Charge it to the way I was raised, but every time it's wintertime and I see strawberries in the produce section, I give them major side-eye. Technically, they aren't in season until April (thru June) so that means there's some real shadiness (probably a lot of preservatives and dye) to pass some off during the holiday season.
I'm not sure if a lot of us realize just how important it is to buy fruits and veggies when they are in season. Seasonal produce has less pesticides, contains more antioxidants, and they're far more affordable too. Also, when you get food that's at its peak, not only is it good for your health but it can keep you looking amazing as well.
With all of the parties to attend and family entertaining that you'll be doing this holiday season, I highly-recommend that you pick up some of the following foods—not just to serve to your guests but also because your hair, skin, and nails will love each and every one of them. And it will show!
Mandarin Oranges
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Actually, all kinds of oranges are in season during the winter, but I like Mandarin oranges because they are so tiny and cute! Beauty-wise, the high amount of vitamins C and E, antioxidants and fiber make them great for weight loss, glowing skin, fighting wrinkles, and keeping your hair shiny.
Mandarin Oranges Beauty Tip to Try: Squeeze the juice of one mandarin into a cup of coconut oil. Microwave it for 10 seconds, and apply it to your freshly-washed hair. Then rinse. It will immediately add shine to your locks.
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Shellie R. Warren is a lover of quotes,
lip gloss, graphic t-shirts, silver jewelry and Pumas. She's an author with two published books (thus far) on matters of the heart. In fact, 2019 was the 15-year anniversary of her first release '
Inside of Me: Lessons of Lust, Love and Redemption' (she's seriously mulling over penning a sequel to it) and 2020 marked her 20-year anniversary of being a (mostly) full-time writer. Aside from that, when Shellie's not tellin' all her business, she's helping couples (marriage life coach) or assisting with birthing babies (doula). Her byline is all over cyberspace, but where you won't find her is on social media. Like anywhere. At all. If you need to hit her up, she's (usually) reachable at missnosipho at gmail.com, though. HOWEVER, pitches for xoNecole need to go to editor@xonecole. Hit her up for *strictly* Shellie-related stuff. Again, pitch article ideas to the site addy NOT HER. Much appreciated.
Steve Harvey has never been shy about professing his love for his wife Marjorie Harvey. Over the years, the comedian has shouted out his queen and credited her for his continued success. The couple will be celebrating 15 years of marriage on June 25 and in honor of the special occasion, the CelebrityFamily Feud host shared a love letter to his wife that was published in the July/August 2022 issue of Good Housekeeping.
“Nearly two decades have flown by, and I have felt lucky every single one of those days. I don’t know if I can describe our connection in words, but I’ll try,” Steve said.
“When my bodyguard Boomerang handed me his phone that day in 2005, I had no idea who was on the other side of it. But I recognized your voice right away, and it was the best day of my life. The next day, I met you in Memphis for lunch, and when I saw you, I knew I wasn’t going to blow it a second time. The first time around didn’t pan out the way we would have wanted it to. I became homeless, I ran out of money and I got into some trouble. Things went south for me, and I had no way of reaching out to you — this was before cellphones — so I just disappeared.”
Steve then went on to explain that when they finally reconnected, everything was “perfect” and he thanked her for believing in him.
He added:
“You gave me something I never had before in my life as an adult. You gave me peace. Receiving that gift from you freed me up to think and really do my job. But you didn’t stop there. You had a lot of foresight about my future that I didn’t have. You told me that I was going to be all over TV in mainstream America. This was before Family Feud, my talk show, my first book and Miss Universe. You told me that all of this was going to happen to me, so I had to get ready for that. I wish the world knew how smart you are. You’ve never given me bad advice. Everything you’ve told me about my career has been spot-on. All the advice you’ve told me to do and not to do — if I do it, it works out; if I don’t do it, I wish I had.”
The couple originally met at a comedy club in Memphis in 1987. Marjorie showed up during Steve’s set and he was instantly mesmerized. She shared how their first interaction began during Steve’s defunct talk show in 2018.
“I was late and I thought he was gonna give me the business because he got real quiet. He was just staring at me…I thought I was gonna become part of the show,” she said. “He finally realized he’s gotta say something, he was like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t know who this is, but I’m gonna marry her.’”
Steve On How Marjorie Plays an Instrumental Role In His Life
In a March 2022 The Washington Post interview, Steve credited Marjorie for his success and mentioned other famous men who had great women by their side as an example of how much women play a role in achieving “greatness.”
“There is not a great man I know that achieved greatness without a her,” he said. “Barack ain’t the dude without Michelle. You can go down the list. I needed the her, and the her for me has been instrumental.”
