A friend IM'd me the other day about something I had to post about, even though she might choke me after she reads it. She discovered this week that one of her credit cards had been canceled and reissued with a new credit limit, without her knowledge and permission.

That should send red flags up for anyone: "My identity may have been stolen!"

Black folk have been moving to Atlanta in droves for the last 20 years, and why not? Who doesn't have a cousin or college classmate who told them about the good jobs and cheap houses?

Well, all that glitters ain't gold. A New York Times piece this week details how Atlanta has one of the biggest foreclosure problems in the country, even though its economy is stronger than many other places. One problem with the story though: it skipped over a very likely and obvious connection between that foreclosure rate and Atlanta's overwhelmingly black population.

Wanted: Black female entrepreneurs with ideas about why you're more likely to start a business than anybody else in America yet likely to have that company grow more slowly than anyone else's.

It's been months since the controversy over Oprah's funding of an all-girl's school in Africa reached its peak, but it's almost certain to kick back up again after this Sunday's episode of BET's Meet the Faith.

Here's a unique idea for an awards show that I wish I'd known about before it happened.

Last month, the National Center for Black Philanthropy held its sixth annual honors for those it deemed most dedicated to charitable giving that benefits the black community. The Philanthropist of the Year award went to Wintley Phipps, a Grammy-nominated gospel singer who founded the US Dream Academy, which uses the Internet and other technologies to tutor at-risk youth. Awards also went to educator Dr. Dorothy Height, Warren Thompson, president of Thompson Hospitality Corp. and a few others.

The most interesting award, though, might have been the special achievement in philanthropy honor that went to former president Bill Clinton. I guess if he qualifies as the first black president for some, he should also qualify for an award in black philanthropy.

Last week I wrote about model and entrepreneur Kimora Lee Simmons' advice on managing money.

In a new interview I did this week with Kimora's friend Tyra Banks -- a respected former supermodel-turned-media mogul -- I found out that not every model has the same issue with cash burning a hole in their pocket. In fact, the multimillionaire muse calls herself "the queen of cheap" and swears she couldn't bear looking at the bill for flying privately, so she went back to commercial with the rest of us.

OK, now we know Tyra's not a big spender (but if you watch her talk show, you probably already knew that). But there's a lesson that any entrepreneurs or aspiring ones might be able to take from Tyra's business practices: a lot of the money she doesn't spend pampering herself goes to making her employees feel special.

"I think it's important to reward employees and to understand that when you invest in your employees, they invest in your company more. I send some of my employees on vacations. It's just an investment in them to show that they're appreciated, to show that they dedicate a lot of their life to me," she said.

Again, I'm posting the audio of the interview on blackpeoplesmoney.com. Click here to hear it.

I've been wanting to do this for a long time: corral rich and famous people and ask them about their biggest screw up with money and for their advice for the average person on how to avoid the same thing. This week I've got the first one with model, fashion designer and self-proclaimed queen of "fabulosity" Kimora Lee Simmons. I plan on doing these once a week from now on, and posting audio of some of the interviews.

So, for the benefit of all those about to blow a paycheck on looking fly and having no savings to speak of, what was Kimora's biggest money mistake?

"Spending all my money and not saving it. Spending, spending, spending on things that you think make you fabulous but they don't."

Things like what, Kimora?

"My first car was a BMW convertible when I was 15 and a half. My mom begged me not to get it for a ton of reasons now I would beg my children not to get it....I didn't want to listen, I was hardheaded."

Do tell, girl. Thanks for the words and playing ball on this question.

Click here to listen to audio of Kimora's chat on blackpeoplesmoney.com.

John Kerry found a Republican senator to help him try and pass a law that would benefit minority-owned companies. Olympia Snowe, represents Maine in the Senate and signed on to Kerry's bill as a co-sponsor, which is important because having support 'on both sides of the aisle' can help a bill win votes from both Democrats and Republicans.

This is the same bill I wrote about in May, when Kerry gave a stump speech for it in the Senate.

Black athletes and entertainers might be the most visible examples of ballin' on a grand scale, but only a few of 'em really do top the charts -- the money charts that is.

Only three African-Americans (ok, two and everybody's favorite Cablanasian), made the top 20 on Forbes' latest Celebrity 100 list, which ranks the top dogs in the 'the business' based on (what else?) money and power. Oprah Winfrey and Tiger Woods -- no surprises there -- were numbers one and two on the list power list. Oprah also ranked first in the cash category with estimated 2006 income of $260 million, while Tiger's cool hunned-mil. ranked him fourth.

