HUSL Today Salutes

Tyler Perry

 Tyler Perry was born Emmitt Perry, Jr. on September 13, 1969, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Although Perry had it rough his first few years, even being homeless at one point, he proclaims that writing about his pain proved to be the avenue to his success.

 Image source: http://chubbyafro.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/tyler-perry-madea.jpg

His first movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which went on and grossed $50.6 million domestically, while scoring a 16 percent approval rating at the film review web site, Rotten Tomatoes. On its opening weekend, February 24, 2006, Perry's film version of Madea's Family Reunion opened at number one at the box office with $30.3 million. The film eventually grossed $65 million; as with Diary, almost all of the Madea's earnings originated in the United States. Perry and the co-stars promoted the film on the Oprah Winfrey show.

Perry's next LionsGate project, Daddy's Little Girls, starred Gabrielle Union and Idris Elba and was released in the U.S. on February 14, 2007. It grossed over $31 million. Perry wrote, directed, produced and starred in his next movie, Why Did I Get Married?, released on October 12, 2007. It opened number one, grossing $21.4 million at the box office that weekend.  Janet Jackson, Sharon Leal, Jill Scott and Tasha Smith appeared in the film. Perry's 2008 film, Meet the Browns, released on March 21, opened at #2 with a $20,082,809 weekend gross. The Family That Preys opened on September 12, 2008, and grossed over $37.1 million.

Madea Goes to Jail opened #1 on February 20, 2009, grossing $41 million and becoming his largest opening to date. This was Perry's seventh film with Lionsgate Entertainment. At the request of director J. J. Abrams, Perry had a cameo appearance in the movie Star Trek, which opened on May 8, 2009. This was his first movie appearance outside of his own projects.

Perry next wrote, directed, and starred in I Can Do Bad All By Myself, a film structured around his Madea character. Perry also teamed with Oprah Winfrey to present Precious, a movie based on the novel Push by Sapphire.

Perry movies are co-produced and distributed by Lionsgate Entertainment while he retains full copyright ownership under his corporate name, Very Perry Films, and places his name in front of all titles.

In 2005 Forbes reported that he had sold "more than $100 million in tickets, $30 million in videos of his shows and an estimated $20 million in merchandise" and that "the 300 live shows he produces each year are attended by an average of 35,000 people a week."

Perry produces a television show entitled Tyler Perry's House of Payne, which follows an African-American household of three generations. After a successful pilot run, Perry signed a $200 million, 100-episode deal with TBS. Additionally, Perry wrote, directed and produced the sitcom Meet The Browns, which premiered on TBS on January 7, 2009.

Check the footage below for the trailer for Perry's latest flick Why did I get married too? Which raked in over $30 million at the weekend box office. 

His efforts to bring more minorities to the big screen and urban theatre are admirable to say the least. 

HUSL Today Salutes Tyler Perry!!!

Sharing is Caring: Poetry Corner

For those who don't know by now, I am a lover of all things inspirational. This translates into a HUSL Today intent to be the giver of all things inspirational. With that said, here is an inspirational poem I'd like to share with all of you, it is called Carry on!!

It's easy to fight when everything's right,
And you're mad with the thrill and the glory;
It's easy to cheer when victory's near,
And wallow in fields that are gory.
It's a different song when everything's wrong.
When you're feeling infernally mortal;
When it's ten against one, and hope there is none,
Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:

Carry on! Carry on!
There isn't much punch in your blow.
You're glaring and staring and hitting out blind;
You're muddy and bloody, but never mind.
Carry on! Carry on!
You haven't the ghost of a show.
It's looking like death, but while you've a breath,
Carry on, my son! Carry on!

And so in the strife of the battle of life
It's easy to fight when you're winning;
It's easy to slave, and starve and be brave,
When the dawn of success is beginning.
But the man who can meet despair and defeat
With a cheer, there's a man of God's choosing;
The man who can fight to Heaven's own height
Is the man who can fight when he's losing.

Carry on! Carry on!
Things never were looming so black.
But show that you haven't a cowardly streak,
And though you're unlucky you never are weak.
Carry on! Carry on!
Brace up for another attack.
It's looking like hell, but - you never can tell;
Carry on, old man! Carry on!

There are some who drift out in the deserts of doubt,
And some who in brutishness wallow;
There are others, I know, who in piety go
Because of a Heaven to follow.
But to labor with zest, and to give of your best,
For the sweetness and joy of the giving;
To help folks along with a hand and a song;
Why, there's the real sunshine of living.

