I read — and listened to — a lot of books in 2019. And, a lot of them were amazing. My favorite? Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. It’s out today, Dec. 31 and is a brilliant fiction book about race and class and...
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There’s nothing better than a team, and The Chi’s “Feeling the Heat” is filled with both long-awaited alliances and not-so-dynamic duos. The second season of the Showtime series has been a nice unfolding, artfully balancing the emotions of joy and grief. This episode is no different...
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Sometimes, you just get what you deserve, and in the third episode of Season 2 of Showtime's The Chi, “Past Due,” some characters get long-awaited breaks while others just luck up. This episode was also possibly the most beautifully shot one yet — notably, the black...
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Season 2 of South Side, Chicago-based Showtime series The Chi is here, and the second episode is full of characters trying to get to work. And because I decided after episode 1 to recap this season, here’s my summary of that: Brandon is still losing, Ronnie...
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I was 22, recently graduated with a full-time job, and way too young to be engaged when my fiance told me I “thought I was all that now that I had a lil’ master’s degree.” Wait, what? I actually didn’t think enough of myself at the...
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I’ll admit it: I’m a damn brat. I can get really upset when things don’t go my way — in a relationship, at work, wherever. So I feel Nuri to her core when in episode 6 of Love Is___, she becomes unreasonably upset at her girl...
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“You know what? You just make me so mad, but I love you,” a boyfriend once told me in the middle of a fight about trust. “Excuse me? What did you just say to me?” I questioned with an attitude. It was the first time he’d...
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OK, I’m just going to say it: Being in love is being used while using somebody else. It’s getting what you need in a person while giving them what they desire. It’s reciprocal, but love is, in fact, a user. When I went back to grad school,...
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When I was in high school, I would always fall asleep with my face pressed to a house phone talking to a boy I was over the moon about. We’d talk about everything, and because I was sneaking on the phone way past my curfew,...
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As little kids, we would run around in gym class pretending to be Power Rangers. There was one guy in our class who would make Power Ranger watches for us out of notebook paper ["It's morphin' time!] but we'd spend half the class arguing over who...
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It’s Black Panther week, and in just a few days, we’ll all be staring at movie screens in amazement. But who is Black Panther, the characters close to him, and the actors who play them? Why is this film so revolutionary? Here is a list of...
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Let’s go back to 2017 for a minute: It was a great year for interviews. These were so beautifully done that when I saw, heard, or read them, I immediately said, “Dang, I wish I’d done this myself.” And because I spent 2017 kind of searching for...
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Warning: Mini “Girls Trip” and “Insecure” spoilers ahead. There are some women when asked “How are you?” will always say: “I’m good!” That’s me, and that’s Ryan from my new favorite movie of all time, “Girls Trip,” which I got to see with my FAMU BFF...
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31 was hard. Like “someone slaps you in the face” hard. And it was partially because I’d made a huge decision: the decision to stop running away from the issues I had with myself and be real about it all. I decided that it needed...
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Sometimes, when you’re feeling down, you’ve gotta show yourself what you’re working with. After hitting a mental roadblock and beating myself up about it, I unintentionally spent a week pushing myself to build my confidence back up in ways that were really, really physically challenging...
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It's the end of June, the unofficial end of spring graduation season, and I'm not gonna lie. It made me super nostalgic, and I started to think about my own graduations and the amazing feeling I had walking across the stage each time. I graduated from...
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I started off 2017 with a vow to be kind to myself, but lately, I haven’t been living up to that promise. In fact, I’ve been beating myself up about every little thing I do wrong: I eat a cookie when I’m trying to diet,...
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When it comes to radio, especially in our hip-hop culture, Angie Martinez is the G.O.A.T. You can't even dispute me on this one. So, when this amazing woman who I admire so much came out with her book, "My Voice," I jumped at the chance to...
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Well, kid. We’ve been at this thing for a decade now. And although we’re still trying to figure it all out, I wouldn’t trade being your mom for anything in the world. Thank you for giving me life’s greatest job, for filling me up, for...
Read MoreBlack History Month was always my favorite month growing up. I'd pull my mom's afro wig on top of my cornrows, with beads sloppily tucked into the sides of it, as I walked around my elementary school telling everyone that I was Angela Davis. "Power...
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Unfortunately, I have to push back the first Lit Squad meeting date to Feb. 10, but that just gives you even more time to pick up your book [I'm seriously judging you if you haven't already] and join the par-tay! If you want a reminder, be sure...
