Travel Enthusiast Lee Litumbe Lists Her Top 4 Favorite Cities In The World
Lee Litumbe is used to being synonymous with the phrase "travel goals". One look at her feed and it's a visual anthology of serene blues, earthy greens, and vibrant whites, reds, and yellows. You're instantly transported where she is at that moment, whether it's the rust colored sands of the dunes in the Namib Desert or the aquamarine waters of Cape Town where she is currently based.
It's perhaps one of the many reasons Lee Litumbe has seen her life and her work flourish in the culmination of her brand and site Spirited Pursuit. "I make content for my younger self, in a way, where I wish I would've seen someone who looked like me doing these aspirational things in Africa, because then it would've given me validity."
The 29-year-old creative entrepreneur got her first bite from the travel bug from her parents. Although she spent a lot of her life in The States, she spent her childhood in Cameroon where her parents own a travel and managing company. But it wasn't until four years ago that she started to document her travels with Spirited Pursuit, a move that resulted from a quarter-life crisis. "I was dealing with a lot of things that left me with really dangerously low self-esteem and I figured I would just have this creative outlet, because at the time, I was working in finance as a business analyst. My life was completely different," she recalled.
"The love for travel came from being exposed to it all my life. The Spirited Pursuit itself was really a manifestation of how I started to love myself through a really tough time, and revisiting the things that I loved and made me feel good about myself, and made me feel like I had value. Spirited Pursuit genuinely is my spirited pursuit and love for travel."
Lee Litumbe sows gems and creates beautiful postcards for the places she decides to spread her wings and wander to. From Senegal to the South of France, read on to experience some of her most memorable destinations so far:
Dakar, Senegal
"I love Senegal in general just because it's just a country that feels so African. It's my dream for most African countries, in the sense where it's so modern but it retains its traditions. Like everyone that I've met there, for the most part, there isn't this strong sense of colonial mentality that tends to exist in some countries that were colonized. There is so much of a vibrance to the culture in the city and the art, it's modern. People who visit will probably be very surprised. Everyone speaks their traditional language. You see people walking around in their traditional clothes. Right now, I'm in South Africa. South Africa is very modern, and I almost feel like it's lost its electricity because you don't always feel like you are in Africa in a sense."
Zanzibar, Tanzania
"Zanzibar is one of the most beautiful places hands-down in the world. The very first time I went was maybe five or six years ago? My mum actually had a conference there [chuckle] and when she told me she was going, I was like, 'I need to find a way.' So, my mum lives in Cameroon, my parents still live in Cameroon, and I was living in Atlanta at the time and I was like, 'I don't care how I'm gonna make it happen, but I'm coming with you.' So, I ended up flying across the world [chuckle] to get to Zanzibar to only stay there for two or three days just because I was like, 'I need to come.' That was my first time being there and it was just so stunning and the beauty, of course, it's obvious. There's bleach white sand beaches with crystal clear blue water. And it's a stunning place from a landscape perspective, but then the culture is so rich."
Marrakesh, Morocco
"I think Morocco is stunning. I have a love/hate relationship with it because I experienced a lot of racism there. And so, on the one hand, I think it's such a beautiful country with a beautiful culture but unfortunately, I had some really unfortunate incidents while visiting which left a bad taste in my mouth, but it's still a very beautiful place and of course everyone isn't racist but there is definitely a strong undercurrent of racism there that I typically try to tell people about just to have a realistic perspective on."
Valensole, South of France
"I went on a road trip with my boyfriend through the south of France, earlier this year. And it was so stunning. We went to the lavender fields in Provence and we were at Côte d'Azur. It was just really stunning, and it was great cause he's French and German. So, he was showing me all these different places that he loves to go visit and we climbed, literally went hiking and climbed mountains. So that was a really beautiful as well."
Keep up with Lee and her Spirited Pursuit @spiritedpursuit.
