FBG Spotlight: PROPEL Conference in Atlanta, GA

Here at FABULOUS BROWN GIRL, our mission is knowing that being fabulous means doing so much more. For the past two months or so we have been a part of the planning steering

committee for the PROPEL Conference, a free conference hosted by the Community Council

of Metropolitan Atlanta for young black men here in Atlanta, GA. The conference's mission was to Provide Resources, Opportunities and Priorities to Empower Lives for over 250 young black men.

The conference was packed full of young men eager to learn about resources that are available to help them.


Some notable speakers who spoke were the President of Clark Atlanta University, Dr, Carlton E. Brown, the Chairman of 100 Black Men, Thomas W. Dortch, Jr., Michael Rhodes, Entrepreneurship Program Director at Atlanta's Urban League Chapter.

PROPEL's Steering Planning Committee was a group of recent Howard University Alumni who worked diligently and hard to make sure every aspect of the event was a success. The Steering Chairwoman was Brittany Slaughter who worked alongside with the Bukola Ekudayo, Janelle Jolley, Nandi Murphy, Simone Walls, Dominique Witter, and myself, Christine Idokogi.

Boxed Lunches for the PROPEL conference attendees

Thank you to all those that donated to make the conference a complete success!

FABULOUS BROWN GUY: Support WALE's ATTENTION DEFICIT

Here at Fabulous Brown Girl we don't only celebrate women who are doing great things, we show our men support too.

Today up incoming and highly praised new rapper from the DC "urea" WALE's debut album was released!! Using the heavy percussion of GO GO makes his music stand out and pays homage to his hometown!

He has been on my personal rador for over a year now and has had a lot of success.

He shares a lot of commonalities with myself being 1st generation Nigerian American as well as being from my "third" home in the DC area, FBG has no choice but to support him fully. Not to mention he has been linked with one of my top favorite FBG's, the lovely Solange Knowles! So he definitely is on my good side!

Go get his album and make sure he is number one!! DC STAND UP!! NIAJA STAND UP!!

Check out this FABULOUS BROWN GIRL MUSIC BREAK!



-CHILLIN ft. Lady GAGA

GLAMOUR'S Women of the Year Awards 2009

"I AM GRATEFUL TO BE A WOMAN" - Maya Angelou

Last night in NYC a host of FABULOUS BROWN GIRLS were named "Women of the Year" by GLAMOUR Magazine. These awards are given to an eclectic group of outstanding women in different notable fields.

Tyra Banks presented Serena Williams her Women of the Year Award. Her message to young girls out there was "You can do whatever it is that you want to do. The most important belief is self- belief."

Iman presented Rihanna her Women of the Year Award. Iman said that she is even more impressed with Rihanna's dignity and courage than before. She recognizes that she is a role model for young girls through domestic violence.

Maya Angelou (still looking good for 81, despite the rumors)and President Bill Clinton

President Bill Clinton presented the wonderful Maya Angelou with the Lifetime Achievement Award. She told the audience that "women are the rainbows in the clouds"

Kudos to all the Women of the Year recipients! Thank you for showing us what is meand to be a FABULOUS BROWN GIRL. And *SNAPS* to Rihanna for being the definition of GLAMOUR! Because whooooo chillleeeee that dress she wore ain't nothing to play with!! Check out Rihanna's acceptance speech!

Check out more GLAMOUR award pics below.

Serena and Tyra Banks look FAB together in this pic

The Godmother of all FBG's Maya Angelou giving her wonderful acceptance speech

Mama Iman was doing it as always!!! Love her in this dress!!

My new fav, PRECIOUS' Gabby S.

Brit Beauty Estelle performed

Another one of my fav FBG's Keri Washington was there

"Things that Make You Go ....Hmmm??" : Sammy Sosa's New Skin Color

I don't know how many people are familiar with the baseball player, Sammy Sosa, from the Dominican Republic, but he has apparently made changes to his skin color to appear more lighter.

It is not clear if he has the skin disease known as vitilago or if he consciously manipulated his skin color with bleach to appear "white". I hope it is the former and not the latter because self hate Sammy Sosa is just not cool!

