Honorary Celebrity- Jada Pinkett-Smith

When it comes to success, stereotypically some people feel that you cannot have a strong career, marriage, and family. Jada Pinkett Smith has shown others that this is not true. She is a very talented and successful entertainment and business mogul and not to forget the wife of Will Smith. Keeping all her ducks in a row is something that Mrs. Pinkett-Smith defiantly is showcasing that she has skill to do and this is why she is our October Honorary Member. Jada Pinkett Smith is like our other The FUTURE members she is juggling many talents and makes it look oh so easy.

Jada Pinkett Smith was born to Robson Pinkett Jr. and Adrienne Banfield in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father was a contractor and her mother was a nurse. They divorced after only a few months of marriage. She majored in dance and choreography at the Baltimore School for the Arts, where one of her classmates was Tupac Shakur. She spent a year at the North Carolina School of the Arts before dropping out to pursue her career in acting. Her big break came in 1991 when she was cast in the part of a college frosh on the television sitcom "A Different World" (1987). She made her feature film debut two years later in Menace II Society (1993). She did not gain widespread recognition, however, until her role opposite Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor (1996). In addition to being in front of the camera, she has spent time behind it directing music videos, executive producer of several projects, and most recently executive producer and star of Hawthorne (2009). Pinkett-Smith is married to Will Smith, and they have a son, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith; and a daughter, Willow Camille Reign Smith.

Honorary Celebrity- Tyler Perry

When it comes to creating your own possibilities the talent of Tyler Perry comes to mind. Believing in yourself is a major job on its own and it can cause you to struggle and triumph as you reach out toward the top. With Tyler Perry he has experienced success; however took a long journey to get there which had several pit stops but still landed him as one of the most influential men of color this decade. Being a member of The FUTURE each member has traveled a rocky journey and is still working toward the possibilities that have been created by each them; and now The FUTURE would like to pay tribute to our September honorary member Mr. Tyler Perry as he celebrates the release of another one of his successful films.

Writer, actor, producer, director. Born Emmitt Perry Jr. on September 13, 1969, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tyler Perry has forged his own way in the entertainment industry, building an empire that consists of successful films, plays, and even a best-selling book. One of four children, he had a difficult childhood, suffering years of abuse at the hands of his carpenter father. He once described his father as a man "whose answer to everything was to beat it out of you."

At one point, Perry even attempted suicide in an effort to escape his difficult situation. At 16, he changed his first name to Tyler to separate himself from his father. Perry dropped out of high school, but he eventually earned a general equivalency diploma, or GED, later. Trying to find his way professionally, he held a series of unfulfilling jobs before discovering his true passion.
Watching an episode of Oprah Winfrey's talk show, Perry was inspired by a comment on the program about how writing about difficult experiences could lead to personal breakthroughs. He started a series of letters to himself, which became the basis for the musical I Know I've Been Changed. While the show tackled such tough subjects as child abuse, it also touched on forgiveness; a theme has remained central in many of his works and reflects his deep connection to his Christian faith. After saving up $12,000, Perry debuted the show—which he directed, produced, and starred in—at an Atlanta theater in 1992. The musical's run lasted only one weekend and drew a measly 30 people to see the show.

Disappointed yet determined, Perry continued to work odd jobs while reworking the show. He staged the show in several other cities, but success still eluded him. Broke, Perry was living out of his car for a time. "Can you imagine a six-foot-five man sleeping in a Geo Metro?" he once told Essence magazine. In 1998, Perry tried one more time to win over theater audiences. He rented out the House of Blues in Atlanta for another production of I Know I've Been Changed. Soon Perry was performing to sell out crowds and the musical was moved to a larger theater. After so many years of hard work, he finally earned critical acclaim as well as commercial success.

For his next project, Perry worked on an adaptation of evangelist T. D. Jakes's book Woman, Thou Art Loosed, which proved to be quite popular. His next effort, however, brought to life his most famous character Madea. The gun-toting, sharp-tongue grandma first appeared in his 2000 play, I Can Do Bad All by Myself. Basing Madea on his mother and several other mature women in his life, Perry played the eccentric character himself wearing drag. She next appeared in Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2001).

Honorary Celebrity - Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is the first Future Honorary Celebrity member, because she is a a leader who empowers, facilitates, and has gained the trust of trillions of people. Oprah has a legacy that is known worldwide, not very many people can cause the sales of beef to drop or cause a grilled chicken outage, however Oprah can. Wendy Williams has her friends in her head, however we have honorary The Future members who faciliate change, showcase leadership, and who advocate in demonstrating to individuals that they create their own possibilities.

Even though she had a rough childhood, Oprah Winfrey was destined for her role as the host of America’s number one ranked talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show. Born into a southern Baptist family on January 29, 1954, she was raised for several years by her strict grandmother in the impoverished conditions of rural Mississippi.

At the age of three, Oprah began showing signs of being a whiz kid as she could read and recite from her favorite childhood books and even the Bible. Being a prodigy child allowed her to skip a few levels in grade school. And, after some rough years and in high school, she moved to the Tennessee where she graduated with honors. During that time, she won a full academic scholarship to university.

In 1976, after spending some time in Nashville’s local media circle as a news anchor, she moved to Baltimore. Then, seven years later, she moved to Chicago to host a show cal led AM Chicago. When the show moved from last place in the rankings to first nationwide, overtaking other top talk-show hosts, her success was only beginning. In a field dominated by white male hosts, other networks were in a dire need to keep up with Oprah’s avalanche-like success.

In the mid to late 90s, when other shows began doing more tacky material, she forced her show to stay on track with what it had always been successful delivering – honest stories of triumph or despair. With such a reputation, she was able to interview top celebrities about their real-life trials and tribulations on her show. Oprah allowed such idolized stars time to to share and show the public that they are in fact human too.

Oprah is more than just one of America’s most adored talk-show hosts. In 1985, she was a main character in a movie based on the novel The Color Purple. For her role, she was nominated for an Academy Award. More recently, in 1998-1999, she worked on the acclaimed novel-to-film adaptation of Beloved, where she also played the protagonist. In 2005, she was involved in the film-television making of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Additionally, she published two magazines, one called O and another called O at Home. In 2006, she will release her sixth book, not a biography or autobiography, but a book about weight loss. Furthermore, she will be doing a talk show with XM Radio, currently titled Oprah and Friends, wh ere she will do a 30-minute show once per week.

In her early thirties, Winfrey became a millionaire. Today, she is the only African- American billionaire and one of the richest people in the world. Her charity work is never-ending and she has won numerous awards for her philanthropy. She has donated more money and worked for more causes than many of the richest people in the world. She has even been adorned with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.

She continues her humanitarian stride at an unstoppable pace, while still bringing light to the issues that face our daily lives with all the empathy, care, and insightful commentaries that have made her one of the world’s most watched women.