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8 Business & CareerHowTo make your first Million: Tips from Julia Pimsleur

40 Featured StoryChristine Hilts Is a breath of fresh air

42 WeddingsTop 10 wedding colors for trends from pantone Spring 2016

20 Cover Story Jennifer lopez Keeps Shining

18 Health & FitnessWomen and Uterine Fibroids

28 Fashion & Beauty28 Society’s Obsession with Physical Attraction: Beauty30 3 Fashion Trends for Spring 201634 “Rose Quartz” and “Serenity” : Colors of the Year

14 Cuisine14 100% Whole wheat waffles (freezer meal)15 Two Minute Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake16 Chicken Stir Fry with Thai Peanut Sauce

WHAT’S INSIDE

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Ending 2015 with a Big Bang &

Welcoming 2016 with a Bigger Bang!

It has been a blessing 2015 for me. I have

learned more about my strengths and

weaknesses through my good and bad expe-

riences. We understand life is compared to being in

a rollercoaster. That is true. You will be up, down and all around. But always know God is in control only if you allow him to guide you through your emotional rollercoaster. Your emotions can get the best of you. This is the reason it is important to never make decisions while you are emotional. Listen to God and he will show you the right choices to make. I have learned that more so this year. I learned to put my trust in God and allow him to guide me every day in 2015. He has helped me make better choices for my family and I. There were moments I thought I was in a tough situation that I could not

overcome but when I prayed to God every morning he showed me the best way to overcome my obstacles. My experiences in 2015 have taught me to be grateful for every day. I spent my entire year being grate-ful and this has helped me to be a happier person who wants to see other people as happier as I am. I am ending 2015 with a great attitude and believe each experience in 2015 were lessons I needed to learn to help me grow. I welcome 2016. I know I am ready for the new experiences, adventures, peo-ple and businesses I will encounter. I know in my heart God will guide me and show me what and who should be in my life as I am still riding the rollercoaster.

Claire K. GuerreEditor In Chief.

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January 2016 . Issue 1

PublisherAdriana Okpalaugoadriana.okpalaugo@gmail.com

Editor-in-ChiefClaire K. Guerreclaireguerre@hotmail.com

Woman’s Essence magazine is for and about powerful women all arround the world. About the Mothers , workers or business women , and about the Wifes. They all fit into one body. Our mission is to engage, ins-pire and cultiver each soul that reads our magazine by sharing hopes, stories, dreams, etc.This magazine would not be existing if not by each of our readers support.

We are looking for Inspiring WomenDo you know a woman that is interesting and has all the assets to be on the Cover of WEmaga-zine? Or are you the one and want to share your story with other women ? Is there a special project or orga-nization you would like us to feature in our magazine? Let us know! Email your suggestions at wemagazinee@gmail.com

Share your special events.Are you part of a business or an organizations and have planning an event, seminar or important meeting? Send us the details about your upcoming event or the flyer/advert design at wemagazinee@gmail.com

Share the Hapiest day of your life! You recently got married and had an unique andspe-cial wedding event? If you want to share that with other women for inspiration and the joy of it, send us a short description of the event and yourself and your wedding photos. Email photos at wemagazinee@gmail.com All photo submisisons must be 300dpi or higher. I you have any questions related to this feel free to ask, we’ll assist you.

WE always welcome your comments and suggestions

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All submissions will be included in the available space. All submissions must be submitter as JPG or PDF, of 300dpi or higher.

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BUSI

NES

S

How to make your first million: tips from

Julia PimsleurThe New Year is here and we are making promises to ourselves we must honor.

One of them being is focusing on becoming financially secure in 2016. Julia Pimsleur shares some helpful information on

"How to Make Your First Million." Lets hope it will be this year.

Julia Pimsleur is the founder and CEO of Little Pim, a method for teaching small children

a second language. Research shows that the best time to learn a language is between the ages of zero and six; yet she couldn’t find the service for her own son. This personal need prompted Pimsleur, a bilingual speaker herself, to start the company. She took everything she learned developing her multimillion dollar company and turned it into a new book, to help other women: Million Dollar Women: The Essential Guide for Female Entrepreneurs Who Want to Go Big. Julia spoke to Like a Boss Girls about how her business got started, and shared her advice on growing a business over the mil-lion dollar mark.

