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Editor-in-Chief, Annette Johnson Design Director, Joey Shepherd Page Layout and Design, Kiryl Lysenka Online Editor, Bianca Nelson Home Editor, Jennifer Adams Financial Editor, Deborah Hightower Travel Editor, Peggy Hattendorf Social Media Director, Tamara King Editorial Assistant, Jasmine Marks Sales Manager, Mary Taylor Special Projects Manager, Veronique Thomas Contributors: Idd Aziz Allyn Evans Ciara Johnson Jaime Johnson Reginald Jones Alexa Keating Priya Lalwani Sara Lanier Cassandra Parks Tommeka Semien Suzanne St. John Smith Shawna Thompson Lorri Weisen Cover photo: Tammin Sursok (main), Pretty Little Liars Amina Buddafly (inset), Love in Hip-Hop NY Customer Service For subscription service or change of address, including email, contact info@hersmagazine.net or write to P.O. Box 1071, Atlanta, GA 30301 Hers (ISSN 2372-3785) is published six per year by Allwrite Communications, 241 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 400, Atlanta, GA 30303, 404-221-0703
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Cool Summer Fruit Recipies
July/August
CONTENTS
F E AT U R E D S T O RY 99 The Other Woman: Amina Buddafly
An exclusive look at the unique ways they maintain fitness.
99 Tijuana—Gone to Mexico: Did the Magic Tonic Work?
An exclusive look at the unique ways they maintain fitness.
HER HEART 99 If You’re Not In It For Love
Tips that everyone should know before searching for love online.
99 First Friends Forever Important money tips to maintain a happy marriage.
99 Ten Travel Essentials Decluttering is the perfect way to improve your home and life.
99 Chores you should ask your man do for a change Important money tips to maintain a happy marriage.
HER FLAVOR 99 Fashion for a Cause (June 10)
Healthy recipes that you can easily make in your slow cooker. can easily make in your slow cooker.
99 Raid the Pantry for Sexy Summer Skin
Take a look at these exclusive ready-to-wear, chic intimate wear from Natasha Harvey can easily make in your slow.
99 5 Benefits to Cleaning Your Makeup Brushes Dealing with dry and brittle hair? Use this strengthening can easily make in your slow cooker..
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HER WORK 99 The Money Fight: What To Do When You and Your Honey Disagree Learn how to sell yourself and create a MLM brand that clearly.
Unhappy With Your Hair? Silicones Could Be The Culprit!
99 Looking for a Good Company to Hire? Ask These 5 Questions
Learn how to sell yourself and create a MLM brand that clearly.
99 5 Tips to Follow before Buying a New Television Learn how to sell yourself and create a MLM brand that clearly.
ON THE COVER
H E R P L AY
99 Tammin Sursok (Pretty Little Liars)
99 How to Have An Enjoyable, Memorable Family Vacation
DJ Mami Chula, DJ Princess Cut, and DJ Rap give us the inside scoop on being a She J.
Find out which getaways are worth revisiting in 2016.
99 Family Packing List HER LESSONS 99 Nature vs. Nurtured Look H E R H E A LT H 99 The Healthiest You Recipe. Just Add Water
Learn how to sell yourself and.
99 Five Unexpected Ways to Burn Calories in Your Daily Routine Learn how to sell yourself and.
99 A Change of Heart
Learn how to sell yourself and.
What Men Really Think About Women with Makeup, Body Enhancements and Weave.
99 Finding Meaning In Everyday Life
Hers introduces a self-awareness campaign for 2016.
99 2016 Miss Teen Universe USA: Krystal Avendano How Valentine’s Day exposes who we really love or should love.
Take an even deeper inside look at Rebecca’s Rusch to Glory.
99 Twerking Classes
Check out the female actresses who will be dominating the big.
+ HER F EATURE
Tijuana— Gone to Mexico: Did the Magic Tonic Work?
