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usion Magazine is dedicated to creating a platform that highlights and celebrates the diverse world in which we live. By celebrating the work of all those in the creative arena who are impacting individuals, communities and the world through their chosen art form. By celebrating their work, we celebrate those who inspire and lead us towards a better future.

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Editors Note

Maighread Ni Manghaoil

Fusion TEAM

Contributors Section

Mauna Kea

A Bhutanese Trilogy of Life

Hawane Rios talks about her love of MAUNA KEA.

Gross National Happiness (GNH), Culture and Environment.

Anthony Howe is visionary artist and renowned kinetic sculptor who creates beauty and movement in his metal sculptures.

YONGA ARTS

Understanding the African’s oldest language through symbolism.

An inside look to JB Dondolo’s voices for water awards.

JB Dondolo

Aaron Heimes

Join e360 TV CEO Aaron Heimes as he talked about his experience being one of the judges for Music for Water.

Misty Blanco “the Oprah Winfrey” of the hip hop world reveals some of her

Misty Blanco

Greg Schwem

CONTENTS

Sculpture’s Hands

An invitation into the world of comedian Greg Schwem.

OXDX

A sneak peek of what’s hot and the latest collection from the iconic Berny Martin CEO of Mid West Fashion .

Fashion Editorial

Janol Holmes

Janol the president of Supernatural INC. talks with Fusion about what inspires and motivates him.

The Land of Indigenous Solidarity

Celebrate indigenous month in Portland with our own very talented photojournalist Sunny September.

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Berny Martin

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Introducing the newest members of Fusion Magazine.

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Dia De Los Muertos

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Get your doze of life coaching advice as our very own life coach shares her insights.

CEO of Mid West Fashion and international designe Berny Martin,. invites us to explore his insights about the world of fashion.

2 Brosik In celebration with Holloween Satomi Kim together with her team and known photographer Don Jose Romullo Davies give us their version of Dia De Los Muertos.

Taking Back

Your Life

They say life begin’s at 40, discover why as Kristine a beauty guru let’s you into her little secret.

Black Designers

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Big Changes at 40’s

You Need to Know

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Know the very best black designers in the field of fashion.

Unveil the hidden surprise waiting for you in the month of December.

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Astrology

CONTENTS

An in-depth interview with a successful native CEO/designer of one of the favorite Tees brands OXDX.

Editor’s

NOTE

Time. What do you do with it? This month in Fusion, we take time to honour the activists, the changemakers and artists, selflessly using their time to create a better future for all. Leading the way and leaving a legacy for the next generation “Time is all we have, what we do with it is important, think of other people, not just yourself.” Janol ‘mecca’ Holmes. This month is dedicated to all of you struggling to make a difference, or simply just trying to survive 2020. We are excited to share the indigenous artists, musicians, designers and writers, who represent the voices of all who have gone before and all who will come after. Thank you. A special thank you to our creative director Ben Salvacion who despite battling through Typhoons in the Philippines and having Covid, still gave his time to Fusion. Let’s all make the most of the time we have, remember we are connected. Remember those coming behind us. Ask what your legacy is. Time to make a change. Maighread Ni Mhaonghail.

Maighread Ni Manghaoil

TEAM

Editor-in-Chief Jim Mc Monagle Sub-Editor

Benedict Salvacion Creative Director

Sunny September Writer

Kristine Rodriguez-Lucas Writer

Estella Galorport Writer

Stella Vegas (Astrologer) Writer

Nigel and Shane Mushambi (2Brosik) Writer

FUSION

Helen Gibson Writer

Tashi Dendup Writer

CONTRIBUTORS A Bhutanese trilogy of life

Writer Tashi Dendup Photographer: Krishna Prasad Dhimal is a Forester and Environmentalist by profession. He currently works under Mongar Forest Division under Department of Forest and Park Services. He is also a passionate photographer, especially, the landscape and wildlife. He is also regular birdwatcher and spends most of his leisure time in the wilderness.

Yonga Arts Costume and styling by @la_createur_du_creation Body arts @yonga_arts | Models: @_matt_blvk as Warrior, @oluwakwaku as King, @afuahbrown as Slave, @blackgirl_akila as Priestessa

Harvey Cenit

model : Daria Balashova hair and makeup by Ivy Kepz Peralta designed by Harvey Cenit photographed by Angelo Bautista

Dia De Los Muertos Head Makeup Artist: Satomi Kim IG: satomikim.official | Assistant Makeup: Kayee Jones Acosta Photographer: Don Jose Romula Davies | Designer: Maria Loerienel Agawin Fb: Maria Lorein Dress Shop Models: Santa Muerta - Blue Hernandez | Dante - Kurt Marquez La Catrina- Lena Vorotnikova | IG lena.vorotnikova

Berny Martin Photographer Carissa Lancaster | Female model: Falonne | ClĂŠmence Male model: GIULIO PASTORELLI

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Normal? Fusion Magazine

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Harvey Cenit

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VOICE of Mauna Kea by: Maighread Ni Manghaoil & Benedict Salvacion

Hawane Rios a 32-year-old Native Hawaiian award-winning singer-songwriter, dancer, chanter, water protector and activist. She believes deeply in the power of music to heal generational trauma and bring the world together. Hawane talks to Fusion about the inspiration behind her new album, Together We Rise, and why she will always protect Mauna Kea.

F. Congratulations on your award for ‘Together We Rise’ winning best album of the year. The track ‘It’s Everything’, seems to express the importance of water in your life? H. For me, everything comes down to the water because we can’t exist without it. My people, the Hawaiian people, we are raised to know the sacredness of our land through our chants, our songs, and our dances. We have three gods whose specific functions are for the protection and uses of water. I grew up knowing these gods and their manifestations in rivers, oceans, rain, and clouds. We are an island home where you’re raised by the elements, you’re raised by the elemental nations. So for me, when I look at the movement for Mauna Kea, I think of all that she represents for us. The mountain is the gatherer of water and acts like a big watershed holding water for the islands: it feeds the different tributaries and estuaries.

down. Reminding people that water is everything that we stand for. We can not exist without it. F. There are so many people around the world who do not have access to water. Places like Flint or Navajo Nation. As a water protector, how do you think the lack of water affects a person or community?

F. Is that what your song ‘It’s Everything’ is about?

H. I think that the displacement of the trauma is real. The oppression of that is real. That’s how you know your lands have been taken over. The first thing colonisers do is take away your language, your dance, your stories, then your right to water. It is a human right to have water. On the album, the track ‘Free The Streams’ addresses that. I wrote it because of a man I met who was from the Philippines. He spoke to me about how he was raised in a very small village where everyone shared one well, and he said he drank water that was owned by no one.

H. This knowledge that we are connected by water is thousands of years old. It’s not new for us, so for me to sing about that is a ceremonial thing because it’s about telling the stories of why we stand for water, why we are sent to protect water, and why we are sent to honour water. That song is about telling that story and passing it

He expressed that he felt completely liberated by that and felt that it shaped the way he moved in this world. I was so floored by that conversation because I was raised on the water that has been owned by a lot of Corporations and was governed. To hear someone speak of water in that way was so inspir-

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ing. He is who he is because of the water and what his village taught him. So this is the prayer of that song. Freedom and liberation for all waterways. F. Can you speak to us about your relationship with Mauna Kea and your family’s involvement in starting the movement to stop the Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT)? H. Of course. We got into this movement around 10 years ago when my sister saw a water spirit who protects the highest waters in all of Hawaii, which sit at the top of Mauna Kea. We have them in all our stories, they are the guardians of water. When you see this spirit, you know that there’s water around. So this spirit told my sister to ask my mom to try again: to try one more time to protect the mountain from the plan to build the thirty-meter telescope there, a building that would be the biggest building on Hawaii Island, a building that goes against all of the building rules and regulations. My sister delivered the message to my mum and she decided to do something. At that time it wasn’t so widely accepted for people to be speaking up on behalf of the earth so my mum was very nervous. Right now, for instance, we’re seeing a huge resurgence in movements for the rights of all life but years ago, it was very different.

F. You have said that your fight began 10 years ago, but how did it begin? H. I was just out of college. I was young, only 22 when we began writing our first testimonies as a family. In the past ten years, we have been through two contestant case hearings, two Supreme Court hearings, and attended many boards of land and natural resource meetings and hearings. We have done this over and over again. I told my mom yesterday that I think over the past 10 years we have said the word Mauna Kea every single day. After the first front-line stand, we spent four years travelling and asking for solidarity from around the world. So our first front-line was in 2014, October 7th. We were blocking the TMT and all of their delegates and funders from going up the mountain. They wanted to break the ground with a Hawaiian tool for the TNT which is such a disrespectful action. Through the movement in 2014 we realised that Hawaiian people are not respected in their homelands; our belief systems, our elevating and ever-expanding traditions are not respected, not held in dignity. We are illegally annexed to the United States, It was an illegal act, and so we are seeing Injustice every single day and we see it around the world. Hawaii is just like an epicentre for appropriation and

oppression. And so we began to see that this movement was making people think about their rights and wonder about ceremonial practices? You know, we never stopped believing in our land F. You were arrested during your time on the mountain. How did that impact you? H. I was arrested during prayer with seven other women and one man. I was in the middle of the prayer when they ripped our hands apart and took us down to the station. It was a traumatic experience and I am still healing from it. We were held for several hours and then taken to court. To this date, it is still one of the most painful experiences of being on the front-line for me, because our own people arrested us on our own sovereign homeland. Those of us that got arrested knew each other enough to not lose it and not spin out of anger. We knew what to do because we were prayerful, we’ve been doing this for so long it’s in our bones and our blood. We’ve been resisting oppression and colonisation for thousands of years and that resistance lives inside of me and my heart and so when I go to the front lines, I remember that and I remember that honour, but it’s

not easy. I have gotten angry. I have been pulled out of my centre because what we see is deeply traumatic. I still cry over the arrest of my elders. I still weep because of that and so we still have so far to go. But what we have shown the world, is that it is possible with the front-line and peaceful, nonviolent direct action. It’s possible and it works but it works only here right now because a lot of the police officers that were sent to that front-line are Hawaiian, so they know us by blood, by relation. It isn’t the same as people that are on the front-lines with black lives matter because they face people that want to hurt them and kill them. It’s a bit different for us here, that doesn’t mean we don’t have that reality here. It doesn’t mean there are not people to stand on those front-lines against us. There’s brutality here as well, but not to that level because there’s something different happening here in Hawaii because of the way that we know each other. F. You did achieve your goal and stop the machines? H. We did. In 2015 the machines came down so that was a win then we went into another four months of contested case hearings for eight hours a day. We had 16 petitioners coming from all over the island, all over Hawaii and hours and hours of testimony. We lost after all of that. We lost. The case went to the Supreme

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Court and we lost again. That’s why we were in the frontline in 2019 for nine months and now we are in this Global pandemic and there’s no sign of TMT coming back. So to me, that’s a win. F. How do you keep going and keep focused during all this time? H. It’s exhausting because Mauna Kea is, literally, the most sacred place in all of Hawaii and we are still not being heard. Our practices are still not being respected or revered in any type of way, or even considered, and so that’s why I make music: to help spread this message around the world, to help to do anything that I possibly can to get people to open up to their humanity, because I am sick and tired of how we are treated and how our land is treated F. It’s obvious how passionate you are and that comes across in your Music. Several countries are invested

in seeing the TNT go on top of Mauna Kea. That must be very daunting for all those involved in trying to stop it! H. Yes, the consortium who want to build the 1.4 billion TMT consists of six different nations and Wealthy Universities. The state of Hawaii and the governing system support this project 100% and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why they allocated funds to the police to arrest 38 of our elders, which was the most heartbreaking thing to ever witness. What that did though, was to call out to the people of the world. People were so outraged that the state of Hawaii would threaten to send the National Guard and put their people In harmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s way for standing up for what we believe in.To think that anything could be done to our homelands and our most sacred places without even any consultation or the consideration of the first peoples! I think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the problem, not with capitalism as such? F. Your mum Pua Case talked a lot about standing without violence, standing in Integrity and standing in cer-

emony. How do you maintain that while feeling so disrespected? H. You know, it comes back down to the words of a very special elder of mine who has since passed away: I still call upon him as a guardian. Before he died he left us a lot of knowledge. He was a keeper of the ancient wisdom of our people and he said three things that are very important in life; to love all you see with humility, to live all you feel with reverence (even your anger), to know all that you possess with the heart of discipline. For me, that takes practice because I am quick to respond and to react especially when there’s Injustice around me. What I’ve learned from being on the mountain is that when you are in a sacred place, there’s only room for the highest level of conduct and that means everywhere on the island because every single place in Hawaii is sacred. There are points of power in our lands that we go to pray and to respect. Everything here has a function and a life force, nothing can work without the other or without our community. We operate the same way the elements do and so when I think about what our way of life is, it is a firm commitment to what is just, to what is true for us as a people. And so to have that kind of respect you have to have the discipline to have that kind of awareness you have to have a practice. And so that is why we spent years and years on the mountain in ceremony, years and years working on ourselves. You cannot do front-line if you haven’t looked at yourself if you haven’t done your healing work for your trauma, or for the pain of any resentment and hate which exist within the body from just being Brown and living in a world that doesn’t always want to see you survive. F. That sounds exhausting. H. We are, we are constantly trying to heal ourselves while constantly being oppressed. I feel that I’m at the very bottom of the hierarchy of people who get respect. I am a person of colour who is also a woman who is also queer. So what I do is, I give my offerings to the land, I pray every day and I’m very thankful to even have breath in my body. I go onto the front-line

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knowing that when I go I will be bringing forty thousand ancestors with me. What I do and what I say will be watched and will be recorded in time to be seen by the next seven generations. F. So you are leaving a legacy? H. Our work right now is already gathering people that are not here yet and we will probably leave this earth the best way that we know-how. We may not see the freedom that we want to see but our children could because of the work that we’ve done. For me, it’s about knowing that every word I say, everything that I do has a consequence, an effect. I’m learning that as I get older, and it takes composure knowing yourself and trusting yourself and the people around you enough. F. What do you think was a positive outcome from the Mauna Kea protests? H. We still have so far to go but what we have shown the world is what is possible by holding our front-line, peaceful, nonviolent, direct action. It’s possible and it works. F. You have just won Album of the year at the Nà Hòkù Hanohano Awards. What did that mean to you? H. I was honestly so shocked because I was on the front-line. So my album came out 1 month before going on to the Frontline. It was the anniversary of June 24th, 2015. The day when we stopped the machines when everything got turned around so I wanted to honour that day. I was supposed to go touring to promote this album but instead, I was on the front-line and I wouldn’t change anything. You know, that’s where I was supposed to be. My music has always been on the back burner. It took me four years to record this album because I started recording the very same day that, the first protectors went up to the mountain in March. I was in Germany, and I was

just getting into the recording booth to record ‘It’s Everything’ so that song marks the first front-line for me. I recorded that song that night and then cried my eyes out. I put my prayers into it. Everything went into it, but I was heartbroken not to be home. I returned home the next day and after flying numerous hours, I was back on the front-line. We were on the frontline for the next two months, and then the next four years we were travelling. F. What kind of toll did being on the frontline and fighting for so long have on you? I went through breakdown: burnout. My body was not okay with that recording of the album. I was sick, so sick. I could hardly breathe. So when I think about how far I’ve come I guess I’m not sick anymore. I can breathe now. I have done a lot of healing. I had a lot of depression and anxiety be-

cause that’s what happens when you have PTSD from standing on the mountain to protect it. It’s a long journey. So winning for me was like coming full circle. When I first started the music and singing about Mauna Kea, people would talk about me, saying things like “oh, there she goes again, why is she even talking about this?”. So for me winning that album meant the music community recognising Mauna Kea and acknowledging the longevity that it took to be a part of this movement. It acknowledges Aloha Aina music which is created for the protection of land and solidarity. This music isn’t just mine, it’s not just about me, it’s my ancestors and the land that has raised me. For that reason, I do whatever I possibly can in whatever way that I can, to offer my heart through sound. Some people may not understand why

it’s so important and so winning that award was like Mauna Kea winning. F. Well I want to say I for one love your album. H. Oh? Thank you guys so much. I’m grateful and thank you so much for inviting me to share my story with Fusion, and for wanting to highlight Mauna Kea and this music. I appreciate any anyone and everyone that that’s willing to talk about what’s happening

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AGrossBhutanese trilogy of life National Happiness (GNH), Culture and Environment. by: Tashi Dendup

f you are trying to locate Bhutan on the world map, I am afraid you will fail to do so. This is because the country with 38,394 square kilometers and 734,374 people is too small in the maze of much larger countries flanking it (National Statistical Bureau, 2019). Bhutan, however, is not altogether unknown; it is popular for its indigenous development ideology of Gross National Happiness, rich culture and tradition, and remarkable success in environmental conservation. The concept of GNH was propounded by the Fourth King of Bhutan, His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in the early 1970s (Karma Ura, 2009). GNH is a holistic development paradigm that integrates critical development domains in its four GNH pillars: good governance, sustainable socio-economic development, preservation and promotion of culture, and environmental conservation. The country accords equal importance to all the four GNH pillars as they are complementary to each other, each equally contributing to optimizing Gross National Happiness. Although the GNH framework is applied across socio-economic, cultural, and environmental domains of development, this article is limited to exploring how Bhutan has achieved sustainable use and conservation of natural resources and the environment through GNH-inspired, conservation-centric developmental and public policies. The constitution of the Kingdom mandates the state to maintain at least 60 percent of Bhutanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total land under forest cover for all times. This profound vision of Bhutanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leaders continues to guide and inspire the government and the people to place a high premium on environmental conservation. The government premises its policies upon this constitutional mandate, thus aligning national development to the steadfast national goals of protecting and conserving the environment while pursuing other necessary development. The unpacking of the four GNH pillars into nine domains provides necessary scaffolding to the lofty goal of achieving holistic and sustainable development (Centre for Bhutan and GNH Studies). Ecological diversity and resilience, one of the nine domains, not only necessitates a conscious balance between development and conservation but also reflects the harmonious interdependence that all life forms and their environs are believed to have according to Buddhist philosophy. GNH is based on indigenous belief systems and principles that find ready acceptance among the people and development agencies. Facilitated by enabling policies for environment conservation coupled with the age-old close relationship

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between the Bhutanese and nature has played a major role in the protection of the natural resources and environment. The religious beliefs have become a part of tradition and culture in which the people of Bhutan have long-held in high regard respecting every aspects of life around nature and humanity. For example, the trees, rocks, cliffs, mountains, and lakes are considered the abode of god and other spirits, thus, preventing human exploitation of nature. This Bhutanese way of life, living in harmony with nature has not only created a unique identity of the country, but also helped the conservation of the natural resources and the environment. The government policies on environmental conservation are supported by the people through public participation in environmental activities. Such an evident example of public participation is in the management of community forest by acting as its custodian in protecting the natural resources and reaping its benefits in multitude. This in itself is a testimony to the fact that people can help the government to put its policies into practice.