Steve has always been known to rock a suit but over the last few years, the comedian has received viral fame after making changes to his style. Talking with Daily Pop, the Steve on Watch host pointed to his wife as the person behind his sleek and bold looks.
"She said, ‘Steve, look, you've been on TV, you've got a brand, you protected it for so long.' She said, ‘The way you dress off-camera, people never see,'" he said. “She said, ‘So, this is what I want you to think. I want you to start dressing like you dress offstage, but I'm gonna get you some help because you don't have time to go shopping.'"
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With a YouTube channel that boasts millions of views from her hair and skincare tutorials, beauty influencer Candice Jones knows what it takes to look great on the outside. But when it came to her mental wellbeing, Jones started feeling a disconnect. “Because a lot of the things that I was seeing on social media like: take a bath, pour you some wine,” Jones tells xoNecole about her initial attempts at self-care. “I was doing all of those aesthetic things, but it wasn't making me feel better.”
Jones’ turn to wellness came during a time in her life when she was dealing with a series of compounding anxieties. “What I considered the lowest point in my life,” Jones says, “where I graduated, I was working in a job that I didn't feel passionate about and I had my parents kind of like pushing me in a certain direction.” She continues: “And I felt very guilty for not performing the best when I was in school and then not pursuing my doctor career that they really wanted me.”
Unable to afford traditional therapy, Jones turned to the internet to begin her self-love journey. But she would quickly run into another unexpected roadblock. Jones found that a lot of the websites and online guides she turned to didn’t resonate with her as a Black woman. “The information was not coming from people that looked like me and people that I felt like other people would trust with their journey,” she says.
This led to Jones creating her wellness website Everything She Is. She describes the site as being “a platform for self-love, self-development for young girls and young women, self-empowerment, all of those kinds of things,” Jones says. “And we create tools and resources to help women along their self-love journeys as they come into womanhood.”
When creating the website, she says the first thing she wanted to address was self-acceptance. “That was something I grappled heavily with: finding myself,” Jones says. “Once I kind of uncovered a lot of the stuff that was there, a lot of things that I didn’t feel proud about, how to move forward and how to heal through self-acceptance I feel like a lot of people go through that when they’re transitioning - especially through womanhood.”
Jones sells guided self-love journals on the site that have helped in her process. “I was my first customer,” Jones says, “and it is something that really helped me kind of get to the bottom of what was really weighing me down.”
Jones says that her readers have also shared how much these journals have helped them too.
“It helps them dig deeper, ask questions that they would have otherwise not asked,” Jones says. “[Customers say] that the work has been difficult, but rewarding that a weight has been lifted, that they feel much freer and it's really just a story of, releasing. And sometimes that's what people need. Sometimes people just are carrying so much.”
Jones says that she also hopes that her website can be a guide for Black women on how to set their boundaries. “A lot of people around me are very self-sacrificing,” she says. “That strong Black woman trope that a lot of people are touching on now and resisting against with the soft-life movement is what I saw and what I wanted to breakdown the idea of kind of having to put yourself to the side in order for other people you’re around to advance.”
She is mindful about saying that her website is not an alternative to therapy for people who are able to access that and more so a companion to it. “Therapy is very, very, very important and something that we encourage,” Jones says. As she considers adding a formal education to her informal wellness training, she says that creating the website has been a way for her to help people in the meantime, “Just from a human aspect," she says. "Not from a scientific aspect or accolade or certification, but just being a human being and seeing women and myself struggle and wanting to be there and offer some help.”
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This month, SZA released the deluxe version of her debut album CTRL in observance of the fifth year anniversary of the album’s release. Featuring previously unreleased tracks, including an alternate version of “Love Galore,” which fans got an opportunity to hear during one of the Grammy-winning singer’s live performances, the revamped collection of songs has given fans a chance to reflect on life when the album first came out vs. now.
Despite the fact that only five years have passed, 2017 feels like several lifetimes ago. A series of personal and societal catastrophes have taken place over the course of the half-decade since CTRL was released. Relistening to the album recently activated a tender pang in my chest for the Black girl I was when the album first came out and all the Black girls that have similarly found themselves in the lyrics of Solána Imani Rowe.
In the opening track “Supermodel,” you first hear the voice of SZA’s mother saying “That is my greatest fear/ That if, if I lost control/ Or did not have control/Things would just, you know/I would be fatal.” From there SZA sings about finally laying to rest a relationship with a toxic ex. “I'm writing this letter to let you know/ I'm really leaving/And, no, I'm not keeping your shit.”
Throughout the entire album, we hear SZA wrestle with the heartache brought on by both a toxic relationship and the growing pains of being in your twenties. In “Love Galore” we hear her exclaim to her partner “why you bother me when you know you don’t want me?!” In “Drew Barrymore” she posits: “I get so lonely I forget what I'm worth/ We get so lonely we pretend that this works.”
