Essence's Black Hollywood Luncheon

Let's be honest. There is something about black women coming together in beautiful and harmonious pretenses that is so inspiring and humbling. Last week, Essence Magazine, a publication and brand that I totally respect hosted the Black Women Hollywood Luncheon in LA that honored several women in the entertainment industry who have contributed to the positive imagery of black women over all.

Now you know, here at Fabulous Brown Girl, that is are overall mission and passion and whenever we see this idea being carried out and positive role models acknowledge for their inspiration we can't help but to capture it in a post.


The Luncheon Honorees were:

• Gabby Sidibe (Best Breakthrough Performance)
  
• Zoe Saldana (Star to Watch Award)
  
• Queen Latifah (Power Award)
  
• Mary J Blige (Songtress of the Year)
  
• Cicely Tyson (Legend Award)
  

Here are a few pictures of some Fabulous Brown Girls who attended the function! They are by far too lovely for words, but we did what we could. Check it out!

An all time FAVORITE, the beautiful, Nia Long

The Queen, MJB.. she never half steps and I love it!!

Tennis Great, Serena Williams, Common, and Vivica A. Fox

Hometown chick, LaToya Luckett, looks popped in the coral dress!

Tichina Arnold looking ravishing in her early spring white cocktail dress

Uber talented singer/songwriter Keri Hilson

Taraji P. Henson and Vivica A. Fox

Keke Palmer, little sister in my head :)

Tatiana Ali

Jada Pinkett Smith

Tia and Tamera Mowry

Precious break out star and Honoree, Gabby Sidibe

Avatar actress and Honoree, Zoe Saldana

If you want to check out over a 100 photos of the ESSENCE event CLICK HERE

Some of our Favorite Quotes...

During the month of February, Fabulous Brown Girl tweeted inspirational quotes from famous women of color everyday to celebrate Black History Month.

As you know, the main mission of this blog is to shower one another with positive displays of black women and uplift and inspire young professionals to be the FABULOUS women that we all are destined to be!

Check out some of our favorite quotes that we found and shared on our Twitter...

• "No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow & be perceived as fully blossomed as you are intended." - Alice Walker

• "If there is a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it." -Toni Morrison

• "The kind of beauty I want most is the hard-to-get kind that comes from within -- strength, courage, dignity. " - Ruby Dee

• "Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him. " - Sojourner Truth

• "Where there is woman there is magic." - Ntozake Shange

• "Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others. " -Rosa Parks

• "It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it. " - Lena Horne

• "Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough." - Mary McLeod Bethune

I hope you discovered a quote that you can use to inspire you and motivate you to be the most beautiful woman you can be!

Be blessed and have a great day!

BET Honors: This is What Extraordinary Looks Like

So last night BET outdid themselves with this year's broadcast of their 3rd annual BET Honors which took place in Washington, DC. The BET Honors recognized the achievements of fellow Howard Bison, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Queen Latifah, Dr. Keith Black, Dr. Ruth J. Simmons, and Whitney Houston.



Hosted by FBG Gabriel Union, several artists performed to honor them musically with uplifting songs to show them their love and appreciation.

My favorite tributes were Diddy's with Mary J Blige showing love to her "big brother" with a lot of hits they made together; as well as, Kim Burrell and Jennifer Hudson's tribute to Whitney Houston. Those ladies sang their hearts out to Whitney who was not afraid to "show" her gratitude for them while they performed. I didn't mind Whitney's antics because she made it clear, its better to be judged by your triumphs than by your flaws... Only if everyone thought like that!



Check out the tear jerking tribute Kim Burrell performed with her rendition of "I Believe in You and Me". This rendition encompasses how Fabulous Brown Girls everywhere should feel about one another. Thank You Kim and Whitney for that moment and thank you BET. We needed that.

A Little Positivity Goes A Long Way

We just want to tell you Fabulous Brown Girls that now is the time to believe in YOU!

Instead of playing the victim on the bad deck of cards you have been dealt, LET IT GO!

There are always people who are going through far worst life altering events than you are at any given moment.

When you change your mind frame and become a more positive person, then that positivity will shine on to others. Once your positivity shines on others they will more than likely give you that same positive energy.

Forgive those who have done you wrong. You dont have to allow them back in your life, but holding grudges gives THEM power over you that they DO NOT deserve.

Here is a FBG challenge:

Make a pact with yourself to compliment someone at least once everyday on a random thing.

You never know how far a simple "I like your earrings" or "This is delicious" will go and make someone feel for the rest of the day.

I want to challenge you Fabulous Brown Girls to be the Happy, Grateful, and Inspiring women we were all meant to be.

Remember: Energy is real... Positive energy attracts more positive energy. It is like a beautiful cycle that spreads out at any given moment

Howard University and Wale Help Haiti with Benefit Concert

On January 21 Howard University hosted a benefit concert where Wale and a host of other performers gave back and set it off in Crampton University where all the proceeds were donated to the Haiti Earthquake Relief efforts.

