Actress Susan Sarandon, MLB's Wendy Lewis, Fox Sports' Pam Oliver,
USTA's D.A. Abrams, National Book Award winner, Jacqueline Woodson,
and RLJ Enterprises' Traci Otey Blunt are Among the Top 10

BROOKLYN, NY; December 31, 2014 - What's The 411TV, a Brooklyn-based media company, today released its list of 25 Most Interesting People of 2014, and NFL Hall of Famer and media personality, Michael Strahan tops the list.

What's The 411TV's 25 Most Interesting People of 2014 was developed from interviews conducted by What's The 411TV reporters between January 1, 2014 through December 12, 2014. The list consists of celebrated personalities to artists seeking to break through to ordinary people doing extraordinary things to New Yorkers rallying for the return of the more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram. Many people on the list are local to the New York City metro area, while others are national or global figures.

"Once again, What's The 411TV reporters have selected so many amazing and interesting people for What's The 411TV's list of 25 Most Interesting People of 2014," said Ruth J. Morrison, CEO and Founder, What's The 411 Networks. "This is our way to say thank you to those on the list, to congratulate them and to celebrate their accomplishments. Similar to last year, it was not an easy task for our reporters and producers to narrow down the list to 25 and since we couldn't, we also have a list of three honorable mentions."

Below is a list of What's The 411TV's 25 Most Interesting People of 2014 falling into the categories of sports; film; literature; music; television; fashion and style; and business and entrepreneurship.

1. Michael Strahan – Pro Football Hall of Famer (NFL) and media personality; on his way to becoming "King of All Media" – Interviewed by: Andrew Rosario

2. Wendy Lewis - MLB Senior Vice President, Diversity & Strategic Alliances; for being able to play with the boys - Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam

3. Traci Otey Blunt – Corporate Executive Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, RLJ Enterprises – leveraged political communications to transition to corporate communications, marketing, public relations and investor relations, as well as the promotion of the Urban Movie Channel. Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam using a Samsung S4

4. Kyle Donovan – Inventor; Founder, NV Magazine; entrepreneur motivating others to make a difference - Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam

5. D.A. Abrams - Chief Diversity Officer USTA; helping to make diversity a reality within tennis - Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam

6. Pam Oliver – NFL and NBA sportscaster; for treading where few women have gone in sports and for taking the high road during a public demotion – Interviewed by: Andrew Rosario

7. Jacqueline Woodson – National Book Award-winning author; gracious after a fellow author muddied her introduction as the winner of the National Book Award for Young Adult Literature for her book, BROWN GIRL DREAMING – Interviewed by: Luvon Roberson

8. Bring Back Our Girls Movement (NY) – rallying cry to rescue over 200 girls kidnapped in Nigeria by Boko Haram; lesson learned: sustaining a movement is hard work, particularly when it seems that no one else cares– Interviewed by: Kizzy Cox

9. Susan Sarandon – Academy Award and BAFTA award-winning actress; committed to human rights causes; worked with Amnesty International – Interviewed by: Bianca Peart

10. Melanie Few-Harrison - Founder of Super Bowl Gospel Celebration; creator of the first and only gospel event sanctioned by the NFL for Super Bowl Weekend– Interviewed by: Cristina Twitty

11. Remembering Ruby Dee - Memorial Service; friends and family celebrate the life of award-winning actress, Ruby Dee– Interviews by: Kizzy Cox and Rita Obi

12. Frank Savage - former investment banker and author of THE SAVAGE WAY: Successfully Navigating the Waves of Business and Life; a highly accomplished Global Wall Street Financier with a distinguished career in international banking, corporate finance, and global investment management - Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam

13. Melba Moore – singer and actress; her faith keeps her going - Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam

14. Jamal Joseph - artist, poet, director, producer, educator, and founder of Impact Repertory Theatre; developing leaders– Interviewed by: Christopher Graham

15. Lionel Hollins - Head Coach, Brooklyn Nets; a real standup guy, deeply connected to family and community - Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam

16. Brian Smith - NY Yankees SVP Corporate/Community Relations; merges baseball and community development - Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam

17. Daisy Llewellyn – Stylist, reality television star of Bravo's Blood, Sweat & Heels; and author of Never Pay Retail Again: Shop Smart, Spend Less, & Look Your Best Ever; She is the Queen of Effortless Chic - Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam

18. Richard Sherman – cornerback for Seattle Seahawks (NFL); Did we say, FEARLESS! – Interviewed by: Andrew Rosario

19. Teddy Bridgewater - NFL Quarterback, Minnesota Vikings; made it to the big stage; still grounded and fulfills promise to family - Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam

20. Mark Jaffe - President/CEO Greater NY Chamber of Commerce; a business leader who supports raising the minimum wage - Interviewed by Glenn Gilliam

