Trendy Alert!!!!!! - Bobby Pin Hairstyle

 🙌 Happy Hump Day 🙌

How could we forget back in 2013 when the sensational Rihanna appeared at the 2013 American Music Awards with a doobie...   She set a trend that has become a hot one..  Normally you would wear your doobie inside only but since Rihanna hit that red carpet that style is taking over. We all know that bobby pins are normally only used to pin up the hair and also hold the hair in place. Now they are being used in many different ways that are beyond fashionable.

  

Candice Wiggins: Targeted in the WNBA

                             Happy Hump Day!!!! 💃

So this morning on my way into the office I was listening to The Fam in The Morning with DJ QuickSilva and Dani Star and they open up an discussion  about Candice Wiggins.

For those of you that are not aware of Candice Wiggins she is well known WNBA basketball star she attended Stanford University. She was the third overall draft pick in the 2008 draft . She played for Minnesota Lynx, Tulsa Shock, Los Angeles Sparks and the New York Liberty.
She won an WNBA Championship in 2011 and she was also named Sixth Woman of the year in 2008.

Apparently Candice is coming out and stating that while she was an Rookie she was bullied becasue of her sexuality. She stated that becasue she was so open about being straight  she was mistreated by majority of the players in the league. Candice also stated that 98% of the women in the WNBA are gay. She stated that she used that number to give an illustration.

                               What are your thoughts? 👂

Do you think that she has started something where the WNBA league will start asking the players there sexuality?

Do you think that she should have just remained quiet and just play basketball?

Can homosexuals display discrimination against some straight people?
Can heterosexuals  be very judgmental?

Happy Tuesday!!

                     Happy Tuesday!!
                        A Tuesday After a Holiday is Like a double Whammy Monday... 😄

Today our black history fact is about two courageous women.
 Janet Emerson Bashen ( February 12,1957- Present); Lyda D. Newman ( 1885).

Born in Mansfield, Ohio Janet Emerson grew up in a working class family. Her family moved to Huntsville, Alabama where her father worked as a garbage collector and her mother was the city's first emergency room nurse. She attended Alabama A&M until she got married and then she relocated to Houston.

While in Houston Janet receive her undergraduate degree in legal studies and government from the University of Houston and she went on to later complete her graduate degree in Administration at Rice University's Jesse Jones Graduate School. She also attended                                                     Harvard University's Women of Power: Leadership of the New World.

After graduation, Janet worked in the insurance industry.  While working in the insurance industry she called for the creation of third party teams to investigate Equal Employment Opportunity claims as they became known in her work place.  She would argue that the third party investigators would be less subject to influence. Since the CEO of the company Janet work for did not listen to her argument about third party investigators for Equal Opportunity claims. At the encouragement of the National Urban League, Janet borrowed 5,000 from her mother and in the year 1994 from her dining room table, she started her own EEO complaints management business.  

The new company Bashen Corporation specialized in investigating complaints that were made to the Equal Employment Opportunity commission. As her business grew she encountered a problem when it came to storing and retrieving information that was related to the Equal Employment Opportunity. In the year 2001 she reached out to the cousin Donny Moore who was a computer scientist from Tufts University.  They worked together to develop a software that she can used to secure and store information about cases.  Janet decide to make all EEO cases public, in order to keep people informed.   Also in this same year she filed a patent for Link Line and in the year 2006 she got it approved. She became the first African American Women in the U.S. to hold a software patent.

In the year 2003 Janet received the Greater Houston Black Chamber's Pinnacle award and in 2012 she was named to Ebony Magazine's list of the 100 most influential African Americans in entertainment, politics, sports and business.

Lyda D Newman was born in Ohio in the year 1885. By the late 1890's she became an New York resident.  In the year 1898 she applied to the U.S. patent for a new style of the hairbrush. The patent was approved patent in November 15, 1898. The hairbrush designed included several features efficiency and hygiene. It had evenly spaced rows of bristles with open slots to guide debris away from the hair into a recessed compartment and a back that opened at the touch of a button for cleaning out the component.

In the year 1915 she was mention in local newspapers for her suffrage in work.  She was an organizer of an African American branch of the Women Suffrage Party which fought to give women the legal right to vote. She also canvassed her neighborhood to raise awareness of the cause and she organized suffrage meetings in her voting district.

Throwback Thursday!!!

Public Service Announcement:

Many restaurants around the DC area are closed today due to the National Immigration Day. The famous BusBoys and Poets will be one of the participating restaurants along with many others. If you would like to join in on this protest, please check your local listings for updates. Also on any of the social networks please use the hashtag # ADayWithoutImmigrants. 

Today for Throwback Thursday I would like to celebrate Bessie Blount Griffin (1914-2009). 

Bessie was born on November 24, 1914 in Hickory, Virginia. She always had a passion to be in the medical field when she was growing up. Her wonderful parents were Mary and William Blount. 

She initially attended Union Junior College but she left there to receive nurse training at Newark City Hospital in Newark, New Jersey.  She stayed in Jersey for a few and she attended Panzer College of Physical Education and Hygiene in East Orange, New Jersey.  After a while she left New Jersey and she ended up in Chicago studying physical therapy. 

During World War II she worked with wounded soldiers and she devised an apparatus to help amputees feed themselves. She ended up inventing an electric feeding device in 1951; the feeding tube delivered one mouthful of food at a time which is controlled by biting down on the device.  She presented her invention to the American Veterans Administration, they did not accept her invention so later on she sold it to the French government. 