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Currently, the forest coverage stands at 71% of the total area (Department of Forest and Park services, 2019). Bhutan is also a carbon negative country, meaning Bhutan offsets its carbon emission more than what it emits. This is a true testimony of successful implementation of Bhutanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s developmental framework of GNH supported by strong spiritual connections of the people with its nature rooted in the culture and tradition of Bhutan. While providing a sustainable and holistic approach to development and conservation, the ideology of Gross National Happiness provides the beacon of hope for the world to live in harmony with nature, thus, helping realize the ultimate goal of mankindthe Happiness.

Tashi Dendup is from Eastern Bhutan. He works as Human Resource Officer for the Royal Government of Bhutan in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. He holds Bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in Sustainable Development and Post-graduate Diploma in Public Administration. He is a former Executive member for Earth Guardians Bhutan and Zhenphen Tshogpa. Gross National Happiness, Environmental conservation, Community social work, and Public policies are some of his areas of interest.

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Harvey Cenit

by: Helen Gibson

Anthony Howe is visionary artist and

renowned kinetic sculptor who creates beauty and movement in his metal sculptures. His work has sold to hundreds of private collections from the Middle East to California, and many places in between. It has been showcased in palaces, sculpture parks, and the Barneys Christmas window in Manhattan. He designed the cauldrons for the Brazil Rio Olympics; one for the opening ceremonies and another, permanent, outdoor version that resides in the downtown section of Rio. Recently the work “Lucea” provided a backdrop to Auli’i Cravalho singing “How Far I’ll Go” in the 49th Academy Awards Ceremony.

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F. The first question, which you are probably asked many times is, where does the inspiration come from for your creations? AH. My inspiration consists of the act of creation itself. I am inspired to make things to see what they are going to look like and how they will perform. F. Before we move into your present and future can you let us know a little more about your past. In particular can you tell us more about the “sense of unease in both the isolation and the subject matter of your paintings” that led to your relocation and the subsequent immersion of your new form? AH. My dream after college was to build a house on a mountain top in the woods of New Hampshire and make a living selling watercolour landscapes. Once the house was finished and I was painting away, the lack of human companionship began to grate. A feeling of missing out. I did not know what exactly I was missing, but it wasn’t on a mountain or in the streams and fields of New Hampshire. I also began to insert the outlines of iconic objects into my watercolours that had nothing to do with the subject matter in front of me. Much later on, after I began sculpting, I realised my mind was trying to tell me something. F. You have also expressed that “…the new, part time occupation, of erecting steel shelving for the storage of office records resulted in the discovery of a new medium, metal. Further exploration, combined with previous interests in the wind and movement, led to the making of kinetic wind”. Can you tell us more about this: go a little deeper? What was the moment of discovery and what did it feel like? AH. As a kid I spent most of my free time in my dad’s shop making things like hedge trimmers and land yachts. I enjoyed sailing whenever I could be on the water. After a while painting did not satisfy me and felt lacking in substance. My life, in a general sense, was not meshing. Very much a lack of grace. I sold a motorcycle after touring Europe and bought a welder. My

first project was a small metal box and making it felt like falling into a soft pillow of endless possibilities. Some kind of door had been opened, as the cliche goes. F. How long were you creating before you sold a piece: do you remember which piece it was, and how did you celebrate, or what did you do, if you didn’t? AH. My first real sale occurred after I had left New York City and moved to Orcas Island and started a sculpture park. It was about seven years after I made the box. In that time period I had moved across the country, gotten married, built a gallery, and cleared a few acres of forest, so selling that first piece was definitely satisfying and a sign I was on the right track. F. Did you have to learn other disciplines in order to create your work, such as engineering or metallurgy or . . .? AH. I had learned many of the disciplines needed over and above metallurgy that helped significantly. Things like; a basic understanding of how strong things needed to be, how the wind affected sails, and a general common sense about design. Learning computer-aided design, machining, and most of all, how to sell art, was to follow. F. Why Kinetic Sculpture? AH. One of the reasons was that whenever faced with a white, two-dimensional surface, and all of the possibilities it entailed, my mind would run amok. There were so many painters whose work I adored. So many possibilities and directions to choose from. Kinetic wind sculpture comes with a very concrete set of boundaries. These limitations provided a sense of comfort I could not gain from putting paint on a piece of paper or canvas. F. I see that you no longer take commissions. Can you elaborate on your rationale behind this?

AH. Commissions are very much a two-sided affair. You can accept a job with a fee and then later on find there are; many aspects that are not how they should be, not enough money, a forbidding and restrictive contract. Maybe you begin making something and find you don’t like the sculpture at all. Or the client has a change of mind or doesn’t really like what they once did. It is so easy to blame any negative aspects on someone else and not yourself. When you work on spec., you are entirely free to err or invest even more time and money, than you would if commissioned. F. Can you tell us how your collaboration with Iris Van Herpen came about and what it is you are hoping to explore and ultimately achieve? AH Iris emailed me asking if I wanted to work on a kinetic dress with her for her fall show in Paris. We then worked through some designs until we had a good one and I began to fabricate the metal parts. I’m exploring basically the same thing as I have in the past: to try to take kinetic wind sculptures to new places, to make something that works well and will last hundreds of years but is also pleasing to the eye and fulfils certain personal artistic requirements. I would very much enjoy seeing them displayed in the best possible sites where many people can enjoy them. Sites such as sculpture parks and the like. F. Working with your chosen material, what has been the most challenging element? AH Dealing with extreme winds and longevity is always going to be a challenge. Aside from that working with metal is fatiguing in ways other materials aren’t. The fumes from welding and grinding are forbidding, and you don’t always take the time to put on a respirator. There is often a great deal of mind numbing repetition. Surfacing the metal is a huge part of what I make and holding the various machines; doing this is very detrimental to the nerves and joints of your hands. F. Can you talk us through your cre-

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ative process?

and rigorous testing outdoors.

how it will affect my family.

AH Usually I get an idea of what I want to make from something I’ve already made. Perhaps improve on it, or go in an entirely new direction, but with elements of what came before. I take this idea to the computer where I try to animate a quick sketch, all the while fleshing out and refining the design. Sometimes I will put aside an animation for a week or a month, to give my mind a chance to refresh, since computer work has a way of turning you into a turnip until you can’t tell which way is up or down. Once I think I have a winner I will do a final drawing of the parts needed and cut them on my laser, followed by welding assembly

F. Do you ever cut yourself?

F. The times in which we live?

AH. Yes, almost every day, in one way or another, but I do try to wear gloves.

AH. I think anything made by anyone is going to somehow be about the time it was created. It’s unavoidable because we create what we are, what we have lived, and seen, and felt.

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F. What would you like the legacy of your work to say about you? AH Trying to answer this question is similar to watching yourself on video; it inspires a little queasiness and mostly regret. I don’t think much about what my work is going to say about myself, since that is more or less impossible because my work is me. I do think about

F. What do you think people may say about your work in the future? AH. I’ve no idea what they will say but what I hope they’ll say is that it still looks good and works well. And that it hasn’t fallen prone to any particular fashion of the time.

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F Do you intend to teach others about and how you create your work? AH I do not have a deep need to teach others what I have learned. I believe anyone so inspired can analyse my work and more or less know whatever I could teach them. It’s all right there. What you see is what you get; nothing is hidden in the atoms of the steel. Learn to weld and machine and you can make one too. There are a few tricks, however, and maybe I’ll get around to a book on them. F Are you experimenting with any other forms or materials; what does the future vision hold for Anthony Howe? AH I enjoy working with wood and various polymers, and now and then make things this way, but my greatest strengths are in metal fabrication.

to make another. Of special note, this power does not usually translate to the computer: the object must be in the real world. F What part to you see art playing in these times and have they inspired any new pieces? AH When I began making three dimensional objects one of my goals was to make something that helped people to relax; ideally to enter a meditative state similar to what I had experienced in transcendental meditation. When the world around us feels like it makes no sense and is going to fall apart, sometimes the best thing to do is take a break. Maybe looking at one of my sculptures will help you along. After doing this “thing” for going on fifty years now, inspiration is almost endemic; whether I want to be inspired or not is not the issue because it is all there is to do.

F What guidance would you give to young artists? AH Don’t get hung up on the right tools or the right materials. I truly believe once you make one object you are then licensed, by some very weird power of the universe,

F Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions and more importantly, thank you for your amazing work, it truly inspires and speaks to me.

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on reati _ du_c eur_ : @_matt n creat w s @la_ ls Model afuahbro g by tylin rts Mode s King, @ a and s a ume @yonga_ wawaku estess Cost i s u y art as Pr , @ol | Bod s Warrior irl_akila g a blvk e, @black v as Sla

ail ngh hao Ni M ead n ghr Mai lvacio by: Sa en & B

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scar Korbla Mawuli Awuku is the young Ghanaian Artist who describes his work as â&#x20AC;&#x153;a careful fusion of visual networking designs of the spider with historical Ghanaian Adinkra symbologyâ&#x20AC;?. His goal is to create personal transitional designs on the body that echo the knowledge and wisdom of the ancestors, while offering a message of empowerment and equality.

F. You have described your work as having great cultural significance, can you share with us what that is? O. I carefully fuse visual networking designs of the spider with historical Ghanaian Adinkra symbolism to create personal transitional designs on the body that re-echo knowledge and wisdom of our ancestors that are gradually loosing their sustainable values and norms to contemporary audiences. F. Your work Features mostly women, is there a reason for that?

Title: Mama Ne Dada In most African societies especially Ghana children between the ages of 3 to 5 years turn up to be sexually active and begin to indulge into sexual games which is generally termed in our Akan language as ‘’Mama Ne Dada’’ Which in English means Mum And Dad.

F. Oscar, good morning, thanks you for joining us here at Fusion. Would you like to introduce yourself to our readers? O. Thank you for having me here, my name is Oscar Korbla Mawula Awuku and I am an Artist from Ghana. I am Voltaire by tribe, but was born in the capital city of Accra Ghana. I am 21 years old.

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F. How would you describe your work Oscar? O. My body of art is called Anansinisim, and my inspiration comes from the Ghanaian mythical character Kweku Anansi. Anansi is an Akan name given to the spider. The spider represents great strength and works hard building its web. It never gives up.

O. My mother is one reason. She was a strong woman who suffered abuse at the hands of my father, however she persevered and she supported me greatly in relation to my art, which I must say she never stopped believing in me with the talent I had been given. I grew up from a broken home were I witnessed the violence my mum had to go through before she finally became the breadwinner for the family. This inspired me greatly and over the years whilst growing up as a kid all I ever wanted to do is depict the strength and empowerment of women and also their ability to procreate and pass on generations of knowledge to their children both physically and psychologically. My mother showed amazing strength taking care of my two brothers and myself. To me she is a super hero. I wanted to depict that strength I saw in her and in other women into my art. I represent them with tales of great women here in Ghana and deities alike. F. So your work is essentially using ancient symbolism to advocate a very modern message of equality and empowerment? O. Art has always been a God given talent and for me and I have always felt I wanted to use my art as a tool to solve a problem in the society and the diaspora at large. My work mostly portrays the empowerment of women

Title: Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Eye . In most traditional African cultures, the person who wears a ritual mask conceptually loses his or her human life and turns into the spirit represented by the mask itself.

Asase Yaa (Qween Of The Earth) Asase Yaa is the wife of Nyame the Sky deity, who created the universe. Asase Yaa gave birth to the two children, Bea and Tano. Bea is also named Bia. Asase Yaa is also the mother of Anansi, the trickster, and divine stepmother of the sacred high chiefs.

Asase Yaa is very powerful, though no temples are dedicated to her, instead, she is worshipped in the agricultural fields of Bono. Asase Yaaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favoured Bono people are occupationally workers in the agricultural fields and planet Earth is her symbol.

Title: Dipo Girl

to stand equally for leadership roles just like we men do in society. I want my work to be seen as an advocate for the equality of the rights of both sexes and to help create solutions. When I am finished college, one of my goals is to encourage young artists, to research their craft. I would like to support them with the little knowledge I have attained, to help them grow artistically. For me it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t all about just painting on the canvas but how you present the work that gives it value. F. Can you tell us a little more about the symbolism of your work? O. It incorporates a Ghanaian language, infused with symbology, which helps us connect to each other. It is nothing new and has been around for centuries, but I am trying to bring the ancient art form to a contemporary audience.

F. What message to you hope to convey to them? O.I want to inform the youth of today about our culture, to keep it alive. I am into other avenues in the arts and am currently working on a project to depict our culture and history by preserving them through art and capturing most of them via videography and photography. I see this as a long-term project, which will continue even after I have finished college. I want to share our culture with the world, so other people can learn about and appreciate our cultural ancestry.

Instagram @_m_a_w_u_l_i & @yonga_arts Twitter @yonga_arts| Facebook @yonga arts YouTube @yonga_arts

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Voices for Water Awards

JB Dondolo, Inc. Hosts First Annual Awards Virtually JB Dondolo, Inc. hosted its first annual Voices for Water Awards via livestream on e360tv. The event happened Saturday, November 14th at 3:00 p.m. ET. This event honors and celebrates community changemakers. In addition to celebrating those contributing significantly to advancing JB Dondolo’s mission to provide access to clean water to communities, the awards event recognized individuals making positive changes in communities through the Presidential Volunteer Service Awards and the grandfathered Equanimity Awards. Greg Schwem, Corporate Humorist and Comedian hosted the awards. Kai Stansberry, Vice President of Communications of the Dallas Chapter of the United Nations Association of the USA delivered the event’s keynote speech. Guest speakers included Patrick Haddad (Chief Product and Technology Officer, Disinfect & Shield), Paolo Montagni (Founder, Grand Mountain International Records), and Janol Mecca Holmes (COO/President, The Supernatural Inc.). Musical performances by Ny’a, Amanda Abizaid, and Misty Blanco were included in the event. Also performing the water songs were 4 of the top 5 #musicforwater winners Shawna Linzy, Thuliso Dingwall, TOLU, and Sydney Cope. Sarah Tshila Mohn did not perform, however, she is one of the 5. JB Dondolo also announced the top winner Shawna Linzy whose song will the organization’s theme song of the year. All 5 winners get a one-time distribution deal with Grand Mountain International Records. Music for Water is JB Dondolo’s initiative to raise money to provide sanitation and clean water to the Navajo Nation. The 2020 Water Change-Maker Award Honorees were Beatrice Davis, Ronda Bowen, Rachel Svetanoff, Greg Schwem, Janol Mecca Holmes, and Patricia Ellis. Those receiving the Presidential Service Volunteer Awards for 2020 were Ronda Bowen, Shane Mushambi, Nigel Mushambi, Patricia Ellis, Rachel Svetanoff, Tendai Mushambi, and Beatrice Davis. The Visionary Voice Award went to Almas Muscatwalla for her contributions to her community by strengthening relationships between those with diverse perspectives. Nikki G. Glemaud received the Media Collaboration Award for her tireless efforts in collaborating with JB Dondolo and Equanimity to create videos and capture images that tell a story of their journey to end poverty worldwide. The Excellence Award went to Geir Ness for his outstanding service and contributions to assisting with JB Dondolo’s corporate and community-related events. Noella Kabongo received the inspiration Award through her founding of DeeVine Kreations, a brand dedicated to empowering women to love themselves and highlight both inner and outer beauty. Demi Austin-Thomas was the recipient of the 2020 Breakthrough Award, recognizing her creativity and her influence on issues of importance concerning girls’ and women’s wellness. The Pan-African Thrive Legend award went to Hazel Herrington. This award recognizes the success of Africans living in the diaspora who continue to improve our communities through creativity and perseverance. T he Voices for Water Awards also recognized and thanked Community Change Heroes for their work in the communities that helps to create positive changes. These included Dot Bekker, John Brennick, Kristina Lao, Mercedes Krause, Dr. Keyna Omenukor, Nisha Mandani, Patrick Haddad, Aaron Heimes, Paolo Montagni, Kate MazzarellaMinshall, Czarina Isabella Maliksi, Valder Beebe, Michele Wise Wright, David Warsinger, Maigh Nimhainghail and Benedict Salvacion, and Tim Newton, Eric Nelson, Matt Kerkhoff, and Rebecca McElhoe – Purdue University Krannert School of Management and Purdue Marketing & Media The awards celebration team included Beatrice Davis, Ronda Bowen, Rachel Svetanoff, Lumbie Mlambo, Greg Schwem, Nikkia Glover, Fusion Magazine, Janol Mecca Holmes, e360TV, and On-Air Studios. Sponsors included CaringCrowd, Diversity Inc., Disinfect & Shield, e360tv, Nikki G Productions, Fusion Magazine, Grand Mountain International Records, No Strings Attached e-News, The Stream, The Supernatural Inc., Global Health Pursuit, and The Valder Beebe Show.

