Support

Hey y’all! It’s about that time where we need to have a good conversation. There was a big rant yesterday pon di twitter and I think it’s very worthy of being documented just in case you missed out or you forget one day. I make it a point to thank you all as much and as sincerely as I can. Without you, there is no me. It is such a humbling honor that you take time out of your day to participate in my dreams. Whether you read one post of mine or 100 of them, the fact that you took a minute out of your life to read something I wrote makes me forever indebted to you. I appreciate you and I appreciate your efforts in helping me build my brand, achieve my dream and supporting me throughout because at the end of the day, you don’t have to. It is not a requirement for you to be here. I hate to be cliché but you could be anywhere in the world, but you’re here with me! I love y’all for that.

Outside of writing, I’m not a person to address “haters” for several reasons. 1. I can’t really believe they exist and 2. If they do exist, I know already that I don’t like them so there’s no point in paying them any mind. It is clear to me that we’re not on the same level if you would rather talk negatively about what someone is doing than do something worthy of being talked about in a positive light. But following a fellow artist and friend of mine @isweariainthit, “haters” really do exist!

First, let me describe my caliber of friends/people in similar circles. To be simple, they are either into the arts, entertainment, clothing, and other like industries.
@GianniLee, founder of Babylon Cartel.
@IswearIainthit hosting, writing, performing – something like a hilarious renaissance man. @IJaySanchez, founder of IJayApparel
@Tiffthomp – Co-founder of Two Countries, One Cause
@GenishaMone – founder of Cool Kids
@ViralStatus an amazing site with a plethora of features in all different genres
@ConcreteCakes – a beautiful website dedicated to the upcoming leaders in business, the arts, and entertainment
@_daveybaby writer of all things honest, relevant and relatable
@Ms_she writer and kitchen beautician dedicated to writing about the things that make us feel ugly and what will make us beautiful.

Those are just a FEW off the top of my head that are making dents in their industries. These are just a FEW of the people whose careers I follow, who inspire me and will likely see me at their events showing support.

Speaking for myself, having a dream that requires people to know me, like me and relate to me is HARD! I wasn’t born into money, I didn’t have a trail to follow, everything you see before you is self made. My mother gave me my name but it was my job to make it worth something. There are days when I want to chill in the house or go to the city and not bump into people I know but people are out there doing positive things that I want to support, that I should support. Why? Because support is a cycle. If we don’t support one another, who will? If I can party with you, why can’t I support your business? If I can follow you on twitter for every funny tweet, why can’t I pay attention to the positive ones? It cost me nothing to retweet a link to your website, to listen to your mixtape, to write a post about your event. I know what it’s like to dream about something and want others to believe in that dream with you. I can’t be successful unless you believe it too. And you can’t be successful until you get others to believe it as well.

That being said, our work and our lives are intertwined. Some of us barely have a personal life. Why? Because we have to be who we say we are and the best way to do that is to show it. How can I write about relationships if my carfax was blank? How can I write about the downfall of being mixxy if you’ve never seen me at an event? How can I relate to you about motherhood if I’ve never had a baby? How can I talk about healing broken women if I’ve never discussed being heartbroken. Our followers (and that’s not a degrading term AT ALL) know almost everything. You know where we’ll be, you know who we’re dealing with, you know what upcoming projects we have, you know our teams, everything. We have given ourselves to you hoping that we can impact your lives with whatever it is that we do. How can anyone hate on that? We party with you, we make videos to make you laugh, we write about the things you’re going through, we make clothes for you and you’re mad at that? Tell me when was the last time that Hov invited you to his house for drinks and laughed with you? Tell me if Diddy ever asked you to come to his birthday party and have a drink with him. Everything you enjoy about us, whether it be a party, a happy hour, a launch, a blog, a website, a v-neck, a charity event, a BBQ, a song, a video, a show, it all TOOK WORK! By the time all of those things take place, we’ve been working on the one coming up next. While you’re knocked out because you had such a good time, we’re cleaning up, paying vendors, hotel rooms, licenses, doing research, etc. We don’t sleep. And when you decide that you’re not going to go out one weekend and you’re chilling on your couch, our phones are GOING CRAZY because people want to know how come we’re not there. There is no rest for the people who are following their dreams. We support because we know the need for support.

Before you hate on someone following their dream, just consider for a moment what your own dreams are. How does tearing them down build you up? There’s more than enough room at the top for us all so move over. Not everyone is going to be the FACE of a movement, that doesn’t make them any more important than you. We’re just playing different positions. Stop being a soldier without a cause. If you want to work the 9-5, I respect that because I can’t stand it and I don’t think I can do it for much longer. If you want to work a government job, I respect it because that’s just not who I am. But are you really going to hate someone for wanting something different? Realize that we’re the next generation of Beyonces, Hovs, Oprahs, Baracks, Serenas, Denzels, Toni Morrisons, etc. We’re up next. Don’t end up as one of those people on the blogs posting negative comments about people doing great things because if you haven’t realized, they’re at the bottom (of the page) for a reason.