The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce has appointed new members to its board of directors for 2011–2012.

The announcement follows the gathering of more than 1,400 business, civic and community leaders from the Greater Philadelphia region at the Chamber’s 211th Annual Meeting.

“We are grateful to welcome such a talented and diverse pool of volunteer leaders to our board,” said Rob Wonderling, Chamber of Commerce president & CEO.

“We look forward to their vital contributions and collaboration in the tradition of supporting the business community and general public. They provide support in many arenas, through resources, action, and as informed advocates on public policy issues.”

The new board members are Donna L. Allie, president and founder, Team Clean, Inc.; Attorney Bruce D. Armon, office managing partner, Saul Ewing LLP; Joe Banner, president, Philadelphia Eagles; Ray Carballada, president, Shooters, Inc.; Christopher S. Clark, chief operating officer, FiberLink; Henry C. Foley, vice president for Research, dean of the Graduate School, Penn State University; John Grady, president, Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation.

Other new board members include Hernán Guaracao, publisher and CEO, Al Dia News, Inc.; Wendy Hamilton, general manager, Sugar House Casino; Michael G. Horsey, office managing partner, Mitchell & Titus, LLP; Kathleen P. Kinslow, president & CEO, Aria Health System; Robert G. Leib, president & CEO, Leib Solutions; Tina Malek (Young Professionals Network Chair), vice president, director of Marketing Communications, Beneficial Bank; Kathleen T. O'Reilly, managing director, Philadelphia Metro Office, Accenture; Gregory J. Osberg, Publisher & CEO, Philadelphia Media Network, Inc.; Attorney Alfred W. Putnam, Jr., chairman, Drinker Biddle & Reath; Marc Rayfield, senior vice president, Market Manager, CBS Philadelphia Radio; Paul D. Ridder, President, Tasty Baking Company; Sue Schick, chief executive officer, United Healthcare of Pennsylvania; Evelyn F. Smalls, president and CEO, United Bank of Philadelphia; Marcus Starke, national vice president, North America Marketing, SAP America; Stephen S. Tang, president & CEO, University City Science Center; D. Michael Wilson, President, Specialty Chemicals Group, FMC; Richard D. Wood, III, Sustainability project manager, WAWA, Inc.; and Audrey Zibelman, president, CEO and founder, Viridity Energy Inc.

In addition, new members were appointed to the Executive Committee, the board’s governing body led by William P. Hankowsky, GPCC chairman of the board of directors and Chairman, President and CEO, Liberty Property Trust. They are: Joseph C. Cosgrove, president and CEO, Pentec Health Incorporated; Gerard Fasano, president, IS&GS Defense, Lockheed Martin Corporation; John A. Fry, president, Drexel University; Daniel J. Hilferty, president and CEO, Independence Blue Cross; and Geoffrey Kent, CEO, Cognis IT.

When Jeffrey Mouzon opened the doors of Teaful Bliss Café, he wanted to expose people to different varieties of teas that were pleasing to the palate and provided health benefits,

Mouzon was spurred to launch a café specializing in tea after realizing that the selection of teas at traditional coffee shops was limited.

“When you go to a café, you get a whole variety of coffee, but you are limited with your tea selection,” says Mouzon, who has been an avid tea drinker since his boyhood years.

With that in mind, the Teaful Bliss Café specializes in offering more than 20 types of organic loose leaf tea blends. The vast selection boasts blends such as champagne and berries, tropical paradise, meyer lemon, caramel macchiato and strawberry banana green teas.

While the focus is on tea, coffee drinkers are not left out. La Colombe coffee is on the menu.

The café features a loose tea display which offers customers the opportunity to smell the tea blends before making their selection. Mouzon says many customers often try a type of tea based on the way it smells.

Mouzon offers tea blends that coincide with the seasons. During the summer months, floral and fruity blends are in the mix, while the cinnamon apple blends star in the winter and fall.

Since he opened the café eight months ago, Mouzon has received positive feedback.

“Our blends of tea are so unique and different from what people are normally used to that they rave about it and they come back,” says Mouzon.

