The ABCs of life * A powerful graduation speech*

I was tagged in a graduation speeh * thanks Barb Jeffcoat* and it starts off with a young black male named Tim Lee. Who speaks to his classmates in a very articulate manner at their graduation. His classmates are the class of 2004 of Hampton University. He's encouraging his classmates to overcome the obstacles that they will face after school. He's letting them know that life will not be easy and nothing will be handed to them.

In order to overcome these challenges he gives his advice through the use of the alphabet, he calls it The ABC's of life

A-accept the challenge
B- believe in ourselves
C- convert our thoughts into hopes
D- determination to convert our hopes into dreams
E- expect some obstacles on the way up
F- fight while being faithful and finish the course
G- get GOD on our side
H- Have a harving model of leadership
I- inspire someone else
J- take JESUS on our journey
K- keep on keeping on
L- be a leader
M- make every day count
N- never give up
O- overcome our obstacles
P- put our best foot forward
Q- quit quitting
R- run the race with pacers
S- strive on
T- trusting in the lord
U- use our talents
V- value our time
W- wait for understanding
X- X-ray our own live styles
Y- yearn to achieve all that we seek
Z- be zealous when reaching the top.
Check out the powerful video below.

Post by Black People Vines.

Tim used the ABC's to inspire his entire class and many others. Through the use of the ABCs he speaks about working hard, not being afraid to fight and keeping the lord in your life in order to succeed. The reaction of his classmates shows that with his words he gave them just the push that they needed to go out and tackle those upcoming obstacles. What a great way to end your collegiate career. Tim Lee you are something special. Below you will find the Tim's entire speech


 

Remember To Always Be

Fierce and Fabulous

xoxo Lela Victoria  

The Gospel Challenge

Throughout my time on social media I have seen challenges come and go. Some of the challenges I have participated in and some I have chosen not to. One of the few I have participated in was the Cinnamon challenge during my collegiate days while at West Point, see the video below at the bottom of the blog. I haven't seen the Gospel Challenge until I was officially tag and challenged. Unlike other challenges before this one, I did not have to think twice about whether or not I was going to participate. I'm in the choir at church ( when I'm in town and have time to make practice). What self respecting Christian would turn down this challenge. If you can hum you can sing a simple hymn. Now if you sound like JJ Fish when you sing I suggest that you stay quiet and not participate in this challenge. Spare us and yourself from being miserable. Anyways, I debated on what Gospel song to sing. I wanted to do a song that my vocals could handle and not pick a song that was totally out of my range. One of my friends suggested I do Say Yes since it was my favorite Gospel song at the moment and so I thought to myself " WHY NOT" and thats how choosing that song came about. Check me out doing the Gospel challenge. I had a great time making the video. My vocals are not the greatest but I had fun singing praises until the lord. Are you up to the Challenge? It is your opportunity to not only participate in a fun cause but to give praise to our savior.

 






Who remembers the Cinnamon Challenge. Actually make that the Crazy Cinnamon Challenge, I got some good laughs from that challenge and actually did it myself check out the video below.

 

Remember To Always Be 

 Fierce and Fabulous 

 xoxo Lela Victoria

Destiny's Child reunites for Michelle's New Single " Say Yes

It's always great to see the ladies of Destiny's Child reunited on the Big Screen. A few weeks ago Michelle Williams released the Say Yes single and I have been anticipating the release of her music video since originally hearing the song . I will be honest and admit that the only reason I was excited to see the video was because I felt like this song gave me that mini Destiny's Child reunion that I have been craving to see and experience.

Michelle is still strictly a Gospel singer outside of her DC3 shenanigans, while Beyonce and Kelly both switch it up from time to time. All the ladies started singing in the church, just like many black female musicians" therefore it is not strange to see Kelly and Beyonce willingly switching back to the gospel side with such ease.

I personally love how Beyonce can sing about being on her knees in a limo in her song "Partition"  and Kelly can sing about liking her "Kisses Down Low" and then they switch it up and contribute to Michelle's gospel single. Now that is what you call being diverse with your music. And before anyone brings out the negativity in this just know that Beyonce and Kelly are both married women and can technically do whatever they want along with singing about it. Also Michelle and the ladies of DC3 are business savvy individuals and know how much of a plus it would be to contribute to Michelle's newest single. It's nice to see the ladies come together and help one another out.

Say Yes has a very upbeat tempo and a catchy tune so from the beginning Michelle was winning with this song. The director of the video Michael A. Cherry was able to capture a unique perspective of the video. The visuals in the video are colorful and give off an African/Caribbean vibe. We also get a pleasant surprise of seeing Michelle do a little 2 step. The ladies sing about not having to worry about a thing and putting it all in God's hands. We typically live stressful lives on a daily basis and being able to just give it all to God/Jesus at the end of the day is our way of letting the lord have his way with was was already meant to be.

Kudos to you Michelle on the release of your new single and video I look forward to purchasing your album in September. Keep switching it up singing praises unto the creator above.

Check out the music video below



It is really great to see gospel singers step outside the box and add a little twist to their genre of music. It doesn't hurt to leave the tradition ways behind sometimes.
Leave A Comment and let me know what you think about the song, the video and the participation of Beyonce and Kelly on a gospel track

Remember To Always Be 

Fierce and Fabulous

xoxo Lela Victoria 

Actress Ruby Dee passes away at 91

Ruby Dee, an actress and civil- has died. She was 91.

She passed away yesterday at her home in New Rochelle, New York, which was reported by her  daughter. 

In 1965, she became the first black woman to play leading roles at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut, performing as Kate in “The Taming of the Shrew” and Cordelia in “King Lear.”

She was the wife of the late Ossie Davis 

Remember To Always Be 

Fierce and Fabulous 

Kelly Rowland is pregnant

The second lead vocalist of Destiny's Child is pregnant.  I literally screamed ( while still at work ) when I found out that Kelly Rowland was pregnant. Finding out the good news immediately made me smile and then proceed to sing her song " Kisses Down Low". I can't even explain why out of all her songs that one in particular popped in my head.

 

Kelly officially announced her exciting news today via Instagram by posting this picture with the caption, I'll be stunting like my daddy.

She shared a picture of baby jordans lined up next to a regular adult pair which was our obvious clue that she was trying to tell us something special.

Last month Kelly married her manager Tim Witherspoon in Costa Rica, looks like the couple will be adding a new member sooner than expected.

 

This is exciting news for the RowlandStones ( that's Kelly's fan base for all who doesn't know ) and you know the #Beyhive is excited to hear about our sister being a future mommy. Congratulations Kelly I know you are going to be a Fierce and Fabulous mommy and I look forward to seeing pictures of you with your adorable baby bump, you officially do not have to hide it anymore.

Remember To Always Be

Fierce and Fabulous

 

Watch Maya Angelou 's funeral

Today is the unfortunate day that we say goodbye to our phenomenal woman. Below you will find the links to her funeral

Please join the family and friends of Dr. Maya Angelou through the livestream of her memorial service, at 10 a.m. EST. http://new.livestream.com/wfu/angelou

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network will simulcast Dr. Maya Angelou’s private memorial service in celebration of her legacy. The broadcast begins this Saturday, June 7 at 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT on OWN. The memorial service will also be available to view on Oprah.com atwww.Oprah.com/MayaAngelou.

Watch Dr. Maya Angelou's funeral live here... http://bit.ly/Tqlk2J 

RIP to our beautiful magnificent queen she was an amazing person who touched and positively impacted many lives. May your legacy live on forever and may you smile down on us from above

Remeber To Always Be

Fierce and Fabulous

xoxo Lela Victoria 

Why can't a female show off her NIPPLES

Society makes me so sick at times with some of it's ridiculous double standards.

Last night the songstress Rihanna Robyn Fenty decided to wear a slightly revealing sheer sequin dress to the CDFA Fashion Awards in NYC . The dress gave off a 1920 ( Great GATSBY) flapper vibe. 

A flapper is a fashionable young woman with the intent of enjoying herself and flouting conventional standards of behavior. Rihanna definitely did just that while also wearing 216,000 Swarovski crystals which was designed by Adam Selman. Her dress was made out of sequin material and was completely see through. The singer wore underwear but decided to ditch her bra and bare it all. Here's the revealing dress

I am currently writing this blog in underwear and no bra ( I'm also at home and just showered and it's 100 degrees outside ) but if I wanted to wear a dress similar to what Rihanna is wearing I feel that I am entitled to do such a thing. 

The human body is BEAUTIFUL ART when it is kept in a healthy natural looking state. Our bodies should not be something we are ashamed of. I applaud, admire, and look up to those people who are comfortable in their skin and don't mind showing it off, especially if they are single with no kids. ( Hey why not )

I decided to post this picture of Rihanna on my instagram and my Facebook account without thinking twice about what other people's personal opinions would be about Rihanna's attire. I should have braced myself for all the negative backlash I received about how she was trashy and looked like a slut. Those degrading comments resulted in me defending Rihanna and then it made me think. WHAT IS WRONG WITH RIHANNA SHOWING OFF HER NIPPLES. Men do this all the time in different type of settings, yet if a female does it anywhere outside the bedroom it is considered to be a bad, unclassy, trashy act.

We as human beings especially in AMERICA, have a problem. Why are females scrutinized at a much higher level than males are. Why are we held under the microscope for every little thing that we do, yet the males can get away with doing the exact same thing and no one would think twice about it.

I personally feel like if you're an entertainer, you're single with no kids, why not be free and do whatever the hell you want. As long as you the INDIVIDUAL are comfortable with your actions, that is all that should matter. If a woman wants to show off her cleavage, nipples, and butt why call her out. A man and a woman both have nipples yet its perfectly fine for a man to show is but a woman can't and thats total BS to me. So before you go speaking negatively about someone look at yourself first, reevaluate your own life, and know that obviously this person must feel comfortable with the skin that they are in if they have no problem showing off their body.

At the CDFA Awards Rihanna was awarded the 2014 Fashion Icon Award and I think she was very deserving of it. She wears whatever she wants and is not afraid to take risk.

Hey instagram moderators, are you about to delete this picture of Rihanna that has now been posted on thousands of IG accounts. Good luck with your deleting spree and this goes to show you that exposing a little nipple is not all that bad in the first place, whether that person be male or female.

We have got to do better and stop degrading our women who choose to freely express themselves. Women have done it for thousands of years and will continue to do so. Rihanna keep pushing the limits in the fashion industry, someone has to be brave enough to do so.

Remember To Always Be

Fierce and Fabulous

xoxo Lela

Funeral Details For Dr Maya Angelou's funeral

A statement has been released by the family of the late Dr Maya Angelou regarding her funeral.

The Maya Angelou Family continues to extend their gratitude to all of you for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Due to limited seating capacity, they have decided to have a closed service for family and friends. Wake Forest University will livestream the service on June 7th at 10 a.m. EST. Please check facebook and twitter on June 6th and they will post the link and continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

I know I will definitely be watching her home going service this upcoming Saturday, and I just hope I'm not a total mess like I was for Whitney's ceremony. I'll post the link once it is released to the public 

                         Remember To Always Be 

                         Fierce and Fabulous 

                         xoxo Lela Victoria