Who Needs America's Next Top Model? Essence Magazine's Nataya Smalls Pivots And Hits Her Stride

Tyra's Loss, Is Our Gain

For Norfolk, Virginia native Nataya Smalls, the real competition has just begun.

"Not as many places hire African-American models, so I know it's going to be hard," she said. "I'm going to have to work 10 times harder than other girls."

Smalls, 20, was declared the winner of the "Essence It Girl" Model Search Contest after a grueling competition process that began in February.

Smalls auditioned for Essence after her original plans fell through.

"I was actually supposed to try out for 'America's Next Top Model' the same day," she said. "Then my friend, who was supposed to drive me, couldn't go."

Instead, Smalls went to New York City for the Essence audition after hearing about it on former supermodel and 'America's Next Top Model' host Tyra Banks,' website. Smalls, who had previously tried out for "America's Next Top Model," said the Essence audition process was much different.

"For 'America's Next Top Model,' they just lined us up in a big group," she said. "Essence was different. It was a lot more intimate. It was more about you. They took us in one at a time and actually looked at each girl."

Five finalists, including Smalls, were then selected to participate in a "modeling boot camp" that aired on Essence's website in a documentary series called "Making of an It Girl."

Essence named Smalls as the contest winner on June 14. She has since received a one-year contract with Elite Model Management and will appear in Essence Magazine's Fall Fashion issue this September.

Essence Communications Inc. was founded in 1968 as a media company dedicated to African-American women. Based in New York City, the company promotes a brand "Where Black Women Come First." Essence Magazine, first published in 1970, features lifestyle and fashion information intended especially for African-American women.

The "Essence It Girl" Model Search Contest intended to address a lack of diversity on runways throughout the modeling world. Collaborating with Elite Model Management, Essence launched the search for an African-American "It Girl" to inject some racial diversity into a fashion industry predominantly comprised of Caucasian models.

"I actually saw this documentary a few days ago about how there is a lack of African-American models," Smalls said. "I think it's great that Essence and Elite are reaching out to African-American girls. I thought, 'Wow, I'm going to be making it more diverse.'"

Smalls always knew she wanted to work in the fashion industry. Growing up with nine siblings, the current Norwalk Community College student learned how to stand out in a crowd from an early age.

"I've always wanted to pursue modeling," she said. "I've done local fashion shows and stuff like that."

Beyond a photoshoot for the September issue of Essence Magazine, Smalls is not sure where her modeling contract will lead. She does know that as the Essence contest winner, she can be an important advocate for increasing diversity in the fashion industry.

"A lot of darker-skinned girls want to be lighter," she said. "I'm darker-skinned, so I hope that makes other girls more confident."

While her dream job would be to model for Victoria's Secret, Smalls has no intentions of leaving her education behind. She plans to maintain her Norwalk roots by earning a business marketing degree from NCC.

"I'm going to be registering for my classes for next semester pretty soon," she said. "I'm definitely going to continue school."

By KATE MARCAL - Hour Staff Writer

Essence Magazine Honors Strides Black Women Are Making In Hollywood

Should A Black Man Dating A White Woman Grace The Cover of A Black Woman's Magazine?

To hell with those killer abs! When Essence editors chose to put NFL baller Reggie Bush on the cover of their February 2010 “Black Men, Love & Relationships” issue, all hell broke loose! Why?

Well, let's just say sistas are not feeling the same kisses and hugs Kim Kardashian is clearly receiving!

Here’s a sample of the backlash:

“Why is there a white supremacist on the cover of Essence magazine? Because any person who thinks white women are better is indeed a white supremacists. Having this man on the cover is beyond offensive to me as an African American woman. He is just another crude reminder of all the black men who perpetuate racism against black women, by rejecting them and showing the utmost disrespect by choosing to date non-black women, Reggie Bush is even more offensive since his mate is nothing but some white trashy woman. I suspect those of you you do agree with this mess are either Aunt Jemima’s or products of an interracial relationship.”

"This Brotha don’t dig us, so why, pray tell, do we have to see his face staring back at us, on a magazine that celebrates US? This isappoints me. It’s an insult! Later for Reggie Bush and all the other Brothas who turn their back on the black woman once they are successful.”

“Why put a man who clearly prefers the bottom of the barrel of white women than a good black woman on your cover? Clearly, he has no love for the sisters. This magazine is supposed to empower black women not remind us of the disadvantages that we face in today’s society. Please don’t insult our intelligence.”

The February issue featured 10 black men, including Idris Elba, LL Cool J and Lance Gross in the cover story (LL and Lance both have black women on their arms) so they could’ve easily picked another one of those men as the first image you see on their Black love issue.

Is this just silliness, or is this simply another example of Why Black Women Are Angry?



What say you?

ESSENCE MAGAZINE, BLACK WOMEN IN HOLLYWOOD AND TOM CRUISE, OH MY!

The First Annual Essence Black Women In Hollywood Luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel went down yesterday. Of course Will and Jada Pinkett Smith were representing. Celebrity sista-girls were front and center in mass. Like the fab chick Nia Long and Tracey "I'm Still Gracing The Cover Of Ebony With That MF Eddie" Edmonds

We're not trying to bag, but there were some serious fashion hits and misses, right Tracee Ross? Take a look at the rest.