What were the first steps you took to start the company? I did not quit my day job, which was fundraising for a nonprofit– I did Little Pim on the side. I started do-ing lots of storyboard sketching during my time at home with my baby. While my son was napping, I’d be sketching the ideas for Little Pim. I eventually decided to create a pilot of what I thought the program would look like–a little five minute video example of Little Pim–and then it really took off.

I hired a producer to produce the first three videos, and then once they were produced, I hired one per-son, one day a week, who I found on Craigslist, to help

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fulfill orders. That was the company for about a year. At the end of that first year, it was doing well, and I decided I needed to take the plunge and quit my day job and go full time at Little Pim.

That’s when I went out and raised my first real money, which was about a million dollars, in what’s called a Series A round. That is an investment round with an-gel investors who each put money into the company. I think I had ten or fifteen of them in the first round. That’s how I got the company off the ground. Because of my background as a fundraiser, I was comfortable going out and raising the money. This wasn’t the kind of company where you could do it on your savings–at least not on my savings–because I was competing with Disney and Nickelodeon and Fisher Price–really big companies that had multimillion dollar marketing budgets. I had to at least have the money to make a high quality product and to really market it.

As time went on, I needed greater and greater coffers in order to keep growing the company, and so I raised more and more money. About four years in, I hit kind of a wall, where I had been working so hard, and I was so tired, and I didn’t see the growth that I wanted. It was growing, but it wasn’t growing at the rate that I wanted. I got very exhausted and burned out. I had two little kids at home, I was a working mom, and I just didn’t know what to do next with the company.

Right around then, one of my advisors suggested that I go raise venture capital and be able to scale up the company. At the time, I found that proposition terrify-ing. I was like, “I do not want to go raise venture capi-tal.” Raising the angel money was pretty informal, but venture capital, what little I knew of it, was going to be

a room of guys in suits, speaking really complicated financial language that I don’t speak. I did not want to do it. I basically said no but after a couple of weeks, I realized that he was right, and this was my moment of, ‘Go big or go home.’ I decided that I wanted to grow my company more than I wanted to stay in my com-fort zone. Even though I had raised a couple of million already, and had been a professional nonprofit fund-raiser, raising venture capital was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

What was so hard about it?It was hard learning the whole financial language, putting together the spreadsheets, finding out how to pitch… it took about nine months to figure out how to even approach a VC. Then I pitched about thirty times. At the end of nine months, I figured out how to go about it. I learned what I now call the “fundraising dance,” and I went out and raised 2.1 million for my company. That allowed us to scale up.

We converted our whole product line from DVDs to dig-ital, we hired a senior professional team, we increased our marketing budget, and within the first year, we had practically doubled our sales. It really paid off, but it was so hard. I also found out along the way that only 4% of all venture capital is invested in women-run com-panies. Women get a very tiny sliver of the big money in the investment world. When I got through the eye of the needle, I looked back and said, ‘That was just way harder than it had to be.’

I think that’s where my women’s studies background kicked in, and I felt like, I may not be able to solve world hunger, but this is a problem that I can help with. I know why only 4% of women raise venture capital. We’re not learning that dance, that fundraising dance, and then it just seems too intimidating to go into that world and pitch. I wanted to make it easier for other women to raise money. I started a boot camp in my conference room called Double Digit Academy, where I started teaching ten women at a time to raise angel and venture capital. Over the course of three years,

I’ve trained about fifty women, and they’ve raised about ten million dollars collectively. I’m super proud of them. A lot of them have become friends. They in-spired me to write the book, because I realized it just takes three things to raise money and take your busi-ness big. You need the right mindset, you need the right skill set, and you need the right network.

I always say the hardest of those three is the mindset, because you have to believe that you can be the CEO of a multimillion dollar company. You have to be able to picture your company running at scale, meaning, not where you are today with two people, but what’s this going to look like when it’s twenty people and it’s throwing off five million in revenues three years from now? You have to be able to picture all that–that’s the mindset. Believe me, you can do it. I think as women, we sometimes struggle with self-limiting beliefs, and that’s part of what I work on in my workshop, is for us to address the self-limiting beliefs. I talk about mine in

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Million Dollar Women, because I think there are things we need to say to each other as women, and help each other work on.