Carry on! Carry on!
Fight the good fight and true;
Believe in you mission, greet life with a cheer;
There's big work to do, and that's why you are here.
Carry on! Carry on!
Let the world be the better for you;
And at last when you die, let this be your cry:
Carry on, my soul! Carry on!

Robert W. Service

source: http://www.motivatingquotes.com/carryon.htm

Out the door...inspirational quote to start your day

Good morning friends! Happy Monday. If you celebrate Easter I hope the holiday resurrected your spirit and faith. Before Monday mayhem sets in take a moment and meditate on today's "out the door quote":

“In business, the competition will bite you if you keep running; if you stand still, they will swallow you.”

-William Knudsen Jr

Resist the temptation to be lazy today. The only way to kill your dream is to allow the fear of failure to cripple you into a standstill. Do not stop working. Do not stop dreaming. Do not give up hope. Do not stop moving! Even if you do not achieve your ultimate dream on this day, continuous movement will guarantee that you are one step closer to doing so. When you feel laziness setting in jump up, jump up! There is always work to be done. Tweak your business plan, proofread your proposals for a second or third time, perfect your latest assignment and aim for excellence. You can do it, I believe in you! 

Sidenote:  In case you missed it, check out footage from the space shuttle launch this morning @6:21am from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  





Every time I see a space shuttle launching I feel like a kid again. It never gets old for me.

Hit the ground running!  

HUSL Today Salutes

Maya Angelou 

Image source: http://www.wicknet.org/english/Poetry-1/Angleou/Maya%20angelou.jpg

Dr. Maya Angelou was born on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. She was raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. As a teenager, Dr. Angelou’s love for the arts won her a scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco’s Labor School. At 14, she dropped out to become San Francisco’s first African-American female cable car conductor.

In 1954 and 1955, Dr. Angelou toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess. She studied modern dance with Martha Graham, danced with Alvin Ailey on television variety shows and, in 1957, recorded her first album, Calypso Lady. In 1958, she moved to New York, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild, acted in the historic Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's The Blacks and wrote and performed Cabaret for Freedom. 

In 1960, Dr. Angelou moved to Cairo, Egypt where she served as editor of the English language weekly The Arab Observer. The next year, she moved to Ghana where she taught at the University of Ghana's School of Music and Drama, worked as feature editor for The African Review and wrote for The Ghanaian Times.

While in Ghana, she met with Malcolm X and, in 1964, returned to America to help him build his new Organization of African American Unity. Shortly after her arrival in the United States, Malcolm X was assassinated, and the organization dissolved. Soon after X's assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked Dr. Angelou to serve as Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. 

With the guidance of her friend, the novelist James Baldwin, she began work on the book that would become I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Published in 1970, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was published to international acclaim and enormous popular success. The list of her published verse, non-fiction, and fiction now includes more than 30 bestselling titles.
 Image source: http://www.whitbyforum.com/uploaded_images/maya_angelou-753123.jpg



Dr. Angelou wrote the screenplay and composed the score for the 1972 film Georgia, Georgia. Her script, the first by an African American woman ever to be filmed, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Image source: http://www.achievement.org/achievers/ang0/large/ang0-003.jpg

She appeared in the landmark television adaptation of Alex Haley's Roots (1977) and John Singleton's Poetic Justice (1993). In 1996, she directed her first feature film, Down in the Delta. In 2008, she composed poetry for and narrated the award-winning documentary The Black Candle, directed by M.K. Asante, Jr.

She captured the essence of every woman with  one of my favorite poems "Phenomenal Woman." Check it below:



Dr. Angelou has served on two presidential committees, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2000, the Lincoln Medal in 2008, and has received 3 Grammy Awards. President Clinton requested that she compose a poem to read at his inauguration in 1993. Dr. Angelou's reading of her poem "On the Pulse of the Morning" was broadcast live around the world.




Dr. Angelou has received over 30 honorary degrees and is Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University. Dr. Angelou is a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist.

HUSL Today Salutes Dr. Maya Angelou!

Source: http://mayaangelou.com/bio/

Sharing is Caring: FAQs about Student Loan reform

Via CNN

As you all know, on Tuesday President Obama recently signed a bill which makes more than a few notable reforms to how student loans are administered. Check HUSL Today's post here.

Under the new law, private banks will no longer handle federally backed student loans. Instead, the federal government will be the only lender to students. Supporters say the overhaul eliminates the fees banks get to act as the middlemen, saving the government billions of dollars.

Here's what you need to know about the new law.

When will the changes take effect?

Student loans will originate through the new system starting on July 1, 2010. The government will make about $500 billion in direct loans loans in the first 10 years, according to an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Does the bill affect existing loans?

