#blacks2know

Tiffany Hines

Actress 

Tiffany Hines is an American actress, known for her roles as Birdie Scott in Beyond the Break, Michelle Welton in Bones, Jaden on Nikita, Didi Miller in Devious Maids, and Tamar Braxton in Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart.

Hines grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. She attended the University of Cincinnati. She starred as Birdie Scott in The N drama series Beyond the Break from 2006 to 2009. Hines guest-starred on television series such as Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, Criminal Minds, Miss Guided, Lincoln Heights, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Secret Girlfriend, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Lie to Me. She also starred on NBC miniseries Meteor in 2009. Her film credits include The Winged Man, Shark Swarm, Dandelion Dharma, Perfect Combination, and The Dark Party.

She played the recurring character Michelle Welton, the adopted teenage daughter of Dr. Camille Saroyan, in the Fox series Bones.

Jurnee Smollett-Bell

Actress 

Jurnee Diana Smollett-Bell (born October 1, 1986) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress appearing on television sitcoms, with her most significant regular role being on On Our Own (1994–95). She received critical acclaim and Critic's Choice Award for playing title role in the 1997 independent drama film Eve's Bayou.

As an adult, Smollett-Bell has starred in the films The Great Debaters (2007) and Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (2013). She also had starring roles in a number of television series, including the NBC sports drama Friday Night Lights (2009–2011), and the HBO vampire drama True Blood (2013–2014). In 2016, Smollett-Bell began playing a leading role as Rosalee, the house slave, in the WGN America period drama Underground. Smollett-Bell has won three NAACP Image Awards.

Smollett-Bell was born Jurnee Diana Smollett in New York City, the daughter of Janet (née Harris) and Joel Smollett. Her father was Jewish (his family immigrated from Russia and Poland), and her mother is African American. She is the fourth of six performing siblings, one sister, Jazz, and four brothers: Jussie, JoJo, Jake, and Jocqui.

Recognized by ESSENCE Magazine as a top 40 executive under 40, Valeisha Butterfield Jones has blazed a trail in public and private sectors for more than a decade.

Valeisha Butterfield Jones is the Head of Black Community Engagement for Google and the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network (WEEN). Valeisha is also the author of the top selling book The Girlprint, a mentorship guide for women.

As a college student, Valeisha began working full-time for music legends Wu Tang Clan and for former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. After graduation, Valeisha was recruited by HBO Boxing and served as the Executive Assistant to the President of HBO Sports.

Valeisha returned to her North Carolina roots and served as the Field Director for Chief Justice Henry Frye of the N.C. Supreme Court. After a devastating loss on election night, Valeisha moved to New York City to further pursue her entertainment dreams and landed an unpaid internship with music mogul Russell Simmons.

Valeisha was a professional standout and turned her entertainment aspirations into action by becoming one of the youngest Executive Director’s of a national organization at the time. Butterfield Jones served as the Program Manager, Director of Sponsorship and Events, Vice President and eventually the National Executive Director of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network over a seven-year period.

During this time, she was introduced to then Senator Barack Obama and began serving as a volunteer for his 2008 Presidential campaign. Valeisha recruited celebrity surrogates to endorse and support Senator Obama and received a call soon after election night to serve in the Obama Administration.

Valeisha served by Presidential appointment in the Administration of U.S. President Barack Obama as the Deputy Director of Public Affairs for the International Trade Administration and as the National Youth Vote Director for the 2012 Obama for America campaign.

Valeisha has been widely credited for her magnetic relationship with youth culture and her role turning out young Americans during the 2004, 2008, 2012 Presidential elections. Valeisha also served as the National Ambassador for the United Negro College Fund’s Empower Me Tour in 2014 and 2015.

Valeisha has been recognized by Glamour, Marie Claire, Elle, Essence Top 40 under 40, Ebony Top 100, Jet, Black Enterprise and Sister 2 Sister Magazines as a leading young executive in the United States with her finger on the pulse of all things youth, entertainment and politics. Valeisha has also appeared on OWN TV’s Light Girls, Aspire TV’s Exhale, Arise News, Arise 360, Centric TV’s Morning Cup, BET News, BET’s 106 and Park and others.

Valeisha was born in Wilson, NC and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Clark Atlanta University. She currently serves on the board of directors for iVote (www.ivoteforamerica.org) and the Hip Hop Sisters Network (www.hiphopsisters.org).

Danielle Diggs (Danielle Nicolet)

Actress

Raised in a working-class Ohio town, Danielle Nicolet moved with her family to southern California to train in gymnastics. She competed through her teenage years, but finally admitted that acting was her dream. She has always played unpredictable characters, whether they be dramatic or comedic.

Early on she appeared most notably in National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992), Where Truth Lies (1996), Shadow of Doubt (1998) and Race (1998). She spent six seasons as "Caryn" on the Emmy-winning sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996), and has since established herself as a truly versatile and engaging star.

In 2005 Entertainment Weekly named her "the breakout star of the network" for her turn on the sitcom Second Time Around (2004). She has since twice been deemed "favorite character to watch" for her work as the cross-bearing head of the ICU on the TNT hospital drama, Heartland (2007) and as the insecure and oversexed pal of Debra Messing and Judy Davis on the USA Network series The Starter Wife (2008).