Allyn Evans
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recognized Dennis immediately. He arranged transportation to and from the hotel to the clinic. Mom and I were waiting in the lobby of the Wyndham Hotel and meeting the others who were making the journey to Tijuana with us. We met Linda and Jim who were from Oklahoma. “My husband has bladder cancer. You know it always comes back. We want to see what they say.” She also added that they hadn’t seen the oncologist yet. “We wanted to come here first before we go. We felt we’d be better prepared to say no to chemotherapy or radiation.” I noticed a lady sitting off to the side. She was wearing a mask. Besides her, it was again a challenge to tell who was the patient and who was the traveling companion. All in all, there were 12
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of us catching a ride to the Hoxsey Clinic. This gave me hope, I whispered to mom: “Looks like more companions than patients. Maybe we’ll get home early this time.” Dennis started directing us to our rides. He pointed to his car. “Dang, the station wagon,” I said to mom. Dennis said: “We’re going to be full. I need two volunteers to sit in the back.” I quickly looked around and realized I needed to be one of them. Now, I was going to be the one facing all the cars in the back with a large rear window. Unlike the younger passengers who claimed those seats in January, I wasn’t afraid of being shot. I had to laugh. The station wagon reminded me of the car the Brady
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+ HER F EATURE
Bunch used to stuff their family of eight. While making my way here, I had walked right past Barry Williams AKA Greg Brady in the Chicago airport. I raised my hand. The Bladder Cancer’s wife joined me. We stopped at a Holiday Inn to pick up Sandy and Heather. Dennis shared as we made our way there: “Sandy has been coming here for over 20 years. She is cancer free and just comes for checkups.” It had been three years since her last checkup, we learned later. Sandy also told my mom, “The doctors had given up on me. I was told there was nothing they could do. So, I came here.” Dennis said: “It’s going to take about 15 minutes to get there.” He was wrong. We arrived at the border within 15 minutes, but still had to make our way to the clinic. Again, we did a drive by and only waved at the border guards. But, since January significant changes had taken place. All in the name of terrorism, the Mexican authorities had built an official border crossing entry complete with machine-gun-toting guards. It looked formidable, but we didn’t have to stop. We made our way through the somewhat chaotic streets of Tijuana. What a difference 15 miles makes. Dennis pointed out the sites and shouted out some facts like: “Seventy-five thousand Mexicans cross the border every day to go to work in San Diego.” He said. “See that complex at the top of the hill? That’s where we are going. It used to be owned by the mafia.” We drove through the large metal security gates painted bright yellow. A security guard was always on duty. Our co-passengers started commenting on the oversized birdcage packed full of birds. “There used to be 400 birds in that cage. It was too many. They were dying. I had to sell 300 of them.” Dennis did more than driving patients. He hung around all day running errands and occasionally straightening things up. Apparently he also sold birds.” Another staffer said: “Dennis really cares about the patients.” I believed it.
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We knew the routine. Go change into the clinic’s robe and get blood work. If felt good to be the “old hands.” We knew the system and could help others get in the right lines or get a conception of “how long this is going to take.” We took the early breakfast shift because Mom only had to see the doctor once this trip. Translation: No line or crowd. The newbies wouldn’t be so lucky. While we were finishing up our breakfast of fried eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast, Dennis came in and announced: “We have 30 patients today!” I moaned. In January there had been 27 and we didn’t get home until after 8:00 p.m. Dennis continued: “Every since that video The Truth About Cancer we have a steady number each day.” During the morning, half of us were in clinical robes. As each finished their initial assessment, he or she could put back on their street clothes. By mid-day, our little group no longer looked like patients, but people joined together for a retreat or workshop. We all mingled in the waiting area or near the front door. No one wanted to miss: “His or her call.” A few times people got stuck outside on the deck due to a malfunctioning sliding glass door. I had to let the receptionist/wears-many-hats person know twice we had an SOS. Nothing else seemed in disrepair. The waiting room décor was bright, inviting and comfortable.
