So, if you have been a follower of my website you know that my first book 'Looking For A Place' is going to be released either in the Fall of 2011 or Spring of 2012!!! If you didn't know, you can find out more information in this post.
My book will be released in E-Book format ONLY as of now. It is a collection of poems that I wrote from the ages of 15-18. Originally the book was only going to have 52 poems, but I will be adding nearly 20 poems that I wrote back then as well. So expect about 70 poems total. The book is definitely geared toward young teen girls, because I did write all of the poems as a teen. The book has poems covering many of the issues teen girls and teens in general deal with including first crushes, being hurt by friends for the first time, peer pressure, wanting more freedom from parents, bullying, thinking about what you want to be in life, and more.
A portion of all proceeds will be going to a cause(s) benefiting one of the world issues that I am most passionate about in my heart: bullying, domestic violence, female empowerment, poverty/hunger, education, self-esteem, cancer/other health issues, and environmental conservation.
My whole purpose in publishing this book is to just inspire young people from all walks of life to have self-love and faith despite the struggles they face. It's important to believe that you are beautiful and have worth, it's important to dream big, and it's important to be strong in every situation. I want to use and share all of my experiences to touch another person's life, so that they can have a better tommorow.
I'm so excited the upcoming release, and to be able to share that information with you. Until next time...
Blessings,
Nicole =)
IMAGE CREDITS: GETTY IMAGES
Saying Goodbye: End of Doing Interviews, Start of New Projects
For nearly two years (2009-2011) I have had the opportunity to "live" one of my many dreams...doing interviews with rising stars and celebrities. Ever since I was about 13 I began to develop an interest for broadcasting (radio & tv music countdowns) such as TRL on MTV and 106 & Park on BET. Never in a million years did I expect to interview models such as Ayisha Diaz who appeared in music videos with everyone from Chris Brown to the WuTang Clan or Christa Elise who has appeared in music videos (ex. Money To Blow, 4 My Town, & Bed Rock) with artists on the HOTTEST and MOST SUCCESSFUL rap labels of our time, Young Money/Cash Money. Just this past June I interviewed Heather Marter, star of 'The Real World: Las Vegas' season 25, one of the most popular and longest running reality tv shows airing on MTV. Everyone I have interviewed has impressive resumes that all amaze me.
All of my interviews have brought me a lot of excitement, new opportunities, and best of all GROWTH which made the HARD (and I do mean extremely HARD!) work pay off in the end!!! My confidence in being able to succeed in broadcasting has increased, I have improved on sending out interview inquiries, creating interview questions, editing videos, and promoting my work. Doing interviews has allowed me to have many positive experiences, but there is a negative side to this field as well. Sometimes entertainers or their managers or representatives do no respond to interview inquiries, people will e-mail you expressing how they are interested in doing interviews and NEVER doing them, or some people will respond to inquiries agreeing to do interviews but end up not doing them once their interview questions are e-mailed to them.
A lot of people lack common courtesy or reach a certain status of success and think they are too good to do certain things. It is definitely hard work to research a talent's (model, musician, tv star, etc) background and work to create good interview questions and then they just flat out don't do the interview or at least communicate a decision change or other circumstances. That has happened countless times with rising stars and celebs who I will not name. The people who have not done their interviews, the time I have dedicated to editing and promoting my last few interviews done so far this year, sending out interview inquiries with a small percentage of success, the people who think I have connections in the entertainment world who try to use me to help them become models or get them mixtape drops from rappers, my hectic personal life, and a few other factors have all led me to my decision to take a hiatus from doing interviews maybe until 2012 or maybe this is the end. I definitely have no resentment to those who did not come through, because if something isn't meant to be it won't happen. I'm just tired of it, and all of those factors have sucked the fun out doing interviews increasingly over the past few months.
So now that I have explained that, let's talk about what's next for my future projects. I am working on publishing my first book (poetry) as an e-book in the fall or early in 2012. I am also working on starting two new online shows (one video and one radio) which will be based around music, entertainment news, current issues in the world, and many more things are both exciting and that I am passionate about. I am definitely going to keep my website Nicolepoetry.net and YouTube channel with most of my interviews up,YouTube.com/NicolePoetryDotComTV, and have absolutely no intentions of deleting them. If someone who is trying to succeed in the entertainment business really wants to do an interview with me they can still contact me through my website, I'm just not personally pursuing interviews at this time. Well that's it for now, be sure to check out my official website Nicolepoetry.net for all the latest news on me and for links to all of my social networking sites like Twitter.
