Women Of Excellence!!!!

Are you a Women Of Excellence? without even given it a thought, YES YOU ARE!! A women of purpose, a women that matters, a  women excelling in all that she does, YES that woman is YOU. On March 23, 2014, I attended an event called "Women Of Excellence" in NYC  organized and given by Correy Kaiten, a young man from Brooklyn, NY. I've known Correy for years and he is truly a man of true ambition and hard work. He saw the beauty in us women that are about our business and working hard on making our dreams come true. He put this event together for us to come together and inspire as well as motivate one other. 

We live in a world where women hate and envy on one another for their skin tone, weight, career, men etc. Why is that? Why can't we just empower one another to do better and become better. We all want the same thing and that is to succeed. A female isn't my competition even if I don't know her, she is my sister. The Women Of Excellence event was all about inspiring, motivating and connecting with each other in a room of full of powerful women. 

There were a few quest speakers as well including myself. Our host of the evening was interior designer Kesha Franklin which spoked about when she first fell in love with interior designing and how she got started. She even talked about how she did work for her love ones and others for free, It was hard but she was in love with her passion and refused to give up. She kept on going and now she has her own interior designing firm called "The Beautiful Experience" which truly a beautiful experience indeed and is doing extremely well. It grossed $300,000 in just 2013, can I say MOTIVATION?! Her story inspired me and taught me as well to keep on going even if it gets tough. She kept it real by saying it will get hard but that isn't an excuse to give up. MAKE YOUR PASSION, YOUR MOTIVATION! 

There was also fitness expert Nicole Chaplin that also shared her story from working for Def Jam and being with Kanye West to finding her passion in fitness. She talked about her success in fitness, how she went from hearing "you're too short to be a fitness model" to now being in 8 different magazines as a fitness model.  She also talked on how it is important to do what you love and that you can hear the answer No so many times but keep on going because eventually you will hear a Yes. 

Plus Size Model and plus size advocate Jezra Matthews was a guest speaker as well, she talked about how her love for the camera and her confidence led her to her passion on following her dreams on becoming a plus size model. Even as a motivator for confidence, her confidence inspires me on the daily. She reminded us to love ourselves and to do what you love without listening to others trying to tell you different. 

Correy Kaiten Mother Maureen Kaiten was a speaker as well from working two jobs to support her family to finding her passion in nursing. She has been a nurse for 25 years devoting her life to save others as well as being a women of excellence to her family. It was truly an amazing event, each women started doing something they didn't love but went for their passion and now doing something they love. 

I felt so inspired and my speech inspired many as well. I spoke about my book "Confidence is you", how I came up with the concept. I also talked about how I took my struggles and what I dealt with to do something with writing which is my passion. I was so nervous but once I got on the mic, I spoke from the heart and my passion made me feel at ease. So many people came up to me afterwards telling me how amazing I did and how I inspired them. It really made me smile and even made me fall in love with my passion even more. 

It was many more speakers  such as Jessica Denis which has her own Travel Agency with over 500 client, she was another female to inspire me and everyone else as well. Everyone left there inspired and motivated to do more and reach for all of their dreams and potentials.  

I wish it can always be like this where women can empower each other instead of being envious and hateful on one another. We are so powerful and if we would just salute and compliment one another, we would all be much successful. Let's love one another and just be there when we need each other. What is meant for you will only be for you, so what others have isn't for you to be envious about. What is meant for them isn't meant for you. We all want different things out of life, we all want to be happy and live out our dreams and what is so beautiful about it is that we are capable of doing so. Love Yourself, Appreciate Who You Are, Be Good To Others as well as See The Good In Others.  When you do good it will come back to you so be kind. 

To Mr Correy Kaiten, Thank You for putting this amazing event together for women to come together and have an amazing time. Thank You as well as giving me an opportunity to be a guest speaker. Your devotion and hard work doesn't go unnoticed. I wish more guys can see the beauty in our hard work and being successful instead of what we can offer in other areas. I wish you the best my friend and success will definitely belong to you, MAJORITY RULES! 

To My Ladies, Be an inspiration, Be a Motivator,Be a leader. Instead of bringing another female down, bring her up and encourage her to do better. People always tell me you always preach to females, why is that?! I want all of us to know our worth, to know that we are capable of making our dreams come true. I want us to love ourselves and appreciate who we are.  Iam in love with what I do and for the rest of my life I will continue doing what I love. This is my passion and you have a passion as well so find it and make all of your dreams come true. 

Confident Love From Me To You. 