Why do you think women entrepreneurs aren’t making the big bucks?I think a big reason that there are so many solo-pre-neurs among women, and that women are not mak-ing the high revenue dollars that some male entrepre-neurs are, is we’re not in the right circles. We haven’t necessarily put ourselves into the right rooms to meet the funders and partners who can help us take our businesses to the next level.

One of the smartest things I ever did was join the En-trepreneurs Organization, a professional organization for entrepreneurs. They have an accelerator program called EO Accelerator, and it helps you get to a million in revenues. Not only did I get a mini business school out of it, but I also got peers who were learning their businesses in different sectors. We did a lot of cross-pollinating among the business owners, and I had a mentor, and it also gave me access to top business speakers and coaches, some of whom became my personal coaches, and that’s really what helped me get to the next level.

What advice would you give someone who has a small business and wants to see it grow?I would tell them to do three things:1. Look at successful businesses who are using a similar business model to yours. We sometimes think we have to invent everything from scratch as business owners, but the truth is, you don’t have to invent how to do business. There are great models out there, blue-prints that you can follow. When we created Little Pim, we studied Baby Einstein very carefully. What year did she make her videos? What year did they go from DVD to digital? When did she start adding flashcards and books? When did she sell to Disney? When was she ready to sell to Disney? How big was their team? Map out the whole timeline of some other successful com-pany and follow that road map.

2. Surround yourself with people who are a little bit ahead of where you are in terms of business. Join a professional organization. Spend time with busi-ness owners, and learn from their mistakes. Entrepreneurs are actually very gener-ous in sharing what’s worked and what hasn’t. Make sure you’re part of one of these entrepreneurial communities, so that you can learn from each other.

3. Really value what you bring to the table. Even if it’s the early days, and you’re not making much money yet, it’s impor-tant to know what you

bring, and forgive yourself for what you don’t bring. I think as women entrepreneurs, we sometimes spend too much time beating ourselves up for what we’re not good at. You have to know what you’re good at, and make sure that you have a team that really comple-ments your skill set. Even if they’re just interns in the beginning, build up the habit of surrounding yourself with people who complement you.

What cautions would you give a woman entre-preneur who’s just starting out? What should she watch out for?One huge benefit I got from studying women’s studies is that I sometimes can catch myself doing things that I realize I’m socialized to do, as opposed to being my true nature. For instance, sometimes women have trouble being as assertive as we need to be as business people, because we’re sociali-zed to think that be-ing asser-tive means you’re not “nice” or y o u ’ r e not go-ing to be liked.

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In Million Dollar Women, I told my story, and then I also interviewed seven women who built multimillion dollar businesses from scratch. They were just really passionate about their idea and had to figure the rest out. We all shared our ten mantras, and one of them is, ‘What other people think of you is none of your business.’ Think about that a minute. Every time you catch yourself leaving a meeting or a party and think-ing ‘Oh, I shouldn’t have said that… now she probably thinks I’m an idiot,’ just don’t even think about it. It’s none of your business. I find as women, we waste so much time worrying about what other people think of us, and if you’re going to build a business, you’re going to be doing something bold and brave, and you’ve got to just focus all of your energy on pursuing your dream and making it happen.

Tough things are going to happen along the way. You’re going to have setbacks. Being an entrepreneur is about being able to be like water around rocks. When a boulder comes up, you have to find your way around it. You also have to cultivate a mindset that is very pos-itive and very resilient, and part of that is not getting too caught up in what other people think. I wrote this book, because this is the book I wish I had had. I really craved hearing from other women on how they built their companies. I found a lot of male role models but very few women role models.

What do you wish you’d known in your twenties?I knew I wanted to have a family, and I was very con-cerned on how to balance those things. One thing I don’t feel has been talked about enough is that the entrepreneurial life, for women, brings you what I call in the book, “the triple win.” The triple win is mon-ey, meaning and mobility. My theory is that a lot of

men still define their success as how much money they make. Most women don’t define their success that way. So when I interviewed all these women and wrote the book, I gave a lot of thought to what suc-cess is, and why was I drawn to be an entrepreneur instead of going to work for a large management consulting firm as many of my college friends did.