“We have a lot of blends that are good for you but still taste good too. We have a well-balanced flavor selection.”

He often encourages his customers to try something new instead of purchasing traditional flavors such as Earl Gray.

Thus far, the hottest sellers are raspberry rose petal, papaya mint, caramel macchiato and the Detox Me tea blends.

Mouzon regards the Detox Me tea — a blend of fennel seeds, goji berries, lemon balm, lemongrass and black pepper — as his personal favorite.

“It’s so refreshing,” he says of the blend.

“As it cools down you start catching hints of all the flavors that’s in it — but it’s not overbearing.”

Teaful Bliss also features light fare including bagels, muffins, made-to-order paninis, wraps and salads to complement its tea selection.

The café located at 11th and Spring Garden streets, the former site of the Dress for Success boutique. Mouzon utilized his skills in construction and home remodeling to turn the space into his vision for a café.

The café’s main room offers a warm, welcoming environment with its bright orange walls and black leather seats. Mouzon says the café is designed to encourage customers to stay and relax.

When it came to launching his business, Mouzon was not discouraged by the state of the economy.

“I felt as though the venture that I was going into wouldn’t be a strain on people’s pockets,” says Mouzon.

“When you have small ticket items and you’re serving something of quality, even in tough times, people will still treat themselves,” says Mouzon.

In addition to offering customers the opportunity to kick back and relax with a tasty beverage, the café also features live entertainment such as an open mic night.

Even though Mouzon just opened Teaful Bliss eight months ago, he’s already considering other locations. He envisions opening two more locations in Philadelphia and launching a café in Atlanta, Ga.

Contact staff writer Ayana Jones at (215) 893-5747 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

October will mark a significant business milestone for Ray Murphy.

The owner of Tommy’s Men's Shop will celebrate 40 years of helping his customers look their best.

Throughout the years, men have been relying on the shop, on the bustling 22nd Street commercial corridor in North Philadelphia, for their apparel needs.

The men’s store stocks a large selection of hats, casual wear, shirts, slacks, suits, tuxedos and shoes in various brands ranging from Kangol to Stacy Adams.

Murphy will mark his business milestone by hosting an anniversary celebration on October 20 at the shop, located at 2917 North 22nd St. He is also running an anniversary sale from October 1 through the 20th.

To Murphy, his years in business seemed to speed by.

“It went by so fast that it feels like it wasn’t very long ago that I just got started,” says Murphy, who is 63.

When Irving Thompson, the son of original owner of Tommy’s Men Shop, put the store up for sale, Murphy decided to make a foray into the clothing retail business. At the time, he was operating a shoe concession known as Murphy’s Shoes, located across the street from the apparel store.

He opted not to change the name Tommy’s Men Shop because the store was already well established in the community. At that point, the shop had been located on 22nd Street for almost 50 years.

Murphy faced various challenges when he sought to purchase the business.

“The only thing that I had was the backing of my family, and the experiences that I had growing up,” says Murphy.

Like many entrepreneurs, he had a difficult time accessing bank financing. He was a young man in his early 20s who lacked business acumen and knowledge about how the loan process worked.

Despite being turned down multiple times, Murphy was determined to obtain the funding that he needed. When bank officials turned him down, he demanded to know why.

After approaching five different banks, he finally secured a $50,000 loan backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration in September 1972. He credits Sen. Philip Price, who was then the director of the Allegheny West Foundation and Don Redcross Sr., a certified public accountant, with helping him get the bank financing.

Next he faced the hurdle of obtaining lines of credit from clothing manufacturers so that he could stock the store. He ended up working with an outside entity named Men’s Retail of America to receive credit from major manufacturers. Credit lines are crucial to the success of clothing retailers, and Murphy entered the business at a time when manufacturers weren’t extending credit to African Americans.

“In this business you have to have credit. Ninety-eight percent of everything that comes into the store is on credit,” Murphy pointed out.

While growing up in North Philadelphia, Murphy worked at a grocery store while where he learned skills in customer service, merchandising, and supply and demand that he utilized in the clothing business.

“I always try to buy what my customers need. I always try to supply the needs — and that’s the basics,” said Murphy, a native of South Carolina.

