Searching for "Member of the month"

Member of the Month: Marliceia Chavers

Many people in Birmingham know Marliceia Chavers as the talented makeup artist behind the beauty brand Marliceia Chavers Artistry. Others may know her as the soulful songstress who often shows off her vocal skills at local lounges. But now Marliceia is striving to make her mark in another arena — lifestyle blogging. Or perhaps I should say “lovestyle” blogging, which is what Marliceia calls her brand of blogging. On November 1, 2017, Marliceia launched Love Marliceia, which chronicles her self-love journey and strives to help readers embark on a self-love journey of their own.

Since launching her new blog, Marliceia has not only been posting and promoting consistently but has gotten the attention of other bloggers, too. She was recently featured on the site Girlfriend’s Budget, where she wrote about how self-love affects your money management.

For these and many other reasons, Marliceia is the See Jane Write Member of the Month for February.

Let’s learn more about her and her “lovestyle” blog. (more…)

Member of the Month: Jasmine T. Duff

Photos by Alonzo Richardson of Zoe Rich Photography

Like so many of us once did, Jasmine T. Duff thought she’d have her life totally “together” by age 25. And though she had the degree, the job, and the husband, she found herself plagued with anxiety.

“I had done everything Millennial Southern Belle was supposed to do but it still felt like I was missing the mark,” Jasmine says. “Everything wasn’t clicking like they said it would if you got good grades, read your bible, and went to networking events.”

So she started a blog.

“I decided to take matters into my own hands and pursue my God-given talent,” she says. “I blog about faith, family, feelings, and finances; all the areas of life I strive to do better in.”

She calls her blog Season26.

“I named my blog Season26 because it represents the moment that I let go of that dream and decided to focus on being better,” says Jasmine, now 27. “Better has no end point while we tend to see ‘together’ as a destination, which sets itself up as a feat we can never truly achieve.”

Lately, Jasmine has been working diligently to build her blog and a community around it by hosting in-person and virtual events and maintaining an active Facebook group. This is why she is the January See Jane Write Member of the Month.

(more…)

Member of the Month: Kwoya Fagin Maples

When Kwoya Fagin Maples told me she wanted to become a member of See Jane Write, I was elated — and nervous.

Kwoya is my colleague at the Alabama School of Fine Arts where she teaches in the Creative Writing department, so I’m aware of how talented she is. She has an MFA from the University of Alabama and is a Cave Canem Fellow. In 2010 she published her chapbook Something of Yours through Finishing Line Press and her work has appeared in several journals and anthologies including The African-American Review, PLUCK, Cave Canem Anthology XIII, The Birmingham Poetry Review, Right Hand Pointing  and Sow’s Ear Poetry Review. As an instructor at ASFA, Kwoya has developed a three-dimensional poetry exhibit which features poetry and visual art including original paintings, photography, installations and film. With that kind of resume, I wondered, what could I offer her?!

But Kwoya was seeking community, courses, and coaching that would help her better market her work and herself as a writer and that would help her reach more of her life and literary goals. She’s done exactly that, which is why she is the See Jane Write member of the month for May.

On Friday, May 12, Kwoya will reach her goal of organizing and hosting this year’s three-dimensional poetry exhibit. The 2017 Three Dimensional Poetry Exhibit, which will be displayed at Space One Eleven in downtown Birmingham, will feature students of ASFA’s Creative Writing Department and will center on the theme of Chimera: Reimagined Memory. (Learn more here.)

An opening reception will be held at Space One Eleven, 2409 2nd Avenue North in Birmingham, at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 12. Before heading to Friday’s opening, get to know the woman behind this wonderful project.

(more…)

Member of the Month: Melissa Scott

It’s one of the best emails to wake up to as a writing coach:

So, the big news is…

MY BOOK IS WRITTEN!!!

Done. Done done done.

Melissa Scott sent me this email recently to let me know she had completed the first draft of her essay collection, a process I’ve had the honor and privilege to guide her through as her writing coach.

She ended her email with, “Thank you so much for all your help,” but I feel I should be thanking her because Melissa has been a source of inspiration for me for years.

As a body positive yoga instructor she inspires me to love my body as is and to appreciate my body for what it can do instead of always focusing on how it looks. And the honesty and authenticity of her blog posts inspired me to be more transparent in my own.

Melissa Scott is the See Jane Write Member of the Month for April not simply because she has completed the first draft of her book, but because she is the epitome of what See Jane Write is all about.

(more…)

Member of the Month: Salaam Green

Salaam Green

Salaam Green says poetry saved her life.

“After a stressful divorce and an emotionally abusive marriage where I found myself at my highest weight of 337 pounds, alone, without a home, and devastated by grief, I needed something to help me recover,” she says.

That something was writing.  

“I found a writing class — Women Writing for a Change,” Salaam says. “This is where I found healing through the power of words and community. Writing to release brought me freedom to declare I am a Poet and that writing is a tool of recovery. I have been with the same class and group of phenomenal writers for over six years.”

Earlier this year Salaam became a member of See Jane Write, too, and she has started a movement of her own through the Literary Healing Arts Foundation, a business idea she has brought to fruition in part through the guidance of Create Birmingham’s CO.STARTERS program.

Salaam also won the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama’s poetry contest and was named Conference Poet Laureate for the group’s annual innovation conference.

We are proud to announce that Salaam Green is the See Jane Write member of the month.

(more…)