Norma Comstock

Cultural Arts (Tempo)

Page 6 ~ THE VILLAGER/October 21, 2016 THE DIASPORA www.theaustinvillager.com

AFTV5 Host 3rd Annual Cultural Expo Conference

by Angela WyattVillager Columnist

Pictured left to right; Colette Pierce Burnette, Tommy Wyatt, Samuel Yamthe and Rodney Duckett. Photo Courtesy of Naomi Richard

Meme StylesMarilyn Johnson

Pflugerville Chili Fest

On October 15,2016 the Annual FallChili Fest, was held inthe heart of downtownPflugerville. The festi-val sought to select the“best chi li” dishthroughout the city ofPflugerville. Not onlydid the festival show-case various styles of“chili” but, it alsoshowcased a variety ofsmall business ownersoperating throughoutCentral Texas. As a re-sult, there were a vari-ety of business owners

by Tsoke(Chuch) Adjavon |Villager Columnist

Mr. and Mrs. Hogan Family attending the 2016 Pflugerville Chilli FestivalPhoto by Tsoke (Chuch) Adjavon

at the event.They used the Fest

as a time to markettheir products. Therewere booths with jew-elry, food, Africanclothing, accessories,and various non-profitorganizations werepresent. The Chili Festwas also a time to pro-mote services towomen living in TravisCounty. Another busi-ness owner mentionedthat she enjoyed the“Chili Fest” because ofthe numerous pur-chases made which en-abled her to markether business.

Not only did the

merchants enjoy theevent, but it was also avery family friendlyevent. The majority ofthe attendees camewith their children toenjoy the food and themusic. For instance,John Sesion who at-tended the event men-tioned that, “My fam-ily and I were lookingforward to coming tothe event because ev-eryone could enjoythemselves.” More-over, the Annual FallChili Fest was success-ful due to the highnumber of participantsand the high numbersof merchants present.

(Austin, TEXAS) -Saturday, October 15,2016, AFTV5 TV Networkhosted their 3rd AnnualUS-Africa Cultural Expoand Business Match-making Conference. Theconference entai led athree day engagement,leading with a meet andgreet business networkmixer on Thursday, Octo-ber 13th. Friday, the 14th,introduced two PanelDiscussions, an Invest-ment and Branding work-shop, and a Social Enter-prise Shark Tank Work-shop. The first panel was

on “The Doing Businessin Africa (DBIA) Cam-paign”: Investigating ininnovative solutionsthrough the promotionof public / private part-nership to improve Afri-can competitiveness andtrade with the UnitedStates of America. Speak-ers of these discussionsincluded Larry Tabash,Travis Florey, Dr. RogerTappa and Judy Francis.The second panel con-versed “Branding Africa:A new Narrative for Af-rica” with speakersAshanta’ Miller, TamikaMoseley and Chair-woman of AFTV5 Meme

Styles.Saturday, October

15th, The 2016 CulturalExpo Conference closedwith an Awards Banquet,filled with live perfor-mances and fashion en-tertainment presentedby DJ Truth, MasterDrummer Abou Sylla, So-loist Sonia Moore andband, and U4U Designs.The banquet was held atCrown Plaza Austin hotel.AFTV5 ChairwomanMeme Styles welcomedthe audience and FormerVP of IBM, MarketingDevelopment Mari lynJohnson took over as theMC for the evening. This

year’s honorees includedOwner and Publisher ofthe Villager Newspaper,Tommy Wyatt; Huston-Tillotson University Presi-dent, Colette PierceBurnette; and CEO andFounder of I.M.P.A.C Out-reach, Rodney Duckett.

AFTV5 Network is anonprofit news outletthat focuses on capturingthe experience of Afri-cans, African-Americansand their interactionswith other national andglobal communities. Mr.Samuel Yamthe serves asthe Executive Director. Tolearn more visitwww.aftv5.com.