I realized that this entrepreneur lifestyle really does bring you a triple win. You do make money, and it is hard, and there’s risk involved, for sure–you may lose a lot of money, too. The meaning part is that you’re do-ing something you’re really excited about and feel like you’re making a difference in the world. Often, women start companies that are to solve problems that they themselves faced. If you look at Jessica Alba with her line of eco-friendly baby products, it’s a common story for women to create a company to fix a problem they’ve had. There’s a great deal of meaning and satisfaction in that.

The third thing is one I think corporate life often doesn’t offer, mobility. Freedom. What if you want to go on your child’s field trip to go apple picking? You don’t have to ask anybody. You can stay up until 4 in the morning and finish the work you need to finish. That mobility piece is critical, and the entrepreneurial lifestyle– especially if you go big and get over that mil-lion dollar mark and have a thriving company where you’re more the manager than the doer-–provides you with that mobility that corporate life does not.

Visit Julia Pimsleur’s website to learn more about her and buy her book, Million Dollar Women.

www.juliapimsleur.com

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CUIS

INE 100% Whole

wheat waffles (freezer meal)

INGREDIENTS•2largeeggs•2cupswholewheatflour•4teaspoonsbakingpowder•¼teaspoonsalt•1¾cupsmilk•½cupoliveoil(canalsousecanolaoil)•1teaspoonpurevanillaextract•2tablespoonshoney

INSTRUCTIONS1. Preheatwaffleiron.2.Withanelectricmixer,beat2eggsonhighspeedinalargebowluntiltheyturnfrothy(takesabout30seconds).3.Inaseparatebowl,whiskyourflour,bakingpow-der, and salt (your wheat flour is usually packeddown in the bag, so whisking it really lets air inandmakesitalittlemorefluffy-youcouldalsosifttheseingredientstogetherifyouhaveasifter).Addflourmixturetotheeggs.4.Pour in the milk, olive oil, vanilla and honey.Whiskthemixturetogetheruntilsmooth.5.Spraywaffle ironwithnon-stickcookingspray.Pouryourbatterontothewaffleironalmosttotheedges.Servewafflesorletcoolandthenplaceingallon-sizedfreezerbagstofreezeandsaveforan-other day.

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Two Minute Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

INGREDIENTS1 egg1 Tbsp brown sugar2 Tbsp peanut butter1 Tbsp flour1 Tbsp cocoa1/4 tsp baking powdera small handful of chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONSIn a small bowl, stir the egg, brown sugar, peanut butter, flour, cocoa and baking powder with a fork. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a greased ramekin or mug. Microwave for 1 minute. Eat straight from the ramekin or mug, or invert onto a plate. Serves 1.

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Chicken Stir Fry with Thai Peanut SauceBesides it’s rich, spicy, nutty flavor, its simple preparation and nutri-tious chicken and veggies combination, you can embrace the true beauty of this, or any, stir fry recipe: it’s flexibility. Feel free to use any vegetables you have on hand. Vegetarians or vegans may omit chicken or substitute tofu, and when served with quinoa or millet, this stir fry is gluten free. No excuses not to spoil yourself with delicious food!

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INGREDIENTS2/3 cup creamy peanut butter1/3 cup water1/4 cup brown sugar3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce, divided1 tablespoon fish sauce3 tablespoons red curry paste2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger4 teaspoons red pepper flakes, divided

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 6 cloves)

1 medium onion, thinly sliced12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 2

breasts), cut into 1/2-inch28 ounces frozen mixed vegetables of choice, thawed

(or substitute fresh)10 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced (or substitute any fresh or frozen, thawed vegetable)1/2 cup unsalted dry roasted peanuts, chopped, plus additional for serving1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus addition-al for servingPrepared brown rice, quinoa, or whole wheat spaghetti, for serving

DIRECTIONSIn a medium bowl, whisk together peanut butter, water, brown sugar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, fish sauce, curry paste, rice vinegar, ginger, and 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes until smooth. Set aside.In a large wok or deep skillet, heat 2 table-spoons olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and cook until fragrant and beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add chicken sauté, stirring

occasionally, until the middles are no longer pink and juices run clear, about 5 minutes. Re-

move chicken from pan and set aside.Add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil to pan. Add

vegetables and mushrooms and saute until crisp-tender, about 6-8 minutes, depending on the veggies

selected.Return chicken to pan. Add reserved peanut sauce and

remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes. Toss to coat evenly and cook until heated

through, about 2 minutes. Stir in peanuts and cilantro.