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aron A eimes

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by: Maighread Ni Manghaoil & Benedict Salvacion

aron Heimes is a passionate and disciplined media executive who is focused on the ever expanding over-the-top media distribution and marketing channels. With a background in media, marketing, and project management, Aaron focuses on the creation of cross-device distribution channels that include a feature-rich viewing experience for audiences. This includes content-to-commerce, live content production and distribution, and branded content to create a value proposition that allows viewers to control their experience while unobtrusively pushing brands to the right people, in the right places, at the right time. Aaron is a producer of branded content and President of the OTT network, e360tv.

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F. For people out there who don’t know anything about 360 TV, maybe you’d like to just give a little quick introduction to what that is. A.We’ve been an independent and creative Storyteller platform for the past three years. We’ve been videoon-demand for years and years. We did everything for a nominal cost for independence. At the end of first quarter of 2020 we brought in Hustle streaming program, so now we do live streaming shows throughout the entire day. So far, we’ve got about 3540 shows screaming throughout the week with different categories. F. What kind of challenges did you face when you were first setting up your streaming platform? A.It was a matter of a lot of problem solving and that wasn’t my core competency, but I was kind of lead on taking care of that so I had to learn a lot about how to make sure that all the bells and whistles were going because we have it set up where people are streaming not just on social platforms; YouTube, Twitch, Periscope, and Facebook. They also go to our platforms which are; Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, iOS, Android and the web. All simultaneously and it has to be perfect because it’s different experiences for the audience depending on what it is. F. That takes a lot of organization; how do you manage all of that, what kind of team do you have, how many are in the team? A. There are eight of us right now. On the front side, there’s four of us and then on the back side we have our content manager and social media manager. I also have a virtual assistant. It’s a pretty small team, but we work well. F. How do ordinary people get chosen for your streaming service. What is the process they need to go through? A. Do you mean for live streaming? Well, we’ve been concentrating on positive stories. We have a category called positive vibrations. We’ve been

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concentrating on that and on fresh perspectives. We’re also moving more into health and wellness and of course entertainment. We charge from $89 bucks up to our maximum price at $179 per month. As people grow, they have the opportunity to have their own scheduled slot. That includes being set up with a virtual studio and also setting them up with everything including help with training and ongoing support? I mean, we’re kind of a distribution and production partner of the independents so that they’re not doing this on their own anymore.

F. How do you navigate the other networks like say, YouTube, with all the live streaming, or the increase in blogging platforms? A, When you go to those platforms there are already really great marketing tools that people can utilize to be able to grow their audiences, to grow engagement so we don’t want to get rid of any of that, we want to add to it, to build upon that. That’s why we offer people the opportunity to get on more platforms so they have better potential for monetizing their content. A lot of our hosts have gotten sponsored that way. They’re

that doesn’t cost people a lot. That’s really our founding philosophy and it’s carried all the way through. We really see, especially right now, how things are changing, how the world is changing. Media has always been one of those things that’s always had this kind of hierarchy to it. We feel the media should be a more level playing field and I think that we can help contribute to that. There are a lot of people out there with lots of really heartfelt and true stories that need to be heard I think. F. Is it true that much of your platform’s growth has been through word-of-mouth and referrals with very little marketing?

on Apple TV and all these different platforms because it gives them an opportunity to get into different types of audiences and to be on a bigger screen. If you’re on Roku on a nice 65 inch TV and in someone’s home, that gives the audience a better experience in my humble opinion. F. What made you decide to start 360 TV to begin with. Do you have a background in Media? A.My background is in project management, especially product development. That’s been my forte for many, many years now. I do a lot of

project-oriented things, you know, you start & stop. Some last for three months, some last two, three years. I was just kind of looking for something cool and different and we were working with someone that had a platform but we didn’t see eye-to-eye with him. So that’s when the other founder suggested we should do it ourselves, but to take a different perspective. There is a lot of content out there and a lot of people doing things that don’t see the light of day. So we decided to try to help provide a bigger stage for people and to figure out how to do that in a way

A. We do a bit of marketing but it has been organic growth for the most part. My past experiences of bringing out brands helped me to quickly figure out that it’s very, very hard to spend your way to the top and there is no substitution for time. I can’t tell you how many companies I’ve seen in my life who rely on the premise ‘you gotta spend money to make money’. I want to slap people when I hear that because the bank account only has so much cash in it. I know at some point, you’re not going to be able to continue to do that. The problem is if you’re trying to spend your way to the top then once that money runs out you deflate like a balloon. So we wanted to grow organically. We have not gone after people. I mean our 2021 Vision is to start to be more proactive regarding marketing, but so far it has been 100% referral. I just get texts or calls all the time and they’ll be like, “hey man, I’m in a restaurant right here in San Diego... do you know what they got on the TV right now?”.... You know the conversation comes up and someone will say, “I know that network”, so you know, word is getting around. We’re going to get much more aggressive here soon but we really wanted to get our baseline set up, you know, to be able to grow off and then scale up from there, just so we don’t trip and fall. F. Covid has impacted many businesses. Has it had a negative or positive impact on yours?

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A. I can’t say for sure 100% because we started after that first quarter, so things were already shutting down and so we don’t really know. We’ve started to do a lot more events, you know, multiple hours and stuff like that, and I know with that particular area there are a lot more people and organisations doing the online events. Even if you are going to have a live event with people in the room, you have to prepare by having a virtual running parallel to it because you just don’t know. There will always be a question mark hanging over it. I mean, you can plan all you want and put down deposits and all those things for the live event, but if you can’t come to the room you better be ready to go virtual. Right now I think the best we can do during Covid, is to try hard so we can keep bringing the Positive Vibes. There are a lot of people that are struggling at the moment because of Covid. I think that’s why what you’re doing and what other people are doing, to put content out into the world, is important right now. I think that’s hugely important. F. Can you tell us about the Voices for Water Awards that you recently sponsored? A. I work with Beatrice Davis from No Strings Attached-ENews. She is also someone I consider a really good friend. Beatrice is one of those people that if she says,” hey, I got an idea. I want you to be a part of this”, I’m gonna say “Let’s do it.” I really trust her judgment. Beatrice talked to me about the Music for Water campaign and Voices for Water Awards. The campaign was to bring aid and sanitation products to the Navajo Nation who were really struggling during Covid. My wife’s very good friend is a nurse down here in Phoenix and her family lives up in the Navajo Nation. Her parents are very involved in the community and she spoke about the issues that they’re constantly going through. A lot of times the infrastructure and lack of water are an issue. The community was badly affected by Covid because of that, so I think events like Voices for Water and campaigns like Music for Water, that bring awareness, are also really important. Especially because it’s not something that is

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on the six o’clock news or at the top of Google News at that moment. It’s important it doesn’t get lost in the shadows. So I think JB Dondolo’s approach to getting attention for people who needed help was definitely why I wanted to be involved. It just felt good in all the right places. F. You were also a judge during the competition of the Music for Water campaign. What were you looking for from contestants entries? A. I was looking for something that moved me. It’s about the emotional tug that a song gives you, so whatever moved me, or made me shake, or cry. I was looking for something that moved me. F. You have been an entrepreneur for about 10 years or more. Do you think that is something that really helped you with 360 TV? A . I would say a thousand times yes. When you’re an entrepreneur, when you take the leap, you have prepared yourself financially and mentally, but all that preparation doesn’t matter when you actually start doing it because you have to literally get into the trenches and you have to learn everything. If you have this huge bag of money then being an entrepreneur is a lot easier, but when you have a little bag of money, you have to do a lot of things yourself. You have to figure out things like building websites, social media and so much more and you have to navigate all these pieces. Now at some point, of course, you figure out quickly that there are people that do those things much better than you, but you want to have enough knowledge to know if they’ve screwed up, right? So you have to know all those facets and I think that, as you graduate through levels of business, you’re constantly learning. I think the mindset you have to have as an entrepreneur really stands to you. F. How long did it take before you really felt you had made the right choice with 360 TV?

A. I would say it was a solid year and a half before I really knew because when we first launched we were just trying to figure out who we were and what was our purpose. You try to kind of navigate that and figure out exactly how you want to roll it out, but the content that we’re putting out is so authentic and it’s so real. I mean literally from people’s homes to people’s homes. With all the things happening in the world and all the changes, I think it’s really important that we go a little bit deeper when it comes to content, to really get to the heart and soul of what’s going on in people’s heads and lives.

F. Was there any time that you felt like giving up during that first year and a half? A. My thought is that as an entrepreneur, when something gets really tough and you have a really big obstacle, let’s say it’s a regulation issue or something that you have to get around, then you get about three minutes to have a pity party and that’s it. After that you figure out where the opportunity is and you move on from there. You have to figure it out you know.. F. Would you say that one of the best qualities of being an entrepreneur is that ability to see the opportunity in everything? A .Yes, because when you switch your mindset you realize that every challenge has an opportunity in it. The other thing to have is realistic optimism. You have to be realistic, you know, you have to stay grounded. Just know you’re gonna figure it out, no matter what. F. On that note Aaron, what advice do you have for anyone who is pursuing a dream or following their passion. A. My advice would be just do it. As an entrepreneur, I just think, “what would I do if I wasn’t afraid?”, and then from there on just make a decision, execute, and follow through all the way.

Harvey Cenit

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M by: Maighread Ni Manghaoil & Benedict Salvacion

The Oprah Winfrey of Hip Hop M

isty Blanco has been described as the new “Tycoon on the Block”, the Oprah Winfrey of hip hop. The four-time Grammy nominee is CEO of Misty TV show Corporation, the Missy TV firm, which is one of the biggest management and publicity firms in America. She is Owner of the magazine, Music Saved My Life and also hosts the hit TV show of the same name. F. That’s quite the bio Misty: where can people see your show?

and I made it to here. I think of it as a kind of rebirth.

F. Do you want to share that part of your story?

M. The show goes out on Roku. I want to start there and then I’m going to expand to Viacom.

F. You first entered the public arena in 2002 on P. Diddy’s show ‘Making the Band’. But your journey began before then in the underground rap scene In Detroit?

M. I grew up in foster care, my foster parent was a good person for the most part. She made sure we had an education and religion, but I was being sexually abused by someone she knew, they were molesting me. When I disclosed it to my foster mum, she threatened to separate me and my sister if I told anyone. So I guess I learned then how to pretend things were ok to the outside world. Eventually, though, it tore me up emotionally. A similar situation occurred with one of my foster mother’s relations when we visited in North Carolina. On that occasion, the police got involved because he was a deacon in the church. His position meant that he didn’t get arrested but that we couldn’t be around him. So my foster mother decided to send my sister and

F. Who is Misty Blanco, and how is she different from ‘Mysterious’? M.That’s a great question. Well, mysterious represented the dark side of me. It was the side of me that tells the story of what I’ve been through, a bit like the Ghost of Christmas Past. F. Misty is short for mysterious, right? M. Yes, and Blanco represents purification. Misty Blanco represents the future, the businesswoman, the person that you see now. I’ve been through the mysterious part of life

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M. Well the underground scene in Detroit was my beginning. It taught me everything that I know and it’s the reason I made it through 75,000 people to the final 12 in the show. A lot of MCs that came out of Detroit aren’t around now. We all knew each other back then and we all supported each other. Performing in the underground scene in Detroit was like performing at the Apollo. To perform there and to never get booed was amazing. At that time I was homeless.

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me back to Detroit with only 300 dollars. I was 16 years old and homeless. We had nowhere to go. So I found myself getting into relationships with guys just to have somewhere to stay. At one point I was suicidal. Then I found music and that saved my life. F. That’s a lot for any person to deal with, especially at such a young age. How did music save your life? M. People in the community, who had known me from school and had seen me in the talent show were saying, “why don’t you rap?” I decided to give it a try and see how far I could take it. I also felt a weird sense of obligation to some of the other rappers who had encouraged me but were victims of murder. At that time Detroit was the murder capital of America. A lot of things went wrong for me too and I ended up living in girls home with my sister. was going to the school there and found out that a group named Devine were coming to Detroit. I didn’t know much about the industry then and I just thought that if I could get in front of the group and they liked me, they would take me on tour. I thought that was how it worked. So I decided to skip school and go to this record shop next door. I knew Devine would be there. I asked the owner to let me rap, which he did, and I got a lot of positive feedback from people who had come to see the band. I thought this was great so approached the girls and asked them to take me with them. They told me it didn’t work that way. I instantly broke down crying in the store and Nikki from the group gave me a piece of paper with the phone number for Tony Perez and another producer. I was so angry and emotional at the time that I just went home. I fell asleep and dreamt that my great-grandmother was sitting at the bottom of my bed, and she said,

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“you got numbers today. Call the second number”. Then she said I should follow her to the closet. I did, she opened my closet door and all these celebrities were there. When I woke up I called my dad’s house to speak to her and he told me she had been dead for four months. I was crying because I was messed up but I called the number and my journey began and I have since met everyone who was in that dream. That’s a true story. F. Is that why you said that you feel your grandmother is guiding you still?

M. Imagine being in a dark room, never seeing light for as long as you have lived. In the underground world, you do what you want, express what you want. There are no rules, you make the rules. Then imagine stepping outside into the sunlight. That’s how the industry felt to me. It was like, “Oh my God, what is this?”. All that light, the cameras, and the producers running around. It was like going from 50mph to a million and was a bit of a shock. I kept thinking I wasn’t good enough and that I wouldn’t be picked for the band. I thought that Diddy wouldn’t like me. I believe we manifest things when we speak things. So I was manifesting a lot of negativity onto myself. F. A lot of people would have a hard time pulling themselves up from those experiences. How did you do it? What was your turning point? M. I got incarcerated and a lot of people turned their back on me. I didn’t have anyone but my grandmother, my aunt, my dad and God F. Are you ok to talk about that part of your life Misty? It sounds painful.

M. Yes. I’m very big into energy. I’m very big into God and spirituality. I feel and believe in my heart that my ancestors are guiding me and protecting me and making sure that I share my story because it’s not just for me. It’s for everyone else who is on their journey. It might help someone. F. You went from the underground scene and rap battles to the world of entertainment, with Making The Band. Did you find that crossover challenging?

M. I had to first learn the true meaning of forgiveness to move on. I had to forgive myself to understand everything I had gone through in my life. I suffered anxiety and severe depression as a result of those experiences. I had learned to hide my feelings early on. From the outside, I seemed like I was coping, but on the inside, I was dying with no one to speak to. I took my strength from prayer and meditation. That’s what worked for me. Faith in God and knowing that my ancestors are near. F. It sounds like you discovered the tools. What did you learn from Diddy that helped you navigate the industry?

“

Love yourself, no matter what you’re going through. Love yourself and don’t be so hard on yourself because God does things for a reason. Fusion Magazine

M. I learned so much from P. Diddy. I find myself now, wanting to reach back to Diddy. I want to work with him as Misty because he always saw that part of me. I kept projecting ‘Mysterious’ on the show if that makes sense. Every time I was down or being hard on myself, I remember he used to come to the house and talk to me, asking “what are you going through today?”. I would always say, “I don’t even know, you’re playing with me, you’re not going to sign me, I’m ugly, I’m this and I’m that”. He would just remind me he signed Biggie and Craig Mack. I wouldn’t listen, I was insecure and just kept thinking he didn’t like me, even when he insisted otherwise. He used to make me work out more than everyone else and he also made sure I would be in the studio when everybody else could chill and I thought he was just being mean. He brought me to his business meetings so I could see how he handled business and I also thought he

was being mean. He wasn’t. He is a great guy and if it wasn’t for what he did people wouldn’t know me. They wouldn’t have known about this girl from Detroit. Diddy, he’s every bit a big brother. I love him. I learned a lot business-wise. I feel it helped give me my business savvy. F. You’re the only black woman in the Rockefeller Centre is that correct?

cused on my music and trying to help other people. Rick Ross, and Future, and a lot of different people, came to offer support. Yo Gotti and 2 Chainz also. I started working with up-and-coming artists and creating business. That lead to me connecting with the right people. Steven Wrench Yang who sits on the Grammy Board was one of them. I did an album and that got to the top 10 and 30 countries.

M. Yes! I have a new office now on Wall Street, I have my office in Miami Beach and an office in L. A.

F. I can see how you were inspired for the show Music Saved My Life!

F. Did you have a plan to become a businesswoman before coming home from prison?

M. This is what’s behind the show. I got the idea from my son’s father. We were going to do a show called Misty Blanco’s Road To Fame and we were discussing it and he said,” you know the more I listen to you the more It sounds like you’re saying that music saved your life”. It was a lightbulb moment, and we decided then that would be the show. We would invite other artists who felt the same way about music. We started working on it and a friend of mine shot the first pilot.

