Janice Bryant Howroyd Breaks Glass Ceiling

Hi Love,

As the first African American woman to own a billion dollar business. From starting her career in 1976 with only $900.00 she has more than tripled her worth and more importantly broke the glass ceiling for women worldwide.

Howroyd is the founder of Act1group, a staffing firm whose business has spread from North Carolina to more than 75 cities around the country. Howroyd found success after vacationing to California to see her sister. After spending two years on the west coast and not finding a job, Howroyd started her employment agency and made the opportunities come to her.

In addition to founding her company, she has also served as a member of the Women's Leadership Board at Harvard. Check out her business secrets below from her Today interview.

1. Make sure you're prepared. 

 2. Understand what the goal is. 

 3. Understand that all of those around, particularly family, are part of that success. 

 4. Always find a moment of gratitude and be grateful along the journey.

                               

Here are the facts we should all know:

*black women are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in America

*there are over 900 million female owned businesses 

*80% of businesses are owned by men

*Janice Bryant Howroyd has changed history for women and minorities. By truly believing in success, she brought amazing opportunities to herself and others. 

--Love Rae

The Future of Fashion Lies in Their Hands!

Hi Love,

NYFW is only a few weeks away (September 10th) so I hope you are ready. With a variety of designers on the rise, lets take a look at the top designers that should be on your radar. Below I've chosen a few of my favorite collections to share with you. Enjoy!

Son Jung Wan  @sonjungwan

Vivienne Hu @viviennehustudio

Ran Fan @jinglingt 

-- Love Rae

How Lucky is Eva Chen?

Hi Love,

Today we celebrate Eva Chen's rise as the new Head of Fashion Partnerships at Instagram! Prior to her current role and becoming a new found mom, Chen served as Lucky Magazine's Editor in Chief. At one point she was also one of Conde Nast's youngest editors under the respected Anna Wintour.

Would you believe that she studied pre-med at John Hopkins? Her life soon changed when she took an internship at Harper's Bazaar and now she is one of the best fashion editors and beauty directors of our time. As we know the average salary of an editor in chief is 108,900 so during her time with Conde Nast, Chen constantly found new ways to reinvent her style by mixing very high-end with street chic. In addition to her impeccable style, Chen is also mastering motherhood one day at a time. Check out some of her amazing work below!

I just began following her on Instagram and you should too! https://instagram.com/evachen212/

--Love Rae

Shopping Hauls All Summer Long!

Hi Love,

As its gets hotter it becomes harder for me to blog however I do have this urge to shop. So to satisfy my recent interests I needed a little bit of inspiration so I headed to YouTube. Today I discovered Carli Bybel a fashion and beauty vlogger who creates numerous videos of shopping hauls and makeup tutorials for almost every occasion. One of her favorite stores is Misguided, which is an online shop that I am completely obsessed with so I instantly subscribed to her channel. Prior to beginning her online channel she worked as a local New Jersey makeup artist but now she has almost 2 million Instagram followers in addition to 2 million subscribers on YouTube. In addition to being a really successful YouTuber, she also has her own eyelash line called Carli Lash.

http://www.thebeautybybel.com/2014/09/deep-teal-color-series.html

Summer Shoe Haul!

Summer Fashion Haul

-- Love Rae

Celebrity Hair Stylist Kiara Bailey and Co-Founder Kristi Kaylor Take Charms to A New Level

Hi Love,

Get to know celebrity hair stylist Kiara Bailey and co-founder Kristi Kaylor the creators of California based hair accessory line Charmsies. Together their clientele includes Paula Abdul, Emma Roberts and Lindsay Lohan. Anyone can bedazzle their hair with these beautiful and easy to use charms!

Fun Facts:

In under one year the self-funded company has already shipped over 1000 retail stores in 6 countries including Nordstrom, Francesca’s, Kitson, Fred Segal, Forever 21, Nasty Gal, Zumiez, Plaza Japan, Urban Outfitters UK and many more.

Kiara Bailey spent 15 plus years as a celebrity hair stylist for such clients including: Paula Abdul, Barbara Streisand, Rachael Zoe, Katherine Heigel and Emma Roberts. In 2006 Kiara created an exclusive hair extension line Hair Lingerie, currently used in top salons throughout the world and worn by many celebrities including Christina Aguilera, Jessica Alba and most of Hollywood’s'elite. Her most widely recognizable feature is her starring role on Bravo’s worldwide hit show Blow Out where she showed her business savvy and unparalleled abilities in hairstyling. See her work here: https://instagram.com/kiarabailey/

Kristi Kaylor specializes in developing, marketing and distributing celebrity and expert driven brands. Kristi developed and operated 6126 with Lindsay Lohan which was carried in the most exclusive stores worldwide and booked millions in sales; Sevin Nyne with Lindsay Lohan that debuted at Sephora to rave reviews; Mblem with Mandy Moore that swept the country as a premium knit wear collection as well as many others. (see www.linkedin.com/kristikaylor) Kristi has worked with many high profile celebrities, top retailers and created highly sought after profitable brands.

