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YMM's Highlights |
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This section is for you. If you have news or comments that you want to share. Please let me know and I will post it. |
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Yvelette's Watch |
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Here is a list of some of my articles/events happening in the near future.
www.yvelettestines.com
February 2010
New York Fashion Week. I will be there!!!
March/April 2010
Green Business
Quarterly
March/April 2010
Hispanic Executive Quarterly
May/June 2010
Green Business Quarterly
July/August 2010
Hispanic Executive Quarterly
Summer 2010
Purely Delicious Magazine
More to come! The rest is in the manifestation process :) | |
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Dear Friends and Colleagues:
Today is a very important Holiday for many reasons. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is also known as a day of service. I hope that each of you give within your community or in someway. I donated money to relief organizations in Haiti. The situation in Haiti has my heart broken into both despair and hope. A country that many people feel was lost and forgotten is now embraced by the world. A country that was a country to abolish slavery and claim their own independence is enslaved in a different kind of way. The hopeful part is people are seeing the need to help and actually helping. I pray that is consistent and long term so the country can rebuild adequately.
At this time, I would also like to thank everyone who has contacted me in regards to my family. I woke up Wednesday morning to an overwhelming amount of emails, text messages and voice mails. One of many things that we can learn from the Haitian people is the concept of character, strength and faith. As life continues it feels as if the world has stopped for many. As we celebrate King's birthday it is a bit symbolic that the Haitian people created independence for themselves and slaves and Dr. King created a way for many of us to have the opportunities that we do today. For some of you it is simply a day off, but I hope you take some time out to reflect and find a way to give back.
This month I interviewed two amazing writers. Nikki Nokes, who I met in third grade on the playground at Detroit Country Day, it was my first year there. I was on the big toy getting ready to go down the slide and some boy pulled my hair, then said "I didn't know Diana Ross was your momma." then pushed me down the slide right into a pile of mud. Before I could get up, here comes Nikki, chasing him down through the playground. We've been friends ever since. She wrote the book Maybe... It's You, a relationship book for single women who are wondering why they are not in a relationship.
Erika Martinez, I met her about seven years ago at VONA. She is a Dominican writer who lives in California and teaches writing in the Dominican Republic. She is currently working on her anthology.
I wish each of you a blessed 2010!
xo,
Yvelette |
| Crossing Borders |
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The publishing process can be a road of twists and turns. For Erika Martinez she is on the path toward publication and embracing the ride with hope and determination. "Hearing no doesn't stop me. In writing, you hear no a lot but you just have to climb the hill and keep going," she says.
Her path started at Teatro Luna, a Theater company where she wrote productions. She then attended the VONA writing workshop in San Francisco. It was there her life would change. "I took a memoir workshop, and my instructor, Elmaz Abinader was very encouraging in regards to my work. At VONA, I realized that I wanted to deepen my study in writing," she says. She moved to California to attend Mills College and received her MFA. Upon graduation, she questioned her direction in life. "I realized I had no energy to climb the corporate ladder in accounting. Elmaz encouraged me to quit my job. I promised myself if I received the fellowship I applied for I would quit." She kept her self promise, and won both the Fulbright and Hedgebrook Fellowships which led her to travel and write in her homeland the Dominican Republic.
The fellowships allowed her to focus and work on her anthology titled Quisqueyanas: Contemporary Writings by Dominican Women, a book that tells about their experiences through fiction, essay and poetry. As she continues work, she was honored to teach creative writing. "Teaching these classes was so inspiring, in the Dominican Republic writing classes are not common so I was happy to help others express themselves creatively," she says.
With creative expression on a national and international basis Martinez is ecstatic about her writing life. Her advice to others, "have faith and consistently work on what you want to happen. It is important to hold your self accountable, it is hard but worth it."
For more information www.erikammartinez.com. | |
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Looking Within |
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Nikki Nokes grew up in West Bloomfield Michigan. After graduating from Harvard Law School she spent some time on the east coast. Presently, Nokes lives in Los Angeles and works as an attorney in the music Industry. Maybe...It's You is her first book.
What influenced you to write Maybe...It's You?
There came a point where I literally felt overwhelmed by the multitude of media stories circulating that professional women, and specifically black women could only look forward to limited and dismal dating options. In taking inventory of my own experience, I couldn't help but continually think "Well, maybe...it's you!" every time I heard a woman echoing a similar sentiment. I wanted to change the trajectory of the conversation. There's no hope in thinking and saying that there are no available men to date. I would much rather that women look inward and use each other as support and sounding boards to become better people, generally. That's what I was hoping to inspire with Maybe...It's You!
Can you tell us about the book? The book is an exploration of women's thoughts, actions, inactions and misconceptions that keep them continually unsuccessful in relationships. The information in the book is the result of extensive research, including an open survey where I asked respondents to list reasons why they believe that women find such lack of success in romance. I got hundreds of responses. I found quite a bit of surprising and extremely interesting demographic information when I asked people to name their own priorities in life. There was a drastic difference between what men wanted at certain ages and what women wanted. The book is the result of all of that data condensed into a digestible format with a friendly and accessible tone. It's meant to feel just like a conversation that you would have with one of your close girlfriends at a happy hour.
How does this book differ from other relationship books? In my experience, in reading many of the popular relationship books, I felt like I got useful general information, but nothing that I could really apply to improve my specific experience. The intention of Maybe... It's You is to take the reader on a journey where hopefully she will be better off after she reads it. It's meant to be a tool of empowerment and I think that it is one of the few books that focuses on what's going on with the woman, rather than what's going on with the man. That's a really important difference.
What are your expectations for the book? My objective was to create something excellent first and second to address a real issue that women are having. It's almost palpable, the pain that I perceive from women who are searching for the "why" with respect to their lack of success in relationships. I sought to provide the answers in a way that will allow us to continue to love and respect ourselves. I wanted to do something that had never been done before. I think that I did a good job of accomplishing all of my objectives. So, that said, I expect the book to do very well.
Do you plan on writing more books? Absolutely, I'm planning the release of my second book in September. My first book is about relationships; my second book is about time management. I envision a line of books under the "Maybe It's You" title that provide useful information to women to enable us to lead more fulfilled lives.
What is your take on relationships? Thankfully, I'm still un-jaded. I've dated some great guys and I've had my fair share of duds. I think that a relationship provides an irreplaceable opportunity to learn and grow. We're not meant to walk through life alone. That said, I do believe that healthy relationships require work, self-awareness and reflection
Do you feel that successful women have a difficult time finding a relationship if so why? If you're successful, then that means that you've naturally selected yourself out of the mass of the general population. There just aren't that many people who are "successful." So, if you're looking for your equal or better, there really are less people, generally speaking, to pick from. Also, I think that some of the personality traits that make a woman "successful" are some of the exact traits that keep her single. I talk about this in detail in my book.
What are your top three relationship tips?
There are so many important factors to consider. But, I can list three very important things:
1. Always be honest in communicating your wants and needs.
2. Make it a point to evaluate your mate's statements and actions from their perspective instead of your own. Otherwise, you wind up making incorrect assumptions which are the breeding ground for relationship strife.
3. Exercise! That one is very important. I explain more in my book.
Anything else you want to add? You asked some great questions. I think that we covered a lot. I just want to thank you and your readers for your support! Thanks!
You can purchase the book through www.nikkinokes.com on Friday and on Amazon starting 2.1.2010. | |
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