Charismatic Concepts

Living every day with a healthy dose of Charisma.

Currently

Travel

As anyone who follows me on instagram knows, my wanderlust is insatiable and I am constantly looking for my next adventure. With back to back trips to D.C. in January, John and I decided to keep things local in February and explore our own little corner of the world. Spring and Summer will include trips up north, a visit to the Carolinas, and Europe. I think it’s high time that John and I do a packing tutorial considering we continue to manage to cram all of our belongings into carry-ons and successfully avoid checked baggage fees.

Work

I recently on boarded a client whom I have wanted to work with for awhile. 725Creative has successfully taken over (well, started really) social media for Keep Her Safe. In addition to working with Keep Her Safe on social media, we are also helping them become more intersectional in their web presence. Husband and wife clients, Nicole Ami and Alex Ray just so happen to be heading to Europe at the same time as John and I which means our next social media training session will be in a British pub! One of my favorite clients, Apples + Co. is expanding their services to take on more weddings which means fun updates to the websites and even MORE fun branding photo sessions which include eating my weight in gourmet apples, pretzels, and cookies after the shoot.

Podcast

The second year (season?) of Heart and Hustle is in full swing and we couldn’t be luckier when it comes to our guest list. A lot of last year’s episodes just included the two of us so that we could establish our podcast style with viewers. With the success of the first year, we feel a little more confident about reaching out to guests outside of our circle. Upcoming guests include entrepreneurs as diverse as mixed media artists, famous activists, and celebrity wedding photographers. We are also relaunching the blog with an awesome, talented team of contributors. If you know anyone interested, send them here!

Health

Many of you have asked for an update regarding my health. I’m happy to say that it is improving! The second half of last year was stressful and scary at times but things are definitely better now. It looks like I may not need surgery at all. I’ve switched my diet about a million times to see exactly what works. So far, being vegan five days a week has been working for me. As a long time vegetarian, I thought making the change to being vegan would be easy but it’s actually more challenging that I imagined. Having two days to eat a vegetarian diet have been making all the difference in my sanity and the five days of veganism have been making all the difference in my health. In general, I have been avoiding soy, caffeine, and sugar every day of the week. In April I will have another test to see if the fibroid tumor has shrunk any further.

Reading

As usual, I have been reading everything I can get my hands on. I’m long overdue for a Well Read post but I am currently reading Negroland by Margo Jefferson.

Personal

Our best friends just had another baby so I am now an aunt to an adorable little boy! Expect a lot of pictures soon!

After listening to every episode of The Minimalist Podcast, I’ve been getting rid of everything in site. Having less stuff makes me feel more focused and while I’ll probably never be a full blown minimalist, I’m excited to see where this minimalism journey takes me.

What’s Next 

Europe is right around the corner and I couldn’t be more excited! Our days outside of London are very scheduled but our days in London our completely open so if you have any suggestions on food, tea, bookshops, and entertainment, send them my way!

On April 2nd, come see me at Your Story: Branding and Marketing in Miami. I’ll be giving a speech on branding and following it up with some actionable content for attendees. I would love to see you there!

 

Word of the Year

Picking a word of the year has become a popular alternative to a regular resolution at the start of a new year. In previous years, I have gone this route because I love the idea of focusing on a word and bringing that word into all aspects of your life. Last year my word was passion. My year was incredibly challenging and keeping passion at the forefront helped me make it through. There were times when I lost sight of my WHY and when those times came, I focused on passion and found my way through.

This year I have decided to focus on…CONFIDENCE!

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I want to have more confidence in myself, in my appearance, in my abilities, and in all aspects of my life. I want to trust my instincts more and stop second guessing myself. I know what is right for me and I need to be confident enough to believe and remember that all of the time. I want to trust my talents and stop hiding them from others. If I excel at something, I want to share that with others. I want to have more body confidence and never compare myself to anyone else again. I want to be confident when leading others. I want to embrace confidence in all areas of my life. I want to radiate confidence out so strongly that I inspire others to be confident.

Cheers to a new year!

Thanksgiving in Connecticut

After my Grandfather died, the idea of doing a traditional Thanksgiving no longer appealed to me. Last year, John and I went to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, a parade that I watched at my grandparents’ home every Thanksgiving morning growing up (and well into my 20’s). Seeing it live last year was a wonderful experience and one that I will never forget. John and I thought about attending the parade again this year and when we booked our long trip up north, it was what we had in mind. I am so happy that we decided to go with another option.

