● The Spotlight Series

Stories worth telling.

Long-form features on the Black entrepreneurs building legacies in Chicago and beyond — how they started, what they've overcome, and where they're headed next.

Matthew Cooper and Bennie Jones of Community Risk Management Legacy

Latest

Issue No. 14 · September 2026

Community Risk Management Legacy

Matthew Cooper and Bennie Jones are merging decades of insurance experience to preserve agency legacies and build a national Black-owned insurance organization — from Chicago to both coasts.

Matthew Cooper & Bennie Jones · Insurance & Risk Management

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Rhonda Stivers of Color Me Coffee at the roastery

Issue No. 13 · May 2025

Color Me Coffee / Stivers Coffee

One of the first Black coffee roasters in the United States, founded in 1985 — from globally sourced Caribbean beans to a proud place at the Obama Presidential Center.

Rhonda Stivers · Restaurants & Food

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