There are fundamental tenets that have held Murphy in good stead throughout the years and allowed him to weather the rough times.

“Through years of going through the recession and the slow periods, I tried to use a formula that worked for me — and it’s very simple. You don’t buy steak when you can only afford chicken — and what that means is, me being the retailer, I know what is going to sell all the time. You don’t overbuy,” says Murphy, who is a board member of the North 22nd Street Merchants Association.

Murphy has leveraged proceeds from the store into other business ventures such as a hat shop in Center City and RM Estates, LP, a real estate development company.

Murphy has gone from being a fledging entrepreneur who struggled to get his first loan to becoming an established businessman who can get financial institutions to back his real estate development projects. Murphy has developed properties such as a wine and spirits store, a dollar store, a physical therapy practice and a supermarket in North Philadelphia.

As someone who was mentored by other African-American business owners when he first started out, Murphy believes in keeping the practice of helping others going.

“I believe that you have to bring somebody along,” he stressed.

To that end, he’s proud to have mentored African-American men who went on to launch retail shops and has provided summer employment opportunities for young men from the community. He’s employed at least 100 people in full and part time positions over the years.

Alvin Little, a former president of the North 22nd Street Merchants Association, says Murphy’s business has been a stabilizing force on the commercial corridor.

“You have to have key businesses that not only have attracted consumers as customers, but have developed a track record of loyalty because those kinds of businesses bring people back to the corridor. His business has kept a steady flow of customers who have helped to keep the life of the business corridor vibrant,” says Little, who owns a women’s and children’s apparel store.

Little noted that Murphy purchased the shop at a time when the demographics of the neighborhood changed and many of the businesses owned by older Italian and Jewish Americans left the corridor. He’s watched Murphy expand Tommy’s Men Shop over time.

“It’s a better place today than it’s ever been before,” he says of Murphy’s business.

“He had a dream as a young man and he saw that dream to its fulfillment. Being in a retail business — with the big box stores coming in in the early ’90s and the competition that’s around you and being African American — it’s a very challenging thing to do and yet with his determination, he did it. For him to grow it that way and to maintain it in this economy is a tribute to his business acumen and his determination to keep things moving forward. I tip my hat off to him and the things that he’s been able to do,” Little added.

While growing up in North Philadelphia, Murphy says his parents encouraged their children to go into business for themselves.

“What we got from my mother was that, ‘I’m raising business people. I’m not raising workers,’” says Murphy.

Contact staff writer Ayana Jones at (215) 893-5747 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

In her role as director of customer experience for Janssen Biotech, Inc. Nicole Black gains valuable insight from both doctors and patients.

“The best way that I would explain my position is I’m a chief listening officer,” said Black, who is a native of Philadelphia.

“As the director of customer experience, I’m responsible for listening to patients and professionals to share with the organization what are some of the unmet needs that are out there, that can help patients be more successful on our treatments and in utilizing our tools and services that are helping better health outcomes.”

Janssen Biotech is a division of Johnson & Johnson that specializes in immunology, oncology and nephrology therapies.

“Janssen Biotech has fantastic drugs that truly revolutionizes patients’ lives,” said Black.
“The reason that I was brought into the organization was in this changing health care landscape, how can we at Janssen, really help patients move along that continuum of diagnosis to having better health outcomes? We are really looking to partner with healthcare professionals so that patients have the access and can also afford the medicines.”

While pursuing an undergraduate degree at Howard University, Black discovered that she had a true passion for unmet consumer needs. This would ultimately lead her to Johnson & Johnson.

In her more than 15 years at Johnson & Johnson, she held a variety of roles including vice president, Enterprise Marketing and Research at J&J Healthcare Systems, group product director with McNeil Consumer Healthcare, group product director for McNeil Nutritionals’ portfolio of base brands and worldwide director of innovation where she served as a member of their McNeil Nutritionals’ Global Management Board.

Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, she held marketing positions with American Express and the DuPont Company.

In addition to spending a significant amount of time visiting doctor’s offices, Black meets with the Janssen’s customer experience board and mentors up-and-coming professionals in the company. She also serves on the board of Janssen Biotech.

