FOURTH QUARTER 2018
GLOBAL MAGAZINE
HEELS
Melody Jacobs www.melodyjacob.com Stylist, Fashion Model
The Editor's Notes
As we begin to transition into a new year of opportunity and open doors, we look back at 2018 and all of its challenges, triumphs and adjustments as lessons learned and experiences gained to make us even greater in the coming year. Many would choose to disparage the year because of perceived failures. However we must come to understand that failure is only a figment of our imagination. The only failure that possibly exists is to not have tried to progress throughout the year at all. As we begin our progression into new possibilities, new adventures, new experiences, we must do so by leaving the mindset of 2018 behind and walk into 2019 with new thoughts and plans, Let us no longer begin another year with “resolutions� but with a renewed mind that will transform our lives into lives of purpose and true success. Success isn’t measured in what we have, but it is measured in what we do even if what we do does not work out the way that we thought it should. But if we surpass our level of thinking in 2019 we are sure to be satisfied at what we have been able to achieve in the New Year.
Cheryl Jones-Ross Editor in Chief
Live life the way that it suits you
HEELS ON THE COVER Melody Jacobs www.melodyjacob.com Stylist, Fashion Model Editor in Chief Cheryl Jones-Ross
Assistant Editor Tyonna Singleton Assistant Editor Vivian Edmonds
Contributing Writers
Contents 4th Quarter 2018 Edition
7
Hair Me Out
12
Free Author D Angel
Mz Nikki
Rev. Denise Wade
Nicole Turner-Thomas
Theresa Baker
17 19
Author D. Angel
Robin Sample
22 24
Staff Photographer Matthew Singleton SICQOGRAPHY Additional Photo Credits: RawPixels KAYSHA Medhat Ayad Melody Jacob
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8 Leather Trends for Winter Blessed Assurance Rev. Denise Wade
Why Do You Need An Organizer Theresa Baker A Perfect Mess
Little Brown Girls
It's Not Always A Physical Thing Robin Sample
Feature Stories In This Issue
Why Do You Need An Organizer? Page 18
8 Leather Trends For Winter 2019 Page 17
Little Brown Girls Positive Images For Girls Who Look Just Like You Page 24
rawpixel.com
"Let's FALL Together" Fall is probably my favorite season, only because of the beautiful colors. They are so deep and rich! This is the time that all of the sundresses, sandles, and shorts get packed away, and out with the sweaters, and jackets.
Fall is also a time of drying. Leaves, although gorgeous in color, are very dry. Just like the leaves, the chilly weather also leaves our hair, and skin dry. If not taken care of properly, hair and skin can be damaged rather quickly.
SKIN: Our skin is our largest organ, therefore, it should recieve the best care. Men and women alike should keep your skin hydrated, and well moisturized. I find doing a black coal face mask at least once a month to remove all the dirt and debris that we cant get with just regular cleansing. Like I always say, the only thing you should clean your face with is HOT WATER! After cleansing/mask, you should immediately go in with your favorite face moisturizer. (Sidenote...you should also moisturize your body immediately after bathing. You want to moisturize while pores are open.)
NAILS: Cuticles around this chilly time can get very dry and brittle. Pamper yourself with a nice manicure. A little trick I use: when cuticles are really bad, dab a little antibiotic ointment around them. For maintenance, apply olive oil at least once a week.
HAIR: MY FAVORITE PART! Our hair is so important, no matter the length, color, or texture. Proper care for all hair is a must. Our hair is the first thing people see, so why not give them something beautiful to look at? Fall is the preparation for bitter, cold weather up ahead. We must prepare our hair for those winter months. Being a hair designer for almost 27 years, I highly recommend seeing your stylist at least once every two weeks, especially if you have dryer, more course hair like myself. We alot more moisture. Olive oil, (for those who know me) is my favorite! Many, many benefits! It is also a good home remedy for dry hair. Just a dab will do ya! I also like to mix a little in my conditioner during the fall and winter seasons for extra moisture. Satin pillow cases and satin scarfs are a must. This material is excellent for your hair, it keeps moisture locked in, unlike cotton which will suck it all out leaving it dry and damaged.
Remember we want gorgeous healthy skin and hair all year round, so "LETS FALL TOGETHER" and start now! I would love to answer any questions you may have concerning your beauty needs.
I am always open for Beauty questions. Feel free to email me at SHDBN06@gmail.com I See U Beautiful ~Mz. Nikki
2343 Smallman St. Sola Salons Suite Mz Nikki 8a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Get Directions m.me/SophiscatedHairDesign Call (412) 828-6454
Godisable Jacob Model
Going to the ends. Where no one else goes. Because Jesus is alive in the hardest places to be a child.