M. I didn’t plan to come home and do nothing. I did almost give up while I was there and then I met this young woman who had been incarcerated when she was fifteen years old. She wasn’t allowed to mingle with the prison population till she was eighteen. One day she was outside and saw me and said, “I hear you’re Mysterious from Making The Band”. At that time I felt that I didn’t deserve to rap or be a celebrity because of where I was. I was feeling ashamed. We got talking and I told her that when I got out I wouldn’t be doing any music or anything. This young girl said I was selfish. She said that I would be going home soon and that I had been given a second chance (her sentence was 99 years). She said I had been given a story by God so I would share it. She said, “you have to promise me that once you go home, you will give the world your story and I want to see you walking across that stage”. That broke me. I start thinking about the other women I met there, some who got 75 years. One girl, the judge gave her 399 years. That means she wasn’t even given a date for release. I started planning then. Some women that I was cool with within the prison started buying me books about the industry so I could sharpen my mind. I started planning to have my own company and rapping again. Initially, I was going to create a company just to sign myself because I felt like the industry wouldn’t accept me, which was not true. Once I came home I fo-

F. How did you got involved in the Music for Water campaign? M. I got involved in the Music For Water campaign through my lawyer Derek Fagin. He’s great and he told me about the situation the Navajo people were in during Covid. He told me about Beatrice Davies and all that she’s doing with JB Dondolo, and I felt that this is something I wanted to do. I want to give back: I have Apache heritage in my family. I wanted to be a part of the cause so that’s how I became involved. F. Did you know the challenges the people of Navajo Nation were facing beforehand? M. No, I didn’t. I started doing research and was shocked that this is going on in our country, right there in Arizona. I’m really happy to have been a part of the campaign and hopefully, I helped shine some light on the situation and helped raise awareness.

F. What were you looking for from the contestants? What did you expect from them? M. The twinkle in the eye is the thing I always look for. I look for energy and confidence. I expect artists to have the conviction that they’re supposed to be doing this regardless of what’s going on in their life. When I was going through the audition for Making The Band, the moment I touched that mike, I knew this was my world. Nothing that I was going through in life mattered at that moment. I wanted the judges to feel every word I sang. So I look for creativity, and to see who took their time and put something into their music because the competition was for a great cause. I looked for the one who had energy, who stood up, straight back, chest out and said: “This is mine, you’re going to love me and I’m going to love you”. That’s what I looked for. Someone who was hungry but with humility. F. To young artists or anyone struggling with any of the things that you may have gone through yourself, what advice do you have for them? M. Love yourself, no matter what you’re going through. Love yourself and don’t be so hard on yourself because God does things for a reason. It may not make sense now, but eventually, it makes sense and you will love what God has put you through. Just love yourself.

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REG

chwem F

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by: Helen Gibson

usion magazine laughed and spoke with Greg Schwem, a stand-up comedian and a business humour speaker, from Chicago Illinois. He is the host of the TV series ‘A Comedian Crashes Your Pad’, which sees him staying in home -sharing properties around the world and filming his interactions with the host. He has been with the Chicago Tribune Syndicate for 10 years as a humour columnist. Greg is also an ambassador for ‘Voices For Water’

HG. Would you like to tell us more about your corporate stand up; what was it that took you in that direction? GS. Not many comedians do what I do. I have been a full-time stand-up comedian for over 30 years. I first started doing what you basically consider comedians doing, going around working comedy clubs week after week. I then started getting hired by corporations to come speak for them at their sales meetings, confer-

ences, and those kind of events until, little by little, I realised that I enjoyed doing that more. I enjoyed learning about what people do for a living; I enjoyed making them laugh about what they do because I think in the corporate world, people don’t laugh enough. People are way too serious. Not that you shouldn’t be serious about your job or your career but I think there’s a fine line there. I think that you can be serious and still have fun with it.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I enjoyed making them laughâ&#x20AC;?

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COM So I made that switch about 15 or 20 years ago. I devoted myself full time to being a corporate entertainer. My clients have included Microsoft and AT & T. I actually did a show for the CIA a couple of years ago, which was one of the most fun shows I’ve ever done. I can’t tell you much about it! Well, I can tell you everything about it actually. But it’s just further proof that no matter what you do for a living you can still laugh at yourself. HG. In order to make them laugh at themselves, you would need to know

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quite a bit about their organisation and their particular nuances. I would imagine that means knowing them a little more than just reading the company ethos. GS. Yes, exactly

HG. What’s involved; how do you prepare? GS. I have a multi-step process that I use. I have a questionnaire that I send to the organisation. I want to find out what’s happened

in the company in the previous year and what’s happened that has been bad. I then want to find out what they’re excited about and what they have coming up. Why they’re having the event in the first place and all of that makes its way into my act. I spend a lot of time on the company websites. I go places that maybe they haven’t even gone. I like to look and see what type of people they’re hiring and what crazy sounding job titles are open. I use a lot of photos of their website too. I do screen grabs and then give my take on them. So

MEDY it’s a little bit of everything. It does take a while to prepare because every show of mine is completely different and I want my audience to know that what they are seeing is not the same presentation that I gave last week or last month or last year, for somebody else. HG. Have you ever been utilised to deliver messages that the company wants, or as part of a training program? Do they get you in because they want to give their employees a show or to enhance well-being,or is it a culmination of all of above

GS. Yes, it is a culmination F.Can you elaborate? GS First and foremost I think I do get hired initially because they want to laugh. I think whoever hires me usually does so with the mindset of breaking up three days of breakout sessions about very serious topics, all of which are very relevant and very necessary. Typically they have me come in as a break from all of that and that’s fine, that’s what I want to do. When I am up on stage my goal is that I want everybody to leave feeling better than when they came in. If

they can leave the auditorium or the conference room, just feeling better or even thinking this is a fun place to work because they hired me,that’s really what I want. Now there are some companies that ask if I can weave some of their messaging in. You know, “can you weave our slogan in there?’”or”‘can you tell us what we should do going forward?” I can make suggestions but that’s as far as I wanna go. I don’t make myself out to be an expert in what they do; my background is in journalism. It’s not in technology or insurance or manufacturing so it

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makes no sense for me to tell a group how they should do their jobs. What I am good at is at making them laugh about what they do. That’s first and foremost what I want to do.

stage. I won’t give you the name of the company, I’ll just give you the initials. The initials were like IBM. I’m not naming names here though.

HG I was going to ask actually, were you ever in the corporate world?

HG No!

GS No HG What do you feel qualifies you to go into the corporate arena, to make people laugh at themselves? GS That’s a very legitimate question; what does qualify me? I think what qualifies me is that I can look at what they do from a different perspective, from an outsider’s perspective, and that is really my strength. I think that when people work they get so wrapped up in what they do, they kinda have blinders on. Onstage my persona is that of curiosity. I want to know a little bit about what it is they do, exploring what that actually is, but I have to do it without making it seem like that I’m belittling what they do and that’s a very fine line. There’s a lot of comedians who have not done well in corporate events because they go out and they mock or belittle what it is that the company does. That’s not a good thing to do, that’s wrong in my opinion. I don’t want people to leave thinking “ gosh what have I been doing here for the last 20 years?”. I don’t want them to feel that I am coming in to make them think what they are doing is insignificant. HG Can you share with me the most obscure, funniest, unbelievable moment, that you have had while working as a corporate comedian? GS Right! Everybody wants to know that. Nobody wants to know the best story, they always want to know the worst. HG The worst IS the best story! GS I can tell you the most uncomfortable moment I’ve probably had on-

it and on with the show. I’m not gonna say that the show crashed and burned but I never really got them back. HG I can imagine. Was this pre or post, the movie The Matrix?

GS My brief was that they wanted me to make fun of a hiring process they utilise at the company called The Matrix. So I asked, “well, what is it?”. They said, “trust us, just mention The Matrix and everybody will laugh”. I was assured it was a running joke and all I had to do was make it seem like I knew about The Matrix for guaranteed laughs. So I said “ok if you say so”.

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I don’t want them to feel that I am coming in to make them think what they are doing is insignificant. So anyway I’m doing the show, it’s going great and I’m having fun and about 15-20 minutes in I thought, okay let’s talk about The Matrix. I am not kidding you if its possible to hear peoples butt cheeks clamp together, then I heard it from about 200 people simultaneously. The minute I said “The Matrix”, I knew it was a bad idea. I knew that, other than the 4 people that had told me it was gonna to be hilarious, no-one else found this topic funny. Even worse, they were not at all happy about whatever it was. This was just a topic that should not be brought up. Of course once I had mentioned it, I’m in it, not really knowing enough about what it’s all about and trying to get out of

GS It was post Matrix; in fact I think I’d written a few jokes about The Matrix and it had nothing to do with that but it taught me. There was a lesson learned in that. HG What was the lesson? GS I said earlier that I send out a questionnaire as part of my prep. There’s a specific question there that asks if there is anything in there that you think would really make people laugh. Since that show, I added that it has to be something that at least 75% of the audience would find humorous and not just the 4 of you who are filling out this questionnaire. I learned that what 2 people think is funny versus what a whole company or a whole culture thinks is funny are two different things. The company was apologetic afterwards. I remember one of them said well you know we thought it was funny! Thanks for bringing that up Helen, I had repressed that from my memory; I’m gonna need therapy again. I really appreciate that. HG On that note I’m going to move swiftly on to something completely different. Let’s talk about your involvement with JB Dondolo INC., and their recent Voices for Water Awards. GS Absolutely. JB Dondolo is a nonprofit organisation that has made it their mission to provide people in underprivileged communities with access to clean drinking water. I was first introduced to the work of the organisation by a PR agent that works with me. My role as host/spokesperson happened after I spoke with them. The Music for Water Campaign which has just ended, was another amazing initiative of Lumbie

interesting property or just sounds interesting from their profile they wrote about on home-sharing sites and so I started doing that. HG. When you say Home-sharing, is that like Airbnb; you’re hiring out a space or you share their home?

Mlumbo and the JB Dondolo team. Aspiring songwriters were asked to submit songs with reference to water. Five winners are being chosen from the entries and will be given a distribution deal. The initiative was to raise awareness and support about the need for sanitation supplies for the people of Navajo nation. HG. What was it that inspired you to become involved? GS. Well first of all, it’s great to be giving back in some respect. I actually saw another speaker a couple of years ago, a man by the name of Doc Hendly, he is another speaker who has made it his mission, his life’s purpose, to provide clean drinking water as well, and I remember watching his presentation. I was hosting the big event, I was MCing it, and I remember watching his presentation from the wings and just being completely blown away by what he had to say. Also by the pictures that he brought with him. So when JB Dondalo approached me I already had a little bit of information and a little bit of knowledge to the fact that this is a real problem and I think that’s why it was very easy for me to gravitate to it. I mean I’ve done it for similar causes before. I have worked in a lot of nonprofit and a lot of charitable organisations. I’ve spoken for a group called Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists that fight against issues with teenage drunk driving, and a lot

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of others, and I’m always happy to do that. I do believe that doing what we do as entertainers, I think we all have an ability to give back and we have a platform for it. So if I can do that then I’m happy to. HG You have just signed a distribution deal with Fantastic Films LLC in LA for your show A omedian crashes your pad. I’m intrigued and wondering whether I should offer you an invitation. Can you talk about the show? GS Well you know, we entertainers get bored on the road. As a comedian my business is telling jokes and making people laugh. I’ve always said that my business is people, observing people and trying to get inside their heads, trying to figure out what makes them laugh. People fascinate me and I became equally fascinated a couple of years ago, with the home-sharing industry and the idea that people would open their homes to strangers without even knowing anything about them, without any kind of advance vetting. I thought it must be a really interesting person to invite somebody into their homes. So when I was on the road I started, when my schedule permitted, to go into these big cities and I’d go to smaller towns, and I thought, I’ll stay in a home-share property. I’ll find somebody who either has an

GS. It is like Airbnb or VRBO, specialised places that focus specifically on tree houses or outdoor tents, things like that. I’ll look at all of them. There are lots of them out there and I just go and ask to hang out with them for a night. I’ve met so many amazing people with stories to tell. If I come to your place I always say the only things that are required of you are that I would like a tour of your place on camera, and I would like a sit down interview with you and talk about why you’re doing homeshare. Those are the two requirements. Anything else is fair game. If you want to take me out drinking to your favourite bar, let’s go. I’ve gone antique shopping with a woman in Texas because that’s what she likes to do. There’s a gentleman who nursed horses back to health. We went out to his farm and I saw some of the horses that he was grooming to be put into new homes to be adopted. Anyway there’s nothing I’ll say no to. HG. Your literally going into peoples homes to share but are also getting a snapshot of their life? GS. Yes, right. And I think a lot of people get into home-sharing because they want to do that. I’m not looking for people who are doing it just for the money.. I’m looking for someone who has a story to tell, who is into Home-sharing because they want to share their lives or they’re passionate about a cause. HG. Has Covid impacted on that; are still people still sharing their homes? GS. It has, covid has definitely impacted. People still want to travel but what they’re doing now is looking for different types of places to travel to. What people want now is space, they want wide open space, that maybe wasn’t the case before. What’s really popular now are tents and like

I said, tree houses are big, anything where they’re not surrounded by anybody. RV’s, motorhomes, airstream trailers; the travel industry is really experiencing a shift. I travel with a two person crew so it’s been easy for me to continue to travel and to still be safe. That’s what people want now, they want to be more in control of their travel I think. HG. What advice would you give to a young person who is coming up in the comedy world, for the corporate comedian side, or if somebody wanted to start crashing pads. What kind of information or advice would you give? GS. Well let me address the comedy issue first. I’ve always said if someone wants to be a comedian, my biggest advice for people who want to get into comedy is don’t invite your friends. I tell people to just do it. Do not invite your friends the first few times because here’s what’s gonna happen. Your friends, (because they’re your friends) are gonna laugh at everything you say,

they’re gonna laugh way too long, they’re gonna laugh too hard, they’re gonna laugh in all the wrong places, and when it’s over, they’re gonna tell you how funny you were. In reality you probably weren’t and you get a false sense of progress in that. Go perform to people who don’t know anything about you. If you get no laughs who cares, you don’t know them, they don’t know you, you leave that’s over. If you can make strangers laugh, you might be onto something. So that’s the first bit of advice if you want to get into stand up comedy. As far as getting into the corporate side, I think first of all you have to keep it clean and be very politically correct. That’s something that I have always prided myself on and what has allowed me to work corporate dates. You have to be careful not to be going down paths that people might find offensive, or have other conflicting material, and that’s very difficult now because that list keeps growing. I would also say to have twice the material that you think you need; if you have 30 minutes of material you really should have an hour of it before you go out and try to get yourself jobs.

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OXDX by: Maighread Ni Manghaoil & Benedict Salvacion

Jared Yazzie (Diné - Navajo) is a Designer, an artist and owner of Native American clothing Brand, OXDX. He has been producing artwork since 2009 to increase awareness of indigenous issues and to show the beauty of Native culture. His work, which has been exhibited in the Smithsonian Museum. Jared describes his work as an ‘opportunity to have a discussion.’ He chats with Fusion about how he is changing the Fashion World, One Design at a time. F. Jared, you describe yourself as Dine. Can you explain what that means? J. Dine is what we call ourselves in our language. It means the people. Navajo is the name given to us by non-native people but we prefer Dine. I think the respectful thing to do when you’re talking to native people is to kind of ask them which they prefer. F. Can you tell us where you’re based. J. I’m from Arizona in the States. Originally, I’m from a border town. The US Is divided up into a bunch of reservations that native people

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live on; they’re like extended concentration camps of sorts that we were all herded onto way back at the beginning of colonialism. Na tive people were everywhere, we have since been corralled into these reservation areas. The Navajo reservation is the biggest of its type in the US and is spread over four States. I don’t remember the numbers, I think it’s over 400,000 enrolled members for the Navajo Nation. You have to fact check me on that. I am from a border town that’s just on the outside of the res, a non-native Community with a school that was mostly native because there were a lot of

kids bused in from the res. I went to school at Holbrook and now I run my business full time. I’m a graphic designer, a fashion designer, artist and business owner. I’ve been doing this for 11 years, and I’ve had employees for six. It’s been my full-time job now for seven years. F. You’re self-taught, right? J. Yeah, I was a college dropout. Initially, I was going to school to study engineering; my mum is a math teacher, my dad worked in civil engineering, one of my brothers works in engineering, the other is a mechanical engineer for NASA. He recently

d e r Ja

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worked on the Rover Perseverance, which is currently heading to Mars. It’s going to be the first time we drill samples. F. Can you tell us a little bit about the symbolism of your logo? J. It’s loosely based on a Dine wedding basket which is a basket that’s been woven and is usually gifted out for a Dine wedding. It’s part of the ceremony. The partners normally eat cornmeal out of it. It’s also a common household item you find in Native houses, and I’ve always loved them. I grew up drawing them and just learning about them and there’s a lot of different stories around them but one that I like is that it’s a timeline journey. It’s a tale of life and who you’re including in your life when you’re getting married and I thought it was a wholesome symbology which is well known among Dine. I always drew it and I didn’t mean for it to be my logo, but it just sort of got adopted after a few years, so eventually, I decided that it was going to be a big part of my logo. F. What does OXDX mean? J. OXDX is an acronym. Originally it was OD which is an acronym for overdose and that was an expression of how I felt about the world that I was in. As I said, I came from a small town. I went home a lot and life there was always very simple. My grandparents only spoke Dine. They lived their lives raising corn and livestock and every time we went there we would help them. Life was just about preparing food and working off the land and that always felt simple and it made more sense to me than when I was in college. The college experience for me was very difficult and I couldn’t justify running around and jumping through all these hoops to try to get a degree to be part of a system that wasn’t exactly made for me. I questioned a lot of things and it seemed to me that the society around me was overdosing in ‘things’, so OD was sort of like a comment on that. At the same time, I was a budding