Upon finding out that we would be in the city for Thanksgiving, my brother Ben’s boyfriend, Matt, invited us to join his extended family for Thanksgiving in Connecticut. At first we planned to attended the parade and then catch a late bus to Connecticut with the hope that we would be there in time for dinner. However, after meeting some of Matt’s family in Massachusetts at the beginning of our trip and finding out how incredibly kind and inviting they are, we decided to go up a day early with Matt and Ben.

After spending Wednesday in Madison, Connecticut, we headed to Old Lyme for Thanksgiving. The lovely home we had Thanksgiving dinner in was built before 1805. The wood beaming, original fireplaces, and beautiful wood floors were warm, inviting, and full of historic New England charm. In between sips of warm cider, football game shenanigans, and a visit to a historic graveyard nearby, I captured as much of the house as I could. By the time most of the food was finished, I had put my camera away but I did manage to capture the amazing pumpkin pie that Matt’s cousin made before I stepped out from behind the lens.

Even more impressive than the historic home and delicious food was the amazing New England hospitality. I know that the South is known for being hospitable but I now believe that Southerners have nothing on New Englanders. I’ve never felt more at home and at ease in a place I had never been, with people I had never met. Matt’s extended family is filled with some of the kindest, most caring, and hilarious people that I have ever met.

My favorite Thanksgiving moment was about halfway through dinner when one of the elder uncles shared what he was most thankful for and inspired half of the other family members to share what they were thankful for as well. Matt thanked everyone for being so loving and supportive of him and it was hard not to get a little misty eyed. After a tough year politically and socially, those of us in marginalized groups that have support are more thankful for that support than ever. It felt wonderful to spend Thanksgiving with people who are accepting and supportive of who I am, and all types of people. I can easily say that I haven’t enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner so immensely since both of my grandparents were alive. I can only hope that John’s performance on the football field and my awesome conversational skills have earned us an invite for next year’s festivities.

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30 Things I’m Grateful For

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Considering we were traveling the second half of the month and things have been a bit crazy with work the first half of the month, I didn’t manage to keep up with 30 Days of Gratitude for the first time in years. Even though I didn’t keep up with my daily gratitude posts, there is so much to be thankful for. Here are the 30 things I am most thankful for today.

❤❤❤

John ⚡ Family ⚡ Friends ⚡ Travel ⚡ Books ⚡ Music ⚡ Sweater Weather ⚡ Hot Tea ⚡ Good Health

Photography ⚡ Tiny Notebooks ⚡ Art ⚡ Activism ⚡ Modern Medicine ⚡ My Bed ⚡ Hugs ⚡ Yoga

Animals ⚡ Bloggers ⚡ Baristas ⚡ The Internet ⚡ Fall in New England ⚡ Fresh Baked Brownies

Kind Strangers ⚡ Melanin ⚡ My Curly Hair ⚡ Harry Potter ⚡ Words ⚡ Rainy Days ⚡ Warm Blankets

 

 

We The People

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Like the rest of the country, I was looking forward to the media spectacle centered around the election to be over. I couldn’t wait to check my social media streams without hearing the latest racist, sexist, islamophobic, homophobic, xenophobic statement to come out of Donald Trump’s mouth. Attending a rally days before the election and having the honor of hearing our President speak live left me feeling excited for our future and inspired about what is to come.

So, you can imagine my horror when the results started to go downhill on election night. Before I went to bed, my brother, Ben called me. I told him I love him and I’m sorry that our country is making decisions that will most likely have a negative impact on our lives and may take away some of our freedoms. He told me that everything will be okay and we would get through it together.

I went to sleep at 1:30AM because I was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. John held me tighter than usual as I drifted off. The next thing I knew, he was quietly saying goodbye to me and kissing me before heading off to work. When I heard the front door lock, I reached for my phone. I had never seen so many notifications in my life. Trump’s name was all over them. I put my phone back down, pulled my blanket over my face, and sobbed into it. The hateful words from his campaign rushed in and out of my mind as I cried loudly. My sadness and despair was incredibly intense yet short lived. All at once, my fear was replaced with determination, I jumped out of bed and got to work.

