Dressing well is a nonnegotiable

Being put together, dressing well and investing in yourself should be a top priority despite popular opinion simply because how you look on the outside is the first impression you give someone before you even open your mouth.

Dressing well goes beyond putting on a cute look for this or that occasion, its how put together you are on a day to day basis even in your chill clothes. You want to present yourself well at all times because you never know who you might meet or see and when you look good you feel good. Find your style, try different things, dress for yourself and stop caring about what people have to say about it. Invest in your wardrobe so even when you don’t feel your best you don’t look like what you’re going through.

Invest in statement pieces, professional/work attire, great accessories like bags, shoes, jewelry etc., great outerwear and great day to day basics. When you invest in great pieces you don’t always have to spend so much time putting together each look because no matter what you grab from your wardrobe its going to look good because you’ve invested in your wardrobe.

Don’t let anybody tell you looking good doesn’t matter because it does. You can have all the money, all the intelligence and be well decorated with all the credentials, but you will still fall short if you don’t look the part.

As you can see you see I’m wearing the same coat in several pictures but completely different looks and it looks good each time. I’ve had this coat for years and it still looks as good as when I first got it. That’s what happens when you invest in good pieces, you can keep rewearing them.

Grab my ebook How to live a Stylish Life to learn how to build a wardrobe that will work for you

Get out of your head and stop giving a F*CK

I’m currently reading The Art of Not giving a F*ck and they are making so many valid points and one of them was not putting yourself in a loophole of hell, basically meaning we usually think ourselves into a bad space, we create the anxiety for ourselves. If we just did things and didn’t give a fuck about overthinking the outcome, care about what other people thought, why they might be thinking that and even the fact of why we’re overthinking all this, we would be wayyyyy better off. We can’t control everything so do things without trying too hard, do what feels right and stop trying to plan so much when it usually won’t go that way anyway. One thought leads to the next and next thing you know you’ve caused yourself anxiety and a bad day.

When you get out of your head it’s so much more fun and that’s what I’m continuously learning. Also taking a stop to look around and letting the air hit your face you may realize everything is right where it needs to be, it just may not have happen the way you envisioned. Getting out of our head can actually get us closer to the goals we can’t stop thinking about. The older we get we realize life is really on our terms and we can do whatever we want at whatever pace we want. In the Art of not giving a F*ck the author talks about how continuously focusing on the next thing or worrying about getting more can cause you to think you’re lacking or further behind than you actually are, and that’s honestly so true. I know for me I’m always thinking about accomplishing the next goal and a lot of times I don’t give myself a chance to 1. sit in my current accomplishment or 2. Take a second to realize I have so many of the things I’ve always wanted.

We have to live life without all the extra added stress that we put on ourselves, even though its so much easier said than done we just have to learn how to TRULY stop giving af and just live with no limits whether they are inflicted by others or ourselves. We don’t want to look up and we’ve tricked ourselves out our spot. there’s money in our head but we’ll never get it if we don’t get out of our heads and into reality.

Cheers to getting older and learning how to not give a F*ck even more

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There's no manual to becoming a grown woman

There is no guidebook or blueprint of growing into a grown woman, we’re literally just figuring it out as we go and that means that sometimes we will make mistakes, sometimes we won’t know what to do and sometimes we may even have to start over.

Being a woman and getting older is such a beautiful experience but it is nowhere near easy, there are so many different requirements, expectations and standards put upon us by society, people around us, family, friends and so much more but the reality is this is our life and we have the ability to make it look like whatever we want.

So often people think you should be married by x time, you should have kids at x age, you should be focused on one thing and not the other, don’t try to dream too much because you have to focus on what is “guaranteed” to work, when the reality is NO ONE HAS THE ANSWERS SWAY. We are not required to have kids at all let alone at a certain age, getting/keeping a man and getting married does not have to be a top goal in your life maybe you enjoy being single or refuse to settle AND maybe that dream you’re chasing will pay off. People have so many opinions about our bodies and what we’re “supposed” to look like when we don’t have to do shit honestly and if we like how we look that's all that matters, they mad whether you got the BBL or you don’t. The reality is EVERYONE including other women always have something to say about women.

