Almost...But Not Quite...There (A Ramble)

I'm not sure how I first came across Clutch Magazine, but from the second I laid my eyes on it, I completely fell head over heels in love with it. Every piece of it, from the fresh and sassy layout to the topics being covered, and everything in between, is exactly what I'd like Belle-Noir.com to be. One day. So I took it upon myself to send an email to its Founder and Editorial Director, Deanna Sutton, in hopes of maybe learning something--anything--from the woman behind the new website that I adored. To my great glee, she wrote back! She offered up so many wonderful suggestions and tips. What impressed me the most was that she is only 28! Not only that, but Clutch was at one time a PRINT magazine that she decided to move to an online mag.

One of the suggestions that she made was to research, research and do more research. I have been researching several of the online mags and blogs out here for women of Color. Another site that I have also grown to love, if only for layout, is Ambermag.com. I am just getting into the whole "girlie" thing, but I do happen to love what Amber is all about.

The one similarity that I noticed in both Deanna and Amber's founder, Marcia Cole, is that both women have an extensive history in the media and marketing industries respectively. In other words, they definitely put in some time and work before branching out on their own. Ms. Cole worked with the now defunct Suede Magazine, the Essence magazine offspring that was supposed to be all about fashion and glam. Both of these women seemed very focused on what they wanted and armed themselves with the tools they needed to succeed.

This made the fact that I need to go back to grad school all the more prevalent in my eyes. Admittedly, when some of my peers were focusing on internships in their intended industries, I was eager to just get out of college with my degree. So admittedly, I didn't take advantage of a lot of the opportunities I could have (read: discipline...I'm thinking that maybe I might have to rename this blog....hmmm....).

Sometimes it is hard to face facts when it comes to mistakes that you know you have made that have obviously had an affect on where you are right now in life. I have been letting it slap me in the face for awhile now, but I have been trying to redeem myself slowly and surely. In actuality, Phat Poetry was a huge accomplishment for me, because if you let some associates of mine tell it, I was crazy for not taking months to go to different poetry readings, poetry slams and the various poetry cafes in NYC to see exactly "how a poetry night is done". Call it stubborness or foolishness, but I never really believed in doing things like everyone else does. I didn't really WANT to see how other people host a poetry night. I had my own idea in my head about it and wanted to go with it. So while there are items that I'm sure taking sometime at Neuyorican Poets Cafe would have clarified for me, the mistakes made will only make my take on a poetry night even better next time around.

Belle-Noir.com has been in a constant state of growth since its inception. There have been so many other sites and magazines that I have wanted to position BN next to in terms of style and content. But at the end of the day, I know that I can only do what I feel is best for her. There are some areas I will have to brush up on professionally. But I know it can happen. I just have to be more disciplined (there's that word again!) and put my nose to the grindstone.