Fro Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2013 - Bloggers, Brands & Brunch

Bloggers, Brands & Brunch is an event that is a part of Fro Fashion Week.  It brings together bloggers/vloggers who are at the top of their game in the Social Networking industry with up and coming bloggers who are just getting started or who are interested in knowing more about building their brands.  This year's Guest Speaker was none other than the fabulous Chary Jay.  Chary Jay is a You Tube all star who showcases her gorgeous face and natural tresses through her VERY popular YouTube Channel 160Days2Lose2.  Chary Jay has over 50k subscribers and has it all figured out when it comes to building your brand and growing your audience.  The setting for this brunch was the spacious Twisted Oaks restaurant located in the lobby of the Marriott Perimeter Center where the rest of the Fro Fashion Week festivities were being held.

@VarietyCurls

@CocoaReport & @NaturalHairintheMedia

Kinky Hair Affair

Fro Fashion Week CEO and Blogger's Brands & Brunch host Ms. Tarin Boone introduces us to the guest speaker, Chary Jay.





Here are a few of the key points that Chary Jay touched on during her keynote address:

Make sure that you are fresh!

There are so many bloggers and vloggers out there.  Be sure that you presenting something unique and new.

Be honest!

Make sure that you are honest from the beginning and that you come across that way in your vids and posts

Collaborate with others!

Whether its other You Tubers or other Bloggers collaboration is a good way to stay fresh and promote your brand

Have Fun!

Remember to have fun doing what you do.  Don't take yourself too seriously

Chary Jay gave many other tips of the trade and also advice.

Chary Jay

Some of the Brands that were in the house were Curls Unleashed and JessiCurl.  There were many of Atlanta's top bloggers there as well.  Bringing them all together for this brunch was genius.

You Tuber Black Onyx was there representing her Alikay Naturals Product line.

I learned so much from Chary Jay and really had a great time socializing and networking.  Fro Fashion Week has many components.  Blogger's Brands & Brunch is one of my favorites.

Click Here for the entire Fro Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2013 recap.
Click Here to see all of the pics from Bloggers, Brands & Brunch

Have you ever attended Fro Fashion Week?  If so, what was your favorite part?

Recap ~ I Love Me Because... I'm Different!

Memories of the I Love Me event still linger with me as I type this post.  I can still see all of the smiling faces and I can hear the excited voices of all of the kids that were in attendance.  I am so thankful to Julia Davis of Truchatonline.com for allowing me to plan and co host this event with her.  I Love Me events are her brainchild and have been a part of Fro Fashion Week since 2012.  All of the kids had a wonderful time there were even some grown kids who joined in on the fun!

Motivation!  These are the signs for the photo booth.  Positive words evoke positive behavior.  Each child also wore name tags that reflected positive words instead of their name.

Black History Heroes presentation.  Everyone who participated by reading about a Hero outloud received a prize!  Reading out loud teaches the child how to speak publicly.  It gives an opportunity to pronounce and enunciate words.  Reading out loud about a Black History Hero instills pride and also learning.  

Fitness! Zumba Instructor Amia Freeman spoke to the children about loving themselves and followed with a short Zumba session.  Fitness is very important to keep minds healthy &  fresh!

It's OK to be Different!  Jessica McGinty Ceo of JessiCurl and Tarin Boone CEO of Naturally Me Media and creator of Fro Fashion Week spoke to the kids about self esteem.   Hearing adults reflecting on things that they too had to deal with as kids made the kids understand that they could overcome adversity. 

Positive Play!  Promoting self love and esteem through positive play has been a key part of every I Love Me event.  Here we see a mom assisting her child by decorating a face that looks like hers.  

Prizes & Give Aways! Throughout the event prizes were given away from Our Natural Kids, Curl Collection, Fro Fashion Week and TruChatOnline.com.  Each kid also received backpacks filled with hair product samples from JessiCurl and Shea Moisture plus MUCH more!

We really had a great time celebrating these children and showering them with love and attention.  I hope they never forget this day.  I know I wont.

Click here to see more pics! ~~~>  Pics from I Love Me Because I'm Different!

Thanks for reading.

Peace.

I Love Me Because...I'm Different!

"I Love Me..." events are the brainchild of Julia Davis of TruChatOnline.com.  Created to help promote self esteem for kids in a fun and safe environment. It is truly the celebration of children.  Each event comes with a different theme.  In 2012 my daughter and I attended two "I Love Me..." events:
"I Love Me and I Have the Right to Remain Curly" and  "I Love Me Naturally - A Pajama Party"
My daughter loved these events so much that I decided to join Ms Davis in planning and sponsoring the next "I Love Me...."  event.

In honor of children, natural hair, Valentine's Day AND Black History Month TruChatOnline.com and The SistahChick and Our Natural Kids presents... "I Love Me Because... I'm Different!"

