Serenity, serenity people..hope you all are having a day with a sense of serenity:)
Apart from the daily power outages , today was buzy and quiet:)
On today's post discover the beautiful sense of fashion of Egyptian designer,Marie Bishara, the first fabulafricana to internationally showcase Egyptian fashion talent:)
'Till tomorrow & remenber that if today was not an easy day for you ,
As a little girl in Cairo , Marie found joy playing with fabric pieces, probably dreaming of following in the footsteps of her father a Textile King in Egypt. She pursued degrees in graphic ,fashion & textile design between Cairo and France.Marie had the chance to study under the Cacharel,Thierry Mugler and Balmain fashion houses before throwing herself in the game of haute couture. She's the first Egyptian designer to showcase her work internationally in some of the biggest fashion cities of the world.
What makes this Egyptian fabulafricana stand out is her appreciation and knowledge about textile, texture & volume.In the image of her mother who's always been sharp, Marie wants to convey a message of elegance, feminity and confidence through her designs. She speaks to the woman who's going to work, the woman who wants to get ready for a special evening, the woman who wants to wear a beautiful semi-modern caftan..bref you get it, she wants to dress all kinds of women:)
I hope all is good with everyone, hope you are all having a beautiful and productive day, that you've had the time 2 laugh with a friend (hey miss Amy), or chit chat with a special person in your life whoever that may be. Today's lesson is that I have to accept is that we are all very different in the way we handle hard situations, my perception will be different from yours and vice versa and that's what makes a beautiful world like this colorful palette of food garnish. I can be very stubborn in my thinking that people should think the same way as I do..but thanks to good friends and family I am learning that c’est la difference qui est jolie as Salif Keita says it best. On today's post you'll discover some cool organic and beautifully packaged products by the Budha Nose Line and a cool Nigerian electro pop singer, miss Nenna Yvonne..
Enjoy your day and if it's not a good one, remember that it is what it is and tomorrow is another day :)
I'm a girly girl; I love cute and beautiful packaged beauty products such as the Buddha Nose Bodhi organic products. Amy Galper started her business to provide organic products that would encourage women to stay still and respect the well being of their bodies..(Speak the truth sista, speak lol)
The Buddha Nose Bodhi Line is popular for their collection of moisturizing balms For example, the calmness balm can be used on a adult or a child to relax him, some of the key ingredients are: organic lavender, rose geranium, organic jojoba oil...
Apart from the balms, you can also find salts, scrubs & body sprays. Once again it's the same exact concept, each salt, scrub & spray is given a name and the appropriate ingredients are used to evoke those sensations...
I really like this concept, haven't tried them yet but can't wait to :)
This Nigerian girl who conquers daily the concrete jungle of NY where she attended one of the most prestigious local art high school, has been making her way on American airwaves and on the internet with a bang. Her sound is poppish meets electro dance with a dash of soul, hip hop and even a bit of country...
The 21 years old singer/songwriter is proud of her Nigerian roots, even better even though she grew up in the states she has travelled to her home country a few times over the years. Nenna has appeared in some editorial and ads for urban fashion brands such as Akademics and Rocawear.
A star on myspace already, Nenna was selected as 1 of the 10 final finalists for the Toyota/Myspace contest.
With the help of her musical partner & bestie D-Tox Wisniewski, she was smart to reach out to her fans directly on the internet , it is obvious that the future of the music industry lays there. I myself discovered her on YouTube so upcoming singers out there, do not sleep on the power of the viral media:) Her EP is def' full of club -bangers, word on the street was that one of her songs would be used on MTV show "The City". With her sexy and avant-gardiste sense of fashion, her fun and catchy lyrics of women empowerment and freedom, the productions by D Tox, her writing skills in French Italian & German I know that this is just the beginning for this fabulafricana. Dance and pop music will never die therefore she's welcome to bring something new to the musical scene. If you are still unsure about this pretty and talented young thang, know that she even graced the stages of Canargie Hall and the Julliard Institute, not bad hun:)
Hi guys it's been a while, I hope wherever you are, you are L.I.V.I.N.G your lives the way you want to:) So here I am back on my personal space on the web facing my fears, wondering if what I'm doing is relevant with the birth of so many blogs (which is a great thing by the way), wondering if I will still be able to write about you fabulafricanas...but I'm in love with y'all so I guess I can't stop:) So I'm challenging myself to 365 days of straight discovery and sharing with you guys on this spot...nervous as hell but excited at the same , this shall be an interesting journey:) Today I hope that you'll be inspired by the journeys of photographer Leila Ghandi, social activist Rokhaya Diallo, entrepreneurAnn Kihengu, writer Dinaw Mengestu, singers Coco Van M & Sade to challenge yourselves to great work ethics and a life of passion. Ready set go!!..have an awesome day and if things are a bit difficult remenber that It is What It Is & Tomorrow is another day:)
A demain Inch'Allah:)
PS: Special shout out to you reader Boy Pullo, thanks for the sweet & encouraging email brotha, diaramaaa a 1000***
Strolling through one of our local bookstore of Dakar searching for the perfect Thursday afternoon read if there’s such a thing, but then again for a super- book- lover, everyday feels like the perfect day to chill on your bed and lose yourself through the interesting characters of a great literature piece.