Anything is possible it only takes one charm at a time!

--Love Rae

Female Game Developers -- 3 Queens Take the Lead!

Hi Love,

It is very rare that I ever come across a female gamer but it seems as though a few have fallen right into my lap. Launching tomorrow at a private location in Silicon Harbor is the female-created game " Creeping with the Crudashians". Developed by 3 Queens, a gaming development and publishing company in collaboration with WeConsent2, BoomTown, local technology community leaders, and state and national representatives, this new game is a fun on-the-go solution for the everyday traveler, gamer and of course glamour fanatic.

3 Queens created by Cara Florence, Nicole Young and Maureen Coffey-Edri​ is launching their event July 14th in light of the recent South Carolina Emanuel AME Church tragedy by transitioning their launch into an invite only event. As a way of showing an united front against racism and economic disparity within their community, these lovely 3 Queens are donating 10% of the first month's profits of Creeping with the Crudashians to STEM scholarships for minorities in South Carolina, and along with WeConsent2, are donating an additional $5k each.There will be branded wristbands at the door for a minimum $10 donation, proceeds will go directly to Emanuel AME Church, as well as monies raised at the cash bar including contributions by Anheuser-Busch.  BoomTown has donated 10k to the City of Charleston’s Mother Emanuel Hope Fund and unites with all Charleston tech companies in celebration that Silicon Harbor is #charlestonstrong.

Now that's how you keep a community united! Check out the information below to access to their cool new game and of course to find out how you can support their efforts!

MORE ABOUT CREEPING WITH THE CRUDASHIANS

Creeping with the Crudashians, allows players to download and play for free while offering the ability to make in-app purchases for Android and iOS users.  The concept of the game is to match tiles to increase the player’s fame with an overall goal to increase your talent.  The level of difficulty and humorous game effects increase with your play.  Fame and talent are the currency of which the game operates.  However, they work differently.  Fame is abundant, and the default reward for anything a player does.  Fame can be purchased for real money and spent to purchase special items that help the player win.  Talent can never be bought and is very hard to acquire.  This can be rewarded for completing levels, if the player does well.

For more information on Creeping with the Crudashians, visit www.3queensmedia.com or follow the game on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

ABOUT 3 QUEENS:

Founded in 2015 by Think Ideally and Island Girl Holding Company, 3 Queens is an all woman-owned, South Carolina based gaming development and publishing company releasing its first title, Creeping with the Crudashians in July of 2015.

ABOUT THINK IDEALLY, LLC

Think Ideally is a Charleston, SC based firm specialized in providing an ecosystem for entrepreneurs and start-up companies in the technology space.  Since inception in January 2015, the company has grown to five portfolio companies and is working to foster young / future entrepreneurs through Think Ideally’s Entrepreneur Fast Track (EFT) program, set to launch nationally in 2016.

ABOUT BOOMTOWN

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Charleston, SC, BoomTown is a leading SAAS (Software as a service) company that offers a robust sales and marketing system for real estate professionals. The system includes a customized real estate website integrated with local MLS data, personalized online advertising, client success management, and a cutting-edge CRM (Customer Relationship Management System) with marketing automation. BoomTown's software solution is being used by the top-producing real estate brokerages and teams across the country, and the company was recognized for three consecutive years (2011, 2012, and 2013) on the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies List. The company has also been listed as one of the “Best Places to Work” in South Carolina for the past two years, and is one of the leading employers for Charleston tech jobs. For more about BoomTown, visit http://boomtownroi.com/.

--Love Rae

PR Veteran Kathryn Frazier Takes Over The Fader and Sonos " At Home With" Series Premiere!

Hi Love,

Take a look into the home and life of Kathryn Frazier, owner of Biz3 Publicity and Management and co-founder of OWSLA Records! With a list of clients of 100 of music's biggest names including Daft Punk, Skrillex, Marilyn Manson, Lauryn Hill, J. Cole, and Run The Jewels, Frazier is definitely one of the best publicists in the business. In this month's The Fader and Sonos "At Home With" season 2 series premiere, she will reveal intimate moments about her life as well as the true friendships she has developed with fellow music industry veterans and musicians like Towkio, singer Niia, production duo Christian Rich, NBA player Ronny Turiaf, American Idol producer Randy Jackson, rappers Amanda Blank and Boogie, visual artists Friends With You and Mary Brogger, Frank Ocean producer Om'mas Keith, HipHopDx editor Andre Grant, and rap mentor Hip Hop (Since 1978).

Outside of being an industry veteran, Frazier is a mother of two amazing boys and a lover of today's hip hop and R&B. Want more? Check out Kathryn Frazier's upcoming episode in the trailer below:

Exciting News: a new episode of this season's "At Home With" series will be released once a month! Be prepared to get an exclusive look inside of the life and career of your favorite artists (Miguel, Tinashe, Earl Sweatshirt) and industry veterans who are continuing to make their mark.

-- Love Rae