Connect 1.888.511.6548 World Vision P.0. Box 9716 Federal Way, WA 98063
Photo Credit: Donald Tong www.instagram.com/ngu.donaldtong/
AUTHOR D. ANGEL These next few months can be a lonely time for a loved one in prison. As we get closer to each upcoming holiday, please try to reach out to your family and friends who are doing time. I can recall how it felt to be sitting in a cell and imagining my family gathering together for times like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Yes, I know it is hard on family and friends who bare the burden on the outside world with trying to make ends meet and maybe taking care of your loved one's children by yourself. I can tell you, firsthand, that even if you can't make a visit for the holiday, a card or a detailed letter goes a long way. A long way! Sometimes, it can be the difference in your loved one's frustration leading to trouble , or being focused on getting out knowing they have loved one's who cannot wait for their return home. To some, a card or letter is so meaningless; but to someone doing time, it can make all the difference in calming a troubled heart. D. Angel
Love & Laugh Hour Pittsburgh
Sunday, July 14, 2019 at 6 PM – 10 PM
Macedonia Church of Pittsburgh 2225 Bedford Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Leather is in once again for 2019! Here are some of the hottest trends in leather for the New Year coming from the top fashion designers.
2 Massimo Giorgetti
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Back to the Matrix is where this look has going that is if you bold enough to take the trip! This style is hot for this season and has been sampled by nearly every major designer for 2019.
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FENDI
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Hermes
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The Blessed Assurance
And the king shall answer and say unto them, “Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as he have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done unto me.” Matthew 25:40 Not too long ago, we had a Sunday School lesson that talked about a man who had invited everyone he thought were his friends and family to an elaborate dinner only to be stood up! Everyone had an excuse why he/she couldn’t attend this dinner party? Everyone’s personal affairs were more important than the kindness of a friend extended to them. Does this sound familiar? How many times have we received an invitation to attend a concert, to attend a special worship service, to go out into the community and witness, to visit the sick and shut in, to just attend a Sunday Worship service to hear a word from the Lord and we have reasons why we can’t. If we have attended both morning worship services, chances are that we are not going to support the Pastor at an afternoon service away from our home church because we have something personal that takes preference. When is the last time you have volunteered to be a part of something that will not benefit you personally, but will be pleasing to God because you sacrificed your time and talents to help someone else other than your immediate families and close friends. As I reflect back on this lesson, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage all Pastors, Ministers and lay people to consider in 2019 setting aside a day and time to entertain the possibility of reaching out to those who are in need. Take a leap of faith and pour into those who seem unlovely, who smell bad, who have tainted reputations, reach out to someone who is full of hatred and show the love of Jesus in a greater way. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Let this Scripture be made flesh, as you witness, as you live the life you speak about and as you begin to do as Jesus did during His Ministry here on earth. I am inviting you to be a part of something much bigger than you and I. I’m extending to you an invitation to host a great dinner party for those who are, as the Master described “people who need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and wretched.” (Msg Bible) I’m extending this invitation for our ministries to move beyond the normal. The Bible tells us that when the servant returned and told the master that the house was still not full, the master instructed the servant to go to the country roads and drag them in. He wanted his house filled.
We do too, however most of the times we just want to fill our churches with people who will prove to be a financial benefit to the ministry, who dress well, who have some influence in the community, who have the financial connections to help us repair the building; while at the same time, we are failing to repair the brokenness in our people and we are failing to build and repair relationships. The truth is we need members who have experienced hard times, disappointments, hurts, rejection, and are being held in bondage by their past. These members will be the Lord’s most faithful disciples, because once a person is truly set free, they are free indeed; God is wanting everyone to be exposed to His love. And we must be reminded that, Oh for the grace of God go I.” Someone saw us in our disparity and they prayed and reached out to us. I Corinthian 15:10 in the message bible it reads, “But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I’m not about to let his grace go to waste.” So let us not waste the grace of God shown to each one of us. We have all sinned and come short of the Glory of God. As we strive to be more like Jesus, let’s be reminded what Jesus did. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead, made the lame to walk, gave comfort to the comfortless, He took 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes and fed a multitude. And the bible never said who these people were, only that they came from a town near by. It didn’t matter, Jesus saw a need and He took care of it! The scripture tells us that whenever he arrived he saw them and had great compassion on them and the first thing he did was healed the sick. Then he took care of their hunger needs. We may not be feeding 5000, but even if we feed 50, 100 or 500, we will be doing what Jesus would do and has done. We will be showing the Love of Jesus to someone who may have only heard of Jesus, but now we will be letting them know that “this Jesus” they have been hearing about does exist and loves and cares for them too. It is important that we become the vessels that Jesus will use to set some captives free, give hope to the hopeless, love on the loveless, encourage the discouraged and most importantly pray for their salvation. Many of you reading this article are saying, our church already does this. But I am encouraging you to take your hospitality to a new level. Invite other churches to join with you, seek a large venue and choose a day convenient for everyone and feed your people in the city. Not just those who attend your food banks on a regular basis, but allow your individual cities to see Jesus in an awesome, spectacular way as never seen before. As I close, I am reminded of the song, “If I can help somebody, as I go along the way then my living will not be in vain.” In the year 2019, show the world that JESUS lives and he lives inside of you and your congregations. If you are trying to fill your houses, you must first fulfill the needs of the people. As we fulfill the physical needs, then it will become important to them to know more about this Jesus who sent help when they needed it most; they will want to have their spiritual needs satisfied. For every10 people you touch, I guarantee at least 1 person will return to say thank you and will be anxious to become a part of your ministry and will become a powerful witness that what God has done for them, He will do for others.