We are constantly learning, constantly deciding what we want to change or get better at, literally learning as we go. The woman you are right now may not even be the woman you are next week let alone next year and despite what people try to tell you it is okay to change and evolve, that’s literally what life is about. As we get older we learn the things we do and don’t like, we learn more boundaries, we gain more life experience and we learn what’s important and what doesn’t belong. Life isn’t always good but it DEFINITELY shouldn’t be always bad.

As women when we age we learn more about how our emotions work, how our minds work, more about our bodies, our health changes, how we like to present ourselves changes, what we do as a career may change, our interests change. We get more depth with the more life experiences we gain, we realize that the most important thing is to live and make our own rules. We get finer with time in all aspects and no matter the age we are ALWAYS in charge, we can’t allow anyone to make us think differently.

Traveling increases your life span

Every time I travel I feel like I’ve time lapsed or traveled to a new dimension of life.

When I come back from traveling it literally feels like I’ve time traveled and I’m in a different space than I was before the trip, not just physically but mentally, it feels like whatever was before the trip feels so long ago or far behind and idk what that is but its real. I saw something that said that traveling increases your life span and I really believe that.

I feel like when you travel it elevates your life and pushes you into a new level which is why it’s so important to travel as much as you can. Yes, with the way the economy is currently set up it makes it very hard to travel but you need to fit it into your lifestyle to do at least some type of trip at least once a year, even if its still within your state lines just in a place you’ve never experienced, even do a weekend staycation in a city nearby you.

A trip doesn’t always have to be for some extended period of time, you can do day trips or you can go away for a weekend, make it work for you, just make it happen. Don’t wait until your life is perfect to start traveling and opening yourself up to new cultures, new food and new experiences because nothing will ever be perfect and you just have to get out there and live. There are so many affordable avenues you can find to travel such as finding deals on flights, hotels and rental cars, using public transportation in cities where it is safe, deciding between airbnbs or hotels depending on costs and so much more. Also decide what you will spend your money on and you can make a lot more room for things you really want in your life.

Traveling adds so much more energy to your battery and we need that, a vacation is a break from your everyday motions and lifestyle, it adds spice to your life and allows you to blossom more into the person you want to become, you come back from vacation with a different mindset, new inspiration, more drive and a new boost of energy to keep pushing and going. I’m sure that everyone can attest that when they come back from vacation they feel new and like a breath of fresh air. I love vacation, I want to be a vacation.

10 things you can do to look pulled together

As a woman that is building a life and growing into herself and her career it is important to look pulled together. No matter what your style is make sure you do it well and you’re constantly refining it

Being well put together is the least you can do for yourself.

Being well put together is not only about how you look but it is a full body experience

1. Learn how to do a your go to makeup look and constantly learn how to perfect it

2. Invest in your knowledge and education

3. Find your style then start building your wardrobe

4. Invest in where you live. Your home should be a safe space and reflect who you are

5. Constantly build your skills

6. Learn how to speak well, learn how to properly pronounce things

7. Learn people skills and how to operate in social environments

8. Be open minded, go beyond home base and experience the world. Always be expanding your experiences

9. Be well rounded, learn about different things not just the things you’re interested in

10. Find your look. How do you want to present yourself to the world? What types of things do you like?

BONUS 11. Find a good skincare and hygiene routine

Grab my ebook How to be a boss to learn more about being the full package you’ve always strived to be and looking damn good while you do it. Its never about looking good to please anybody else but about feeling good and confident in yourself while you move through the world

STAY DOWN UNTIL YOU COME UP

Life really is in God’s hands and its up to us to do the best we can while letting him be the real change. We can’t be so stuck on how we wanted the journey to look that you don’t realize how beautiful it actually turned out. It’s way easier said than done but life teaches us constantly that it may not turn out how you wanted it to but it turned out the way you needed it to. Even with that said there’s still a flip side of staying down and continuing to push forward when your path or vision is altering or just taking longer than you expected.

So often I find myself reflecting on my life up to that current point and just seeing how beautiful things ended up even though life may have had me confused or outright whooping my ass but it turned out wayyyy better than I imagined it would, I may have learned a lesson that I will need as I move closer to my goal, I may have gained some blessings that I needed to accomplish as I’m striving forward. During the turmoil it may have not looked bright but it was really a blessing in disguise and things were always working out in my favor.

