Fast forward to Saturday…… through our virtual introduction, Trina and I volunteered to be Mentors for the 3rd Annual “Project Butterfly” in New York. “Project Butterfly” is the” baby” of Aeshia De Vore Branch, founder of TeenDiariesOnline . Project Butterfly is a day of workshops that engages young woman of color, ages 13-22, to learn about wellness, fitness, diet and self-confidence. This years host was the incomparable Keri Hilson! She shared encouraging words with the young ladies about drive and self-confidence. We also learned an exercise dance to Keri’s song “Pretty Girl Rock” presented and taught by students of the De Vore Dance Center . It was so much fun! All of my old dance class memories came rushing back. I learned the choreography and rocked with the girls! I will be doing it as part of my ” Wellness Engagement”.
I met some WONDERFUL women as well! It was a grown up playdate for me. Founder, Aeshia De Vore Branch; a force to be reckoned with! Brains & Beauty! DJ Tyger Lilly; rocking the turntables and sharing her dj skills with the girls. Shout out to Tyger Lilly’s little cousin: you are a perfect example of a what a young lady should be! Damaris Lewis: Supermodel, Super cool, Super fun, Super spirit! Dawn: It made my day to meet you! We will see each other again real soon! Ms Keri Hilson: you are grace, beauty, confidence and class personified!
I had to get up really early to be part of this event and EVERY minute was worth it to interact with these young ladies. It made me proud! It gave me hope for the future for women of color. These young ladies are active, smart, polite and gorgeous inside & out
If you have a young woman in your life who you want to stay encouraged and be surrounded by positive female role models, have them sign up for Teen Diaries Online and stay tuned for next years ” Project Butterfly”. I’ll definitely be there.
[…] In May it was work as usual and I celebrated my birthday! In June, I was asked to co-teach the Fashion Styling Confidential class with my colleague Barbara Berman at F.I.T.. It was an amazing 3 days to inspire and nurture future stylists. I also taught my other classes, Introduction to Fashion Styling and Fashion Styling FIT Fundamentals, for the summer sessions. July was spent hanging out with family and friends while I had some time off because in August I taught again for the Pre College program (Passion for Fashion Styling) , Fashion Styling Intensive, Fashion Styling for ESL, went hard on my PR plan and began exercising! Whew! September went off with a bang! Fashion Week was here! I went to shows, styled a few presentations, attended Fashions Night Out, and was a mentor for an amazing event for Project Butterfly(“Pretty Girls Sweat” with Keri Hilson). […]