Laila Ali - Hit

Sanaa Lathan - Miss

Lynn Whitfield - Miss

Gabrielle Union -Can't call it

Garcelle Beauvois - Slight Hit

Tatianna Ali - Miss, big time!

Lisa Raye - Hit

“The star-studded event honored three of Hollywood’s finest who have helped to change and inspire positive images of Black women in television and film — both in front of the camera and behind-the-scenes.”

Vivica Fox - Hit

The event release adds: “The icon whose career as a writer, producer and world renowned actor spans seven decades, Ruby Dee was one of the three extraordinary African- American women honored, during the Essence luncheon.”

Jurnee Smollett - Hit

“Other honorees in the category of film were Jada Pinkett Smith, one of Hollywood’s most versatile and gifted actress/director/producer/screenwriters; in the category of Television, prolific screenwriter/producer Suzanne de Psse; as well as the talented, young performer Jurnee Smollett.”

Kerry Washington - Hit

Tia Mowry - Miss

Rudy Dee - Hit
Salli Richardson - Hit

Star - Miss

Fresh off of a solo appearance at the Costume Designers Guild Awards, Katie Holmes brought Tom Cruise along to the first annual event.

Awww, Tyra Banks Is Lonely: Could A Brotha With A Job And Some Benefits Hook This Sista Up!

“I’d go to work [on ‘The Tyra Banks Show’], and women would be crying in my arms. But then I’d go home and put my key in my door and … nothing. No friends, no husband, no children. I feel so full when I’m at work but so empty when I come home.”

So many fine Black woman looking for love, so little time. Source

Folks Who Get It: Essence Loses Its Soul With Susan L Taylor's Departure

Essence Editor Is Leaving Magazine

I met Susan L. Taylor in 2000 and I still feel her spirit. She was speaking about slowing down, catching one's breadth, and making sure that you connect with God on a daily basis. Her mystique, her regalness, her style is what made Essence magazine what it is today. So of course I'm tripping over the news that the longtime editor is leaving the publication after 37 years.


Susan L. Taylor has worked for Essence magazine since 1970. She became editor in chief in 1981, a post she held until 2000. Ms. Taylor, 61, joined the definitive magazine for Black women the year it was first published, as a freelance fashion and beauty editor after founding her own company, Nequai Cosmetics. She became editor in chief in 1981, a post she held until 2000, when she was promoted to publications director.

She has most recently been the magazine’s editorial director and author of its In the Spirit column, which dispenses inspirational words about things like finance and prayer. Although Essence, which is owned by the Time Inc. division of Time Warner, did not make an official announcement, Ms. Taylor chose to send out word of the change via e-mail.

“I am taking a break in South Africa and will have little access to e-mail,” she wrote in an automated out-of-office message this month. “When I come back to the states in mid-January, I will be leaving Essence to do what at this juncture in my life has become a larger work for me — building the National Cares Mentoring Movement, which I founded as Essence Cares and today is my deepest passion.”

Essence Cares encourages black adults to serve as mentors for at-risk young people. According to the program’s Web site, “Essence Cares is a call to action for every able black adult to take under wing a vulnerable young person, which costs nothing.”

While Ms. Taylor rose to the top of the magazine world — in 1999 she became the first black woman to receive the Henry Johnson Fisher Award from the Magazine Publishers of America, one of the industry’s top honors — she used her position to highlight civic causes. As an advocate for children and improving education, she once calling failing schools “the pipelines to prison.”

This year she appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to promote the National Cares Mentoring Movement, which she founded in 2006 with the goal of signing up more than one million people to become mentors. The organization is a coalition of advocacy groups, including the National Urban League, 100 Black Men in America and the Y.W.C.A.

“It’s a burning desire to use whatever resources she has to help our young people,” said Terrie Williams, a longtime friend of Ms. Taylor’s and a former communications executive at Essence who runs a public relations firm in New York. “She lives and breathes it.”

Ms. Williams said that Ms. Taylor “takes young people with her to most of the events she goes to. She’s put kids through college. She’s made calls to get kids in distressed situations in to college. She really is an icon in the black community.”

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Ms. Taylor used Essence as a platform to keep the plight of New Orleans, where the magazine had long held an annual music festival, in the nation’s consciousness. She was appointed by Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to the Louisiana Recovery Authority, a panel that advised the governor on rebuilding efforts.

In July, an article in The Times-Picayune of New Orleans described her as a “traveling saleswoman for New Orleans and other hurricane-battered regions of the state.”

Ms. Taylor’s fourth book, “All About Love,” a collection of her columns, will be published in February.

