Janelle Monae | "This is a reminder that I have work to do."

Did you catch Janelle Monae on the Black Girls Rock! 2012 Awards?? This is one of our favorite magic moments from the star studded awards ceremony honoring women of color. Monae says, "I didn't have to change who I was to become a Cover Girl... I've learned through my journey that perfection is often the enemy of greatness. Embrace what makes you unique, even if it makes others uncomfortable. I believe it is our uniqueness, and our unique ideas that make us rock."

To learn more about the Black Girls Rock! organization CLICK HERE. 

And to learn more about what INSPIRIT does to INSPIRE young girls, learn more about our PROJECT: Becoming.

Played by Words: Lupe Fiasco's Newest VIDEO

"Bitch Bad" is the latest from hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco. Don't let the title trip you up. Fiasco is making a point with his play on words - that we've all been played by words, and are all the more confused about who we are for it. In the words of Christal Brown, this video "speaks to the history and proliferation of minstrelsy, the social plight of young women, and the role that other artists like Lupe Fiasco can play in making change." As women artists who are in the business of social change, particularly with regard to developing girls into self-actualized women, "Bitch Bad" resonates.

What are your thoughts?

 

On Perseverance

When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
~Author Unknown

One of these days, we will be doing Project:BECOMING for adult women...the lessons that we try to uncover in our program for teen girls are universal and as I am sharing with these young women, I can't help but to also be changed in the process.

As we shared with the girls this week in our Project:BECOMING Harlem session, to be successful in life you've got to learn to persevere.

What stops us? The same things that stop them: being afraid, doubting our abilities, fears of not being inadequate but being powerful beyond measure.

In the past three years of my professional career as a dancer, I have seen many dancers come and go. Sometimes we think that we have to stop and get our life together. As Christal so loving pointed out to me this week, we should never have our lives TOGETHER! Otherwise, where would the greatest joys of life be? We would miss out on that amazing experience of figuring it all out. Learning and growing.

Perseverance is about feeling uncomfortable, making mistakes, being tired, doing too much, pulling back, growing taller in our spirit, finding out what works and letting go of what doesn't. We must learn how to do all this AND keep on going. Otherwise I would miss my whole life, trying to get it together.

Alexandra Joye Houston

Project:BECOMING this Friday!