Serve stir fry with prepared brown rice, quinoa, or whole wheat spa-ghetti. Garnish with additional chopped peanuts and cilantro, as de-sired.Thai red curry paste and fish sauce are widely available at most gro-cery stores in the Asian food aisle. Store leftover Chicken Stir Fry with Thai peanut sauce in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 2 months.

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Most women are suffering from uterine fibroids and they don’t realize they have them. They do not know what they are or what causes fi-

broids to develop in the uterus. It would be great if researchers and doctors can create a pill to eliminate the fibroids with no side effects or complications. Un-fortunately, no such luck. Instead women with Uterine Fibroids are left to suffer with heavy bleeding for a lon-ger period of time, severe cramps, and look as if they are a few months pregnant. There are steps women can take to begin healing from fibroid symptoms. The first step is to learn about uterine fibroids.

First let’s answer the question what are uterine fibroids? According to Web-MD, Uterine Fibroids are noncancer-ous growths of the muscle tissue of the uterus. Most women can have multiple fibroids and they can start small and grow to over 10cm. The medical term for fibroids is leiomyoma or myoma. Fibroids can be located in different areas in the uterus. Some can be found inside the uterus or outside the uterus. The lo-cation, size, and amount of fibroids in the uterus can help doctors determine the best treatment. Most women are at risk of developing fibroids but African American women are more at risk.

The next question is what causes fibroids?Research conducted by Mayo Clinic shows the causes of uterine fibroids:

Doctors don’t know the cause of uterine fibroids, but research and clinical experience point to these factors: - Genetic changes. Many fibroids contain changes in genes that differ from those in normal uterine muscle cells. There’s also some evidence that fibroids run in families and that identical twins are more likely to both have fibroids than nonidentical twins.

- Hormones. Estrogen and progesterone, two hormones that stimulate development of the uterine lining dur-ing each menstrual cycle in preparation for pregnancy, appear to promote the growth of fibroids. Fibroids con-

tain more estrogen and progesterone receptors than normal uterine muscle cells do. Fibroids tend to shrink after menopause due to a decrease in hor-mone production.

- Other growth factors. Substances that help the body maintain tissues, such as

insulin-like growth factor, may affect fibroid growth.

Another question is what are the symptoms of uterine fibroids? The most common symptoms of uterine fi-broids are:

-Heavy menstrual bleeding.-Prolonged menstrual periods/ 7 days or more.-Pelvic pressure or pain-Frequent urination-Difficulty emptying your bladder-constipation-Backache or leg pains

Women andUterine Fibroids

HEA

LTH

Fibroids can be located in different areas in the uterus. Some can be

found inside the uterus or outside the uterus.

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The final question is how can women suffering with uterine fibroids treat their symptoms? If you do not have any symptoms, you will have to go for regular pelvic exams to monitor fibroid growth and any of the symptoms listed above. However, if you do have all the symptoms, go see your gynecologist and he or she will give you several treatment options such as:

- Taking birth control pills to help control the heavy bleeding.

- Taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug to im-prove menstrual cramping and reduces bleeding.

- Taking iron supplements to prevent you from being anemic.

Some doctors will also suggest different types of sur-gery which are:

Surgery choices from WebMD

Surgical treatment options include:• Myomectomy, or fibroid removal. This may improve your chances of having a baby if the fibroid is inside the uterus and prevents a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. Removing fibroids in other locations of the uterus may not improve your chances of be-coming pregnant. •Hysterectomy, or uterus removal. This is only recommended for women who have no future pregnancy plans. Hysterectomy is the only fibroid treatment that prevents re-growth of fibroids. It improves quality of life for many women. But it can also have nega-tive long-term effects. For more information, see the topic Hysterectomy.

Myomectomy or hysterectomy can be done through one or more small incisions using laparoscopy, through the vagina, or through a larger abdominal cut (inci-sion). The method depends on your condition, includ-ing where, how big, and what type of fibroid is growing in the uterus and whether you hope to become preg-nant.

Whatever you do, make sure you always get a second opinion, speak to other women who suffered or are suffering from uterine fibroids, conduct your own re-search, and listen to your body.

Some women choose to deal with uterine fibroids and learn ways to heal their body through prayers, eating healthy, exercising, and yoga. Some studies stated when a woman reaches menopause, the estrogen level decreases and the uterine fibroids shrinks.