It doesn't change loans that students have taken out but it does lower the cap on monthly payments -- from the current 15 percent of discretionary income to 10 percent shorten the repayment window from 25 years to 20, after which the balance might be forgiven.

How does this affect the Pell grant program?

Over the next 10 years, $36 billion of the savings from the student loan reform will go into the Pell grant program, which provides funding for low-income students to go to college.
For the 2009-2010 school year, the maximum Pell grant award was $5,350. The White House says that without reform, the grant would have dropped to $2,150 next year. With the new law, the grant will grow to $5,975 by 2017.
The White House says the new law covers the expected budget shortfall and will keep the program stable in future years.

What's the impact on the deficit?

The CBO says student loan reform will result in a net savings of $62 billion over the next decade.
The House Committee on Education and Labor says the provisions will reduce the deficit by at least $10 billion over the next 10 years.

What are the criticisms?

Critics blast the education reforms as a government takeover of the student loan system.
"If you think Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did a good job with housing, wait until the government runs student loans," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said on NBC last weekend.
Banks predict that thousands of jobs will be lost in the private student banking industry.

Now college receipts err degrees should be easier to obtain and cost students less in the long run. I'm sold on that!

EVENTS: Enjoy an evening with living American History!

Come and enjoy an evening with Tuskegee Airmen Alexander Jefferson and Bill Holloman.

Bill Holloman flew during WWII as a Tuskegee Airman; flew for the Air Force during the Korean War; and was the nation's first black helicopter pilot for the Air Force during the Vietnam War.


Alexander Jefferson was attending Howard University working on his Master's Degree in Chemistry but was ordered to Tuskegee Army Air Field in April 1943. He flew 18 complete missions and was shot down on the 19th. He was captured and spent the rest of the war as a POW in Stalag Luft 3.

Date: April 5, 2010
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Howard University Crampton Auditorium
2455 Sixth Street, NW
Washington, DC 22059
Cost: $5 per student, $10 for adults


Tickets available at all Ticketmaster locations and Cramton Hall Box Office (202) 806-7194

Out the door...inspirational quote to start your day

Good morning friends! Happy Friday! Is it me or are the weeks flying by? Ok maybe its just me. Did anyone get punk'd yesterday for April fool's?  *Giggles* Nobody played a joke on me so I'm happy.

Here is today's "out the door" quote:

“Interruptions can be viewed as sources of irritation or opportunities for service, as moments lost or experience gained, as time wasted or horizons widened. They can annoy us or enrich us, get under our skin or give us a shot in the arm. Monopolize our minutes or spice our schedules, depending on our attitude toward them." 

-William Arthur Ward

Approach all obstacles with a positive attitude. If you have a 9-5 gig then today is the only thing that stands between you and a restful weekend. Approach situations seeking positive results. Resist the temptation to become agitated by life's unexpected curve balls. Instead, accept them as a blessing and a break in the monotony of our days.

Sidenote: This post is dedicated to all of my wonderful friends both near and far! I love all of you! You are the source of my sanity and comfort and I am so grateful to have you in my life. You inspire me. You motivate me. You've all helped me get through tough times in ways I cannot put into words. It amazes me that you know my flaws and you still love me. Take a moment and thank your friends today. Get extra mushy and tell them you love them.

Just for laughs, check out one of my favorite scenes from the movie Friday:


I will go so far as to say this is one of the best movies of our generation. The comedy is never-ending but there are also important messages in the plot. I enjoy watching movies from all genres and this is one of my absolute favorites!

Permission granted to do a happy dance. 

TIPS: The top 5 interview questions & how to approach them

With this job market, job interviews are an even more important step to obtaining your dream job. You could avoid this process by taking a risk and hire yourself by becoming an entrepreneur. Regardless of whether it is a phone interview or in person you want to be as prepared as possible for the interview. Talented Generation cares about your success so here are the 5 most common interview questions (that I've both asked and been asked) and how to approach them: 

1. Tell me about yourself. This question is often the first the interviewer will ask so be prepared. This is not the time to discuss how you broke your finger skateboarding when you were 12 or how you hated erasing the chalkboard when you were in elementary school. Instead, the interviewer is oft looking for you to describe your professional skills and how they will be an asset to the company. Your answer should focus on the skills you think are essential for success i.e. Microsoft Office, multitasking, time management, working with groups, etc. Thus, your answer could be something like: 

My name is Raine, I have 4 years customer service experience working for various technology companies including 2 fortune 500 companies. For 2 of those years, I was responsible for training new employees as well as implementing more effective training programs in order to assist new hires with making a smooth transition into our company.