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+ HER F EATURE
Amina Buddafly Her Side of the Bed SARA JACKSON
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+ HER F EATURE
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ost romantic relationships have seen their fair share of drama, problems or just straight up bad times. Let’s be honest, almost every woman has been cheated on or at least lied to by the man she loved. Now take any one of those scenarios a step further by having your man’s indiscretion played out on national television. Imagine that the “other woman” is not just some one-night stand or a random co-worker. The other woman is his children’s mother (the baby mama), who confronts and demeans you constantly. She even comes up pregnant again by your man. And remember, all of this is being broadcast on television. While, as you read this, you declare or decide what you would do in this situation. Here is what Amina Buddafly did on her side of the bed. Whether you agree or not, Amina, who stars on VH1’s “Love & Hip Hop: New York” along with her philandering husband, Peter Gunz, has remained committed despite the challenges that the relationship faced publicly or even privately. Peter’s first and only wife, she made a commitment to stand by her man whether another woman was standing next to him or not. Some would think the show is completely scripted and that these men and women couldn’t possibly be going through all of this. Amina confirmed that everything she has gone through on the show with Peter and his children’s mother, Tara Wallace, is true. She said, “I can’t speak for everyone else on the show, but whatever the viewers have seen regarding me is real.” These very real storylines about women involved directly or indirectly in hip hop music is probably what has made the show so popular and highly addictive to some degree. “Love & Hip Hop: New York” is the first of a successful franchise docu-series that began in March 2011. Amina joined the cast in season 4 along with Tara, who was living with Peter and their two sons, Jamison and Kaz, at the time. Peter was Amina’s music producer, but he says he ended up falling in love with Amina and cheated on Tara, his girlfriend of 13 years. Peter and Amina eventually got married, and that triggered one of the most contentious love triangles on reality television. Viewers obviously loved seeing the spats and Peter’s constant deception. However, what they may have overlooked is the emotional impact it has had at least one of the women, Amina. She has three loves in her life: her husband, their daughter Cori, and music. Music was her first love.
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+ HER BEAUTY
5 Benefits To Cleaning Your Makeup Brushes Idd Aziz
If you have makeup brushes you should clean them regularly. Here are the benefits of doing so: Preventing break outs Since the brushes are dirty, they most likely have plenty of bacteria and dirt. When you use them to apply makeup they spread the dirt and bacteria on your face thus blocking your pores. Blocked pores mean that your skin can’t breathe properly and as result you have break outs. The brushes might also harbor bacteria that might irritate your skin resulting to pimples.
Saving money As a makeup enthusiast you know that high quality brushes don’t come cheap. If you didn’t know, by cleaning makeup brushes you keep them in shape. Cleaning also prolongs the life of the brushes. This means that when you fail cleaning your units you shorten the life of the brushes and as a result you have to go to the stores to buy new ones every now and then, which is expensive.
Ensuring that you have high quality makeup The reason why you are applying makeup is because you want to look good. Unfortunately you can’t look good if you apply your makeup with dirty brushes as the brushes give rough applications. They also tend to change the color of the makeup thus giving you an ugly look.
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Make your work easier Just like when working with a clean and well-lubricated device, you have an easy time working with clean brushes. Since you are able to take the makeup fast and apply it smoothly, you have an easy time applying makeup. You also do good quality work as you are working with a clean unit.
Protect your brushes In addition to dirty brushes wearing out fast, they are also at the risk of viral and bacterial infestations. Dirty brushes also attract bugs that not only degrade the brushes, but also affect your skin. The effect is disastrous if you run a beauty shop. An owner and employee could put your business at jeopardy and run the risk of losing customers. You also risk getting sued by damaging your client’s faces.
Conclusion These are some of the reasons why you should clean your makeup brushes on a regular basis. In addition to cleaning them regularly, you should also buy them from a reputable store. Brushes bought from a reputable store are usually of high quality thus last for long. Some of the stores offer after-sale services where they will professionally clean your brushes after a period of time. Whether you are looking for Affordable Makeup Brush or Professional Makeup Sponge we have plenty of them in our store. We not only sell you the products, we also give you tips on how to maintain them. Visit our links to know more. Idd Aziz is a freelance writer keenly interested in a variety of fields including health, history, travel, literature, film, technology, and sports.
