I’m a Writer, Researcher, and Creator who is interested in how words, opinions, and careful design can shape our realities.

Black people have created a legacy of protesting the violent, abrupt beginnings and endings of our lives since this country’s inception. Yet, I ask you to reflect on the messages that artists have been painting, dancing, and photographing for years. Pay attention to how the years have progressed, but the theme of the work has stayed the same. Pay attention to how Black art is discussed and how it's viewed. Pay attention. Pay attention. Pay attention.

I have the face of an angel, a Texas hottie body, and a great personality (ha) so it should be easy to make something of these moments; the moments where I breeze past him in a cloud of Viktor & Rolf Sage Spell perfume and desperation, my lust barely disguised by my downward cast eyes every time we cross paths. I had the perfect opportunity to say something the other day: he was standing outside the station, casually dangling an unlit cigarette from his lips with one foot resting on the steps before him (yes, this really happened and yes, somehow I am still attracted). Maybe if I spent more time finishing YouTuber and Sexologist Shannon Boodram’s latest book, The Game of Desire, instead of watching Love After Lockup with my hands resting in my pants, I’d be able to make a move. The book covers the journey of five women as they traverse the Boodram’s phases in an effort to win the game of desire. Thankfully, she gave me a lot of good advice in the interview below too.

Dramatic fight? Check. Oscar-winning reaction on my behalf? Check. Hot water beating down the back of my neck in a subtle parallel to the internal beating I was taking? Check, check and check. Just imagine, two strong-willed and terrified young black women arguing in the middle of Oklahoma, trying to slam no-slam doors.

Every morning I wake up, roll back and forth like a roly-poly, and ensure that I am alive again. I wipe the sleep from my eyes and drag myself to the bathroom sink. I stare at myself, not terribly excited or disappointed that I still look how I look but filled with a purpose to complete one task if any: to make myself look like I just walked out of an editorial shoot, whatever that means that day. Sometimes it means eyeshadow that reaches up to dry, tumbleweeds-like edges or bare skin with an incredibly structured and complicated hairstyle that definitely took too long to do. My main goal in life is to constantly look like I’m on my way to a shoot and I know I’m not alone in that dream. Regardless of your editorial (or non-editorial) goals for the day, here are some very doable editorial-esque hair looks that can be achieved at home without four hours’ worth of effort.

One of the eternal struggles of humankind is finding happiness, and deciding what it means to us when we find it. At NBGA, we’ve partnered with Converse to examine what it means for us to be happy and to spark progress. The first thing that comes to mind is authenticity and that brought us to where we are today; sharing this story and the candid portraits of the individuals who let us into who they are.