The answer encompasses my experience while also discussing subtle skills like supervising others, working with a volatile industry and a commitment to delivering satisfactory customer service.

 2. What is your greatest weakness? Focus on a genuine weakness but not one that will cost you the job. It will help if you have a weakness your interviewer is likely to relate to.You may choose to discuss your fear of public speaking. This will only work if your job does not involve public relations.  Public speaking is a genuine source of anxiety for many people so chances are the interviewer will be able to relate to your weakness. Regardless of what you choose, make it a genuine and solution-oriented answer. Do not EVER answer with things like "I'm lazy at times" or "I don't respond well to authority." Also, stay away from answers like "I work too hard", "I'm too kind", and "I'm too patient" because these are answers the interviewer has heard a thousand times.  Be sure to discuss how you are turning your weakness into a strength. Something like a fear of public speaking can be improved upon and you can discuss it without being too self deprecating. 

3. What do you know about our company? This is where you display your researching skills. Briefly discuss the company history and different projects the company is currently involved with. Before the interview peruse the company's website until you are comfortable conversing about what you've learned. Take special note of mission statements, press releases and any info you can gather on your interviewer. This question could be the easiest one to answer because a simple Google search of the company can give you all the info you will need. There is no reason to ever get tripped up on this question. 

4. What is your 5 year plan? or Where do you see yourself in 5 years? The interviewer asks this question to gauge your ability to be forward thinking. This is your time to show you have ambition. Discuss in detail what you see yourself doing and more importantly tie it back into your growth in that company. If you're applying for an associate position discuss your ambition to become partner and to join the management team. Make special note of the steps you plan to take to get there and how you plan to remain a dedicated asset to that company.

5. Tell me about the most high pressure situation you've dealt with in the last 6 months. As much as you may be tempted to discuss the time your S/O make you walk the dog at 2am, refrain from such discussions. Nobody wants to hear that anyway. Another thing, your interviewer doesn't care! This is not the time to ramble about BS, control what you share and be meticulous about everything you say. Use this question to demonstrate your resilience and your perseverance in a work environment. Speak about a tough deadline you had to meet and how you approached it. Although you are expected to discuss a hurdle, be sure to discuss it in positive terms. Thus, even though you had difficulty meeting the deadline you should emphasize your determination to complete the task with excellence and in a timely fashion.

Remember, an interview is a 2 way street: they are interviewing you, but you should also interview the company to ensure that you complements to each other. Asking questions shows that you have researched the company and your position and it will help illustrate your interest. 


Here are a few questions you should ask:

What do you think are the three key skills/strengths vital to this position?

Describe the work environment. What is a day in the office like? What are some of the challenges of working here? 

What would I be expected to accomplish in the first six months on the job? in the first year?
Why did you decide to join the company? What are the things that make you stay? 
What is the most difficult part of working for this company? What sort of challenges can I expect? 
What sort of training is offered for this position?

What is the next step in the hiring process for this position?

How soon can I expect to hear from you?

TONIGHT!!! DC Grad Student Date Auction

If you're in the DMV area and you're wondering where you can go to have a good time, stop by the Howard University School of Law date auction & party. The auction will last from 7-9pm with the party to follow immediately after. Here's the important info:

Start Time:	Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 7:00pm
End Time:	Friday, April 2, 2010 at 2:00am
Location:	649 New York Ave NW 20009

FREE admission ALL NIGHT!!!

Check the flyer below.

We usually pay $10-$30 for club admission. You are strongly encouraged by yours truly to donate at least that much. All proceeds will be donate to the Red Cross Haitian Relief efforts. Party with a purpose!
Still need to know more? Check here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=105764466124805

Sidenote: No "ratchivity" allowed. Thanks

Out the door...inspirational quote to start your day

Good morning friends! Happy April Fool's Day! *flails arms in excitement* Is it just me or did March really go out like a lamb this year? All things considered March was a great month, but now its time to set it to make April even greater. You can never have too much "greatness." Don't believe me?  Have you ever heard someone say "Cool out man, you are way too great?"  If you have then the time has cut to pull out the scissors and cut people from your circle. Moving on. Today's "out the door quote"  is special because comedy has gone airborne.

Even if there is nothing to laugh about, laugh on credit.  

~Author Unknown

If you're going to be full of anyone, you might as well be full of yourself. Be more witty and whimsical than usual today. Even if you don't pull any pranks today, laugh on credit. Enjoy the healthy jokes today but don't get caught slipping!