I was first attracted to the colorful book cover of the “Les belles choses que porte le ciel” by Ethiopian American writer Mr Dinaw Mengestu. When I first entered the grocery store owned by the main character Sepha Stephanos, my own life was such a mess that I wasn’t focused enough and put it down forgetting about it somewhere in my dusty personal library which is bigger than it sounds lol.
This past week ,I remembered that I didn’t give enough a chance to my friend Sepha and entered once again his DC’s shop and this time I don’t know what happened maybe it was his mal- etre that was familiar to me, or his great description of the lovely DC area, the melancholia of his two African friends Joseph and Kenneth or perhaps the sweet sadness or confusion felt by his crush Judith or even the big eyes and the boldness of her daughter Naomi..I don’t know probably a combination of all these interesting facts but this time I wanted to stay in his store and even buy something from his dusty and dirty shelves to give some type of hope to Sepha.
As a former immigrant, it’s hard for me not to see a little bit of my own struggle or the ones that I love in his rift between America the Grand and a proud Ethiopia that he knows he will never return to. The author, a very intelligent well spoken young Ethiopian man who attended Columbia, a former recipient award winner in 2006 for a fictional piece did an awesome job making you feel empathetic towards Sepha. At some point I wanted to tell Sepha “get up live… live… live , you are here now in America this is your life stop asking yourself so many questions and run with this life , you’ve been here for 17 +years it’s time for you to simply live”. Sepha immigrated to America following the Ethiopian conflict which resulted in the arrest and killing of his father by the authorities, he moved in with his Uncle in an impersonal America.
In America he lives like a paralyzed man confronted to an impersonal America while living at first in a building crowded with Ethiopian habitants who chose to live the Ethiopian way. He later on finds the usual and necessary: a job, friendship but mostly companionship working at the hotel.
There he also finds the encouragements from his two companions of misery to pursue his dream of opening a grocery store in a predominantly African American neighborhood where he feels important and invisible at the same time until the arrival in the neighborhood of a Caucasian American woman Judith and her intelligent and rebellious 11 years Old Naomi.
Through these 2 generations of woman, rivers of uncomfortable sense affection and tenderness, feelings that had been missing from his life start flowing through him. The reverse side of this emotional knife reveals that he also has to deal the reality of what he became as a result of his financial poverty, his loneliness, gloominess and his emotional paralysis.
I loved this book because Dinaw described well the various difficulties immigrants deal with embarking on this journey, the economic precariousness some encounter, the loss of our illusions regarding Uncle Sam the Big the Beautiful, but also the gap between Africans and African Americans.
With all these challenges I didn’t know if I would be comfortable with the ending as I was getting near to it but … :)
Now that I finished reading this book I can’t wait to get my hands on his second novel: “HOW TO READ THE AIR”...as soon as I do, I’ll def’ offer my personal book review .
In the meantime if you have some free time on your hand I would suggest reading online an essay he wrote for the New Yorker called "AN HONEST EXIT”, by the way he was titled one the best authors under 40 by the New Yorker.(click on the title)
You can also check him out reading an excerpt of his first novel,HERE
Coco Van M is a 25 years old Togolese fabulafricana with a passion for music, a young woman who despite living in the maritime climate of Netherlands hasn’t forgotten the warmth of Terre Africa. I listened and watched her video for her first single “Blewu” and was impressed by the Togolese cultural touch in her video through the styling, the scenery, accessories ect. It’s clear with her choice of African rhythm and language that Togo is heavy on her mind. If you are more of an up-tempo type of music- lover her second single: Bye Bye with Ek Ayo might just do it for you. Def’ give it a try, I’m sure that we’ll hear more from and about this ambitious young lady
Here are the various places where you can keep in touch with our Togolese sis:
Each year, the Cartier Women’s Initiative salutes the courage of worldwide sistas, offering them the chance to 20 000 $, great mentorship program by seasoned business veterans, media exposure.
This year, Ann Kihengu representing Tanzania is one of the 3 African Laureates nominees, the winner representing each continent will be announced on October 15th.
This young woman had the brilliant idea of starting a business providing solar powered lamps and mobile phone chargers in Tanzanian. Living in Senegal I realize how crucial the problem of electricity is throughout Africa and Tanzania is unfortunately no exception to this problem.
PRIAN, her company was started in order to provide alternatives to kerosene lamps to Tanzanian people living in urban but particularly rural areas of Tanzania.
With PRIAN she travels to rural areas in order to train young unemployed people as well as high school students for them to become distributors of the D.Light products she sells through PRIAN.
This 27 years business owner is set to train and encourage young people to become entrepreneurs as well.
This could be the perfect trip to Timbiktu without physically travelling there. It’s inspired by a trip to Timbuktu by the perfumer in chef Mr.B.Duchaufour.
Honoring the traditional method of African encess that Malians are famous for, this perfume is made up of a mix of woodsy ,spicy and fruity scents. Some of the elements are mangoes scents,