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graffiti artist. I wasn’t that great but I always practised it and I would write O and D and then started to add X’s so OXDX became the name. No-one had it, it was easy to trademark and it sort of has a little ring to it and it just fell into place. F. You have said before that you started selling your designs to your fellow students. Would you say that you began a brand accidentally or did you have a plan to do so? J. I came from a real math-oriented family and there was a lot of pressure for me to follow in their footsteps, I tried to make that work but it just wasn’t fulfilling for me. I was always draw ing and always making things so after a couple of years I flunked out and started going to Community College. I took a lot of classes that were specific for brand making. I took class es in photography, video making, art history and screen printing. I realised I just wanted to study the specifics of my brand. Screen printing was intriguing to me and I started focusing on that. One of my friends had a press in his garage and he taught me a lot about graphic design. I was doing work on free programs like MS Paint and just drawing, sketching, scanning and doing real low-key things. I took what I had learned from the few classes I took, and from my friend and then started working at a screen printing shop. I started going to the screen shop initially to get my screens made and they eventually took me in because I was coming around so much. I was going in and burning screens and after they found out that I made art they put me on the art desk. I was the art desk guy for three years and I learned a lot there from the artist there. I use Adobe Illustrator now, and I guess I learned more from experience than school. All my art is a little bit different. It’s a bit weird and put together in a way that is not specifically how people normally do it. F. Do you feel that being self-taught allows artists to maintain a certain authenticity? J. I think people going through the school system kind of get pushed through the same courses, they all have practised on the same things

and that develops their style collectively in a certain way. I feel I had an opportunity to just find my style on my own and practice and discover things for myself. I feel I had the benefit of work experience too. I was finding jobs while my colleagues were still in school. They have to go through their whole process of graduating and then starting at zero. I tried to go back to school probably six years ago, right before my business kicked off right. I had a lot of client’s at the time though and that took priority over my school work. It didn’t make sense to stop what I was doing with my business. I figured I’m already doing what I want to do. F. Your work has been exhibited in the Smithsonian so it seems you made a good choice. J. The Smithsonian was sort of a big kickoff for me. The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, curated a Show featuring native designers, and it was a groundbreaking event. When you go to museums usually, you see native people, in the context of the past. Black and white photo or artefacts. You don’t see the context of a native person in the present day, so this exhibit showed native artists that are current and it was a great exhibit. I was proud to have been a part of it. I had two shirts displayed in their streetwear section. They exhibited my ‘Native Americans discovered Columbus.’ T-shirt, which is, of course, a play on words to dispel that old teaching that Columbus discovered America. Native people all know that he didn’t discover any such thing. It has been so widely taught in our schools and a whole day was given over to celebrating a man who did terrible things. It was just one thing that had been on my mind a lot when I released that t-shirt and it just connected with a lot of people. There were conversations at the time about changing Columbus Day and recognising that it was he was not a person to celebrate. At the same time, Indigenous Peoples’ day was a strong discussion point and all these towns and cities started voting to change it to Indige-

nous peoples’ day. Phoenix recently changed it too: the city I live in celebrates Indigenous peoples’ day and it’s great to see these changes happen. I’ve had a t-shirt for that for a long time but to see it in that museum, and being sold in their gift shop in New York and Washington DC, was a proud moment. F. What is the story behind your MisRep design? J. Mis-Rep was the design of the other T-shirt they exhibited. That Tshirt challenges the Chief Wahoo mascot used by the Cleveland Indians The baseball team in Cleveland has a Chief Wahoo mascot, which is a wide-grinning, red-faced Indian and it’s just so dated. Some fans put red face paint on, put the big smile on and carry around tomahawks. They do that accompanied by cer-

tain chants and it’s just very degrading. The team made it to the World Series about two or three years ago, and so that image became widely publicised. We grew up with those kinds of stereotypical, degrading images. Native youth struggle enough with all the different factors happening on the reservation. Suicide rates are very high and I think it has to do with all these perceptions of native people, they just feel degraded by them. I wanted to make a point of putting that logo to death. I made it into a skull image, which is also a tribute to an old punk band called The Misfits, and a logo they had. I’ve always been a punk-rock fan and I just fused the two and instead of Mis-fits, It’s Mis-Rep which stands for misrepresented. It’s kind of cool and clever and people like it. You notice people do a double-take when they see it. It’s really exciting to see that change can

be made through this collective consciousness, self-awareness, and discussions about something as simple as a T-shirt. That’s how I always describe my work, as an opportunity to have a discussion, which can be started as easily as someone showing interest in what I’m wearing, or designing and asking about it. F. Given your family background was there an expectation that you would follow in the same footsteps. How did you overcome that? J. I mean it wasn’t easy. It was very difficult to get to the point that I am with my family. They’re very supportive now. I think they just know that I’m in it. I’m gonna be doing this work for a long time. But it wasn’t easy to get to that point. There was a lot of discussions after college. You know,” when are you going to go

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back”, or “what are you gonna do?” kind of discussions. They weren’t trying to be offensive, but they just didn’t see the potential in it that I have. I’ve always had a big vision with what I wanted to do, I’ve always had bigger ideas that I want to accomplish. I have worked very hard for it and it’s been a lot of really late nights and long days. I think it has just taken a while and they recognised how hard I work and that’s all they want from me. To be a hard-working person doing positive work They’re a supportive family. I think they were just worried about the future like all parents are. I have been able to handle myself and I was able to support a few employees so they could make their livelihood as well. We’re making a lot of impact with what we’re doing too, I think after my parents saw most of my work walking around on people and I started getting recognition for what I was doing, It created a shift in the family and now they’re very supportive. I’ve always loved them. F. They must be proud as well Jared because you are telling stories and changing perspectives through your chosen art form? J. Yeah, I feel like the whole native culture is resurgent. There is a rise in native art and this is something that I feel comes easy for native people. We have been doing this for years, generations. It’s in our blood to be creative and work with what’s around us, to showcase our culture. You see that throughout our history. We’ve always had what we had, moccasins for instance, once we started skinning deer we made these nice Tall Cool moccasins. We had our beads and started doing beadwork When sheep got domesticated to the US we learned how to dye and started making rugs. We were doing things in ways that have been different, you know, that have stories to tell. I look to the past and see all that and see our generation now carrying on the tradition using what we have around us to continue telling our stories so they don’t disappear. There’s a lot of things that we have already lost.

The US government system tried hard to extinguish all native people. They created a system that made it very difficult for native people to thrive and to survive but we’re still here, still doing it. You can see this honesty through the art that people are making, there are designers right now who are killing it and doing great work. I remember doing shows with some of them in parking lots or on the res because there weren’t any centres for this type of thing. We just set up anywhere, sort of DIY. I think that’s really what people want now, more customisation in fashion and to be authentic and unique.

nected and we just chopped it up. He suggested we do something together and then it was really easy after that. Over the next few months, he sent me one of the tracks off his new album that hadn’t yet been released. It included a line “ancestors watching” and that was the inspiration for the graphics. We played around with different graphics and he connected to the corn imagery, which of course I do too because corn is such a staple of Native life. It feeds everybody and we use the pollen to pray, to host ceremony-type stuff with. It’s a very sacred and communal plant and holds a lot of stories. The design we chose is a picture of the plant fused with a lot of different Navajo art. The text which is spelt out with corn symbols says, ‘ancestors watching’. That whole line came together pretty quickly and we have since released a T-shirt and hoodies. We have been releasing a lot of special editions.

People are moving away from these big companies and realising big corporations are really what’s hurting community and impacting the world in a bad way. The small business, especially native business, now have the opportunity to shine. I feel like a lot of people are really taking that opportunity and doing well. F. How do you keep on top with orders? F. Talking of collaborations can you talk us through the one you have J. I’m a screen printer and I can manjust done with Xuitaztchatl Martin- age that end of things. I have a lot of ez. How did that happen and what freedom to do my stuff myself. We is the significance of that particular haven’t reached the capability of design? putting in a run order for hundreds of stock. We focus on repurposing. J. We knew each other and were We do a lot of vintage check shirts moving in the same circles. We had and have a few shoppers who know known of each other’s work for a our style and can purchase them on while. He’s been a big activist from our behalf. We have a collection of a very young age and is just a posi- button-ups, flannels and heavy worktive person. I’d always seen his work wear, so we have a collection of shirts and was proud of him. We connect- that welders would use. They’re thick ed last year in LA during an event. and they’re environment-hardened and so there’s just a lot of stuff we OXDX had just done this big col- have on hand in the warehouse and laboration with a streetwear brand whenever I do a run of designs, I called ‘The Hundreds’. They’ve cre- screen print my patches while we’re ated a movement and are grandfa- doing them, we make fabric with it thers in this industry. They reached and we cut it and print on that as well. out to us to collaborate on a whole I’ll order a little bit extra and then we’ll line for Indigenous Peoples’ Day get those in production. I release and the Fashion Show they were them at a later date just to get more organising, it was an incredible op- people interested in the design, to portunity. We were showcasing at keep things moving, and keep peothe show in LA and Xuitaztcatl was ple coming back to the website. It’s one of the models for us. We con- also really fun to create the media for

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advertising the brand too, the photoshoots and the videos. It’s all collaborative work. We use native makeup artists, photographers and videographers. Most of the production is by native people. That is an important aspect of our brand, to ensure everything includes native people.

there’s so many of us doing work. So, collaborations are key. F. What’s next for you? J. We have transitioned. We were so event-based, working in the community and doing so many workshops. We had people come into the shop and screen print their work, we were committed to sharing our knowledge. We had to change that up a little bit and we semi-shut down. In the early days of Covid, from March to summer or so we didn’t get much done and the shop semi-shut. We were hanging back and I was doing a lot of artwork for other organisations. It was nice that I had time to do that, but now we’re opening up again. I’m still not trying to do shows or anything like because we are still trying to be as safe as possible. I feel nervous about the whole thing. So we’re focusing on the web to open up our online store and just continuing to do that. I currently have different collaborations and we’re working out the kinks. I’ll have a fall line hopefully, for November-December, now that I’m creating work and we will do more product drops in the spring too. Then of course we have some campaigns to work on. I feel that no matter what, we are always just developing and making art.

F. The fashion industry is not known for fair representation of indigenous people. How do we change that? J. The big point of that is collaboration. Ask the questions, if you have something that is at the end of the spectrum of this appropriation, what you need to as is, has this been informed by a native person. Is a native person involved in this project? Especially if it includes a certain native pattern or aesthetic? There’s a lot of Navajos, especially, that trade out of their art and their work, such as Silversmiths and Weaver’s that have been doing this for generations. So there is a lot of knowledge that should be sought out and should be paid fairly for. There are no excuses for brands who want to use a native style or aesthetic but are not including native people. That’s straight-up not right. There is no excuse to not include any native people because

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OXDX

BERNY MARTIN

Fashion has always been a way of life for me. As a child growing up in Haiti, my grandmother encouraged my interest and helped me sew my first design: a pair of jeans. While later acclimating to life in the Midwest, I pursued a “safer” career option in the tech industry, but I quickly learned that “safe” wasn’t for me. At the advice of a friend, I took a leap of faith and attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and slowly began the process of starting my own label, Catou, named after my grandmother who inspired me so long ago.

Photographer Carissa Lancaster | Female model: Falone | Clémence Male model: GIULIO PASTORELLI

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anol

olmes

F. Can you talk to us first about Supernatural Incorporated?

JH Yes. Supernatural INC is a multimedia platform; we specialise in creative content. Our goal is to revolutionise the globe via film, music, fashion, and technology. F. So how do you envisage that revolution?

JH All of our content, through all the means that I’ve just mentioned, all has a purpose; it’s not just for the sake of being self fulfilling. We wanna make change in a positive way around the world. We’ve done that through educational initiatives;

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by: Maighread Ni Manghaol & Helen Gibson

Janol ‘Mecca’ Holmes is operating officer and president of Supernatural Incorporated which was under affiliation with Chuck D from Public Enemy. He is co-host on the podcast Media Assassins; a culturalist, designer, producer and patron of ‘Show Racism the Red Card’. He was also a judge for Dondalo’s Music for Water campaign. He talks with Fusion about what inspires and motivates him.

there’s a new initiative that we have called The Evolvoloution Initiative which incorporates cultural learning internationally, which we’ll be launching in Scotland as well as England. These are the partnerships that you mentioned with Show Racism The Red Card. We have created musical projects for that charity promoting anti-racism, cultural exchanges, and things of that nature, in addition to our partnership with JB Dondalo which is a charity for sanitation in water that focuses on underserved communities.

F . When you say you it’s a global initiative can you just tell me its focus again, so that I can be clear? JH. So I guess to make it even simpler; you know how a lot of entertainment entities that just release music and film and content, for the sake of generating revenue, where there really isn’t any substance towards what they’re releasing? Our company’s focus and mission, is to make a change in everything we do. So if it’s a musical project there’s gonna be a message and a purpose behind it. Not to be preachy but to just to make a difference and create a positive impact on someone’s life.

“Our company’s focus and mission, is to make a change in everything we do.”

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s e olm Fusion Magazine

F . To elevate? JH Absolutely to elevate and innovate. F You’re described in your bio as being a culturalist. For those of our readers who may not know what that is, can you tell them what that means for you? JH Yeah, absolutely. A culturalist is just someone who has an appreciation for all cultures, seeing value in what everyone brings from a cultural standpoint. That’s pretty much what it is. F. How did the Revolt collective happen, whose idea was it, and was it a collaboration that evolved organically? JH The Revolt is a producer collective. We’ve done work under a different name for Public Enemy previously and being aligned with Supernatural INC we decided to come together and create a producer collective called the Revolt and again, it’s a group of producers that create phenomenal music. We have recently released some incredible projects. There’s a new version of Lift Every Voice and Sing, the modernised black national anthem. The song and video are both phenomenal so make sure you go to YouTube and take a look at it. F. Is that something that is recognised more in America? JH Yeah, although there are differences as far as what black people experienced within the United Kingdom, in comparison to what black people may have experienced in South Africa or the United States, we’re all connected, we’re all familiar with injustice , oppression and white supremacy. So there is that connection. Obviously the struggle within black America, (and I’m not saying who had it worse), is felt globally and a lot of the worldwide connection draws from what we experienced here, through our music, our dance, and our culture. So Lift Every Voice is North America-based but from a black perspective, that connects us globally

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F. You co-host the Media Assassins podcast with Niki Marie. Can you tell us about the name? It’s a great name. How did you come up with that? JH Absolutely. Media Assassins is actually derived from the great Harry Allen, who was a publicist for Public Enemy, a long time ago. He was their “media assassin”. He would protect the group’s image and counte ,against foolishness that was written about them in magazines and other media outlets. As an avid Public Enemy fan and just understanding and appreciating the history, we took the name and made it plural. Our focus is to talk about entertainment, music, pop-culture, politics and interview celebrities and guests from all walks of life. F. What do you feel the trick is to staying ahead of the game in that arena now that there are so many podcasters out there? JH. Yeah, I think it’s important to not look at it as something competitive. It’s okay just to have a platform to express how you feel, as long as there is a logic and purpose to it. Something I always say is the great thing about social media is that it gives a platform for everybody to say something. The down side of social media is that it gives everyone a platform to say something and so it’s a double-edged sword. I think as long as you’re genuine and you have logic and a purpose to what you’re wanting to do, I think it’s fine. It’s kinda like that old saying, ‘if you build it they will come’ So if you have relevant content and subject matter, people are gonna be drawn to it and wanna support you and listen to you, so Niki Marie and myself we strive to do that. F. So its the quality of your content and how it resonates with people JH Absolutely F. How has covid impacted on your industry, or has it at all?

JH I think that covid 19 served as a chin check to myself and the company as a whole. It showed us ‘hey what are we made of, are we really gonna be able to withstand this challenge?’. We can’t have any live shows, our recording artists can’t tour, we can’t go out and film for content. You know it just gives you the opportunity to think about what you can do versus what you can’t do. And so I think it actually levelled the playing field for a lot of independent companies and startups. I mean you know Beyonce can’t go out and tour, she’s stuck in the house just like Lekesha, who wants to get her album out. I think it has forced many of us to become more creative, to look for more creative solutions. F. From a business perspective, do you see it as an opportunity for people to become more creative, determined, and focused? JH. Yeah absolutely. Obviously Covid is a horrible thing as far as its nature, as far as the deaths, the illness, and the devastation it has caused. From a business and survival standpoint,we have been forced to dig deep, be creative, because it’s a level playing field right now. I’m not able to travel to the UK and Africa like I would like to. Now we have to have virtual conversations, just like everybody, so it creates the opportunity to do business this way. We have to seek opportunities virtually. We have a lot of corporations now that don’t want employees to go back into the corporate offices but are encouraging them to work virtually. It’s the new normal and we just have to figure out a way and put our best efforts into surviving within this new normal. F. You’re also a designer, and have your own label. Can you talk to us about your involvement with the Mecca USA brand? JH Yeah, so Mecca USA is a vintage urban brand; its influence started out in New York City in the early to mid 80’s, took off in the 90’s, so during the golden age of hip hop you have Mecca USA clothing, you had the FUBU, you had Karl Kani and

urban brands were really popular. Everyone from Notorious B.I.G to Puff Daddy, every rapper had it. So I’ve done designs for them in the past and we were gonna be re-releasing some new collaborations. It’s gonna be Supernatural INC clothing with the collaboration of Mecca USA, which is gonna be throwback to the past but, at the same time, modernised for today’s youth. F. How do you balance all the projects that you’re involved in?

Mark Holborn, who is a phenomenal partner with the educational initiative. With Supernatural you know we have Leah Henderson; Beatrice Davis is a part of that also. So as well as Chuck, from a supportive standpoint; you know you can’t do it alone. It needs a team. F. So what I am hearing is that collaboration is something that’s quite important to you. JH Absolutely!