Essence, a monthly publication, has a circulation of about 1 million. On Dec. 18, Michelle Ebanks, the president of Essence, sent a memo to the magazine’s staff, saying of Ms. Taylor, “it is not often that you have the chance to work with a living legend, and we are all lucky to have had this extraordinary privilege. [Source

Church Bombing Killing 4 Alabama Little Girls Is Revisited As Pastor John H. Cross Jr. Dies At 82

Pastor of Church Bombed in 1963 Was A Hero

* Essence: 25 Most Influential of 2007
* Forty Acres And A Gap In Wealth???
* Clinton Library Highlights Black History: Coincidence?
* New Move to Bring Some Electricity to Africa
* R Kelly's Publicist Steps

* Black Is Clearly the New Green for Hollywood!
* Rip-off? Africa Vaccines 'Face 700% Mark-Up'
* Sharpton Eats James Brown's Thanksgiving Dinner
* Study: Lower Antidepressants Response for Blacks

* Damn That Case Against Barry Bonds Is Looking Strong

* While Folks Die, Ex-African Leaders "Discuss" AIDS
* DC Council Tells Radio One I Don't Think So
* Lucas on Jay-Z: Watch Yo' Mouth Black Man
* African Human Traffic is Catalyst for Child Abuse
* London Opens Slave Gallery / US Museum Still Adding Works

Relax Brad & Angelina, Zahara's Staying Put

In Non Juanita Bynum News: Oprah & Obama, Denzel's Baller Son, And Beyonce... Without Being Butt-Naked!

Fund-Raising: Oprah's Obama Blowout

50 Cent to Be First Hip Hop Billionaire?
'State of War' in Eastern Congo

Rams Cut J.D. Washington, Son of Denzel

Violence Rocks Jamaica Ahead of Vote
Journalist Saves African Migrants

Beyonce to Cover Up for Malaysian Concert

College in Nigeria Slammed for Compulsory HIV Testing
Essence: One Man's Secret Obsession with Strip Clubs

WHEREVER BEYONCE IS, THAT'S WHERE YOU'LL FIND US!

Did Beyonce Have a Wardrobe Malfunction?

Star's New Court TV Show Premieres

Jamaica Postpones Election After Hurricane

Inequality Found in Tobacco Advertising

UN Reports New Details on Darfur Rapes

Time Partners with Essence on Digital Venture

John Singleton: Most Black Comedies Are 'Coon Shows'

We See You Angie Stone, Looking All Svelte While Dissing D'Angelo Ever So Slightly

Essence breaks it down on Stone's 10 year-old's baby daddy, neo soul singer D'Angelo, and her "soulmate" she met eight months ago with whom she plans on jumping the broom in 08.

Looks like VH-1's Celebrity Fit Club did that body good. We likey!

You Know It's Hard Out Here Being Black: Post-Katrina, America Still Devalues The Disenfranchised

A Call to Action: Commemorating the 2-Year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

On the heels of the success of the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans last month, which brought in more than $120 million to the New Orleans economy, editorial director Susan Taylor along with other civic-minded leaders have sparked a mobilization effort called A Day of Presence.

This event is scheduled for Wednesday, August 29th.

Why are they doing this? Despite the festivities of this year's successful annual festival, a disturbing reality remains:

* 200,000 displaced people from Katrina are still living in trailers; those very trailers are now being reported to have excessive levels of formaldehyde which has been known to cause health problems ranging from respiratory diseases to certain kinds of cancer.

Katrina Victims Will Be Moved from Possibly Toxic Trailers

* More than 250,000 evacuated residents are still scattered throughout the nation;

* There still are no mental health services or hospitals to serve the uninsured poor;

* 70 public schools in Orleans Parish remain closed.

* Nearly a billion dollars in donated foreign aid went undistributed to assist the Gulf coast region and its victims.

What to find out more? Our sistah has details.

BLACK NEO SOUL QUEEN JILL SCOTT TAKES US BEHIND THE VELVET ROPE AND WORKS THAT ESSENCE COVER

To support her third album, The Real Thing, singer Jill Scott is giving fans a chance to download a seventeen minute-long sampler.

The first 5000 people who can get to the sampler will be able to download it right here.

The Real Thing, which hits stores on September 25th, will have a limited edition version which contains a performance from her upcoming DVD Jill Scott: Live in Paris and all of her videos.

Scott will also be starring in two movies - HBO's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency centers around Scott, who will be playing a private investigator named Precious Ramotswe.

The movie is currently shooting in Botswana and South Africa and Scott has been having a tough time on the set.

Why Did I Get Married? will focus on a group of vacationing couples whose lives get thrown in disarray after a single woman is thrown into the mix.

SOURCE

R KELLY COMES OUT THE CLOSET AND PREPARES FOR COURTROOM SHOWDOWN ON SEX CHARGES

R Kelly Trial Scheduled to Begin in September

Got Kids? Fisher Price Recalling A Million Led-Based Toys!

WTF! Iraq War Is Costing Us $4,000 A Second?
Why Is Essence Trumpeting Karrine 'Video Vixen' Steffans?

Cotton Comes To Harlem: Getting First Luxury Hotel

Same Racial Disparites Continue In Executions
French Court Frees Rwanda Genocide Suspects

African Union Launches Diplomatic Mission In D.C.

Does Obama Have It Right? Should We Talk To Enemies?
Blacks More Likely To Have Disability From Arthritis

Fireman Wins 1 Million On 'American Inventor' For This!!!

Bobby Brown And Bin Laden Go Head Up!