Black Girl Wanderer is a series spotlighting the travels and explorations of black women journeying the world. Black women in all their magic and all their glory wander the earth, sprinkling the earth with their brown and their gold. If you're a Black Girl Wanderer, email us at submissions@xonecole.com for a chance to be featured. #blackgirlwanderer
ItGirl 100 Honors Black Women Who Create Culture & Put On For Their Cities
As they say, create the change you want to see in this world, besties. That’s why xoNecole linked up with Hyundai for the inaugural ItGirl 100 List, a celebration of 100 Genzennial women who aren’t afraid to pull up their own seats to the table. Across regions and industries, these women embody the essence of discovering self-value through purpose, honey! They're fierce, they’re ultra-creative, and we know they make their cities proud.
VIEW THE FULL ITGIRL 100 LIST HERE.
Don’t forget to also check out the ItGirl Directory, featuring 50 Black-woman-owned marketing and branding agencies, photographers and videographers, publicists, and more.
THE ITGIRL MEMO
I. An ItGirl puts on for her city and masters her self-worth through purpose.
II. An ItGirl celebrates all the things that make her unique.
III. An ItGirl empowers others to become the best versions of themselves.
IV. An ItGirl leads by example, inspiring others through her actions and integrity.
V. An ItGirl paves the way for authenticity and diversity in all aspects of life.
VI. An ItGirl uses the power of her voice to advocate for positive change in the world.
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You've Never Seen Luke James In A Role Quite Like This
Over the years, we've watched Luke James play countless characters we'd deem sex symbols, movie stars, and even his complicated character in Lena Waithe's The Chi. For the first time in his career, the New Orleans-born actor has taken on a role where his signature good looks take a backseat as he transforms into Edmund in Them: The Scare—a mentally deranged character in the second installment of the horror anthology series that you won't be able to take your eyes off.
Trust us, Edmund will literally make you do a double take.
xoNecole sat down with Luke James to talk about his latest series and all the complexity surrounding it—from the challenges taking on this out-of-the-box role to the show's depiction of the perplexing history of the relationship between Black Americans and police. When describing the opportunity to bring Edmund's character to life, Luke was overjoyed to show the audience yet another level of his masterful acting talents.
"It was like bathing in the sun," he said. "I was like, thank you! Another opportunity for me to be great—for me to expand my territory. I'm just elated to be a part of it and to see myself in a different light, something I didn't think I could do." He continued, "There are parts of you that says, 'Go for it because this is what you do.' But then also that's why it's a challenge because you're like, 'um, I don't know if I'm as free as I need to be to be able to do this.' Little Marvin just created such a safe space for me to be able to do this, and I'm grateful for everything I've been able to do to lead to this."
Courtesy
Them: The Scare, like the first season, shines a light on the plight of Black Americans in the United States. This time, the story is taking place in the 1990s, at the height of the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. While the series presents many underlying themes, one that stands out is Black people and the complicated relationship with the police. "For the audience, I think it sets the tone for the era that we're in and the amount of chaos that's in the air in Los Angeles and around the country from this heinous incident. And I say it just sets the tone of the anxiety and anxiousness that everybody is feeling in their own households."
James has been a longtime advocate against police brutality himself. He has even featured Elijah McClain, the 23-year-old Colorado man who died after being forcibly detained by officers, as his Instagram avatar for the past five years. So, as you can imagine, this script was close to his heart. "Elijah was a soft-loving oddball. Different than anyone but loving and a musical genius. He was just open and wanted to be loved and seen."
Getty Images
Luke continued, "His life was taken from him. I resonate with his spirit and his words...through all the struggle and the pain he still found it in him to say, 'I love you and I forgive you.' And that's who we are as people—to our own detriment sometimes. He's someone I don't want people to forget. I have yet to remove his face from my world because I have yet to let go of his voice, let go of that being [because] there's so many people we have lost in our history that so often get forgotten."
He concluded, "I think that's the importance of such artwork that moves us to think and talk about it. Yes, it's entertaining. We get to come together and be spooked together. But then we come together and we think, 'Damn, Edmund needed someone to talk to. Edmund needed help... a lot [of] things could have been different. Edmund could have been saved.'
Check out the full interview below.
Luke James Talks Ditching Sex Symbol Status For "Them: The Scare", Elijah McClain, & Morewww.youtube.com
Featured image by Getty Images