Mama Needs Love Too | Self-Care For The Mom & Wife
Mama Needs Love Too | Self-Care For The Mom & Wife

Sometimes being the mom feels like being the supporting cast of the family. You earn badges no one sees, wear hats no one ever notices, and you get the thankless job of being the unsung hero of the family. Even when daddy gets to wear his superman cape proudly, you don’t even get any credit for keeping it clean, sis. You play the wall a lot, doing the “behind the scenes” stuff to make sure things flow smoothly around the house. You keep wardrobes clean, wipe away tears, and have the most delicious dinner popping on the stove in a single bound. And that’s just a touch of the magic you perform before you ever leave the house!

That’s why with all the responsibilities that come along with being a mom and wife, you must make sure you’re doing a great job of taking care of YOU. Because you can only go so long with ignoring your own needs before you burn out, sis.

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The Self Care Pretty Comments
When Bad Bitches Link Up: How Collaboration Can Further Your Brand
When Bad Bitches Link Up: How Collaboration Can Further Your Brand

As some of you may know, I am such a huge supporter of my fellow queens. I can’t tell you how much time I spent in the past disliking other girls and vice versa because of how they looked, or how they looked at me and my friends, who they hung with…the list went on and on! But it was ALL for nothing. Now, I am obsessed with uniting with other women who are in the same circles as me and beyond. In my opinion, there is enough room for us all to win and stand side by side as we do.

I am very fortunate enough to have a very ambitious squad. From writers, photographers, to directors, to fashion designers, and musicians, I am lucky to constantly be surrounded with such talented people every day. This motivates me to push myself and my brand even harder because I believe in the mission, and having these connections allow me to collaborate and cross promote. I can’t reveal too much, but I am currently working on a promo video. This is something completely out of my element, but if I can pull it off the way I know I can, it is going to be epic for me, Black Eden Publications, and everyone involved. I will be the first to admit that I know nothing about creating a video and all that goes into it, but that’s why I called on a few subject matter experts to utilize their expertise. From models and stylists, to a videographer, everything is being taken care of.

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The Do It All PrettyComment
Staying Focused, When You’re Losing Focus

Before 2017 started, I thought I had those twelve months planned out perfectly. I had post it notes of motivational quotes everywhere, a lengthy checklist of what I planned to accomplish and an even longer list of how I was going to get it all done. Here we are into the seven month of the year and it’s time for a mid-year check in! I like to give myself personal assessments from time to time just to make sure I’m on the right track.

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The Dream Big Pretty Comments
Freeing Your Mind Through Music (The Woke Pretty Playlist)
Freeing Your Mind Through Music (The Woke Pretty Playlist)

We sing our pain, joy, struggle and resistance. There is something universal about music, and yet, when heard through the black experience, incredibly illuminating. We are a people of resilience and perseverance and this rises up in our music with a kind of arresting beauty. Thinker, writer and professor Cornel West talks often about the complexity of these melodies – the blues, hip-hop, gospel. Creatives offerings pushing through a world determined to erase us.

“I'm a bluesman moving through a blues-soaked America, a blues-soaked world, a planet where catastrophe and celebration- joy and pain sit side by side. The blues started off in some field, some plantation, in some mind, in some imagination, in some heart. The blues blew over to the next plantation, and then the next state.

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The Woke PrettyComment
Dear White People or Dear Black People: Dual Identity & Love
Dear White People or Dear Black People: Dual Identity & Love

Sam I am.

At least that’s how I felt watching the Netflix Original series, Dear White People ¾ a spin-off of the 2014, critically acclaimed satirical movie that bears the same name. With a mixture of hard-hitting puns and a play on stereotypes, while addressing recurring issues among yt and Black folk, it reflects our current cultural climate. 

 

Sam White, a militant radio host on the campus of a fictitious Ivy League University, battles with the duality of being a biracial woman. Even though I’m not biracial, I understood Sam’s struggle with identity and love. I grew up a military brat who could’ve easily used that “I don’t see color” excuse folks use now, because honestly, I didn’t know the difference between Black and white until I moved to an all-Black neighborhood. Itwas then I realized how different I am. How Aerosmith and Wham! weren’t the songs of choice for my classmates, or how much I enjoyed Star Trek Deep Space Nine and conversely, how I knew all the words to NWA songs, found solace in the Native Tongues, and wanted so desperately to attend an HBCU, in which later I got my wish.  

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The Free Spirit Pretty Comment