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+ HER BEAUTY
R a i d t h e P an t r y for
Sexy Summer Skin
Jaime Johnson
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s the temperature rises, we are baring more and more skin. Now is the time to update your skin care routine to ensure your skin is sexy and healthy. The best part is that the solution to many summer skin issues can be found right in your home pantry. Begin your skin preparations by exfoliating your skin to remove dry and dead skin cells. Gentle exfoliation is helpful for all skin types and may even help with some common skin issues such as breakouts and clogged pores. An easy and gentle way to exfoliate the skin (even on your face and other sensitive parts) is to mix together ¼ cup brown sugar with ½ cup olive oil. Rub in a circular motion over damp skin. Rinse off well and pat dry. Keep your body hydrated from the inside out by drinking plenty of water. Water will help replenish the moisture lost from your body from the heat. If you do not enjoy plain water, throw in a couple slices of lemons, limes, or orange slices to lightly flavor the water. Feeling flushed after spending time in the heat? Apply a cool, damp cloth to the face. The cool cloth will reduce the blood hers-magazine.com
rushing into the face, reducing the redness. To be prepared ahead of time, keep a damp cloth in a zip-top bag in the refrigerator or in a cooler. Use sunscreen every time you go outside, even on cloudy days. If you are concerned about breakouts, look for an oil-free formula. Reapply frequently to ensure your skin is protected from the sun’s rays. Unfortunately, most of us have experienced sunburn at some point in our lives. If you find yourself experiencing the discomfort of too much time in the sun, there are several natural remedies you can use to heal and soothe the burn. • Apply a small amount of witch hazel directly to the skin or blot on the burn with a soft cloth dipped in the liquid. Witch hazel is an anti-inflammatory and will reduce the pain and itchy feeling associated with sunburn. • Apply a thin layer of aloe vera gel directly to the burn. Aloe vera gel can be purchased in the pharmacy area in most stores, or can be applied directly from the plant by slicing open a leaf and scooping out gel. Aloe vera is an anti-inflammatory that will help reduce
the swelling from sunburns. Keep a bottle in the fridge for extra soothing power. • Soak a cotton cloth in a small bowl with ice and milk. Apply to the burn for 5-10 minutes. The milk constricts blood vessels, reducing swelling. The coolness helps to soothe the inflamed area. • Make a mask of equal parts of ground oats and honey. Apply to sunburned skin. The honey speeds up healing, minimizes pain, and reduces the risk of infection. Oatmeal is an anti-inflammatory. Keep on the skin up to 15 minutes and rinse well. Alternatively, add a cup of ground oats to a cool bath and soak up to 15 minutes. Take time to take care of your skin, then go out and enjoy these beautiful months!
Jaime Johnson’s passion for all-natural products started as a challenge to produce high-quality health and beauty products, at home, from common household ingredients. This research lead to the creation of her book, Natural Beauty.
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+ HER STORY
Tammin Sursok Learns to Juggle Bottles and Heels 18
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+ HER F ASHION
Fash for a
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+ HER F ASHION
hion a Cause Lisa Nicole Collection 2016
Photographer: Faith Swift of Photography by Faith
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+ HER MONEY
The Money Fight: What To Do When You and Your Honey Disagree Deborah Hightower
Research shows money is the number one reason couples fight. Apply these strategies to work through the issues as a team. 1) Evaluate the differences of opinion. Are you a saver and he a spender? How has the difference affected your financial success, or lack thereof ? How can both saving and spending be accomplished? Apply the formula: 70% of your income goes toward living expenses; 10% is saved; 10% is discretionary and 10% goes to charity. Perhaps to accommodate the spender for a particular desire, money can be allocated from another area of the living expense budget. Compromise. 2) Maintain a balance of power. One spouse may desire to take the lead on financial decisions. If that is the case, make sure the other one stays informed. Perhaps investment decisions are not the forte of the husband, but keep the lines of communication open and listen to feedback before decisions are made. 3) Agree on the non-negotiables. Items that affect your credit report and basic necessities are non-negotiable. The spender may be led to pay a late payment in exchange for an instant gratification of making the purchase. Make it your business to agree that items will be purchased only when fixed expenses have been paid on time. Stick to it, regardless.
