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Curls & Couture

This past weekend I met with my friend Courtney! 
We met up due to a total misunderstanding but as always (when you're my friend) somehow you end up in front of my camera and we make magic.  

I decided to ask Courtney a few questions because ... well because she is pretty awesome (as is her hair) and she's kind of a big deal!!!!  

 

Who inspires you?

 

There isn’t one individual person that inspires me but a collective of people that inspire me in different ways. It's cliche but without a doubt my family inspires me. They planted the entrepreneurial seed. Secondly, my friends and my followers. When I initially started blogging I wanted to reach and HOPEFULLY inspire other women like myself. Now, actually hearing women say that I inspired them inspires me. It inspires me to be better and to grow; it’s extremely humbling. Lastly, the wide range of content creators, especially women of color. Watching their platforms grow and witnessing the accomplishments and accolades they have received is nothing less than amazing.

 

 

What made you go natural?

 

I decided 6 years ago that I wanted to go natural. I was curious about my natural hair because I had a relaxer since I was 8 years old. My hair had always been long and thick but I knew without the relaxer my hair could be much healthier. At the time I made the decision to go natural I was in undergrad and I didn’t believe the weather and the water would be conducive to growing out my relaxer and still maintain healthy hair. A few years later I actually went through the transitioning process, which is an even longer story.

 

What do you want to give people?

 

I want people to be inspired. When I was transitioning someone told me I wasn’t the natural type and I didn’t know what that meant. I remember thinking “So being my natural self isn’t really me?” like WHAT? I knew I wasn’t the only woman who had been told something ridiculous like that and I wanted to reach other and tell them "Be you! If you think it’s dope, then do it, and slay it!” I also want to uplift women, especially young girls. Always reminding them they are beautiful and they are Queens.

 

Gotta love that in this world there are people that are genuinely caring and want to help.

Thank you Courtney! 


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individual.

I've recently made it a practice to walk around the city and shoot every and anything I find inspiration in.  You can imagine how many things I shoot on a daily basis now!!! 

One of the things that inspired me was this guy!! Shingy.  I was looking at his hair and had to say something to him.  We began to talk and immediately we hit it off.  Great energy!  Lia, his beautiful better half, joined in and the convo got even better.  We got deeper as we talked more and I told them I needed to shoot both of them together.  

The whole transaction happened on a rainy Soho street, while I am sure, everyone involved had "something else" they should've been doing... but instead, we took the time to stop and talk.  At a certain point, Shingy actually said those words to me "thanks for stopping us and speaking."  It is such a lost art.  What is more lost, the fact that we don't dare to be individual.  What made me stop and talk to them was the originality and individuality of the aesthetic.  It is liberating to freely express oneself and not give a crap about someone else's "system preferences".  

I was immediately reminded of a quote I'd heard a long while ago.  "Who wants to be normal in an insane place?"

This world is admittedly becoming more and more crazy... Do we really want to fit in? 
Why not be you?  Why not explore your individuality and share that with the world?  Why not celebrate our differences?  That's the true beauty of the world.  

Let the world experience the best you. 

BeDope.

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Vesna

We kept knowing the same people.  We were good friends on social media, and let's be honest, that is actually a thing nowadays... but we'd not met in person.  

Seeing someone's style on your little screen is one thing, but you can totally get let down when things get life sized.  Not at all the case here.  

Vesna and I decided to shoot... the night before the shoot.  I love shooting inspirational people, irrespective of how they inspire, she definitely lived up to it.  Three outfits, practical outfits that were all "her" and amazing and inspired at the same time. 

Of course, it kinda feels like cheating because she is a pro stylist and it's her job to make people look good, but that hasn't stopped people from dropping the ball when it comes to themselves.  

I asked Vesna how she got into the biz and she basically told me that it was a really organic thing.  People loved her style and it translated into her helping, inspiring people to be dope (sartorially speaking of course).  But that isn't it, we chopped it up and talked about all kinds of things and found that more than the actual clothing, the energy makes everything so awesome.  

So we decided... we will be working on more projects and more sartorial art to for you all!! 

 

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...

Currently...

Making the studio really nice again... and working with the team to bring you a lot of awesome stuff! :) 

 

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