Anything worth having doesn’t come easy and it doesn’t come quick. You have to put the work in, be persistent, be consistent, be disciplined, pivot when necessary, get out of your comfort zone, think outside the box and constantly be evolving yourself, this process is not for the weak and truly only the strong survive. You can’t give up during the fire because you’ll never get to see it being put out and see how its restored. You gotta make it to the light at the end of the tunnel. The hard truth is life is hard so you have to pick your hard, do you want to work hard to get what you’ve always dreamed of or do you want the hard of living with not getting what you imagined your life to be like.

You heave to stay down for your come up because its coming just maybe not on the timeline you anticipated.

Black women are going to spend money and be loyal

Recently I went to the opening of the Savage X Fenty store in Downtown Detroit and I couldn’t stop thinking about just how strong Black buying power is and Black women are a main contributer to that. We are going to spend money and we are going to be loyal to the brands we like.

RIHANNA has not failed us yet!!!!! The Savage X Fenty store has officially opened in DETRIOT and I’m SO happy for me, Rihanna and my city because this is major! The store opened August 30th and you know I was there, cute and ready to buy. I waited in line about two hours and it was hot as hell but I was too deep in to turn back. Once I got in the store it was definitely worth it. Think Victoria Secret but 10 times better and BLACK OWNED. There were mocktails, good music and Black women spendingggg, which is what this post is actually about. Black women shop the most, spend the most money on the things they like and they’re loyal customers. We are the blueprint, so we make shit hot. Doing a disservice to Black women is doing a disservice to your business, because the grass is greener wherever we are.

One thing for certain and two things FASHO Black women are going to get out and SHOP and that is why you should market to us and include us, because if we like it we’re going to buy and and we might buy our mothers, sisters, friends, kids and nieces one too! And on top of that when we find something we like we’re going to buy it again and again AND spread the word. Like yes of course the store opening was filled with Black women and they were spending a BAG and buying for everyone in their family but in my teenage years I’ve worked at some of the top THAT GIRL stores two of those being Forever 21 and Victoria’s Secret. When Victoria’s Secret had a sale or were giving out a gift with purchase when you spent a certain amount Black women were in there SPENDINGGGG, and don’t let it be Black Friday. But even growing up especially in a family full of Black women going to the mall on Saturday (really just period but Saturday for sure) or going to TJ MAXX, Marshalls and Homegoods was literally a weekly activity. BLACK WOMEN are going to make that money so they can spend it on what they want. Which is why anytime you see a company come out with an actually great product and its marketed towards Black women they do WELL and don’t let it be Black owned, think Topicals, Fenty companies, Cecred, Black Girl Sunscreen, The Lip Bar, Glamaholic Lifestyle and so many more. we spend well and we create AMAZING businesses. Focus on the consumers that actually shop with your company and that are going to tell other people about it, because when we like something we will show up to stand in line in GROUPS, payment ready.

All in all Black women push the economy forward, that’s it.

xo ShaKayla Diamond

If you don’t have the right shoes, change the look

There’s nothing that kills a look like the wrong shoes. Don’t sacrifice a bomb look by putting on the wrong shoes.

There’s nothing I hate more than seeing someone ruin a look by adding the wrong thing and believe it or not SHOES are the biggest thing that can ruin a look if you don’t have the right pair. As a fashion girl since birth and a wardrobe stylist since 2016 I would rather you choose a different look if you don’t have the right shoes than deciding “oh this is all I have I’ll just wear these” because that’s exactly what it’ll look like with that horrible choice in shoes. This is the sole reason why as you’re building a great wardrobe shoes are equally as important as the clothes, you want to get a line up of shoes that can go with a variety of different looks, you want a mix of heels, boots and flats/relaxed shoes. You want to get shoes in the key colors but don’t be afraid to add in some with different colors, textures or patterns.

Don’t be the person with the look that was ruined by the shoes, you want people’s eyes to look at your whole look and know you look good than to love the look and when they get to the shoes its just disappointment.

