Thoughtful Thursday - Design Your Love!

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Parent Category: Onstage

“Looking good on the outside is not going to change your inside.” - Iyanla Vanzant

Think about this… many people spend more time contemplating what to wear each day than they do on reflecting how to maintain or improve their love lives. We match shoes with hats, ties with shirts, and scarves with purses with the precision of a surgeon at an operating table. Then we stare at our reflection in the mirror until we’re satisfied with the image staring back at us. And if we’re not satisfied, we change our clothes!

More often than not, we don’t do the same with love. Sure we think about our significant other, or the partner we would like to have, but in a more random way than we think about what dress would be perfect to wear to a gala. For the gala, we design our appearance long before we make an entrance. With love, we condition happiness on being accepted just as we are. Even when we see the colors clashing, we are reluctant to take time to change.

If you want love; lasting love, rapturous love, the kind that’s written all over your face and unmistakable… Design Your Love. Match your desire for a positive harmonious relationship with the partner of your dreams to a willingness to be habitual about the choices that lead to that outcome. Start by throwing away all the clichés in your closet. You don’t look good in them no matter what you believe or whoever tells you that you do. Stop wearing “Take me as I am.” Stop wearing, “I have a lot to offer.” Don’t rely anymore on “Everybody wants some of this!” or “You don’t treat me right.” Those are old clothes. They’re out of style.

Sophisticated Sunday: Behind the Lyrics with Singer Green Tea

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Parent Category: Onstage

By Natasha T. Brown

Her voice is beautiful, creating moments through music, aiming to inspire her audience to love themselves, dream and find love in the process. But few people know her story. Just three years ago, Green Tea was still on a journey to find happiness, and become happy with her self, her outer appearance, her career and her personal life.

Below Green Tea talks about her journey to self-love and how she found herself—specifically, her journey with weight loss and the meaning behind some of her lyrics.  Being an independent artist can be challenging and costly. One thing that the singer doesn’t mention is her fearless approach to live her dream and the company she created to help her do so, G.I.G. Baked Goods, which stands for God is just that Good. Green Tea is one of the very talented artists that I work with and I am excited to share her voice and journey with you for this week’s Sophisticated Sunday.

We Recommend! - Serene Laboratories

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Parent Category: Onstage

Serene Laboratories

If you are applying for a new job, planning an overseas trip, preparing a child for school, or wondering if a new addition to your family is on the way, We Recommend our friends at Serene Laboratories for all your screening needs. In the DC area, both businesses and individuals turn to Serene Laboratories for assured test results and for their emphasis on providing the highest quality customer service. For drug screens, DNA specimen collections, pregnancy testing, and urinalysis, all in clean and comfortable surroundings, with your confidentiality assured, stop by Serene Laboratories and let them know you were referred by OnStage. They accept all major insurance and credit cards and are conveniently located in the Metropolitan Medical Center at 6323 Georgia Avenue, NW – Suite 102.

Sophisticated Sunday - Creating Equality for Women in the Arts + Preview of SheROCKS Women’s History Month Finale Event

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Parent Category: Onstage

By Natasha T. Brown

In an August 2012 Huffington Post article, Designer/Author Vicky Tiel wrote, “It's about time women rule in the art world. We are half the sky and only 23 percent of the art on display in galleries in New York, but that will soon change as 40 percent of working women now earn more money than their husbands in America, and will soon realize that they must support their sisters in the arts and buy their work.”

When we think about equality, empowerment and advancement of women, the conversation of women equality in art may not be the first area that comes to mind. Women and girls are thought to be artistic and creative with the ability to create feng shui from an ordinary atmosphere.

However, despite public perception, women artists are not paid or showcased equally compared to male counterparts. In my final Sophisticated Sunday feature during Women’s History Month I encourage dialogue about these realities as well as spotlight an upcoming program hoping to equalize the playing field for women artists. Below you’ll meet female trailblazer, Timea Gaines, 24, Chief Executive Officer of Love Life Media, founded in 2012. Gaines is the creator of SheROCKS, an all-ages celebration of women in the arts, taking place on March 30, featuring visual artists; as well as dance, music and instrumental performances and dialogues with female filmmakers and entrepreneurs.

According to The National Museum of Women in the Arts, 51 percent of visual artists today are women, however, only 5 percent of the art currently on display in US museums is made by women. Additionally, women earn more than half of the MFAs granted in the US, but only 1/3 of gallery representation is women, NMWA adds.

SheROCKS will encourage girls and women to pursue careers in the arts, while empowering them to realize that they have a place in the mainstream arts and entertainment industries. The vision of SheROCKS stems from the overall goal of Love Life Media to create a platform where positive media can be mainstream for college students, teenagers and young, working adults. As a culmination to Women’s History Month, SheROCKS is a “wonderful artistic movement,” said Gaines, and one that she hopes will continue past the March 30 celebration.