Today, Barack Obama Honors Rep. John Lewis, Maya Angelou and others with Presidential Medal of Freedom

Rep. John Lewis & Moi 🙂

Maya Angelou

 

Today, civil rights icon and living legend Rep. John Lewis and the iconic Renaissance woman Maya Angelou–undeniably the greatest voice of contemporary literature– are two of 15 people who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.  The ceremony will take place  at a 1:30 p.m. in the East Room of the White House.  Other honorees include my ultimate inspiration/poet Maya Angelou, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former President George H.W. Bush,  billionaire investor Warren Buffett, Yo-Yo Ma and sports legends Stan Musial and Bill Russell.

Rep. Lewis, who is serving his 13th term in Congress, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “I never dreamed of anything like this.”  “I’m deeply touched and moved at just the thought of it.”

The Medal of Freedom is presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

President Obama said of the 15 individuals being honored today, “These outstanding honorees come from a broad range of backgrounds and they’ve excelled in a broad range of fields, but all of them have lived extraordinary lives that have inspired us, enriched our culture, and made our country and our world a better place.  I look forward to awarding them this honor.”

If you aren’t in front of a television @ 1:30pm EST, you can see it live at http://www.whitehouse.gov/live

*The following individuals will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom at today’s ceremony:

• President George H. W. Bush
  George Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st President of the United States.
• Chancellor Angela Merkel
  Angela Merkel is the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.
• Congressman John Lewis
  John Lewis is an American hero and a giant of the Civil Rights Movement.
• John H. Adams
  John H. Adams co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council in 1970.
• Maya Angelou
  Dr. Maya Angelou is a prominent and celebrated author, poet, educator, producer, actress, filmmaker, and civil rights activist, who is currently the Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.
• Warren Buffett
  Warren Buffett is an American investor, industrialist, and philanthropist.  He is one of the most successful investors in the world.
• Jasper Johns
  American artist Jasper Johns has produced a distinguished body of work dealing with themes of perception and identity since the mid-1950s.
• Gerda Weissmann Klein
  Gerda Weissmann Klein is a Jewish Holocaust survivor who has written several books about her experiences.
• Dr. Tom Little (Posthumous)
  Dr. Tom Little was an optometrist who was brutally murdered on August 6, 2010, by the Taliban in the Kuran Wa Munjan district of Badakhshan, Afghanistan, along with nine other members of a team returning from a humanitarian mission to provide vision care in the remote Parun valley of Nuristan.
• Yo-Yo Ma
  Yo-Yo Ma is considered the world’s greatest living cellist, recognized as a prodigy since the age of five whose celebrity transcends the world of classical music.
• Sylvia Mendez
  Sylvia Mendez is a civil rights activist of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent.
• Stan Musial
  Stan “The Man” Musial is a baseball legend and Hall of Fame first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals.   Musial played 22 seasons for the Cardinals from 1941 to 1963.
• Bill Russell
  Bill Russell is the former Boston Celtics’ Captain who almost single-handedly redefined the game of basketball.
• Jean Kennedy Smith
  In 1974, Jean Kennedy Smith founded VSA, a non-profit organization affiliated with the John F. Kennedy Center that promotes the artistic talents of children, youth and adults with disabilities.
• John J. Sweeney
  John J. Sweeney is the current President Emeritus of the AFL-CIO, and served as President of the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009.

*Content from http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/02/15/watch-live-president-obama-honors-presidential-medal-freedom-recipients

Aspire to Inspire: Cool Kidz Edition—A Message From Terrence J

I was perusing the internet and ran across an inspiring message from the super handsome VJ/Actor, Terrence “J” Jenkins– you know the guy from 106 & Park and now, Dantay from The Game.  This North Carolina A&T graduate has come a long way through hard work and dedication.  What I love about him is that he is open to sharing his journey—definitely a cool kid aspiring to inspire!

Terrence J

“Today is a new day. A new opportunity to follow your dreams. Take advantage of this blessing. Take that leap. Whatever your dream is, you have to step towards it. The more steps you take the more the universe will conspire to assist you…

If you want to run a label, quit your job at the bank & intern at a label. If you want to be a doctor, apply to school today, etc. I wanted to act, so every week I go to acting school for 14 hours, study film & actors, read about projects, etc. Once I took steps, roles came.

A girl replied, how can I pay my bills if I quit my job to follow my dreams? – when following your dreams you will be temporarily inconvenienced. Tyler Perry was HOMELESS years before becoming a MILLIONAIRE. Only you can determine the amount of sacrifice your dreams are worth.

Before 106 I had a job making 30k but I wasnt happy. I quit. Moved to NY, worked small jobs to get by, & lived on @FredWhit FLOOR 8 MONTHS!

Everybody has a different story. U may have kids, mortgage, bills, etc. But God is powerful. There is always a way to follow your dreams!  I just meet so many people that want to reach their goals & then complain when it sounds hard! Go watch Pursuit of Happiness

Anyway I gotta roll, I hope I reached at least one person today. God bless you all and best of luck!!!!!!!!!!!!”

I LOVE THIS! ‘

For more updates from Terrence J, follow him on twitter @terrenceJ106

Aspire to Inspire: Cool Kidz Edition—iQuell

For the most part, my blog posts have been all about me—my dreams, my work, my journey, my life. Starting today, I’m going to incorporate a new segment, “Aspire to Inspire: Cool Kidz Edition.”  With this segment I will highlight young people who aspire to inspire others.  Through following their dreams, these young people who I will profile have inspired me in some fashion.  There is nothing more exciting than to hear stories of young people who understand the importance of sacrifice and dedication and work tirelessly to get what they want out of life.

Quintel "Quell" Harcum

Hard work and success is nothing new for the Baltimore, MD native, Quintel Harcum, who went to college and majored in Philosophy, graduated  and went into the finance field before he realized his true calling, which happened one day while riding the train to work, he says.

“One day on the train riding to work I was flipping through a GQ Magazine (Sept. 2004 Fall edition to be exact) and I saw an ad for Y-3. I remember thinking to myself “Man that’s a nice hoodie, if I made one I would make it something like that but I’d add a little of this here and that there.” I pretty much stopped doing work at that mortgage company and during office hours you could find me in the corner sketching hoodies and random graphics. I decided from that moment on I wanted to design some kind of mens clothes. I pretty much kept the idea to myself because I learned a lot from sharing too much with the wrong folks. For about 2 months straight I stayed up all hours of the night studying sketches, color combos, reading and learning about designers.”

Baltimore is home for me and while I love my City deeply, I found that so many young people are talkers and not doers, but such is not the case for Mr. Harcum.  I first met Quintel when I moved back to Baltimore and began to frequent parties at Red Maple, a nightlife staple in the City.  Quintell and his childhood friends, who together formed SchoolYardEntertainment, hosted parties the last Sunday every month at Maple, and I always remembered Quintel for his sophisticated and stylish look.  His style definitely stood out above the rest, so this year when I found out that he launched QuellCollections,  an emerging menswear brand for the modern, well-rounded gentleman,  I was not surprised.

In the midst of working, promoting parties in Baltimore and managing his blog, Quell found time to enroll in part-time classes at  New York’s prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology, which ultimately helped him in launching Quell Collections.

“Quell Collections was born into hip-hop and the streetwear culture yet groomed and influenced by tailoring and gentlemen sensibility. A mature attitude is combined with a youthful energy to create its products and designs and represent a well-rounded man.

Todays modern men walk the lines of quality, taste and relevance. With elevated casual gear and styling, Quell Collections will assist modern men in displaying their versatility everyday in every way.

The Quell Collections logo is an extension of the gentleman who possesses good taste and versatility. It depicts the steps of a stylish man from his youth through his adulthood. One subtle symbol marks the union of two distinct perspectives. The logo is a sleek combination of two iconic shoe silhouettes that represent the man who dresses well from high-tops to hard-bottoms.”

Original Accessories from Quell Collections

Quell Collection Logo Bracelet

Quell Collection Logo Pin

For updates and to learn more about Quell Collections—from hightops to hardbottms—visit quellcollections.com or follow Quintel on twitter @iquell.

failure is the greatest teacher.

In the past several months, I’ve received constant rejection from agents regarding the book project that i’m working on.  At first, I would get a little upset, but then i’d get over it and keep it moving.  I knew that my project was great, so I didn’t let it stop me from continuing to pursue it.  The book, which is narrative non-fiction interfused with a compilation of interviews from many notable individuals, is something that I have believed in from day one, and so have many others.  And although I am far from even being close to halfway done, I’ve done a lot of work on this project from landing interviews with some pretty big people that ya’ll may have heard of….Kevin Liles, Hill Harper, Dr. Cornel West and many others to even traveling to NYC to meet with editors and agents.   So how did I get to a point where I have not touched this project in 2 months and as of late, seriously questioned whether or not I was going to continue to pursue it?

I would never admit to being afraid, until today.  I’m never afraid to go after what I want, at least I don’t recall every being scared to persevere because of failure.  Tonight, I realized, while watching an episode of “Oprah Presents Master Class”  featuring Maya Angelou, that, that was the only thing that it could be.  I know that I am great.  I feel greatness within me, yet I was allowing fear to stop me from doing what I knew was right.

So once I discovered it was fear, I had to ask myself what I was afraid of, which was kind of hard for me because when it comes to hard work and sacrifice, i’m used to it.  That’s what I do.  I work hard and I make sacrifices for what I want.  And its never really been hard for me to do any of that.  So afraid of what?  I still really don’t know.  Maybe failure?  But i’ve failed at things before, and every single time there were valuable lessons about life that I’ve learned.  Failure has even forced me to mature and become a better person.  This may sound a little crazy, but failure is kind of a good thing.

Failure is like an ex-boyfriend/girlfriend who did you wrong and you despise them for hurting you, but then you find someone better—someone that treats you right, loves you unconditionally and just makes sense—and  you then appreciate failure aka that terrible ex for allowing you to see the difference between real love vs. just plain wrong.  That terrible ex then becomes a great teacher, and you have no choice but to be a little thankful for them.

I believe that the three things that allow you to become successful is your ability to get up and do (work hard/action), your willingness to give up some things that will enable you to obtain what you want (sacrifice) and having the wisdom to grow up (mature).

So, today I decided that my fear of failing at this project will not keep me from pursuing it any longer.  And I’ve even come to peace with knowing that there is no guarantee that this book will ever manifest.  This could be an experience that God uses to lead me to something else.  You just never know.

But what I do know is that if this book does not ever see the shelves of Barnes & Noble, which some people may classify as failure, then I’ll be okay with that.  I’ll be okay with it because I know that if it does not work out the way that I intend it to, then I would have learned many valuable lessons throughout the process which will help me as I move forward.  I heard Jay-Z–who I just whole-heartedly credit as a brilliant person and who has earned a spot on my list of inspiring icons–say that he learns from his failures and does not chase after success, and in following his truth, he has become one of the most successful men of my generation.

It’s 3am, but as soon as I hit publish on this blog, I am going to get off of my 2 month hiatus, follow my truth and get to work on becoming the greatest version of Jennifer Ogunsola.  🙂

“Belief in oneself and knowing who you are— thats the foundation of everything great.”   Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter

Au Revoir TRACE & Merci Beaucoup

It was the Summer of 2004—late summer—and I was sitting in my producers office at BET Networks getting my assignment for the day when another producer stormed in the office raving about this hot magazine party in the city (NYC) that they went to the night before.  The producer that walked in the office so giddy about that party had several copies of the current issue and offered one to me.  From first glance of that cover, I fell in editorial-love!  I had never before heard about that magazine, but I had to know more about the publication and I had to be a part of it in some way.

That summer, I was entering into my junior year at Temple University in Philly, double majoring in broadcast journalism and poli sci, and minoring in Spanish.  I had already interned in radio (Radio One, Inc.) and television (BET).  Print was the next logical step for me as a journalism student who really didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do.  But, there was one thing that I was 100 percent sure of, and that was—I ABSOLUTELY LOVED TO WRITE & LOVED MAGAZINES.

For the next year, I studied TRACE.  I knew that masthead like the back of my hand.  I remember looking up interns on the masthead throughout 05—they changed with the semesters—and befriending them on Facebook so that I could grill them with questions about TRACE and their experience there.  Yea, I was crazy in love–stalking all things TRACE! LOL

The next summer (june – aug 05), I didn’t intern.  I took on a few classes at Towson University in Baltimore so that I could have a light load my senior year at Temple.  It was all a part of my grande plan to get back to New York City and into TRACE before I graduated.  Most people take out-of-state internships during the summer, when they aren’t in school.  Who in their right mind would think of taking an internship in another state during the school year?  ME, that’s who.  LOL

So, I wrote and wrote, and called and called, and wrote and called an editor named Amy Andrieux trying to make sure that I was an intern at TRACE before May 2006 (my graduation).  After several attempts to get in touch with her, she finally answered and said, “I’ll have an answer for you on Friday if you do a critique of the last issue that you have from front to back.  Oh, and I’d like it by tomorrow.”

I was too excited to even realize what this lady had just asked of me.  It was after 3pm on a Wednesday, I had a ton of homework that was due the next day, and this lady wanted a critique of a 130-page magazine by the next day.  I did my homework and then started on the critique.  I did not go to sleep.  But guess what, I was done by 6 am and still went to my 8:40am class that morning.

I just found a draft of my critique that I sent to Amy at TRACE.  Oh, and I still have a copy of the issue that I critiqued.  I keep EVERYTHING! LOL

TRACE--Issue 56, June 2005

draft of critique cover letter-can't believe I still have this!

a lot of work went into this 130 pg magazine critique

Ok, so after staying up all night and working it out—because there was no way that I was not going to be an intern at TRACE before I graduated—I received an email from her before noon.  I remember the time because it was at the beginning of my last class that day, and my last class started at 11:40 am.  I didn’t get the internship.  She didn’t say that I couldn’t intern there, she just said that she did not like the critique.  I was so upset that I walked out of my 11:40.  I went back home and sent her a rewrite before the end of the day.  After that rewrite, she still had questions and I still didn’t have an internship.  Then she finally said, “This is not what i’m looking for, sorry that it didn’t work out.”

Nope. She was not going to tell me that I was not going to intern at TRACE.  That’s where I wanted to be. That was the next job on my resume.  So, I wrote her back.  I know she was probably like, “this girl does not understand what no means.”  But, she wrote me back, still.  She said this and this ONLY, “What makes you a self-starter?”

I felt like Jerry Maguire the night that he went home and wrote that perfect business proposal.  I sent her a one-page response within 20 minutes.  She sent a response to me within 5 minutes and it said, “When can you start?”

As you can imagine, I almost broke my bed that night.  I jumped up and down on my bed like a 6 year old for about an hour straight.  My internship started that January 06.  It was November 05.

I interned 3 days a week (Mon, Wed & Fri.) in NYC, every week, from January 06 – June 06.  I had classes on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s.  I caught the Greyhound from downtown Philly to Times Square at 6 am every day of my internship to get there by 9:30 – 10 am.  SACRIFICE.

After 14 years, Trace Magazine published its final issue in November 2010.  I just found out and I must admit, I’m kind of sad.  TRACE is near and dear to my heart.  It was the first national publication that gave me the opportunity to write for them (see my articles for them here), transcribe for them, research for them and experience cool fashion showrooms in Manhattan.  Many of my great Manhattan experiences happened because of TRACE.

Issue 87--Kelis

TRACE, ISSUE 88---FINAL ISSUE

TRACE, you will surely be missed for the great transcultural styles & ideas magazine that you are, but most importantly for me—for being a huge influence on my life and my journalism career.

Au Revoir & Merci Beaucoup.