Wêrê-Wêrê on the Road : Bali, Indonesia 💙

“In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to.” @Style_rituals

In the past few years, I felt an itch to move, to discover new places, meet new people and find a new me. I gave in and travelled quite extensively. From Japan to Indonesia to Australia and many amazing places in Europe, I sighed with gratefulness as I experienced different worlds.

Little Girl Dancing – A short story

My car dashboard displayed negative fifteen degrees Fahrenheit as I entered my client’s parking lot. I sat in silence for a few minutes after I parked. Every inch of me dreaded leaving the warm comfort of my Honda Civic to step into another cold threatening Monday.  Every winter, I made plans to leave […]

via Little Girl Dancing — Arethe Saki

I… HE… IS

Reshaping Love

I came across the post below by one of my favorite poets Yrsa Daley-Ward, author of Bone and The Terrible, and thought: WOW, I wish someone would have told me! Often we get so caught up in our feelings, in one perspective and let ourselves believe that our world has ended. May we see the teacher and the lesson in each life event.

 

Wêrê-Wêrê on the Road: Oahu, Hawaii

To be honest, I neglected Hawaii as a possible travel destination for a long time. Until I got into Hawaii Five 0, I slowly started falling in love with the beautiful beaches on the island. I also craved the popular garlic shrimp and the malasadas.

I was planning a trip to Zanzibar in October and chickened out last minute at the realization of the length of the trip – I only had one week off from work and needed some place relaxing and relatively close to LA. Hawaii came to mind and as October is off-season, the $350 flight ticket was more than convincing. It only took a five minutes internet search to know that Oahu was the island I wanted to visit first (duh! that is were they shoot Hawaii five 0 – mostly – I think…).

Two weeks later, I embarked on a flight from LAX to Honolulu, on a solo adventure to one of the most romantic destinations in the world. Here is how I spent one of the most incredible vacations of my life and what I recommend to all those heading to Oahu.

Looking for advices on Self-Publishing

Project Green Elephant – as I affectionally named the manuscript for my first book ever – is finally complete. Until now I hadn’t realized the multitude of avenues to take a book from manuscript to publication. I decided to go the self-publishing route and I am currently working to find the best match editors (line and copyediting).

I need the help of anyone who has gone down that route before. Any recommendations on good line and copy editors? Also any advices on-self publishing in general would be greatly appreciated. See below a summary of the literary fiction I completed.

Soukeina and Aïssatou Sangaré were raised in a conservative family in Abidjam, Côte D’Ivoire.

Seduction

Cleaning my email account, I accidentally and happily found my long lost high school poem book. I am exited to share the following poem, one of my most favorites, I believe written for my high school crush. :P.
I apologize to the non-french speaking readers. I started to translate the poem in english and half way through realized that it was just so much better in french and maybe meant to stay french for now.

 

Elle l’entend loin d’elle
Cette voix qui fait vibrer ses aspirations
Mélodie envoûtante qui fait tressaillir son être d’excitation
Echo divin qui parfume ses sens

The Black Ceiling: The Struggle for Black Women in Corporate America

Photo credit to Brian Stauffer, illustrated in Fortune

“Black women are at a disadvantage in trying to bridge the familiarity gap with white men in positions of power, because in the words of talent management research firm Catalyst, they are “double outsiders”: They’re neither white, nor men. As a result they’re often shut out from the informal networks that help other people find jobs, mentors, and sponsors.” Ellen McGirt, Fortune, October 1, 2017.

To the Merchants of Fallacies: Africa is Bigger than One Story.

Last week I googled “Ivory Coast Beaches” to show a friend what the ocean looked like on our side of the coast. The top search results: horrifying images of casualties after the terrorist attack of March 2016.  This reminded me once more of the unfair marketing of African countries carried out to the world and fostering fallacious perceptions. I say unfair because although those images are not necessarily all wrong,

Upside Down – When Your Body Advises Your Mind

 

I have been passionate about yoga for the past few years and I finally learned to headstand only two months ago.  One pose I never thought myself capable of holding because of how much it scared me, because of how much strength it requires and because of how unconventional it is. I remember my yoga teacher flawlessly kicking her legs straight up into the air making it look as easy as child pause. I also remember that the mere thought of kicking my legs higher than my hips while in dolphin pause scared the hell out of me. Truth is I never kicked with intention to reach above. I just shyly kicked with a “here goes nothing” mentality. As a result, I didn’t reach above.

