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The Spoken Soul Festival, held annually  was hosted by the Design District in Miami in conjunction with the Women Arts and the international celebration of women artists called SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now). Spoken Soul Productions and six entertainment industry leaders of South Florida annually host and produce Spoken Soul Festival.

The festival features three events: Swan Community Program-Healing Through The Arts, SWAN Spoken Soul Showcase Vol 3, and the Vanessa Baez Women’s Brunch Memorial.

The festival brought workshops to their spoken word club led by published poet Amy Baez and to their film students led by filmmaker and activist Somy Ali.

I  had the opportunity to attend the festival and meet women from all walks of life: poets, designers, photographers, painters, singers, sisters, mothers, daughters, wives, cancer survivors and divorcees. All women sharing their stories and their love for women and the arts.

I sat down with Deborah Magdalene,  founder of Spoken Soul Festival about how she managed to gather together and encourage the local female artists to celebrate SWAN Day.

Watch Part 2 of the Spoken Festival HERE

KARIMA N. ROEPEL is  a life coach for teenage girls. She creates a step by step plan for a deeper self awareness and acceptance for themselves. She is the Visual Life Coach & creator of www.campcaya.com (CAYA means: Come as You Are). This camp organization (on of 2) were created to work with teenage girls to boosting their self-esteem so that they become healthy and productive young women, equipped to handle the pressures of the world.

Below are some questions for Karima  to know a little about her:

1. Why have you decided to create this Facebook fanpage?

I wanted a networking page where girls (of all ages) could meet and exchange information, tips, and a sense of togetherness, meet friends, help, support, and guide our young(er) girls to a successful life.

2. What new experiences have you had as a result of creating the page?

The connections I’ve made with wonderful women from all over the world. Being int

erviewed from women who have similar goals and desires is priceless. Some of these women I lean on for guidance and support on this journey. We are trekking together.

3. Where are you from?

Philadelphia, PA, USA

4. What would you say to someone who is interested in creating their own Facebook fanpage?

Create the fanpage based on the outcome not the name of your company or organization. For instance my company name is Camp CAYA—I knew no one would know or recognize it, so I decided to make it a name that many can resonate with, “healthy self-esteem for girls”.

5. Do you have a story to share about something you have posted up on their wall…or what hassomeone else posted on theirs?

I love when I have an original quote and people love it. They ask me can they re-post or re-tweet it. I can always detect a winner because the “likes” are plentiful. I am going to release a calendar in December based on the most popular quotes.

6. What do you do for a living?

I am a Creative Life coach for teenage girls and their supporters. I created an organization, Camp Come As You Are, (CAYA) We work with Teenage girls on boosting their self-esteem so that they become healthy and productive young women equipped to handle the pressures of the world. I provide a proven step-by step blueprint on self-acceptance and love.

7. How do you handle adversity?

I meditate and allow the answers to come. Many times I create a mind map full of next action steps and solutions. I need to get my thoughts out of my head to reduce stress so I can move forward in the best possible way. What does not kill us makes us stronger. I am believer of enjoying the journey, its not always about the destination!
Yoga helps me too. Moving Meditation

You can follow Karima HERE

You can follow Morgan on Facebook HERE

Shaun Neblett, pen name MC SNEB, is a Harlem based playwright and founder of Changing Perceptions Theater. In this video, he accounts his journey to become a playwright starting from the age of 17 when he was in high school. He wanted to write something different for the youngsters of his age who are into poetry, and decided to follow this passion.

With the help of his father who found a youth theatre company al the local YMCA. With a new mentor and the support from his dad, Shaun began writingplays. At the end of high school, he recieved an opportunity for one of his writings to be adapted into full play production in New York City.

In his writings,  it is evident his love for music and hip hop culture hence his reason to self produce HOMAGE 3:ILLMATIC.  It is the first  installment in his 7 Homages for 7 MC’s, a cycle of plays Neblett is designing in the spirit of 7 classic Hip-Hop albums and their individual themes. HOMAGE 3: ILLMATIC is the third piece in the cycle and the first piece to be produced.  He feels that the time to present inspirational stories of people of color is NOW. “America seldom sees characters of color that win, especially in the theater,” says Neblett. “I couldn’t wait any longer to see a play that people I know, value and can relate to. Hip-Hop culture has and continues to influence the entire world.. It’s about time that we pay honor and further investigate the motivational merits of the culture.”

The play is dedicated to Rapper NAS, one of New York’s leading rap voices who expressed an outspoken, self-empowered swagger that rallied the streets of his city and elsewhere. The play is about the journey of one man to find himself.

The production was done in Harlem because his love for Harlem is reflected in his works: its spirit, its rhythm, its people. The play will be shown in Black River Dance Center for Performing Arts.

WATCH  PART 2 OF SHAUN’S INTERVIEW HERE

You can follow Shaun Neblett HERE.

For more info on the play, click HERE.

This is a one on one interview with Justin Tillman about better development of one’s self.

Justin accounts his struggle in life at a young age, the rise and fall he experienced while being a young entrepreneur and the realities he faced head on instead of running from them. He came to a point when he had a traumatic experience at 19, he was up against the wall and no one to turn to. That was the turning point of his life when he decided to better himself and took a dramatic shift in his life and took it to the next level of better development. After overcoming these obstacles, Justin has decided to share his life journey and inspire young people especially the inspiring young entrepreneurs “that no matter what the circumstance or situation there is a way over any obstacles stand before you today.”