This Fro Fashion Week sanctioned event will be held on February 28th, 2013 at the Smyrna Rec Center from 6:30pm to 9:30pm.  Here are just SOME of the activities that we have planned for the kids:

*Arts & Crafts

*Motivational Speaker

*Black History Month Heroes Contest 

*Self Esteem Building projects

*Zumba

*Vendors

*Give Aways

*AND MORE!

This is a FREE event!  Atlanta, Join us on 2/28 for a fun filled evening that focuses on the kids by teaching them to celebrate their uniqueness!

Register a spot for your child today!  

http://www.truchatfrofashion.eventbrite.com/

Thanks for reading.

Peace

Fro Fashion Week Fall 2012

I wanted my last post of 2012 to be about something that I know, love and am glad to be a part of....  Fro Fashion Week - Atlanta.  Fro Fashion Week is an Atlanta based event that is the brain child of Ms. Tarin Boone.  It is a bi annual week long celebration of natural black beauty.  Since its inception, founder Tarin Boone has taken special care to showcase not only the beauty of African American women, but also to promote black business and networking along with fashion and entertainment.  I have been attending Fro Fashion Week since Fall 2011 and I am honored to have been selected as a Lead Press Supporter for the last  2 installments of this event (Spring 2012 & Fall 2012).  PLUS I just found out recently that I have been selected as Lead Press Supporter again for Fro Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2013!!  Being a Lead Press Supporter gives me front row and backstage access to ALL of the components of the event.  Please enjoy just a few of the many moments that were captured during the Fall 2012 show!!

Fro Fashion Week plays host to MANY beauty professionals and products lines and brings you the best workshops available:

The Blogger's Brunch is one of the many highlights of Fro Fashion Week.  It brings together subject matter experts and bloggers who interested in growing their personal brand into a money maker.  Fall 2012 brought us the guru behind MattieOlogie.com Mattie James.  We learned so much.  A key piece that stood out to me was her definition of how to use your VOICE as it relates to blogging/branding.

V ~ Verify if this is really what you want to be doing!  You need to love this to be successful at it.
O ~ Offer yourself on a silver platter to your audience!  give them your best & they will respond!
I ~ Invent yourself!  Your blog may start out being one thing and end up being another. (It's ok!)
C ~ Challenge yourself
E - Expect to Win!!

We were all very inspired!

After a long and exciting day of activities, seminars and Bloggers Brunch, its time to let our natural hair down at the Fro Fashion Week Penthouse party!!  The Penthouse at the Melia hotel has the entire Atlanta City Skyline as its backdrop.  The view is amazing at night!!

Last but certainly not least there is the fiercest fashion show out there and the grande finale of this culmination of fashion and natural beauty.

Fro Fashion Week Founder Tarin Boone (right)

I hope that you enjoyed the recap.  for more on Fro Fashion Week, please check out http://frofashionweek.com/  

To see more pics:

Penthouse Party!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.414170541972211.118626.170493373006597&type=3

Bloggers Brunch!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.412952262094039.118251.170493373006597&type=3

Workshops

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.411450592244206.117887.170493373006597&type=3

Fashion Show:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.436450499744215.123159.170493373006597&type=3

To see more of what you have been missing check out my previous Fro Fashion Week Blog Post!

Previous Fro Fashion Week ReCaps

I hope that you have had a joyous 2012 and wish you a prosperous 2013.  Thank you so much for showing your support by reading my blog this year.  Please come back often!

Peace!

I Love Me Naturally ~ Fall 2012

I Love Me, Naturally is an empowerment event for girls presented by TruChatOnline.com.  Sanctioned as part of Fro Fashion Week Fall 2012 this event focused on our young divas.  I am a HUGE fan of natural hair related events that I can attend with my daughter.  "I Love Me..." does not disappoint.  As a matter of fact, I am not sure who had more fun, me or my child!!    It was set up as a really fun pajama party and we had a ball!

Julia of TruChatOnline.com telling us about all of the fun things she has planned for us!

Motivational speaker and encourager @GeechieGurltm had some great icebreaker activities for us to participate in.  She talked to the girls about birthing ideas and carrying them through to fruition in a fun way.

Fro Fashion Week creator, Tarin Boone spoke on the importance of celebrating our little divas as part of the excitement, glitz & glamour of Fro Fashion Week.

We did arts and crafts.  All was geared towards African American girls.  There was a diverse set of crafting materials available.

As one of the sponsors of this event, my LittleChick and I got to pick the winner of the RunwayWalk,  We chose this little cutie and presented her with a gift bag full of goodies on behalf of Our Natural Kids!

Jess McGuinty, CEO of JessiCurl, is always a hit with the kids.  Not only did her company sponsor giveaways for this event but she also spoke on the troubles that she had as a young girl because of her thick, curly red hair.

She made sure that everyone had temporary tattoos of the JessiCurl logo.  here they are showing them off!

Thank you to Julia of TruChatOnline.com, Tarin Boone of Fro FashionWeek, JessiCurl and GeechiGurlTM plus all of the attendees for showing us all such a wonderfully fun time!!

For more pics check out our FB Fan Page below

The SistahChick & Our Natural Kids