After helping during the war she became the physical therapist to the mother-in-law of Theodore Edison. Her son was the famed inventor Thomas Edison. Thomas and Bessie became close friends and while she was there in his home she invented the disposable cardboard emesis basin. The basin was made out of newspaper, flour and water, which was then baked into a hard form. Bessie presented her invention to the American Veterans Administration and once again they decline it so she sold it to the Belgium government. 

In the year 1953 she appeared on the WCAU Philadelphia television show “The Big Idea". She became the first African American woman to be given such an amazing recognition, especially for an African American of that time. While she was on the show she stated that “A Black woman can invent something for the benefit of human kind". 

Bessie received many awards and honors.  The one honor which meant the most to her was being named one of the many notable Virginia Women in History. She received this honor in 2005.  

Best Dressed Grammys 2017- Biggest Night in Music

Monday Night was full of amazement. From Beyonce performing with her baby bump to Adele speech about Beyonce deserving Album of the Year.  Last Night was a night that music fans won’t forget.  Congratulations to all the winners and nominees.  Per usually I am here to deliver the fashion and I have my best dressed for last night's red carpet.

Solange Knowles
Designer: Dolce & Gabbana
Winner: Best R&B Performance for Cranes in the Sky

Rihanna
Designer: Armani Prive
Accessories: Chopard Jewelry
Nominee

Jennifer Lopez
Designer: Ralph & Russo
Accessories: Christian Louboutin shoes
                       Butani jewelry

Beyonce- Peter Dundas
Winner: Best Urban Contemporary Album
               Best Music Video ( Formation)

Demi Lovato
Designer: Julien MacDonald

Laverne Cox
Designer: Bryan Hearns
Accessories: Stuart Weitzman Shoes
                      Lane earrings

Erika Jayne
Designer: Balmain
 Accessories: Christian Louboutin
                       Cartier Jewelry

Carrie Underwood
Designer: Elie Madi

Chance the Rapper
Winner: Best New Artist
              Best Rap Performance
              Best Rap Album
Designer: Thom Browne
Accessories: "3" New Era Cap

Jidenna
Designer: Nigerian Designer

Best Dressed- Black Oscars( NAACP 48th Annual Image Awards)

On Saturday February 11, 2017 the NAACP honored people of color in there outstanding achievements in motion pictures, television, music and literature during the year 2016. Congrats to all the winners.... As for the fashion I have you taken care off.. Below are my picks from the red carpet...

Yara Shahidi
Designer: Blumarine Dress
Accessories: Anne Sisteron; Jenny Wu and Sylvie Collection jewels.
                      Judith Leiber Clutch

Serayah
Designer: Dolce & Gabbana

Chloe & Halle
Designers: Emanuel Ungaro
Accessories: Pegro Garcia Shoes

Tracee Ellis Ross
Designer: Ulyana Sergeenko

Janelle Monae
Designer: Ashi Studio Couture

Letoya Luckett
Designer: Olvi
Accessories: Charlie Lapson jewelry

Kerry Washington
Designer: Prabel Gurung
Accessories: Jimmy Choo Shoes and Clutch
                     Earrings by Maxior Joias

Congratulations to all the winners...  I would like to leave with you Denzel Washington's acceptance speech. It really inspired me and I hope it inspires you...

"If it were easy," he said, "there'd be no Denzel Washington." Fall  down seven times, get up eight," and that "ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship." 

Omg!!! Thank God It Is Friday!!!! ( Late Post)

                                                    Happy Friday!!!

 What a long work week!!! Thank God we survived!!!! 😂😎

Today Black History Lesson is about Patrick Kelly (September 24, 1954-January 1, 1990).

Born in Vicksburg Mississippi, Kelly attended Jackson Sate University where he studied art but later on he decided to attend Parsons School of Design. At the age of 18 he moved to Atlanta and he sold reworked, recycled clothes and he also served as an unpaid widow window dress for the famous Yves Saint Laurent. In the year 1988 the YSL chairman Pierre Berge sponsored Kelly to form the womenswear fashion house which was called Patrick Kelly Paris. 

While working from Paris Kelly produced many collections for five years. He received some financial backing from the US based fashion conglomerate Warnaco in July 1987 with that help he was able to hire a staff and eventually achieve a profit of 7.2 million per year. In 1988 he achieved his greatest accomplishment ever he became the first American and the first person of color to be admitted as a member of the Chambre syndicale. 

This accomplishment allowed his designs to be sold in upscale retailers which included Henri Bendel, Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdales. His designs were also worn by celebrities that included Isabella Rossellini, Bette Davis, Cicely Tyson and the famous Grace Jones. His designs stood out because he used many bright colors, he used ribbons and buttons that sometimes suggested a sense of whimsy and joy while most of the times it was addressing difficult issues of race. Majority of the time this was pointed out because Kelly would give his audience a tiny brown doll with molded black hair that could be described as " pickaninny". 

Kelly died at the age 35 on New Year's Day. His cause of death was reported as an bone marrow disease and a brain tumor but the actual cause of death was complications of AIDS. He will be remembered for being an extremely hard worker that gained his reputation for demanding his staff to match his work ethic. He also was a strong advocate for models of color he made it his duty to include them in his work.