E M P O W E R M E N T
A N D
E N T E R T A I N M E N T
SEPTEMBER 2021 (US)
DR. LINDA JOSEPH
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Your past has the unique and singular ability to shape your future.
pg. 18
EXCLUSIVE
PEBBLES JUNELL
the mother of dmx twins, set the record straight
AND MORE...
TABLE OF CONTENTS —
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CONTACT US
E DI TO R S N OT E
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S EAS O N 4 OF T V ON E ’ S RAW AND UNCUT S ER IES ‘ U N C E N S OR E D ’ C O NTI NUES WI TH G O S P EL MU S I C I C ON B E B E WI NANS
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10 WAYS TO CULTIVATE PEACE IN YOUR HOME
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BAHAMAS COVER STORY WITH DR. LINDA JOSEPH
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U S COV E R S TORY W I TH P EB B LE S JU N E LL
E D I TO R I A L ELLE CLARKE EDITOR CO N T R I B U TO R S Lisa M Sanchez Ashley Kirk SUBSCRIPTIONS SUBSCRIBE ONLINE WWW.IAMQUEENMAGAZINE.COM
EDITOR’S NOTE Get excited about your future! This month I challenge you to expect the best. God is waiting on you to raise your expectations of him. He wants to do more than pay your rent. He wants to give you an idea that will cause you to pay the rent of others. He wants to bless your marriage but he’s waiting on you to stay in his presence long enough to get the strategy for victory.
You have suffered a while and now it’s time for you to taste and see that the Lord is good. I pray that your mind is open to the miracles of God.
ELLE CLARKE FOUNDER EDITOR IN CHIEF I AM QUEEN MAGAZINE
I pray that God gives you a blessing that will cause you to forget about the pain of your past. I pray that God heals everything that is broken in your life. I pray that God removes every wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing in your life. I pray that you use your testimony to tell others of the goodness of God. We have entered into a new year according to the Jewish calendar. I pray that this year is the best year of your life! Celebrate because God has assured you the victory!
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ENTERTAINMENT
SEASON 4 OF TV ONE’S RAW AND UNCUT SERI E S ‘UNCENSORED’ CONTI N UES WI T H GOSPEL MUSI C I CON BEBE WI N ANS
TV One’s original, autobiographical series UNCENSORED continues with six-time Grammy Award-winning icon Bebe Winans on Sunday, September 5 at 10 PM ET/9C. This season, some of today’s most notable personalities tell their story in their own words including super producer Swizz Beatz, standup comedian-actor Tommy Davidson, R&B singer Anthony Hamilton, acclaimed actress Lynn Whitfield, comedian-actress Kym Whitley and more!
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The hit autobiographical series UNCENSORED explores the lives of your favorite personalities as they provide first-hand accounts of their success and the obstacles they faced throughout their careers. The next episode stars Gospel Music Icon Bebe Winans. He started his career as a backup singer for his older brothers before joining his little sister to create the duo, BeBe & CeCeWinans in 1982. In 1997, he released his debut solo album. Throughout his career Bebe has collaborated with a wide variety of artists like Whitney Houston, Yolanda Adams, Stevie Wonder and Eric Clapton. He is one of the first true crossover artists. Now, the legend is speaking on his career’s peaks and valleys on an allnew episode of UNCENSORED. UNCENSORED is produced for TV One by Eric Tomosunas, Keith Neal, James Seppelfrick and Paul Hall (Executive Producers), Jay Allen (Co-Executive Producer), and Nikki Byles (Producer) of Swirl Films. For TV One, Jason Ryan is Executive in Charge of Production; Donyell Kennedy-McCullough is Senior Director of Talent & Casting; and Robyn Greene Arrington is Vice President of Original Programming and Production. For more information on UNCENSORED, visit TV One’s YouTube Channel and check out exclusive, behind-the-scenes content on www.tvone.tv. Download the TV One app! Watch your favorite shows & movies Anytime. Anywhere. Available in the Apple, Google Play, and ROKU app stores. Viewers can also join the conversation by connecting via social media on TV One’s Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (@tvonetv) and the UNCENSORED Facebook and Instagram (@UncensoredTVOne) using the hashtag #UNCENSORED.
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DR. LINDA JOSEPH Dr. Linda Joseph is the cover queen for this month’s issue of I AM QUEEN Magazine Bahamas We are so excited to share this gem with you!
