Check Inside for July Models of The Month
Exclusive Interview with Sheila O. as She Talks Afrobeats
The POWER of
Positivity
28
CONTENTS JULY 2021 Sheila O Mazi O Dana Macc Eric Jordon Tidwell Amber Rodriguez Benny Duhay Jamilah Ewing Timothy Maurice Lil Meek Amun Cosme Lila Brown Sharina Harris Peta-Gaye McCalla Toni Gilliard Chi Ilochi Jordan Chiles Danusia Francis Cassandra Lucas LaVonda P. Rouse Nakikia Wilson
04
20
04 09 14 20 24 26 28 30 33 36 41 47 51 54 56 58 60 62 64 66
09
30
33
14
24
26
36
41
47
58
60 51 Founder – Cece Hymes
62 W.I.B (Where It Begins) is an Independent agency with the aim to always be innovated in each approach taken to projects and making sure excellence is given in a projects execution when it comes to media marketing, branding, networking and management.
54 64
Founded by the well experienced and ever growing force; D.C native - Cece Hymes, the most important and integral aspect of W.I.B is that branding for both Creatives and Businesses is taken to the next level with each and every project undertaken. We’ve continued to represent a very diverse and well acclaimed roster of emerging talents in the entertainment, and businesses!
56
66
With a determined persistence for continued excellence, our Founder – Cece Hymes, with a college Degree in Business Management, has also worked within radio and with many companies such as: RDE Entertainment, H.I.G.H Entertainment and Caribbean Gospel Records Ltd.,
WIB Magazine
3
“I have been blessed to be where I am now but I'm still striving for my biggest accomplishment. The best is yet to come. ”
Eric Jordon Tidwell 20
WIB Magazine
year it was picked up by TV one. And they ran it on their network, and we actually reshot a spin-off season called Tough Love Los Angeles. So, we shot that during the pandemic, and it was released the week of Thanksgiving. And the season finale just happened two weeks ago. So, 10 episodes are all out now on YouTube for the people that don't have cable. Definitely check that out. Tough Love LA.
Q. Tell everyone who you are and what you do? A. Hey everybody, my name is Eric Jordon Tidwell, I'm from Detroit born and raised currently living in LA. I'm a writer, actor, director. So, tap in. Can't wait to see you guys. Can't wait for you to see my future work. Q. So, what plans do you have for 2021? What are some of your goals? A. Well, I want to star in a feature film. A lot of the projects I've done so far have been music videos, short films, and series. But I definitely want to carry a movie. I've also directed a short film this weekend. So, I'm looking forward to putting that out within the next couple of weeks. Other than that, it's just me writing and trying to continue to push our content. We are kind of still on lockdown here in LA. So, it just gives a really good opportunity to just do whatever you can do to be creative. Q. Let's talk about Tough Love and the experience behind that. A. Tough Love was amazing. I started it in New York in 2015 with season one and then this
Q. So, tell us what's been one of your biggest accomplishments you’ve had so far in life? A. To me, I will actually say probably this most recent accomplishment with Tough Love. This was my first time being on national TV, It’s scripted series. I've been on TV before in music videos and commercials. But this is the first time actually holding the character and people being able to see me kind of be myself in a way. And that was huge for me because I don't have any family members or friends growing up that were on TV. So, I'm the first one to do it. And I'm looking forward to doing it a lot more. Q. Who are some people that have been your most influential or who motivated you to be an actor and a writer? A. As far as acting, it was a natural transition. I started my career as a runway model in Detroit, Michigan. And then I moved to New York to continue to pursue that career. After walking in New York fashion week, I was contacted by Tough Love team. They contacted me through one of my model pages I believe it was model mayhem. And that was my first time going in and auditioning for even something like that. So, I went in, and they just handed me two scripts, and I read them for the first time there out loud with the writer and was casting for that project. And my very first day on set is when I fell in love with acting. Growing up in my career as a model it's very strict. So, it's not a lot of playing around, I guess when the lights are on. So, the fact that as an actor you kind of gets paid to play around. It's pretty fun. I liked it a lot. And
I was blessed to work with a very talented cast. A lot of them had graduated from film school. So, being someone who just kind of fell into it being surrounded by all of these professionals I just soaked up all of their knowledge. Q. What do you do in your spare time? A. In my spare time, I guess, just the same old Eric. I just watch basketball, and I like playing video games. But most recently, in my spare time, it's been writing. And the transition for that actually came recently, after concluding with the production on Tough Love. I just kind of wanted to keep the momentum going. So, I reached out to a production company to see if they needed any talent because I knew that they were pushing out the shorts pretty often. And when I reached out to them, they actually told me that they were booked up on actors, but if I knew any writers, you know, they were looking for that. And I had written