PAD2014: Day 9

Taken at the airport with my older sister, before my flight back to Los Angeles. We clearly have a love for breakfast!

PAD2014: Day 8

Today's photo: grabbed lunch with my older sister at a hometown favorite!

PAD2014: Day 6

So I'm cheating, I'm uploading yesterday's picture halfway through today. Additionally, it's from a documentary I watched around 1 a.m. this morning, but, my rules!

This picture is a screen grab from a documentary titled "Somewhere Between," which follows the stories of teenage girls who were each adopted from China as babies or toddlers. It stuck out to me while scrolling through the documentary offerings of Netflix, and as someone who has always been interested in issues of race and cultural identity, I'm so happy I watched it! 

Each of the girls had different stories, and  it was interesting to watch them struggle to be empowered against the term "abandoned."

It was completely worth going to bed at 3 a.m. 

PAD2014: Day 5

Throwbacks. 

PAD2014: Day 4

Definitely cheating by posting this in the wee hours of day 5! 

Today's photo was taken at Town Center Cinemas, a $2 theatre in my family's old neighborhood. We take a trip there every once in a while for a family hangout. Spending time with my siblings has been the main theme of my winter break, and I love that! We even did a bible study on Isaiah 42 together earlier as well. 

PAD2014: Day 3

Today, I went to the Apple Butter Bakery, a new bakery/cafe/cake shop in Stone Mountain, my hometown.  

I fell in love. The treats were delicious, affordable and the shop itself looked like the dream of every rustic DIY-obsessed Pinterester ever, while maintaining a uniqueness. I love meeting local and young entrepreneurs because I love seeing passion put into action, in a way that can serve community. The bakery offers cake decorating classes and demonstrations and offers itself as a nice place to study or meet up with someone. There aren't enough locations like that in this area, so it's really exciting to see! 

Hoping to enjoy more of their deliciousness and ambiance in the future!

Mo

PAD2014: Day 2

Today, I made roasted potato chips with my younger sisters! I have taken a liking to rosemary so I use it quite often--over the summer, I developed a habit of putting dried rosemary over vanilla ice cream! 

We also experimented with homemade beauty treatments by making and using a  honey-and-sea-salt exfoliator, which proved successful. 

Here's to a day of DIY projects and sisterly bonding! 

Mo

We Are Called to the Everyday

Written 7.1.13

If there’s one thing God has revealed to me in past weeks, it’s that living a life for Him happens on a day to day basis.

I am someone who often dreams of and plans for the future, and thinks of each of my decisions and its’ significance for the rest of my life. This is not necessarily a bad thing; after all, we are called to live in perspective of eternity. However, it’s really hard to think of how I can live for God in the future, when I’m struggling to surrender my Monday to Him.

Perhaps you’ve experienced this?

I spent last week at an all-expense paid conference in New York City, as part of my scholarship with the Emma Bowen Foundation for Minorities with Interests in Media, as an Emma Bowen Scholar, I get placed at a really nice internship with Turner Broadcasting each summer, with a nice paycheck, and even better opportunities. During the conference, we attended seminars and networking events to meet and mingle with media executives from major companies, who understand the need for and value of diversity in the workplace. The program is highly selective, so you can only imagine how encouraging it was to hear people with dream jobs tell you that you’re on the ‘right’path.

Yes, it felt good, but I also felt convicted. (For one, whenever things are going too well, I tend to wonder if there’s a spiritual struggle I’m supposed to be overcoming that I’m not cognizant of. This is why the Spirit sends me articles like Relevant Magazine’s “The Importance of Having Fun.”) I feel a great passion for international development, and I’m increasingly made aware of social injustices around the world, from wealth disparities to women’s rights. My point of conflict is feeling like I need to decide to choose the media executive path, or the humble international worker, when God hasn’t told me that I need to choose either, at this point in my life.

During the conference, looking around at the other interns--well-dressed, high achieving students eager to establish connections and develop resumes-- I felt so…unsettled. I wrote in my notebook, “Jesus, why am I here?” Feeling the need for Him to tell me why He’d given me so much privilege, I sat waiting, wondering which of my mentors and friends would offer the best advice.

However, during the few days I was up there, I remembered a decision I’d made during summer conference with InterVarsity before I left school; to surrender to Him, daily. I was reminded that the most potent decisions a follower of Christ can make is not necessarily the big “Yes” moment that comes on an unexpected day, though it can be. It’s saying yes to the small things that happen each day, like being polite in the early morning although crankiness wants to take charge, or thinking about how articles I want to write will point readers to thinking of how they can love their neighbors, and grow their God-given gifts.

The conference was fun, and full of bonding with other interns, laughing and getting to know visiting professionals, and catching up with old friends who were interning in New York for the summer. I found that living my calling was not focused on how well I did during a marketing challenge presentation, but how I interacted with the other students on my team. It wasn’t about flying from place to place, but being able to have spiritual conversations and even pray for another intern I’d been getting closer to on the plane ride home.

Serving God in your career, or in life, means serving Him every day, and using the opportunities you’re given to let His character show through you. Whether or not I know the exact path my career will take, I can never get “there” if I don’t start by following Him faithfully here, and now. In fact, I’m actually convinced that my ‘career’ will be a combination of working with media, the arts and building international relationships that foster cross-cultural collaborations, which will bring light and justice to the women and communities all over the world that are close to my heart. I find things, and learn about people and organizations each day-literally, every day- that resonate strongly with this idea, and I’m sure that as I lean in and allow God to lead me, He will surely reconcile my passions and my purpose.

