Hip Hip Hooray! Create (Pop) Inaugural Issue Is Here!
For our first issue we dive into the real tea behind gratitude, beauty recs from LUSH Cosmetics, a hashtag round up and how to use them, and Little Amal Takes A Big Step In Atlanta.
Welcome to Create (Pop), a bi-weekly newsletter dedicated to providing fun, insightful, and useful tips to help you excel in your creative journey.
Grab your favorite snacks, bevs, and sword pens, and prepare to enjoy the journey.
THE REAL TEA BEHIND GRATITUDE
Let’s be honest, sometimes gratitude can be seen as an icky word.
Due to its overuse in present-day media, gratitude has become more of a commercialized hashtag than an effective practice in combating life's challenges.
While there are a ton of resources on this topic how are we supposed to implement that sage wisdom of gratitude into our daily lives?
Should I journal 5 things I’m grateful for every day, or recite them aloud every 5 minutes? If I complain about something does that cancel out my entire gratitude practice for the week?
Or is it just, that I’m inept at being grateful (and based upon recent life dwellings) is that entirely my fault?
Gratitude is an incredibly important practice and mental reflex in our lives.
It improves our mental state of being and positions us to handle difficulties with grace and patience, instead of succumbing to stress and hopelessness. Additionally, it effectively trains our brains to prioritize the positives, fostering a mindset of optimism rather than dwelling on the negatives.
Having an active practice of gratitude can even help you reframe negativity to where you reclaim your power over something meant ill toward you and see it as a positive.
I remember venting to a friend about constantly feeling like I was being cut out of opportunities. There have been multiple times in my life where I thought a job, a gig, a something, was going to come through, and by some mishap, it didn’t.
My friend had to caution me against claiming the position of victim.
“You could either look at it as you're always losing out, or it simply wasn’t meant for you.”
Of course, that’s the last thing anyone wants to hear at that moment. So I quickly responded,
“But there were all these cool people I would’ve gotten to work with.”
“Yes,” she said, “Or people you were supposed to stay away from.”
When we face difficult times, feelings of bitterness, victimhood, and sensitivity tend to emerge, pushing us towards offense and self-loathing.
Gratitude will pull you into another perspective relieving you of that burden.
Maybe those opportunities didn’t pan out BUT, I still gained experience in setting boundaries, discussing terms, being in spaces, learning things, and meeting people I otherwise wouldn’t have.
And, ironically enough just when we think we have gratitude down a challenging situation comes along and shows us quickly we’re still figuring it out. But, this is actually good news!
Recognizing gratitude is an evolving practice, and adapting to it, helps us maintain an open mindset, develop healthy emotional boundaries, and decrease the impact of negative emotions in our lives.
It took me a while to get the hang of this, and this new shift came at a really uncomfortable time in my life.
In order for my gratitude practice to be effective, I had to learn to focus on the positives of any experience, think ahead positively about every new experience, and learn to be content with whatever the positive result is.
And in order to NOT MAKE THIS A CHORE, I don’t immediately write this down in a journal, (I do have a notes list I keep in my iPhone) or say it aloud every 5 seconds.
Instead, I reflect on my grateful experience in contrast to whatever negative thing is ruminating in my brain - making my practice of gratitude a more natural part of my day, than another ‘task’ I am adding to my list of things to do.
You have to find what makes gratefulness REAL for you, and it is more than something we truncate down to 5 easy steps. If there are moments in time in which find yourself lacking in the gratitude department, don’t beat yourself up.
Acknowledge that your practice is evolving and route yourself back to it.
P.s. While I AM OBSESSED with Lush Cosmetics, I receive no affiliate commission in the links below. These are my honest recommendations - Enjoy !
My hair is a bit of a wild child.
It’s not dry but also doesn’t retain a ton of moisture, my scalp is sensitive, and sometimes my curls can be hard to maintain.
As part of my current hair routine, I use (and LOVE) Lush’s Supermilk conditioning spray and a few other products. However, when looking for a new shampoo one of Lush’s stellar helpers recommended TOFU, and after one use, I am permanently adding it to my collection!
Tofu Cream Shampoo - {Tofu Cream Shampoo is Tofu based, Lemon Oil and Orris Butter.}
The Tofu cream-based shampoo delivers the salon experience right at home.
It’s a cream-based shampoo that gives my hair the perfect amount of coating all while sinking moisture into my hair. The lathering effect was just right, giving my hair a silky and luxurious feeling and the smell was divine.
The lemon oil gives a thorough yet gentle cleanse, and the orris butter is perfect for keeping my curls lush and fizz-free.
Seriously, every time I use this shampoo it feels like giving my hair a hug. Not to mention, Lush sources all of its ingredients from cultural tribes, practices,
If you're looking for something to strengthen and calm an irritable scalp, while also maintaining moisture, Tofu may just be the thing for you.