The wrong shoes WILL ruin a good look, build up your shoe collection!

-xo ShaKayla Diamond

Live your life now, stop waiting

Summer act like it has somewhere to go, but I hope everyone is enjoying it as much as they can. Get outside, feel the sun on your skin and touch some grass.

My sole purpose of this post is to just come tell my readers that I hope you’re living your life for the now. Stop waiting for this “perfect” time to do x, y, z. Do it broke, do it scared, do it alone but just do it. Even though we think it is, life is not meant to always be 100%, there’s always going to be something that comes up, the marker is always going to move and that tomorrow will turn into the next day and the next, so stop waiting. All people have things going on in their lives no matter their financial or social status, but its up to you to take control of your life and choose to live it to its full capacity no matter the circumstance. Get out and enjoy your life now, find free things to do, try new things, go new places, meet new people, explore your environment, figure out how to travel on a budget, find ways to make more money to do the things you want to do, start that project, start that business, just do whatever thing you’ve been putting off waiting for whatever thing to happen because it might not and you don’t want to look up and realize you’ve waited all these years for something to fall in place and didn’t live your life outside of that.

We only get one life, so have fun with it. Stop worrying about what other people are going to say or think because it honestly doesn’t matter, what they eat doesn’t make you sh*t and no matter what they think or feel your life will not be affected unless you let it. Also I know its easier said than done, but stop worrying about what you don’t have and missing out on what you have been blessed with right now. What I’m continuing to learn is the more you worry about the future or even the past you miss out on being present for the right now and you don’t want to look back on parts of your life and wish you lived in the moment. Live in the now, hustle hard, give your best and whatever happens happens. The quicker you realize how I much control you have the quicker you’ll be able to embark on your journey of achieving your goals and living the life you desire, at any moment you can decide you want to change something. Its all about perspective remember that, the longer you think negatively about yourself and your life the more negative things will happen to you. You are in control of how your life plays out, simple. Enjoy the time that you have now, cheers to the summer.

Some of my favorite skincare products

Face

Lips

Favorite Body care products

I’m very particular about things especially my clothes, fragrances and the products I use. Here’s some of my favorite body washes, lotions and more. You gotta keep that skin soft and glowing!

Honorary mentions:

Coconut oil

I make some of my own exfoliants with coconut oil and brown or white sugar

I use Vaseline Cocoa Butter Lotion most times

In the shower I use two rags, one for my face and one for my body as well as a net sponge

I usually use regular Dove soap

Upcoming female rappers I’m loving

Ken the man

Lebra Jolie

Kali

Cleotrapa

Lakeyah

Monaleo

Connie Diiamond

Lola Brooke

This is a list of my favorite Upcoming female rappers. I love when the girls talk CASH $HIT, from Foxy and Lil Kim, to Trina, Jackie O and Nicki. A list of some of my overall favorite rap girlies is on the way!

I love GREAT BARS and these ladies serve it up every time, if you haven’t listened you should!

A few more upcoming rappers I’m starting to listen to:

Stunna Girl

Diamond the Body

Sexy Redd 🎶 Poundtown just left poundtown 🎶

Sorry I ghosted yall

I know I’ve been gone from here for awhile and I want to first start off by apologizing because this is my first baby and I truly appreciate all of you that have read any blog posts I’ve ever made from 2016 to now, but life be lifing as I’m sure y’all know. I hope over these past few months that y’all have been able to keep your head up and continue pushing forward regardless of anything that’s going on around you.

I turned 26 on March 13th and in my 20’s here’s a few things I’ve learned in the last 25 years

1. Your twenties are confusing as hell, I feel like you’re constantly questioning are you doing things right or are you on the right path

2. It’s never too late to change anything about yourself, you can decide today that you want to change something and act on it immediately

3. Time is a mind thing, don’t put a shot clock on yourself that doesn’t even really exist

4. Live for yourself, don’t worry about what everybody else is doing

5. Its okay to give yourself grace (this is an everyday battle for me)

6. Its okay to change, you don’t have to be the same person you were a year ago, a week ago or even yesterday

7. Its on you to want better for yourself and actually act on it, you have to save yourself

8. Zoom out and see the bigger picture, because we are the main character of our lives its so easy to be so focused on every little detail but some things aren’t as big as they seem when you look at the bigger picture

