Happy Wednesday Travelers,

Lately I have been experiencing a serious She-Rah-esqe vibe. It may be a combination of the sermon's that I have been exposed to of late professing the power of the woman, mixed in with the recent victories of so many female US athletes, either neither I have been all "I can conquer the fashion entire world!" (insert DVF comic book here)  




This is feeling was momentarily challenged after a recent conversation with a friend regarding the end of summer being optional...huh?? Our conversation went a little like this:
Me: Enjoy what's left of summer.
Friend: It's summer year round when you have access to the tropics.

Whelp that's that then huh?? I mean the conversation really had me thrown, like wait a minute...do I have that kind of access?? I felt so...limited. There are many times when I will read about the travels of my twitter follows and marvel in envy at the way they are able to pick up, go, and stay. As a Pisces I can really get into the idea of free ebb and flow, but is it what I really want? No, I like the idea of the access but I wouldn't use it as much, but that's besides the point. My thing is if I can conquer the world what is keeping me from doing so? What is keeping the chick on the outside from being the woman on the inside that I see in my head? I wasn't really sure but I am ready to find out and STAT! Summer is almost over after all...

So I got out my pen and paper and started to create a Bug List. Have you ever tried it travelers?? Making a list of the things that bug you about a certain topic? Well I have come to find that this list (in no particular order), has helped me with tackling bad habits that I would like to eliminate (like putting my clothes away rather then letting them fall where they please) and even addresses long ignored tasks that would make my life much easier (like getting my vacuum fixed). I really feel this list is the first step to us getting out of our own way and being proactive to live the life we see inside our heads. Here are a few examples of my bug list:

• Not cooking enough - Learn to make more dishes (Solution: I choose 3 recipes every 2 weeks to cook and try out 1 Breakfast, 1 Entre, 1 Dessert) 
• Tidier apartment! - No adult should live in all my clothing clutter (Solution: Put clothes away after they have been washed or taken off after the day- or rejected from the "Should I Wear This Today" pile)
• Build a better social network - Too many networks/groups (Solution: Re-evaluate Twitter follows, LinkedIn groups, and Facebook fan pages...do you need all of them?? Which can you get rid of, which should you interact with more?? Quality not Quantity)
• Be accountable to self - this is the hardest one on my list and I am still pondering...it is easy to complete a task at work when being fired is not the desired outcome, but since I don't and can't fire myself, what is motivating me to remain accountable and follow through on select tasks at hand? What is keeping me from pushing me and moving past just okay? 

So I hope that gives you a good idea of what I mean by a bug list, also note that nothing that I said was self-depreciating, this is not an opportunity to beat up on yourself! As a began to review my list I began to categorize the items on the list with Right Now (tasks that can be handled now - like my vacuum), Self (not a task per se but internal reflections of personal habits that need to change or update) Career (what directly effects my career) Social (this deals with things regarding my sorority, nonprofits, or networks...including this blog).

Try it out and let me know it has helped you move forward on your Freeway; I promise to keep you updated.

Happy Travels!

[source1] [source 2] [source 3]

Yesterday in my Mary Kay unit meeting we were charged to write out 50 Reasons of Why You Must Make This Work to the soundtrack of Nicki Minaj's Fly and Wiz Kalifah (sp?) Work Hard Play Hard. It was so much fun! Women were scrambling to get out of their own way and finish their lists in the allotted time; it's crazy what you find in your heart and the reasons that motivate you when you get out of your own way and just write. I know I sure was, I was ready to start crying at some of the things that were pouring out of my heart onto the paper.

So I ask you Travelers, what is your "This"? I have my reasons for starting my Mary Kay business as a second source of income, which I think I have shared, but if not I will write a post on that too, while financing my Fashion Freeway, but it's more than that, Oprah didn't become an award winning journalist to just be a talk show host, but to touch and change lives, she didn't take the straight line to success she fed her soul by building a school on South Africa...that is a WHOLE 'nother post!! But saying all of that to say whatever fuels your freeway, whatever puts gas in your tank and pushes you forward that is your "This." My "This" is my Mary Kay Business.

Once our "This" was identified and we wrote our 50, we were then challenged with reading it multiple times a day, I have chosen 3xs a day, for 90 days and see what manifests. Hard work must accompany this as well.


Here is my list*, check it out, comment, this is what keeps me accountable. Expect a post on this progress in 90 days, I am planning to do a 30 and 60 day update as well.

