Blessed & Curvy

  It's Not You! This year, I’ve met so many people who have faced the harsh reality of layoffs. Whether it’s due to restructuring, budget cuts, or economic shifts, the experience of being laid off can feel surreal. Having been laid off three times myself during my career, I understand how this journey unfolds—first, you go into auto-pilot, then the wave of emotions hits. When you spend over forty hours a week with co-workers, they become more than just colleagues—they’re a part of your daily life. Losing that connection can feel like separation anxiety. Initially, you may think you’ll stay in touch, and sometimes you do. But more often, the calls and messages dwindle, and instead, you find them checking your LinkedIn profile to see where you’ve landed next. It’s not personal; it’s just how things go. One of the hardest parts is internalizing the “why.” When a company decides who is impacted, it’s important to remember: that  it’s not your fault . You didn’t do anything wrong. ...

During the pandemic I have heard from so many people going through life's struggles. I wanted to revisit my fifth book  There Is Sunshine After the Rain   that I wrote that is a memoir that covers the darkest moments in my life and the paths that I had to travel to get to my sunshine. This book has poetry sprinkled throughout the chapters because it was my first love. Since I was a child I was writing my feelings that I hadn't even understood the meaning of what was going on. From having the first crush, facing death, and the stages that life had planned that I had to navigate through. A lot of times we get caught up being in our personal storms that we feel like the world has let us down. We don't see the end in sight and unfortunately there are some who decide to take matters into their own hands and commit suicide. Not realizing that there is support no matter if it is friends, family, or support groups.  We forget that there will be sunshine after the rain and we...

After the passing of my mother I found myself in a deep depression. I didn't want to continue to be active in this thing we call life. My motivation was gone along with her because as her caregiver what was I now to do? I felt lost.   Also I was self employed running a business from my home office so I didn’t want to promote, network or make any sales. No sales meant no income. I knew I had to snap out of it but didn’t know where to begin.   Being a private person I didn’t know how to ask for help. Its years later and I find working now in Corporate America I still come across both men and women who go through stress, life struggles and still try to stay focused on top of their corporate game. More and more I read in the news that when the world feels like it is grumbling around you and you have no outlet you quit one way or another. You either quit your job, relationships or life.  Here are the five steps that I learned and hope that it helps someone. ...