Many people have fought to get us to where we are right now. I’m sure they wish our progress was further along at this point and I don’t want their work to be done in vain. I refuse to give up my rights or sit by and watch while others have their rights stripped away from them.

Every day I set a goal of five actions that work towards making America a safer, happier, more equal and loving place. Here are my five goals for today as an example.

  1. Message three people who are in marginalized groups to let them know I care and I am here if they need me.
  2. Make lunch at home and donate lunch money to RAINN.
  3. Spend at least 30 minutes reading and learning about the best ways to get involved.
  4. Apply to volunteer for the local chapter of the ACLU.
  5. Sit down for a meeting with Keep Her Safe founder, Sheri Dixon, to find out how I can be more involved.

 

Get these phone numbers to everyone you know and love. You never know who may need them.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline 1-800-656-4673

Trans Lifeline: (877) -565-8860

Trevor Project: (866)-488-7386

 

Donate what you can to these organizations. It doesn’t take much to make a difference. 

ACLU www.aclu.org

RAINN www.rainn.org

NAACP www.naacp.org

Black Lives Matter www.blacklivesmatter.com

The Trevor Project www.thetrevorproject.org

Planned Parenthood www.plannedparenhood.org

Keep Her Safe www.keephersafe.org

CAIR www.cair.com

Border Angels www.borderangels.org

The Young Center www.theyoungcenter.org

Resources and Expert Advice for LGBTQ College Students

Resources for Transgender College Students

College Scholarships for LGBTQ Students

Going forward, we must remember that Hilary Clinton won the popular vote, which means more people in our county believe in equality and kindness than hate. We also must remind ourselves that we have the right to organize, protest, and fight for a better future. As Americans, we have the right (and responsibility, as far as I am concerned) to be involved in politics and voice our concerns and opinions. Together, we can make a difference.

Uterine Fibroids 101

img_8233*Note: I am not a doctor. I’m just sharing my experience.

Previously I mentioned that I was recently diagnosed with a uterine fibroid. Under normal circumstances this wouldn’t be very good news but considering the alternatives that we thought we were dealing with, it was a much better outcome. Still, I have had a challenging, frustrating, and all around interesting journey learning about fibroids since I was diagnosed in August.

I’ve learned that many women (like myself) don’t have any major symptoms of fibroids so it can be hard to tell that you have them. I’ve also learned that they are incredibly common with the majority of women having them at some point in their lifetime (but not necessarily knowing it). While most doctors will tell you that you need surgery, most likely a myomectomy, this isn’t always the case. Most women who opt to have surgery end up dealing with fibroids returning over and over again. There have been cases of women getting three or more surgeries for returning fibroids. But if you search the internet, you will find what doctors won’t tell you, which is that most of the time, fibroids can shrink naturally through a specific diet.

There are some other options that are better than surgery like the Curvawave (which isn’t covered by insurance because ‘Murica) but diet is the way to shrink fibroids and keep them from returning over and over again. Fibroids normally occur due to an imbalance in your hormones. When you have an estrogen dominance, fibroids (as well as other issues) are more likely to happen. As far as changing your diet, it’s not as simple as eating healthy, it’s eating with your estrogen dominance in mind.

After meeting with a surgeon, I decided that surgery wasn’t the best option for me. I am trying my best to shrink my large fibroid holistically, but I am considering a Curvawave treatment in the future in case I have trouble shrinking it on my own. Either way, I plan to eat a balanced diet that blocks estrogen and aids my liver in filtering out access estrogen for the rest of my life.

If you get diagnosed with fibroids, don’t freak out. First, go to see your OBGYN if another doctor has diagnosed you. Do not let them talk you into CT scans and MRIs like my doctors did. Your OBGYN will order an ultrasound to see your fibroid. (I can’t even tell you how mad my OBGYN was that my primary doctor and the surgeon I was sent to put me through so much unnecessary testing and worry. I have never seen a doctor more upset, which is how I know I’m in good hands).

Also, pay attention to signs that something is wrong in your body. For awhile I was having trouble losing weight. I was eating well and working on consistently, but I just kept telling myself that I wasn’t doing enough. I didn’t have any other symptoms of fibroids or even know that they existed, but the inability to lose weight is a direct result of my hormone imbalance. Had I not been so hard on myself, I would have been diagnosed earlier and maybe my fibroid would already be gone.