JH You know I guess I just try to stay motivated. 2020 has been a challenging year. The other side of that is that we have also been forced to look at our quality of life and the realisation that, we don’t really have much time here on earth so we gotta make the absolute best of what we have. It’s about what we give as individuals and also about creating that legacy, to be an example to the next generation. So that’s definitely my motivation and drive; to make a difference and leave a powerful legacy on this planet, but most importantly to make a difference and revolunise the globe.

F. So the aim of the project is to show racism is much more than just white on black?

F. That’s actually one of my later questions in terms of legacy. Did you answer the question of how you balance everything ? JH.Yeah again, it’s not easy, it takes a team. You can get a lot more done with we-versus-me and that’s why I feel we always have to take an unselfish approach. It’s not just about you, it’s about the collective and that’s how I operate within our business, for Supernatural INC and the other initiatives I am involved with. Like Lumbie Mlambo and Beatrice Davis from JB Dondalo. With Media Assassins I have a phenomenal partner in Nicki Marie. With the Evolvolution initiative and

nal work within the UK. He’s expanding to other areas of the world such as South America and the United States, so Supernatural INC is definitely in line with the message of Show Racism the Red Card. We had the opportunity to collaborate on some creative projects, some phenomenal music, and a project called the Red Card music project. We have a video called the red card which explains the purpose of Show Racism the Red Card and addresses the concept of racism. Although black people feel the heat globally, other nationalities have to deal with racism too. A lot of Middle Eastern people have it hard, people escaping the war in Syria, for instance, and many other people who suffer racism. Within the UK racism isn’t as violent as in the US but there’s still a lot of racism in terms of the restriction of opportunities for minorities – whether they’re Black, Asian, Middle Easterners or people who have migrated into the UK.

F Another of those collaborations is your patronage with Give Racism the Red Card. Can you talk to us a little bit about how that came about and why you chose to become a patron? JH. Yeah, so Supernatural INC were gonna be launching within Scotland, specifically within the Murray area of Scotland, and I had the opportunity to meet Jed Grubby who’s the CEO of Show Racism the Red Card: he’s done phenome-

JH Yeah, you know it’s funny, I saw an interview with the late great Eddie Van Halen, who just recently passed away. He was the legendary guitarist from Van Halen, he was actually Indonesian, a lot of people didn’t know that. He was bi-racial - one parent was white and the other was Indonesian - and he was born in Holland. He talked about the racism he experienced in Holland, and then again when he moved to the United States, because he didn’t know the language and he had a darker skin tone. He said the kids used to make him eat sand. F It sounds as if it’s something that’s important to you to address it and challenge JH Yeah, and so Supernatural INC’s vision and purpose is definitely in line with Show Racism the Red Card, so it’s just aligned with revolutionis-

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ing the globe through positivity. In addition to our company Supernatural INC, the Evolvolution Initiative, which is an educational and cultural exchange initiative, were gonna be aligned with Show Racism the Red Card going into actual classrooms , just doing cultural exchanges in regards to history topics, culture, it’s gonna be incredible. I’ve mentioned Mark Holberman, that he’s a CEO of a company called Great Success, a retired New York City educator, and it’s gonna be phenomenal. F. So you were a judge on JB Dondalo’s Water for Music campaign. Why did you decide to get involved in that campaign? And were you aware of the challenges faced by the Navajo nation? JH You know what, to be honest with, you I wasn’t. I was more focused on the water issues that are affecting dif-

spirit, and the ingenuity that went into whatever they were presenting. F What would be the thing that you would most love to achieve next in the coming year. JH Ah, good question. I think just to expand our initiatives globally in regards to the education initiative. Our goal is to really get the cultural exchanges happening between the United States and UK. We also want to engage areas of Africa, specifically Senegal and Ghana, in a classroom environment so that everyone can have an understanding and appreciation of each other’s culture and history. I think that we can do more if we come together rather than just living in everyone’s respective silos, so that’s gonna be our goal via Supernatural INC, via Evolvealu-

it’s not just about you, you’re part of a greater collective that we probably will never understand. So live your life unselfishly and you give, rather than always take. F Throughout this interview you’ve spoken about collaboration, collectiveness, cultural awareness, and acceptance. I’m really curious what ignited that particular flame? JH I just wanna be an example of you know. Just put your best foot forward and your best effort towards making a difference in other people’s lives, even if you don’t get a chance to live to see what you’ve contributed for the next generation. Live like that. Live your life not just for the people that are surrounding you now, but live it for generations to come. I look at the ancestors within my family, you know my grandmother Bertha Holmes, my uncle Frederick Holm-

“Look at the world as if it’s not just you, you know? Make the best of your life, make the best of time, and make a difference.” ferent parts of Africa, in some of the smaller villages in the rural areas of Ghana and Tanzania. I was educated on what was going on with the Navajo people by Lumbie Mlumbo and Beatrice Davies through the work of JB Dondalo. I was just really moved by what was going on and wanted to help make a difference. In addition to becoming a judge we also created a song, called the Carousel, the water for life song. We want it to be an anthem for their cause and all digital sales and proceeds will go to JB Dondalo, so we’re doing it as a charity. F. As a judge, and someone who’s been in the music and entertainment industry for a long time, what did you look for from the contestants? JH I was looking for creative content and quality as far as the thought, the

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tion initiative, and via Show Racism the Red Card. That’s a huge goal for Media Assassins, so we’re gonna be launching on different platforms online via YouTube and IG. We’re also on E360 TV which is available via the apple tv and Rolicool app. There’s a lot of different things, so look for music projects, film projects, or just creative content that will further revolutionise the globe. F That’s quite a lot to be achieved. So what advice do you have for all those young dreamers out there? JH Look at the world as if it’s not just you, you know? Make the best of your life, make the best of time, and make a difference. We’re only here for a short time, relatively speaking, so make a difference,

es and these other leaders: just the sacrifices that they’ve made for the greater good, and not just for themselves, but for the people as a whole, they didn’t think just of themselves. Harriet Tubman, when she went into those woods with that shotgun, saving people through the underground railroad, she wasn’t thinking about herself she was thinking about her people. When Malcolm stood up in front of that podium at the front of the Audubon Ballroom he put his life on the line; he wasn’t thinking about himself , he was thinking about the greater good of our people, and that’s what it’s about and so we have to carry that, we can’t let our ancestors down and you know, we have to think about the next generation.

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the land of

Indigenous Solidarity

s the trees start to change color, and the leaves dance before us in the wind, we begin to observe the boldness of Fall. We notice nature a bit more than we did throughout the rush of Summer. We take in the sounds, smells, and presence of everything changing around us. We fill up our schedules with Fall inspired activities and even dare to tell Ghost Stories for added mystery and fun. Legends mixed with dark and haunted tales of an early pre-Portland era tell stories of Indigenous Wraith-like entities that still roam the streets. These spirits looking for a way back to the lives and land that they lost, as entire tribes were often wiped out by diseases brought by early settlers. Today, Nightly Ghost Tours touch on a bit of this history and the sightings of these Indigenous Spirits - who remind us that the land around us is so important to who we are. A reminder many Portlanders use for daily grounding as outdoor activities are all around.

For those of us in the United States, this October has an extra spooky feel. Not just because it’s the time of the year that carries with it Halloween, or as a special twist this year two full moons, it’s also because of how much keeps pulling us from our normal sense of center. From the pandemic to the political disaster that is our President, to the threat of so many things being destroyed including; human rights, land, climate, and even our abilities to connect with each other and around us. Instead, in many cities like Portland, we find ourselves wondering if we can eventually come together and fix all of the ways, as a society, we’ve actually stepped backward. As a photographer, I’m often drawn to different energies around me, while other times energies are drawn to me and my camera. It takes focus, patience, and the surrendering of being in my head to truly connect. I’ve learned to pay attention between the lines and listen to what’s being softly spoken by Mother Nature. An idea intensified by hearing many Indigenous speak-

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ers over the past few months who have been speaking in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. During this time I’ve witnessed land acknowledgments, round dances, the process of using feathers and sage to protect the energy of a space, and many drum and dance prayer gatherings. A common thread within this culture is using artistic expression freely; speaking to nature, thanking the resources around them, and calling upon their ancestors who have fallen to protect them. These prayers manifest results such as rain, one Indigenous speaker reminding us that, “Rain is the tears of those who have fallen before us releasing the energy needed for us to move forward.” One speaker joining Portland from New Mexico during a nightly Black Lives Matter protest shared some of the culture and beliefs of the Umatilla Nation. As she spoke, she shared that to the local Umatilla people, “Trees, water, land, and

animals are all gifted from our creator and only the creator can decide who comes into those spaces - what that means is that we are all related - past, present and future.” She continued, that this means, “There is no

members began to gather nightly before each protest. They would hold a pre-ceremony asking daily protest groups to join in pre-protection circles often involving drums, dance, art, or energy clearing practices where those Indigenous tribe members opened up space to powerful manifestations. As the drummers would begin their prayer, one of the female tribe members would then speak a call for compassion, continued solidarity, and a shared reminder that to stay safe we must stay together.

color between people,” and the time is now to protect, honor, and connect with the gifts and resources we have within the land around us. So many of us as we get older lose our inner ability to see the poetry of what’s before us. We forget to slow down and see the sunset, or wake up extra early with someone special to see the sunrise; instead, we rush forward, we think of money over land, we think of success over beauty, and we think of getting ahead personally vs. working together with those around us. In a way, we’ve even lost our most basic abilities for kindness, compassion, and using artistic expression to manifest possibilities. We forget we can use words to honor those around us and share with others love, gratitude, and the ways they remind us of beauty. Over time we’ve made it so that powerful cultures, like those of the Indigenous tribes within our communities, are fearful of sharing with us. We’ve made it so it can be dangerous for them to share their identities or their names. At most of these events too it is also asked that no photos or videos be taken. Despite these fears, many Indigenous artists from local and also visiting tribes including, Confederated Tribes the Umatila, The confederate tribes of Warm Springs, Confederated Tribes of Siletz, have been, without selfcredit, sharing not just literal art and art through the expression of their culture. Each of these tribe members

bringing forward artistic expression that is centered in the concept of respecting land and nature in a way that allows it to be a tool for powerful manifestation. They have also used their courage and stories to provide an example of grounding for everyone who is using their voice, creativity, and resources to rally for change. One young woman even chose to miss her college graduation ceremony to join in solitary for Black Lives Matter and represent the Siletz people. She held a sign that read, “Here during my College Graduation Ceremony, we’re only as strong as our community, Siletz Native for Black Lives Matter. She then lead the group in a prayer expressed through an expression of dance. Many other tribe members joining in as well as people from the crowd. These groups despite their different locations and individual tribes also coming together for a Naimuma Pow Wow - which represents the deep cultural meaning of “family” between these groups. It’s also a way that many American Indians, Alaskan Native, and Indigenous people maintain cultural values while also pursuing education. The synchronicity between their examples and the power of using nature is also very clear. Throughout the most intense and often dangerous months of protest, a small group of local Indigenous tribe

After a few days of this ceremony, two hawks decided to make a nest right above the main protest site, an Indigenous symbol of power, courage, strength, and protection from enemies. Similarly in another spot in the middle of downtown Portland,

two more hawks would sit perched on a high rise building almost every time there was a protest gathering as if they were watching over the group. Just as it also rained several times after specific prayers were made for those, both people, and animals who have fallen to protect us. Despite the fact, many of the people from the Indigenous Culture are fearful of coming forward and identifying themselves - when they do we can all learn so much from the ways that their practices heal the things and people around them. And if we embrace the art behind their ways maybe we can all start to find our way back to center.

Fusion Magazine

ern

M F. Berny, you began your career studying Computer Science, when did you move from tech to fashion?

B. I grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. It was such a vibrant place with so many cultural influences, and as a child, it was so inspiring. The area had so many immigrant communities, Latino, Caribbean, Jewish and so many besides. That kind of diversity blew me away. I was amazed by the variety of cultural expressions exhibited through the medium of fashion. It influenced my decision to become a fashion designer, but as a child in an immigrant household, there wasn’t much support for that. It wasn’t considered as a serious profession, more of an artistic endeavour that wouldn’t earn much money. I decided to set aside the idea to study fashion and studied computer science instead.

Fusion Magazine

artin by: Maighread Ni Manghaoil & Benedict Salvacion

Internationally Acclaimed Award-winning, Celebrity Designer, Berny Martin is spreading his brand of positive energy around the globe. Owner of Catou and Founder of Midwest Fashion Week, the HaitianAmerican designer, joins us to talk about Paris Fashion Week, New projects and how he is Harnessing the Energy of Earth, Wind and Fire to inject a little magic into his new designs.

When I went to college I became more interested in technology and was mesmerized by coding. I hadn’t lost my passion for fashion design so after I graduated I decided to take a leap of faith and pursue my dream. I went back to New York City and began to study my first love, fashion design. I realized that the fashion world and technology went hand in hand. It’s a good fusion! F. How do you see the Fashion Industry and Technology moving forward together? Designers have been using technology for a long time, body scanning, 3D printing and 3D modelling. It isn’t anything new. Today fashion technology is growing faster than even we tech geeks,

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predicted. Some robots sew and cut fabric, AI algorithms that predict style trends and VR mirrors in dressing rooms. We don’t have a choice any more. We have to co-exist with tech, as designers, it has been that way for almost a decade. F . Do you feel your love of coding influences your designing process? B. When I design I take mental notes, almost as if I am in the computer room. I want to be relatable for my clients and for them to feel they are part of the process, for me, it is about how I can help someone to excel to become a better version of themselves by knowing to improve how to package themselves. To enable them to be taken seriously in their messaging.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I design I take mental notes, almost as if I am in the computer room.â&#x20AC;? BernyMartin

F. Where did the name Catou Come from? B. My parents wanted to ensure a better life and opportunities for our family. Like many before them, they made the sacrifice of leaving their family and travelled to the States so they could earn money and provide us with the opportunities they knew we deserved. My grandmother took care of me, she became the centre of my world for about 11 years. She was such an inspirational role model, as I was looking at her grace, her intelligence, and how she communicated with those around her. She was a compassionate and giving woman who taught me the importance of kindness. My grandmother was someone who selflessly gave without the expectation of getting back. I admired that mindset and it is something I have tried to embody that in my own life. I want my designs to embody that mentality. I create them with the intention that people wearing them will feel that their lives have been enhanced in a small way. I called the brand Catou in honour of my Grandmother. F. How do you feel you continue to embody grandmother’s values? B. I am trying to live up to that moral capacity in my everyday living. I try to incorporate it into all aspects of my life. It is challenging at times, especially in our fast-paced world, but I am always meditating and striving to be mindful. I want to honour the legacy that I inherited from my grandmother. I feel that is why I am always exploring how we can expand and grow together as human beings. F. Midwest Fashion Week was critically acclaimed by Times Magazine and is now well established, but what challenges did you face initially? B. There were many challenges to overcome in the beginning. It was back in the early 2000s and we started from scratch. Fashion didn’t have a presence in Indianapolis at the time. Most people were getting fashion influence from either TV shows and

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magazines, but there were no designer runway shows or couture boutiques where they could see it first-hand. With that said, we knew the talent was there. There were designers, models, stylists and more who were interested in working behind the scenes in runways shows they had only seen on TV. We wanted to build a platform for them to get involved in an industry they were passionate about, by offering them the opportunity to do so, without moving to the coast. We spent about five years just training people in every aspect of fashion show production. From models and aspiring designers to open casting calls, lighting and sound guys, to vendor management and backstage logistics. There is a lot of work involved that people don’t realize even exists. In the end, it’s all worth it for the experience and exposure it gets for our designers and models. We began with nothing and worked hard to elevate an entire region. Today the Midwest has a booming fashion industry and we played a big role in that. One of the biggest challenges was teaching people how to differentiate between commercial, editorial and catwalk modelling. We had to relay to people that different projects require different types of models. We have worked hard and I am proud of the fact that many of the models we had the honour to train are extremely successful. At least five who started with us and are now considered supermodels, one of those, Achernrin (who is just eighteen years old), participated in twenty-eight runway shows, multiple magazine shoots and campaigns for major brands, last year alone. While Avianna Mc Clish (another young model) has walked the runway for Pyer Moss and Frère. So, definitely a lot of behind-thescenes work from the beginning, but it’s worth it to help these individuals progress to levels they

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never considered possible. Many of the people we worked with at the beginning have remained with us till today. F. What, in your opinion, are the attributes of being a successful model? B. Personality, grace, elegance, attitude, and a good sense of humour are all important. I think grace and humility are maybe the most important because you can not achieve a level of success around the globe without that. Having a global mindset is important, remembering that people may behave very differently in Milan compared to Singapore. you may be dealing with people from different cultures. It’s always good to remember to be respectful. What is acceptable in one country may not be in another. I also think that it is good to treat everyone well, no matter who it is because in the industry you just never know who knows who and a good attitude will get you more work than a bad one. F. How important are collaborations to you? B. I feel that without it there is no growth if I am not collaborating I am not growing and if I am not growing then why am I here? I created the Catou brand to elevate and create. To do something worthwhile. Tapping into the energy of other people is important in that. F. What positive impact has Covid had for you personally or professionally? B. You know, the pandemic and subsequent lock-downs have offered me the opportunity to slow down after ten years of constant movement. Now I have to stay in one location and it has allowed me to have a new admiration for what I have been doing and the people I have been working with. I actually couldn’t believe how much I had achieved in ten years. I never stopped. I just kept going. It’s only since the pandemic that I took the opportunity to sit down and put together my press kit. I didn’t have It

before as I was always just so busy. I feel many of us have been given a chance to just take a breath. To realize what’s important and form closer bonds with those people who are important in our lives. Now is a time when we need to explore new ways of working. F.You recently hosted a virtual show during Paris Fashion Week. Can you tell me about that? B.I have been working with the team in Paris for over five years. As Covid was slowly spreading around the world we were asking ourselves what we could do to help inspire people, to encourage them to get in touch with basic human values again. I think there was a realization that pre-covid a lot of us were taking life for granted, everyday things like just valuing getting up in the morning, really paying attention to the simple things that we take for granted every day. Being more mindful about how we interact with the world around us. The show in Paris was created from that premise, to inspire positivity. We wanted to encourage people to tap into the energy of feeling great, feeling alive. That’s why we chose the music we did, we wanted music that was uplifting and would make people

feel good. We wanted to make sure that even if people didn’t watch the show, they could listen to music and still be inspired. We wanted people to remember to be grateful, and not to give in to the negativity that at the time, seemed to be everywhere. Covid taught me a new appreciation for the people in my life, all of the people I work with. F. What was the inspiration for the new designs? B.The inspiration for my new collection was the band Earth Wind and Fire. They were such a fascinating band. If you look at the videography of the band, they are just so magical and they shared such chemistry on stage. I named some designs in the collection after the band members. They were so vibrant and uplifting and I wanted to convey that message in the show and the designs. The concept was one of elevation. I wanted people to remember we are all in this together. We are all human beings. F. Can you tell us about your next project? The next project is one I am very excited about. It’s very dear to me. It

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transpired when I met a young lady called Muna Jama ( UK Miss Universe), at Paris Fashion Week. She is from Somaliland, the same country as our MidWest Fashion Week, board member. We began to talk about her country and the possibility of a collaboration. A few two years later, we contacted her and found out that she had returned home to Somaliland and started a makeup line for Muslim women of her generation. Myself and my business partner Flex Omar began talking about how we could collaborate. We then began to talk about doing a project with Muna in her home country. It is still in the early stages now but we are super excited about it. I am looking forward to seeing how it will unfold. The project will be exploring the benefit of working in the beauty industry and how that helps empower women there. So far we have selected twelve women out of two hundredth applicants for the scholarship. The twelve women took part in Muna Beauty makeup artist class at Gollis University, in Hargeisa, Somaliland and they want to learn how to become makeup artists. There are still a few things to iron out but one evident thing is that there is huge interest. It’s a really exciting project because it will change people’s lives.