Rev. Denise Wade
Blanketing the dark and coldness of many nights, America she is the covering the protector the land of the free paying little attention to the raining of tears
bolting under the bridges and storming over the side walks as the homeless lay housing only hope for a better life by dawn, yet opening their eyes to another black out with glowing faces of shame flashing once asking....(“can you spare some change?�).... although there are no magical disappearing tricks for the homelessness numbers, they are lower than they were in 2010.
Poverty has been residential since he late 18th century evicting the process of solution with the Great Depression being the bigger bomb igniting in nineteen twenty nine burning the dreams of the rich and the poor, at war with the stock market for one year finding its own truce by rebuilding its foundation in the nineteen thirties at the start of world war 2, taking a glance into the back door of this issue will not house people, yet it gives a better view on the inside of what freedom is built on, and yes by watering it every day with human kindness and love, growth can happen on this land of the free.
Although in this century the bellies of poverty are full with drug addiction, mental illness layoffs and causes of Mother Nature, seasons change and there is a rise and fall, with the colder months having the higher rates of homelessness, there is no cure by washing our hands of this spreading epidemic- becoming germaphobic of our own fellow man, the infected host is ignorance. While the battle ground for drug addiction has a larger army now it still will take some time and Mother Nature will always happen....earthquakes hurricanes floods ect.
At the same time mental illness becomes a donor multiplying homelessness to mass shootings and suicide, aiming at self esteem, the dream, and also the words Justice for all and United we stand divided we fall, the answer can not be to lift heads with noses in the air at the stench of want or hurt lingering on the concrete.
The answers are the RED: hardness and valor, the WHITE: purity and innocence and the BLUE: the color of chief..... Because America she is the blanket the covering, the protector.
Written by: Vivian Edmonds
Why hire a professional organizing company?
The average person spends 6 minutes each morning looking for their keys. The average family of four throws away 40% of the food they’ve purchased. Being disorganized and having lots of clutter costs families an average of 10–15% of their income. 80% of our medical expenses are stress-related. The good news is that a variety of organizational tools are now available that can save back this lost money, free up more time (on average, nearly an extra half an hour per day), and provide motivation to help you reach your goals. However, 67% of people aren’t sure how to start or continue using these tools. That’s where a professional organizing company comes in. Among people who decide to work with a professional organizer: 37% call because they’re having difficulty determining what to keep; 25% say they need to have more time in their day; 25% are having trouble finding things; and many more call for a variety of other reasons. Clients who make a plan and stick with it typically save back the organizer’s modest fees within a short time.
Photo credits:
Medhat Ayad • V-ray camera photographer
In our day, when the cost of living rises annually but your income doesn’t necessarily increase, saving money and gaining time are more important than ever. A Perfect Mess is a professional organizing company with a proven track record of helping clients to do both of those things. We help you see the value in your belongings and assist you in determining what to keep, what to throw away, and what to donate. To make your life even easier, we take your donations and deliver them to the desired location. Via Mobile Technology Products, Office Depot, and NAPO.net (the network of the National Association of Professional Organizers), we provide recommendations about organizing products and methods, hands-on decluttering, and help and advice. Time management is something we all struggle with. We help design an organized system that works for you and your family, alleviating for the search for keys, shoes, homework, etc., each morning and helping you know where everything is at all times. “A Perfect Mess” never charges for an initial consultation with potential clients. At absolutely no cost to you, we’ll sit down with you, assess your needs and desires, and develop a plan of organization that works for you.
To schedule your FREE Consultation to see how we can help with your organizing needs, please contact us at: A Perfect Mess Phone: 412-744-6102 Email: aperfectmess43@gmail.com Web page: www.aperfectmess43.com Facebook: @theresnomesslikeaperfectmess If this article helped you, we would love to hear from you. (Sources for facts cited: lost keys, Ikea; wasted food, Natural Resource Defense Council; stress-related illness, Centers for Disease Control; reasons for calling, National Association of Professional Organizers.)