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My number one promise for 2017 is to be kind to myself and that includes is my role of being a half-domestic diva. Unlike the main character in Sophie Kinsella’s “Undomestic Diva” (if you’ve ever read this super hilarious book, you’ll know what I mean),...
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Nobody’s built like me. And for much of this year, I forgot that. I spent too much of this year comparing and getting upset when doors didn’t open. I got irritated when I thought that I was doing everything right, but that I wasn’t getting the...
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2017 is about to be lit. After saying for years that I wish I was in a book club, I'm finally starting one — one that celebrates dope women and the good stories they tell. [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix=""]“If you love books enough, books will love...
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[inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix=""] When you measure people, you're either winning or losing, living in a space of pride or feeling defeated. — Pastor Alli Munsey [/inlinetweet] I’ve had enough of not being enough. For as long as I can remember, I’ve never felt as if I was good...
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I don’t have any great news to share. There’s no new job, baby, or beau. I have no exciting opportunity that I’m just burning to announce. I haven’t been to any cool events, and I haven’t been on vacation in over a year. In essence,...
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It's Friday, the weekend is on the horizon, and it's another day to find your "feel-good." Here are five videos that are sure to make you smile: 1. Chance the Rapper's "How Great" Video Shot on an iPhone and released via Twitter, this video is sure to bring...
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“Is that your friend in there?” an older doctor with thick glasses asked as my friends and I were leaving my boyfriend’s hospital room. “I hate to tell you this, but it would take a miracle to get him out of here.” That doctor did not...
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From Black Friday to Small Business Saturday to Cyber Monday, this is the weekend to do some online shopping and support some really dope Black businesses. I have some suggestions on who can keep you fly all holiday season, and you can easily check them...
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[inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix=""]Our crown has already been bought and paid for. All we have to do is wear it. — James Baldwin[/inlinetweet] I’m grateful for a lot: my life is good, my family is good, my God is good. So in addition to keeping my...
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The difference between successful people and others is how long they spend time feeling sorry for themselves. — Barbara Corcoran I thought 2016 was going to be my year. I didn’t just talk about it either. I worked my butt off and it’d seemed, for a...
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A few months ago, I started to cry and I couldn’t stop. I had a lot of commitments, too, and I couldn’t stop those either. I’m a journalist, a writer, a social media consultant, an entrepreneur, a mother, a daughter, a big sister, a mentor,...
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To me, podcasts are God's gift to my earbuds. There's nothing I love more than turning on a well-crafted piece of audio journalism. It's my thing and it's some of the best storytelling known to man. So, my current obsession is Making Oprah, a WBEZ podcast...
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Behind every successful woman, is a tribe of other successful women that have her back. I'm late watching movies [like a solid year-late late] and I just watched Joy — the movie loosely based on entrepreneur Joy Mangano who created the Miracle Mop and then went...
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This week, I got the chance to work with my big sis Trina of Baby Shopaholic, to help design her holiday gift guide, done in conjunction with Mimi of Unlikely Martha. As far as gifts go, Trina literally knows all and her style is impeccable. She's...
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The following is a bit of a throwback from a site I created last year, but decided not to keep pursuing. The content, though, still applies. You’ve probably heard someone describe the stock market as a bull or bear market, right? Well, those terms can actually...
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They say when a place changes you, it becomes a part of you. South Africa, or so it seems, has become my heart. Why is it you can never hope to describe the emotion Africa creates? You are lifted. Out of whatever pit, unbound from whatever...
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For the past five years, being a social media strategist has been one of my hats so I love to study emerging platforms and how well they succeed — or fail — at garnering the attention of their audiences. So of course, the newest phenomenon...
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See, you only have this one life. That’s it. There are no do-overs. And if you’re like me, then you made a critical decision when 2015 was nearing its end: to never let another year go by without living it to the fullest. One thing I...
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I sold out. Three times. Three times, I placed orders with my printer and three times, I was unsure of my ability to sell what I was paying to print. Essentially, I was doubting myself. I went to speak at an elementary school career day this morning...
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With the new year approaching (Whoo hoo!), I wanted to share with you the ways I’m using my own Dreamer’s Notebook to have my best year yet. And, I’m pretty confident that I will. For me, 2016 is all about tackling my fears — those horrible things...
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