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and reflect before we stereotype someone. A person with a dishevelled look may appear like they don’t take pride in themselves. However in reality, they could be a ‘Warrior’ wearing many hats, working two jobs to make ends meet, going to evening school etc. We need to learn to be empathetic and to ask ourselves; if the situation were reversed, would we think our judgement justified?

by: Nigel and Shane Mushambi

o see someone for their inner strength and beauty is to truly see someone. It is so easy to look at someone and make decisions about their life and journey. We all do it, each and every day. Even the most kind-hearted people prejudge others. Why? Because it is easy. We are trained to think in certain ways. We are trained to think happy people smile; well-dressed people can be trusted, tall people are athletic. To prejudge someone does not always mean you think ill of them. It means you made a decision about them, good or bad, without knowing them. If we could hold off forming a decision about someone until we got to know something about them, would we be able to see their inner beauty, determination, grit, or patience?

We must have pliable minds, be open communicators, and not let a first impression unduly influence determining someone’s overall character. It is time we look beyond to see a person’s inner goodness and strength. We need to become conscious of our personal bias and train ourselves to avoid common societal pitfalls in arriving at our conclusions. We all need to believe there is more to each individual than their appearance. It takes effort to see someone and to consider the various aspects of their life. If we could hold off forming conclusions about people until we got to know something real about them, then we could see their power and strength. By not choosing to judge someone, we will be able to better validate each person’s unique talents and untapped potential to impact the lives of others in a significant and meaningful way. When you see someone for who they really are, do you truly see them – as a beautifully made human being?

As people, we tend to cast others as heroes or villains through our visual or social identity, gender, and ethnicity. Not everyone is one dimensional. Many people are multifaceted - profound and witty or sassy and sensitive. People are like plots in a story; if you could tell everything about them within the first five-minutes, life would be predictable and boring. Some people are not willing to reveal a part of themselves so quickly. They are particular in what they share with others, having their guard up and needing more time to reveal their inner self. Our perception can be impaired by individual preferences and physical appearance. We should not be quick to judge others. Instead, we should consciously commit to being fair and respectful. We need to pause

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Dia De Los MUERTOS by: Satomi Kim

I spent a week of preparation finalizing the concept I wanted to portray. I finalized a plan with Don Jose Davies and Benedict Salvacion Titan to work on a story type portrait. We came up with Santa Muerte, coupled with Dante, and La Catrina as solo personifications of the modern La Calavera Catrina.

took my inspiration for this project mastery 3.0, from the annual Dia De Los Muertos Festival in Latin America. The biggest festival in the region. Most people confuse La Calavera Catrina and Santa Muerta as the same icon. But they are personified in different eras, therefore both have different meanings in Mexican-American history. My objective was not only to just create my vision but also to promote respect for and understanding for each others culture and traditions and eradicate discrimination amongst other culture. To honour in some way this very beautiful tradition. In collaboration with one of the best photographers in the country, I was allowed to share the knowledge about the two popular icons through photography and makeup artistry.

Makeup took 3 hours for Santa Muerte alone. I wanted a realistic undertone of corpse-like flesh tone. Not the typical white face paint cover. To achieve that I had to do so to spend time mixing of oil-base and water-base paints which is not easy to do, then airbrush to achieve the colour needed. And to make sure we captured the vibrancy of the colours, Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hypoallergenic, and it stays for hours. I felt confident using Kryolan for this. Our designer created beautiful headpieces for the three icons. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very dependable and she was able to match the outfits with the makeup concept perfectly.

Credits Head Makeup Artist: Satomi Kim IG: satomikim.official | Assistant Makeup: Kayee Jones Acosta Photographer: Don Jose Romula Davies | Designer: Maria Loerienel Agawin Fb: Maria Lorein Dress Shop Models: Santa Muerta - Blue Hernandez | Dante - Kurt Marquez La Catrina- Lena Vorotnikova | IG lena.vorotnikova

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Life Coach Estella Galorport

“WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS IS A WOMAN WHO HAS A VISION TO CHANGE HER LIFE, WHO KNOWS WHAT SHE WANTS, AND CAN LEAD AND INSPIRE OTHER WOMEN TO DO THE SAME”.

IS THIS YOU?

es! Then read on. That thing that’s holding you back.I know what it is and how to help you move forward!

Did you have a difficult childhood? So did Oprah Winfrey, Kevin Spacey, Charlize Theron and over 50 percent of the most successful men and women in the world. Do you have learning difficulties? So did Thomas Edison, Richard Branson, Alexander Graham Bell and George Washington.

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Have you been serially unemployed, completely broke, fired from your job or even bankrupt? So were Bill Gates, Simon Cowell, Lady Gaga, Jay Z and millions of others. If there’s one thing in life that has taught me, it’s that it isn’t what you’re born with or what happens to you in life – it’s the choices you make along the way that determines your ultimate destiny. Choice is power! Paul McKenna – The 3 Things That Will Change Your Destiny Today!

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”

Taking Back Your Life

o you have a dream, a vision of the future? In your dream are you happy and fulfilled? Famous? Rich? Most people do dream of such a future but in most cases, that’s all it will ever be - a dream. Successful people have had those dreams, too, but they turned those dreams into goals and in turn into reality. Their dreams were not vague hopes for success, but dreams of specific achievements that they aimed for. Edison dreamed of a world in which electric energy would light up the night. Stephenson dreamed of an engine that would pull trains and eliminate the backbreaking labour of men and beasts. Beethoven dreamed of music that would make the spirit soar. Great actors, artists, musicians, writers dreamed not just of fame, but of the way they would utilize their talents to achieve success. Dreaming is not limited to such geniuses. All successful people report that their success started with a hope, a dream. Over the years hundreds of men and women have reported that their achievements all started with a dream, which led to a goal, which led to a plan of action and inevitably to accomplishing the goal. Dreaming is not limited to the young.

and philosophy. Milton, in his blindness, was past the age of fifty when he sat down to complete his epic poem Paradise Lost. Dreaming is not limited to biases and prejudices of the times. For countless years, women have been restricted in what they can attempt to accomplish. Their career goals were once limited to what were considered “female jobs.” It took determination and courage to even think about other careers.

Believe In Your Dreams and You Will Achieve Them

rosperity begins in the mind and is impossible to achieve while the mental attitude is hostile to it. It is fatal to work for one thing and to expect something else, because everything must be created mentally first and is bound to follow its mental pattern. You cannot become prosperous if you really expect or half expect to remain poor. We tend to get what we expect, and to expect nothing is to get nothing. When every step you take is on the road to failure, how can you hope to arrive at the success goal? Facing the wrong way,

toward the black, depressing, hopeless outlook even though we may be, working in the opposite direction kills the results of our effort. Thoughts are magnets that attract things like ‘themselves. If your mind dwells upon poverty and disease, it will bring you poverty and disease. There is no possibility of you producing just the opposite of what you are holding in your mind, because your mental attitude is the pattern, which is built into your life. Your accomplishments are achieved mentally first. The terror of failure and the fear of coming to want and of possible humiliation keep multitudes of people from obtaining the very things they desire, by sapping their vitality and incapacitating them through worry and anxiety. Be an optimist. Develop the habit of looking at everything constructively, from the bright, hopeful side, the side of faith and assurance. Refrain from looking at life with doubt and uncertainty. Acquire the habit of believing the best is going to happen, that the right must triumph. Have faith that truth is bound finally to conquer error, that harmony and health are the reality and discord and disease the temporary absence of it. This is the attitude of the optimist, which will ultimately reform the world.

It is never too late to have a new dream that leads to new goals that lead to new successes. It is astonishing what people who have had their dreams late in life have accomplished. Benjamin Franklin was past fifty before he began the study of science

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LIFE COACH

Everything Starts with A Dream

Self-Esteem - The Basic Ingredient of SelfConfidence

elf-esteem is best defined as feeling good about oneself. People with high self-esteem believe that they are more likely to succeed in most things they do. They respect themselves and know that other people respect them. This does not mean that they are always optimistic about everything and are always cheerful and smiling. We all have bad days and experience times when everything seems to go wrong. People with high selfesteem can accept this and not let it overwhelm them. Self-esteem is an integral part of self-confidence. Before you can feel good about the decisions you make; you must believe in yourself. You must truly feel that you are someone of worth. If you do not have self-esteem, how can you be confident that your decisions are worthwhile? Why do people lack self-confidence? One common reason is that they may have failed in some activity early in their lives and fear this will happen again. Another is that other people, often teachers or even their own parents were never satisfied with their performance in school or other mat-

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When you concentrate on willpower, you only reinforce in your subconscious mind the act you are trying to overcome. For example, when a smoker, trying to break the habit, uses willpower, he or she keeps repeating, “I will not smoke.” The subconscious mind then focuses on the act of smoking. If, instead, the smoker concentrates on the joys of freedom from smoking, breathing clean, fresh, or-free air, and other benefits the subconscious mind responds accordingly. If you substitute positive thoughts ters and have left them with a feel- in your conscious mind to replace the ing of inferiority. Still others have negative ones, they will filter down tasted success only to have it fol- into the subconscious. lowed by some sort of failure and have let that failure dominate their minds and doom them to a lack of self-confidence in anything they do. The key to changing your feelings about yourself lies in your subConfidence is the very basis of all achievement. There is a tremendous I want self-confidence power in the conviction that we can but I can’t get it; I try do a thing. People who have great so hard; I force myself faith in themselves are relieved from a great many uncertainties as to to pray; I use all the they are in the right place, willpower 1 have,” you whether from doubts as to their ability, and must realize that your from fears regarding their future. Like error lies in your effort. most people, even if at this moment you may not be a roaring success in conscious mind. The only way for life, you probably are really proficient you to reach your subconscious in some of the things you do. mind is through your conscious mind. Your subconscious is always You may not be the best performer in controlled by the dominant idea. your department, but you may have Your subconscious will accept special capabilities in some aspects the stronger of two contradictory of the job that will earn you respect. propositions. If you say, “I want You may not have been as good an self-confidence but I can’t get it; I athlete as your classmates, but you try so hard; I force myself to pray; I may have produced some outstanduse all the willpower 1 have,” you ing work in your art class. You may not must realize that your error lies in make as much money as your neighyour effort. ‘Some people try to bours, but you can fix anything that is exert “willpower” to change their broken in your home and theirs. ways. It’s human to worry about your weaknesses and it gives some people Willpower is an overt attempt to do the incentive to improve them, but this. To achieve results, you must it makes many people feel inferior.

Capitalize on Your Strengths

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remove thoughts of the negative from the subconscious, and willpower only reinforces those thoughts. You cannot compel the subconscious mind to accept your idea by exercising willpower. Such attempts are doomed to failure and you get the opposite of what you pray for.

Never Consider Yourself a Failure

t is your estimates, your blueprints, and your beliefs about yourself that govern you. It is not some other person’s belief about you. If someone says to you, “You’re a failure; you’ll never amount to anything,” what should you do? Say to yourself, “What another person says about me is irrelevant. I’m born to win, to succeed. I must succeed. I’m going to succeed in a remarkable and unique way.” Every time any person says you are going to fail, it’s a stimulus to you to reinforce your faith in the power of

your subconscious, mind, which never fails. In other words, don’t blame others for your failures. Don’t blame conditions. Successful people work to overcome poor conditions. Sure, there will be failures, but that does not mean that you are a failure. You have within you the creative power to reverse failure, to move on to success. The other person doesn’t control you. Self-esteem grows within you with each success you have. Self-esteem will even grow when you meet occasional failure if you remember that the power is still with you and

you believe it and have proven it by your actions. You are what you think you are. You create yourself in the image you have of yourself is your own mind. Self-esteem and self-confidence are nothing more than the projection of your image of yourself. If you maintain a strong positive self-image, you will be a happier and more successful person. You will be a person able to hurdle over roadblocks no matter how difficult and achieve the goals you set for yourself.

sent jobs, often despite the attainment of a fair measure of success. In order to achieve a full measure of success and happiness it would be wise for those unfortunate persons to consider a change to a more appealing vocation as soon as practicable.

Your greatest need is to believe in yourself, in what you are doing, and in your ultimate destiny. Self-reliance, or self-confidence, finds its greatest outlet when it is accompanied by a belief that your real self is God-given and that with

This problem of vocational change, though serious, can be solved smoothly and happily without loss of prestige and financial security, if intelligently planned and executed. It is amazing what miracles can be wrought if serious thought and intelligent action are applied to the problems of life.

God all things are possible. Make up your mind now, this minute. You can have what you wish to possess; and it will be done unto

you, as you believe. Follow the age-old maxim: Be sure you are right, then go ahead. Let nothing move you or shake your conviction. Make it a part of your mental program. And with this kind of belief you will inevitably succeed and move forward in life.

Change If You Must

here are, however, some people who cannot, unfortunately, rid themselves of a deep-rooted aversion to their pre-

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The ideal vocationa is, of course, for everyone to be engaged in work for which he is suited by talent, skill, temperament and training. This is the objective of our present-day vocational guidance agencies.

I know, from personal experience, how very true this is. Change can be made successfully at any time of life, though it does naturally become more and more difficult with increasing age. Change of vocation for me, though dangerously late, turned out to be the open sesame to success and happiness. Divine timing! It can be the same for you, too, if you will plan it carefully, prepare for it intelligently, and then enter your new work with enthusiasm and complete dedication. Change of vocation for me, though dangerously late, turned out to be the open sesame to success and happiness. It can be the same for you, too, if you will plan it carefully, prepare for it intelligently, and then enter your new work with enthusiasm and complete dedication. Don’t tolerate a second-rate life and don’t settle for anything less than a GORGEOUS way of living! A fulfilling life is a valued life. At its deepest level – FULFILLMENT is about finding and experiencing a life of purpose and service. It is about reaching one’s full potential.

www.estelagalorport.com Fusion Magazine

LIFE COACH

Instead of brooding about what you cannot do well, glorify in your mind the things at which you are really good. The result: Your self-esteem. and your self-confidence will grow and propel you forward to success in all your endeavours.

Big Skin Changes at Your 40’s by: Kristine Rodriguez-Lucas

I have always been excited about when they say that “life begins at your 40’s”. Recently, writers would even say “40’s is the new 30’s”! It seems it is a great decade to look forward to. Little did I know that these sayings are not entirely true if we are talking about our skin. I’ve had friends in their 40’s complaining about their skin transforming for the worse and I couldn’t relate until I experienced it myself. As I’ve read books, I learned that menopausal changes start around age 44 and affects the skin as well due to decline in estrogen, the hormone responsible for keeping our skin moist and supple. Our hair also becomes more brittle and the growth slows down. I’ve seen women in their forties starting to have pimples, something they never experienced their whole adult life and as they start to stress about this, the more the pimples appear. For previously oily skin, the skin becomes drier so this time is actually where their skin calms down and has better resistance to the drought that begins in their 40s. As our collagen production slows down the turnover of our dead skin cells on the top layer of our epidermis slows down as well so it starts to look dull and sometimes even flaky. Other effects of this collagen production slow down includes the loss of tightness in your jaw area and drooping of the cheeks and the eyelids.

milder, serums and face masks should be added. If you still don’t exfoliate your skin, this is a good time to start doing it, but make sure you use a non-drying type. The change comes with using more natural ingredients that promise realistic beautiful skin. Benefits to look for include: anti-oxidants to fight the accumulation of free-radicals in our skin and essential fatty acids. My favorites include rosehip oil, virgin coconut oil and argan oil. These plant oils are absorbed quickly by our skin, making it a more effective alternative. Just remember that intensive exfoliation even if done just once a week, is now an essential part of your skin care. Include the neck and décolletage area as this too begins to dry and age at this decade.

