Goddess Inspiration: Ralph Waldo Emerson

CONTEST: How are you influenced by green?

How are you influenced by the color green? Are you on a paper chase? Do you take extra steps to care for the environment? Goddess Zuri wants to know.

Visit our facebook page and leave a comment on the contest posting. You could will this bracelet, made with hand-painted wooden beads from Indonesia.

Contest ends on Friday, April 1st, at midnight.

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What's Your Shade of Green?

Green. It’s a color that most of us wear but not every shade looks good on us. There’s green with envy, money green, environmental green, beginner’s green, and marijuana green. At some point in each of our lives, we’ve probably worn at least one of these shades. Which shade are you wearing?

Green with Envy. It could have been the skinny bella at work who set you off as you looked down at the 10 extra pounds clinging to your waist. Or maybe it was your friend’s near-perfect relationship that reminded you of your lack thereof. Or was it thoughts about your sibling’s professional success that led you to question your career? Whatever your reason is for wearing this shade of green doesn't matter.

Fashion consultants encourage avoidance of it as it tends to be unflattering and easily emphasizes the extra poundage you may be trying to lose.

Money Green. It’s hard not to be influenced by this shade of green, especially when society encourages possession of it. To stunt like people in music videos, you need it. To vacation like the folks on reality shows, you need it. And to simply pay the bills and keep gas in the car, you need it.

Fashion consultants advise that the motivation behind wearing this green mostly determines how it will look on you.

Environmental Green. Recycling instead of trashing. Biking instead of driving. Reusing instead of abusing.

Fashion consultants agree that taking steps to save our planet is always a good look.

Beginner’s Green. You've likely worn this hue at some point in your life if you’ve started something new without knowing all the ins and outs of the particular task. It could have been a new job, school, relationship, workout routine, or baby that elicited your inexperience.

Fashion consultants agree that this shade of green is OK to wear but not for an extended period of time. At some point it should be updated with a more ripened tone.

Marijuana Green. Weed, often referred to as ‘green,’ is a favorite shade for many people, and maybe you. It's said to have a calming effect and possess the ability to influence creativity, thought, and pleasure.

Fashion consultants warn that this color, despite its ability to calm and relax, can make you appear lazy and unmotivated.

So, what’s your shade of green? Have you worn any of these? We’d love to hear about alternate shades of green, too.

Goddess of the Week: Linda J.

Name: Linda J.

Hometown:Houston,TX
Hobbies: church activities, reading the bible, spending time with family
What makes you a fly goddess?: I strive daily to be an individual, to set myself apart from others, to be happy with who I am.
What advice do you have for women who are trying to free their goddess?: Be yourself; accept all that God has made you to be. "Don't be a clone."

Goddess Zuri is Spring Cleaning | 50% Off Sale!

Goddess Zuri is SPRING CLEANING! Get the I'm A Natural and 100% Natural long sleeve shirts for 50% OFF, now thru March 31st.

I'm A Natural- If you're a natural woman, natural beauty or natural diva, this is the shirt for you! This slim-fitting, 100% cotton waffle thermal crew was made specifically for women who are naturally fresh, naturally fly and naturally fabulous!

-Color- black or emerald with metallic silver imprint.

100% Natural- No artificial ingredients. No additives. This slim-fitting, 100% cotton waffle thermal crew was made specifically for women who are rocking what God gave them. Real hair. Real nails. Real eyes. Real assets.
-Color- black with metallic silver imprint.

Helpful Hints: Shirts fit true to size, but if you want a little extra room, go one size up.

-For longevity, machine wash cold, hang dry.

Price Tag

I recently found out about Jessie J, an artist out of London that hit the U.S. stage not too long ago, and I'm digging her style and content. Here's a dead-on description of her vocal style, as I see it, from her bio.

"Mix a bit of Rihanna with Gwen Stefani, add the charisma of Pink, and you will start to get an idea of what kind of girl Jessie J is. As much as she can be a voice for the hard times, those soulful, Aretha Franklin-esque vocals can also soundtrack the best of times too. Take the Dr. Luke (Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus) produced song "Price Tag"—an upbeat, energetic dance number that highlights Jessie’s booming voice and can still stand out amidst glossy production."

Take a listen to "Price Tag," and you decide if the description is accurate.

Goddess Inspiration: Christian D. Larson

Get the 100% Natural Tank for $10 thru Sunday!

Goddess Zuri's 100% Natural tank will be $10 thru Sunday, the beginning of Daylight Saving Time.

Reg. $22. That's a 55% Savings! Get your tank before the sale is over.

