First Year in NYC

There comes a point in everyone’s life where you question EVERYTHING you’ve done so far. For me, that has been this year, my first year living in New York City. I thought so many things when I first moved here. I thought I was just going to become a huge successful blogger overnight. I thought everyone was going to like me A LOT and instantly fall in love with me and want to offer me opportunities! Hahahahaha what was I thinking?!? 

Sounds silly you know, but when you first move to New York you have this naive dreamy mindset that those dreams will just…you know, come true. Of course they will…. eventually, it takes time, dedication and hard work. I was thinking 2 months was good enough to watch things happen, but that’s not the case. It’s not even in a year! It’s humbling when you WORK towards your dreams. I mean New York WORK for your dreams! It’s humbling to go from a stable job to jobs with kids in college. It’s humbling to find out the struggles you survived through. I can tell the people who have recently moved to NYC cause their eyes sparkle with promise and hope! You knew you were going to have to work hard. But you didn’t know you were gonna HUSTLE. And hustle, I do indeed.

It’s hard to watch all of your friends back home as they fall in love, get married, buy homes, and have children knowing you want those things, but you can’t have them… yet. You’ve got a duty to chase the dreams on your heart first, ’cause that is your God given purpose and duty in life. You knew what it was like to have it good and comfortable. But good and comfortable isn’t the life I want to look back on. Without further ado, (nothing is in order) EVERYTHING that happened my first year in NYC!

• Tried stand up comedy @ Triple Crown Ale House for the first time. A woman went after me who saran wrapped the floor and wore nothing but shorts, a bra and a Trump head. She called herself crackhead barbie. #onlyinny
• Tried to run a business and failed. Will try again.
• Worked as a production assistant on a movie.
• Went to a million job fairs. Hated them all.
• Cut my hair! (aka ditched the wig)
• Broke down crying in WeWork cubicles pretty much every month this year. (It’s a thing Mimi and I do)
• Hosted my first online bible study with Proverbs 31 Ministries. You can still join our groups! We are going through this book!
• Wrote a sermon.
• Worked as an event planner.
• Spent all my money.
• Keke Palmer interviewing women in line for the bachelor.
• Got kicked out of a building for trying to bring my resume to someone.
• Was in my first music video .
• Was 30 min late to my first day on a job due to train delays and fired after that.
• Getting serenaded to on the subway by a man who only spoke Spanish.
• Started losing hair on the sides of my head. Now I have some bald spots. If you have recommendations for hair growth send ’em my way!
• Got my first spray tan with Sarah @ Tan in Ten! Thank you! Recommend for all my chocolate women! It makes your chocolate GLOW! (If you go, tell her you found her through “the black girl Vanessa!”)
• Went to Mexico by myself for my birthday #solotravelislife

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• Had the worst eczema flare up in my entire life while in Connecticut.
• Hosted an event with Neelab at Taco Dumbo.
• Neelab and I getting interviewed in grand central station for a publication on families.
• Went to Christian Siriano party. Karlie Kloss walked by me and is as beautiful as ever.
• Saw a guy pee in the subway station then proceed to sit in it and fall asleep.
• Auditioned and made the choir at Hillsong!
• Going to Gitano and meeting NYC brunch squad and Liza.
• Meeting an artist who does murals all over the city Jaima. Seriously so talented.
• Worked as an event planner: hated it. I only like decorating.
• Getting hit on by a very sweet guy on the way to the Rosé mansion. Never getting hit on again (besides those loser cat callers in Brooklyn~doesn’t count.)
• Going to a GALA for the first time.
• Getting all my friends to watch Denver Designer Crystal Lee in NYFW. This year she will be showing at Paris Fashion Week! Best of luck to ya! Check out our interview from a couple years ago here.
• Having a mental breakdown in a WeWork after doing horribly in a job fair and Mimi Hayes calling me out on my BS. Then realizing all the things I love are some form of entertainment. (Gosh! Why do I love all the things that make no money and are extremely saturated?#rollingmyeyes).
• Got dressed up as a hot dog and went to my first Mets game and met Joey chestnut the famous hot dog eating man. 
• Got scammed by a modeling agency and gave them $60 bucks.
• Getting picked up in a van and taken to Staten Island at 6:00 am. (Probably not the best idea, but I’m ALIVE!)
• Went to Florida with my sisters Evlyn, Crystal and Pauline.
• Coldest Photo shoot in 9F weather with Rebecca. 
• Meeting friends like Kelli who can pray with you all wee hours of the night.