“One of the true beauties of my job is that every day is very different,” said Black.

“It’s such a broad role, but what we’re doing is impacting the lives in a positive way, of so many people that is fulfilling, whether it’s helping somebody who is suffering from prostate cancer or it’s that person who may have psoriasis.”

Black’s role is the only one of its kind within North America Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies. She’s held the position for the last 14 months.

“Nicole leads a cross-functional team at Janssen Biotech, Inc. to execute against the organizational priority to enhance customer alignment throughout the business.  At Janssen, we center our efforts around the needs of the customer, which we have identified through extensive research, said Monica Neufang, communications leader, North America Janseen.

“More importantly, but centering our efforts around the needs of the customer, we win for patients.  Nicole and her team's efforts help patients gain access and start on our therapies prescribed for them and aides them with adherence and compliance tools and programs to stay on therapy, all in effort to generate the best possible health outcomes.”

Black has been recognized by Advertising Week as one of the Top 100 marketers and also appeared in Savoy Magazine as a “Rising Star in Corporate America.”

Black offered some advice for those with similar career interests.

“For those who are in undergrad now, use this time while you are in college to expand your networks and broaden your horizons,” said Black.

“When you’re in college you have a unique position where people love to give advice.”

She said up and coming professionals should be clear about what they hope to achieve. Black also stressed the importance of seeking out industry leaders for advice and mentorship.

Black resides in North Wales with her husband, Kenyatta, and their sons, Jaden and Christian.

Contact Staff Writer Ayana Jones at (215) 893-5747 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

WASHINGTON — The American job market improved modestly in October, and economists looking deeper into the numbers found reasons for optimism — or at least what counts for optimism in this agonizingly slow economic recovery.

The owners of Brown Girl Gifts are striving to redefine the concept of beauty for young women of color.

The idea to launch a business was sparked after Melissa Lee was in the process of redecorating her daughter’s room, when she realized there was a dearth of bedding products that featured images of African-American girls.

“I was really frustrated with the lack of options available in major retail stores, so then I had this idea — why don’t I create my own product line,” says Lee, who has a professional background in marketing.

After she decided to start her own product line, Lee turned to her cousin, Drake Newkirk, a graphic artist and creative designer, for assistance. What began as a discussion about possible designs evolved into plans for a line that ranged from cosmetic bags and pillows, to apparel, laptop cases that featured the company’s first logo, a silhouette of a brown African American girl with puffy-tails.

When Newkirk was creating icons for the brand on the computer, his six-year old daughter Dage immediately identified with the imagery. At the time, he had two different hues of brown girls on his computer monitors.

“My daughter looked at the chocolate girl and said, ‘She looks like me,’ but then she looked at the other monitor and saw the other girl and said, ‘But I’m her color,’” Newkirk said.

The product line has since expanded to offer images of girls in different hues of brown and three different hairstyles. The line combines imagery with positive affirmations such as “I Love Me” and “100 Percent Me.”

“We wanted to become more than just an iconic brand. We also wanted to set the tone - that we wanted to redefine beauty from the lenses of a young woman of color,” said Lee.

Brown Girl Gifts had two soft product launches last year – one at the National Stationary Show in New York and the other at Philadelphia’s Odunde Festival.

A month after their initial launch, the products were picked up by a Wegman’s at the Woodmore Towne Centre at Glenarden in Md.

Last year, the business partners spent a significant amount of time attending trade shows and major festivals. The product line was well received when they were vendors during the Tom Joyner Family Reunion in Orlando.

Lee and Newkirk found that the product line appeals to girls and women of varying ages and races.

When they first launched the business, Newkirk said they thought the line would mostly appeal to pre-teens and children. However, it quickly became apparent that older women wanted some of the products, such as the t-shirts, for themselves.

“It really has a large appeal,” said Lee. “People were literally thanking us for creating this product line. It’s very nostalgic for women of my age – mid-40s and older - because everybody was saying, ‘I wish I had this when I was young girl.’ The response has just been phenomenal.”