9. You circumstance right now could literally change in the blink of an eye

10. Realize that you’re living some of the dreams you used to pray for and be grateful

11. Pour into yourself, changing your mood and working on your mental health can literally help clear the storm you may feel like you’re in

12. Don’t be afraid to go in a new direction. Its not about what anybody else thinks if you want to do it go for it.

13. This is your life, what anyone else thinks doesn’t matter at all don’t let your mind trick you

14. An idle mind will curate thoughts that aren’t even true, recognize what’s reality and your mind playing tricks on you

15. We’re young as hell have fun

16. Its okay to take a break when you need to

17. No one cares as much as you think they do about small irrelevant situations

18. Put your wants, needs and goals first because others will do the same for themselves

19. Don’t allow yourself or others convince you of what you can’t have or achieve

20. Sometimes people need to be cut off no matter the relationship you have or had with them or how long you’ve had it

21. YOLO, live It up!!!!

22. Stop comparing yourself and worrying about what everybody else is doing

23. You’re in your own lane, don’t swerve over

24. Life is about perspective

25. Take your goals seriously but don’t take yourself too seriously

26. Live it tf up!!!!!!!

Favorite Cocktails to make at home

1. Margarita

2. Green tea remix

3. Cosmopolitan

4. Lemon Drop

I love making drinks at home, there’s nothing like setting the vibes in your own house. I taught myself how to make cocktails first by just putting together things I already had in the refrigerator seeing what I liked and just knowing what flavors tasted good together, I also started looking at recipes to learn the basic cocktails and making my own changes to classics. Nothing like knowing how to make a good drink without having to go anywhere.

Follow my cocktails to go business on Instagram @kocktailswithkay_

February Thoughts: Life be lifing

Coat: Pretty Little Thing// Turtleneck: Lexi Drew Boutique// pants: Forever 21// Boots: Lexi Drew Boutique// Bag: Telfar//

Hey y’all! I know it’s been a minute, but I’m here now and I’m going to start showing up more consistently on here because this is my original baby, we’ve been riding since 2016 and I see more people from all over finding these blog posts daily and I hope y’all are enjoying, are here to stay and subscribe to our newsletter!

I can’t believe it was just New Year’s Eve and now it’s February 21st, but if 2020 and 2021 taught us anything it’s that time waits for no man and it’s going to move very fast!

For me life has been pretty good I’ve been putting in lots of work with just a tad bit of fun, I’ve been staying focused and disciplined to accomplish my goals that I set for the year while working daily to try to get out of my head. But even though I’ve been working I’ve been feeling every emotion because that’s what life gone do to you regardless of how you feel about it. I wanted to come and give y’all my January and February thoughts because I’ve definitely had my eyes and ears open and to the ground and as I approach 25 even more things are coming into realization

1. You don’t have to be perfect, there’s room in life for error and you’re meant to make mistakes

2. We’re human, don’t take yourself too seriously

3. A new year is honestly just another day so you have to take the responsibility of shifting your mindset into something new

4. Lowkey life is crazy af, you realize so many new things everyday even down to the smallest things

5. Don’t trick yourself into thinking that small situations are a huge testament to your personality and who you are

6. Have fun, live out loud

7. Just do that sh*t

8. Nobody ever said it would be easy, but everything is hard so pick the hard that benefits you the most

9. You don’t have to force yourself into earning relaxation, you deserve a break and you don’t have to feel guilty about it

10. There’s no perfect time and you’ll never have all the answers

11. It’s okay to take things a day at a time

12. If you’ve had the vision it’s going to come to fruition you just have to believe and put the work in

13. Get out of your head

14. Do what works for you and don’t overthink it

15. Stick to your vision regardless of who has what to say, don’t get distracted my background noise

Follow me on Instagram @keepingupwithKay_

Get your Make Sh*t Happen 2022 calendar

November/Fall Thoughts

Top: Shein // Coat: Pretty Little Thing// Boots: Ego Shoes// Skirt: Shein// Sunglasses: My Depop