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Keeps Shiningarticle by Claire K. Guerre

Jennifer LopezJennifer Lopez

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Jennifer Lynn Lopez is a woman who danced her way to the top. Her first love was dancing. I remember seeing her in a Janet Jackson video back in the early 90’s (That’s The Way Love Goes) and she made her first appearance as a Fly Girl in the hit Fox television show In Living Color. She showed the world her passion for dancing. However, in the late 90’s she was introduced to the studio to sing, she was nervous at first but she did it! Her first single was a hit “If You Had My Love.” She did not stop there she went on to making movies after movies. Her big movie break was Selena. She did a wonderful job in her acting portraying the Mexican pop singer.

Jennifer also explored her love for fashion. Her clothes line JLO was in all Macy’s stores. I owned a pair of her de-signer jeans and sweat suit and I loved how they fit me. She built a good team to assist her in exploring other busi-ness ventures such as JLO perfume. It smelled so lovely. I remember buying it and wearing it every day. It was one of my favorite scents back then. Jennifer con-tinued on with jumping into other projects such as becoming an executive producer for The Fosters which is an ABC family show.

Recently she hosted and performed at the 2015 American Music Awards. She shared her dancing skills with the world and we saw how hasn’t missed a beat! I think she did anamazing job.

She currently is starring as the leading actress in a new NBC drama series Shades of Blue where she plays a detective who is a single mother raising her daughter. She is the ener-gizer bunny who keeps on going and exploring areas that will help her grow and be better in her craft.

2015 American Music Awards.

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Unfortunately, she did not find success in her love life. She was married 3 times and engaged to a well-known actor who I believe was her first true love. But she had to move on to find what her heart desired which was true love. The love of her life are her children Max and Emme. Jennifer and Marc Anthony are doing an excellent job co-parenting.

Now she is happily dating one of her dancers who is 18 years younger than her. You go Girl! All I can say is do what makes you happy and never care about what other say or think about your choices.

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On top of being busy keeping her family, love life, career, and businesses together she manages to dedicate her time and money by giving back. She teamed up with Amnesty International to create a bilin-gual website focused on raising awareness concerning Mexi-can femicide after finding information that 350 women have been killed in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua since 1993. She is donated to so many various charities. She always made it clear where her roots are from which is in Bronx NY. She showed the world when you work very hard for what you want, you will actually achieve it. Although her parents were against her becoming a dancer, Jennifer followed her heart. It lead her to where she is today.

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She is a mother who adores her twins and yet still wants to show the world she still dances, acts, and sings. Her pic-tures from the Golden Globe Awards, says it all. She is finally happy with who she is and where she is now in her life. She was glowing in her yellow gown.

Jennifer Lopez is a star that will always shine.

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BEAU

TY

Society’s Obsession with

Physical Attraction:

Beauty

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There is a lot of pressure in society to look beautiful. It seems that being beautiful

today is based on our outer appearance as opposed to the beauty of our hearts. With all the beauty ads, flaw-less airbrushed models in magazines, beautiful celeb-rities who have been primed, probed, Botox-inflated and filled with 20 units of ReJuveDerme (Juvéderm) or more to look drop-dead gorgeous, it’s nearly impossi-ble to retreat from the pressure to look beautiful. Have we all bought into this misconception or scam because we think it promises better economic opportunities, happiness, a wealthy husband or wife, fame, success or freedom? If so, where did this all come from?

What happened to the days of old when we were largely influenced by people of good character and charisma; someone of substance, kind-heartedness and wit? Is that not impor-tant anymore? Has beauty become like a thief in the night that snatch-es our innocence, our inner being, our inner beauty and replaces it with a sea full of lies: vain, judg-mental, self-absorbed, conceited, arrogant, egotistical and narcis-sistic attitudes? I ask these ques-tions because each and every day the obsession with wanting to look beautiful has completely taken over our lives and our thought processes. We see it manifest daily on TV shows like Skin Deep, Vanity Insanity and the great influx of popu-lar reality shows.

It would be dishonest of me to say that it has not influ-enced my thinking in some part or parcel—how could it not? We live in a world with this magical make-believe craze to always have a picture-perfect image when we should be advocating a societal notion to have a pic-ture-perfect character, thus loving ourselves despite our flaws and imperfections. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting to look beautiful or even enhancing your features in some way if this is what makes you truly happy and if you are truly do-ing it for yourself and not to appease others. However, there is a problem when you become obsessed, allow-ing vanity to take over your entire life.