100% Natural. No artificial ingredients. No additives. This 100% cotton, slim-fitting tank was made specifically for women who are rocking what God gave them. Real hair. Real nails. Real eyes. Real assets. Color- red.

Looks great on the authentic.

Sale ends Sunday, March 13th at midnight.

Go to www.goddesszuri.com to start shopping.

A Black Woman's Smile: In Celebration of Women's History Month

Do you know how hard it is to make a Black woman smile? Listen to the powerful words of Ty Gray-El's spoken word piece.

March is Women's History Month. Be sure to tell the women in your life how much you appreciate and love them this month...and everyday.

[This video is unable to be embedded, so please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPBH57BWhpE]

Where Do Opportunities Come From?

Do opportunities fall from the sky, come about by chance, or live in the air? Are they reserved for the privileged and beautiful?

Not so much.

Opportunities come from you. You are responsible for creating, recognizing, and taking advantage of them. Simple as that.

When I initially considered this question, my first inclination was to say opportunities come from God. But since God lives in you…

I make the distinction between creating and recognizing opportunities because many people don’t always detect what they produce. For example, a person can create several opportunities by going to college. She may have a roommate whose father works in the same field she is studying. Without seeing this opportunity, though, she never thinks to ask her friend's father about setting up an informal interview, developing a mentorship or interning at his company.

You create opportunities by living. You recognize opportunities by focusing. And you position yourself to take advantage of opportunities by working…hard.

The beautiful thing about life is you create opportunities every day—opportunities to learn, grow, listen, build, love, help, and live on purpose. But many of them go unnoticed and pass right by.

So, here are a few tips to help you identify the opportunities you create:

1. Seek God’s guidance. Get focused on and connected to your inner light. It has the ability to shine brightly and illuminate opportunities you may miss with the naked eye.

2. Ask yourself questions. Is this an opportunity right in front of me? What would happen if I ___________?

3. View your environment through the eye of your interest. If you love dancing, lead your day with thoughts of dancing in mind. What you’ll start to see around you are opportunities to dance.

At the beginning and end of the day, you are responsible for creating, recognizing and taking advantage of opportunities. No one else. Nothing else.

Fall In Love [Your Funeral]

Love this song....at least she warned them.....

Above The Grind

He’s nearly six feet with an athletic build and a million-dollar smile, compassionate, well-groomed, easygoing and brilliant. The makings of your ideal guy, right? Not so fast. I should also mention that he’s approaching 30 and jobless, lives at home with his mama and borrows money from friends.

So, how does a brilliant young man with multiple degrees and aspirations to become a lawyer and sports agent end up in his mom’s basement? The explanation is simple; he places himself above the grind.

Grind (intransitive verb): to do hard, menial or monotonous work.

He delayed law school to first gain financial stability (from a job that he’s not diligently looking for). He quit a previously held post because he didn’t like his less intelligent manager telling him what to do. His mind stores many inventive ideas but his heart lacks the burning hunger to put (and keep) them in motion.

Intelligence doesn’t exempt you from the grind, it actually marries you to it. And if you decide not to participate in your marriage….well, you might find yourself in a similar position.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, he gives examples of the grind and how it helped produce various household names. Bill Joy started programming when he was a freshman in college. From that point on, it became his life. “He programmed whenever he could,” notes Gladwell. “He even got a job with a computer science professor so he could program over the summer.” After graduating from college, he co-founded the Silicon Valley firm Sun Microsystems, which was one of the most critical players in the computer revolution.

Near the beginning of their career, The Beatles performed for 270 nights in just over a year and a half, and “by the time they had their first burst of success in 1964, they had performed live an estimated twelve hundred times,” according to Outliers.

Founder of Microsoft Bill Gates, though very well-to-do, wasn't above the grind. He started programming when he was 13. When he was 16, he used the computers at a local college from 3-6 am to get more practice programming; this was the only time that the college’s computers were available.

In another example, Gladwell recaps a research study that focused on world-class violinists. The research suggested, according to Outliers, “that once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That’s it.”

Each example highlights innately talented and probably well connected people, but their grind separated them from others in their field and contributed tremendously to their success. This brings up a good point. Their grind was directed toward a passion or interest. An aimless grind is futile and simply means you’re working hard for no real reason.

Look at your own friends. It’s probably safe to assume that the ones who have identified their passion and work at it daily are in a much different place than the friends who don’t.

In essence, if you are not grinding, you are not growing. The grind builds character and confidence, and some form of it is absolutely necessary for success. If you place yourself above the grind, you place yourself above winning. And who doesn’t want to win? Well, maybe the six foot guy with an athletic build and million-dollar smile.