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MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN SHEMERGENCE Your past has the unique and singular ability to shape your future. Often the events of our past can make life so unbearable we don’t want to live it anymore. Yet other times, our past can forge a path to a much better and brighter future. As I have looked back over my past, I see it covered with things a young girl should not have been exposed to. As a child, I was molested, abused, used, and forced to endure unimaginable things. As I was
experiencing these actions, I called on the Lord for strength and help. Often it felt as if my cries were falling on deaf ears. Many times those that I was depending on to protect me, left me to fend for myself. In many cases, those trusted adults became the very forces of evil intention that attempted to take more of my dignity and self-worth. Through it all, I learned to lean on the Lord. During times of rape and unwanted intimacy, he sustained me. During periods of lack and lost love, the Lord was my constant compan-
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ion. I learned to seek him out as I was sought out to be taken advantage of. This may sound like a hard-tale and an arduous life to have lived...But God In the midst of all my struggles, sacrifices, and sadness, I discovered the source of true joy and the origin of the oil of gladness. Journey with me as I share my EMERGENCE. This is my childhood journey from conception to womanhood. Bear with me as I guide you through the different stages of my life. By doing so, I will show you in other books how I emerged to become a blessed woman of God today. My mess has become my Message and a Movement that says “I AM SHE”
What obstacles did you encounter on your journey, that almost caused you to quit on your dream? Dr. Linda Joseph: My, my where do I begin. I was set up to fail from birth. My father abandoned my mother with three kids all under the age of three. At the age of six, I was raped and left for dead. From age six to eight I was molested, by my mother’s boyfriend and my aunts. I was treated like a slave in my own home. We were always hungry and from place to place. Every new place meant I had to deal with another obstacle. I don’t look like what I’ve been through, praise God! Who inspires you to keep going?
What were you the first to do in your family? Dr. Linda Joseph: I was pretty much the first to do everything since I’m the eldest child. From graduating high school, first of four generations of women to be married, first to go to college, first woman leader in ministry. God has broken so many generational barriers through me. What obstacle prevented others in your family from completing the task you accomplished? Dr. Linda Joseph: The belief that they can, selfworth and affirmation. I refuse to be average, I let the average go. How did your accomplishment transform your family? Dr.Linda Joseph: I made a promise to myself when I was nine years old, that my children will not suffer from a lack of simple needs and/or be neglected. Security and love was and remain my number goal for my family. We are a loving Christian family and my children are now leaders in the community.
Dr. Linda Joseph: Self-affirmations and my faith in God have always been my keeper. Then when I had my own children and I felt like quitting my marriage, their security has kept me. How were you, out of everyone in your family, able to accomplish something they couldn’t do? Dr. Linda Joseph: I believe, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. PUSH! I just push until something happens. I realize the worst someone can say is no, so I believe that if one door closes, another will open. It might take some time, you can pause but never give up! Wow! You are such an inspiration. How can people connect and stay in contact with you? Dr. Linda Joesph: www.mywiwa.com @wiwa.inspiration (Facebook & Instagram) Linda Joseph or Pastor Linda Joseph (Facebook)
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DR. LI N DA BOOK
JOSEPH S TO R E
PEBBLESJUNELL Pebbles Junell is the cover queen for this month’s issue of I AM QUEEN Magazine (US). We are so excited to share this gem with you!
BIO
Founder of Growing With K’dyn C.E.O. Pebbles Fit Speaker Mother
HELLO!
Pebbles Junell is a single mother of three beautiful children. She is the C.E.O of Pebbles Fit and the Founder of Growing with K’dyn. Tell us about your childhood. Your mother died when you were very young. How did her death shape your life moving forward? Pebbles Junell: As a child, even growing up into an adult, I always felt this emptiness. But, I was very grateful to be adopted by my biological grandparents and my father. They taught me so much about my mother. I always wonder if she’s proud of me? Or how she would react to certain things, or would we travel together? But there is an emptiness I feel. You were only one year old when your mother died. Do you have any photos of you both together? Pebbles Junell: No. I have one picture they gave me and I still haven’t seen her obituary. I want to see the obituary, but I don’t have much memory of her at all. We want to extend our sincerest condolences to you and your children over the loss of their father, Earl ‘DMX’ Simmons. Their father died at the same age you were when your mother died. How has his death transformed your lives?
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Pebbles Junell: That hit home for me. Because I know what it is to grow up without a parent. I never wanted my kids to feel that emptiness. So I try my best to do everything that Earl wanted them to do. Every event they have for Earl I try to make sure that my kids are a part of it so we can have pictures and videos that I can show them once they get older. They will have the same questions I had when I got older, but at least they will have photos. There are a lot of misconceptions about your relationship with DMX. What’s the real deal? Pebbles Junell: The whole side chick thing or that I am a homewrecker are absolute lies. Earl and I built a strong friendship and relationship without me knowing anything of another woman. So after, I found out we immediately broke up. But I felt like we’ve been through it all. We went from being friends to lovers to hating each other, to co-parenting. The world may see it another way but it’s not what people think. How was DMX as a father? Pebbles Junell: He tried the best that he could, you know, dealing with his circumstances. But during that time, I didn’t see how much he was trying. When we found out that K’dyn had down syndrome he was with me at the hospital. K’dyn got admitted for a month, last year and he was there. Take us through those moments when you both found out that K’dyn was diagnosed with down syndrome? Pebbles Junell: Well, emotionally during that time, it was a lot for me, because I was already going through the separation between DMX and me. And then during that time, I found out that one of my twins had down syndrome. So of course, he blamed himself a lot. I was mentally not okay, I began seeing a therapist because I needed to work on myself. I needed to be strong to raise 3 kids as a single mother. But once I was able to accept the diagnosis, I started to educate myself about it. I joined a lot of down syndrome groups, and I was close to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. They educated me so much about down syndrome, and I was able to educate him about it. So we both realized that it’s an extra chromosome and that it has nothing to do with either one of us. It happened. So, we went through a lot. This is why I go so hard with Growing With K’dyn. Many parents struggle with acceptance. My experience motivated me to start this foundation and we started this before DMX’s death. Wow! Being a parent is already demanding, but I’m sure that there’s a different level of devotion needed when dealing with a special needs child. So take us through a typical day with K’dyn? Pebbles Junell: K’dyn has occupational therapy, physical therapy, hearing therapy, and speech therapy, he has this daily. I am very grateful that after Earl died, we were able to get a stay-athome nurse. We have a nurse seven days a week from 10 pm to 6 am. But she’s on call, and she’s able to travel and go to events with us. I was very, very grateful for that. But right now, he has to undergo several surgeries. He has to have heart surgery, hearing surgery, eye surgery and have part of his tonsils removed so that he can breathe better throughout the night. Is all this connected to down syndrome?
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Pebbles Junelle: Yes. Each child is different, you know, but a lot of kids have low muscle tone. When you have a low muscle tone, everything is weak. So it’s not that he won’t be able to; as he gets older he’ll begin to hear more. As he gets older, he’ll start to get stronger. It’s a process of development. With all that you have going on, how do you take care of yourself? Pebbles Junell: Honestly, I didn’t know that I was going into a depression again, once Earl passed away. Everyone was asking me if I was okay and I told them that I was fine. But then I had a bad breakdown, I was not okay. And it’s okay to say that you’re not okay. Yes, I’m not perfect. I’m hurt. And I was embarrassed for a long time. But now I’m ready to speak my truth. And now it’s about affirmations and speaking positive things into existence and staying mentally okay. So that’s the main goal. I attend a lot of motivational and networking events to help and inspire other people because it inspires me as well. So my goal right now is to be okay with Pebbles. It’s affirmations, praying to God, and staying around positive people that genuinely love me. That’s amazing. Tell us more about K’dyn? What does he like and how is he with his other siblings? Pebbles Junell: K’dyn loves to eat! And it hurts me so bad that he is only on liquids. So when I cook, I like to blend the food so he can get the same thing we’re eating. As far as his siblings are concerned they have a beautiful connection. It’s like they have known each other their whole life.
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That’s nice to hear. What advice or word of encouragement would you give to a mother who has just found out that her child has special needs? Pebbles Junell: The best thing that you can do is accept it. Once you get over acceptance, you’re able to inspire the world. Once you accept it begin to educate yourself about whatever disability your child has. You’ll soon
discover that you are lucky to have this baby. God will never give you a child that you can’t handle. My son made me who I am today. So I’m very, very grateful. So accept it and educate yourself. I know that you have a lot of things going on with your foundation and with your business. Tell us about some of the events you have planned? Pebbles Junell: We are preparing for down syndrome awareness month in October. Growing with K’dyn has partnered with the Children’s Hospital Philadelphia. This year we’re doing a virtual event because of the rising COVID cases. We would do walks, but we’re going to do a virtual event on October 24. If you follow me on Instagram, @
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Follow Pebbles Junell on Instagram @pebblesjunell for more.
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go to: www,pebblesfit.com go to: www,pebblesfit.com go to: www,pebblesfit.com
PebblesJunell, I will be posting the links for the down syndrome virtual walk. Each family is doing something different in their own home. So for me, I want to set up a zoom call and everyone can join in. We’re going to walk for 21 minutes because Down Syndrome is called Trisomy 21. So I’m going to set up a zoom call everybody can join wherever you are in the world. And we will walk for 21 minutes.
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