Howard University has a rather large Haitian student population and the Haitian Student Association's president who is a native of Port-Au-Prince spoke a few words of gratitude to his fellow student body.

The sold out concert raised over 10,000 dollars in donation money just from ticket sales alone all while being entertained by the DC native recent hip hop phenomenon, Wale.

Fabulous Brown Girl wants to give a special shout out her Alma Mater and Wale for a job well done in the efforts to give back to Haiti in their desperate time of need. Howard is a school that is known for the student body's collective reaction to world tragedy. We do not just sit by and let others take care of the world--we know we have to be the change we want the world to be not to mention we feel even more responsible because [Haitians] are OUR people.

The diaspora is heavily represented at Howard so we can not just sit by and see our people in distress without doing what we can. I am so glad that Howard has instilled that in all of us.

Check out the video of Wale's performance!

Just by looking at the video clip I can tell he put on a FABULOUS show! And let us not forget and go back to our own lives. We have to continue raising money for Haiti. Yes we are reacting faster than other tragedies in the past, but Haiti will be needing our help for years to come. Our help for Haiti is just beginning....

Praying for Haiti, How Can We Help?!

Yesterday afternoon shortly before 5 p.m. an earthquake hit the country Haiti at a magnitude of 7.0. This is the worst earthquake the country has experienced in over 100 years.

According to CNN reports, this earthquake was so strong that it could be strongly felt 200 miles away in Cuba. Witnesses say the earthquake left people screaming in terror all around Port-au-Prince. The city is now without any electricity and homes that once held families and businesses are now rubble.

Fabulous Brown Girl is praying for Haiti and all of our Haitian FBG's families and friends. This tragedy has really hit our hearts. Haiti already has enough economic problems and really did not need a horrific natural disaster to add more fuel to the fire.

Please let's do what we can to help this country.

Click Here to Learn How to Help Haiti

Here is a Fabulous Brown Girl talking about the affects of the earthquake.



Haitian Ambassador says it was a "catastrophe of major proportion"

Dreams! How Many of Us Have Them?!

Happy Monday Fabulous Brown Girls! hope you are staying warm in this arctic tundra we are experiencing this winter! Living in the Northern Hemisphere sucks sometimes.. I guess living down south isn't enough to escape the HAWK!

I originally wanted to write a blog on another topic, but decided to hold off because recently I have been having the strangest, vivid dreams I have had in a long time. Unfortunately, I am not talking about the kinds that go on vision boards either. I'm talking about that good old fashion REM dreams that when you finally do escape them you can't seem to shake them for the rest of the day.

Some of them have been sad and nightmarish dreams, while some of them have been so good I was actually sad to wake up and not have them be reality.

I have never really put too much thought into dreams. Some people say they are symbolic and have underlying meanings to your truest wants and desires. While others think they are just your imagination entertaining you until you wake up for a new day.

Whatever the case may be, do you think the subconscious mind is more powerful than the conscious mind?

Do you think that we suppress are thoughts so deeply into are subconscious that dreams are the only place they are allowed to resurface?

I really want to know what my dreams mean and what they mean for me. So many different emotions take place when I close my eyes for my daily hibernation.. I wonder what I will dream about tonight!

Do any of y'all have dreams that you think are thoughts that you suppress so deeply that they haunt you while you sleep?

Visualize Your Dreams and Never Give Up On Them!

I just want to share something that has been on my mind with all of you Fabulous Brown Girls. It is something you hear so many times, that you sometimes become numb to it . The adage

NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS!

Yes, I know it is said all the time, but I just feel like I should reiterate it because it is the plain and simple TRUTH!

I have seen many of my friends and family reach goals that were merely ideas years ago! A lot of us now have our degrees, are obtaining masters and PhD's, are in medical schools, law schools, working for various Fortune 500 companies, launching our own businesses, and buying homes and real estate! All because we had a VISION for our lives and set goals to reach them!

I am a HUGE proponent of writing down your goals and making them HIGHLY visual. An example of this is through a vision board, which is simply a poster that has visual images and phrases of the goals you wish to obtain. Because I am a PowerPoint connoisseur I made a PowerPoint slide show as my vision board instead of a poster board when I came up with the idea of FABULOUS BROWN GIRL, and when I recently looked back over it not too long ago, I can honestly say, and i mean HONESTLY, that all of the goals surrounding my blog FBG have been met or are currently underway!!

I had an idea that came to my mind, which then turned into a goal, as well as a passion. I took the time to craft out specific details about this goal and made a visually appealing map of sorts to look at and remind myself of where I want to be and how I want to get there! I definitely intend on doing the same thing for the other passions and future goals that I have in my life!

Don't let anyone deter you or tell you when and how your goal needs to happen because everyone is different and what they may not have the ability to do, you may very well be able to succeed at the highest level.

So Fabulous Brown Girls, whatever your passion is, what ever you see your self in a certain amount of time doing.. write it down and visualize the process it will take to get there and don't neglect to ask for help or a mentor (which I strongly believe all of us should have at least one at this stage) Don't let go of your dream and I promise you will be FABULOUS!