Jay-Z, the rapper turned record label head, fashion label head and head pitchman for everything, came in ninth on the power list but fourth for his bankroll, an estimated $83 million last year. The next African-American on the list was L.A.'s man-to-hate of the moment, Kobe Bryant, who's clout put him at 23rd but who's cash -- $33 million in '06 -- put him three pegs lower at 26th in that category.

Dave Chappelle, Halle Berry and Denzel Washington dropped off the list this year.

The man who made his name freestyling and dropping mixtape tracks about robbing rappers who were more famous than him is now the latest rapper to turn full-fledged mogul. Actually, 50 Cent -- Curtis Jackson to the government -- has been approaching mogul status for a while, with his own record label, clothing line and various endorsements.

But for anybody looking for confirmation that Fitty's no fluke, check out his latest deal: he's reportedly parlayed his endorsement of grape-flavored Vitaminwater into a payoff potentially worth millions. Seems 50 had a stake in the company, which Coke bought for more than $4 billion. Nobody's saying how much his stake is worth, but I for one would love to have a piece of that kinda action -- no matter how small.

If you work for Aetna, Toyota, Kellogg or Starbucks, you should be in good shape. At least so says Black Enterprise's third-annual list of the top 40 companies for diversity.

Of course, you can never really measure which companies are best -- I'm sure many would argue owing your own business is the only way to go , and with any list, there are plenty of companies that just weren't counted. To make it easier to understand, BE came to their conclusions by "reaching out" (their words, not mine), to the CEOs and diversity executives in the top 1,000 publicly-traded companies in the US.

Their criteria: supplier diversity, senior management, board involvement, and employee base. Click here to see if your company made the list.

The second-largest black-owned bank in the country wants to put a new branch in your neighborhood, or something like that. OneUnited Bank, based in Boston, cut the ribbon on its first new branch -- ever -- yesterday, and its CEO, Kevin Cohee, said he has as much as $100 million to spend on opening more branches as time goes on.

Before this year, Cohee had a different strategy: instead of building branches, he just bought other banks. In the meantime he started an online banking operation, too. It'll be interesting to see how the new strategy plays out.

Black Enterprise magazine debuted a new half-hour syndicated show about the black movers and shakers in the business world last week.

The Black Enterprise Business Report stars former CBS News anchor Shon Gables, (who in 2005 sued her ex-husband and former Color Me Badd singer Bryan Abrams for 16 grand in back child support), and will air weekly. (check blackenterprise.com for times and channels in your area).

The show is supposed to feature black entrepreneurs and executives and have segments on wealth building and living a "luxe life".

The company that calls itself hip-hop's first publicly-traded firm is handing over control to lifelong activist / former political prisoner / fired former NAACP head / one-time Nation of Islam minister / Hip-Hop Action Summit Network leader Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis.

H3 Enterprises Inc. is a New York company with plans to create a worldwide chain of HipHopSodaShops, basically chill spots where you can get snacks and enjoy digital entertainment, broadband connections, video games and flat-screen TV goodness. It wants to take advantage of hip-hop's popularity worldwide to make money and lure investors. The strategy will have to be a potent one: because H3's shares are traded on the open market, anyone with enough cash can own a piece of the company and it has to also open its books to the government and the public.

Chavis, who just formed a management company with two other prominent black New Yorkers, will have the weight of all those shareholders to go along with his new job. I interviewed him today and he said he took the job because "the single most important remaining question for African Americans is economic empowerment. One of the things that I intend to do for the rest of my career is put a laser focus on that."

The rest of the interview is too long to post here, but you can read it in full on my other blog at www.blackpeoplesmoney.com as of Saturday.

I love reading about people who have done extraordinary things in business, so I was thrilled when I came across this column about Michael Roberts, who, if you're like me, is one of the richest black men you've never heard of.

Unlike Bob Johnson or Oprah, Roberts is no billionaire. But his estimated $800 million empire (don't ask me where that number came from), is nothing to sneeze at. Turns out wrote a book about his experiences, so I'll be at Barnes & Noble later today.

The thing I liked most about reading about Roberts is that he seems to be able to say motivational things that don't come off motivational-speechy, like this ditty from the Post-Dispatch column: "The presumption that you should only have one job . . . is really a way to make you limit your own prospects."

Here's a link to a bunch of other articles and radio appearances about him.