This article is in partnership with Starz.
Listen. We all love a good rerun of Sex and the City, but the ghosts of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda can go ahead and rest. There's finally a new, formidable foursome further uptown—Harlem that is—and they've taken the fashion, sex, and sister-girlfriend drama to entertainingly engaging new levels. Trust me, Starz's new series Run the World is the ode to Black femininity, friendship, and NYC flavor we all need right now. And if you haven't been tuned in on Sunday nights at 8:30 p.m., you're truly missing out.
The series features women we can all either relate to, live vicariously through, or maybe even side eye, wondering where our coin is because at least one sis is us. Ella is a sexy, Caesar-cut rocking writer (played by Andrea Bordeaux) who begins the season mourning love lost and stumbling through a career renewal. Sondi (played by Corbin Reid) is a Ph.D. student who serves Cree Summer-in-A-Different-World-edgy realness, while juggling school and an entanglement with her single-dad advisor.
Rebecca Smythe (Starz Entertainment)
Whitney is an elegant yet aloof banker (played by Amber Stevens West) prepping for a massive Nigerian wedding after cheating on her fiance. (And that's reason enough to continue watching if not just to see the festivities unfold. If you know, you know.) And last but certainly not least is Renee (played by Bresha Webb), a feisty-fiery soon-to-be-divorced marketing exec who unapologetically serves as the tell-it-like-it-is voice of ratchet reason in the group.
It's The Quality For Us
Rebecca Smythe (Starz Entertainment)
This is the Living Single of today's generation, packed full of quality cinematography, storylines that actually make sense in a city setting, cameos by real-life staples of the Harlem nightlife and restaurant scenes (that will make you forget how long you've been self-isolating), and sexcapades that spark memories of what it was like to have an active dating life that went beyond sexting, quarantine loving, and weird dating app rendezvous. There's not a badly styled or poorly-sourced wig in sight, no disjointed plot lines to sort through, and hardly any saucy, overly dramatic dialogue or fight scenes, so you're in for just good, solid TV with this one.
Speaking of Living Single, Erika Alexander makes an appearance, playing Barb, the chic, no-nonsense boss of Ella. She brings the same ambitious, savvy, youthful spunk to the role as she did with Maxine.
Sex, Some Good Sex, and More... Well Sex
Rebecca Smythe (Starz Entertainment)
Oh, and let's not forget the foine (yes, F-O-I-N-E) men who add the perfect dose of masculinity and tainted romance to the mix. Whitney's debonair Nigerian doctor bae, Ola, is played by Tosin Morohunfola, Renee's soon-to-be ex, Jason, is played by the chocolate goodness that is Jay Walker, and the naughty zaddy professor, is played by Stephen Bishop. (Remember him from the luscious situationship in Being Mary Jane? Yes, sis. Him.)
Ella's handsomely clever boo, Anderson, (played by Nick Sagar) represents that irresistible guy we all put in the "It's Complicated" file, who uses mysterious charm, a smirk buoyed by a good set of immaculately white teeth, and some amazing bedroom moves to keep us coming back for more when we shouldn't. These men don't disappoint, especially when it comes to sex and eye candy, and if you want a sense of what the sensuous scenes are like, these sistas are gettin' it in like Issa and Nola.
Serving Looks and Harlem Vibes
Rebecca Smythe (Starz Entertainment)
Social commentary on subjects including sexism, gender roles, Karens, and upward mobility is peppered in without beating you in the head and ruining the escapism factor, of course. You'll also get chats about white dicks vs. Black ones, motherhood vs. the rich auntie life, and married life vs. gloriously-single-and-loving-it in a way that feels like you're just eavesdropping at a good Sunday brunch. And we can't talk a good Black female-driven dram-com set in NYC without mentioning fashion. You've got pieces from favs LaQuan Smith and Hanifa that spark all the good feels of getting up and showing out for the streets.
The mix of luxe door-knockers, brightly-hued furs, alluring silks, beautiful ankara prints, and strappy heels is absolutely everything when paired with the landscape of 116th Street's landmark African market, the expansive wall murals and monuments on and around 125th Street, the yummy sights and smells of spots like Red Rooster, Shrine, and Yatenga, the lushness of Marcus Garvey Park, and the grand historic architecture of Harlem's walk-up brownstones.