Notice Anything New?! 2010 is our BREAKTHOUGH year!

Happy New Year!!!

Wow ! 2009 was a great year! It was the year Fabulous Brown Girl came to me as an idea in the middle of the night and became a reality. I had several AHA moments as many scholarly folks would like to call it in 2009 which I am grateful for and it will only keep growing from here. It was a year of growth, change, and humility for me and 2010 will be the year where my thoughts and ideas actualize and become reality! 2010 will be in one simple word a.. BREAKTHROUGH!

With that we decided to change our look a bit! Do you like?! I hope you do, because this new format will be around for a while. Evolution is very necessary and is a great thing to realize and be a part of!

Fabulous Brown Girl will continue to evolve into greatness and I can't wait to see where this journey of female empowerment, inspiration, community involvement, and social sophistication takes us!

I have noticed that many of my young professional peers have a great anticipation about 2010! I think we for the most part we are growing into our own and I am happy and extremely proud to see these changes of mind frame coming about?

So to all my Fabulous Brown Girls, how did you bring in the New Year and what are you looking forward to doing differently in 2010?

Fabulous Brown Girl Going Strong 2010!

My apologies for my recent lack of postings, but I am taking time out for the holidays to catch up on some rest and spend with my family and friends! With less than a week away from not only a new year, but a new decade let's wrap it up with much thanks and evaluation. Also, be excited because there will be major changes coming to Fabulous Brown Girl in 2010! So keep checking us out!!

2010 WILL and MUST BE GREAT! There will be tons of new features, tips, self development, encouragement and empowerment , and most of all PROGRESS! So please, please stay TUNED in to the FAB!



Oh! and sidenote: Go see AVATAR in 3D if you haven't already done so, it has been one of the highlights of my holiday so far! James Cameron is a bona fide GENIUS

Coming Soon: Oprah Winfrey Network

For sometime now Oprah Winfrey has talked about starting her own network, which will conviently be known as OWN (short for the Oprah Winfrey Network)

After announcing her departure in 2011, this network is now becoming more and more anticpated by Oprah fans and inspirees everwhere.

CEO of the Oprah Winfrey Network, Christina Norman, says the network will be about motivating self-discovery which is something Oprah has always felt is very important.

Even though she will not bring her sindicated talk show over to the network, she will give other women such as Laura Berman, Laura Ling, Suze Orman, and of course her BFF Gayle King opportunites to host their own show.

Fabulous Brown Girl will totally be showing the OWN network love and can't wait for its launch/premiere!

A Little Fabulous Brown Girl Inspiration: Serving Others and Being Fabulous

Happy Monday!

Here at Fabulous Brown Girl our motto is being fabulous means doing more...

A truly fabulous person knows that it is not always about her and her latest trends, men, and socialite lifestyle, but about about recognizing that there are others who can not afford to have what you do and that being fabulous is really about taking time to give back to others.

What service are you committed to? Are you involved with a service oriented non profit organization? Are you involved in a ministry at your church?

These are just a snippet of ways that you can give back and be even more fabulous!

Let Fabulous Brown Girl know what you are doing to give back and TRULY be fabulous!

Remember you are not doing God a favor by serving others, He is the one doing you a favor!

A Little Fabulous Brown Girl Inspiration

Hey Fabulous Brown Girl readers! I hope all of you enjoyed your weekend and got a chance to relax and have some free time.

I just wanted to share something with those who may be in a situation where fear of what other people may think of you could be holding you back from the blessing God may have waiting for you.

Whatever fear you have is not a feeling that God gave you because fear is NOT of God. A lot of times we go through life trying to please and impress other people. We choose not to do what makes us happy because we worry about what other people will say. But God's love matters most, NOT what people think of you. God will hold your hand through the bad, the tough, and the unsure times.

Please understand that the joy that is unspeakable is the joy you get when you are doing what God says you should be doing NOT what other people say you should do be doing. People are humans and they will let you down and disappoint you time and time again. So why stress yourself out if pleasing them is not allowing you to have God bless your life?!

Remember I John 4:18 says There is no fear in [God's] love..

Have a wonderful Monday and a blessed week!

A Little Sunday Inspiration... Fear of Failing

I know this is my calling, but I am afraid of failing...


"But [Jesus] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ 's power may rest on me." 2 Corithians 12:9


If you have a weakness or fear that is hindering you from what you know God is calling you to do, remember that God's grace is sufficient enough for any fears of failure that we might have. In fact, we should happily admit that we are not perfect or weak in some areas so that God's power can shine though us. When we do reside in his grace and accept our calling, we will see that God will allow us to conquer whatever fears we may have and become the success He has called us to be.

A Little Friday Inspiration....

Ladies, I know sometimes you just need a little pick me up to encourage you to make it though the day, the week, or maybe even the year... So Fabulous Brown Girl will randomly just post inspirational quotes or anecdotes to plant seeds of inspiration... Check out the quote below and TGIF!!

"The greatest thing you can do for someone is believe in him or her. And the greatest thing they can do for you is to give you a reason to be able to." -- Anonymous