Buick GMC, Essence Magazine, B. Smith, NYC and Me

September 23, 2010 By 10 Comments

Last Monday I had the fantastic privilege of attending the Essence Magazine Fierce and Fabulous 40 Awards and Luncheon in Manhattan, courtesy of Buick GMC.  Back in August, I received a phone call from Buick asking me if I would be interested in trying out a 2011 Buick vehicle for a week, driving to NYC and attending the Essence luncheon and covering the red carpet.  What an opportunity!


I got to test drive a sleek Buick Enclave for an entire week.  I drove it to New York and loved the ride.  My car is a GMC Acadia, so I already know and love their cars and the Enclave is in the same category as my Acadia. But….the Enclave definitely had a few luxury features that I was psyched to learn about.

  • The cooling seats were an awesome perk! I live in the DC area and the summers are sweltering.  Boy could I have used these cooling seats when getting into an 120 degree car after a long, hot day.
  • The In-dash navigation.  As much as I love my Garmin and Google Maps on my Droid, the In-Dash Nav was lovely.  No need to plug anything in or type anything into my phone – I just called OnStar and they downloaded the route to the dashboard.
  • The rear-view camera! My Acadia beeps as if I get too close to something while backing up, but having a full view of what’s behind me is a huge bonus.

And off I went to The Big Apple.  The next 24 hours was a whirlwind of adventure, surprises and fun.  The highlights were definitely: dinner at B. Smith’s restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen; our group (StyleMom, Duong, Carolyn and I) were blessed with a visit from B. Smith and her husband! What’s more? They invited us back to their home!! Can you imagine? Me in B.’s gorgeous penthouse apartment on Central Park West. It was amazing.  She and her husband were just so warm and hospitable, sharing their memories, stories and space with us. Definitely a memory for the books!

The next day was the Essence event.  We had the pleasure of interviewing Essence staff, and all of the celebs gracing the red carpet! The day was unbelievable and hard to put into words.  Listening to the accomplishments of the strong and beautiful women in the room, and being surrounded by such power and inspiration was moving.  Diahann Caroll delivered a touching and honest keynote speech.  Nichelle and I definitely shed a tear.  I met everyone from Gayle King to Malinda Williams to Gabrielle Union to Kerry Washington to Tracee Ellis Ross to Michelle Ebanks to Cathy Hughes to Naomi Campbell to Angela Burt-Murray to Wendy Williams to Mikki Taylor to Estelle to Mary Mary to Anika Noni Rose to Sherri Shepard to Valerie Jarrett to Malaack Compton-Rock – I could go on! Check out the Essence.com photo gallery here.

But instead, I’ll let you watch the video of my experience that the hard-working Michelle and Colin put together on behalf of Buick.

I can’t thank Carolyn at GM Communications enough for the invitation and for being such a wonderful hostess! I had a blast. I’ll be posting my own photos soon. Happy 40th Anniversary Essence!

Thanks to Buick for providing me with the use of the Enclave for a week, sponsoring my travel, and for the hot ticket to such an exclusive event!

Filed Under: Blogger Junket, Events, life, Media Opp, Sponsored, Style, success, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Real Working Mom Profile #1

September 14, 2010 By 2 Comments

I get so tired of hearing celebrities tell the world how hard it is to be a working mother and how they struggle to balance their jobs with taking care of their families.  I appreciate that celebs do have struggles in that area, however, I feel as though the “struggle” takes on a completely different meaning when we’re talking about “real” moms.  Who tells their stories? Our stories? I thought I’d start a series about the real working moms that I know, and share some of the challenges they face and what they do to keep it all together.

One of my closest friends is a mother of 3 young boys, all under 6 years old. She works full-time, has a rough daily commute and juggles a crazy morning and evening schedule of shuttling her brood to and from school and daycare – with the help of her hardworking husband.   We’ve been each other’s shoulder to lean on since we began our families – and we’ve shared it all with each other – but I was seriously shocked to hear recently that she wakes up every day at 5am to make dinner for her family. This way, her evening meal prep is out of the way when she walks in the door after work. A major sacrifice of precious sleep in the mornings, but it saves her some stress in the evenings. This approach works for her, and that’s what matters.

Shout out to all the working moms out there who are roasting chickens as the sun rises.  You are amazing!

Filed Under: family, Real Working Moms Tagged With:

State of the Mom Blogosphere – 9/14 Live Chat

September 13, 2010 By 4 Comments

If you’re hands aren’t full with laundry or work files or grocery lists tomorrow at 1PM EST, please consider joining me and 8 other mom bloggers for an online chat about the “State of the Mom Blogosphere,” hosted by The Motherhood. Here’s a description of the chat:

Nine celebrity mom bloggers will lead a Talk on trends in the Mom Blogosphere and you don’t want to miss it!!  Some conversation starters:

-  Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare – enhancing or taking away from blogging?

-  The explosion of mom blogs, from niche blogs (cooking, design, DIY, health, reviews and giveaways, etc.) to hyper-local, causes to support and more – thoughts on the growth, advice for newbies and old timers alike, and the niches that are grabbing your attention.

-  Creativity and mom blogs – ways we’re using our blogs to get creative with words, photos, video, shared projects, etc.

-  Mom bloggers and brands – here to stay and moving fast. Reactions? Do’s and Don’ts. Advice for bloggers and brands?

-  Mom blogging: predictions for 2011

The TALK FORMAT: The Talk will begin right at 1:00 pm EST and will go an hour.  Log into The Motherhood and go to the Talk.  The Talk is all text (plus photos or YouTube clips if you’d like to layer those in).  Post in the box at the top of the page or comment on anything that’s posted already.  Refresh the page to see the latest conversation.

TWITTER:  The hashtag is #TheMotherhood

Would love for you to weigh-in on any or all of these topics.  It’s going to be an enlightening hour!

Filed Under: Change Agents, Mom Bloggers, Speaking Opp, success Tagged With: , ,

Getting My Virtual Act Together

September 9, 2010 By 1 Comment

It was high time that I launched a professional site where I can keep track of and share all of my many irons in the fire! Bear with me as I hang up pictures on the walls and choose the furniture for my new digs.

Filed Under: success, Uncategorized