It all starts with me being faithful at each point I find myself in. On that note, back to being an intern at CNN Digital…I’ve got an article to write ;)

PAD2014: Day 1

 

Decided to start a Photo-A-Day project! This one is from 31 Bits, a jewelry company that uses fashion and design to empower women in Gulu, Uganda to rise against poverty, while gaining skills of self-sufficiency and developing artisanship. 

Around this time last year, I realized I still had a heart for the fashion industry (I used to be obsessed in case you couldn't tell from previous posts on this blog), although I'd slowly drawn away from it after not knowing how I could be in the industry as a follower of Jesus who values justice and global reconciliation. 

After watching "The Devil Wears Prada" one night, I got the feeling one gets after running into an old crush who things could have worked out with--so I prayed that if God saw it fit for fashion to be any part of my life, that He would bring it about, but I wasn't going to pursue  it for fear of being distracted. 

The next day, I found the social media profile of a woman who loved fashion, studied diplomacy at my university and felt called to empower women and girls as a follower of Jesus. Since then, she and I have become friends and we connected over 31 Bits. 

This company is one I many I've learned about that see an opportunity in the fashion and arts industries to mobilized for good. Now, I work for 31 Bits as a campus ambassador at USC and I'm constantly being inspired by similar initiatives that use something creative for international development. 

A lot of my 2013 involved being inspired by these types of social innovations, and my 2014 will likely be about putting my own ideas into action and helping others do the same. 

God answered my simple, honest prayer in a way that encourages me to trust Him with more of my hopes and plans, and to learn how to use them to spread His mission. 

Here's to a new year of dreaming big and chasing those dreams! 

I Am Not My Hair, But It Definitely Is A Part of Me

Wrote this in June, but didn't publish it until today.

In the few days I've been back home, I've already been receiving several mixed reviews about my natural hair. I'm so used to rocking it at school, I forget that people I grew up around haven't been there to witness my growth and transformation, especially the self-love I developed by wearing it naturally. Some love it and some quietly ask when I'm going to "do something to my hair," never mind the work and time it takes to twist and bantu-knot my hair, in order to unravel them each morning with a defined curl. At these, I'm learning to be patient and avoid easy frustration. One would think that the African community, especially women--especially Christians, would have a deeper appreciation for natural kinks and the confidence it takes to rock them, the way God designed them. Surprisingly, most of the ones that have helped rear me don't seem to have this perspective.

I could go on and on about black women and the political discourse that has become our follicles, and in fact I probably will with later posts. However one thing that I must say is that although I am not defined by my choice of hairstyle, the journey I have gone through (and honestly still exploring) to get the confidence to wear my hair naturally has been redefining for me. Realizing I don't need extensions to see myself has been liberating. In fact, I was recently at a beauty supply in my hometown to find a weave that would be "appropriate" for my upcoming corporate internship. I walked into the store with a 'fro  with curls defined by a fresh twist-out that I felt excited to debut. (Note: in my suburb of Atlanta, weaves are ubiquitous and so normally a part of the culture, I feel like a fish out of water.) In the beauty store amidst a sea of synthetic tresses, I felt like a contradiction. At the thought of finding some to attach to my own head, I surprised myself at the level of dissonance I was feeling.

I'd long imagined that I'd still wear weaves, even as a natural-haired woman. I consider it a protective style like the twists and braids I have no problem wearing, so I typically don't think much of it when I tell my friends (a lot of whom are not black or African) that I'll still probably wear a weave as a hairstyle at some point in my future. However, standing in that store, I couldn't fathom being okay wearing hair that didn't in some way remind me of how much God has grown me in inner beauty. Instead, I felt like I would be hiding something in fear of rejection…like I was doubting God's promise to never forsake me. 

At that point, I'd been texting two of my best friends and one encouraged me to simply get twists, which I'd earlier considered. With that--I had peace. I knew that being back home in humid Georgia would leave me too irritable to dealing with my hair everyday like I do at school in Los Angeles, so I had already made the decision to wear my hair in a protective style for the summer to make life easier. However, when face to face with a hair mannequin with Remy tresses in color 1B, I quickly realized that a weave felt like I was trying to be someone else.  Working up the courage to wear my natural hair straightened was a development, then blown-out, and even my current state, forgoing straightening/ stretching my hair after washing it. Each of these took crazy amounts of confidence and divine reassurance that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And even though the challenge of choosing hairstyles was external, the true battle was and is being fought deep inside me, unmasking the many lies that had been keeping me from experiencing true inner beauty worthy of a Proverbs 31 woman. 

Even now, I'd hate to make a definitive statement that I'm done with weaves forever, because I honestly don't know. What I do know is that I've come too far and still have complexities to work out before I can put one on again. The work that God is doing in me in response to how I thought I had to look in order to be beautiful is crazy and literally life-changing, and I don't want it to stop short. I'm learning how my beauty is first and foremost for an audience of  one: my Savior, and He's the only one I have to please, as well as the only one who can truly comprehend what it means for me to be beautiful; after all, He made me in His image!

Yes, I'm writing this post as a cathartic response to the first-full day I intentionally chose to wear natural hair to formal events in my hometown, amongst the close-knit and opinionated community of Nigerians I grew up with. Still, it's also a reminder for me to remember that I truly am not my hair, so I don't have to try to meet cultural standards by changing my hairstyle  so I feel un-judged in my environment. I have God-given freedom to choose whatever I think is beautiful for me, knowing that my true beauty comes from Him . Right now, it's a halo of kinky curls also known as an afro. In a few days, I'm hoping to try out the Senegalese twist trend that I've been eyeing for quite some time. In a few months, I might even color my hair--or cut it--or both! Embracing this freedom of personal style is just another way of choosing to become the woman I was created to be, regardless of  what whoever  else thinks of it.