It was clear that Sammy had darker complexion skin and has an Afro Latino heritage. However, when asked about his new complexion Sammy does not see what the big deal is. He told the media that he is going through a skin rejuvenation process from all the years he spent out in the sun and that he is surprised his skin reacted this way...

REALLY SAMMY? "SKIN REJUVENATION" ??? That's what we calling it now?

Sammy, I am sorry but you need more people sir... Skin may change complexion when you are a newborn or due to a change in climate from a short range of lighter to darker, but never to this degree. Seeing him as a white man screams to us that he has been battling with his identity and love for himself and who he was.

Here at FABULOUS BROWN GIRL, we know how hard it is to really accept our deep, rich, beautiful skin color when the media is doing all it can to tell us the exact opposite. We pride ourselves on being fervent and passionate about loving oursleves and supporting one another in the process, because if we don't do it.. who will?

One Step Closer: The House Passed the Health Care Bill

What seemed to be a major hurdle for President Obama and the rest of the nations has been taken one step closer to the finish line. The House of Representative passed the Health Care reform bill last weekend with the majority vote being 220-215. With 39 Democrats opposing the Bill and only 1 Republican supporting this vote was one of great progress and valor!

This movement toward change in the health care system will be the biggest expansion since the formation of Medicaid 40 years ago!

The Affordable Health Care for America Act will overhaul the health care system by denying insurance comapnies the right to turn away their coverage to anyone who may have pre-existing conditions or charging higher premiums to individuals based on gender or medical history. The Act will also provide provisions and subsidies to those who are not able to afford health care and guarentees coverage for 96% of Americans!

This is great news and now the ball is in the Senate's Court. Hopefully the opposition will not overshadow the House's progressiveness...

FABULOUS BROWN GIRL knows that this is a historic chapter in our lives. Our President said that he was going to bring change to the Washington, and I don't know about you but an expansion that is 40 years overdue in our health care system can definitely be characterized as change to us!

So everybody who has been looking for CHANGE, get ready!!

To learn more about the Affordable Health Care for American Act Click HERE

.

Silence May Not Always Be Golden: Rhianna and Chris Brown are Breaking their Silence!

With all the drama and hoopla about the Rhianna/Chris Brown domestic violence situation. Rhianna finally spoke out about her relationship with Chris and the infamous night on February 8th, 2009 that changed their young lives forever.

FABULOUS BROWN GIRL commends Rhianna for finally speaking out. She is brave and wants to save the lives of other girls who look up to her. If you are going through domestic violence Rhianna says "Don't react off of LOVE... Eff LOVE.. because LOVE is BLIND"

Even though we are in NO way defending what Chris Brown did, we still wish both of them a full recovery in their personal lives and their careers.

Here is Rhianna's Full interview with Diane Sawyer in case you were not able to see it last night on ABC







Chris Brown also spoke with Sway from MTV news and talked about that night, his feelings about doing community service, the men that reached out to him, and how all of this still hurts but he is using it to become a petter person. The full interview is below.







Throwback Video.. Eve "Love is Blind" Great Song and very fitting for women going through anabuse relationship! If you know anyone in a physical, verbal, or emotionally abusive relationship please let them know that LOVE is not supposed to hurt you... that is NOT LOVE. They need to LOVE themselves enough to find the courage to leave.

"LOVE is Blind, and it will take over your mind, what you think is love is TRULY NOT.. You need to EDUCATE AND FIND"... [yourself]"

Moorland-Spingarn: Is Black History an Endangered Species?

Today, many avid respectors of African American history learned that Moorland-Spingarn Reasearch Center is in Danger of closing its doors due to budget contstraints.

Even though Moorland-Spingarn is a premiere research institution for the African Diaspora, many Howard students do not even know the center still exists for them to learn important facts about their history from primary resources. The under-utilization is a major reason for the layoffs and unfilled vacancies.

Each year the budget is smaller and smaller and unless something is done the doors of our rich history could be put away.

According to TheRoot.com, the 95 year old research center, has imperative vacancies that need to be filled such as Director, Chief Librarian, Prints and P

hoto Librarian, and Chief Administrator. The Center normally employs 50 employees to maintain all of these African American records and documentations.

We need to see what we can do to save this historical landmark that houses so much information about who we are and our journey.

To read the full article on what is taking place at Moorland Spingarn CLICK HERE