1. The time when summer ends and getting adjusted to Fall and the changes in your daily life isn’t a talked about enough experience

2. If we would’ve known life was this expensive we would’ve started saving at birth

3. Sometimes it’s easy to miss the transitions of when you dreams and prayers turn to reality

4. You gotta be your full self no matter how scary it could feel because you don’t want to regret pretending

5. Use what you got until you can get what you want

6. For a long time I didn’t give TikTok a chance but now I love it

7. As an entrepreneur it’s hard to feel like you have breaks because you’re always doing something, setting time aside for yourself is a whole task

8. Cherish the moment

9. The preparation period be dragging you and then it just start paying off and all making sense, like damn

10. You can subconsciously be holding yourself back, just do it. Make a plan and do it.

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Shop The Make Sh*t Happen Calendar

Make Sh*t Happen 2022 Calendar

This Black Friday I released a 2022 calendar called the Make Sh*t Happen Calendar right in time to get ready for what I know is about to be an amazing year.

As an entrepreneur I use lists, journals and I’m always writing things down or typing something in my notes to make sure I stay organized and make sure things flow as smoothly as possible, because if I didn’t God knows I would be a mess and get nothing accomplished. Its possible to accomplish your goals but you have to set a plan, be strategic about the things you do and stay organized so that you can make it happen and scale it. It takes hard work and dedication but what could you want more than to have the life that you desire, there’s nothing I can think of.

Everything wasn’t perfect but in 2021 I’ve accomplished a lot of things that I’ve wanted to do, got to a new level that I’ve never been on before and just experiencing and doing more and elevating my life, but of course I want to go even further because my goal is to be continuously growing so because of that I created this calendar and the Make Sh*t Happen movement so that we can all go on a journey together to keep elevating our lives, motivating each other and getting exactly what we want unapologetically.

This calendar will help you log important dates on your monthly calendars, set monthly goals and have monthly check ins, sheets for tracking your finances monthly and weekly and even a strategy to visualize hitting a yearly financial goal, wellness goals sheet and it all starts with setting the tone for your year and a place to create your vision board. This calendar is going to be my guide to having the year I want to have and making more dreams a reality. We will be documenting our growth by using the Make Sh*t Happen w/ Kay hashtag #MSHWK on Instagram and other platforms and I want it filled with Black women making money, traveling and knocking these goals off one by one. I will also be creating a Make Sh*t Happen series on my YouTube channel because like I said we’re in this together!

Writing things down and organizing my thoughts is what’s helped me accomplish the things I’ve done and what’s going to continue helping me and I know I’m about to be using my calendar daily to make sure I’m staying on track, its time to get even more focused than before. If you trying to get this money and hit these goals in 2022 get your calendar now and start planning! What’s better than having your goals documented and easily accessible on a digital calendar your can access on your phone and you got somebody to do it with and hold you accountable! #Goals #2022Calendar #MSHWK

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Nikki Parker used to have us all wanting to try Alizé

So I was recently rewatching The Parkers again because I love to rewatch shows I love and it was so nostalgic and is still a gem that stood the test of time. The show was and still is entertaining, well done, discussed real issues and was a great representation of Black people on tv because there’s nothing like a good Black sitcom.

But one thing that I got from watching the show again is wanting to try Alizé, if you watched the show you know Nikki didn’t play about her Alize and she had us all wanting to try it when we were young. So I got the idea to go get some to try and make a drink and now I see why Nikki liked it. I got the Bleu Passion Flavor and went from there just adding what I thought would taste good and the drink was bomb!

You know I couldn’t just do it without making some great content to honor the show so check out my reel on my Instagram featuring the iconic The Parkers theme song, click here to watch

Drink Recipe:

Bleu Passion Alizé

lemon juice

fresh mint

Triple Sec

Blue Curaçao

Summertime Living

top: Zara// Shorts: Leyton’s Boutique// Shoes: Asos// bag: Shein// Sunglasses: Shein//

First let’s get into this look! I loved this look so much because it was chill yet still very feminine, and the first time I wore the two piece set that these shorts are apart of it was styled very different (super chill and comfortable), the first time I wore the shorts with the matching crop hoodie, my Hanifa shirt and some slides (here’s a pic) versus this time I did something completely different. I paired these super comfortable shorts with an open back silk shirt from Zara and these very cute sandals from Asos. I definitely played with the colors in the shirt and brought it all together with my accessories. To me style is truly about knowing how to style and wear your pieces different ways because we are not one wear wonders over here. Be comfortable, have fun, look cute and do real hot girl sh*t.