21. Khary Lazarre White - Founder and Executive Director, Brotherhood Sister Sol; creating the next generation of leaders - Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam

22. Claudia Rankine – poet and National Book Award Finalist for Poetry for Citizen: An American Lyric ; her images show the violence of American racism's "micro" assaults – Interviewed by: Luvon Roberson

23. Michelle Miller - CBS Correspondent; proud advocate of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) - Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam using a Samsung S4

24. Ericka Pittman - VP Brand Strategy, Blue Flame Agency; a leader in business and personal branding - Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam

25. Christopher Chaney, Publisher of NV Magazine; creator of NV Magazine's Movers and Shakers Awards - Interviewed by Glenn Gilliam

Honorable Mentions

Yamina Collins – first time novelist, author of sci-fi romance novel, THE LAST KING; bringing episodic novels back into vogue - Interviewed by Luvon Roberson

Skoolie Escobar – Alabama rapper and entrepreneur trying to bring consciousness back to hip hop through the use of thought provoking visuals in his music video that accompanies his new single, Check Out My Watch – Interviewed by: Rita Obi

Tren'Ness Woods Black - President and Chief Strategist of Tren'ness Woods-Black, LLC; one of the keepers of the flame of Sylvia Woods' legacy. Sylvia Woods was the founder of Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem - Interviewed by: Glenn Gilliam

Previous personalities on What's The 411TV's list of Most Interesting People include: the late Maya Angelou; Motown Founder, Berry Gordy; Brooklyn Nets principal owner Mikhail Prokhorov; Willis Reed; Jeremy Lin; Mike Tyson and more.

About What's The 411TV

Based in Brooklyn, New York, What's The 411TV is a division of What's The 411 Networks, a media/news, marketing, and events company. What's The 411TV connects sophisticated multi-cultural audiences with its content through its distribution platforms of television, online, mobile, and social media.

What's The 411TV produces two weekly television shows, What's The 411, an award-winning entertainment and lifestyle television show and What's The 411Sports, a sports news and commentary television show.

What's The 411TV's celebrity portfolio consists of interviews with Magic Johnson, Beyonce, Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Danny Glover, Harrison Ford, Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Hudson, and many, many more.

About Ruth J. Morrison

Ruth J. Morrison is the CEO and Founder of What’s The 411 Networks, an integrated media, marketing, and events company, which produces the award-winning weekly news and information television show, What’s The 411 and What’s The 411Sports. The company covers the Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, New York Giants, US OPEN, and other sports events. A video streaming pioneer, she developed and launched from conception the City of New York's multi-channel cable television network and served as a Communications Director and Legislative Advisor to a New York Member of the U.S. Congress. She is the first African-American independent television producer to have a weekly television show on WNYC-TV and for three years, she worked in Brasil as an entertainment and television licensing consultant for an American company. Ms. Morrison earned a master's degree in Interactive Telecommunications from the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and she was a Communications Fellow at the Annenberg Washington Program of Northwestern University. She taught courses in telecommunications at Fordham University and she completed her coursework towards a Ph.D. in Political Science at Columbia University.

###

VIDEO Interview with Christopher Chaney: 

NV Magazine has established its 15-year history as a "new vision" of business publication for urban professionals around the country. Whether scaling the ladder within corporate America or creating a successful venture from scratch, NV has chosen to not only acknowledge but honor, many of these ground-breakers with its annual Movers & Shakers Awards.

For the past five years, Founder, Kyle Donovan and Publisher, Christopher Chaney and their team have solicited recommendations for and researched their selections to identify honorees from the well-established, even famous, to the less celebrated but ascending innovators, executives and business "hustlers" within the multicultural community. This isn't for the sake of taking nice pictures and having a cocktail, NV's mission is to empower communities of color through the recognition of these trendsetters and inspire collective collaboration to generate wealth and long-term economic stability for the black and Latino market.

Publisher, Christopher Chaney, could hardly contain his excitement when asked about tonight's event.

"Definitely excited about tonight, simply because it's going to be a packed house, it's always an amazing group of dynamic people, the magazine is 15 years old, we started doing this 5 years ago and it's like let's bring this group of people together, bring the network together and let all kind of possibilities happen. I mean the aftermath of the Movers & Shakers is that people are building businesses together, people are creating all kinds of new circles and typically people get promotions at their corporate jobs after this event, so it's a lovely night."

So how does NV magazine select its honorees for the Movers and Shakers Award?

"They typically happen probably 2 to 3 months before and it's a whole dynamic of past recommendations from prior Movers & Shakers and who they want to share with us and fit our group," Christopher replied. "We're always looking for people doing unique things, we're always looking for people who have really a strong voice in their industry and we definitely look for people who may be on the come up, so those you never really haven't seen in press before and you're like when you read about them you're like wow, I didn't know we were doing that, this is cool."

So, what's next for NV and how does it plan to build on what it has established with the Movers and Shakers Awards?

"What we definitely are doing is bringing back our marquee event, which is the NV Awards, which is our black tie gala where we honor only 10 people and all of them really at the top of their game, so we're doing that in 2015. In addition and what's coming up really quickly is that we have an app that we're about to release and that will be available on our website which will really be able to connect people in a totally different way so people should look for that on nvmagazine.com."

What has social media meant to NV's readership and how is the magazine playing in that space?

"That's exactly what our app is all about because it's a way of really connecting people and then having them build a network because if you have a great net-work, typically you have a great net worth, it builds access and it builds the ability to really grow wealth. Because you start making those relationships and start to have things click and it really comes through events like this and if you can take this to social media, if you can have them connect on your Facebook, on your Twitter and bridge your own apps where people can connect, then you really start building a change in our community, cause really our ultimate goal, is to build a community of wealth or community of wealth builders, where everyone comes in is like, okay, I can employ someone, wow I have a black-owned company you can do business with. So I think we need those kind of alternatives in our communities that's something we've been missing and that will bring up the hope and we'll have less hopelessness, we'll have less crime, we'll have less people struggling to get into the middle class and we'll have more middle-class looking at wealthy, we need more than one billionaire like Oprah."

To see our videos as soon as they are posted, subscribe to our YouTube channels: WhatsThe411TV and 411SportsTV

NV Magazine has established its 15-year history as a "new vision" of business publication for urban professionals around the country

Check out the video from the NV Movers and Shakers Awards:

Whether scaling the ladder within corporate America or creating a successful venture from scratch, NV has chosen to not only acknowledge, but honor, many of these ground-breakers with its annual Movers & Shakers Awards.

For the past five years, Founder, Kyle Donovan and Publisher, Christopher Chaney and their team have solicited recommendations for and researched their selections to identify honorees from the well established, even famous, to the less celebrated but ascending innovators, executives and business "hustlers" within the multicultural community. This isn't for the sake of taking nice pictures and having a cocktail, NV's mission is to empower communities of color through the recognition of these trendsetters and inspire collective collaboration to generate wealth and long term economic stability for the black and Latino market.

Ericka Pittman, Vice President, Brand Strategy at Blue Flame Agency, was honored to be on the cover of the Movers and Shakers issue.

Tren'Ness Woods Black, granddaughter of soul food restaurant icon Sylvia Woods, has been a fan and supporter of NV Magazine from day one.

Singer, Po Johnson, of La La Anthony's Full Court Life reality show fame, was also enjoying the excitement. Po found the NV Movers and Shakers event to be much more than she imagined.

As the Presenting Sponsor for the event, New York Life's Corporate VP & Manager, African American Market, Eugene Mitchell proudly proclaimed that, "we've partnered with NV Magazine for the past 7 or 8 years in an effort to change the financial future of black America and with our tools and products help build multi-generational wealth and that's what we're looking to do."

Here's the 2014 Class of NV Movers & Shakers:

• Caleb Denis, Director of Fiat Studio in Manhattan
• Gloria Alvarez, Project Manager at Ghetto Film School
• Yesi Morillo-Gual, Founder, Proud to Be Latina
• Ericka Pittman, VP Brand Strategy - Blue Flame Agency
• Ashley Mackel, Worldwide Marketing Manager at Ogilvy & Mather
• Modia Butler, State Director to U.S. Senator for New Jersey, Corey Booker
• Thomas Felder, 5LINX Enterprises, Inc., Senior VP
• Tren'ness Woods-Black, President and Chief Strategist of Tren'ness Woods- Black, LLC and third generation owner of Sylvia's Restaurant
• Kimberly Hogg, Associate Brand Mngr., Brisk Tea at PepsiCo
• Nicole Hall, VP Human Resources at Edelman
• Hassan Heyward, Field Representative at New York City Mayor's Office of Film
• Chantelle Fraser, CEO at Flawless Event Casting and Entertainment
• Mack Wilds, pop music artist and actor from HBO's "The Wire"
• Po Johnson, musician and personality on VH1's "La La's Full Court Life"
• Unique Zayas, musician
• Cole Cook and André Leon King, Co-Founders, Brother Bs Bag Collection
• Carla Gentry Osorio, celebrity hairstylist, and co-owner of STYLES NEW YORK SALON
• Ray Williams, President, Music Marketing Inc.
• Chef Kristopher Edelen
• Karen Dupiche, Emmy Award-winning makeup artist for "The View"
• Antrel Rolle, Pro Bowl strong safety of the New York Giants

NV always engages amazing entrepreneurs and professionals to share their obstacles, failures, and successes in the pages of its magazine and you can find it all at www.nvmagazine.com