Newkirk says the company’s grassroots marketing efforts have paid off. The company has received a significant number of online orders via www.browngirlgifts.com.

After spending the bulk of last year generating buzz around Brown Girl Gifts via grassroots efforts, the business partners are now focusing on getting the products placed in major retailers and boutiques in the tri-state area. In addition to marketing the line to major retailers, plans are in the works to launch new bedding products.

Last May, Newkirk and Lee turned to Entrepreneur Works, a Philadelphia-based microenterprise development organization, for a start-up business loan to help them with their marketing and inventory needs.

“They’ve been one of our biggest cheerleaders,” Newkirk said in regard to the organization.

“They’ve been phenomenal. They are not just an organization that gives out loans. They really supported us in a number of different ways, and they are really an incredible organization that we are happy to be a part of,” said Lee.

Contact Staff Writer Ayana Jones at (215) 893-5747 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Business executives recently shared successful strategies during a panel discussion held by the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware Minority Supplier Development Council.

The “Demystifying Success” panel moderated by Curtis R. Conner, vice president, G&C Environment Services, Inc., highlighted the best corporate supply chain and minority business enterprises (MBE) operational practices.

Panelists included Michael K. Robinson, program director, Global Supplier Diversity for IBM; Maurice L. Williams, regional supplier diversity manager, Pepco Holdings; Luis Liceaga, president, Impact Dimensions, LLC; Michael G. Horsey, managing partner, Philadelphia Office, Mitchell & Titus; David Groomes Sr., vice president, Supply Chain Management, U.S. Facilities, Inc. and Todd Rose, president and CEO, Telrose Corporation.

“Given the ever-changing landscape in business, through the PA-NJ-DE MSDC’s general meeting, we continue to bring the most up-to-date information on supplier business development and corporate supply chain management. The general meeting features the best corporate and MBE leaders sharing information on successful approaches and strategies to compete in the global economy,” said Wade Colclough, PA-NJ-DE MSDC president and CEO.

There were common threads throughout the panel discussion. Many of the panelists advised MBEs seeking to become suppliers to thoroughly research the company they seek to conduct business with. The research should range from identifying key leadership, understanding the corporate culture, to the products and services that the company is buying.

“You would be surprised how many people are ill-prepared at that first meeting. Do the research. That’s the most critical thing I will say. Understand who is your competition. Understand what differances you from that competitor. What’s that extra value that you are going to bring to the process,” said Robinson, who is responsible for leading IBM’s supplier diversity initiatives in the U.S., Latin America, Canada, Europe, Asian and South Africa.

Robinson said suppliers should understand that corporate procurement teams are risk adverse.

“You’re new and you’re trying to get into that company, understand how you are going to make that procurement professional a success and how are you going to reduce the amount of risk in moving from a proven to a new supplier.”

Since 2006, IBM has spent in excess in $2 billion worldwide with diverse enterprises.

During the forum, owners of MBEs shared some of the strategies that made their firms successful.

Rose, who leads Telrose Corporation, said addressing the customers’ needs is critical to the success of the multimillion office supply service company.

“What is important is we have to understand what is important to our customer. If we continue to do that, then we will continue to be successful,” said Rose.

“If we matter to their business goals than we become a part of the fiber of what they do on a day-to-day basis and they are going to continue to come to us, even if it’s outside of what our core business offerings are.”

Headquartered in Philadelphia, the PA-NJ-DE MSDC represents more 135 corporate members and 425 MBEs with more than 35,000 employees throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware.

Contact staff writer Ayana Jones at 215-893-5747 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Brigitte Daniel, executive vice president of Wilco Electronic Systems, Inc. is working to increase technology access in diverse, and traditionally underserved, communities.

Daniel has been appointed to the Federal Communications Commission’s re-chartered Federal Advisory Committee on Diversity in the Digital Age.

Appointed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Daniel is the only committee member whose business is based in the Philadelphia region.

The Committee on Diversity in the Digital Age provides recommendations to the FCC regarding policies and practices that will further enhance cultural and ethnic diversity in the industries the commission regulates.

“The role in this case would be recommending policy regarding universal access, universal broadband adoption and just recommending good policies that allows our private companies and organizations to bridge the digital divide,” says Daniel.

