Rachel Roy

Rachel Roy (born January 15, 1974) is an American fashion designer.

Early life and education

Rachel Roy was born on January 15, 1974 in California. She was raised in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Her brother is Rajendra Roy, now the Chief Film Curator of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She is of ethnic diversity ancestry: her mother is Dutch and her Madras-born father is Bengali Indian.

Roy grew up in California, and attended Seaside High School along the Monterey Peninsula in Northern California. She attended Columbia Union College (also called Washington Adventist University) in Takoma Park, Maryland and left to move to New York where she worked in retail.

Fashion career

Roy's first job in fashion was at age 14, at a Contempo Casuals clothing outlet in her hometown. After college, she came to New York City, where she worked as a stylist for magazines and music videos. She became an intern at urban fashion line Rocawear, where she rose to the position of creative director of the women's and children's divisions and met her future husband Damon Dash. In 2005 Roy launched her eponymous fashion collection.

Rachel

Rachel (Hebrew: רָחֵל, Modern Rakhél, Tiberian Rāḥēl) (Arabic: راحيل‎) was the favorite of Biblical patriarch Jacob's two wives as well as the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. The name "Rachel" is from an unused root meaning: "to journey as a ewe that is a good traveller." Rachel was the daughter of Laban and the younger sister of Leah, Jacob's first wife. Rachel was a niece of Rebekah (Jacob's mother), Laban being Rebekah's brother, making Jacob her first cousin.

Marriage to Jacob

Rachel is first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 29 when Jacob happens upon her as she is about to water her father's flock. She was the second daughter of Laban, Rebekah’s brother. Jacob had traveled a great distance to find Laban. Rebekah had sent him there to be safe from his furious twin brother, Esau.

During Jacob's stay, Jacob fell in love with Rachel and agreed to work seven years for Laban in return for her hand in marriage. On the night of the wedding, the bride was veiled and Jacob did not notice that Leah, Rachel's older sister, had been substituted for Rachel. Whereas "Rachel was lovely in form and beautiful," "Leah had tender eyes". Later Jacob confronted Laban, who excused his own deception by insisting that the older sister should marry first. He assured Jacob that after his wedding week was finished, he could take Rachel as a wife as well, and work another seven years as payment for her. When God “saw that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb”, (Gen 29:31) and she gave birth to four sons.

Jay Z

Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known by his stage name Jay Z (formerly Jay-Z), is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and investor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America. In 2014, Forbes estimated Jay Z's net worth at nearly $520 million. He is one of the world's best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 100 million records, while receiving 21 Grammy Awards for his musical work, and numerous additional nominations. Consistently ranked as one of the greatest rappers ever, he was ranked number one by MTV in their list of The Greatest MCs of All-Time in 2006. Three of his albums, Reasonable Doubt (1996), The Blueprint (2001), and The Black Album (2003), are considered landmarks in the genre with all of them featured in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

As an entrepreneur and investor, Jay Z co-owns the 40/40 Club, and is the co-creator of the clothing line Rocawear. He is the former president of Def Jam Recordings, co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records, and the founder of Roc Nation. He also founded the sports agency Roc Nation Sports and is a certified NBA and MLB sports agent. As an artist, he holds the record for most number one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200 with 13. Jay Z also has had four number ones on the Billboard Hot 100, one as lead artist. On December 11, 2009, Jay Z was ranked as the tenth-most successful artist of the 2000s by Billboard as well as the fifth top solo male artist and fourth top rapper behind Eminem, Nelly, and 50 Cent. He was also ranked the 88th greatest artist of all time by Rolling Stone.

Rita Ora

Rita Sahatçiu Ora (born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer and actress. Her debut studio album, Ora, released in 2012, debuted at number one in the United Kingdom. The album contained the UK number-one singles, "R.I.P." and "How We Do (Party)". After reaching the peak position as a featured act on DJ Fresh's "Hot Right Now", Ora became the artist with the most number-one singles on the UK Singles Chart in 2012, with three consecutive singles reaching the top position. She was nominated for three Brit Awards at the 2013 ceremony.

Her single, "I Will Never Let You Down", became her fourth UK number one when it debuted at the top of the charts in 2014. Also in 2014, Ora featured on Iggy Azalea's single, "Black Widow", which reached number three in the US. In 2015, Ora became a coach on the fourth series of The Voice UK, and later that year, a judge on the twelfth series of The X Factor.

Early life

Ora was born in Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Kosovo) to Albanian parents. Her mother, Vera Sahatçiu (née Bajraktari), is a psychiatrist, and her father, Besnik Sahatçiu, is an economist and a pub owner. Her mother is Catholic and her father is Muslim. Ora has an older sister, Elena, and a younger brother, Don. She was named after the favourite film star of her film director grandfather Besim Sahatçiu, Rita Hayworth. She was born as Rita Sahatçiu (surname derived from the Turkish word "saatçi" which means "watchmaker"), but her father later added Ora ("time" in Albanian) to the family surname so it could be easily pronounced.