Nicolle Okoren

My Recent Work

The Guardian •

They took part in Apache ceremonies. Their schools expelled them for satanic activities

The way the school saw it, it was devil worship.In October 2019, three teenage girls were punished for participating in a spiritual ceremony. Their Arizona school expelled two of them, and let the third off with a warning, citing their attendance as a violation of school policy and grounds for expulsion.Caitlyn, now 18, says she and her friends were disciplined for participating in a Sunrise Dance, a traditional Native ceremony at the core of White Mountain Apache culture.The Monday after the da...
Business.org •

Best High-Speed Internet Providers for Small Businesses of 2023 | Business.org

The bottom line: The best high-speed internet provider for small businesses is Verizon. Verizon does a great job ensuring affordable prices, fast speeds, and customer service. Verizon customer service outranks all other competitors. 
Every business is different, though, and there are excellent brands other than Verizon that also might meet your more specific needs or concerns. We recommend Frontier for best budget, AT&T for speed, and Comcast for tech support. Of course, your business is outside...
Business.org •

How To Sell at a Farmers Market & Grow Your Business | Business.org

Farmers market season is finally here! Hello, honey sticks, fresh produce, wooden key chains, and sourdough bread. The whole block’s set to smell amazing every Saturday morning for the remainder of the summer—or longer if you’re lucky.
Not only is attending a farmers market dreamy in a Hallmark sort of way, but it can also be a perfect venue for getting to know other vendors and people in your community, spreading the word about your business, and bringing in some extra money. Farmers markets ar...
Business.org •

Ready to Sell on Amazon? Here’s a Quick Guide for Beginners | Business.org

There are three ways to sell products on Amazon: 

You can have Amazon fulfill orders by using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).
You can fulfill orders yourself.
You can do both for different products. 

You’ll pay fees regardless of which way you go, but that’s where an FBA calculator comes in handy. You can figure out how much you’ll pay for FBA and compare that to your own fulfillment cost.
FBA means that you send your products to Amazon’s warehouse, and they fulfill your orders and ship to your c...
The Guardian •

The wilderness ‘therapy’ that teens say feels like abuse: ‘You are on guard at all times’

Rowan Bissette was 16 when she was transported against her will from Florida to Utah by two men she did not know. This was her first time leaving her home state.These men were hired by her parents to take her from the psychiatric hospital in Jacksonville, where she had been receiving treatment, to a residential facility for more “intensive care”. She was terrified.She had already been going to therapy twice a week for the past five years, but she was still struggling. Her parents were optimistic...
Utah Business •

If we want economic growth in Utah, we need water solutions - Utah Business

As Utah water levels continue to lower, this issue can pressure our already inflated economy.
The Great Salt Lake alone impacts over $1.5 billion of our economy, driven by strategic mineral extraction from its waters. The lake is a rich repository of lithium, titanium, magnesium, and potash — essential elements in producing everything from medical devices to rechargeable batteries and crop fertilizer. Nearly 7,000 local jobs are directly reliant upon the lake.
In July, the Great Salt Lake and La...
Business.org •

Sexism in the Workplace Pushes Women to Start Their Own Businesses | Business.org

In 2018, Allison Lew quit her job and, for the first time in eight months, fell asleep without a sleeping pill. For most of the previous year, Lew woke up dreading the day ahead of her and ended the day so anxious that she could not fall asleep. She was seriously considering spending over $5,000 out of pocket on a sleep study.
The anxiety started when a new coworker began regularly walking into her office, touching her back, and leaning over her desk. It made Lew feel so uncomfortable that she m...
Utah Business •

Evan Walker is an antique collector-turned-e-commerce disruptor - Utah Business

Evan Walker, CEO and founder of the e-commerce customer experience platform Route, is disrupting the industry with his one-stop app for package tracking—and is well on his way to growing it into another Silicon Slopes unicorn.
Launched in January 2019, Route gained 120 employees and over 2,000 connected merchants by the end of its first year. After three years, Route has already raised a total of $48.5 million in funding and attracted investors like Justin Timberlake. 
“The business just explode...
Utah Business •

So much hemp, no one to smoke it - Utah Business

Three years after Utah passed the 2019 Hemp and Cannabinoid Act, hemp farmers are still recovering from broken promises by brokers as well as complicated and ever-changing regulations in an oversaturated market. According to the Utah Department of Agriculture and Farming (UDAF), 217 growers were given licenses in 2019. In 2021, only 128 farmers were licensed to grow hemp. 
Cody Zesiger, extension assistant professor at Utah State University’s agriculture and natural resources department who also...
BridgeUniverse - TEFL Blog, News, Tips & Resources •

English Language Teaching Start-ups: Will the Next 'Unicorn' Speak English? - BridgeUniverse - TEFL Blog, News, Tips & Resources

English language learning has blossomed into a $60 billion global market, according to TechCrunch. Using data by Ulrich Ammon at the University of Dusseldorf, The Washington Post reported that 1.5 billion people are currently studying English worldwide. Effectively, the entire EdTech industry has exploded over the past year, growing from a value of $89 billion in 2020 to more than $106 billion this year. The industry also expects a growth rate of 19.9% from 2021 through 2028, all according to a...
Irish Independent •

‘Trump brings people together’ – Meet the hardcore supporters who refuse to believe their man can lose

Steve and Karen Slaton could not keep up with demand for Donald Trump merchandise at the last election, so they opened a store dedicated to the US president. The Arizona couple and their customers insist that their movement won’t disappear when he leaves officeKaren Slaton fell in love with Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential debates. When he stepped on to the stage, she saw something there. He was rude, but she liked it. It worked for her. Within six months, she and her boyfriend had thro...
The Guardian •

The birth of a militia: how an armed group polices Black Lives Matter protests

The Utah Citizens’ Alarm is only a month old, and yet it already boasts 15,000-plus members.The citizen militia’s recruits wear military fatigues and carry assault rifles. Their short-term goal, they say, is to act as a physical presence of intimidation to deter protesters from becoming violent and destroying the state of Utah. Their long-term goal: to arm and prepare the state of Utah against underground movements they believe will incite civil war.The group was conceived in reaction to a Black...