“For Wilco, as a minority provider, and one of the last African American-owned providers remaining in the United States, to be on this committee with renowned professional leaders in our industry is a huge deal,” she said.     

Daniel joins other committee members including Debra Lee, chief executive officer, Black Entertainment Television and Marc Morial, president, National Urban League.

“I am just honored to represent our low-income marketplace, particularly the Philadelphia Housing Authority residents, and have a seat at the table just to make sure that their interests are represented as people that live in public housing — that’s seniors, families and all types of minorities,” says Daniel, who will serve a two-year term on the committee.

Wilco played a key role in bringing broadband access to Philadelphia’s low-income residents through the Freedom Rings Partnership.

Funded through a $11.8 million federal grant, Philadelphia Freedom Rings is a public-private consortium formed to provide Internet access, training and technology to residents in underserved communities. The city of Philadelphia’s Division of Technology, the Urban Affairs Coalition and Drexel University are leading the initiative.

Through the initiative, 5,000 netbook computers will be provided to PHA residents over the next three years. In August, the first 100 PHA residents graduated from a training program facilitated by the Community College of Philadelphia.

Through her work with the consortium, Daniel received a 2011 Eisenhower Fellowship award enabling her to visit India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore to explore technologies that she can bring back to the marketplace.

“It’s almost a fact-finding mission for me to go abroad to kind of see what things are going on with similar types of population groups,” says Daniel, who will be out of the country until December.

She is particularly interested in bringing emerging mobile applications and technologies that focus on health and wellness to public housing residents.

“Online access is a civil right. Everything is online, everything is fueled by technology, whether that’s health, jobs or education. If you don’t have it in your home, or you don’t have access to it, you’re not at the table,” she says.

Founded in 1977 by Will F. Daniel, Wilco is one of the last remaining African American-owned and operated cable operators in the nation, and has provided cable services, telecommunications services and security systems for the last 31 years.

The Fort Washington, Pa-based firm became the first sole and exclusive provider of cable television services for PHA in 2001. Wilco is gearing up for a systems upgrade.

“We’re very niched and we’re very tailored to the marketplace that we currently serve in Philadelphia and I think that has helped us to maintain our success and I think because we offer really affordable technology and that is something that is not usually seen in our sector,” Daniel added.

As Wilco’s executive vice president, Daniel’s responsibilities include corporate communications, government affairs, regulatory affairs, public affairs and corporate administration.

Before joining Wilco, Daniel served as an officer with the city of Philadelphia’s Minority Business Enterprise Council and served as the director of Business Development and Governmental Affairs for the Academy of Screen Arts, a film school that opened in Ghana, West Africa, in 2002. She also worked with BET, the FCC and Wilkinson Barker Knauer law firm.

Contact Tribune staff writer Ayana Jones at (215) 893-5747 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Women facing hair loss are turning to Blue Sage Hair Wellness Salon for styling options.

Blue Sage owner Kimberly Nesmith is making a difference by offering healthier styling solutions for women.

“I felt like the people who have permanent hair loss were more in need of a little TLC from their salon and their hair care provider,” says Nesmith, who has been in the cosmetology industry for 27 years.

Nesmith’s focus on assisting women with hair loss comes as the American Academy of Dermatology reports that 30 million American women are coping with hereditary hair loss.

“I think it’s an area where the market is not getting enough attention,” Nesmith says in regard to serving those with hair loss.

Many of Nesmith’s clients have experienced hereditary hair loss, while others are losing strands due to genetics, stress, over processing and relaxer usage, tight braids or side effects from medications.

First time clients undergo a consultation, which enables Nesmith to assess the condition of their hair. Clients are asked about medications, health conditions or allergies that could cause irritation to the scalp or hair breakage.

To promote hair growth, Blue Sage offers scalp massages and steam treatments.

“The steam really increases circulation,” says Nesmith, who is a retired member of the Pennsylvania State Board of Cosmetology.

“It increases the blood flow to the scalp and moisturizes the hair. If you have any build up in your follicle area, it releases it. It’s an excellent way to condition your scalp.”