a couple of things before I never shot them just kind of wrote them down. And I ended up sending them a couple of things that I wrote, they loved it, asked me to write for them. So far, we've shot three projects that I've written. And the most recent one, as I said, I directed, and that was on Saturday. So, I'm still off a high from that. Q. Well, what has been the biggest challenge of yours? A. Being away from family and being away from the people that are cared about the most. That has definitely been very, very challenging. Every time I see them, I feel like 10 years have gone by even though it's only been three, four or five months. But that's the biggest challenge for sure being away from my family. And just being out here pursuing this path that you don't necessarily control. So, while going along that journey, and looking back on the things that I miss, that sometimes is a challenge. But fortunately, I've made a lot of good friends and good connections here that just kind of motivate me and surround me with love. Being out here in
WIB Magazine
21
“The best thing I can say is, make sure its a passion. Because your passion will help you get through every hurdle, hole and wall. ”
Timothy Maurice 30
WIB Magazine
Q. Tell everyone who you are and what you do? A. My name is Timothy Maurice, the founder of Real Azul Tequila. Q. Well, tell us about your tequila and how you got started and the motivation behind it? A. Oh, man, I don't know where to start. I've been working on this tequila for about 12 years now. I worked on it for eight years before we released it in 2018. I've been designing for different industries for about 20 years. I've developed brands for a lot of companies, bottled waters, energy drinks, and iced teas. I've been there from the beginning, from scratch, to watch them go local to national to international, and I've been 60 to 70% of their brand development. And I didn't own 1% in anything I created. So, you have to think that if you can develop for them, why can't you develop it for yourself? So that's when I started working on my brand, Real Azul.
Q. Tell us how your tequila is different from everybody else's. A. That's interesting. I tell people, what makes my tequila different from other tequilas are three things, presentation, smell, and taste. Often times, when you go into a package store, you'll walk by a brand that looks and tastes like its cheap. You often think it tastes as it looks. Whereas if you see a good-looking bottle, you'll be like, I want to try that. So that's the presentation. And our bottle can sit next to any bottle and hold its own. Then there's the smell. You know how you'll go to a bar and someone will buy a group of shots and you'll grab the glass and smell it and then turn your nose away because of how harsh the smell is of the tequila. This is an ultra-premium tequila so it's very smooth on the nose. You can enjoy the smell of this tequila the same way you would your favorite room temperature spirit. Just kind of close your eyes and enjoy it. And yes, I am sipping. Q. What are the different flavors you have? A. The different flavors I have are Blanco, Reposado, and Anejo. Those are the three categories of tequila. A lot of people don't know that tequila gets its color from the barrel. So, the Blanco is clear because it doesn't go into the barrel. Our Reposado which means rest goes into the barrel for nine months. Our Anejo which means age goes into the barrel for 18 months.
Q. Okay. School me because I don't know too much about that. I'm not a big drinker. Well, what's your favorite? A. Well, technically my favorite is the Anejo but it's almost like what mood are you in? Because the Anejo you want to take your time. This is a sipping tequila. A lot of people don't know that. You use salt, chill and use lime just to mask how harsh the taste is and the bite. This is a very smooth tequila and ultra-premium tequila, so you don't have to do that. You can enjoy and sip this tequila. Again, mine is the Anejo. But what you'll notice is all three, they all have different notes and aromas. This is a lowland tequila. So, the Blanco has a real sweet and earthy tone from the earth. Our Reposado has little notes and aromas of dark vanilla and cinnamon. This is why I always say smell the tequila before you try it. And now Anejo has small notes of coffee and chocolate. So, they all have their own signature. Q. So are you working on any new flavors? A. I am actually. I have Blanco, Reposado, and Anejo. What I've been working on? I have four more under the same brand. I have a mezcal coming out this summer. For the holiday, I have a coffee-flavored liqueur called Black Cafe. I have a chocolate tequila. That's really good. Q. I know that your tequila is at a couple of stores here in Atlanta. But is it located in all 50 states? A. No. We're focused on Georgia. This is where our headquarters is. That's where we focus first. Now. Technically, we're going to announce tomorrow that our release into Indiana, and also next month we're announcing our release into Florida. Q. Congratulations. Look at you. So, where do you see this tequila going in the next couple of years? Or where do you see yourself in the next couple of years? A. Well, the thing about it is, I see becoming a distributor. And what I mean by that is, like I told you about my past of developing brands, I plan to continue to develop brands. I did take the tequila a little further by making
WIB Magazine