“Mentorship is one of the un written rules of success, i believe where ever it is that you are heading their is always someone who has been there and take you further and faster than you could have done it on your own.” excerpt from Justin-Tillman.com

I was always creative when I grew up, and had somewhat of a path to follow through my education. Up through high school I was in most of the art classes which were offered, and continued on in college by continuing on a track in fine arts. I applied & was accepted into the Graphic Design program at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and graduated in 2001 with my BFA in Graphic Design. The graphic design program at Miami was very well rounded, in addition to the core design classes we (fellow design students) were also required to take a large variety of art classes; sculpture, drawing, painting, etc… and you were accepted into the graphic design program based on your artistic ability. Although I had a few painting classed in college, it didn’t really surface as something of interest until a few years ago. (+/- 7 years since college) I decided to “pick up” painting first as an outlet to decorate some walls in my home… and it just took off from there! Before I knew it there were more than 20 paintings laying around, with all my available wall space covered. The momentum of painting built on itself, with a depth of emotion & visual resources always there to inspire me. It is something I just started doing simply because I got an urge one day, and didn’t let anything get in the way of me fully exploring where that would lead. I just jumped on the feeling and let everything take care of itself…

I become an inspiration to my followers because they are inspired from the creativity, from seeing something new that creates an experience & an emotion for the viewer. This emotion & experience may offer a new perspective on something personal in their life… or simply be a refreshing break to their day.  I receive feedbacks and any feedback I get is great feedback… and I love to be able to hear / read how my work, or simply my dialogue on the “wall” of my page, affects other people. It never gets old … I hope to continue to bring inspiration however I can in the future.

{1} Why have you decided to create this Facebook fanpage?

Simply to create an outlet for others to be able to see my artwork & portfolio. It’s great being able to share what I’ve done & see how others react to it… really goes to show me that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, simply b/c some of my work which I may like doesn’t get much feedback & other work which I’m not crazy about get’s a ton of feedback. Facebook has turned out to be a great resource as well to help gauge what people respond to, in both style, composition & color.

{2} What new experiences have you had as a result of creating the page?

Being able to broaden my horizons as well as gain the support of people who I otherwise would likely never know or meet. The positive feedback & comments over posts helps to keep me encouraged about my work as well as always keep part of my attention focused on staying connected.

{3} Where are you from?

I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio… going to college at Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) where I received a BFA in Graphic Design.

{4} What would you say to someone who is interested in creating their own Facebook fanpage?

Just do it! To use one of the quotes I have posted on my page, “change and growth takes place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life.” – herbert otto

{5} Do you have a story to share about something you have posted up on their wall… or what has someone else posted on theirs?

Nothing specific really, it has been great to be able to read the comments, thoughts & feedback on my work (as well as quotes I occasionally post). It is nice to see how some of my work has affected some people, how it can be inspiring for them or simply something that takes their breath away when they look at it. That kind of feedback is food for my creative soul… what could be better than being able to have others find such a deep connection in my work? It definitely is not about money, since I am not just an artist. My art is something I do because I love it, I love to create, build, tweak, come up with new ideas & even surprise myself to see what comes out from within.

{6} What do you do for a living?

At the moment I am focusing my time on graphic design, and am very thankful to be as busy as I am. In addition to my graphic design work I have my paintings, which isn’t a constantly running creativity machine. My creativity and inspiration for painting comes in waves, where I will typically create a lot of work in a short amount of time, then have months go by without touching anything. Also, I am a professional golfer, although I haven’t played in any tournaments in quite some time because of how busy I’ve been with design work. I had played golf full time for a few years up until 2008, but had to sideline the dream while dealing with some nagging injuries.

All in all I like to try and keep myself feeling diversified in my talents & areas of interest for making a living. I haven’t been able to be comfortable with the idea of settling into just one area, probably because I am constantly wanting to push myself beyond what I know, and am never really satisfied until I accomplish something which I otherwise only imagined would happen. After all, if you can dream it, you can do it!

{7} How do you handle adversity?

I take time to step outside of myself and reflect on the situation I am in, think about it from every angle I can, try to get a complete picture. I try to do my best to keep an optimistic attitude and direction always in sight, knowing deep inside that I am meant to achieve great things … and what I may be going through doing this hard time is only there to teach me something. Adversity exists for me to learn from, to reflect deeper upon myself & my surroundings … coming out the other side with a greater understanding of the “bigger picture” for my life. As hard as things may seem I can never give up, never stop trying, never stop pushing, never stop working as hard as I can … no matter what. Whether this means staying true to something I believe in or looking deeper into the reasons why I do, I’m always trying to learn something. After all, if everything was easy… where would the challenge be? Every time I get knocked down, I will get up with more knowledge, a better understanding of both my self and my surroundings & a stronger resolve towards the future. The pain & hardship will always pass & be replaced with a sense of joy & accomplishment greater than what I have felt in the past – but only if I maintain the attitude & belief that this is the case … and I always believe there is a bright light at the end of every tunnel.

You can follow Jeff in Facebook HERE Link

Follow MyTempO! with Morgan on Facebook HERE