THANK YOU's
I want to give a big shout-out, and have MUCH LOVE and APPRECIATION for everyone I have had the opportunity to interview: Ayisha Diaz, Paris Vixen, Neff, Cuban Luxury, Amanda Mandii, Stephanie Arakel, Miss Dade, Christa Elise Graziano, J Smooth, Charm Brittian, Tiffany Elizabeth, Kimmi K Smith, Diana Lee, Heather Marter, The Collins Twins, & Al Beauti. You all are sooo talented and have each enabled me to accomplish some amazing things!
I also must thank my younger brother Ant for his support, encouragement, and advice. Thanks to my friends, peers, talented rapper who grinds hard D Boy Automatic, Chris Royster the CEO of IMTM (Innovative Model & Talent Management), and all the people who have watched my interviews on YouTube and shown me love and support and even those who ever did me wrong.
YOU ALL have made it possible for me to live my dreams or inspired me to work hard.☺
Blessings ♥,
Nicole
Favorite Hair Care Products
My essentials! :-D Most of these products I have been using for years, and can always be found on hand in my hair care items bins and bags. I like to keep my products consistent...if it works I stick to it. No matter what hairstyle I'm rocking, these products most definitely help me to achieve my look and keep my hair healthy.
- Nicole
***WARNING: All hair care products have varying results for different hair types. Consult with a reputable hair care professional for the products to best suit YOU.***
Destination: International
With summer right around the corner, a few days ago I came up with the idea for a new blog post. I thought it would be a cool idea to share some of the different places around the world that I would love to visit someday for vacation. Here’s my top 15:
1. Waikiki, Hawaii
2. Nassau/Paradise Islands, Bahamas
3. Kingston, Jamaica
4. Los Cabos, Mexico
5. Yasawa Island, Fiji
6. Egypt, Africa
7. Niagra Falls, Canada
8. London, England
9.Rome, Italy
10. Beijing, China
11. New Delhi, India
12. Brazil. South America
13. Sydney, Australia
14. Nigeria, Africa
15. Paris, France
I ♥ to travel and experience new cultures and people.
Have lots of fun in the sun,
- Nicole ;-)
P.S. What’s yours?
Nicolepoetry.net Facebook Fan Page
Please support my website and me by becoming a fan on Facebook! I just created it
two days ago (FFFIIINNNAAALLLYYY!!!!!!!!!!). The page will feature interview videos, upcoming project information, event news, and more.
Nicolepoetry.net Facebook Fan Page
"Like" it now,
- Nicole ☺
Favorite Reads
These books are some of my favorites that I read during my middle school/high school years mostly.
1. Kindred - Octavia E. Butler
2. The Rose That Grew From Concrete - Tupac Shakur
3. Like Sisters On The Homefront - Rita Williams-Garcia
4. Born Blue - Han Nolan
5. Triangle Of Sins - Nurit Folkes
6. Chanda's Secrets - Allan Stratton
7. The Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowlings
8. The Coldest Winter Ever - Sister Souljah
9. Nervous - Zane
10. Black - Tracy Brown
11. Afterburn - Zane
12. Upstate - Kalisha Buckhanon
13. Diary Of A Mistress - Miasha
14. G-Spot - Noire
15. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
16. Mommy's Angel - Miasha
17. The Complete Collected Poems Of Maya Angelou - Maya Angelou
18. Foolish/Unfoolish: Reflections On Love - Ashanti
19. All I Want Is Everything - Daaimah S. Poole
20. Tears For Water: Songbook Of Poems & Lyrics - Alicia Keys
21. I'm Telling - Karen E. Quinones Miller
22. Caught In The Mix - Candice Dow
23. Ain't No Sunshine - Candice Dow
24. Flyy Girl - Omar Tyree
All-Time Favorite Songs: #4
1. So Into You - Tamia & Fabulous
2. I Care About You - K-Ci & JoJo
3. Lovers & Friends - Usher, Ludacris, & Lil' Jon
4. Brand New - Keyshia Cole
5. Have You Ever - Brandy
6. Killing Me Softly - The Fugees
7. Tha Crossroads - Bone Thugs N Harmony
8. Stole - Kelly Rowland
9. Why Don't We Fall In Love - Amerie
10. They Don't Know - Jon B
Celebs As Role Models
Ever since the revolution of mass media (tv, radio, major newspaper/magazines, internet, etc) in the 1950s and decades after, celebrities have had their careers and personal lives in the spotlight like never before. They are constantly criticized on their marriages, dating life, drug usage, clothes, friends, looks, and pretty much every action they make. A hot topic when it comes to the famous is them being role models to the youth.
