As The Wind Blows

Sponsors were a huge part of the success of The Queen in Me meetup. I have attended a few natural hair events in the past and one of  my favorite things is discovering what will be in the "Swag Bags".  I was determined to get the kinky, coily & curly ladies of Huntsville a variety of amazing products to discover or re-discover for their hair.  I offered the attendees three forms of Swag Bags; The first was the NNHMD Swag Bag....this bag was filled with items provided by the National Natural Hair Meet-up Day  committee, it had items from Hair Rules, Blue Magic, Black Queen, Shea Moisture, Eden Bodyworks, Beautiful Texture, Jane Carter & Nothing But...(I also included local sponsors JessiCurl, Mozeke, Curl Max, Goody & a hair wrap from Classy Beauty Supply)... ATWB Swag Bag             The 2nd choice was an As The Wind Blows (ATWB) local sponsored Swag Bag that contained amazing products from Naptural Roots Magazine,...

Dublin Park (meeting rooms) was the venue for my first natural hair event and it was great.  It was large enough to accommodate everyone but small enough to make the atmosphere feel cozy.  There were a few hiccups with the venue, chairs and tables not being set up and the space not being cool enough, but overall I am glad I chose it.  My panel of Q & A guests was another decision I am truly happy that I made.  The first person I added to my panel was Orlando to represent a stylist perspective but next I wanted someone with a Facebook presence and someone that had documented their own natural hair journey in a public way.  The first person that came to mind was Tarika from the Pursuit of Nappiness .  I had seen photos of her at many events and had the opportunity to meet her in Atlanta at Fro Fashion Week .  I learned she had a Huntsville past so I reached out and without hesitation she accepted.  Tarik...

Finding sponsors wasn't the only concern I had for making The Queen in Me a success, I needed a venue, a photographer, caterer, a stylist, a make-up artist , a panel and someone to teach the attendees to create African Hair wraps.  I have lived in Madison for only 5 years so I didn't have many connections but I did have friends on Facebook that did.  I sent out a rescue me call and life vests were thrown from everywhere. The best referral was Kimberly Michaels. Kimberly and I had never met but she was a friend of a friend. I spoke with her originally about doing photography but she provided a lot more than pictures. I am a strong supporter of small business and Kimberly had two that would work perfectly for this event, Kimberly Michaels Photography & Alma's Grace . Over the course of three months, Kimberly would allow me to bounce planning ideas, rants of frustration and fear of failure with her.  She survived my numerous emails, changes of menus...

There is one word to describe The Queen in Me Natural Hair Meet-up Day event and its WOW! I was so amazed and touched by all the beautiful kinky, coily and curly ladies that came out to support my first meet-up.  I had an amazing time and the love I felt from everyone that attended was even more astounding!  There were aspects of the event I wished I did better but overall I enjoyed every minute.  I am going to try and share the experience, thank a lot of people and showcase some companies & people that make networking within the natural hair community a pleasure. The Queen in Me Natural Hair Event was part of the 1st Annual National Natural Hair Meet-up Day (NNHMD)...Huntsville was one of the 50 cities that participated and one of the 25 sponsored cities.  I contributed to NNHMD as a volunteer committee member and although it was a lot of work it brought a beautiful concept to my adopted home of Huntsville.  I had the pleasure of meeting and working w...

Healthy me, healthy hair... well my goal to have a healthy body has had many twists and turns, ups and downs and some complete epic failures.  I've started workout programs, diets and cleansers with each falling short of my ultimate goal of losing a lot of weight and improving the strength and health of my hair. However, I have learned some valuable lessons from each unsuccessful plan...I get back up when I'm knocked down! I have lost a total of 10 pounds so far and although its not where I expected to be at this point in the journey, I am proud of this accomplishment.  I recently tried the Master Cleanse, a cleanse with the  purpose of ridding the body of toxins and waste buildup. My goal was to cleanse for 14 days but 5 would be the outcome.  I surprised myself with the level of willpower I obtained during this process of fasting. I realize that the mind is truly a powerful tool and that if you separate and meditate you can push yourself further...