A TIME FOR CHANGE. This is a special moment when you come into terms of what you want to achieve in the next half of your life and you want to be kinder to yourself and to your body. This is therefore a good time to take moisturization to a new level. For dry skin, your moisturizer formulation should become creamier, your cleansers should be

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If you need some drastic ways to revive your skin, I recommend the following:

2. Microneedling – this procedure is normally done with a help of a professional, but a lot of people who have been suffering with problematic skin have resulted to learning this on their own. The point of this procedure is it creates hundreds of very tiny holes into the skin that induces trauma to it in order to stimulate reproduction of collagen that is being depleted in your 40’s. This is also called microneedling therapy system, because it requires several sessions for the collagen reproduction to pile up and make the skin plump again. This is often mixed with very natural ampoules that is mostly made of stem cell of plants giving you the best that nature can offer. 3. Essential Oil based formulation for moisturization - becoming very famous in the last few years, essential oils is well loved by those who try it because it is therapeutic and does wonders to the skin. Read up on ingredients that suit your personal skin situation as each kind has different focus, from dry & sensitive to oily skin.

https://leicestershirelaserandlipo.co.uk/nimue-microneedling/

1. Dry brushing – the most affordable way to stimulate your collagen, encourage lymph to flow freely giving your skin and body life and eventually even remove cellulites. It may sound harsh or even hurt so you have to find one that is stiff enough but doesn’t scratch the skin. Best done before taking a shower brush from the soles of your feet upward, working towards your heart. Focus on flabby areas such as the back of your arms or thighs and pimple prone areas like the back. Avoid any sensitive area and broken skin.

5. Our skin becomes extra sensitive during this time so choose ingredients with as little chemical additives as much as possible. Do not buy products in big bottles just yet, if you can purchase samplers you will have a better chance of assessing if you will not be allergic to the ingredient. 6.Lastly, if you need to wear make-up, this is the time to learn how to use liquid formulations instead of too much powder. Applying heavy powder can make your lines appear more visible. Mixing a little bit of moisturizer to your foundation or applying a good prime with moisturizing benefits will help make lines look lesser or blurs it out at least.

4. The care you do for your face should be done for your neck and hands too. Sometimes age is really shown on the neck and the hands as we normally just take good care of our face and the other two important parts are left dry and flaky. These two areas need creamier formulations as well when you reach the decade of 40’s. While we are talking about other areas of the body, we may also notice our feet becoming very dry and eventually our knees start to wrinkle so give them love as well.

Taking supplements will definitely help in this decade when they say life begins. Calcium and magnesium as well as Omega-3’s are one of the famous choices but each of our needs differs from person to person, so it is best to consult your health practitioner about this. These days, it is not just a family doctor that can be consulted but a lot go to naturopathic and functional medicine practitioners for a wholistic view on what can help you with preventing or delaying degeneration. As for me, above all that has been listed above, positivity and faith is still top in my list of being my best at my 40’s .

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Amaka Osakwe Amaka Osakwe is a Nigerian designer and the owner of fashion brand Maki Oh. She founded her womenswear business in 2010. Many notable women have worn her clothing including Solange Knowles, Azaelia Banks, and former First Lady, Michelle Obama. Anifa Mvuemba Anifa Mvuemba recently made Vogue UK when she staged an Instagram Live fashion show using 3D renderings instead of models, giving viewers a glimpse inside the future of post-COVID-19 fashion. She began her fashion career at 21, and she’s a trendsetter, for sure. Aryea Kolubah Bold. Daring. Colorful. All three words don’t do justice when it comes to describing 23-yearold Aryea Kolubah’s eponymous brand. She uses bold ethnic prints with bright colors to create garments for women not afraid to make a splash. Recently, she’s added masks and headwraps to her collection. Berny Martin Berny Martin is the designer behind Catou. He designs both womenswear and menswear that makes a splash. He started his brand in 2005 for professionals. He’s received international recognition including from MTV, BET, and Ebony Magazine. Carly Cushnie Carlie Cushnie, owner of CUSHNIE, established her brand in 2008. Her aesthetic is one that embraces sculptural, clean lines and precise tailoring. In addition to Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Biel, Ashley Graham and Beyoncé have sported her garments. Chantel Davis CASTAMIRA is Chantel Davis’ luxury swimwear brand. This former model wanted to create swimwear that looks good on every body while also having impeccable fit. Her initial collection is made up on one piece suits. Christopher John Rogers Christopher John Rogers is a recent recipient of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. Prior to that, he was making his gorgeous gowns and suits from his apartment living room in Brooklyn. We’re definitely thankful he was able to

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Darryl Brown Darryl Brown started his career as a steel worker before he made his mark in the fashion industry. Darryl Brown has styled Kanye West, and recently released his first collection. This collection is inspired by those working in blue-collar industries. Dumebi Iyamah Duembi Iyamah is another Nigerian fashion designer and is the owner of the Andrea Iyamah fashion brand. She founded her brand when she was 17 and works in both Ontario, Canada and Lagos, Nigeria to create global fashion that makes a statement. Fe Noel Fe Noel designs womenswear. She uses a lot of color and bold prints in her designs. She takes inspiration from her Caribbean heritage and brings that to every project she works on with her collections. Bright red bodysuits, crop tops, and sheer pants are all part of the summer collection. Glenroy March Glenroy March’s House of D’Marsh launched in 2003. He obtained his training from studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts working in the costume department. He loves architecture and works to incorporate it and his surroundings in his designs. James Flemons James Flemons is the designer behind Phlemuns. His creations embrace unisex pieces with classic silhouettes. His current collection includes masks, sweatpants, sweaters, and backless t-shirts. Most of his clothing is androgynous and both men and women will want to be wearing his latest styles. Kenneth Ize Kenneth Ize brings Nigerian crafts to textiles and fashion. He works directly with artisans in Nigeria to produce his colorful and culturally inspired designs. Recent pieces in his collection are bright and embrace orange, bright green, and other bright colors to create a unique menswear collection. Kerby Jean-Raymond Kerby Jean-Raymond is the mastermind behind brand Pyer Moss. My favorite piece in the collection is the red wide-leg silk tuxedo trouser. Everything in the Pyer Moss collection has an architectural quality about it that stands out from competitors. Kyemah Mcentyre Kyemah Mcentyre made headlines for her gorgeous prom dress made with an African print. It went viral and celebrated black pride. Her brand, The Mind of Kye launched while she was still a student at Parsons design. She has dresses, masks, tops and more in her online shop. Laquan Smith Laquan Smith started his brand in 2013 when he was just 21 years old. He learned patternmaking and sewing from his grandmother and developed

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DESIGNERS

Akosua Afriyie-Kumi Akosua Afriyie-Kumi founded AAKS to share weaving techniques from Ghana with the world at large while also creating a sustainable job market in Ghana. AAKS bags are all hand-woven, and they come in a variety of bright colors.

get a studio in Soho. His creations are now available on Net-A-Porter.

You’ve added new books to your “to read” list. You’ve added activist tasks to your “must-do” list. You’ve learned the names of all of the black representatives in your state. Now, it’s time to get familiar with the black designers who will have you looking fabulous the next time you’re ready to dress to impress.

Ade Hassan Ade Hassan launched lingerie and hosiery company, Nubian Skin, in 2014. She wanted to fill a need for women with darker skin to have lingerie and hosiery with four skin tones to help women find their own “nude” color to wear under other garments.

BLACK

a passion for design. Laquan Smith loves glamour and he creates garments with an amazing attention to detail from his studio in Long Island, New York. Liya Kebede Liya Kebede, designer behind lemlem, is a supermodel turned fashion icon. After taking a trip to Ethiopia, Kebede became inspired by the traditional weavers she met there. Her brand is committed to highlighting Ethiopian artisanship using handwoven natural cotton from Ethiopia. Martine Rose Martine Rose is a menswear designer who lives in London. Martine launched her label in 2007. She takes inspiration from her Jamaican-British heritage and her love of music. Her designs include jeans with unique patterns, t-shirts with fun graphics, and men’s shirts with unique fabrics. Matthew Harris Matthew Harris of Mateo New York is the son of a seamstress. While he studied hospitality management, he discovered that his real love is jewelry design. He founded Mateo New York in 2009, and while it began as a men’s jewelry company, he’s since released a women’s collection. Rebecca Henry Rebecca Henry founded The Dolls House in 2012 as a made-to-order fashion company. Her clothing is created to be feminine but edgy, and she puts a lot of detail in the draping of her creations. Flowing velvet tops, boxy sequin skirts, dramatic dresses are all part of her signature. Reuben Reuel Reuben Reuel’s DEMESTIK is a fashion brand that is committed to sustainability and ethically created garments. As a designer, it’s important to Reuel to create a blend of past present and future in each garment he creates. He embraces color and pattern in his designs for a beautiful aesthetic.

by: Rhonda Bowen for Catouwear

YOU NEED TO KNOW

Romeo Hunte Fashion has inspired Romeo Hunte from his youth. Instead of going into sports, for which he had scholarship offers, he decided to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer and launched his brand in 2014. He created Beyoncé’s “break the internet” dress and has been a notable brand icon since. Sindiso Khumalo Sindiso Khumalo is based in cape town. She designs textiles and is passionate about sustainability in fashion and working with the International Trade Centre Ethical Fashion Initiative. She works to develop handmade watercolor and collaged textiles with an emphasis on African storytelling. Te’Arrow Hoggard Te’Arrow Hoggard works full time to create a fashion line for women regardless of size. She’s committed to promoting body positivity and creating sensual fashion that works well for all figures. She uses a lot of sheer lace in her designs and plays with a mix of form-fitting and beautifully draped fabrics. Telfar Clemens Telfar Clemen’s fashion line, TELFAR, is a unisex

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clothing line. Telfar was created in 2005 in New York City and is an international brand. The slogan for TELFAR is “It’s not for you – it’s for everyone.” Brand highlights include jewelry, hats, belts, and fun sportswear that works for everyone. Thebe Magugu Thebe Magugu is a South African designer focusing on women’s ready to wear clothing and accessories. They have an exceptional and clean aesthetic with motifs from Africa’s history and culture. Their clothing blends the modern with the traditional and has looks for work and for fun. Thulare Mongareng Thulare Mongareng, the designer behind Oketsa, uses bright colors and sharp impressions to create a brand that stands out. The brand’s roots are in South Africa, but Thulare Mongareng is an Indiana resident. The brand mission is to create a style that resonates globally using indigenous cultural iconography. Tia Adeola Tia Adeola, owner of fashion line Slashed by Tia, uses her background in art history and interest in the Renaissance period as well as her worldly upbringing to create a brand that appeals to a diverse range of women. She created her brand in 2017, two years before graduating from The New School. Undra Celeste Undra Celeste’s brand tailors “modern workwear for the modern woman.” Her clothing is fun, colorful, yet appropriate for the office – or home office. Undra Celeste New York is a wonderful mix of classic “basics” that are anything but basic and statement pieces that are restrained enough for everyday wear. Victor Glemaud Victor Glemaud was born in Haiti. His brand focuses on creating statement knitwear and leisurewear that is both comfortable and stylish. He launched in 2006 and has since been a finalist in the 2017 CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund. Ashley Graham, Dominique Jackson and Selena Gomez have all been seen in his designs. Viviane Valerius Viviane Valerius is a Haiti-born designer. She creates flowing wedding dresses and eveningwear. She designs for women of all sizes and combines elegance with an easy-to-wear feeling, even when it comes to her couture pieces. Her work has an ethereal feel to it and is stunning on the runway and coming down the aisle. Wales Bonner Wales Bonner founded her brand in 2014. She began her brand as a menswear brand, but then expanded it to womenswear. Much of her line is unisex – it could be worn and rocked by either men or women. Her clothing is sporty and fun, and she plays a lot with patterns and proportions. Yemisi Sanni Yemisi Sanni is the designer behind Stylenspire. She’s from the Yorùbá tribe of Lagos, Nigeria and one of ten children. She strongly identified with fashion as a child and as a teen could reproduce a garment after studying a photograph. Her brand is all about bright bold colors and having fun with form.

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UNVEIL THE HIDDEN SURPRISE WAITING FOR YOU IN YOUR DECEMBER STARS

DE CEM BER Fusion Magazine

tella Vegas, Founder of Legendary Astrology and Creator of The Alchemical Astrology. She calls astrology she is practicing Alchemical because the blend between Psychological Astrology, Transformational Life Coaching, and Master NLP combines the best of these fields and provides truly powerful insights and tools for self-understanding, empowerment, transformation, and psychological and spiritual growth. Stella has been working to help people help themselves in one on one consultations since the 1990s. Her goal is to counsel you towards greater insight and help provide clarity and practical solutions. Her readings are in-depth, action-orientated, empowering, and delivered with compassion, humor, and grace. Enjoy December, dear readers! Best wishes, Stella Vegas

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Dear friends, With the beginning of December, you are on the very brink of witnessing the start of a new major astrological event. On December 21. Jupiter and Saturn, both planets know as Markers of the Time form their historic conjunction which takes place about every 20 years. And it is extra special conjunction because it

also marks the start of a new roughly 200-year cycle during which Jupiter and Saturn will start meeting in the Air Signs (Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra). Rare Alignment between Jupiter and Saturn is set to shake things up politically, socially, and in your personal life as well. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s explore what it is all about!!!

HIGHLIGHTS FOR SHORTER CYCLE TILL MARCH 2023 AND COVID DRAMA

lot has been talked about 21. December because it could be a bumpy ride when Saturn and Jupiter move into airy Aquarius and out of earthy Capricorn. Collectively, there will be two distinct periods, one shorter one which will end when Saturn leaves Aquarius in March 2023 and a larger 20 years cycle.

individually we are always presented with several choices regards our direction. Jupiter expands current circumstances BUT entrance of Jupiter in the sign of Aquarius from 21. December till the end of December 2021 also presents us with brand new 12 months for an urgent breakthrough opportunity to expand our awareness and unite together and seriously question are all these restrictions really neces-

To get a premonition of the themes influenced by the Grand Conjunction till March 2023, we need only to look back recently to the 21st of March this year. From the astrological perspective, I have over and over referred to 2020 as the biggest attempt on money and control heist in human history. It was on this date 21st of March 2020, when Saturn entered into the Aquarius for the first time, exactly as Covid hysteria unravelled to the full extent. The challenging influence with this grand conjunction is, it is like Jupiter to expand and amplify whatever it finds at the moment of arrival. In many ways, 2020 is setting up conflicts for 2021. This is suggesting there is a huge potential Covid will make an impact on our living in various ways till March 2023. But at any time collectively and

sary and serving the greater good for all of us or are they serving the need of minority for greater control and greed marked by PlutoJupiter-Saturn transit in 2020 and then act accordingly. What is our destiny collectively? Further restrictions or liberation? It is really up to our choices and actions! In January, transiting Jupiter will also be forming a catalytic square aspect with Uranus in Taurus. At these crucial points Jupiter and Uranus will set a new tide and severely challenge most societal structures and whatever has become outworn and outdated will be challenged to crumble down. This transit is most focused between 11th and 28th of January. Days around 27th January 2021 are particularly highly charged.

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HOW CAN I USE THE GRAND CONJUNCTION TO MY ADVANTAGE IN MY PERSONAL LIFE? High Stakes and Wise Choices Ask yourself what you need to leave behind and what you truly desire to carry forward. This planetary revolutionary conundrum will impel you to release old personal dreams and whatever is not in an alignment with who you are. If you have planets in fixed signs Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius between 4-7 degrees you will feel this influence shake your ground in the second part of January in 2021. A Grand Saturn-Jupiter Conjunction in December 2020 represents a time for you to release old habits to make way for new ways of doing things. If you aren’t open to change, it can feel uncomfortable. But if you are, you can

make incredible progress toward dreams you’ve held onto for a long time. The expansive nature of Jupiter and the structure of Saturn team up to help you accomplish something that may have felt like a reach before but is now totally within your grasp. Since Jupiter and Saturn both have to do with professional achievements, this is great energy to channel toward career success. Depending on where in your birth chart this grand conjunction falls and how it affects the rest of your chart further important distinction can be made. Picking the right direction isn’t easy, that is because there are a dozen directions, all of them looking about the same but only one is the right one.

Exploring your whole birth chart with an experienced professional whom you can trust is where you can discover your best direction. Your birth chart is the essence of your personality, a key to what makes YOU, a blueprint to your soul. Having an in-depth reading for your next year is most

you haven’t done your birth chart reading yet or some time has passed since you had one, now might be the right time to take action as New Year is coming closer, and having an in-depth reading for your next year is most beneficial in many ways. Find out a bit more on how what and when astrology guidance can help you and take an advantage now of the amazing introductory offer + extra special bonus as a reader of Fusion magazine at: https://www.legendaryastrology.com/fusion/

P.S.

My marketing maverick says I am mad to offer a combined birth chart blueprint and predictive forecast reading at such a steal (it’s a 2 hour session with a 1 hour follow up which needs to be used up within 3 months) but I always love to surprise my readers. For more details on the exact offer click the link and see what it is all about. https://www.legendaryastrology.com/fusion/

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