Vineyard ICON Awards
The Vineyard ICON Awards on #MarthasVineyard is a really beautiful event. Kudos to Erin Goldson for curating such beautiful setting with amazing guests and honoring such amazing icons: Sylvia Rhone, Eric Holder, Dr. Sharon Malone and Tarrus Richardson.
The Brittney Griner Story
The Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival is a huge attraction for visitors to the island in August. I had a great time moderating a discussion on the upcoming documentary - The Brittney Griner Story - with Alex Stapleton who directed the film for ESPN Originals and Lindsay Kagawa Colas Brittney’s agent and EP. It explores the WNBA star’s rise to basketball fame, her harrowing 10-month detainment in Russia after being arrested for carrying vape cartridges with less than 1 gram of cannabis oil and the intense geopolitical campaign that led to her release. Thank you to my friends Stephanie Tavares-Rance and Floyd Rance who founded the festival. 🎥 Photo Credit: Arnold Turner
John Legend
I’ve known John Legend since the start of his career but, I didn’t know he had a dog food brand! In Martha’s Vineyard, I was invited by my friend Honor McGee to DOG DAYS OF SUMMER - a fun backyard reception (furry friends included) to learn about this venture with John and his colleagues at Kismet Pets alongside Dr. Kwane Stewart and Jay Lundy. 🐶
COCKTAILS + CONVERSATION
ART is the center of many gatherings on Marthas Vineyard. I had a great time at COCKTAILS + CONVERSATION benefitting the Dance Theatre of Harlem with the theater’s Artistic Director Robert Garland and acclaimed Visual Artist Mickalene Thomas hosted by Leslie Wims Morris. It was an inspiring conversation on the power of the arts to shape communities. 💃🏾 🖼️
Dining With Deb
This is the first time I have attended Dining With Deb on Martha’s Vineyard. Dining with Deb is an annual networking and empowerment experience for women leaders, creators, and influencers held on the island created by corporate executive Deborah Grant. 🤎
Spelman en Bleu
I loved celebrating with my Spelman sisters yesterday for a special celebration - Spelman en Bleu here on #MarthasVineyard. 🩵🤍 We welcomed our new incoming school President - Dr. Ayanna Howard. Thank you to our Trustee Colleen J. Taylor for hosting us at your beautiful home.
Happy Birthday, President Barack Obama!
🎂
MAGNOLIA Monthly
The August issue of the S.H.A.U.N. Foundation for Girls’ MAGNOLIA Monthly newsletter is here! Check out the latest! 💜 https://conta.cc/4wxiGu0
Divas With Disabilities
These are gorgeous women!
July is Disability Pride Month and as it comes to a close, I want to introduce you to an extraordinary organization called Divas With Disabilities.
One of the donors of the S.H.A.U.N. Foundation for Girls came to me with a very specific request. They wanted to give us a grant to support women of color with disabilities. So we went looking for the organizations already doing that work and I found @divaswithdisabilities
These incredible women are redefining what strength, confidence, and community look like. They are breaking barriers, celebrating their identities, and reminding all of us that disability is just one part of who they are and not the limit of what they can become.
That’s what makes the S.H.A.U.N. Foundation for Girls so impactful. We listen. We search. We connect generous donors with grassroots organizations that are changing lives every single day.
So Congratulations Divas With Disabilities on becoming a new partner of the S.H.A.U.N. Foundation for Girls! Keep investing in a woman’s dignity and opportunity and helping all women be seen and celebrated.
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Happy Heavenly Birthday, Dad 🎂
Happy Heavenly Birthday, Dad. 🎂 I love you and miss you so much. 🥲 I will always cherish our shared birthday parties that we had together celebrating that we were both born in JULY. (Remember when Toni Braxton serenaded you?!) I thank God he chose you to be my daddy. ❤️ 🕊️
Alayjah
RIP 🙏🏾 Friday was a tough day. We laid to rest my 21-year-old niece, Alayjah. 🕊️ Alayjah was my nephew’s daughter, my mother’s great-granddaughter. She was a real go-getter and really loved life. She was interested in the culinary arts and also worked as a daycare assistant. I posted this picture of us together when she was 10-years-old. Back then, she had recently had brain surgery for the debilitating seizures she had been suffering from since she was little. That eased life for a while however, not forever. Alayjah, our Love..Rest easy. #Forever21
Happy Birthday to ME! 🎂
Happy Birthday to ME! 🎂 On this special day, I will share this with you…In 64 trips around the sun, what I’ve learned about life is that we have to be our own center of JOY. This journey will have so many disappointments if our expectations are that other people are responsible for our happiness. My mother always says “That’s a blessing!” when even the smallest piece of good news is found in a bad situation. God can show up BIG TIME in the smallest ways. I have had so many blessings - countless ways that God has showed up for me. I believe that we are an extension of God’s hand. We have to be the light that we seek in this world. Another one of my mother’s sayings that I’ve adopted and I hope you do too is, when someone asks her how she is she’ll say “I’m BLESSED and HIGHLY FAVORED and getting better every day! 🙏🏾 🎉 Thank you, @cazandomemorias for the beautiful photos.
How I Spent my July 4th Holiday
❤️🤍💙