When I first thought of starting a magazine, I was like "Yeah!" I began researching and so on and then I thought, "Wait- how do I get paid off of this?" Then I considered the idea of selling the magazine and having viewers pay to view it, but I decided against that. Then I remembered I was once a marketing major and I could sell advertisement space, so I had a plan. Yet I know that in order to seek buyers, my magazine must boast quality and display stamina, and I have been working hard to build up our credibility. Now when I meet people and mention that I own a magazine, one of their following responses is something like, "Well you must be getting paid then!" My response is always no, but it is like they do not understand. "Why do you do it then?" "How do you make your money?"
I find it kind of funny, because I believe I have created the best job in the world for myself. Yes work is required, but I almost feel like I am cheating with my reward. I love what I do! I am happy! I get to meet new people, and everyone is always so friendly and welcoming! I get to attend nice events and be treated like a "somebody," and I am on the other end of the camera!
My mind often goes to the Trident commercial when they ask to pay the babysitter in gum. To us as viewers, we are looking at that like,"what?" It's funny! Yet who knows, maybe the young lady is in a smiling contest or something. You never know what is going on in people's lives, which is my whole point exactly.
I have been working extremely hard to become the woman I feel I am destined to be. When I was a teenager until I was about 23, I would make lists of the characteristics I wanted instilled in myself, things I needed to work on. People do not understand that mostly everything I learned about being a woman came from Omar Tyree's Fly Girl, Maya Angelou's autobiography series, Eric Jerome Dickey, and E. Lynn Harris. I did not sit and actually talk with anyone or interact and aquire learned behavior. Of course, I had friends and family, but I always felt there was something more, something outside of my usual enviroment. I wanted to know how the professional, independent women lived. I had began to live through the women in these books, but I needed more. What was normal to them? I needed to know if they ever experienced the same things I felt? Do these powerful women ever get their heartbroken? Are they faithful wives and loving mothers? I wanted the real scoop. I needed to know if I was normal.
When I talk with the women featured in my magazine. I learn the answers to these questions. I like to get in people's heads because most people say I do not think like them. I want to know if that is true. So far from what I am seeing, it is half and half. I am amazed at the things I sometimes have in common with guests. You know we tend to be more attracted to those who share the same qualities as us, as opposed to those who are not like us, so I fall easily, because I am always intrigued.
These women tell me their stories and talk to me, and I learn so much more than a book could ever show. I will learn more than I will probably live in my lifetime, and that is where the cheating comes in. Ladies, can you imagine how much further along we would be if we sat and opened up with each other? Instead of watching your sister sit and make the same stupid mistakes that you did, only now we are living in different times so the consequences might be twice as hard, what if you sat down and told her your story? Of course, in the end she will do what she wants, but sometimes the fact that there is experience behind the voice will make you think twice.
Since I moved to Louisiana, there is so much I have learned about women and being a woman in general, and I am still learning. I am beginning to understand what is acceptable and what is not. Men see a pretty package and think, " Oh, she got her stuff together" only to later realize they have only gotten themselve a big kids meal supersized, so they are not totally at fault when you find out they added someone else to the team to fill in for your shortcomings. Now imagine what it would be like to be truly ahead of the game. Imagine that you do not have to take the fall because someone has already did it for you. In the Cubicles: A Novel by Camika Spencer, the main character, Faulkner, is in the middle of a 30 ( I believe that is the amount, been a while) year feud between two coworkers/ best friends, and she does not know. The woman she dislikes the most holds insights that could prevent Faulkner from experiencing things to come, but... I will let you read the book. Anyway, the twists always had me thinking, and I do not like "what if's."
When I do a recording, I am taking in every word on camera and off. The things on camera are saved and published, but the things off camera are saved and practiced. I have some ways to go getting SwagHer off the ground, but I am storing all this knowledge so in time I will produce something not only unforgettable but also unbreakable, and not just SwagHer Magazine, but also ME. I feel like I am storing up power to release a storm. I see the progress in myself. I can mark off some of those characteristics on my list now.
If you are not understanding all of this right now, in time you will see. My mission is to empower women, to educate and enlighten, but we shall venture on this journey together. That is why I keep this blog, because I am living my life publicly. When I am soaring ,you can see it, and you can see it when I am falling. I am the biggest advocate for keeping it real. Now yes, I do want to get paid, because I am true Libra to the fullest, loving beautiful people and beautiful things, and Trident cannot pay for all I am desiring. I know that it is coming, so for now I am living off the intangible.
-Fancy, 24 hrs from Greatness
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