Clients can tap into an array of styling options at Blue Sage including press and curls, braids, coils, twists, sisterlocks, weaves and relaxers.

The focus at the Overbrook-based salon is on ensuring that the available styling options are not damaging their clients’ hair. With that in mind, Nesmith says it’s important that consumers be educated about the proper hair maintenance and procedures that could lead to breakage.

“A lot of people sacrifice their own natural hair for the sake of a hairstyle,” she says, citing the damage caused by popular lace front wigs as a prime example.

Nesmith noted that the glue used for lace front wigs tears hair out when it is removed.

As an alternative to the traditional glued-in lace front, Blue Sage uses sewn-in and latch hook weaves to protect a client’s scalp and hair from damage.

Members of the public were briefed on their hair care options when Blue Sage hosted a grand opening celebration on Sunday. The event featured healthy hair consultations, salon tours, personal fitness assessments, express manicures, live music and an open mic night.

Nesmith takes love for styling hair beyond her salon, located at 7501–03 Sherwood Road, and into the community. For the last eight years, Nesmith has served as a volunteer for the American Cancer Society’s “Look Good…Feel Better” program at Hahnemann Hospital. The “Look Good…Feel Better” program teaches beauty techniques to women with cancer.

“It’s an opportunity give back. I feel like I’ve been blessed with a talent and a gift to help people with their hair and their beauty needs,” she says.

The Pure Halal Center is bringing a taste of the Caribbean to Philadelphia’s Muslim community.

The center — which specializes in certifying products Halal — distributes Tru Juice products to 10 Brown Shop Rite stores in Philadelphia.

The stores currently carry six of Tru Juice’s 11 flavors including soursop, sorrel, acerola cherry and mango–pineapple.

In December 2011, the Pure Halal Center formed a partnership with Jamaican-based Trade Winds Citrus Ltd., the manufacturers of Tru Juice, to serve as a product distributor.

Pure Halal Center executives were spurred to conduct business with Trade Winds Citrus after they sampled the Tru Juice line and found it to their liking.

“We took a look at the product line, the ingredients that are in the product and the plant that the juices were being made out of, and we were able to certify them Halal. Once we did that we put them on the market here and we’re doing very well with it,” said Lateefah Shakir-Muhammad, vice president, operations, The Pure Halal Center.

When they approached Jeff Brown, president and CEO of Brown’s Superstores about bringing the juice line into his stores, Shakir-Muhammad said he came on board immediately.

Representatives from the Pure Halal Center and Trade Winds Citrus have been hosting tasting events at Brown’s ShopRite stores to generate buzz around the line of fruit juices.

In addition to Tru Juice, the Pure Halal Center distributes Halal-certified lunch meat, frozen fruit pops and natural seasonings to Brown’s Shoprite stores.

There is an extensive process when it comes to certifying products Halal.

“The first thing we look for is that there is no alcohol involved, and that there are no pork by-products. When it comes down to products like candies, nuts and juices, the first thing we look for is how they are processed. A lot of times in juices, candies and breads there are hidden ingredients that people just don’t know about,” said Ameenah Muhammad-Diggins, CEO, The Pure Halal Center.

In addition to providing Halal certification, the Pure Halal Center also conducts training on how to handle Halal products.

“We’re very happy with what the Pure Halal Center has been doing by getting us into chain stores such as these, where there is a cross section of (different ethnicities) and we’re happy to have them on board,” said Tammi Ann Givans, TradeWinds Citrus, sales and marketing manager for the overseas market.

The Tru Juice brand was formed 15 years ago. Trade Winds Citrus started distributing the Tru Juice brand in the U.S. in 2009.

Givens says they are working to take the brand global.

“Originally we started out with targeting the Jamaica and Caribbean nationals that live in the U.S., throughout Canada and the United Kingdom; but over the years we’ve gotten interest from other ethnic groups who are interested in the types of juices we provide,” said Givans.

Tru Juice is also sold in Caribbean restaurants and outlets in the Philadelphia area.

Contact Staff Writer Ayana Jones at (215) 893-5747 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .