Last Saturday evening the South Loop’s CityPoint Loft was the place to be for Windy City natural beauties. EDEN BodyWorks joined forces with beauty bloggers “The Mane Source” and “Natural Chica” to host one of the city’s hottest natural hair meetups to date. EDEN BodyWorks VP of Marketing, Ylorie Anderson, spearheaded the event with PR support from yours truly (via Crush Media). In one word, the night was magical! Over 150+ women converged onto the CityPoint Loft for a night of natural hair trivia, mixing and mingling, EDEN BodyWorks product testing, delectable eats, and natural hair-inspired cocktails.

Special guests included: celebrity makeup artist, Tia Dantzler; the “godmother” of brown beauty blogging, Afrobella; YouTube darlings, Vaughn and Meechy Monroe (The Monroe Sisters); and natural hair expert and makeup artist, Rachel Odom

Last Sunday afternoon I had the honor of joining Latisha Daring of Ashtyn, LLC along with a room full of New York City beauties for the second installation of the Ladies Who Lunch event series. Guest speakers included: yours truly, Sonya Alleyne of Black Enterprise, Demetria Lucas of A Belle in Brooklyn, and Nadia L. Lopez of Mott Hall Bridges Academy. If you couldn’t make it out don’t fret. I’ve got pics galore and thanks to Latisha’s commitment to growing the Ladies Who Lunch movement, there’s always the next installation to look forward to!

What do you have planned for Sunday afternoon? Oh, you don’t have any plans yet? Now you do! Join me and a room full of dynamic women from 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. at 320 Studios for the second installation of Latisha Daring’s “Ladies Who Lunch” series. This weekend’s event, appropriately titled “High Heels and High Tea” is a must-attend affair for women who are ambitious, focused, and passionate about their dreams. Join 100 of New York City’s flyest movers and shakers in an intimate afternoon of style, inspiration, and empowerment as we explore the world of entrepreneurship and what it takes to thrive as women in business.

I’ve got some AMAZING news to share with you. Thanks to YOUR support, In Her Shoes has officially been nominated as “Best Business Blog of the Year” in the 2011 Weblog Awards! I can already see myself in sunny L.A. accepting this award on our behalf but I need your vote to bring this vision to life.

As you know, I’ve been interviewing “fly female entrepreneurs” across the country for about 2.5 years now and am VERY passionate about women becoming the captains of their own ships. This could be my blog’s very first award and would definitely help increase awareness of the movement

More than just another pretty face, the In Her Shoes redesign represents the end of an era for this little blog of mine. Today my site blossoms from a young girl to a grown and undeniably confidant woman.

(l-r) Karen Tappin-Saunderson, Maya Lake, Renae Bluitt, Tracey Ferguson, Jodie Patterson, JaKissa Taylor (DJ Kiss) Check out the recap video for last Thursday’s “Facing Your Fears: Tales of a Fly Female Entrepreneur” event created by artist extraordinaire, Molaundo Jones. If you were able to make it out, I thank you again for supporting our first New York

Reaching a certain level in your career, being invited to all the hottest industry events, and having the financial freedom to cop all the designer apparel your heart desires is a beautiful thing, but let’s make one thing clear. All of this means nothing – I repeat – nothing if you’re not reaching back to

Nothing like a pleasant surprise to make a somewhat “blah” day worth staying awake for. As I lay here with every allergy and cold medication known to man by my side to fight an ugly sinus infection, I bump into a very familiar face on one of my favorite sites. Yours truly was featured as