Ticker tape

Jet, Feb 23, 2004 by Simeon Booker

Confidential: Imagine the surprise when Democratic National Committee (DNC) officials in Washington turned their TV sets on and discovered that one of their best trained Black women employees was being featured on the TV reality show The Apprentice featuring business mogul Donald Trump. Just turned 30, Omarosa Manigault-Stallsworth was the vice chairperson of the committee s African-American Leadership Council, readying preparations for a national voter registration drive A onetime Clinton White House aide and former Gore organizer, the Youngstown, OH, native is a partner in a lobbying firm and at the same time, working for a doctorate degree at Howard University, where she was an undergraduate.

On the television show, she is one of the remaining contestants on the 15-week special series, eagerly vying to become Trump's apprentice with a chance to run one of his companies and earn a six-figure salary ... After nominating Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) Deputy Secretary Alphonso Jackson for the top job, President Bush finally sent his name to the U.S. Senate for a confirmation vote. If he is approved, Jackson will become the third Black in the Bush Cabinet and serve as HUD secretary ... The widow of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Cecilia Marshall, attended the dedication of an academy named for him in Harlem, the first school constructed in the area in 50 years ... One of the most sought-after speakers in the nation's capital is Sheila R. Cherry, first Black president of the National Press Club. Since her swearing-in, she has been besieged by offers of speaking engagements while the Club has become a beehive of activity.