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4) Sometimes you win; sometimes you lose. Beware the bulldog attitude that can accompany the goal to win. Acknowledging the agreement to disagree. Work through it. Move on. Repeating the same argument rarely serves a productive purpose. 5) Don’t be afraid to seek counsel. A financial consultant can be the third-party to help you work through the situation without an emotional connection to the outcome. She can also help you develop a workable plan to minimize future conflicts. In most instances, laying all the cards on the table and restacking them for the betterment of the couple and family can prevent future problems. Remember, money is merely a vehicle of exchange. Yes… it is a necessary component to existing in life as we know it. Zig Ziglar said “money isn’t the most important thing in life, but it’s reasonably close to oxygen on the ‘gotta have it’ scale. Remember; however, happiness and joy come from things money can’t buy. Don’t get it twisted. Deborah Hightower writes for networking and lifestyle blogs and magazines and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Morningstar, CNBC, NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC, and other news outlets. She has been listed by INC. Magazine as one of America’s Trendsetters in Health, Wealth and Success.
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+ HER W ELLNESS
The Healthiest You Recipe *Just Add Water Allyn Evans
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ast year, I had the pleasure of attending a nutritional workshop facilitated by Dr. Norm Shealy, who is considered by some to be the “Father of Holistic Medicine.” He’s also someone who made it his calling to focus on solving chronic pain and depression, which was unheard of at the time he started. Add to his list of credentials, he knows a whole lot about nutrition. During his talk he said to us: “I have read over 10,000 scientific journal articles on the subject.” Not only that, but he has also done his own research. Personally, I believe this man knows what he is talking about. And since attending, I am following his recommendations.
Before We Get to the Recommended Supplements (Where the Add Water Part Comes In) He also told us that we are more likely to ensure long term health if we follow some “smart steps to keep us alive and well.” He claimed that not even five percent of the population follows the top three.
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+ HER EXAM P LE
Krystal
AVENDANO Miss Teen Universe USA 2015 Annette Johnson
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+ HER SOCIAL
Nature vs. Nurtured Look: What Men Really Think About Women with Makeup, Body Enhancements and Weave Reggie Jones
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irst and foremost, I don’t knock anyone for any personal decisions they make that doesn’t hurt me. If you want to do it and it doesn’t hinder me, then do it. I say rock on and have a party. Still, everyone has a preference. I personally don’t mind women who use certain beauty enhancements such as weave, makeup and maybe even certain surgeries. However, I think the problem is when they over do it, and it’s being overdone – greatly overdone. It’s bad to have a terrible looking weave and too much makeup on to where a woman gets mistaken for a clown or an evil comic book character, but it is worse to get a bad breast job and even worse a butt job that doesn’t look real. I’ve seen it. It was probably two years ago where I think the weave epidemic hit an all-time high. Believe it or not, it got to a point where I felt that women weren’t any longer doing it to attract men, but they were doing it to impress other women. It was weird because it got so out of hand that you’d almost never see guys. It was funny to see a female with 10 pounds of hair on her head, looking odd, and then another female with 20 pounds of hair, compliment her about how she liked her hair. As I watched the exchange, I think I laughed out loud a few times. Women initially used hair weaves to fool people into believing that they really had hair like that. In the 90s, I saw the
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curliest and silkiest weave, and I mostly believed that it was the woman’s hair. I believed it because it looked real. Now, mostly they don’t even attempt to fool you. It’s a new animal, literally. I’ve had female friends who wanted to get fake breasts and butts, and it was always interesting to me that the majority of them were attractive women who get a lot of attention from men already. I’d ask them about why they would want to do it and to go that far, but the answers never made sense. They would usually just say that they thought that bigger butts or breasts looked better or they just wanted them. If a person was told that she was unattractive or ridiculed throughout her life, I could understand this mindset a lot more – even though I think some guy somewhere is going to talk to any female – but for the ones who never had this problem, I couldn’t understand it. Not only are you taking a chance of it coming out looking fake and people always looking at you funny, you’re also taking the chance that it goes wrong and you wind up having health issues for the rest of your life. Honestly, I’ve never heard any of my homeboys compliment a woman for a weave that looked like a weave. If it was a weave and we thought it was possibly her hair, then you would hear a few compliments, but not if it didn’t look real. As far as the fake breasts and butts, if they look unreal, I know a lot of guys who
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would not consider talking to the female at all. For me, if it looks fake, it would be a total turnoff, but that’s not to say I wouldn’t be friends; I just wouldn’t find it attractive. The fact that women wear too much makeup and look artificial detracts from most men’s interest in them, but it doesn’t mean that he still won’t talk to her. Overall, most men don’t like the look of overdoing it to where it looks fake, but it doesn’t mean that they still won’t go for it.