It’s the disarming honesty that draws people into SZA’s world. We hear her attempts to gain some form of power in her relationship in “The Weekend” where she casts herself as an adulterous seductress who arranges the timetable with her man’s woman for when she can see her man.
Naming the album CTRL, despite it being so much about the loose, unmanageable time of your twenties, feels apt for all the contradictory moments when you’re just so desperately wanting things in your life to make sense. When CTRL first came out, I felt aimless. I was a 22-year-old college dropout who was worried I had ruined any chance I had at a fulfilling life. Listening to her song “20 Something,” in particular when she says “How could it be?/ 20 something, all alone still/ Not a thing in my name/ Ain't got nothin', runnin' from love/ Only know fear/ That's me, Ms. 20 Something/ Ain't got nothin', runnin' from love/ Wish you were here, oh,” that resonated with me the most. It felt like for the first time in my adult life I was no longer so consumed by the loneliness of assuming that I was the only one feeling this unbearable cluelessness.
The newer tracks don’t offer anything new by way of insight, only reaffirming the initial message of CTRL. A lot has changed since we first heard SZA singing about her sneaky links and love gone awry and about her love for Narcos and Tacos. But singing about the growing pains that plague so many Black women in early adulthood is why five years after its debut, during a time when music often fades into obscurity, we are still all under SZA’s CTRL.
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Money Talks is an xoNecole series where we talk candidly to real women about how they spend money, their relationship with money, and how they get it.
Full-time content creator Yvette Corinne has made waves in the content creation space. On the outside looking in, while some might feel like you have to have hundreds of thousands of followers in order to make a full-time living as an influencer, Yvette has managed to bring in six figures with a highly engaged Instagram community of more than 24,000 followers. And how did she do it? Well, her journey to wealth wasn't one without struggle. The Los Angeles-based micro-influencer got her start in content creation through blogging in 2016. That would lead to her growing her following on Instagram, which allowed her to balance her part-time retail job with being a part-time content creator.
Income from brand deals and partnerships eventually led to her toying with the idea of quitting her job to pursue influencing full-time. But she had a specific goal in mind before she felt confident enough to make the leap. The 32-year-old tells xoNecole: "I knew it was possible to go full-time in 2019. I kept telling myself if I can make at least $4,000 a month consistently, then I can quit my part-time job. All the while I had a goal to save $5,000 just in case I needed money when one of my brand payments came late. Well, about four months in a row I made the amount of money I desired, but I was still scared to quit my job."
Although she planned to quit her job at Topshop in March 2019, Yvette ultimately decided to stay on until the company's closing in July of the same year so that she could collect unemployment as an additional safety net in case things didn't go as planned. She left the retailer with about $3,000 saved. About a month into full-time content creation, she shared, she received the confirmation she needed to know she was on the right path. "I got my first big campaign. It was $5,000! That made me feel like, 'OK, Yvette, you can do this.'"
Keep reading to learn more about Yvette's budget breakdown, the lowest she's felt about finances, and the jobs and salaries that led her to what she does now for a living.
Courtesy of Yvette Corinne
On the jobs she worked before doing what she currently does:
"I’ve actually never had a full-time job. When I moved to L.A. after undergrad, I went straight into my master's and didn’t have time to work full-time. So I picked up part-time work at Zara and then, after graduating, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I quit that job and was unemployed for a few months and then started working at other retail jobs for the holiday season. Shortly after I got hired at Topshop doing their admin, [it was] still part-time because I started taking modeling and content creation seriously. In the midst of that, I transferred to the personal shopping department. I worked as a personal shopper until I eventually was a full-time creator. My pay started at $12/hr at Zara, $13/hr doing admin, and then $15/hr as a personal shopper."
On how much money she makes a year:
"Last year I ended at about $180K and this year, if everything stays consistent, I expect to make at least $200K. No month is the same, but this year I started off the first quarter strong and basically booked enough gigs to cover my necessary expenses. That has really set the tone for this year."
On the lowest she's ever felt because of her finances:
"2020 was the first year I made six figures, but in the first quarter of 2020 before lockdown, I was struggling. I remember needing $4,000 to cover my bills, my new apartment down payment, and making sure I was making all my payments on time while I was waiting for checks. My unemployment stopped and I was patiently waiting for the net60s and net90s (the 60-day and 90-day period from when an influencer fulfills their obligations and thereby is expected to receive payment for their deliverables). It was a struggle! Thankfully my mom gave me the money, and I paid her back as soon as I got back on my feet that same year. A true definition of anything can happen in a year."