While it would be ideal (in a perfect world) for all celebrities to be role models, it is NOT THEIR RESPONSIBILITY!!!!!!!!!! I could really go in on this issue, but I’m gonna try to keep it as short as possible. I’ll use Rihanna and Chris Brown for example ( two of the most famous and controversial R&B/pop music artists in pop culture today). When they both released their debut albums as teenagers back around 2005 as teenagers, they had squeaky clean images. Fast forward a few years later…they are now adults, explicit, and have a few scandals (heck many lol)
under their belts.
Both Chris and Rihanna are no strangers to being criticized for their videos. It began back in 2007 for Chris with hit single ‘Take You Down’ from his Exclusive album, and Rihanna in 2009 with her chart topper’s ‘Rude Boy’ song and video from her Rated R album. From profanity to sexually explicit lyrics and wild videos such as Rihanna’s ‘S&M’ music video released several months ago, which was banned in 11 countries- some media outlets, fans, and parents of their young fans have been voicing their dissatisfaction. They have also gotten negative attention for everything from partying (from drinking, wild dancing, & attire), their choice of boyfriends/girlfriends, and more. Mind you, Chris is now 22 and Rihanna is 23.
Chris and Rihanna are GROWN, so they can sing about adult topics, use profanity, party, wear what they want, and date who they want. While I understand that they have young fans (minors) and that young fans sometimes often imitate the behaviors of their favorite celebs, it is the responsibility of their parents and guardians to raise them at the end of the day. It is their responsibility to instill knowledge and values in regards to self-respect, appearance, sex, drugs/alcohol, etc. If parents have a problem with the image or music of Chris Brown and Rihanna as well as other stars in general, then they need to prohibit their child from listening to their music or whatever material the star of their choice is featured in (movies, tv shows, etc). My parents DID THEIR JOBS and were open about these issues prevelant in society while I was a child and censored what we were able to listen to, movies we were able to watch, things like that until we became of age. This helped me to keep my head on straight.
Honestly, youth are probably exposed to stuff 10x worse than what they see celebs do at school, hanging out with peers and in the news for example. I will not say that celebs like Lindsey Lohan’s behavior is acceptable. While I do not feel it is her responsibility to be a role model to a child that is not her own…jail, DUIs, Felony charges, and other major problems are not cool and she should be more responsible and less reckless with her life. Those things are a cry for help as with any person. A celeb and regular person should not have negative behavior like that. Celebs are just normal people with fame and fortune…not supreme beings. We all just want to find ourselves, and be happy in this journey of life. Everyone has flaws and makes mistakes including those in the spotlight. What kills me is how people scrutinize celebs for things they are doing, have done, or know somebody whose done it. People need to educate themselves, raise their own kids, and stop being hypocritical.
The Wild & Crazy Hair Evolution of Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj is definitely one of my favorite female artists of this time. She has been called “The Black Lady Gaga” by many of her fans. They both have unique styles (EXTREMEMELY unique at times), outrageous song lyrics, and don’t necessarily mold themselves into the image of the typical superstar. If you’re familiar with them, you know what I mean.
One thing that I admire most about Nicki is that she is a trendsetter with her hairstyles. She has had many different colors, lengths and even heights (lol) of hair since her career began years ago. Below are three of my top favorite of her hairstyles, and also the one hairstyle that she has rocked that I dislike.
LOVE IT...
1. The Black Bob Look
2. The Barbie Blonde Look
3. The Curly Streaks Look
____________________________________________________________________________________
HATE IT....
As Charlie Sheen would say #NotWinning!
There are many different hairstyles Nicki Minaj has been seen with since she came into the game from blonde, pink, green, black, purple, to blue on mixtape/album covers, magazines, award shows, and other events/appearances. I have not been crazy about all of them, but this one takes the cake for the most disliked!!! She first revealed this look back in January while in London during promo for her multi-platinum debut album 'Pink Friday'. This is worse than that Wilma Flintstone orange hair she had at the 2010 BET Awards lol. Love ya Nicki, but I'm just saying. 
All-Time Favorite Songs: #3
1. Rock With You – Michael Jackson
2. All For You – Janet Jackson
3. Take It From Here – Justin Timberlake
4. Anticipating – Britney Spears
5. Two Wrongs – Wyclef Jean & Claudette
6. Love For All Seasons – Christina Aguilera
7. Best Friend – 50 Cent
8. Stop & Stare – One Republic
9. Footprints In The Sand – Leona Lewis
10. Built For This – Teairra Mari