               XoXo, Yanika 

Check Out Hashtag #WomenOfBlackExcellence To See Pictures From The Women Of Excellence  Event <3  

Quality Time With Me, Myself & I....

There will be times where you just need a break from everything and everyone to clear your mind and just take some time for yourself  to put things into perspective and fully understand a few things that is happening in your life. I Needed To Listen To My Own Voice & My Own Soul, Too Many People Listen To The Noise Of The World Instead Of Themselves. That time came for me on Sunday, I just had an emotional breakdown and just needed answers to a few things that was going on in my life. I knew the answers already but I guess I just felt so overwhelmed. 

It came to the point where I needed to stop putting things  under the rug and just say this is it and I have to deal with it and  I will be just fine. I decided to take a few days to myself, a break from everything even social media and everyone. I needed to put things in order and really figure out what it is I wanted to do. I also wanted to take this time to get closer to god, a relationship with god is the foundation to success in life and I felt it was him telling me  to take this time to be still and just take a deep breath. I also wanted to  focus on work, my mind, body and soul. I needed a detox and that's exactly what I did. It was hard the first day mostly because of social media. I thought of you guys like who is going to update the page and how will I be able to motivate and inspire you all. I know some of you guys depend on me to give you the push you need to keep on going on a daily basis. But I needed to think about me for once  and do what I felt was best for me.

 I knew in this time I would clear my mind and find all the answers I need so I can inspire and motivate you all even more in the best of my ability. One of the hardest thing I've been dealing with for the past few months is losing one of my closest friends back in October to cancer, everyday is a struggle for me. I have my good days but my bad days outweighs them. I know she isn't suffering anymore but I still don't know how I can go on with life without her. I mean of course I will keep on going but what am I suppose to do when I need to talk to her or need to see her beautiful face. She was someone that believed in me so much and wanted nothing but the best for me. I remember when I first told her about Confidence Is You and she said "Yaya I Believe In You, You Can Do It & You Will". She never doubted me and she always gave me the courage I needed. I know that there is nothing that can bring her back, but I am thankful for all the amazing memories we shared and I know that no matter what and no matter where I am she is with me. I know she is smiling as Iam writing this and saying " of Course Iam with you". 

The second thing I've been dealing with is the publishing company that released my first book  "Confidence Is YOU'  closed down, at first I was OK but then I started panicking and worrying especially when it was said my book wasn't available anymore for purchased. It wasn't their fault but I couldn't handle it for some reason. I just felt my baby, my book wasn't available to the world anymore. But what I came to terms with which I always knew but this week god really put it in my heart that at times he closes a door for bigger and better things to happen. I need to see the good in things and believe that my book wasn't going to be unavailable forever. I needed to believe that it was getting a make over and was coming back out even stronger than before.(It will be release again for purchase Spring 2014) I will always be thankful and grateful for my very first  publishing company and my publisher for giving me an amazing opportunity as well as making one of my dreams come true. It  was time to say I will be just fine, matter of fact I will be great and keep on pushing forward. 

It was time for me to accept everything and my confident dolls in those few days I can honestly say Iam where I am meant to be and feeling good about it. I just needed time for ME, MYSELF & I.  If you  ever need time for you then take all the time you need, don't think of yourself  as being selfish because you are not. You are just taking  the necessary time you need for YOU. As I always tell you the best relationship you can have besides with God is with yourself. Your happiness matters the most, no matter what you want out of life or want to achieve, the end result is to be happy. 

For me I want to be doing what I love but truly find happiness while doing so and I can say that Iam the happiness I ever been. Confidence is You gives me the ultimate joy that I need day and night. Iam in love with inspiring and motivating you all to love yourself, know your worth, find your confidence, and I love telling you all how beautiful you all are because the fact is that you are beautiful.  When  I write I find happiness so each Instagram caption I write or blog entry I smile while doing it. There will be certain aspects in your life that will come between your true happiness but you just have to keep on pushing and staying focus on what truly matters. 

Remember the secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old or fighting what's  not going on right in your life in the moment but on building the new.  I Just Have To Trust In God & Have My Faith In Him. When He Closes A Door My Confident Dolls  Is For Something Bigger & Greater To Happen Behind The Next Door That Will Open Up For You. Like Author Alex Elle Said " Learning To Be Alone While Appreciating My Darkness Just As Much As My Light, Have Been Great Gifts From God". Everything That Happens It's A Life Lesson, You Just Have To Learn In The Process & Keep On Going. I Appreciate It All, I Know Greatness Will Happen For Me & You. 

Confident Love From Me To You

                           Yanika <3