Be healthy and take care of yourself, but be happy with the beautiful things that make you, you.
VOL. 81 - THURSDAY, APRIL 21
Happy Thursday, #NoteddTribe! We’re still beaming after releasing our full lineup of amazingly talented well-being experts yesterday. They will be joining us all week long (April 25-May 1) for one of our biggest events yet: Week of Well-Being.
Rosalyn Davis, Shelby Tinsley, Miyoshi Days, Asia Rodriquez, Zadia Murphy, and Rashia Bell will host an event of their own every day next week.
Here’s the lineup:
Monday 4/25 Breathwork Session with Rosalyn Davis at 7pm EST
Tuesday 4/26 Affirmations & Our Well-Being with Shelby Tinsley at 7pm EST
Wednesday 4/27 Menstrual Period Self-Care Practices with Miyoshi Days at 7pm EST
Thursday 4/28 The Six Dimensions of Wellness Workshop with Asia Rodriquez, MS, LCPC, LPC, NCC at 7pm EST
Saturday 4/30 Power Workout* with Zadia Murphy (*Timing: TBD)
Sunday 5/1 How to Infuse Positive Energy into Your Space with Rashia Bell at 12pm EST
You can join us for one, three, or all six events! In the meantime, you can learn more about each speaker in this dedicated newsletter and sign up for each speaker’s event by visiting this link. We can’t wait to see you there!
Check out what we have notedd for you this week, and let us know what you think!
#StayNotedd
#NoteddNews
ICYMI: Notedd journals are back! 😊 You can now be one of the first to pre-order our “Made with Melanin” journal TODAY! Our journals are perfect for jotting down your thoughts, setting goals, or expressing your creativity. Each 5.8” x 8.25” journal has 168 pages filled with lined, warm white paper, sealed with high-quality binding. Grab yours now, as we’re planning to soon release it on our social media!
We’re super excited to be featured in Shoutout Atlanta! Our founder Lauren had an opportunity to share her story, why she created Notedd, and highlight this fantastic community (including you!). You all are our biggest advocates, supporting everything we do to help us all stay informed, connected, and authentically ourselves.
So, what’s going on with masks? Nothing has changed, but everything has changed at the same time. The Justice Department overnight on Wednesday appealed a ruling by a federal judge in Florida that struck down the mask mandate for mass transportation after a recommendation by the CDC that indoor masking remains necessary for our public health. Many reports suggest that it will take weeks before a final decision is made. However, in this game of “do I wear a mask while I travel?” multiple airlines, including Delta Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, and Amtrak, lifted their mask mandates. Lyft released a statement that masking will be optional, while Uber removed their mask mandate and will allow riders to sit in the front seat. Here’s a look at some of the major US cities that are either keeping or dropping their public transit mask mandates. We recommend bringing and wearing a mask just in case, but check the transit company’s website that you plan to take before you travel.
Is anyone watching Viola Davis as Forever First Lady Michelle Obama in Showtime’s The First Lady? If you’re like us and looking for an account to borrow (*cough cough), you can catch Viola Davis discussing her new memoir, “Finding Me,” with Oprah Winfrey on Netflix starting tomorrow. If you’re interested in learning more about Davis and a preview of what she shares in her book, set to be released next week, check out her piece in The New York Times.
A recent study showed that 96% of 200 executives agreed remote workers are disadvantaged compared to those who go into the office. If you zero in on this statistic for women, many experts reported that women face a double disadvantage in the hybrid workplace, especially in a fixed hybrid system where they work remotely full-time while at least some of their colleagues are co-located in a traditional office environment. While most of the necessary changes require leadership to create better opportunities for women, career and leadership-development expert Kimberly Brown is helping women and people of color be seen in the workplace, make more money, and become leaders through her new weekly column in The Cut. Check out her column here and learn how you can seek Brown’s advice.
Learn how the founders behind Cowgirls of Color and Black Girls Do Bike are changing the narrative and creating a more inclusive space for women of color in horseriding and cycling.
With 45 million people carrying an estimated $1.7 trillion in federal student loan debt, women have roughly two-thirds of this type of debt, with Black women even more disproportionately impacted. Earlier this week, the Biden Administration announced a plan to reform the student loan forgiveness program to address the “historical failures of federal student loan programs.” The Dept. of Education shared in this press release that these changes will result in immediate debt cancellation for at least 40,000 borrowers under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. Several thousand borrowers with older loans will receive forgiveness through the Income-Driven Repayment Plan (IDR). Also, more than 3.6 million borrowers will reportedly receive at least three years of additional credit toward IDR forgiveness.
Since some (white) folks were upset with the beautiful and excellent presence of Black people at this year’s Country Music Awards, let’s celebrate country music artists Brittney Spencer, Joy Oladokun, Allison Russell, Amythyst Kiah, and Adia Victoria who are of the many reframing country music.
Last week was Black Maternal Health Week, but many are working to ensure that the work continues and isn’t just a week-long moment once a year. Tufts University, spearheaded by professor Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, will open a new Black maternal health center to address birthing disparities, advocate for equitable quality care, and help Black women through their birthing experience.
Did you know that 36 states have legalized weed for medicinal purposes, plus 18 states and the District of Columbia have approved it for recreational use? On the heels of 4/20, let’s take the time to honor the Black women who are taking parts of the billion-dollar cannabis industry, but those who are fighting to decriminalize weed. Let’s not forget that while marijuana use is roughly equal among Black and white people, Black people are 3.73 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession.
First Black Woman Majority Owner To Grow, Dispense And Process Cannabis In Ohio Announced
Solonje Burnett Is Lighting the Way for a More Inclusive Cannabis Industry
These Black Women Are Taking Their Share of the Billion-dollar Cannabis Industry
HONORABLE MENTIONS
There’s a new item to the rise of reusable feminine hygiene products like period panties and menstrual cups: reusable pads. XoNecole recently released a roundup of all-natural, washable cloth pads that can easily be inserted into your underwear. Please note that the reusable pad material and absorbency for each listed item may differ from brand to brand.
Are there any new plant newbies out there? We’re considering adding a plant to our home and found this HelloBeautiful article helpful to know which five plants are low maintenance. The article recommends a Swiss cheese plant, Snake plant, Aloe Vera plant, Pothos plant, and a Peace Lily as great starts for new plant parents. We welcome any and all suggestions from the community. Hey, we can start a thread around plants and how to keep and maintain them. 😏 Just let us know!
Our new favorite thing is attending local book tour events. In exchange for purchasing the book, you can sit down at a local venue with the author of the purchased book and receive first-hand knowledge about the book and the author’s writing process. Earlier this week, we attended singer, actress, fashion icon, and now author Janelle Monae’s tour stop here in DC to hear more about her new sci-fi anthology The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer. In conversation with curator and co-editor of Black Futures Kimberly Drew, Monae walked through the creative development process of the protagonist, a Black woman, who is in charge of holding everyone’s memories. In collaboration with speculative fiction writer Alaya Dawn Johnson, the collection explores “queerness, love, gender plurality and liberation, all against the backdrop of memory and what it may look like in the future.” We’re self-help book type of people but excited to dive into something new with Monae’s book. Who else is grabbing their copy?
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Interested in being a Tribe Talk speaker? Have any content ideas? Are you launching a product or service? Have any major accomplishments to share with theup? Reach out to us and we'll add it to our next issue.
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