15 Lessons learned in 25 years

On May 20, I celebrated 25 fabulous years. I woke up with an epiphany: living a quarter century on earth, living my journey is a blessing. I often wished I knew then what I know now, so I would’ve avoided many mistakes and dodged quite a few bullets. But what’s the fun with that? I didn’t know what I didn’t know and riding that steep learning curve, stalling at times made me who I am today. I am infinitely grateful to have turned out the girl my younger self would die to be best friend with, the girl she wanted to grow up to be. So what did I learn in my 25 years?

Le Royaume Mystérieux by Seydou Gougna

Sixteen years ago, I met this amazing soul, a prose artist, a word engineer. He told me: “There is a talented writer inside of you, let it out, let it be, share with the world”. I believed and never stopped writting. Seydou, it was an honor to read your first publication “Le Royaume Mysterieux”. I was HOOKED on every word. On this special day, I would like to wish you a very Happy Birthday! It’s been a privilege to know you. And I beg you to keep on writing, the world deserves to read you.

Cheers to April, A Promise For New Beginnings

Photo Credit to @hellomissmay

April is here friends! Arrived with the smell of spring, blooming flowers and a promise for a beautiful summer. I have been away from “Passionnee Fatale” these past few weeks wrapping up a life in Chicago for a new adventure in Los Angeles. I have moved a lot so far in life, from Abidjan (Ivory Coast) to Whitewater (Wisconsin) to New York City to Chicago and now Los Angeles. This move has been pretty emotional

Queen Kidjo

I grew up listening to songs from this magnificent African queen. Last weekend in Chicago, I was honored to attend her story telling concert and meet Angelique Kidjo in person. This queen, vibrant with positive energy and armed with humor lit up the Harris Theater and left the crowd in awe.

Fearless Optimism

Fam,

May your spirit fight like a restless warrior

May the love in your heart be greater than your fears

May you jump back up and believe harder even when you fall
May you keep the peace and conviction that it will all be ok
May you love unconditionally even when you hurt
May you rise hopeful for all the infinite possibilities life has to offer
May you believe in all your heart desires
May you be and remain happy, grateful, a fearless optimistic

Wêrê-Wêrê on the Road: Tulum, Mexico

I first learned about Tulum 2 years ago from an article listing most favorite vacations spots for solo female travelers. I became obsessed with Tulum ever since and added it to my destinations list. When 2 months ago I found a $254 United flight to Cancun, I knew that was the universe making a way. I talked my sister into joining me and we were ready to spend Christmas week in Mexico. Here is what we learned, the places we ate and the activities we did:

Robert has got a point here…

On Feminism, another “Cri de Coeur”

Have you read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s new essay on feminism: Dear Ijeawele, or a Femininst Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions ? If you haven’t, rush to her Facebook page right now and get on reading. Inspired by Adichie’s manifesto, I wanted to share my thoughts on the two points that resonated the most with me.

On Feminism:

1. You either are or you are not

There is no “kinda”, “maybe”, “potentially”. Adichie highlights that fact through my most favorite quote from her essay:”Being a feminist is like being pregnant. You either are or you are not”.

Many claim to be feminist but behave differently on certain matters. My friend’s husband recently got promoted and transferred to a new city. Her mom argued that a woman must follow her husband because “he is the man”.

African Fashion Week Chicago 2016

It has been just a few years since Chicago started hosting an African Fashion Week of its own featuring some of the best african designers on the globe. One of the most amazing aspects I found out at the event this past weekend, is that all the featured designers were mostly locals of Chicago representing the diversity and originality that lives in this city. See for yourself through my lenses:

Think Big – How to Change your Life from Ordinary to Extraordinary

There are encounters that can change the course of your life: within seconds, hours, days or beyond. You know those people you meet and think: “I want to be you when I grow up?” A few days ago, I was introduced to this amazingly successful businesswoman who shared with me her life story and 10 tips for success. I am a strong believer that every encounter in life has a purpose: to teach us, to challenge us, to guide us and so on. Miss CB will probably never understand the magnitude of her effect on people, but her story somehow answered a question I have anxiously been asking myself for the past two years and at the same time defined my course of action to succeed with that answer. Here, the messenger, I want to share with you those advises and hope that they hit you the way they did for me. Miss CB on life: