Dear Family, 

ONYX Magazine is proud to celebrate in 2022 the publication’s most significant milestone to date: our 25th anniversary. Your unwavering and continued support has sustained our ability to advance Black excellence and remain a trusted community voice for more than two decades. Numerous Black-owned businesses have experienced hardship prior to and through the pandemic, and some have been forced to close their doors. It is a blessed privilege to serve as an informative and credible referential voice for not only businesses, but also a cross-section of entities. 

With pride, on Sept. 10, we will produce the third installment of ONYX Magazine’s Men of Honor, a black-tie event and prestigious occasion that offers deserved recognition to Black men in Florida whose significant contributions and leadership are the hallmark of so many communities throughout the peninsula being great. They represent 22 visionaries, stalwarts, pacesetters, and trailblazers who have been nominated, vetted and ultimately selected as the finest among their peers. 

Among them are men like ONYX Magazine’s Man of the Year who dons the cover, Dr. George Tinsley, whose life is dynamically archived from his formative years in Smoketown, Ky., to his rise as a hall of famer and becoming a luminary who owns and operates in partnership a plethora of food franchises and family-owned businesses. He is joined by vanguard leaders noted for their integrity, leadership, and vision. Orange County, Fla., Mayor Jerry L. Demings, the 2021 Man of the Year, is this year’s honorary event chair leading this effort. 

This issue offers a unique innovation that is culturally relevant and familiarly titled, “The Black Man’s Nod.” It is that unspoken greeting that Black men (brothers) share while coming and going to encourage each other. While a nonverbal gesture — this slight backward tilt of one’s head — is critically rooted in the Black community and consistent with ONYX Magazine’s standard, this September/October edition contains a bevy of diverse information we believe can be vital to every Black family’s growth. 

You are our champions, and as always, we thank you in advance for embracing each article in the pages that follow as they have been uniquely designed to entertain, inspire, and inform. 

Sincerely, 

Rich Black