Change With Me

I’ve paused my usual content over the past several days in an effort to allow more important messages to be heard. I myself have shared things that have inspired me, that have been thought provoking, & that I feel are good resources. If you’ve missed anything, please see my ‘CHANGE’ highlight. As you know, I started sharing The Weekly Lo Down each Friday with things I’ve been loving online, weekend sales, discount codes, & recent blog posts. Today, I’ll be switching up the format of The Weekly Lo Down in a very special edition called ‘Change with Me’ with resources, information, & my plan to ensure continued work, learning, & change going forward.

Change with Me

I’d like to start with my plan going forward. I’ve been consuming so much content & information this week, but that is just the start. I am committed to continuing to learn & share. I personally do best with a plan, so I’ve come up with just that. I thought I would make it into graphics that I can share with you all & perhaps, if you are looking for a plan yourself for going forward, we can do this together.

First, I want it to be clear just how much I support those who have been hurting through all of this & for so long. I didn’t know just how much I didn’t know & it has been eye opening to hear more perspectives & learn. I have loved hearing your stories & I will continue to stand with you. I believe in life-long learning & changing for the better. Anti-racisim is a topic I will continue to learn more about.

I paused my usual content online for a few days. However, this is my business. Actually, as of this week, which was my last full week at my full time job working in the field of School Psychology, blogging & posting content is now my full time job. This is my livelihood. While I will resume posting my usual content of clothing, beauty, home, fitness, health & more, I will be committed to continuing to share resources as well. While my account was started with the intention of sharing light-hearted and seemingly trivial things, there is more depth to me than just that, which is why you often see me posting about things that matter to me (i.e. animal rescue, mental health, & more). I want to inspire & influence others to be their best selves in many aspects of their lives.

I know that TOO much information at once can lead many to feel overwhelmed & anxious. I know that oftentimes, people are inundated with information & it’s hard to know where to start. I also know that time & time again the outrage is very clear up front, but then it fades with no real change or continued action. I want to continue to share what I find beneficial & what I am continuing to do to support long-lasting change. I took Tuesday to listen & Wednesday to come up with a plan. I slowly began sharing some of my own content yesterday on stories & plan to sl0wly get back to sharing my passions (& what many of you look to me for) while still being a resource & talking about things that truly matter. As I unpause, I want it to be known that I continue to stand with you.

A Plan

I have come up with a plan for myself to keep myself accountable. However, as new information comes up or as things shift, this plan may change. As we’ve seen in the last weeks, things can change very quickly. I believe it’s important to be adaptable & flexible, so I’m going to approach this with an open mind that things may need to be adjusted as time goes on.

I will be adding something called ‘Share the Love’ to The Weekly Lo Down blog post & newsletter each week. (If you aren’t getting my emails, you can subscribe here). For the remainder of the month of June, this will feature black owned businesses, resources, & more. Going forward, I’ll continue to include black owned businesses, creators, & resources, but I’ll also include other good causes, small businesses, women owned business, & diverse businesses & resources to share. The idea is that we all have so many causes that are important to us & we shouldn’t wait for a huge uproar or state of crisis to share those. It should be proactive, not reactionary. I wish I would have done this sooner, but we all have to start somewhere & I’m proud to be starting now & putting a plan into place.

My plan below is over the next few months through the end of 2020. If you are inspired to donate to all places now or read all of these books as quickly as possible, then that is amazing. If you are planning to pace yourself, but continue to do the work as what seems like normal (or our new normal in light of the last few months) resumes, then the below plan may help you feel like you have a place to start. There are SO many more resources, businesses, & causes than just those I rounded up below. I will continue to share those on stories, in blog posts, too. I planned one book to read, one movie or documentary to watch, one cause to donate to, & one business to shop at each month through the end of 2020. Of course, I hope to do more, but this is a starting point.