1. I must re-retire my mother
2. Because I don't care about cars, so I am not trying to pay for one
3. I love traveling and not paying for it
4. Because there are women whose lives have yet to be saved
5. Because I can't expect my boss (or any boss for that matter) to know my value (and pay me accordingly)
6. My tithes build His Kingdom -- Increase the 10th!
7. Because should spend their grocery money on designer clothing (you don't know my struggle)
8. I represent what it means to not walk a straight path to success 
9. Today right now I am building a testimony that is saving a young girl's life
10. Because Africa needs to see black faces supporting them
11. Because my life is not my own (I give myself away -- amazing song and testament to service)
12. Because sex trafficking still exists 
13. Because I was created for a time such as this (read Esther and let ya life be blessed)
14. It is up to ME to be an example of Ephesians 3:20
15. My great-grandchildren deserve a legacy
16. My success creates opportunities for more minority children to travel abroad
17. If I don't save Cleveland who will?
18. Because I can single-handedly rebuild my childhood neighborhood
19. Because my childhood home can be purchased
20. One successful non-profit can prevent one teenage suicide
21. Because I have a great-niece who has a chance to know and experience more 
22. Because my goddaughter is deserving of more 
23. Because I can have an amazing closet
24. Because I want my own jet
25. I don't want to choose between conference (AKA struggle- if you are in any international organization that has multiple conferences a year you will understand my plight)
26. NSF are just not cute
27. I want a heavy passport
28. I want a condo in Paris and Thailand
29. I set my alarm clock, not my job
30. Student loans are not meant to exist
31. I want options --- STOCK options 
32. Louboutin
33. Balmain
34. Pay for my wedding at Terranea Resort and Spa (Google that)
35. Elie Saab couture wedding dress paid for
36. I want to travel to EVERY fashion week - and now I can 
37. My children wont know student debt
38. There are conferences I have yet to speak at 
39. Oprah has yet to interview me
40. I will be a teacher in the fashion industry because I want to 
41. Because I don't want to be restricted to one zip code
42. Everything in MY name  --- but given in His name 
43. I want to get to the place where my credit score doesn't matter
44. Cash is liquid and I can pay for everything with that
45. Featured on Street style blogs
46. Because I am enough right now and I need other women to now that about themselves
47. Because my book series has yet to be written (keeping the name to myself!)
48. Because my dreams deserve their resurrection day
49. Because I deserve to be as random as I please
50. Because it's time I believe in me and am getting out of my own way! 

*=remember this was timed so this order was as it popped into my head not in order of importance

Happy Travels and I can't wait to hear your lists!!

Happy Good Day Travelers,

I don't know when this blog became my own personal musings but I refuse to stifle where this is going so I am just going to let it flow and see how this space evolves in the area of my Fashion Freeway and how I travel on it. I do know that this post is just a form of Part 2 of my previous musings about names and how that affects one's brand.

This morning I was getting ready to journal but I chose to blog these thoughts instead. It's no secret that I am a Christian and so in my morning devotions two separate resources just happen to be on the topic of being a woman, what it means to be feminine, the beauty of our emotions, our necessity in society and the home, and how we have embraced or rejected those roles. This got me thinking about all the areas in which I am involved in female development (this is not the phrase I want to use at all, I may come back and change this).

Now I know that this topic can get all kinds of out of hand so I will not be releasing a full post until I am fully confident that my thoughts are organized. This is not at all a post about what it means to be a woman, I am so about having one's own definition, and maybe I just want to express my musings on how I look at it and what roles I play in developing as a woman. There are some thoughts and ideas that work for me, but maybe not for others, and that is helping me to develop my adult self, which in the long-run shapes and maps my Fashion Freeway.

Until that time feel free to watch this new single by Lupe Fiasco "Bad Bitch" I really like the message in this song, but you know Lupe (or you might not...so enjoy), he always has a differing opinion that the majority hip hop artists.




No tagline today as this post is TBC......

 Happy Friday Travelers!

This week has been filled with lots of articles and talks of names and their purpose and importance. On Sunday my pastor spoke of the importance of ones name and how it can subconsciously determine their future, there have been many twitter discussions on how blatantly ethnic names can hinder one from getting a job or moving up in their career, and lastly three fashion articles regarding Jil Sander, Yves Saint Laurent, and Doo Ri have surfaced which makes me ask the question..Comment vous appellez-vous?

It's no secret that I am a branding junkie and love to read and analyze about how  a company brands itself and its product, and there is nothing bigger in a brand than the very thing that creates the first impression. Before I started working in the fashion industry it never occurred to me that one could lose ownership of their name. In my world if say, Calvin Klein left, then the brand Calvin Klein was over, bye bye Gaultier, doors closed....so not the case. When I first realized that I was incorrect in my assumptions I got a bit angry, partially due to the fact that I am the only Mei-Li that I know (I am sure there are others, Asian, find me a black Mei-Li and I promise she is under 6yrs old), and no matter where one goes like Beyonce not one person can say her name and they go...the singer or...same with me, I'm an original and worked hard at being the authentic me and for someone to tell me they are going to carry on Mei-Li with out the Mei and the Li, well I'm not okay with that. So what's hind the scenes of all that to make a person walk away, or in Sander's case, come back to their name? What is that contract process? I recently heard a horror story about a well known and super talented designer who has an awesome fashion brand in her name that no longer belongs to her but is making millions. She was shafted by a former partner who has got to be living a serious yacht lifestyle off what her parents gave her in love...her name.

We now live in the age of sign and sue where contracts and court cases are as common as top knots and peep toes, and I don't understand any of it. I am glad that I am exposed to it in some frame though. As I await to hear if I have been accepted into graduate school for my MBA in Management Consulting I am seeing all the needs of the industry. Though I don't deal with indie brands directly I have a heart for them. There are some great brands out there with amazing product that don't get the recognition they need or close their doors too early due to lack of funding for things like decent PR or low sales. Thankfully social media helps the tech savvy work their way around that, but I would love to see more brands follow the Dries Van Noten route and not sell to larger companies no matter how much they promise autonomy.

I'll end this post there, there is so much more for me to learn and understand before I can get in a deep enough post/conversation/debate about this subject, but it was on my mind and I really am interested in how my degree in Management Consulting can help me help small companies keep their name, flourish, and run efficiently. There ends my thoughts Travelers! Until next time!!

"One Step Forward, Just Glance Back. No Fear, Just DIVA!"