​I can’t help but look at Emily’s early years on Love & Hip Hop. The mother of three was always very private and seemed to only confine in her friend, Chrissy (girlfriend of rapper, Jim Jones). Even when talking about Fab on the show, she never seemed elated but more reserved and nervous (which is a sign of abuse). Fabolous never boldly claimed Emily in public and also never gave her at least the bare minimum of a wedding ring after 8+ years and two kids. It wasn’t until Love & Hip Hop NY began until people really knew about this woman who has been in the background the majority of his career. Fabolous, at this point, is coming off as the dude who knows he ain’t shit but is leading this woman on with false hope. For years we looked at Emily as the dumb woman who’s just a long-term girlfriend but did we ever consider why? Did we ever consider that she could’ve been held hostage for this long? Abusive people are known to be able to manipulate their victims to get them to stay.

​We put these celebrities that we grew up listening to on a pedestal but we have no idea what goes on behind closed doors. We don’t know the real them. Even Trey Songz still had the fans still take his side without looking at the details and developing their own opinion after his recent domestic abuse allegations. R. Kelly is another infamous character who has had COUNTLESS allegations of sexual misconduct throughout his career but we’re still stepping in the name of love at our cookouts.

​Fabolous has kept this woman silently screaming for help in the dark for years while he lived his best life for all of us to see. When will the black community finally punish the men who have battered women?

It’s one thing to make a sale but to gain a customer is the real task. The reason why businesses like ShoeDazzle and Ulta are flourishing are because they know how to make their customers feel comfortable with spending money with them. For example: one of my favorite entrepreneurs, April Divah Styles of Divah Glam, treats all of her customers like family. It’s unique to see this with companies, especially in this hair overly saturated hair industry.

Now, I’m about to put my business owners on game. A tool most of these companies use is Artificial Intelligence. Honestly, this is how Amazon gets me every time. According to MarTech Advisor, the personalization on Amazon makes up for about a third of their revenue. Like in a relationship, you won’t be with a man who’s telling a million girls the same exact thing right? Take that & flip it into your business. Make the customer feel like you’re selling something to them and not 100 people at once. Companies like Sentient Technologies can help small businesses combat this.

​Here’s a statement from the company their self!

“Sentient tracks data in real time from customers by tracking their clicks, scrolls, and engagement. Sentient then personalize or customize sites using their Aware tool to operate in a way that is most effective for them. This is true for every customer so that each person has a unique experience that speaks to them.”

Odd numbered years are always my favorite and 2017 is no different. I really felt like this year, I grew. I entered my junior year of college, turned 20, spent my first summer away from home, got my first car and of course I extended my resume (it's popping. I'll give y'all some tips if you want). Aside from all the highlights, I learned so much about myself as a woman. There are 6 lessons that I felt I needed to highlight in particular because these were personally the most important

Being selfish was the biggest lesson for me. People who personally know me know that I am a giving person and I give people chance after chance to fix what they’ve done to me. Being selfish was hard to me because I felt like what if that one time I choose me, they change? If you’ve had the same dilemma, don’t think too much about it because you’ll just talk yourself out of the right thing to do. People will come around if they genuinely want to. Because I care so much about everyone who I consider a friend, went people betray me I tend to act off of emotion. I’m going to be real with y’all, I would really fight people over stuff like that because I don’t like when people cross me. But because of the person I am and who I want to be, I have to learn when to walk away

This might’ve been the hardest thing for me as someone who “wears their heart on their sleeve”. Although I’ve had an all around great year, I’ve went through some of the most trying times of my life as a woman and I had to deal with it by myself. Handling things with grace and not emotion was the lesson that I needed in the worst way.

Some arguments I've gotten into with people is because I took the word of someone I trusted before looking at things from my own eyes. Because of that, I may have burned bridges with people who really meant well. But everything that's done in the dark will come to the light. I've learned to develop my own understanding before reacting. 

You can't avoid the truth forever. You're going to have to face it one day or another. Being brutally honest with yourself is never easy.

I hope this didn't give you "New Year, New Me" because it's not. I'm not new, I'm improved and always improving. 24/7, 365. 

As some of you may know, I am the Assistant Director for the non-profit organization, HBCU SpotlightTV. Our founder, Ventress Johnson, is from one of the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. Ventress, myself and the HBCU SpotlightTV family, wanted to come together to create a relief fund for Harvey victims. Please donate visit our website hbcuspotlighttv.com/prayforhouston and donate to our Go Fund Me. Proceeds will be going DIRECTLY to the people.

My organization at school, Women of Distinction (located on the campus of The University of Maryland Eastern Shore), will be setting up a drive for clothing and toiletries to donate to Harvey victims as well. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me (via Instagram, email, or the contact section of my website)

It has finally launched! I'm so proud to introduce my baby Black Blogger Chick. Basically, I'm not trying to be like everyone else. I'm redefining a "blogger". When you read this blog, don't look for what you see from everyone else. I want for my readers to read every post in my voice like I'm really talking to you. It has taken me awhile to grow into my style of writing and in general just want I really want to do with my website and Black Blogger Chick was the product of those thoughts.

I can't even begin to describe everything that I want to do with this site because we'll be here all day but I just want to say THANK YOU for supporting, reading, visiting. It's all love on this side.