The Empowerment Guide
As we close out this month, I think it’s absolutely necessary that we take stock of anything that we wanted to do this year and recommit ourselves to goals that may have been derailed by the chaos brought on by this virus. There’s space for us to to harness our power and re-direct our course. Let’s get excited and inspired to use the last few weeks to plan, coordinate, and execute into our strongest version in 2021. The competition is not with someone else, but always with your former self. Are you ready to bring out your next level of greatness? If you are, we have to ensure that we’re taking care of ourselves to the best of our ability. Many of us are wearing multiple hats, and because of that, we must nourish our minds, body, and soul with content and substances that fuel us and empower us to feel healthy and positive. I’m a firm believer that a huge contributor toward our moods, productivity, and overall well-being stems from the foods that we eat. Our nutrition and what we choose to feed our bodies is an act of love. Because of this belief, I have decided to work on eating clean and eliminating refined foods. I came out of Thanksgiving truly enjoying the family time and the food, but when I got on the scale, I litterally had not seen the numbers looking back at me on the scale. I won’t blame it solely on Thanksgiving, as it’s an accumulation of snacking for months while being at home and not moving as much. I quickly went into full search mode on how to detox from unhealthy eating and started learning about Anti-Inflammatory foods via blog posts and youtube videos. I learned that 70-75 percent of our immunity stems from our gut health. Furthermore, this information made me spring into action and now I’m experiencing a massive difference in my energy levels and my ability to focus. I don’t follow the recipe’s on these websites step by step, but they do inspire me to prepare meals that are similar in nature. I’m linking you to an Anti-Inflammatory blog post that provides a week’s worth of recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Hopefully, they will serve you with good ideas on how to make your meals healthier. Also, to ensure that I’m maintaining a higher level of activity throughout the week, I have been following Heather Robertson’s Free 12 week program. I love her workouts because they’re only 30 minutes and easy to do at home. If we want to empower and love others with the best possible energy, we have to empower our bodies, hearts, and minds.
This will be my last blog post in 2020 and it’s always my hope that my content empowers women to be whoever they want to be, and not fall prey to the beliefs others may have for them. And so you can receive this with love and clarity…DON’T ever let someone tell you who you are — it’s up to us to own our place in this world and how we want to show up.
To wrap up this blog, I wanted to highlight and empower a few women in the DMV area who are using their talents and skills to become exactly who they want to be. Also, I included a list of brands founded by women that operate with an empowerment lens. I hope you have a wonderful holiday break and step into the New Year with the directed energy to come out of 2020 stronger than ever before.
EMPOWERED DMV WOMEN
Martha Arcentales, a Washington DC based Celebrity Hair & Makeup Artist and Founder/Owner of BéNI Beauty began her career as a professional makeup artist in 2015. Makeup artistry has always been a long time passion of Martha. She quickly grew in the make up industry and turned it into a full time career, covering several award shows and celebrities such as The Latin Grammys, American Music Awards, Latin Billboards and Hispanic Heritage Awards (to name a few). Her education and certifications include The Aesthetics Institute in Vienna, VA, Master Class by Celebrity Makeup Artist, Mario Dedivanovic, and TNT Agency in Chino, CA with Celebrity Makeup Artist Alejandra Barraza. In her free time, Martha loves to spend her free time traveling with her husband-- their latest adventure taking place in Napa Valley, California and spending time with their three children--Noah, Tiffany and Jeremiah. You can find her makeup line @benimuadc on Instagram.
Marceia Cook offers unorthodox coaching that’s rooted in public speaking and media training. She helps entrepreneurs build their business and brand identity, expand their products and services, and coach them in representing the brand. She helps influencers and social entrepreneurs realize the additional potential there is in becoming a brand ambassador or spokesperson. She builds confidence and credibility as a speaker, and she improves the quality of your recorded voice. She is especially committed to supporting women experiencing the most extreme hardships in employment transition—providing low-cost, one-on-one coaching to those recently released from prison, those widowed, divorced, or exiting abusive relationships, retirees, those recently terminated or laid off, former military and relocated military spouses, along with recent graduations or separations from high school or college. You can find her @itsmarceiacork on Instagram.
The Luxe Brand is a luxury makeup and hair styling service founded by two dynamic women, a makeup artist and a hair stylist, with a combined 18 years of industry experience. As artists well-versed in all hair textures and skin types, The Luxe Brand takes pride in providing personalized and superior customer service. Whether it’s getting extra fly for a date night, or a pamper party for a girls’ night out...or in, or that all-important upcoming Zoom call, they’ve got you covered! Their specialty, however, is bridal. Nothing warms their hearts more than making brides feel beautiful on their wedding day! Let them come to you and give you and your #bridetribe the celebrity treatment for your special day! You can find @luxethebrand on Instagram.
AllureByRaquel is a hair and makeup styling service. She has a wealth of expertise, but her specialty is in taking care of textured hair. Her goal is to ensure that you look your best while keeping the integrity of your hair and skin. She enjoys empowering her clients by providing them with tips and tools on how they can keep their hair as healthy as possible. You can find her @allurebyraquel on Instagram.
Hair+Space Blowdry and Beauty Bar aims to provide an out of this world experience for the modern woman. Founded by Regina Holbert, a graduate of The University of Maryland and beauty connoisseur, the goal was to create a chic space that had the perfect chemistry of speed of service, luxury, and inclusion. Hair+Space is a beauty hub that caters to all women and prides itself on diversity and inclusion. Every ethnicity and every hair type can feel confident that they will get stellar service from a professional that knows their hair.
Kahmune was founded by Jamela Acheampong. After looking for pumps that would match her skin color and was unsuccessful, she made it a mission to make sure that all women have accessibility to “nude” shoes. She created a high-end brand for women in search of their “nude” by providing options that celebrate the diversity of shades across the globe.
Andrea & Robin McBride are half sisters who started the McBridesisters wine collection in 2010. This company has grown to be one of the largest Black-owned wine companies and leads with a strong emphasis to promote sisterhood amongst women on their staff and beyond. Their commitment to women advancement is reflected through their, “SHE CAN professional development fund,” that awards scholarships for women who want to grow in the wine industry. Their wine collections are titled, “Sisters, Black Girl Magic, & She Can.” I can’t wait to purchase or put it on my Christmas list.
The Lip Bar was founded by a woman who was tired of the industry’s lack of diversity, inclusiveness, and excessive use of chemicals. She decided to pursue her dream and provide makeup that would empower women with makeup that steps away from the standard looks and empowers diverse women to feel beautiful. Her business concept was rejected from Shark Tank, but she pressed on and now her products are available in more than 450 Target stores.
Shine In All Shades is a brand that empowers women of color to feel seen, celebrated, and loved with coloring book that captures beautiful women in all shades. It also provides affirmations, which serves as a feel-good activity that inspires and motivates.
Elia Fulmen is a line of beautiful jewelry that’s designed with empowerment theory as a guiding lens. This brand has studied empowerment for years and explains that there are levels: empowered people, empowered communities, and empowered actions and change. Their goal is to promote communities of empowered women who engage in actions that empower others.
Lastly, I want to send Elia Fulmen a huge thank you for my beautiful necklace, which came with the “Break That Ceiling” charm. I love it!! I’m inspired and filled with empowerment every time I look at it!