Now after that deep cleansing shampoo, I wanted a conditioner to replenish some of those healthy oils, strengthening and conditioning my hair back to its natural state. I typically go for their Glory conditioner. However, to pair with Tofu, I decided to give Power a try instead.
Power Conditioner - Tonka, Almond and Olive Oil, and Sweet Potato Puree
Power is a super pack conditioner filled to the brim with goodies for your hair.
It contains biotin from a sweet potato for strength, humectant maple syrup for volume, and reduces humidity, and definition.
If you're torn between the two, I like to think of Glory as my biweekly conditioner when in between washes or quick styles for my hair.
Power is a restorative conditioner, delivering heavy on the condition keeping my hair protected for the winter season.
Now that we have self-care in the bag, part of being creative means not only focusing on personal self-care but also growing in professional strategy, social, and branding.
As I’m growing in these areas a tool I'm currently obsessed with is hashtags.
How To Effectively Use Hashtags To Position Yourself On LinkedIn
Let’s talk about the hashtag multiverse. Hashtagging is an incredibly powerful tool within our social media (and super underutilized).
It provides visibility for our brands, boosts our SEO, and aligns us with powerful causes we believe in.
But, in order for hashtagging to be effective in building our brands, increasing our awareness, and tying us to the right initiatives there’s a strategy for how we use it.
I am building multiple brands right now and hashtagging is still a bit of a funny fish to me.
As I am growing, here’s a round-up of hashtags I am using not only to increase my brand awareness - but also to align me for future opportunities.
{A note, I primarily use these hashtags on LinkedIn as I am looking to build brand and business awareness there}
Trending LinkedIn Hashtags 2023
#innovation -38,673,144 followers
#management -35,871,964 followers
#digitalmarketing -27,291,348 followers
#technology -26,347,886 followers
#creativity -25,114,957 followers
Now, there is a certain way to implement these hashtags into your LinkedIn posts in order to boost traffic and work within the algorithm and boost traffic. (That write-up will be coming later)
For now, I have found that looking for niche hashtags within those listed 5 and coupling those to target my audience in the post points me in the direction I want to go.
For example, one of my posts may go like this -
As a #creative I am always looking for opportunities to broaden my skills in producing, writing, and content creating, especially in the #digitalmarketing space. I’d love to discuss how my knowledge in these spaces could potentially help your business grow organically and effectively reach the audience you're looking for. #freelancer #branding
What I’ve come to learn is hashtagging (on any social platform) is a tool used to assist your post. You don’t want to cram a bunch of hashtags trying to force a point across.
Write from an authentic space first, research which hashtags best support that, and then we hope the algorithm works in our favor.
This is a huge topic, so if any of you have any insight or tips you’ve best found to help you with hashtagging - on any social media platform - and don’t mind sharing, please comment below!
Little Amal Comes To Atlanta!
In the name of creativity, community, and activism Woodruff Arts Center (Atl, GA) welcomed a larger-than-life Little Amal puppet to Atlanta as part of their We Have A Dream initiative by Atlanta activist Yolanda Renee King.
To note, I had no idea The Little Amal Walk existed.
So to be blessed to be in the right place, at the right time, and witness something bigger than myself left me astonished at what I saw.
Little Amal - The Walk (Amal whose name means hope in Arabic) has traveled to over 15 countries with her current stop being in Mexico. She is a life-sized, 12ft puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl displaced from her home due to ravage and ruin.
Her story while symbolic is an incredibly poignant representation of what hundreds of migrant and refugee children are facing, even today.
It also stands as a testament to the power and impact behind creativity. I love that the production team utilized puppetry and live art as a way to unapologetically bring attention to a significant cause. Ironically, what would be used against her in the sense of her being a child, makes Little Amal mighty.
The cause she stands for rallies together community, and cements herself as a symbol of hope, and recognition that cannot be ignored.
What also made this experience incredible was sharing it with local Atlanta art groups (again that I didn’t know existed). High Museum Teen Team held an arts and crafts activity that gave everyone the chance to make signs of petitions, freedom, and peaceful protest.
Little Amal was also hosted by the great Yolanda Renee King herself, the Global Village Project Chorus, Alif Institute’s Youth Drummers, and the South Atlanta Sonic Boom Drumline.
Believe me when I say, the entire experience was electrifying! It was a shared experience of fun, camaraderie, creativity, and being a part of something bigger than yourself.
While the Woodruff Arts Center was the only event I was able to attend (unfortunately!) Little Amal made a huge step in several foundational places in Atlanta, and while hosting her, it truly felt like joy and peace reigned in the streets.
Little Amal is currently taking her next big steps in Mexico. You can follow along with her journey here.
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