When I look around, I see beauty in many different things: people, animals, places and objects, and I ap-preciate the comeliness of their characteristics. The loveliness of different cultures, races, ethnicity and the many multi-cultural blends and mixes. I often think to myself that it is the dissimilarities within an individ-ual, person or race of people that make us who we are and I value these differences. Whether born of African, Aboriginal, European, Asian or South Asian ancestry, beauty in each heritage is what we as a society should try to embrace and welcome as opposed to promoting an ideal image of what being beautiful should be.

We’ve all heard the old adage, “beauty is only skin deep”—but is it really? This notion of inner beauty is

light years away from the well-rehearsed beauty image of today which is based on the typical

features of the elite, the favored; those of European decent with Caucasian attri-

butes such as blonde hair and blues eyes while all else are deemed as unattractive or described as having “exotic features.” Spreading such contagious propaganda permits a standard of beauty that causes resentment and dissatisfaction

when not achieved and when indi-viduals do not fit the ideal societal

beauty image some are often ostra-cized within their communities. So I ask

who is to stop this make-believe perception.

Well, I’ll tell you who…everyone is held partly account-able. We live in this society, we make up society, we are society, and it starts with us. As such, it is our duty to instill in our children during their fundamental years how important it is to love themselves and be comfort-able in their own skin. Educating them about the dif-ferent cultures, races and ethnicities that make us all different with beautiful features instead of focusing on what others believe is beautiful. We are all beautiful no matter what anyone says, no matter what society feeds us. It is up to each individual person to decide what will be ingested into the spirit and what he or she will believe as a result of that ingestion.

We live in a world with this

magical make-believe craze to

always have a picture-perfect

image...

www.simonedacosta.com

Simone Da Costa

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S l i p D r e s s e s Those gorgeous, tender and absolutely sexy slip dresses and camisoles were all over the spring fashion shows last year and will be most likely in every fashionista’s closet. And surely we will see them on the streets a lot. We really don’t mind it at all, because there is noting more flattering than a combination of satin and lace. Among the brands that have been rocking the trend are Rag & Bone, Givenchy, Derek Lam, Thakoon, Alexander Wang, Calvin Klein and etc.

F l o w e r s What is the first thing you imagine when we say spring… Yes! Thats right - FLOWERS of course. And this spring fashion will be all about them. We love that trend which bring flowery womanliness in pretty colors with a gorgeous poppy prints and fill coupe fabrics. Among the brands that have been showing the trend on there runways are Michael Kors, Jason Wu, Proen-za Schouler, Anna Sui, Oscar de la Renta etc.

O f f - T h e - S h o u l d e r s We love that trend of exposed shoulders and we are so happy that we will be able to see it more often in the coming season. Spring is the time that we usually show a little more skin and the shoulders are definitely fashion’s cur-rent favorite erogenous zone. We saw a lot of shoulders in the collections of Vera Wang, Jill Stuart, Proenza Schouler, Prabal Gurung, Diesel, Derek Lam and Givenchy and others.

3Fashion Trends for Spring 2016FA

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3Fashion Trends for Spring 2016

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“Rose Quartz” and

“Serenity”

Colors of The Year

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“Rose Quartz” and “Serenity” are the Pantone colors of this year, announce the company in December ‘15. For the first time they choose the blending of two colors instead of one. According to the “Pantone” their combination reflects the trend for gender neutrality, which intensified over the past year and will continue in 2016. “In many parts of the world we are experi-encing a gender blur as it relates to fashion, which has in turn im-pacted color trends throughout all other areas of design,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive di-rector of the Pantone Color Insti-tute.

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We are all exited about that soft-er take on color… that’s harmoni-ous pairing of inviting shades that embody a mindset of tranquility and inner peace. We saw the colors together or individually in many runway shows in the spring-summer or the resort collection for the com-panies like Chanel, Prada, Fendi, Roberto Cavalli and many more. We see that some celebrities also falling in love with that gor-geous colors and has been spot-ted rocking it on the streets.

By Denise Genova

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Christine Hilts

FEAT

URED

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Is A Breath Of Fresh Air!

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Christine has a happy personality and appreciates life. When I met

her at Style New York Fashion Week, she was very wel-coming and excited to speak with Woman’s E ssence Magazine (For & About Powerful Women.) She is like any other woman out there working hard towards her dreams. She is already an accomplished designer.

Did you imagine yourself as a Fashion Designer or Singerorbothwhenyouwereyounger?

Yes, I was born at 8:48 pm and Mom said it was before curtain call and I've acted like ever since.

HowandwhendidyouknowyouweremeanttobeaFashionDesigner?

I've been on stage for a long time and I never could leave my clothes alone. I tweaked everything I wore and had things custom made for me. When I'd get compli-ments on things I made my own, that was the start of everything.

Who or what inspired your passion for Fashion Design andMusic?

My mother. We often watched classic movies and musi-cals on TV and she was always encouraging me to be on stage to pursue the arts. She was my inspiration.

When did you decide to focus all your energy in FashionDesigninsteadofmusic?

I haven't. I'm doing both. When you believe something's destined for you, you don't just put it on hold.

Howareyoubalancingyourpersonallifeandyourca-reerasaFashionDesigner?

My husband is my personal life. He is also my partner in everything I do. I'm blessed to be working with my best friend.

Whatadvicewouldyougivetoyouryoungerself?

"Get over procrastination"!

Ifyouweregranted3wisheswhatwouldtheybe?

Beach, Beach and Beach!

Whatisnextforyou?

What's not?! The world is my oyster and I'm just swim-ming in chowder! lol

Interview by Claire Guerre

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Pantone just released 10 colors for spring 2016 few days ago and those are just perfect for spring weddings as well. As one of the most

important events in our lives, our weddings surely deserve second consideration on every part, especially the wedding color schemes. “Colors this season transport us to a happier, sunnier place where we feel free to express a wittier version of our real selves”, said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. This spring we’ll see some breathtaking wedding color ideas with these colors. Check out the following trending wedding color palettes in spring 2016.

wedding colors for trends from pantone

Top 10

Spring 2016

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Pinkisaclassiccolorusedinweddingdecorationsandthefirsttrendingweddingcolorin2016isRoseQuartz,whichisashadeofpinkcolor.“Thesoothing,calmingnatureofcolorsintheSpringcollectionsareledbyRoseQuartz,a

persuasive yet gentle tone that conveys compassion and a senseofcomposure”,byPantone.

Groom

-ThePerfectPalette/R

oseCocktail-ErinMcGinnviaSM

P/Bouquet-

Mire

lle C

arm

icha

elPhotographyviaSM

P/RosePinkDress&Rings-BlaineSiesserPhotogra

-phyviaSM

P

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Asashadeoforange,PeachEchoisanothertrend-ingweddingcolorintheyear2016,whichemanatesfriendlierqualities,evokingwarmthandaccessibility.

Matched with pink and gold will successfully add a touch of romance to it.

Centerpiece,Bridesmaids&Cakes-SandraMarusicPhotographyviaM

od

Wedding/

TableSettings-KatelynJam

esPhotography/B

ouquet-AmandaCreanPho

-tographersviaSMP

Thisshadeoflightbluecolorwillmake every part of the wedding daysocomfortable,justliketheblueskyaboveus,makingitapas-

tel color palette with peach.

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Thisshadeoflightbluecolorwillmake every part of the wedding daysocomfortable,justliketheblueskyaboveus,makingitapas-

tel color palette with peach.

Centerpiece-AaronDelesiePhotographerviaFabMood/Bridesmaid-Sylvie

GilPhotographyviaSM

P/Cake-AnneliM

arinovichviaBLovedBlog/

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As a shade of aqua,thisLimpetShell can tell us what’s it like in

spring.”Suggestive of clarity and fresh-ness,itscrispandmoderninfluencesevokeadeliberate,mindfultranquility”,

byPantone.

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Whodoesn’tlikegrays?Weneed a gray shade in every sea-sonandhere’stheLilacGray.

Cake-HunterR

yanPhotoviaArtfullyWed/B

ridesmaids-Whitney

KrutzfeldtviaSMP/Shoes-Love&LightPhotographsviaSMP/

Find the perfect wedding supplies to match with your wedding colors on ElegantWeddingInvites.

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