Le Quote Du Jour

I don’t conform to the standards that others attempt to oppose upon on me. I never have and I never will.

Inspiration: Joyce Walker-Joseph and Barbara Summers

Actress/Model Joyce Walker-Joseph

Author/Model Barbara Summers

Anyone who was a teenager in 1976 should remember these advertisements of Joyce Walker-Joseph and
Barbara Summers from the late '70s. As a teenager I remember them quite vividly because these two ladies were some of my favorite models and anything which featured Joyce on the cover was in my possession and still is. I was digging through my archives until two in the morning having no idea how late it was looking for certain magazines and came across these two photos. I read all the time about women looking for inspiration in women who resembles them in the media, well I had these two women and a host of other's that I was elated to see featured in mainstream publications. It's different today because the imagery that their now selling is that of the unattainable...basically the look of someone else.

The Seventeen magazines featuring Joyce and Whitney Houston were some of their #1 Bestsellers.

I went out and bought that carved rose necklace and earrings that Barbara was wearing because I wanted to look like her. My friend and I copied the whole look from the makeup to the Afro.Today Joyce works as an theater actress and is an activist. Barbara Summers is a highly noted author and historian, especially of the fashion industry with several well known books in publication. Skin Deep:Inside the World of Black Fashion Models is a large coffee table-book that has it's place alongside my other fashion books and is deffinitely worth a read.

Self Love...

...There's nothing like it!

As women we're still involved in personal relationships with ourselves and are now learning to love everything that we used to loathe about ourselves. Some of us have built fortresses around us because we've found it easier than being rejected.

Our hair. Our bodies. Our skin colors. Our luscious lips. Some say our butts are God's gift to blue jeans and no ones looking for a pair to diminish all that you were born with; those injections or implants don't count. Those curves that we can't seem to lose by excessive dieting and exercise don't seem to be moving either, so dress them up in the best colors you can find.

Our lips are waiting to glossed with the simplest of lip balms or berry hued lipsticks, and again injections don't count because if you had to buy it...it ain't right!

And the hair! Who has hair that can be woven into intricate braids? Molded into any style that fits our hearts desire? Honey... we do!

For some women learning to love our whole selves has caused many women a lifetime of unnecessary grief. In all honesty we all know where are most greatest pain has come from when it comes to accepting our true selves and I don't need to tell any of you.

We live in a society that celebrates and exalts one standard  of beauty by negating our own and many of us have bought into this mind-set. The hurtful words used as assaults against us from our own and others is nothing but a reflection of who they are and what they feel and it's not any of our business.

Acceptance of our own beauty has often eluded us and our people for decades, now we're in the process of reclaiming all which has been lost. Even if no one else is heralding our physical charms we must learn to define and cherish our own unique beauty everyday while we're still alive.


After viewing this film I can no longer provide free advertisement's and sing the praises of clothing designers who don't even feature anyone who looks like me or considers me as a customer. We've got to find a sense of consciousness and this is no better time to find one than now. This is 2010 and this sad, no wonder so many women are still messed up in the head!

All of which we've done to attempt to hide, camouflage, diminish, erase, disguise, and reject who we are will be no more. I realised a very long time ago who I was and there's no turning back now because we have so many powerful memories and knew so much pain. These women who were once wounded little girls are wounded no more because they now have dusted themselves off and the battle is now over because they will be the only ones defining who they are from now on.
©2010Creative Concepts.

Happy Mothers Day To Each And Every One Of You!!!

If She Can Look Up To You

She'll Never Look Down

On Herself.

Our Mothers Taught Us To Never Compromise Our Standards!

Mothers are legends, pioneers, revolutionaries or simply everyday women who take extraordinary stands. We are artist, activists, or grass-roots organizers with a love for our communities.

Whatever the endeavor may be, we exemplify motherhood at it's most excellent. And today I salute each and everyone of you!!!

Happy Mothers Day Afrolistas!!!