J14 Express Bus to Downtown: 5 Days of Courage Inspired by Beyonce

Now let’s start with Beyonce! I am sure every pop blogger in the world is going crazy over her secret release, number one album. I have joined the craze! Last week, I so happened to browse YouTube searching for some Beyonce inspiration, and Drunk in Love popped up 9 hours old. And I was in love. Yesterday, I gave in and purchased the entire album on iTunes. And I encourage EVERYONE to buy it if you can. It’s hot stuff!!!

During my routine daily Beyonce stalking, she released a 3- part video explanation for her album. Part2 (see above) is the inspiration for my 5 days of courage. I am starting now in my effort to strive for growth, love, happiness, and fun. I have been harboring goals since the beginning of October that I planned on carrying into 2014. Instead of drawing out these dreams on my vision board, preparing a detailed project plan, and aiming to achieve my goals before next December, I decided that I would do a final push in the last few days of 2013 and see what happens. I will tell you the results so far.

1.      Courageous Action: I emailed my Human Resources, current supervisor, and career mentor for approval to take a leave of absence to do volunteer work abroad.

Result to Date: I got approved by 2 of 3 people.

2.     Courageous Action: I baked macaroni and cheese from scratch.

Result to Date: I am no gourmet chef.

3.     Courageous Action: I emailed Arianna Huffington a blog to possibly feature on the Huffington Post.

Result to Date: I got a response email from Arianna! This in itself was pretty awesome. No update on the post just yet.

4.     Courageous Action: I sang Beyonce at the top of my lungs with my best friends while someone took a video that could possibly end up on various social networking sites out there for millions to see.

Result to Date: I had fun and if I post a pic, it’s not embarrassing right? 

So, Beyonce, says that sometimes you lose. This very well might happen, but the year is almost over and I am more proud of my courage to try than whether or not I succeed. 

Fight 2319 to ORD: A plea for my Natural Hair...Why doesn't Afrocentric come in travel size?

I am an avid traveler who takes advantage of the holiday season to travel to new, adventurous places. For me last weekend was skiing at Whistler Mountain and this weekend its back in my hometown of Chicago to visit my family for holidays. By the time I land where I live, I would have spent 3 weeks on the road. And my hair can tell. I am part of the natural hair movement, and the combined travel and cold weather is not good for my tresses. I have to be creative in order to get my Shea products and olive oil into travel size, spill proof containers that cater to my lifestyle. 

Track and Field High Jump athlete, Chaunte Lowe, rocking fly natural hair during 2012 London Olympics

It is hard enough to balance my involvement in the natural hair movement with my dedication to corporate America when I have full sized bottles of hair products, an endless supply of bobby pins, and a spray water bottle readily available. So this is more of a request than an inquiry to all of those innovative natural hair product companies. Can you please consider the on-the-move professional woman in product container sizes? Not just for the moments when I’m trying to get through airport security, but for a getaway girls weekend, or even impromptu date night. A purse sized container of leave in conditioner, style cream, curl enhancers would do wonders. If not for me, please, do it for my hair.

Flight 1083 to Atlanta: ...Hind Sight is 20/20

A little hump day motivation. 

Flight 1607 Cancelled: Three Cities, Two Seasons, One Week Remote

Cancelled Flights due to extreme weather has resulted in a week working from home. Change is the one thing I can count on. The change I have experienced lately seems to be in warp speed. A busy life can be distracting from what’s truly important. The recent passing of Nelson Mandela has personally been impactful especially given my recent experience in Johannesburg, South Africa. I found a quote that is motivating as I navigate life's changes in my constant effort towards making an impact. 

"It always seems impossible until it's done." –Madiba Quoted by Barack Obama during Memorial Service at FNB Stadium in Jahannesburg.

So, even if the weather outside is frightful, I am taking on change with both arms wide open. Let it snow, let it snow, let it rain

Flight 1438 to DFW: Keeping it real in my work space

My job is pretty much always challenging. Finding my job was even more challenging. It took just as much effort with very little motivation and no compensation. I pretty much had to teach myself all of the skills needed to find a job and then put on my best smile and clothes to meet the people with jobs to offer. And I was lucky.

Youth unemployment is a trending hot topic in the social stratosphere. Trending topics can be a tad annoying because issued are grouped with the other time relevant topics despite the subject matter. It is pretty normal for me to see headlines such as “Youth Unemployment: What is the Solution?”, “A Walk in Time with Paul Walker”, and “Justin Bieber’s Latest Hit” grouped together as the issues of the time.

Though, I have watched Bieber’s hit on Vevo and sincerely wonder if there can ever be another sequel to Fast and Furious, I linger on what youth employment means for me and others in my generation. After a couple years of watching my peers become over educated and underemployed, I am starting to think we should take it in our own hands. 

Creating jobs and making a difference. Picture found on www.oneyoungworld.com

We are young and resilient enough to bounce back from our mistakes and gain strength from the lessons in life. So, why not create our own jobs as well as jobs for others, and take charge of youth unemployment.

Have an idea? Think about how you can implement it. I’ll do the same. Let’s see what happens…