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• Staying in Steph’s apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, sippin’ wine and having Friendsgiving. 
• First time holding a gun was on a movie set.
• Getting into clubs for free.
• 13 hr photo shoots with Neelab.
• Jennifer Hudson showing up to my work.
• Discovering Brooklyn bridge park with Kristina Maness. Hoping she moves here!
• Getting yelled at for not having props ready and knowing where they were for a set. It was my 1st day as an UNPAID intern. #welcometotheworldoffilm
• Met DMX (honestly had no idea who he was ’til someone sang the song Party Up “Up in Here”) on a set for a project and handed him a gun. (What is up with all these guns?)
• Went vegan. For a month.
• Went to go see fashion icons Dapper Dan of Gucci and Brandice Daniel of Harlem’s Fashion Row at Macy’s in Herald Square, ended up in urgent care cause I ate fish that looked like chicken.
• Worked for a pillow and leather company.
• Hosted my first event with Ann Taylor in Rockefeller Plaza! 
• Got scammed by a modeling agency gave them $60 bucks 
• Talked my headshot down from $800 to $50
• Got handed a duffel bag of guns in Staten Island.
• Had my first audition for a movie.
• A Russian lady yelling at me for asking where she was from.
• Sang with a Broadway performer!
• Getting spat on in the subway!
• Meeting Doe who is an incredible film maker! Stay tuned for some exciting things come 2020!
• Carrying crates through Central Park and getting lost trying to find the dang Pinknic.
• Planned and produced 2 NYFW events.
• Had a mental breakdown in Starbucks, right before singing in choir at Hillsong.
• 5:45 AM photo shoots in Times Square (it’s a New York blogger thing).
• Hanging out with Denver Designer Brooks when she came to town. Thank you for having me! More to come on her SOON! She is up to some really neat stuff!
• Spoke on my first panel.
• Hosted a workshop with Pinterest.
• Getting cat called every.single.day. (Seriously, what do these boys do? Queue TLC “I don’t want no SCRUBS!”)
• Getting into the Wing and staying ALLLL DAY!
• While crying in Union Square park, a Palestinian man comes up to me singing in Arabic. Asks if I am bi-polar. No. But turns out he is. Then he sings a song to me telling me to stop crying.
• Lost 10 pounds.
• Gained 14 pounds.
• Met Paralympian Garrison Redd
• Met Rick Davy with Fashion Week Brooklyn
• In my first paid photography gig I messed up all the photos by shooting in Auto instead of Manual. #oops I’ve gotten wayyyy better. Here’s my photo page. DM me if you want to shoot!
• Finally figuring out how the heck to do an invoice. Like why aren’t we taught this in middle school?
• Taught a class on how to write a sermon.
• Finding amazing people like Beau and Renata (Pastors at Hope Hill Church) and learning what it means to hustle, sacrifice, love others, and never complain!
• Sneaking to the rooftops of hotels with Emily to take pics!

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• Worked for a stationary company
• Met Miss J Alexander
• Went to a networking event at 230 Fifth, ended up getting on an episode of Impractical Jokers. (Season 8 Episode 10: The Antisocial Network)
• Claire driving a U-Haul through Brooklyn. (Still don’t understand how ppl can drive here.)
• Reuniting with Neelab at the Rosé mansion!
• Running into Kevin O’Leary in midtown with Rebecca not speaking to him because I had makeup all over my face lookin’ like a fairy.
• First time modeling and getting my makeup done! Can’t wait to do that again!
• Meeting blogger John Philp
• Finding out I might have depression. (Follow up on that to come)
• Worked for a jewelry company.
• Meeting Diane Von Furstenberg and doing a mentor walk.
• Realizing my resume sucks and having good friends like Kara and Michelle to go through them and give constructive criticism. Thank you. I forever owe you.
• NYFW with Tatiana who came all the way from Vancouver.
• Realizing how quick to action and good hearted Leigh is for calling the police after we witnessed violence in the street during fashion week.
• Getting over 150 responses on craigslist for NYFW photographers, randomly picking Mark Ladanan and he turned out to be one of my favorite photographers of all time! You the GOAT!
• Convinced a producer to be an extra on their movie and later convincing them to get an actual part! #thepowerofpersuasion (Can’t say what it is yet but should be out late 2020)
• Meeting Adwoa who might be the smartest 21 year old I have ever met!

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Wow! This is just what I can remember. What a ride New York City! Thank you for an abundance of opportunities. Thank you for new friends. Thank you for experiences that have helped me learn about myself. Thank you for moments where times were really tough and I needed to really seek God. Thank you. Thank you! Cheers to year 2 NYC!

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Outfit: Dress and Heels

This post was inspired by my friend Mimi and her first post on her first couple years in NYC.

Disclaimer: All of the guns in this were not loaded. They were all props for movies, even the duffel bag. I will explain in a comedy set soon!