LITTLE BROWN
The importance of having a positive self-image is that it will override and over power all the negativity that some of our young girls are facing everyday. The positive self-image will create hope for the hopeless, and will ignite selfconfidence, self-esteem, and awareness of purpose in our existence. Visually discovering YOURself in the positive declaration and realizing that the beauty that is seen lives within, allows young girls to feel comfortable in achieving their dreams. ~Roberta Shavers Pure Elegance Creative Promotions
It's Not Always A Physical Thing
He yells, screams, complains and nitpicks about everything you do, nothing you is do or say it good enough and he acts as if he doesn’t want or need you until you threaten or actually walk away. This is an ongoing cycle in your relationship and you don’t know what to do to make it stop. First of all, let me relieve you from the energy you’re wasting trying to find the most accurate response to that statement because you can’t. The victim never has the responsibility of figuring out why her abuser behaves the way he does, treats her the way he does, says and does what he says and does, etc. However, victims do it all the time, try to find a reason to justify the negative behaviors of their abusers to the outside world around them. Why am I saying all of this? Why is this important? It is my hope that you will find the answers to those questions within the next couple of pages. So, your significant other comes home from work one day and he is very quiet, reserved and doesn’t speak to you. Or you and your significant other go to a restaurant after having planned a romantic dinner and you see one of your high school friends, a male, and you give him a hug, you reminisce for a few minutes and once your friend walks away, your significant other gives you ‘the look’, which lets you know that he is angry and things are not going to go well for you. Either way, his behaviors are controlling and manipulative and they keep you in a place of feeling as if you go to the left or to the right, you will more than likely cause a fury of emotions from the abuser, which is never healthy and often times leads to more than just an argument. The incidents I described could very well be blamed on substance abuse issues, mental health disorders, a bad day at work, a road rage incident that occurred prior to the abuser arriving home, a disagreement with a co-worker earlier during the day, etc. I will not dare say that an isolated incident that results in a man becoming angry and/or upset and acting out in an abusive and explosive manner could possibly be the result of one of those things. However, if the response is always abusive and/or explosive behaviors in response to these circumstances or any others, that is evident of a maladaptive pattern that indicates there is much more going on than someone simply becoming upset due to stimulus from their environment. There is a clear indication that this person has anger issues that need to be addressed with a mental health professional, or this person has control and anger issues, again, which need to be addressed with a mental health professional, support group, education forum, etc.
I wanted to put those scenarios out there early on before I get into the definition of domestic
violence/intimate partner and look at the Power and Control, focusing on that key word, control. All abusers need someone to control and without that, they often times become angry, anxious, and enraged when they feel themselves losing that power and control. When this happens, the victim is immediately placed in fear of imminent danger, as abusers are very unpredictable, especially at the time that they feel their power and control shifting away from them and on to their victim. Calling 911 in these instances is not unreasonable; however, having a safety plan in place is also not unreasonable. It is highly recommended that all victims have a plan in place, which includes, having a small amount of clothing and personal hygiene care packed and stored in a safe, but easily accessible place so as to be ready to grab it and run at a moment’s notice. It is also suggested that a small amount of money, car keys, important documents (Birth Certificate, SS Card, insurance ID cards, etc, all be stored away in the event of emergency situations. It is also suggested that victims back their cars in their driveways so they can get away in a hurry if need be, keep at least a half of a tank of gas in their cars for that same reason, make at least one person aware of their whereabouts at all times, if they have a protective order, keep a copy of it with them at all times and have emergency numbers saved in their phones, providing others with any changes or updates in their number.
All of this information may sound like common sense, with a hint of redundancy, and you may be wondering why I share it so frequently and that is because, so frequently, people forgot how serious domestic violence/intimate partner violence is and the level of danger victims are in at any given moment. Many people have, unfortunately, lost their lives as a result of domestic violence/intimate partner violence and some people have been seriously injured as a result of it. Therefore, this information can never be shared too often. For more information on Domestic Violence/Intimate Partner Violence or to get help for yourself or someone you know who is in a Domestic Violence/Intimate Partner Violence relationship, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline which provides support services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, including weekends and holidays. 1 (800) 799-7233 (SAFE) or 1 (800) 787- 3224 (TTY) www.thehotline.org Robin M. Sample, BA, MSW Candidate Author, Motivational Speaker, Victim Advocate MSW Candidate
When You Follow Your Dreams, You will run into your true self
Anastasiya Lobanovskaya
AJ Garcia ajgarcia.net
HEELS