

Ryan Destiny Is Showing Us She Has The Range
If you don't know her by name, you definitely know her by face. Ryan Destiny is a multi-hyphenate creative reminiscent of a young Lauryn Hill in more ways than one that has been making her mark as a star on the rise, one career move at a time.
While the Detroit native is definitely beautiful, she is also talented and is now set to add another genre to her filmography: Psychological horror. As if 2020 wasn't already psychologically-horrifying enough, Ryan is going to take us on a mind trip as the lead in the upcoming film Oracle, produced by Will Packer Productions. In it, she discovers a property she's working at has a traumatic past, and that trauma mixed with hers unearths hellish energies from within the house.
Her new role is further proof that Ryan is ready to transition to the next stages of her career and show the world she is a force to be reckoned with, and not just a pretty face. As she uncovers her multiple talents and multiple layers, she is gifting us with her vulnerability and transparency so that we can embark on the journey with her. You can't really appreciate where someone is going unless you understand where they have been, and for Ryan, this rise to stardom has been 10 years in the making.
Just in case you've seen Ryan Destiny on the scene, and still want to know about her, here are 5 fast facts about the star and her continuous rise.
1. When it comes to her iconic role as Alexandra Crane on Fox’s ‘Star’, her mood is "Thank you, next!"
Most Ryan Destiny fans know the starlet for her time as Alexandra Crane in the Lee Daniels Fox show Star. The show was abruptly canceled in 2019 after three seasons. In an interview with ESSENCE, the then-25-year-old stated:
"After a show you're starring in gets canceled, you definitely get a little shook. But you've got to trust God's process. The opportunity to have opportunities is a huge blessing."
Despite seeing the good in "goodbye", Ryan is also quite vocal about learning her worth all while navigating through troubled waters during her experience on the hit show. In an interview with Teen Vogue, she also shared:
"I think that that show taught me that I can [do] and I'm worth a lot more than I thought. And it's OK to say that. Just because other people may not see it doesn't mean it's not true. I knew my power way more, and I was past the point where I was letting people, no matter what they've done in the industry control me. I think it's easy to let people control you and step over you, and I was just really over that by the time the show ended."
2. Ryan plays Jillian on ‘Grown-ish’.
Her relatable role as a transfer student from an HBCU who has the looks of a model, the intellect to confidently speak about politics, and Zoey's ex-man (played by Luka Sabbat) as her current bae has been a pleasant addition to the hit show's latest season. Although the show is currently on hiatus due to the pandemic, Ryan's character Jillian has been recurring since the start of season 3, so make sure to catch up!
3. Ryan Destiny doesn’t play about her music.
In addition to acting, Ryan has a love affair with music and was actually how she got her first taste of the industry. Although she wouldn't start acting for real-for real until 2013, she alongside two group-members who formed the collective trio New Limit, auditioned for America's Got Talent. They were so good, they made it all the way to the finals but ultimately decided it wasn't the move. She eventually caught the eye of Universal Republic before the trio split, leading her momager and her to hold auditions to form the group Love Dollhouse. They'd sign with All Def/Capitol Records and go on to release the single "Can I" before splitting in 2015.
Ryan has been about that solo life ever since. Though her sound is distinctly R&B, she is not afraid to experiment with her sound and is pushing past obstacles that come with the consumer's difficulty to separate the artist from their previously affiliated projects. Her single "The Same" is an instant vibe and its accompanying visual definitely show Ryan's Aaliyah influences.
4. She’s a highly sought-after love interest...on-screen, of course.
Sis can emote, sis has range, and sis looks goodt, TF? Of course, she'd lend her visual to music videos from time to time, right? Recently, Ryan starred in Justin Bieber's the Colin Tilley-directed "Holy" as well as in Big Sean's music video for his single "Single Again" alongside real-life beau Keith Powers. Us fans love to see it!
5. Speaking of love, Ryan and her boyfriend Keith Powers are black love goals.
The two high-key low-key lovers are public at times and private when it counts, and it's a formula that seemingly works for the couple of three years. Although, the start of their love story wasn't love at first sight, Ryan expressed in a cover story with We the Urban that she had always been sweet on Keith since they first met, she just knew how to play it cool.
"I had shamefully liked Keith since we met though. We were just friends for a minute. So when we let things naturally happen, if you let it, love falls in naturally too."
In the same interview, Keith echoed similar sentiments, adding that it didn't take him long to know Ryan was the one for him:
"Loving someone is a very natural feeling that just happens. You can't just wake up and SAY I love this person, you FEEL it. You realize like wow, this person is a piece of me and regardless you don't ever want that person out of your life."
Goals people, goals.
