Serena Williams Wins the WTA Championship

On Sunday, Serena Williams beat opponent Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-3, winning the Istanbul hosted WTA Championship for the third time and ending the season with a 59-4 record.  

After surviving a serious injury and near-fatal healthcare, Williams has had an outstanding award-winning year earning seven titles and taking the victor's role in Wimbledon, the Olympic gold medal and U.S. Open, to name a few.

Ms. Williams told the Associated Press "I had such a good year, it was important to end on a good note. It was good for my sanity to win," Williams said. "I really wanted it although I didn't need it. "

Mellody Hobson Appointed as Chairman of DreamWorks Animation

Mellody Hobson &  George Lucas

Financial guru, Mellody Hobson, is replacing Roger Enrico as Chairman of DreamWorks Animation. Hobson, 43, has been highlighted several times on Society Noir for her illustrious achievements. The Princeton graduate is president of Ariel Investments a Chicago-based African-American owned firm which manages more than $3 billion in assets, and chairwoman of Ariel Mutual Funds.  The beautiful MidWestern brainiac is also a  financial contributor on the popular television show Good Morning America.  In addition,  she’s also a director of Estee Lauder, Starbucks, and Groupon, and sits on the boards of the Sundance Institute, Chicago’s Field Museum, and the Chicago Public Education Fund.

Hobson, whose been romantically linked to world-renowned filmmaker George Lucas since 2006, brings an interesting dynamic to DreamWorks Animation.  Bucking the status quo in the male, non-black dominated world of Hollywood it will be more than interesting to see the influence Ms. Hobson will yield.  

To say the least, Ms. Hobson's appointment as Chairman to DreamWorks Animation is certainly a welcomed departure.

Read our past coverage of Mellody Hobson here and here.

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams: The Father of Heart Surgery

Watch this video excerpt about the history of  Dr. Daniel Hale Williams



Dr. Daniel Hale Williams is the Official Father of Open Heart / Cardiac Surgery

What you should know...

• On January 23, 1891 Daniel Hale Williams helped establish the interracial hospital, Provident Hospital and Training School Association; where he trained black nurses and employed doctors of all races.
• Dr. Daniel Hale Williams is the first person to perform an open-heart surgery.
• Dr. Williams was also the first surgeon to open the chest cavity successfully without the patient dying of infection
• On July 9, 1893, Dr. Williams successfully performed open heart surgery on a young Black man named James Cornish, who was injured in a bar fight and stabbed in the chest with a knife.
• 51 days later  James Cornish walked out of Dr. Williams' Provident Hospital fully recovered and went on to live another 50 years.
• He was known for his professionalism and insistence on upstanding sanitation and operating procedures
• In 1902, he performed another breakthrough operation, successfully suturing a patient's spleen
• Williams' Provident Hospital had an 87% success rate in its first year of operation.