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+ HER TV
Charisse Jackson Jordon Jasmine Marks
Making It Through
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eality has become a guilty pleasure in many homes, to date. Curiosity and awe of the glamour and drama of these people’s lives drive us to watch and root for whomever we identify with the most. Their life experience is our entertainment, no matter how sad or happy, because no matter what, “At least it isn’t happening to us.” Recently, I caught up with with one of the stars of the popular reality show, The Real Housewives of Potomac, Charisse Jackson-Jordon. Her son is graduating high school this year, and she was nice enough to grant me answers to my questions on this day. Any follower of the show would know that Mrs. Jackson-Jordon dealt with some personal issues during the show, and during the reunion she dropped the bomb that her marriage wasn’t working quite like it was supposed to. Her husband hadn’t spoken to her since she had started doing the show and talk of divorce seemed to be imminent. Charisse was devastated. “It’s, uh, bittersweet.” she says. “I mean, you put a lot of years into something. I’ve been married for 19 years. It’ll be 19 years in July. So it’s not like it’s a new relationship. We’ve been together like half of my life, so um you know 56
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+ HER TRAVEL
How To Have An
Enjoyable And Memorable
Family Vacation Peggy Hattendorf
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+ HER TRAVEL
What comes to mind when you think of a family vacation? A break-in-routine . . . Quality time with the kids . . . Experiencing new things . . . Exploration . . . Teachable moments . . Discovering new food . . . Yet these reasons for travel are sometimes overshadowed as the planning and preparation can be overwhelming, taxing, stressful and overly expensive. This article will address the advantages of family travel, present concrete ways to avoid some of the major issues and offer proven recommendations for enjoyable and memorable family holidays. Today, family travel often includes extended family members including grandparents. Multigenerational trips are on the rise as grandparents are healthier, living longer and have the financial means.
We’ve called upon an expert in this specialty market of family travel. Rainer Jenss is the founder and President of the Family Travel Association (FTA). His previous affiliations: The National Geographic Society, National Geographic Kids (Publisher) and Smart Family Travel, Inc., laid the groundwork for his development of the FTA. But the real turning point for Jenss was taking a year to travel around the world with his wife and two young sons. This gave him a chance to see firsthand how travel can enrich and change children’s lives. That experience proved how travel could be a great source of learning outside the walls of a classroom. It also exposed the fragmentation in the travel industry when it comes to serving the family market as well as stumbling blocks to booking family-friendly environments. hers-magazine.com
In 2014, he set out to change this landscape with the formation of the Family Travel Association www.familytravel. org , located in New York. For Jenss the thrust was, “To create a broader awareness of all the (travel) possibilities.” He calls the Association, “A coalition of the travel industry’s leading suppliers, resources and experts on the subject of traveling with children.” The main thrust of the Association according to Jenss is, “To inspire families to travel — and to travel more — while advocating for travel as an essential part of every child’s education.” The near term goal is to introduce a consumer website which will educate customers on the positive and lasting impact travel has on children. It will promote child-friendly experiences, services, family destinations and simplify the arduous tasks of planning and booking family vacations. He envisions it as a “one-stop shop” for access to the best and most useful of resources and booking choices for people traveling with kids.
Family travel is big business and here’s what’s trending in the family travel marketplace. • Multi-families traveling together – sharing costs of accommodations, food, entertainment and other activities. Airbnb, HomeAway, Vacatia, timeshares and private homes have made it much more cost effective and suitable for a group of people. They offer large living and dining spaces, full kitchens and separate bedroom areas for adults and children. • Local hosts sharing experience – participating in an activity or a meal with a local family can broaden crosscultural exchanges and interactions. This site provides an opportunity to dine at home around the world: www. bonappetour.com. Travelers find regional home-cooked meals at residences of local hosts for an introduction into the customs and regional cuisine. • Personally designed family trips – incorporating the interests, needs, activities, lifestyles, ages of the travelers, types of transportation such as private jet charters and preferred accommodations to customize a unique family holiday. • Under-the-radar destinations – discovering places like Iceland, Albania and Greenland. | Jul y /August 2 0 1 6 | H ER S Ma gaz in e |
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