"Mentally, I was stressed because the lockdown was shortly after and I had no idea if brand deals would be a thing anymore. But I just prayed and prayed that God would show me my next steps and He did! The year turned around and I made about 75% of my income in the second half of the year! Now, I don’t really worry about finances, because I know God’s got me."
On the revenue streams she uses to diversify her income:
"My streams of revenue are mainly brand partnerships which consist of me creating content for brands to use on their website, social media, and/or newsletters, and sponsored posts that I post on my personal social media accounts. Another stream of income that I have is affiliate marketing."
On how she approaches budgeting and tracking expenses:
"I use a spreadsheet and I have a budget planner that I love from a new company called MSTRPLN. I use Trello to track my brand deals and invoices/payments since I don’t have a manager to do those things for me."
On whether she is a spender or a saver:
"I consider myself both! I worked hard to enjoy the lifestyle that I have. I treat myself and make sure I am not saving to the point where I am not enjoying my money. I’ve always been obsessed with finance and I am a true Capricorn. If you know you know! When it comes to saving money, I live for a cushion. I have a few savings accounts with different banks. I have one tax savings account where I transfer money into as soon as I get paid to have it when it’s time to pay the man. [I also have] an emergency savings account that I transfer a certain amount of money to until I reach the goal I want to have there. For me, that’s about $30,000 because I want to have at least six months' worth of money to live off of just in case.
"My last savings account is my house fund! Hopefully, I’ll be engaged soon (laughs) and my boyfriend and I will be planning to get a house within the next few years. So we both have been saving for that moment separately, in our own personal savings accounts. I put a certain amount of money in each account every time I get a check!"
On unhealthy mindsets about money she had to let go of:
"There was a time where the savings was all I cared about and I didn’t want to spend money. The first time I spent a lump sum of money (it was for my electric car down payment), I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I didn’t feel attached to money as much because I knew that it was going to come back."
On the money mantra she lives by:
"'Money comes to me and through me. Period. I am no longer attached to money because I know that it will and can come back to me."
Yvette's Basic Monthly Budget Breakdown
Apartment: $2,200; My portion of the rent because I live with my boyfriend, and yes, we split the bills. I have no problem with that. I have an office in our townhome, so I write off that room for my taxes.
Utilities: $300
Food: $750
Car: Luckily, I have an electric vehicle, so it cost me like $50 a month to charge! I spend $250 on car insurance.
Self-care: $250
Overall Savings/Retirement: $20,000 in emergency savings; I'm still working on my retirement with my new financial adviser. It’s all so new to me. Building my emergency savings has been the most important thing for me because I don’t want to experience the stress that comes with waiting on checks ever again.
For more of Yvette, follow her on Instagram @yvettecorinne.
Taraji P. Henson has been putting work in Hollywood for decades before finally getting her flowers after she landed her most beloved role as Loretha “Cookie” Lyon on Fox’s Empire. Before Empire, however, she starred in the cult classic Baby Boy in 2001, the 2005 film Hustle & Flow, and the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button where she claimed she only made $40,000 and starred in many other roles. She has also released her own natural hair care line TPH by Taraji in 2020.
The actress is a businesswoman but now, at 51 Taraji is focused on her mental health and what makes her happy. The mother of one launched her Facebook Watch show Peace of Mind with Taraji and founded Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation which is named after her father who dealt with mental health struggles. And with the ongoing racial injustices and unrest happening in the U.S. right now, Taraji is considering living elsewhere to find her peace of mind.
The Hidden Figures star made the revelation during an interview with PEOPLE Every Day Podcast. "I'm really considering getting up out of here, leaving and living in another country," she confessed. "That's something that comes with 50, you get tired of fighting. I'm tired."
She added, "I just don't want to have to do another hashtag … I fought, I chanted, I marched. I'm tired."
Taraji didn’t specify where she wants to move to exactly but wherever she goes she wants to be loved on and not be judged by the color of her skin. "I want to go where there's neutral ground," she said. "I want to just be. And be happy. I want to be called 'Bella' every day, drink wine, and swat flies on the porch. Stress-free."
At 51, The Color Purple musical movie actress is no longer worried about satisfying others and is putting herself first. Something she says comes with age. "There's something that happens when you turn 50, where all of your f---s are behind you,” she shared. “I've accomplished a lot and I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm at the point now where if I say, 'I quit, I'm going to go travel the world,' I can. It's so freeing."
While she may not be moving anytime soon, she is planning a getaway with her bestie Mary J. Blige. "Me and Mary have been trying to do this trip for so long but our schedules just keep getting crazy. I just told her 'Look, enough is enough, I need a vacation!'" she exclaimed.
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