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Featured image by Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com
New Jersey native creating a life that she loves while living in gratitude. She loves using beauty, and fashion to create a balanced lifestyle while prioritizing wellness. A devoted fur mom, and a full-time lover of laughter. She is out for revenge against the darkness by being light, taking her own advice, traveling the world, and letting you know that you are so lit! Connect with her via IG @iamzaniah and please visit Zaniahsworld.com
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How Leaning Into Feminine Energy Helped Maat Petrova Manifest Her First Million Dollars
Tapping into and embracing your feminine energy has been a hot topic as of late, thanks to social media. If you type in "feminine energy" in TikTok’s search bar, you will be inundated with endless videos of women giving tips about how to harvest your feminine energy and its importance in dating. But what is feminine energy, and how is it different than femininity?
Maat Petrova, the founder and owner of the feminine care company FemMagic, teaches about feminine energy and helps to empower women through her social media posts, Instagram Live meditations, and products such as her Coocheewaa feminine wash and Vagelixir. In our conversation, she broke down this essential question.
“Femininity can be like wearing the red lipstick and having your nails done and, you know, the way you carry yourself. I see femininity as more so an external thing and an external derivative of feminine energy. Feminine energy is the source,” she tells xoNecole.
Photo by @islandboiphotography
“Many women can look feminine or have femininity, display femininity but are completely tapped into their masculine [energy.] They got the look, they got the clothes, they got the hair, the nails, and they’ll even have the tone, but they are broken, in their masculine energy.”
When it comes to feminine energy versus masculine energy, Maat says everyone has both and describes it as yin and yang. As women, we should be feminine with a speck of masculine. However, due to circumstances such as our environments and careers, we often get so consumed by our masculine energy that we forget to be in our feminine energy. Maat experienced this growing up in NYC, and it took her moving to Atlanta to make changes.
“Sometimes you change from the inside out. Sometimes you change from the outside in. There’s no method or specific way that anyone’s journey is supposed to be. So for me, when I moved to Georgia, it was an outside-in journey, where my environment changed me,” she explains.
However, both energies work in harmony to manifest the life you want. “The characteristics with feminine and masculine energy is masculine is more assertive where feminine is just being, masculine is doing—feminine is more nurturing, masculine is more logical,” she says. For example, when it comes to accomplishing business goals, doing the physical work, such as networking or creating an LLC, is masculine, and the mental work, such as visualizing it and thinking of creative ideas, is feminine.
Manifestation is often described as the act of attracting something tangible into your life, whether that be a romantic partner, a new career opportunity, or meeting a financial goal. A popular manifestation method is the law of attraction, which according to thelawofattraction.com, means like attracting like. Another method that Maat has successfully used is meditation.
Photo by @islandboiphotography
Maat shares that she had a goal of making a million dollars in a year, and so one of the first things she did was meditate every morning, specifically using visualization meditation. From there, she began meditating on Instagram Live at 6:45 a.m. each day, and she was joined by many others who had similar goals. Positive Psychology states that visualization meditation is a positive image or guided imagery visualized in the mind’s eye, and it can help “strengthen focus,” “enhance creativity,” and “improve self-image.”
“Manifesting is an extremely feminine energetic thing. The work you have to do to support the manifestation is the masculine,” shares Maat. “So again, feminine is being, and masculine is doing. So, when I manifested my first million dollars– when I say manifested... I was already making high six-figures with my company FemMagic, and I started a meditation called ‘Manifestation Meditation’ in Feb 2020.”
She continues explaining how a workshop inspired her to start daily meditation. “I went to a workshop. The workshop was like, do something every day. Commit to one thing and just do it every day, and I chose meditation. I’m like, I already have my diet on point, I’m already working out all the time, what else can I do to increase myself?”
According to Maat, more opportunities began coming her way, and she gradually began seeing a financial increase without having to do extra labor, such as filling more product orders. “I didn’t make more products. I wasn’t working physically. I was working mentally and spiritually,” she explains.
Meditation is a centuries-old spiritual technique that can help ground you and connect you with your feminine energy. But if meditation isn’t your thing, Goop listed a few more ways you can achieve similar results. This includes journaling, breathwork, yoga, and drinking tea.
If you don’t know where you fall on the scale of masculine energy and feminine energy, Maat has some suggestions.
“Look at the definition of feminine energy. Feminine energy is nurturing, it's patience, it's grace, it's being, it's allowing, it's receiving. Do a scale from 1-5 or 1-10 and rate yourself on each of that,” she says. “Look at the list of feminine characteristics and rate yourself. Then, get the list of masculine, assertive, aggressive, action-oriented, angry, doing, and rate yourself on that.”
For more information about Maat, check out her websites Femmagic.com and Maatpetrova.com. Maat is also having her third annual Feminine U Goddess conference on October 28, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Feature image by @islandboiphotography