"From as long as I can remember I've always wanted to write. My mother taught me to read and write very well before I started school. My birthday gifts were always books and I was always thrilled to receive them. I didn't grow up watching a lot of television so even today I'm still behind on shows that people my age group grew up watching.  Like others, during my teenage years I wanted to fit in and I wanted to be seen. Looking back at it now I can just smile at it because of the growth that has brought me to the woman I am now. We all have things that we are passionate about and mine happens to be poetry. It isn't the most glamorous nor is it filled with expensive accolades but it is what I want to do. In the darkest of times in my life poetry has always been there and I can honestly say that if I didn't have my poetry I wouldn't be here today. We live in a world where people do just about anything to be noticed but I rather have my words be memorable and

Apparently, people are very preoccupied with hair these days. If you choose to relax your hair you are perceived to be ashamed of your black heritage and if you choose to keep your hair natural you are classified as being unprofessional, I've heard individuals speaking about how we don't like rules and we are turning away from how things were. Not because something was established in the olden days means it is still applicable today or holds any form of merit. In schools, children are being turned back simply because their hair is deemed unsuitable and that is simply a shame. When you send your children to school you send them to get an education and to grow as an individual but as parents you need to remember that schools will try to recondition what you have implemented at home. If a school tells a child that she should straighten her hair because her natural hair makes her look untidy the school is telling your child that her natural state is unsuitable and in order t

Growing up many of us were told that our natural crowns weren't beautiful. From a very young age many of us were told to idolize those deemed to have 'pretty hair'. When I speak about natural crown I don't speak about just our beautiful natural hair but our natural way of thinking. It is important to be proud of how we were naturally created by our maker but it is even more important to be proud of our natural way of thinking and to strive to not be corrupted by what society believes to be acceptable. I want to appeal to my young queens that they should never alter their souls to fit in with the norms of society. My queens, be proud of what makes you different and be proud of the natural you. Those who see the beauty in the natural you appreciate them and those that don't simply ignore them and continue on the natural path. We should never have to apologize or change how we were naturally created because we were created for that purpose and we are all naturally beau