About Us
Let's Get Acquainted
Hi! We're Ms Rocki [driving] and Chaveevah [navigating]--two old friends on an adventure to discover and highlight the good things, events and people of our community, Waterloo, Iowa and the Cedar Valley in general--with a focus on the historic North End. The North End is where the African American community first settled. Our show, Ms Rocki n Chaveevah LIVE! is a weekly social media broadcast that is featured on Facebook LIVE, YouTube, and community access WCT channel 17 in Waterloo. We use social media to promote good things that counteract the negative narrative that nothing good is happening in our local community, and to address tough conversations about race. Our show has been ongoing every Friday since April 2017--and we and our guests shout "BOOMSHAKALAKA!" to start off every show with a bang!
We'd heard enough of the "bad news" that simply wasn't an accurate picture of what life is like in our community, and we decided it was time to counteract it with the "good news" we see everyday. In addition to the good people, places and things that are our focus, we also shed light on what needs to change.. In a weekly show that airs every Friday from 4 to 4:30pm, we highlight what's new and exciting; provide important updates to viewers who have moved away but still want news of what's going on in their hometown; present locally, nationally and internationally known guests, most of whom have roots in Waterloo; and we have FUN doing it!
Whether you're new to North End Update LIVE or a long-time viewer, we thank you so much for being part of our community. There are plenty of ways that you can be more involved:
**Watch Ms Rocki n Chaveevah LIVE! on North End Update every Friday at 4pm on FACEBOOK
**Watch videos of all our shows on YouTube
**Subscribe to our YouTube channel, "North End Update BOOMSHAKALAKA"
**Like and share our videos
**Would you like us to promote your business/organization? Consider becoming one of our SUSTAINING COLLABORATORS
Your sponsorship helps support our mission to keep bringing good news about our community, the Cedar Valley, and everywhere else from a North End perspective.
Ms. Rocki n Chaveevah’s North End Update LIVE! offers bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annual and yearly sponsorship packages:
$125/bi-weekly [2 weeks] $250/monthly [4 weeks]
$575/quarterly [12 weeks] $1,125/bi-annually [24 weeks]
$2,250/YEARLY [every week, calendar year]
CONTACT US at: northendupdate@gmail.com for details
**Support our show. We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization, and your tax-deductible donations will help us in our mission to continue our outreach into the community and share positive news .
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Stay in Touch
You are welcome to keep coming back here to see new content. However, a better option is to subscribe to our blog! You will get updates on new posts and special content that is only available to our subscribers.
Meet Ms. Rocki
Joshalyn Hickey Johnson, aka Ms. Rocki, was born and raised in Waterloo, Iowa and attended Waterloo public schools. She is the mother of two. Ms. Rocki took on the challenge of working a traditionally male job at Viking Pump in Cedar Falls, Iowa and worked there for 30 years before retiring in 2007. A couple of years before retirement, she began writing children’s books that featured real life experiences drawn from her children’s lives as they were growing up. Her debut book, “GOOD MORNING, LOVEY!” was published in 2005 followed by “Travis, It’s NOT Your Birthday!” in 2008. She partnered with Chaveevah Ferguson serving as publicist for 4 years with BaHar Publishing, the first African American-owned book publishing company in Iowa. She also co-authored “Ropes In The Kitchen” with her father, Naaman ‘Jock’ Hickey. Ms Rocki became active in her community by starting NORTH END UPDATE, a weekly live interactive show highlighting good things in her local community. The show was featured on Iowa Public Television’s “Greetings From Iowa”. Since 2017 she has worked together on the show with her best friend and co-host Chaveevah, and has hosted other entertainment venues, most recently Iowa PBS “Juneteenth: THE MOVEMENT”. Most recently, Ms. Rocki is also the author of the children's book "Susie Clark, The Bravest Girl You've Ever Seen", the story of how Iowa schools were desegregated in 1868--86 years before Brown vs. Board of Education.
Meet Chaveevah
Cheryl Banks Ferguson, aka Chaveevah is from Chicago, Illinois; she and her five children relocated to Iowa in the mid-80s. She has done “a little bit of a lot of things”: artist, writer, dancer, teacher. In 2003 she started BaHar Publishing, which has published about 70 books including works of fiction, non-fiction, children’s literature, and poetry.
She has also illustrated at least a dozen children’s books including “Good Morning, Lovey!” and “Travis, It’s NOT Your Birthday!”, by author Joshalyn M. Hickey Johnson; “Henry the Farsighted Heron” by Joyce Barbatti; “That‘s What Gentlemen Do“, by her husband Jeffrey Ferguson; and “Rise” by Abraham L. Funchess, Jr. She has created murals in Waterloo, Iowa for the Jesse Cosby Neighborhood Center and the Grout Museum’s Black Stories Collective permanent exhibit.
A former staff writer for the Waterloo Courier, Chaveevah is the author of “In Due Time” and “What The Heart Remembers”. She wrote the script for “The Lynching of Will Brown”, a documentary film by Dr. Robert Franklin that debuted at the San Diego Black Film Festival in 2011. She also taught Oral Communication at Wartburg College and Hawkeye Community College for several years.
For more than a decade she performed with the nationally and internationally recognized Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago, and also served as one of its earliest tailors/costume designers.
Since 2017 she has served as co-host of North End Update LIVE, a popular interactive social media broadcast started by her best friend, Joshalyn “Ms. Rocki” Hickey Johnson.
Help Our Cause
**Support North End Update. We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization, and your tax-deductible donations help us in our mission to continue our outreach into the community and share positive news .