Don't Call It A Remake
Rebecca Smythe (Starz Entertainment)
But don't get it twisted. While there are comparisons being made to other girlfriend-centered shows of years past, this one offers its own fresh, updated take on dating, sex, and friendship that ensures you know you're in 2021, and there's a contemporary maturity to the show that allows it to hold its own. This isn't just a revamped, been-there-done-that remake of something you've already seen—and probably still stream for nostalgia's sake—before.
Run the World offers a refreshing slice of uptown Manhattan life featuring imagery of Black women, vibrant Black culture, and captivating Black love that reignites the senses and perfectly reflects a spicy semi-utopia of normalcy we all hope to return to—in real life—sometime sooner than later.
Featured image courtesy of Rebecca Smythe (Starz Entertainment)
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While an evolution is a natural progression that happens as businesses grow, a rebrand is a total change. Lola tells xoNecole, "A total rebrand is necessary when a business’s current reputation/what it’s known for is at odds with the business’s vision or direction.
"For example, if you’ve fundamentally changed what your product is and does, it’s likely that your brand is out of alignment with the business. Or, if you find your company is developing a reputation that doesn’t serve it, it might be time to pump the brakes and figure out what needs to change.
She continues, "Sometimes you’ll see companies (especially startups) announce a name change that comes with updated messaging, visuals, etc. That usually means their vision has changed or expanded, and their previous branding was too narrow/couldn’t encompass everything they planned to do."
Feature image courtesy
The Brand Doula was born in 2019, and its focus is on putting "the experiences, goals, and needs of women of color founders first," as well as brands with "culture-shifting missions."
According to Lola, culture-shifting is "the act of influencing dominant behavior, beliefs, or experiences in a community or group (ideally, for the better)."
"At The Brand Doula, we work with companies and leaders that set out to challenge the status quo in their industries and communities. They’re here to make an impact that sends ripples across the market," she says.
"We help the problem solvers of the world — the ones who aren't satisfied with 'this is how it's always been' and instead ask 'how could this be better?' Our clients build for impact, reimagining tools, systems, and ways of living to move cultures forward."
The Brand Doula has worked with many brands, including Too Collective, to assist with their collaboration with Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty and Balanced Black Girl for a "refresh," aka rebrand. For businesses looking to rebrand, Lola shares four essential steps.
1. Do an audit of your current brand experience — what’s still relevant and what needs to change? Reflect on why you’re doing the rebrand in the first place and what success would look like after relaunching.
2. Tackle the overall strategy first — before you start redesigning logos and websites, align on a new vision for your brand. How do you want your company to be positioned moving forward? Has your audience changed at all? Will your company have a fresh personality and voice?
3. Bring your audience along the journey — there’s no need to move in secret. Inviting your current audience into the journey can actually help them feel more connected to and invested in your story, enough to stick around as changes are being made.
4. Keep business moving — one of my biggest pet peeves is when companies take down their websites as soon as they have the idea to rebrand, then have a Coming Soon page up for months! You lose a lot of momentum and interest by doing that. If you’re still in business and generating income, continue to operate while you work on your rebrand behind the scenes. You don’t want to cut existing customers off out of the blue, and you also don’t want so much downtime that folks forget your business exists or start looking for other solutions.
While determining whether the rebrand was successful may take a few months, Lola says a clear sign that it is unsuccessful is negative feedback from your target audience. "Customers are typically more vocal about what they don’t like more than what they do like," she says.
But some good signs to look out for are improvements in engagement with your marketing, positive reviews, press and increase in retention, and overall feeling aligned with the new branding.
For more information about Lola and The Brand Doula, visit her website, thebranddoula.com.
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And although everything from age and hormonal imbalances to stress/anxiety and even low self-esteem can play a role in why climaxing can be difficult, after touring with an organization that dealt with porn and sex addiction for almost 10 years, having countless sessions with married women and also researching and writing on sex for over two decades at this point, what I realize hasn’t been discussed enough is that a lot of women can have orgasms — just not vaginal ones via intercourse (check out “Ladies, Please Stop Pressuring Yourself Over Vaginal Orgasms”).
The next thing that should be brought up more in the discourse is the fact that many women have orgasms — they’re just not always earth-shattering ones (like the ones that you feel when you have, say, a blended orgasm).