• So You Want To Talk About Race?
• Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
• White Fragility
• How to be an Antiracist
• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race
• Stamped From the Beginning
• The New Jim Crow

• Justice for George Floyd
• Black Lives Matter
• Reclaim the Block
• The Bail Project
• Campaign Zero
• National Bail Fund
• Minnesota Freedom Fund

• KNC Beauty (available at Sephora HERE)
• Jade Swim (available at Shopbop HERE)
• Rosen (available at Urban Outfitters HERE)
• Local European
• Oma the Label
• Rayo & Honey
• Briogeo (available at Sephora HERE)

Resources + Ways to Learn

• If you haven’t already, please sign the petition for justice for George Floyd. You can do so HERE. It takes 2 minutes.
• An under 10 min video called ‘Dear White People‘ is probably one of my most favorite things I’ve watched or heard. Emmanuel Acho addresses some really commonly asked questions in such an eloquent, educational way.
• Trevor Noah from The Daily Show posted a video about looting & riots. You can watch that HERE. If you have felt anger in response to them, this is a great listen for perspective on them.
• I saw someone share this Google doc that has you decide how much time a day (10 mins/ 25 mins / 45 mins) a day that you’d like to dedicate to learning in June & then it gives you a plan on what to do to meet that goal.
• Want to know 87 ways to help? See THIS Instagram post.
• See THIS Instagram post for challenging questions you can ask yourself going forward.
• Read about How To Be Actively Antiracist.
• For a list of black owned businesses you can support, see THIS post.
• I had never learned about the Tulsa massacre that occurred on “Black Wall Street.” THIS post gives it to you in a nutshell + has a lot of photos. It was incredibly eye opening for me.
• HERE are actionable ways you can make a difference that don’t include posting on Instagram.
• THIS video of George Floyd’s daughter, Gianna, is so powerful. Her positivity in the midst of chaos & hurt is so childlike, yet mature. It’s so short, but just beautiful.
• If you haven’t already, you go to THIS Instagram profile & click the link in their bio for a prewritten letter to the Minneapolis PD demanding justice. All you have to do is put in your name, city, & state.
• THIS video of a group of white people in Houston asking for forgiveness & praying with the black community is a wonderful example of real progress & real love.
• If you are local to Dallas & want to know a list of black owned businesses & restaurants to support, see THIS post & THIS post for comprehensive lists.
• THIS video explains systematic racism in a way that anyone can understand.
• Read THIS thread about a black man who has been in prison for the past 38 years for stealing $9 in 1982. You can sign a petition for this cause HERE.

Just a few of the influencers of color who are an inspiration to me:

• @NewTexaCali
• @chelseaolivia13
• @colormecourtney
• @ruthieridley
• @influencingincolor
• @jasminekatrina
• @scoutinthecity
• @waityouneedthis
• @stephtaylorjackson
• @tarynnewton

Resources for Children

I’ve been asked by a number of you, because of my experience working with children & mental health, to share some resource for children, too. Those are below.

BOOKS:

• Sulwe
• What is Given from the Heart 
• Finding Langston
• Hidden Figures
• I Have A Dream
• The Undefeated
• Radiant Child
• Beautiful, Beautiful Me
• I am Enough

TOYS:

• Multicultural Colored Pencils
• Multicultural Crayons
• Culturally Diverse Baby Doll Set
• Multicultural Paper
• Doll Set
• Pretend Professionals

Also, I found this website to be super informative on the topic & this NYTimes article to be really well thought out.

Please LMK any resources, influencers, businesses, content, etc that I can add to these lists & share! I’d love for you to comment them below if you have any to add so that others can see them.

Be Kind

I just want to extend a reminder to please be kind during these uncertain times & always. Everyone is learning & in doing that, missteps will happen. Silence on social media doesn’t mean someone isn’t putting in the work behind the scenes. Appearing to ‘move on’ doesn’t mean that people won’t continue to do the work in the day to day. We all process differently. We all approach change different. The key is that we all do what we feel compelled to do for change. While everyone figures this out, myself included, please please PLEASE remember to be kind.

I look forward to holding each other accountable in a loving & understanding way. Hopefully you all are excited to change with me for the better. If you are feeling anxious with all that is going on. I relate. It’s been a lot not just the past week, but the past few months with a global pandemic going on. I wrote a post on positive ways to deal with anxiety that may be helpful. XO