Archives for April 2016

April 30, 2016 By evia Leave a Comment

Black Women’s Brand & Reciprocity

A few days ago, I received this note from a longtime reader and supporter of my work.

Evia,

I have good news to share. I won a spot in People Magazine’s Natural Beauty contest. The magazine issue was released this past Friday (with Jennifer Anniston on the cover) and I’m on page 174. The issue is dated May 2, 2016. I publicly thanked Acts of Faith in Love and Life blog & Facebook page [listed under my BWE dropdown above] for letting the public know about the contest. When I let Faith know I won a spot we communicated about AA women being more proactive in participating in our media representation. WE need to take control of our personal brand. A picture of the People magazine page is attached to this email and feel free to share it.

Congratulations on your winning this spot in People Magazine! I’ve met you in person. You’re a positive, vivacious woman who oozes natural beauty, and who is also a talented salsa dancer. Thanks again for teaching us all those salsa moves at our MICOMSA retreat here at the farm! Lol You’ve invested time and energy in preserving your fitness and beauty, and countless times, you’ve shared with other black women the critical need to do the same. You’ve now been publicly rewarded. Bravo!

Taking charge of our media representation is SO critical, per your conversation with Faith. The shaping of our image requires very careful thought and long range thinking because what might make us look good today might backfire on down the road. For ex., I think that too many black women are trying to be crowned as the sexiest [Read more…]

April 20, 2016 By evia Leave a Comment

Say YES to BW in Non-Stereotyped Settings!

—[Readers, I dedicate some of my posts directly to Adanna, my granddaughter, sharing life lessons I’ve learned with her and her female contemporaries, so that they may spread their wings and soar, from the earliest. Her dad, my son, wants me to write all of this down so that she can read these posts when she comes of age.]
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CH, thanks for this video LINK!

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My Dear Adanna,

This couple is from a video LINK I received yesterday from CH, who happens to be a white man, like your granddad: Darren–who you call Babu. LOL! Btw: you call me Nnenna.

CH usually sends me video links to ads and music videos that show black women with white men in what would be considered non-stereotypical settings. These links assist my advocacy to normalize black American women taking advantage of all their options in every area of life, including their romantic options with men of various races, ethnicities, religions, nationalities, etc. throughout the global village.
[Read more…]

April 15, 2016 By evia

Marriage, Intellectual Riches, Legacy

Here are my husband, Darren, and Adanna, my granddaughter, when she was 20 months old. Of her 3 granddads, I think she views him as the granddad who is her buddy, her BFF. He has endless patience with her, teaches her math concepts, spends time helping her put puzzles together, build Lego structures, tells her the names of different plants when they go walking, talks to her about the needs and personality of each plant, plays ball with her, acts like a silly goose with her, splashes in the swimming pool with her and gives her tips on water safety, etc. He is helping her to develop a thought system about the world that teaches her that knowing things, learning about nature, knowing how things operate and how each thing connects with other things, and that participating in various activities are all very important.

He could just as well spend that time with her playing a video game or watching TV, except that he knows that would be of much less value to her. Watching TV is a spectator activity. Motivating her to use her brain to connect dots about abstract concepts and the environment helps her to develop a way of viewing the world and to more confidently participate in it. What has this got to do with marriage, you might wonder. Well, [Read more…]