31
paranormal, and just have a nice little trade-off. So, it's not like 10 years later, you get my next book. Q. How do you deal with writer's block? A. I used to be like, "I don't get writer's block", I did during the pandemic, that was like my first time and not surprisingly, because there's just a lot going on. And what I try to do is just little by little I write, on average, between five to 10 pages per writing session, if I have writer's block, I will either just write an outline of what I'm trying to say. Or it's just like a very rough draft with more telling than anything. And it's kind of forcing me to go through the mechanics and get the words down. And just keeping in the process, and then something will loosen up. So that's one way. Another way is through inspiration. So, I'll read another book, I'll read like a favorite or something of mine, or "Oh, this person is getting really, really well". Or I'm going to read this book. So, during a pandemic, fantasy novels, in particular, by a lot of newer, black authors and young adult, they just like really good books, and helped me because it wasn't set in contemporary so I wasn't reading something saying like, "can't do that now you're in a pandemic. Oh! did you wash your hands" You have all this stuff in your head and when you're in an alternate universe, you don't have to think about that; or maybe not an alternate universe, but somewhere where contemporary vampires exist that you're not worried about. So those are the kinds of things that I did while watching movies. It's not just books, I love movies. I'll listen to podcasts. I love inspirational
50
WIB Magazine
YouTube videos, just something that gets me going and just remember what I'm trying to do and why I'm doing it too. So, it's like, it's writer's block and it's also motivation because usually, my writer's block is the source of it. It's not just like, "I got a block today" it's usually a mental thing or my personal life that's impacting my ability to write. Q. What advice can you give to others that want to be an author? A. You know, I used to roll my eyes at people who would say this, but it's so true: just write. I think sometimes we get in our heads about perfection, being a perfectionist. But the more you write, the better you will get. I think about some of my earlier works that will never see the light of day. And then even some of the earlier books that I published. And it's night and day, how much I've grown as an author, but some people are like, "Oh, I'm not a writer" like, no, you're a writer, you're writing, you're a writer, keep going, you're just going to go up, you're just going to keep going up. Don't be afraid of feedback and rejection, it's one of those things that unfortunately go hand in hand. And it doesn't stop when you become a published author. I got rejected on a proposal three weeks ago, right. It doesn't stop but you have to think "okay, that person wasn't the right person for me", because you want to get there and you want somebody who's going to be your cheerleader, who's going to push you up and make sure you're getting your marketing support
and it makes a difference. So, you can have that fear, you can acknowledge that fear but just say, "Hey, okay, fear, I'm going to put you right over here. And I'm going to keep writing, and I'll get rejected, and I'm going to keep writing", you cannot allow others to dictate your passion. So, you just got to keep going and you're going to get better. Your favorite author was probably garbage when they started and that's okay; just know that your favs had to start somewhere too. And you're no different and you can really keep it going. So just keep writing. Keep going. That's all. Q. Tell us more details about your new Vampire Book that’s coming out? A. Yes, I will just give you a high level for maps it's basically this young lady, but basically, girl in college is attacked by you know her band, she's in an HPC Band and at the battle of the bands her band is attacked by two vampires and this activates her slayer powers this whole society that is dedicated to eradicating vampires and so that's kind of the basis of it. There's definitely love, some love interests and some twists and turns there. But if you're a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with some black girl magic you might want to check it out hopefully you will like it when you do. Q. Is there anything you want to tell the audience? A. Yeah, if you want to check me out online, I feel like I'm pretty nice so you can find me on Instagram at Sharina writes and as my main on there. So just Sharina writes altogether. Same thing same handle for Twitter Sharina writes, on Facebook you can just search for author Sharina Harris. So yeah, you can check me out those places go my website you can subscribe and I promise I'm going to have some segmentation so if you don't want to read one particular genre you can sign up for the other so yeah, I would love for you to check out my latest books agendas Judges Girl, (Im)Perfectly Happy and if you do and whether you like it or not, I would love to hear your feedback, drop a review too if you get a chance to. Thank you that's it thank you so much for having me.
Peta-Gaye McCalla
photo by: Andrew Fennell
WIB Magazine
51
Vee Vixxen Model: @vee_vixxen photo by: @iamblackhollywood
Shay Lewis Model : @shaybae_4l photo by: Big Head Productions
I Am Brook Evans Model
: @iambrook_evans
photo by: @secureent_