All in Inspiration

An Artist is Blooming: My Journey to Being a Creative

I did a thing today. I took another step in my creative journey. Well, my journey back to creativity. I spent years creating a life of stability, something I know stems from my childhood. My mother has a mental illness and could not raise me and my father was absent so my grandparents raised me. My grandfather died suddenly from a heart attack on a Sunday night. I was nine. Four years later, my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and lost our family home to foreclosure. We had to move and my grandmother needed a caregiver.

Facing Fear: From Sitting in the Audience to Performing at Blues Alley in DC

This isn’t about the singer Dareise…yet, she’s still emerging. This is about the journey to earning that moniker, fully and respectfully. It is an ode to fear. That scary monster under the bed, that when you finally take a look under the covers hanging down and camouflaging the unknown, you realize is an old forgotten stuffed teddy bear highlighted in darkness to be your worst enemy, but is in fact an ally. A clarion call for action, energy and dedication to your gift.

A Conversation With: Emelda De Coteau, Founder of Women Creatives Chat & Podcast 'Pray with Our Feet'

A few months ago, Emelda De Coteau, founder of the community Women Creatives Chat and the podcast Pray with Our Feet started a series called “Creating through COVID-19,” which includes live conversations with women creatives who talk about how to embody gratitude, cope with mental health challenges and how to be mindful about physical and mental wellness during the pandemic. As a member of this remarkable community of diverse women creatives, I can attest to the power it has had on me in supporting my goals as a creative while also providing a platform for us to share experiences, advice, encouragement and expertise to aid in each other’s growth.

My Thoughts on 3 of Oprah's Rules for Success

I understand now, more than ever that I must stay on a frequency of positivity, faith and abundance with my thoughts to create the life of peace, freedom and creativity that I want. This rule is absolutely true: everything we have and do, starts with our thoughts. If you don’t believe that, take a moment to think about something you have in your life and then trace it back to its origin. That seed you planted was a thought that you watered to make it a reality. That’s why it is important to water those thoughts that will create the life you want.

A Written Reflection: Dear 17-Year-Old Me, I’m Glad You Took that Advice

Year seventeen was an interesting one for me, as I’m sure it is for all teenagers. There was a lot I knew about myself and had come to believe about myself. I knew I was a writer. My aunt, who’d helped raise me (and read my diaries and poetry without my permission, Lol), told me I was a few years prior, and by that point I believed it. I loved to write and could trace that love as far back as the second grade. But there were a lot of things I didn’t know and didn’t take seriously; school was one of them.

3 Tips to Deal with Writer's Block

If you’re a writer, you know the frustration of hitting a place where you just can’t write. The dreaded Writer’s Block gets to all of us writers from time to time. Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines it as “a psychological inhibition preventing a writer from proceeding with a piece.” Writers know that this includes not even being able to come up with an idea for a piece. So, how do you deal when you’ve hit a writer’s block? I’ve got three tips to help pull you out of that space and into the flow of words and ideas.