shyne was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on November 22, 2024.

Chief executive officer Craig Arnold was born on May 8, 1960 in Brooklyn, New York, New York to Mary and William Arnold. He graduated from Walt Whitman High School in South Huntington, New York in 1978. He received his B.A. degree in psychology from California State University, San Bernardino in 1982. Arnold then attended Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, California, where he earned his M.B.A. in 1988.

In 1983, he became a sales representative at General Electric (GE) Company. He was soon promoted to corporate vice president and president of GE Plastics, Greater China. In 1997, Arnold was once again promoted to corporate vice president and president of GE Appliances, Asia, where he remained until 1999 when he became the leader of General Electric Lighting Services Ltd. Arnold left General Electric in 2000 to become the senior vice president and group executive of Fluid Power Group at Eaton Corporation. In 2009, he rose to the positions of vice chairman and chief operating officer of the industrial sector of Eaton. In addition to being COO, Arnold became president and a member of the Eaton Board of Directors in 2015. In 2016, he was selected to become chief executive officer of Eaton in addition to being president and chairman of the board. In 2024, Arnold was one of six African American CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. As CEO, Arnold shifted the focus of the company to power management and energy efficiency. He also changed the mission of Eaton to improve quality of life and the environment through the use of power management technologies and solutions. At Eaton, Arnold advocated for inclusion and equity in business and society and to eliminate the digital divide between impoverished individuals and digital resources.

Arnold held memberships in various business organizations, including the Business Roundtable (BRT). He led the BRT’s Special Committee for Racial Equity and Justice and co-chaired the BRT Second Chance Business Coalition. Arnold was also a board member of social services organizations such as the Salvation Army of Greater Cleveland and United Way of Greater Cleveland. Arnold received the Diversity Center of Cleveland’s “Humanitarian Award” in 2021.

Arnold has four adult children – one son and three daughters. He has three grandchildren and resides in Beachwood, Ohio.

Craig Arnold was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 13, 2024.

Reverend Dr. Timothy Tyler was born on January 30, 1964 in Jackson, Mississippi to Carolyn E. Tyler Guidry and Cary Bernard Tyler. He earned his B.A. degree in mass communication and media studies in 1988 from Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia. He went on to earn his M.Div. degree in homiletics from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia in 1991. Then, Tyler earned his D. Min degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio in 1997.

In 1990, Tyler served as pastor of the Wilkes Chapel A.M.E. in Atlanta, Georgia. Soon after, he joined Christ Our Redeemer A.M.E. Church in Kansas City, Missouri and served as their pastor until 1995. That same year, he was hired by Johnson Chapel A.M.E. Church in Santa Ana, California, where he also helped create Spanish language church services. Tyler spent over seven years with Johnson Chapel A.M.E. Church before working as the pastor of Waymen A.M.E. Church in St. Louis, Missouri from 2001 to 2008. Then, in 2008, he joined Shorter Community A.M.E in Denver, Colorado as its pastor. From 2008 to 2010, he was the Chaplain of the Colorado State House of Representatives. Tyler was also an adjunct professor of homiletics at the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California and Eden Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.

In 2000, Tyler was the youngest delegate elected to the A.M.E. Church general conference. He was also the Chairman of the Dean of Instructions for the 5th Episcopal District of the A.M.E. Church. He was nominated to the Morehouse College Board of Preachers in 2023 and was appointed to the Colorado State Clemency Board. He has also served as a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and on the boards of the Peoples Community Development Corporation and Missouri Foundation for Health.

Throughout his career, Tyler received numerous awards and honors including a Congress of National Black Churches Ministry Fellowship in 1991. He received the Orange County NAACP Clergy/Citizen Community Service Award in 1997 and the Denver Sertoma Club Service to Mankind and Fifth District Lay Organization Outstanding Pastor of the Year awards in 2010.

Tyler has two children: Imani and Chinelo Tyler. He also has a stepdaughter, Jasmine, with his wife, Dwinita Mosby Tyler. They reside in Denver, Colorado.

Reverend Dr. Timothy Tyler was interviewed by The HistoryMakers April 10, 2025