Now to what the post is actually about…

This summer has honestly been a vibe, everything isn’t perfect but my vibe right now is literally just living life. Whether that’s saying yes to every trip that comes my way (because why not), waking up and doing what I want because I have freedom, learning different things about myself, trying to be better at giving myself breaks because I do work hard and I deserve them, telling myself that I don’t have to feel like I have to conquer the world everyday to feel accomplished, having fun with no worries everyday if I want and kicking my feet up and going with the flow while simultaneously working towards my goals.

Sometimes we have to sit back and realize that we’re right in the middle of the things we used to dream about and pray for and the reason why we may feel like we should be doing more is because we’ve done so much and haven’t stopped to even realize or congratulate ourselves because we’re too deep in the work. The summer is ours for the taken and it’s made me realize even more that we aren’t meant to just work ourselves to death but also enjoy the fruits of our labor.

I hope you’re enjoying your summer, because you deserve. It’s okay to have off days but make sure you pick yourself back up.

Stop trying to gentrify being a Black woman: Specifically our Nails

It’s a well known fact that everything Black people do everyone tries to emulate or recreate, but newsflash greatness can’t be copy and pasted.

One of the biggest things that people who are not Black try to take as their own is being a Black woman and everything we do. They try to take how we wear our hair, how we dress, what they think our mannerisms are, how they think we talk, how we dance, and what’s so trendy now is how we wear our nails. Thievery is ingrained in this worlds’ soul, down to every level that it’s actually very sad. Prime example is Black tiktokers going on strike due to unfair treatmeant/notariety of Black creators vs. White creators, as we’ve seen Tik Tok has become dry and white Tik Tokers don’t know what to do for their latest dance videos to our music (cues fake sympathy that they desire but won’t get).

Long acrylic nails are something that Black women have done for centuries, from regular girls to celebrities and track stars like Flo Jo that wore her long acrylic nails while she left people in her dust. Today you see everyone everywhere trying to get really long nails with intricate designs, but newsflash we aren’t new to this we’re true to this and they once again did not create this but adapted something from us and are attempting to…. steal, yet another thing. Just because its a trend right now doesn’t make it new.

My grandma, mom, aunties, and cousins always prided getting their nails done my whole life and I’m sure yours have too, all different lengths, shapes and designs you name it and we’ve had it, y’all didn’t. Black women are called ghetto for their nails, but now its trendy and something that is accepted amongst the masses for other people to do… make it make sense. I remember being a sophomore in high school and finally being able to get my nails done and went every two weeks like a ritual (its that deep).

What they do is they watch us to see what we’re doing, try to figure out how to adapt it, steal it and then x us out and resell it to us. So on this post I’m not only going to talk about the importance and history of nails and how its more than just a maintenance activity but a way of life for Black women and also shed light on how long "this “trend” stems back into our history. You can’t bash us for it, steal it then try to sell it back to us, you don’t get to force your way into our conversations, you don’t get to hijack our culture, you don’t get to tell us something is unacceptable and then turn around and try to make it your own.

Whether the nails are done with precision to go with the fit, current styles or whether this is a lifestyle and you’ve allowed your nails to grow so long that they curl over, this is our history that stems back generations down the line (it’s said that even Egyptians back in BC times kept their nails done) , they said it was ghetto but in the words of designer Naresha Willis (of Avenue N) it’s “Ghetto until proven fashionable” but you also have to realize that white people copying isn’t and won’t stop us or hold us back from doing the sh*t we created because unlike others we mind our business and we don’t have to want to be like anybody else because we create the trends. We are the sauce, the blueprint, the secret society, the elites and all of the above, and don’t you ever forget it. Take the nails off you look like you’re trying too hard.

For a great page that highlights Black girls and their nails click here