Today, we’re going to hone in on the latter point. If you know (that you know that you know) that you have orgasms yet the more intense ones don’t happen nearly as often as you would like, there is something that you can do that has been proven to help you out — and the title of this piece is a huge hint as far as what that is. #wink
How Does Weed Help to Create More and Better Orgasms?
GiphyWeed and sex being a cool combination is not something that I haven’t addressed before. A few years back, I penned a piece for the site entitled, “7 Proven Ways Weed Makes Sex So Much Better.” So, why did I feel the need to write this one too? Because I think all of us (who’ve had sex before) can vouch for the fact that you can have a wonderful sexual experience and still not have an orgasm or the kind of orgasm that you’d prefer to have. And when that is indeed the case, well, something that can help you out is yep, marijuana.
For starters, did you know that there are literal studies to support that weed can help women to have more frequent orgasms? Yep. One article that I read stated that out of almost 400 people surveyed, 52 percent said that they had trouble climaxing; however, after a bit of weed use, orgasm frequency increased by almost 73 percent, orgasm satisfaction by 67 percent, and the ability to have orgasms more easily increased by 71 percent.
And since some of these individuals deal with something known as female orgasmic disorder (FOD), because the findings are so significant, there are some states that are actually pushing for FOD to qualify for medical marijuana treatment. Yep, that’s how effective weed use is proving itself to be in this realm.
So, just what is it about weed that makes climaxing a more probable experience for so many of us? For one thing, weed is seen as an aphrodisiac by many individuals. One reason is that it contains properties that help to relax your system as well as intensify the sexual experiences that you have by literally helping to make them feel more pleasurable.
Some studies also reveal that weed use can lower your inhibitions and increase the amount of time you spend engaging in foreplay too. If you add to that the fact that weed also amplifies the sense of touch — well, I’m sure that you get how all of this combined can help you to have not just more but better quality orgasms, for sure.
How to Effectively Bring Weed into Your Sexual Experiences
GiphySo, now that you know all of this, I’m sure some of you are wondering how to bring marijuana into your boudoir in a responsibly effective kind of way. Good question. For one thing, it’s definitely best to start off in small amounts (if you’ve never experienced weed before); you can probably do this best with edibles because many of them are sold in pre-dosed amounts. In fact, although you might think that, when it comes to weed consumption, “the more the merrier,” the reality is actually that overdoing it could decrease your libido instead of elevate it.
Also, it’s a good idea to remember that while CBD is good for ointments and creams that can help to reduce anxiety before sex or enhance afterplay (check out “Sure, Your Foreplay Game Is On Point. Now What About The ‘Afterplay’?”), THC — the active ingredient that is responsible for getting you “high” — is what has a stronger reputation for making sex itself a more pleasurable experience; especially as far as women go. So, what you might want to do is start out with something like a chocolate edible (since it also is an aphrodisiac) with a low amount of THC in it along with a CBD-based lubricant.
Just make sure to keep in mind that edibles can bea bit unpredictable (as far as how high you will get and how soon along with how you will feel once you come down from the high experience), plus, their effects tend to last longer than smoking (edible highs can sometimes last six or more hours while smoking ones are around four or more) — so, if it’s your first time trying all of this out, a night before going to work isn’t a good idea; wait until the weekend instead.
On the other hand, if you’d consider yourself to be a bit of a “weed pro” at this point, you might want to experiment with some different strains of weed. Ones that are somewhat popular in the sexual stimuli department contain what is called limonene. It is actually a chemical that isfound in citrus fruit; however, when it’s combined with weed, not only can it help the weed to taste better, but it canelevate your mood, reduce your stress, andgive your libido and energy levels a bit of a boost as well.
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Listen, if there’s one thing that I’m gonna do, it’s provide a hack to make sex better for you — and there is just too much data out in these streets to not shout out weed as far as achieving quality orgasms go.
That said, if weed ain’t your thing, don’t force it to be just because you read this. There are other ways to have amazing orgasms (check out “15 Women Share Their Personal Hacks For Better Orgasms (And Sex Overall)”). Oh, but if it is (or if you’ve always been curious about it), why not approach cannabis from a strictly sexual angle? At the very least, you’ll get a bit of a euphoric feel. At the most, you’ll have an avenue to experience more of the orgasms that you crave.
Hell, sounds like a win/win to me, sis.
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